Dolomite Sprint (RNK 957W)

[Awaiting Repair]

Amazing work! Look forward to the next instalment....

Keith

[RSi]

I thought this may be of interest.

I was cleaning the NS inner wing chassis leg (if that's the proper term for it) of its Ziebart, before I'd add a fresh coat of Dinitrol. l was really surprised at just how little paint there was. There is undercoat, but hardly any white - were the floors done the same way, if so, it's no wonder Triumphs rotted so bad in their first few years on the road.

Setting that aside, I'm well chuffed at how clean the chassis legs are.

[dollyman]

I think you must have polished to much Murdo

Tony.

[Carledo]

The underside of the body was usually pretty thoroughly primed from the factory (dipped shell possibly) but topcoat colour was always pretty scarce and patchy on the underside and topped with no more than a small, semi random amount of underseal on areas most exposed.

If it comes to that, they didn't exactly go mad with the paint on the shiny side either, I've recently been flatting the original colour on my Sprint, which has only ever been locally touched up in places. The paint is microscopically thin, 3 or 4 swipess with a block and a sheet of 400 grit and i'm through to the primer!

I think the factory EXPECTED you to go to an aftermarket rustproofer like Ziebart if you wanted to ensure the car's survival more than the handful or so of years that was it's intended service life. It was certainly pretty popular when I was PDIing new Triumphs in the low to mid 70s.

It's a telling fact that Glass' guide, the industry standard guide to used car values, gives up after 8 years, anything that survives longer than that has no value other than what someone will pay!

Steve

[RSi]

Here's the driver's side now with the Ziebart removed too.



I'll get a coat of paint on them, before coating with Dinitrol, rather than just leaving it like BL did - hopefully it'll see another 40 years then. It turned 40 last week, 26/7/2020.

I plan to just fit the subframe then (with the new engine mountings) and start at the rear of the car. She's up on the ramp and removing the axle will leave the front end top heavy. I'll compensate for the weight loss with weight in the boot.

Once the rear axle and suspension is removed it'll give me totally free, uninterrupted access to the floor. I can brush it down then and coat over the Ziebart with Dinitrol.

[RSi]

I had put this in a separate post, so thought I'd add it to this one.

Here's the new Superflex engine mounts from Chris Witor, against my original NS one. You can see how close a match they are. The mounts look identical, but I won't know what they're like until next Spring, as that's when I plan to take her out.

I abandoned the idea of this year early on as a result of Covid-19. There was no point going to the expense of an MOT and Road Tax, when the year had already been cancelled.

The last photo is my original mounts. You can see how the OS one has stretched in comparison to the NS one, the NS one is almost perfect - I could have swapped them round and got another few years out of them.

[RSi]

A wee update.

I've most of the parts now cleaned up, and either painted or powder coated. I've some cleaning still to do in the engine bay and engine, before I start refitting them all.

[dollyman]

This is going to surely be best Sprint going when it's finished Murdo
What are going to do when it is completed?

Tony.

[RSi]

This is going to surely be best Sprint going when it's finished Murdo
What are going to do when it is completed?

Tony.

I'm going to drive it from one side of the garage to the other Tony and if it behaves, I may even take it out on a good day.

[dollyman]

This is going to surely be best Sprint going when it's finished Murdo
What are going to do when it is completed?

Tony.

I'm going to drive it from one side of the garage to the other Tony and if it behaves, I may even take it out on a good day.

Love it, well done Murdo At least your roads will be quiet up there

Tony.

[RSi]

No cleaning been done on the Sprint recently, as I've been back working on the house for the past few weeks -there's very long winters in the Outer Hebrides though, so plenty time coming up - I did get a 'very welcome' part in the mail today though

I've been looking for an LSV for a while now (which has proved a bit of a challenge), as mine had been removed when it had its MOT in 2016. I can only assume it was removed because it was faulty, but the garage never thought of putting it in the boot for the owner, so he could get it refurbished, who knows why not....

Big thank you to Nathan Jones (Aberdeen), for not only providing the LSV but also reconditioning it, all FOC

Here it is:

[RSi]

Having spent the last year working on the house (and only getting the odd hour here and there, on the Sprint), I'm glad to say the 'house work' is done and dusted, for me anyway - and I'll get back to RNK and hopefully get the underside cleaned and finished. Here's a couple of photos of the original front shocker (from new, as there's no receipt for them having been replaced) cleaned, painted and new repro stickers added. Subframe is back on with some bits of the steering, but not adding anything else until the rear axle is off and back on, as she'd be top heavy at the front on the ramp, with the axle missing.

[RSi]

Things didn't go quite to plan with getting back onto the Sprint, as we decided to do a lot more round the house than first planned, but it's all done now - and finally got back to it in the last couple of weeks, the first real opportunity in the last couple of years, apart from the odd day here and there. We had intentions of getting some runs and shows with it in 2020, but lockdown put a stop to that so decided to clean the engine bay and front suspension sooner than planned.

It was really awkward decreasing the engine and box inside the garage, then cleaning everything in situ, and was also time consuming - but have broken the back of it now. Just waiting for the carbs and rocker cover to come back.

About 99% of the original parts removed are being refitted, as they were perfect, including the original shocks, springs, rack, ball joints etc. I replaced the spark plug tubes and carb mounts with the uprated ones, subframe bushes, engine mounts and refurbished the calipers.

Here's the photos of the engine bay before, and now - as you can see there's still a bit of cleaning to be done.

















The subframe before and now:

















The oil filter will be painted the correct colour once I change the oil.

















From the underside, the ramp did make a huge difference, at this time of life

[Jake]

Absolutely top class work, well done. That will be so satisfying once it's all done. It's just sad how quickly these projects get dirty and stained and need a deep clean again. Maybe we should invent some kind of air conditioned indoor velodrome for cars so we don't have to get the toothbrushes and cotton buds out to clean them after each drive!

[yorkshire_spam]

Fabulous standard of work as ever!