RMR - 1974 Dolomite Sprint

[SiC]

Started last Sunday getting the back of the front wheel arch finished.

This is pretty much how I left it last year bar cleaning up again ready for this welding.


That was an awkward shape to get in, so I cut a bit more off to get more room the other side.


Made a patch that fitted. Easier when you have access the other side as I could roughly get to shape and put the otherside and mark off a more exact measurement.


A lot of fiddling to get into place and held.


The light area made a handy earthing point.


Then a couple of tacks to hold in place as it was getting late and I wouldn't finish it that day. Leaving a few days would likely leave it ending up on the floor.


Fast forward to yesterday evening when I had some more time to get on with this. Hellish first week back affected my mojo for getting on with welding in the evenings and I suspect it's not going to get any better, so progress from now is likely to be slow again.

Anyhow finished welding it up and took off the top of the welds. I'm not going to grind all the way back as it's an awkward place to work and its not really visible normally either.


Then painted. Which has just reminded me, I need to put paint on the inside...!


Not sure if I want to tackle the front of the car just yet. I might put some paint over to protect it and then come back later for it. Feel that it's probably one of those faffy jobs that will take forever to get right. Also need to get some thinner steel and try out seeing if that's easier to shape than the stuff I have at the moment. I can shape the 0.9mm/20 gauge stuff I have, but it's not the most pliable. For the front end wing, it's not structural but it is quite shaped. So thinner stuff should be ok here.

Also need to either repair or replace the light holders. I really don't want to cut the wing or front valance off as I think it's a bit unnecessary for the work that needs doing there. Cutting them off will be a right faff in getting them back on and they risk never be right. Not that they probably were out of the factory anyway!

[SiC]

Hi SiC

https://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/vie ... 5&start=75



The eyebrow section runs underneath the leading edge of the front wing and a bit of the front nose section - see attached pictures where I replaced mine. It is fixed in position to the inner valence - the ends of which (where the headlight goes through) are often rotten and again required replacement on my car - all available from the club and a superb fit and quality.
You won't need to remove the wing to fit them, infact if you do cut out the remains of the old eyebrow, it will give you some access from underneath to repair your wing section.

James has also detailed this process in his write ups - RUK and DTR are well worth having a trawl through.

HTH. MC

That's very useful information. My eyebrows aren't too bad from what I can see thankfully.

What purpose do they serve? I don't really see their use at the moment, apart from another grot trap! Not structural either as I think the club replacements are GRP? Presumably they have a purpose otherwise BL wouldn't have bothered!

[new to this]

Being looking through what youve done,your chipping way at the rust nicely, nice work

Dave

Are you going to replace the front wings or repair them ?

[SiC]

Being looking through what youve done,your chipping way at the rust nicely, nice work

Dave

Are you going to replace the front wings or repair them ?

Thanks! It's a slow old slog but all I have to do is plod on and it'll get done eventually.

Given the replacement wings are GRP now, I prefer to repair them as best as I can. Absolute worse case I could go to the GRP wings, but given mine are still mostly useable (with a bit of work) and original to the car, I think I rather keep it original. For now at least!

These cars are treasured vehicles now and aren't (at least shouldn't!) be outside in all weathers. So if I can sufficiently protect these, I should be able to prolong the life of them.

I hate filler, but I do concede that this is a suitable place for it. Just at least I wished whoever last worked on this area had fixed the holes rather than slopping filler all over them instead!

[SiC]

A tip I was given by a professional panel beater on another forum I post on, was to clamp the replacement new steel over the old panel and bash the hell into it to match the contours of the old. Something I might give a go as will massively speed up the job. Possibly will try some thinner steel though as should be easier to shape - like 0.8mm or even down to 0.6mm.

[Galileo]

These cars are treasured vehicles now and aren't (at least shouldn't!) be outside in all weathers. So if I can sufficiently protect these, I should be able to prolong the life of them.

Ah, so I shouldn't use my Sprint as a daily driver* doing 6k miles a year kept outside in all weathers? I knew I was going wrong somewhere with this classic car ownership thing!

*Except when icy and there's salt about.

[SiC]

These cars are treasured vehicles now and aren't (at least shouldn't!) be outside in all weathers. So if I can sufficiently protect these, I should be able to prolong the life of them.

Ah, so I shouldn't use my Sprint as a daily driver* doing 6k miles a year kept outside in all weathers? I knew I was going wrong somewhere with this classic car ownership thing!

*Except when icy and there's salt about.

I didn't phrase that very well did I! What I meant is that they've long past old banger stage. So they're generally more looked after with owners aware of salt on the roads and it's affects on the life of a car. Especially one like this where there is rust traps galore.

The front wing on mine are pretty thin on the inside, but still enough material there to work with. Given the other option is aftermarket GRP, despite how good they may be, I'd rather try my best to save the original metal wings on the car. I'll clean up the inside of them and retreat them, which should massively extend their life. Of course if the car gets used in all weathers (i.e. when it's salty) then they will deteriorate as quickly as the cars did back in the 70/80s.

But yeah, I'm all for using classics as much as possible. This is effectively what this car aim is. There are plenty of concourse examples around and this isn't likely ever be one. At least I'm not interested in it being like that. Basically tidy enough so it's not embarrassingly scruffy old banger. Not a show winner but one that is a nice thing to both own and drive.

Hope this makes more sense!

[SiC]

Finished the inner wing area off. This was a right pia to do as the outer wing is in place and room is tight. As this will be hidden by a shield, I didn't grind it completely flat either. Need to bend that bit sticking back out to give somewhere for the shield to bolt onto.




Started moving back towards the rear of the car again. The front will be easier to do once it's facing the other end of the garage. I'll turn the car around when I get onto the nearside as I won't have to move all my tools to the other side of the garage, plus there is a whole bunch of crap on the other wall too.

Finished a small bit by the checkstrap plate I forgot. Small and barely noticeable once the doors on but needed to be done.




Next up is the b-pillar. Took the door off as it makes working on this area massively easier.



Started removing gobs of filler again.




Actually was fearing it would be much worse under here. Double skinned again but the inner, thicker metal skin is in good shape. Some pitting but plenty of metal left there.

Cut away some of the pitted outer section so I could repair that hole at the top of the sill.


Welded a piece in place and then chased up the smaller holes.


Then painted. Except I forgot to take a picture of that and I'm in bed writing this up on my phone ...

I'll try remember to take a picture before I get on with making replacement pieces for the outer section of that b-pillar! Not particularly exciting though, the same but grey. Painted surfaces do come up clearer on the camera though.

[SiC]

Some Friday night metal bashing





Other bit left is going to be a bit more awkward. After this I might go back to the front wing and get the bottom piece done.

I've got a replacement piece but I hate welding preformed panels in. If you cock it up, it costs more money! I'm dreading getting the rear arches done. They're hideously expensive panels and hens teeth.

[SiC]

Time for a long overdue update.

Finished that B pillar off shortly after last posting.



Then started on the back of the cill.



Cut this bit off.



Which revealed this mess.


Even worse, whoever did the cill last didn't fix up and weld the inner membrane. So frustrating.


I did make this repair piece to repair the end of the cill. Idea being that I could reuse most of the existing.


Ultimately though I knew the whole sill needed to come off.


Good news is that a lot of it is not in terrible shape. Also the original membrane too.


So I started making up replacement bits to weld in.


As I was making sparks everywhere, I decided to drain the tank.



This lovely fuel is currently going through my lawnmowers. Once the water was drained out, they seem quite happy on it.




At this point my mojo had dropped to nearly zero. I knew I'd need buy a whole lot of panels too if I was going to make a decent job on this.

Sold my 1100 and got this instead.


Did a Cambelt change amongst other things and an MOT. Realised I did not like it and wasn't for me. Too comfy, refined and big for my tastes as a toy. Good car otherwise but I don't have a sophisticated enough taste for such a machine.


Then went hunting for a classic Mini. Idea was to get one that was road ready and wasn't yet another project. Realised that they were all rusty, no matter the budget and all projects of some degree - some immediate, some in a year or two. Varied from either really rusty, haven't looked hard enough or hidden under paint and filler. Also damn expensive for what you got. Frustrated I abandoned that idea for now!

Instead I decided to splunk some of my new found wealth from selling two cars on some panels. So took the day off and collected a bunch of panels from the club last week.


Last night I got on with welding the piece in I clamped up 3 month ago. Also took the time to line up the outer cill with the arch repair panel to see how well everything went together.


Then realised I must have had the wrong side cill on. Glad I lined this all up to check!


That end should be this end. I need to cut off the bottom piece in here and weld this all up at the back end. It's currently a right mess.


With the panels in hand now, I just need to crack on getting these cills and arches done. Another project is going to be the boot floor. It's still there but very patchy. Thankfully Purplebarken gave me this boot floor piece a while back. The fuel tank side (left) is going to be especially useful.


In other news, a previous owner of this car from about 15years ago found my YouTube video! Told me a few useful nuggets about it. It had been owned by a local college for a bit and used as something for the students to restore. Hence why it went through quite a few owners for a bit.

Also the seats are actually rare heated seats from a Swiss model car. That'll explain the wires coming out the bottom of the seat! Never wired up though. Maybe I might. Seats do need a lot of attention though as the foam is kaput and vinyl sections ripped.

Most interesting is that it had a "new" engine, gearbox and diff around 100k. Explains why it ran so well when I did drive it that one time to bring it home. Admittedly not sure if new new, or existing and rebuilt. But better than 125k which it would have been on if original.

[new to this]

Looks like youve got your hands full with this car,my car rusted in the same places as yours along the sills and rear arch plus the sill step what are your inner arches like

Dave

[SiC]

Looks like youve got your hands full with this car,my car rusted in the same places as yours along the sills and rear arch plus the sill step what are your inner arches like

Dave

So far I'm just focusing on the offside of the car. The inner arch is fine but the outer arch is gone on the edges. At the front bottom especially there is nothing left. Tempted to buy a replacement outer arch but I only need a small proportion of it and they're not terribly cheap. Could fabricate something as it's not going to be visible normally but it still is quite a complex shape.

Nearside is all still there but unsure if it's correct, original or even metal yet!

[SiC]

Busy weekend hacking away slowly at this sill.

First job was to weld in the piece that was clamped up a few months ago. Also welded a bit more up on the inner membrane. I have a new panel that I could replace all this, however I'm keen to keep most of what I can as some of it is in good shape and original too.

Before

After


Next was to tackle the rear of the sill. This had been repaired before but looked like externally without having as much access as I do now.


A lot of chopping of old repair work out left quite a bit missing.


Now a case of piecing it all back together again.








That took a good 6 hours of work over the weekend. Slow progress but chipping away at it a piece at a time.

The inner wheel arch is going to need serious reconstruction. The inside panel is completely missing at the bottom corner. It is quite a complex curved shape that needs to be replicated.


Then there is holes along the top and then quite a bit missing at the bottom rear. Outer arch I have a repair piece. But there isn't too much for it to join back onto yet.


Probably going to obtain a panel to repair this. Not cheap and I will only need a smallish section to do this. But would save a whole lot of time while being a neater job.

[Matt Cotton]

Great progress and updates Simon - it's coming on well.

I really struggled with my inner arches too. It did take a long time to make templates, transfer to steel and get them to fit neatly. I think this panel is still available so you may be able to use a new panel as a good template to make your repairs, then keep the panel intact for your next Dolomite project/pass onwards.

It won't be long until you are cavity waxing a nice and solid car again.

All the best.

MC

[new to this]

Your sill step is in better condition than mine, i cut out the D-panel to give better access,












Dave