Project Dolomega, the next level

[Carledo]

Steve

how are you doing the electric windows buying a kit or fitting a motor to dolomite window mech ?

Dave

I was lucky enough to have a universal conversion kit given to me by a neighbour who bought it for his Landrover but wrote the car off before he could get around to fitting it.

It may be a bit of a mixed blessing, bits of it seem a tad flimsy! Time will tell!

From the same source but much more recently (the result of a lockdown garage clearout last week) came a near complete central locking set including the discrete loom and relays from a 70s Volvo 240. In fact it came from one of MY old 240s! There are now only 2 solenoids which I will probably apply (after testing) to the front doors and I have a pretty vast collection of assorted solenoids and rods, both aftermarket and OE, to build up something for the rear. Then i'll buy a cheap aftermarket set with remote activation, purely to get the remote activation bits (the Volvo was drivers door lock operated only originally, but I couldn't make the lock microswitches fit round the Dolomite lock) and make them work with the hybrid bits i've got. It's really only a matter of translating an IR signal into a relay switching current which the system would be designed to do anyway.

Steve

[tamtrucks]

on page 22 you got a piccy of electrics near the fuel tank...is that wise place to mount it?

[James467]

on page 22 you got a piccy of electrics near the fuel tank...is that wise place to mount it?

Looks fine to me, early cars had a resister mounted in almost the same place. The left rear lights are in the save vicinity to the fuel tank, if anything they are closer.

[Carledo]

Thanks James, beat me to it!

A car has so little space it's hard to run things a REALLY safe distance apart, compromises have to be made.

But this is one i have full confidence in, the boards I have fitted only INTERRUPT the loom that ran here anyway, modern in-tank fuel pumps take live wires right inside the tank in safety. The few bare tags on the boards will be covered by the boot trim millboards so nothing in the boot can accidentally short it out.

What I HAVE taken pains to do, is re-route the (now high pressure) fuel lines to the side of the car opposite the exhaust rather than being in quite close proximity as the originals were. And i've fitted an impact sensitive cut off switch to the fuel pump supply which even the donor Omega didn't have. I'm not oblivious to H+S, just not obsessed by it!

Steve

[Carledo]

Another little job i've been putting off forever!

The N/S/F wing is one salvaged from the Carledo when I went GRP and is near perfect except for a slight metal deficiency where it meets the valance.

I've actually GOT a lower front wing corner salvaged from another wing, but thought it a waste to use it for so small a repair and decided to make a repair section from scratch.

This turned out to be one of the most complex and difficult bits of fabrication I think i've ever done. It's ALL compound curves and nothing short of absolute accuracy in shape and fit will suffice!

I used the spare corner as a pattern and made it in 2 pieces cut from the lump of bonnet I removed to fit the bulge, that gave me the right thickness of steel. First I made a pattern of the fitting edge and cut that out. Then I ROLLED the corner across the sheet drawing round the edge as I went to form a sort of Banana shape for the outer section which, once moulded round the spare corner and clamped, made it the right shape. Then I joined the 2 together, whilst still clamped, with a handful of tacks, removed it from the pattern and welded it together fully.












After that it was just a case of carefully getting it into just the right place! Still took me most of a day to make and fit but I did it on the first try, which is something I aim for and take pleasure from achieving! It means i've thought it out properly in the first place!

Steve

[James467]

Oh god, I forgot how annoying these were to make! It looks good though.

I have to do the same on Richards car!

[Carledo]

Oh god, I forgot how annoying these were to make! It looks good though.

I have to do the same on Richards car!

Times like this, I really long for a shrinker/stretcher and an English wheel!

Still it's done now!

Steve

[Carledo]

The Freelander console came today and I couldn't resit a try fit.

It'll need a bit of adjustment here and there but it goes between the seats - JUST!

It's not even too tall which I'd suspected might be a problem.

But another little SNAFU has reared it's ugly head in the form of the seatbelt buckles, I got one out to see how it will fit with the console and it will do in that respect, the problem is the length of the stalk. With the original seats fitted this isn't a factor, but my MG seats are mounted a bit further back to get my lengthy frame comfortable, this has brought the latch forward to halfway up the cushion. I'm either going to have to fit the seatbelts that go with the (MGZR) seats, the buckles for which mount on the seats themselves, or find some shorter stalks that match the original belts.

2 steps forward and one back, c'est la vie!

Steve

[Carledo]

More bad news, The ZR buckles come with a bulky and explosive pretensioner, so they won't do!

I might have to have a word with Securon about a custom set.

On other matters, I found on ebay, for under a tenner, a control unit with 2 fobs to run the central locking and also (bonus) remotely trigger the boot release. No solenoids or much wiring (which I don't need anyway) I'm well pleased!

Probably Chinese, but i'm using good Swedish/German wiring, relays and solenoids, should be OK.

Steve

[Carledo]

Well the contiuing lockdowns and consequent postponement of the 2020 RBRR till Oct 2nd 2021, along with other stuff needing doing caused me to put project Dolomega on the back burner for a bit (alright, a year, all but a week, doesn't time fly when you're having fun) but now i'm back on it and just as heavily under the cosh as I was last year!

I haven't been entirely idle in the meantime but most of the progress has been indoors where I've worked out the circuitry for the electric windows and central locking that will integrate them with the Freelander switches in the console. There are 4 switches, 2 for electric windows, the circuits for which were fairly simple and another one, originally to raise and lower the tailgate window and the fourth originally locked and unlocked the window switches. I wanted to use one of these for triggering the C/L from inside the car without using the fob, both for backup and safety and the other to trip the boot release, again as a backup to the fob (and the manual lock) OK, and because I CAN!

This was not so simple as the switches fitted worked on an either/or system using a switched earth and I needed a switched feed to make them work. It took a bit of lateral thinking to find that it worked fine if I fed the switch earth leads and earthed the switch illumination feed lead. Yes the switches WILL light up off the sidelights (or ignition, haven't decided yet, ignition aux powers the windows, via a relay, so that will be easiest as the feed will already be there.)

There is potential in the fob control unit to make it raise any windows left open when I lock the doors with the fob, but i'm not sure at this stage if I want to incorporate this function or not, it could be a mixed blessing if I WANT to leave a window slightly open on a hot day, ie to let a dog get air (not that I have a dog, or particularly want one in the car) or just for ventilation.

I'm going to put all the wiring in place before painting, but may leave the actual electric window install till later, it's not vital and depends on time available. The C/L is easier and the boot actuation is already in place and wired up, so that at least is OK.

Meanwhile the next 3 weeks is going to be an orgy of paint prep to get it in colour for the middle of July at the latest!

Steve

[Carledo]

Paintwork has thrown me a curve ball, I guess it had to happen, but fortunately only cost me a day.

The N/S/F wing is a refugee from the Carledo and aside from a small repair needed to the edge that closes with the valance (see further up this page) it was in great shape. However it had about 6 coats of paint on it in various shades of Carmine, some of which I flatted right through to metal in spots to level it all up. This was my undoing, last night, I attempted to cover the bare metal bits with a coat of etch primer, only to have a bad reaction with one of the previous colours, pickled rings and ovals all over it!

So I spent the whole of today laboriously rubbing ALL the paint off the wing, back to bare metal.

Fortunately, apart from a bit of crazing in the paint on the O/S/F wing that i've already dealt with, that's the only paint on the multi coloured swap shop that has shown any trace of reaction, so I can crack on again.

I've booked Paul the painter to lay the colour on, on the weekend of 17/18th July and Cliff to fit the Vinyl roof and C posts on the 24th.

I can already see it (in my mind's eye) cruising away, resplendent in it's new Vermillion coat!

Steve

[Matt Cotton]

Great progress Steve and we look forward to seeing the painted car resplendent in it's new coat very soon!

BW

MC

[Carledo]

August 2nd is the 43rd anniversary of it's DOFR, it'd be nice to be driving it on the day, maybe even going for an MOT!

Steve

[sprint95m]

Date of First Registration!

Is the Round Britain Run still on the cards, Steve?
The Scottish Government has given a date in early August for coming out of the legal restrictions



Ian

[Carledo]

Date of First Registration!

Is the Round Britain Run still on the cards, Steve?
The Scottish Government has given a date in early August for coming out of the legal restrictions
Ian

I'm booked with the Dolomega on the RBRR with Mahesh and my neighbour Les, the same crew as we ran in 2018, departing Knebworth (god and covid willing) on Friday 2nd October, so we should be in your neck of the woods around 7am on the 3rd. Failure is not an option!

I was saddened to learn however that there will be no TDCIR again this year. I was hoping to bring a bit of silver home for best modified and incidentally put a few miles on the beast before the big day. To date it has only covered about 300 yards under it's own power since 1994. It stops, starts, runs, drives and changes gear, and has been run reguarly since first start over a year ago, the battery has been connected continuously since first start, and hasn't needed charging once since, nor has it ever failed to start first turn, so i'm cautiously optimistic.

Though I have previous for taking untested cars on 1000+ mile journeys (3 days after I finished the resto and 2 days after it's first MOT, I took my GT6 convertible to the international Spitfire Weekend in Arcen, Holland. It got there and back in one piece but not entirely without incident) I'd rather not be forced into a similar situation again. So i'd like at least a month or so of testing and debugging including at least one 100+ mile trip in one go, as it were, before I take on 2000+ miles in 48 hours.

Steve