After a lot of starts and stops, due to interruptions working on the house, the wee man's tractors and a sudden spell of illness, I finally got back to the engine bay and front suspension 'clean up' last week, so a wee update on how I got on. It was quite a task to clean it inside the garage and in situ, but got there in the end. Just the horns to fit, I forgot to paint them.
The front struts are to fitted, but may leave them off as I'm stripping the rear suspension and axle next, so could do with the weight off at the front as it'll be top heavy on the ramp. Will need to put some weight in the boot to counteract the weight difference.
Does anyone have a rough idea what the combined weight of the back axle and suspension is?
Triumph Dolomite Sprint (RNK 957W)
Automatic, porcelain white - 52,820, genuine mileage (warranted).
Built 26/6/1980, 3 previous owners (2 within the same family).
Supplied by Lavender Hill Garage Ltd, Enfield, London, by garage owner Jimmy Metcalfe on 30th September 1980 to Geoffrey Robinson, Enfield, London.
I'm on the final task at the front of the Sprint, cleaning any dry and cracked Ziebart off the underside of the wings - then onto the rear.....
I've given the wings a clean up, repainted the areas in the correct Porcelain White, and then Dinitrol on top to match the rest of the wing. Once the Dinitrol dries, it looks exactly like the Ziebart that's on it, which is a stroke of luck.
It's quite a trap for fumes in there, and when I did the passenger side last week I ended up pretty miserable with the fumes - I was wearing a mask, but it just wasn't up to the job. I got a better one delivered this week and is absolutely fantastic, nothing gets through - I would highly recommend it. It's a Moldex 7002 with a Gas Filter, A1B1E1K1, and 9030 Particulate Filters P3R (PR). In total it was £36.37 from Zoro Ltd, with free delivery.
I got a really nice surprise last night. The family I bought RNK off in 2017, found the photos of the day it was re-introduced to society, in 2016.
Flight Lieutenant Pat Legge (its long term custodian) parked the car in his garage for the very last time in 2002, unaware that it was to be his final drive. He sadly fell ill (at the age of 88), and passed away the following year, on 11th May 2003, at the age of 89.
The Sprint lay in his garage for a further 13 years following his death, and it was only when the garage complex was sold to developers, the family had no option but to have it moved. It's was Moordale Motors, the family tasked to recommission it, so it could be sold - a decision they didn't expect to make. They had continued to pay the rent on the garage for all those years, so the car could remain in the family. They had no storage (they were already paying for their 2 parking spaces outside their home, in London), so the car had to be sold on - that was my good fortune.
Triumph Dolomite Sprint (RNK 957W)
Automatic, porcelain white - 52,820, genuine mileage (warranted).
Built 26/6/1980, 3 previous owners (2 within the same family).
Supplied by Lavender Hill Garage Ltd, Enfield, London, by garage owner Jimmy Metcalfe on 30th September 1980 to Geoffrey Robinson, Enfield, London.
I've not posted for some time, so a wee update on cleaning the underneath.
We (myself and my son), have got the axle off to get the Ziebart ready for a coat of dinitrol. It's been quite a task to flatten out where the Ziebart's been applied really heavily - we could have left it the way it was, but as we've gone this far we thought smoothing out the heavy bits will make the dinitrol coating look nicer. Where the Ziebart's dried out with the exhaust heat has been removed too.
Once the diff seal is fitted (wating for someone to fit it) we can get the axle painted and all the suspension back on, ready for refitting.
The dinitrol been done to just under the back seat, so just the rear to do - but like I've said, its been time consuming and a messy one to get it how we wanted it (my excuse for the delay lol).
Ziebart dressed ready for the dinitrol.
Dinitrol coating to the back seat, and Chris Witor's gearbox mounting.
Triumph Dolomite Sprint (RNK 957W)
Automatic, porcelain white - 52,820, genuine mileage (warranted).
Built 26/6/1980, 3 previous owners (2 within the same family).
Supplied by Lavender Hill Garage Ltd, Enfield, London, by garage owner Jimmy Metcalfe on 30th September 1980 to Geoffrey Robinson, Enfield, London.
