Uprated Oil Pump Relief Springs???

[Dolly racer 33]

Generally: use the standard stuff, until that breaks, and then try to find something better.

I know what you mean, but based on my experience I think that I need to replace a "Dolomite" with something better, as I have broken everything that can be broken including, motors, clutches, gearboxes, diffs, suspensions, and cracked body shells.

These items are already uprated and I still manage to break them.

Mark

Perhaps some driving tuition may help

[SPRINTPARTS]

Perhaps some driving tuition may help

Or maybe after 25+ years, 250+ race meetings and probably more than 25,000km of racing Dolomite Sprints I have managed to find every weakness that the car has to offer. (Can ayone else match those figures?????????? Philip is not included)

I raced a "Series Production" Sprint in the 1980's for 7 years and it was absolutely bullet proof. These days the cars that we run are modified and therefore faster, but are also more fragile. I believe that a race car is there to be driven as hard as possibly (without over driving) and if it breaks it should be engineered to ensure that it can handle what it is there to do. Unfortunately age is catching up with these cars, metal fatigue etc. Cracks in the rear suspension pickup points, subframe attach points, chassis rails, trailing arms etc has nothing to do with driving style.

Quality of some parts that where original equipment, or these days some of the replacement items available is best described of average quality. If the budget was big enough (or if I actually had a budget rather than spend what NEEDS to be spent) the car would be stripped down regularly and replace/rebuild all the running gear every few race meeting.

After having my race Sprint destroyed earlier this year in a accident I thought long and hard if I wanted to continue with it or go to something more modern and more competitive to match the opposition. Unfortunately the heart over ruled the head, so a new car (bodyshell) is now nearing completion and the old car (bodyshell) will be repaired and returned to its original "Group C" Touring car specs to race at Historic Race Meeting. So in the near future I will have 2 racing Sprints to try and break.

Mark

[Dolly racer 33]

Perhaps some driving tuition may help

Or maybe after 25+ years, 250+ race meetings and probably more than 25,000km of racing Dolomite Sprints I have managed to find every weakness that the car has to offer. (Can ayone else match those figures?????????? Philip is not included)

I raced a "Series Production" Sprint in the 1980's for 7 years and it was absolutely bullet proof. These days the cars that we run are modified and therefore faster, but are also more fragile. I believe that a race car is there to be driven as hard as possibly (without over driving) and if it breaks it should be engineered to ensure that it can handle what it is there to do. Unfortunately age is catching up with these cars, metal fatigue etc. Cracks in the rear suspension pickup points, subframe attach points, chassis rails, trailing arms etc has nothing to do with driving style.

Quality of some parts that where original equipment, or these days some of the replacement items available is best described of average quality. If the budget was big enough (or if I actually had a budget rather than spend what NEEDS to be spent) the car would be stripped down regularly and replace/rebuild all the running gear every few race meeting.

After having my race Sprint destroyed earlier this year in a accident I thought long and hard if I wanted to continue with it or go to something more modern and more competitive to match the opposition. Unfortunately the heart over ruled the head, so a new car (bodyshell) is now nearing completion and the old car (bodyshell) will be repaired and returned to its original "Group C" Touring car specs to race at Historic Race Meeting. So in the near future I will have 2 racing Sprints to try and break.

Mark

Dont bite it was only said in jest.

Yes, me too but I have very rarely broken the car. These cars are very strong. Most of the mechanical bits have their roots in the 1940's & 50's where everything was over engineered, or perhaps it was not engineered at all just made very strong so it did not break. I have broken 1engine in 20+ years racing & 1 axle but little else. I have seen many Dollys out racing that have broken everytime out, that is usually down to bad preperation.

I do agree with you however that the quality of replacement parts is somewhat poor & I either use NOS parts or have them made myself. Obviously not always possible.

Regards,

Ken.

[Neil907]

After having my race Sprint destroyed earlier this year in a accident I thought long and hard if I wanted to continue with it or go to something more modern and more competitive to match the opposition. Unfortunately the heart over ruled the head, so a new car (bodyshell) is now nearing completion and the old car (bodyshell) will be repaired and returned to its original "Group C" Touring car specs to race at Historic Race Meeting. So in the near future I will have 2 racing Sprints to try and break.
Mark

Great to hear that the old shell can be saved and that you are sticking with dollys.

[milesinfront]

I have seen many Dollys out racing that have broken everytime out, that is usually down to bad preperation.

Go easy on Mark! He's one of the most 'racy' members on this forum. I am also not aware of any other business that offers as many 'hot dolly' parts as Sprint Parts. It's great that he's decided to build another race dolly, but if anyone has earned the right to shamelessly walk away from triumphs and race something new and fast it's Mark....

[SPRINTPARTS]

Rick,

Thanks for the positive comments.

Ken,

I wasn't really biting, just supporting my earlier comments that in motorsport, time and technology are catching and passing Dolomite Sprints. 15 years ago in a 30 car 2 litre grid I could qualify and race in the top 10 and most times in the top 6. These days, even with smaller grids, top 10 is a VERY good day, and more than likely in the last 6 cars.

If you race against cars from the same era or technology (1960-70's) a Sprint can still be competitive, but we don't. Although some of the cars we race against are from the 1970's, most are using later model running gear. The current "gun car" is Honda Civic. These cars can use the latest technology components, which in many cases are still cheaper than our 30 year old items. Anyone racing a Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Ford, etc, can buy a vast array of competition parts off the shelf to make their car go as fast as they can afford or want.

We need to pay almost twice the cost for a set of forged pistons compared with most modern 4 cylinder motors. One my friends has turbo charged his Dolomite Sprint race car. It now runs 15" wheels, enormous brakes, 5 link rear suspension, etc, but is not eligible for the catergory that we race in due to the mods and it still is not as fast as the 1.8 litre Honda Civics that we race against. Another fellow competitor runs a Nissan Pulsar which uses an SR20 variable cam timing motor. He buys second hand import motors, gives them an oil change and sticks them into the car using the factory ECU. The last motor was used for 5 years, and was replaced because he decided that it should be, and he still beats us.

In motorsport technology has well and truly passed by a 30 year old Dolomite Sprint.

Mark

[Dolly racer 33]

I do agree with you. I race against period cars. All the cars I race against are well catered for by the tuners. Escorts 1 & 2 fitted with pinto engines, using later Sierra injection cylinder heads, Capri 3000 using roller cams from the USA. All of these items were not available in the period but have somehow found their way into the cars, lax enforcement of regulations I suspect.

The Sprint engine was well advanced in period but because it was only used in the Sprint & a handful of TR7s it is not well catered for by tuners therefore leaving any development up to small companies like myself. I have a reliable 235 BHP at the flywheel & any development I have done over the last 20 years or so has not increased this significantly. In period Broadspeed got a reputed 227 BHP compared to around 250 for Capri's Capri's are now approaching 300 so you can see the difficulties we have. Still a Dolly has class & style. We win

[xvivalve]

Shame we can't organise a head to head involving you guys...

[milesinfront]

I have a reliable 235 BHP at the flywheel

I gotta get me one of those!

[SPRINTPARTS]

Mark is away for a few days so I will jump in here.

Here are my thoughts on what would have been the ultimate Sprint engine-
Direct fuel injection with crank trigger ignition and knock sensor
Roller cam followers
bigger oil pump
Light weight forged pistons with inlet and exhaust valve reliefs
Variable inlet valve Cam timing
5 Kg flywheel
multiplate lightweight clutch
Triumph cranks and rods are durable so use those
o-ringed head gasket
tubular exhaust that allows the cam cover and starter motor to be easliy removed
high torque starter motor
and the biggest wish- an alloy block (that would have to save at least 25kg) that doesnt crack through the main bearing journals!!

Now most of these items could be manufactured by specialist suppliers but I am not sure we could find 100 of us who could justify a A$50k engine!!!

Mark and I have alway said if we had a truck load of money we would send both our cars to Williams Engeneering, Prodrive or TWR and tell them to build a Dolomite that was as quick as a Skyling GTR/Spoon S2000 or Porsche GT3, and see what they would return to us, (apart from the ambulance to the mental hospital).
Still it is good to dream what the Sprint could have been had it been given appropriate development funding by BL that it deserved.

Hey Rick see what you started with a simple question about an oil pressure relief valve spring!!!

Philip.

[milesinfront]

Hey Rick see what you started with a simple question about an oil pressure relief valve spring!!!

Yeah it's well off topic, but been a great read and possibly one of the most active threads I've ever seen on this forum.... Lovin it!

o-ringed head gasket

I've heard these aren't very successful on the sprint heads. The alloy is very soft! Have you ever seen one tested via the ball bearing bounce tester thingy? My local machine shop had one of my sprint heads next to an old alfa twin can head. The bearing bounced about three times on the alpha head. The bearing stopped dead on the sprint head like it was made from pk chewing gum! So perhaps re-cast cylinder heads along with the allow blocks... (Keith from BAC used to always tell me to regularly check the head bolts. Obviously the head slowly squishes under the pressure. The o-rings apparently do the same thing, only faster...

Speaking of alloy blocks. I recently helped my Brother swap his 12 valve iron block 2.5l BMW 6 cylinder to an all alloy twin cam 24 valve 2.8l BMW 6. The later engine was 30kgs lighter. More power, HEAPS more torque, less weight! No wonder the old Sprint s are struggling these days...

[xvivalve]

Couldn't the block be done TVR fashion, made out of plate rather than solid cast...

[go on, shoot me...I'm no engineer... ]

[newguy]

I wish that i could have more time off work be on a huge salary and jut work on triumphs all day.
If i ever get to Aus one of the biggest attractions for me would be checking out your race cars.

[trackerjack]

Couldn't the block be done TVR fashion, made out of plate rather than solid cast...

[go on, shoot me...I'm no engineer... ]

Most certainly can no problem but would almost certainly need a 5 axis CNC. The company I work for makes F1 parts and one of the people who supply us with work made the alloy blocks for producing he motorcycle engine based V8's (2litre 350bhp).
The cost? dig deep into your pocket and treble what you can afford.