The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I was thinking about using last years pics.

A past master at using 'archive' presentation material, you'd be surprised how inverting the image horizontally (amongst other secrets I shall retain) can detract from any recognition whatsoever; just scrutinise for anything that might give the game away such as text, right hand steer etc etc

I think you should throw one in Mart, see who's paying attention!

On my way home from work this afternoon I decided to take a bit of a detour to see how PUS was coming along. I only had my phone camera but pic quality isn't bad.







Before & after shots of the left rear wheel arch repair. Thanks very much to Tony (MIGwielder) for donating the repair section, very generous of you.

Far too much filler in that. Sack that fitter.

Jonners

Looks great Mart!! What paint did you use on the suspension?

The usual...Hammerite Smoothe.

Don't panic, I have been working on PUS all week, I just haven't taken any pics.

All the front & rear suspension & brake parts have been cleaned & painted. All new bushes inserted where applicable. Most of the front suspension has now been rebuilt c/w new upper & lower ball joints. I have been battling with one of the front brake caliper bleed nipples all week, but I won in the end. Brake calipers have now been refurbished with new seals and a nice coat of Hammerite silver. I managed to get all the exhaust sections apart. That knotted wire wheel comes in dead handy for cleaning bits, I even went over the stainless steel exhaust to get the rust off. So tomorrow I shall bolt a few things together and I may even start stripping the engine........after I've watched the Chinese GP in bed of course.

What a great GP.

I eventually got into the garage by mid morning & started by putting the brake calipers & shields on, then a reinstalled the front arb. I just laid the steering rack in place as I forgot to clean & paint the brackets yesterday.



Then this afternoon I thought I'd start on the engine...



I had a bit of surprise when I undid the sump drain plug...




It was like treacle & there's a load of sludge left in the sump.

I also noticed this...



...it looks like the spring from the oil seal.

Yuck!

What on earth is that?

Stan Part wrote:What on earth is that?

Looks to me like something from a Wes Craven film. Either that, or it's McDonalds' latest type of burger relish.

Still, no doubt that engine is to be given a stripdown and rebuild in any case so it'll probably be overhauled, painted and refitted in a fully painted shell by a week on Thursday.

Stan Part wrote:What on earth is that?

Melted chocolate ice cream.

Looks to be a terrible engine lubricant.

It was in fact a special mix of chocolate & caramel, specially formulated for the fast Sprint engine.


I finished stripping down the engine tonight.

This looks to be the worst bit. Quite a lot of surface corrosion on the cam lobes & the rocker assembly is gunked up. A couple of the valves seem to be stuck as well. I think I'm going to have fun getting the buckets out.





The bores look fine with just a bit of corrosion where the pistons where at rest. The pistons themselves look very good with hardly any scoring on the thrust sides, except of course for no. 4. Why is that? All the bearings look good with only slight wear on them.






The thrust bearing nearest the rear of the engine is knackered & is only waffer thin.




The waterpump looks very new but I will have to rebuild it as that was the spring from the top of the oil seal that was poking out. I will also change the impeller.

No matter Mike, we will overcome.

Yesterday evening I spent an hour or so cleaning the engine block...




...good, those knotted wire brushes.


This evening I honed out the bores & then sprayed the block...





I'm hoping that PUS will be in primer when I go to see it on Saturday.

I went to see PUS this morning and it is indeed in primer...