24 years restoring a Sprint in New Zealand

[soe8m]

The holes in the sills have blanking grommets, the four, two per side with threads have special plastic plugs. All the other holes in the box sections under the car have no plugs or grommets.

Jeroen

[Jon Tilson]

I was going to answer the flasher question but it slipped my mind.....

If you whip of the column shroud and look at the switch you will see the purple wire that feeds the flasher terminals, as your countryman
has said. This is why you look at the top fuse contacts on a standing car if horn, hazards and flash dont work....its the purple feed from the fuse.

Jonners

[SprintMWU773V]

Regarding the holes I often think it's better not to seal things up though I admit I have used grommets and those special screw type ones in my sills. It's unlikely to fill up with water given the use it will get and they're easy to remove if necessary.

[Robert 352]

The headlamp flasher circuitry. Thanks for the responses, yes I understand now how the headlamp flashing operation is carried out now but I think there are some “lines” missing on the various circuit diagrams which have been published relating to the Sprint. It is sort of assumed that the connection from the purple wire feed via the headlamp flasher switch is connected somehow to the high beam bulbs. It does not show this connection in the diagrams I have here

Chassis holes? I have re-installed the special plastic plugs into the screwed holes from where they came and have installed some grommets in the bottom of the sills and have assumed that most were left open so that the internal spaces could breathe.

Mark hopes that the bottom of the car will not get wet for he states in his most recent comment that the holes are unlikely to fill up with water given the use it will get…. Oh dear!! I explain below.

Folk, I am about to fit some mud flaps. Yes I know that amongst you all there are those that regard mud flaps as a bit of a “no no”. That they trap stones, clay, dirt and all sorts of corrosive substances. And drilling holes into the panels creates more potential rust points as well. But you need also to understand that here in New Zealand is very easy to leave a sealed road surface and drive on loose gravel. That loose gravel acts like a form of shot blasting along the underside of the sills and the bottoms of the rear wheel arches in the boot.

The entrance to this property is along a gravel road, and is a mile or more from the end of the sealed road. Every time I leave this property there is the potential to chip or loose paint.

So mud flaps are about to be fitted, if I can figure out how to fit those supplied by Rimmers. If I fit them behind the front wheels to match the curve of the guards they will almost be touching the road and will drag on the loose gravel surfaces so I expect to have to lift them so that they are about 100mm clear of the road. Maybe I will have to cut them to fit, modify them to suit.

And there is another reason why I want to fit them. I want to travel on the gravel roads like this one featured here.

20101101-579Pt750w Lake Ohau.jpg (121.42 KiB) Viewed 3505 times

This is alongside Lake Ohau in northern Otago and you can see looking up the river valley in the right of the picture, the top of Mount Cook in the background some 50 or more miles away. This is a lovely piece of gravel surfaced road to motor on complete with rivers to ford (if you like a challenge). At the end of the road and after a two hour walk you come to the Huxley River swing bridge, just visible in this picture as several wires (which is what it is) suspended high above the river. It is here where we always stop for a picnic lunch.

20111116-2545P750w Huxley River swing bridge.jpg (134.84 KiB) Viewed 3505 times

Those who want a challenge and are prepared to carry their rucksacks can walk on over the bridge and continue across the Southern Alps if they wish.

20111116-2556Pt750w RGML on the Huxley Bridge.jpg (140.75 KiB) Viewed 3505 times

So the bottom of the car is likely to get wet getting to the end of the road. Hence the reason too fit plugs and grommets in order to keep the water out.

I am not sure yet whether I have cured the oil leaks in the gearbox. I have been busy on other tasks these last couple of weeks. As our summer draws to a close it has been time to fill the sheds with wood for the fires which are used to heat the house during the winter. I hope I can report soon that there are no drips from the area of the gearbox and go on with fitting the last of the trim to the car.

Robert

[Nick C]

I'm sure it's been said before, but you have some amazing scenery down there!

[soe8m]

I like mudflaps too.

mudflap.jpg (244.72 KiB) Viewed 3474 times

Jeroen

[lazeruspete]

I'm sure it's been said before, but you have some amazing scenery down there!

this has probably been said before too, but it looks so Lord of the Rings-esque

[Robert 352]

Jeroen – mud flaps! Now that is what I call proper, as Stu might say, “real dinkum”, mud flaps. That is what I want. But hey you have some whapping great big flared arches on as well.

Oh dear, what do I do?

And those lights out front! Tell me when you turn them on does it force the car to go backwards. All those watts blazing away. And that “thing” on the door pillar? It’s the sort of thing that I probably saw on a New York police car.

What do you use this car for? Chasing bank robbers or something?

I have just spotted the Lombard decal on the windscreen as well. The Lombard Finance company has just gone bankrupt in this country. Owing millions. It is the bank which has robbed millions here.

A couple have commented about Lord of the Rings which does leave me slightly puzzled. Yes there is a fellow here called Peter Jackson who makes these odd movies but I can assure you that places like you see here are too far away from the coffee shops and good hotels and too far off the sealed roads to attract his attention.

But I am flattered all the same. I put those photos up to tease Ian and to remind me why I rebuilt this Dolomite in the first place. To use it and get it up some of the back country roads we have here and enjoy the scenery.

Now those mud flaps, I must get them fitted so that I can go and drive.

But I have still a lot of work to do on the car. It is British and leaking oil everywhere.

Robert

[soe8m]

We did test the lamps (800w) at the dyno and Hans calls the main beam my handbrake......

The car is for multifunctional daily driving.

Jeroen

[Robert 352]

With daylight saving finishing a week ago our very long and pleasant summer has now morphed into autumn.

20120501-3098Pw Autumn colours.jpg (127.9 KiB) Viewed 3398 times

These past few weeks have seen my attentions diverted elsewhere from the completion of the Sprint restoration but with the winter firewood now stacked away neatly under cover it is time to attend to some of the many jobs that remain to complete the project. However the list of jobs needing to be done seems to grow rather than diminish.

The cylinder head bolts torque was checked earlier and will be checked once more, probably at about the same time as I change the engine oil and filter. The oil shows no signs of discolouration so far but I will change it and the filter shortly just in case there are particles of gasket and gasket sealant floating around in the system.

This Forum is something which I am searching regularly for there is so much information on it. Today I have followed the suggestions of others made on the Forum and solved another of my problems and a second one which I did not know I had!

I filled the fuel tank for the first time recently (which made a sizeable dent in my pocket!) and was disappointed to note that the fuel gauge only read somewhere between half and three quarters full. So I changed the fuel tank sender and the result was the same. I should have of course checked on the Forum first and did what others have done before. Simply connected the spare sender while it was out of the tank and it would have confirmed that that the problem was elsewhere. I did that a couple of days ago and concluded, as suggested on the Forum, that I should check the voltage stabilizer (regulator) which sits beside the fuse box. Today when a voltmeter was placed across the output (light green wire terminal) and an earth, the voltage was seen to be stepping up and down and was nothing like what it was expected to deliver.

Fortunately I found a spare stabilizer and when I fitted that and connected the spare sender, (sitting outside the tank), and tried it again it showed full at full and empty at empty! Problem identified and fixed!

It had another effect of course. The temperature gauge had been sitting constantly at around the ¼ scale mark, it has now moved up to slightly less than the ½ scale mark which indicates to me that it the temperature is operating at about the normal level.

So that is one task crossed off the list – one task that has fixed a couple of problems.

Today I noted that there was a major leak around the seal on the top of the rear carburettor float chamber. It has leaked here before but I thought I had overcome it by fitting a new float needle assembly. So I have now fitted a spare top which I had, to the float chamber, complete with float and needle, and that seems to have fixed the problem. I will now refill the fuel tank and monitor the fuel consumption.

I have not solved the oil leaks – there is still one from the gearbox although it is now leaking much less than before. I shall have to take out the passenger seat, remove the carpets and take off the cover and look again. I tried using a simple – very cheap – borescope connected to my netbook to see if I could spot where the oil was coming from, but without success.

I have another oil leak in the region of the oil pump transfer case which is shedding oil onto the steering rack bush below it. The o-ring which sits on the 3/8” diameter bolt and which holds the transfer case cover onto the block looks decidedly dodgy so while I do not replace it today I have run a bead of gasket sealer around the flat washer that sits under the bolt head as a possible temporary fix.

I should have fitted polyurethane steering rack bushes when I assembled the sub-frame and I will replace the existing bushes when I know that I have fixed this leak. The right hand bush is now saturated in oil. The steering has felt quite vague around the straight ahead position and it seems that the rack is moving slightly – that is it is not being held firmly enough by the original rack bushes and the clamps around it.

The front wheel bearings have been retightened, as I had expected to have to do, after fitting new bearings. So that is another task crossed off the list.

I am enjoying driving it. I have owned Dolomites and Toledo’s before but this car feels like it is in a class of its own. If it weren't for all these niggling little problems it would be like owning a new car, which in many respects it is.

Robert

[Dolly-Nut]

Unless you fit solid rack mounts it will move. It's a Dolomite thing. Poly bushes make a slight difference but nowhere near perfect.

[Robert 352]

I had recently filled the petrol tank to the brim with fuel, for the first time, in order to measure the fuel being used before carrying out any further adjustments to the carburettors. I was driving across the very badly earthquaked damaged roads in Christchurch thinking what a pleasant car the Dolomite Sprint is when with no warning whatsoever a loud, regular, and insistent clattering noise developed and the car started to run on three cylinders.

I have run 600 miles since I first started the engine! There was nothing for it to abandon the car on the side of the road and trailer the car back here to the workshop where I left it sitting for a few days and contemplated my next move.

After thinking about it and noting that others like MikeyB and Howard81 had also had significant setbacks after their restorations that I, like them, would have to grit my teeth, and start again!!

I decided to drop the whole engine and subframe assembly out – again. I need to change the steering rack bushes and there are still a number of oil leaks around the gearbox and, on reading the latest issue of Dolly Mixture which arrived here early this week I noted another source of possible engine oil leaks. Leaks that come back down the flywheel mounting bolts if they have not been bolted in utilising a little thread sealant.

The engine and subframe assembly is now out and I have removed the cylinder head to reveal the following.

20130511-4101Ptw Sprint cylinder head copy.jpg (131.67 KiB) Viewed 3328 times

The rear inlet valve on number 4 cylinder has “dropped” and in hitting the piston has bent but it looks as if the piston itself might be okay. However there are two pieces of metal sitting wedged at the top of the number 3 cylinder in the head itself with some corresponding and quite deep indentations in the number 3 piston.

20130511-4103Ptw Sprint pistons.jpg (139.14 KiB) Viewed 3328 times

. This photo shows the marks left by the bits of metal now sitting in the cylinder head - part of a valve collet perhaps, and the mark where the now bent valve has been touching the piston.

Perhaps it is not as serious as I first imagined before I took the engine out but it is disheartening to say the very least.

I shall do no more until I deliver the head and engine assembly to the company who skimmed the head and block for me. I will leave the head gasket where it is until they have seen what has happened.

Disheartening it is but it does give me another opportunity to try and eliminate more of those oil leaks.

It has been such a nice car to drive though that I hope it will not be long before it is running again.

Robert

[straylight]

ouch, that is sad news to hear Robert. Considering the effort you have put into your car and engine, you didn't really deserve another head off saga. I've just taken my sprint across with my son to his football game and my own confidence in the car has built up quite nicely, so much that it is being given a bit of stick and is drawing remarks from other motorists. I wouldn't say it gets thrashed, but I will kick it out to 4500-5000 rpm with a smile on my face.

I can't really help you with the diagnosis, but did you find the valve collets alongside the camshaft somewhere on the valve that dropped ? Maybe, just maybe, they fell into #3 ?

I can however help with a voltage stabiliser. If you want, you can send your old, not working one across to me and I'll install an electronic stabiliser so you have a spare. Easy enough to do, less than an evenings work with a soldering iron and then you will have reliability.

btw, Peter Jackson did a good job with Hobbit part 1, not quite the same as LotR, but neither should it be.

stu

[sprint95m]

I put those photos up to tease Ian.

It is working Robert !



Sorry to learn of your engine problems.

Ian.

[soe8m]

Hello Robert,

A valvecollet cannot get into the cylinder. I think you have had something in a carb what was loose and left. Causing one valve not to close when it should and hitting the piston and the other cylinder the part made it through the valve in time but was smashed in the head. I would check the carb if anything is missing internal.

Jeroen