The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

A quick update from this weekends progress.

Some filler, sanding, primer, sanding more filler and primer and some paint!











Top coat, probably about 10 coats!!













Pretty good for a rattle can! The rest of the car just needs a cut and polish now to blend everything in.

I have left some of the historic damage which is really part of the cars history, if someone wanted to have it resprayed all my work here would be removed and someone who actually knows what they are doing could do a better job than me of the front valence!

Tyres are ordered, I will paint the wheels tonight. Sam, how do you find the mirrors on Binny? I'm tempted to get another set.

You going to keep the wing mirrors? My project has them at the moment, flopping about like 3 week old celery from the back of the fridge. If I remember rightly they're absolutely useless in use but of the time so not sure...

The new ones I got for binny (RUK) I thought were really good. The original Desmo ones are just rubbish!

We like Binny's REAL wing mirrors (ie mirrors on the wings!)

Yeah they are the ones I meant.

I'll get some more at the NEC.

Yup, I meant actual wing mirrors too, my T2000 used to have them, well, still has, actually I've no idea if it's still alive!

Not going to the NEC this year but I'll take a recommendation, are they branded? Not sure if the ones fitted are original, they're on what looks like a 200mm stalk. Ah, found a picture of a car with them, maybe original then?!

Sort of, you can still get those, not my style though. They are all made by Tex sold through the motoring classics website. I like the ones similar to the Desmo originals on a short stem (not sure about length). The original Desmo set I have are on medium stems and are a bit too long, although that's what the car had when I got it.

The fuel tank has been cleaned out using a Bilt Hamber kit, I have placed it in position, I'll bolt it down at the NEC.



The inside is now clean enough to eat your dinner! I have also checked it for leaks and it seemed fine.





Four Uniroyal RainExperts have been ordered and are due to be fitted on Friday morning so in preparation I have sanded, primed, painted and lacquered the wheels.



I also masked off the sills and gave them a coat of Stonechip then satin black



I also masked up the rear panel and gave that a fresh coat of satin black as well, the white painted section just needs a clean and polish.





I need to clean the overspray from the engine bay and subframe and refit the steering rack, need to be able to steer to get it on the trailer!

To do that I'll drop the subframe, it seems the easiest way to do it I can clean all of the nuts and bolts at the same time and pop some new ball joints on as well as some new subframe bushes.

It should be back on 4 wheels by the weekend.

Despite the recent weather I have made some good progress. No news on the engine yet, I'll find out tomorrow weather we are a go or not for next weekend.

In the meantime I have been wrapping up some loose ends so I can get the most of the car finished next weekend at the show.

I reconditioned the steering rack, new bush, bearings etc... that has now been refitted with new ball joints in the front suspension and new hardware.





Have decided to replace the subframe bushes if they need to be done, as there wont be an engine in the car I'll drop the subframe at the show and do them there, we can work on the front brakes at the same time and should put on a good show. I may drop the rear axle as well so that it's easier to fit new brake lines and do the brakes, I have a set of bolts so

The NOS Steering linkage that I found at Stoneleigh has been fitted and the bulkhead bush replaced for a superflex item.



The wheels after being sprayed up have had a set of Uniroyal Rain experts fitted.





I had a problem with the tyre fitter at ATS in Aldershot. I got the tyres through Blackcircles and used ATS because they fitted RUKs tyres without an issue. This time however the fitter refused to fit the tyres telling me that the rims weren't suitable for tubeless tyres. After a lot of arguing, showing brochures which stated that the rims were Dunlop tubeless rims and showing them other wheels the fitter very very reluctantly fitted them throwing his arms around saying that he wouldn't be responsible for causing a crash. I was politely told not to come back as they wouldn't fit any more for me!

In the snow this morning I repaired the loom where I accidentally cut an earth wire, the loom itself is fine and will be re-wrapped. The bonnet release cable was shot so I also fitted a new one of them and refitted the bonnet. The bonnet does need a bit of work and a respray however I deliberately haven't done it yet as the weather isn't playing ball and I am on a time constraint.





Even though it is lashed down in the wind the canopy is an accident waiting to happen, especially with fresh paint. So I took it down, dropped the car onto its wheels and for the first time I could view the car under natural light, it's not too bad!





The headlamp panels that I have arent good enough, they are OK but I'm not happy with them so I have asked Alun to bring a pair of club ones to the show for me. As per Steve's suggestion (an excellent one, thanks Steve) I'll screw them on so I can remove them and spray them up when I do the bonnet, it does mean that I can do the wiring for the halogen conversion.

That's it for now, I will see everyone at the NEC!

It looks so much better already for a quick blow over. Very much looking forward to seeing it at the NEC next weekend.

That didn't go exactly as planned! If you didn't know DTR missed the NEC due to me being ill. Gutted to say the least, I was really looking forward to it and reading the reports it sounded like it was a great show as well.

Oh well!

I cant do anything outside yet as I am still not 100% but I have been able to do a few things in the workshop where its nice and warm!

First a quick update of things that happened before the NEC, the whole car was cut back with 1500 wet and dry and machine polished to a shine. The areas that were polished through I have left as I feel that they add to the history of the car.

























White is a bit difficult to photograph but it has come up very well. I couldn't do anything with the bonnet, it was too far gone so I'll respray it when the weather sorts itself out.

As I was feeling better I thought I'd do some little things to get ready for putting everything back together, first was to change the gearbox oil. I had previously cleaned the gearbox and mounted it in one of my homemade stands for storage in the garage.





I drained the oil and was quite surprised to see a lot of swarf on the drain plug



I was even more surprised to see a lot of shimmer in the oil and bits of metal in it.



I don't know the history of this gearbox, it isn't original as the car would have had a three rail non od box originally but that was replaced due to problems with it. I can tell that this box has been refurbished in the past though so with that in mind I thought it better to open it up and have a look inside.

Selector and top cover off...



Overdrive off...



I'll clean out all of the overdrive filters and replace the gaskets as a matter of course I think.



Bellhousing and adapter off...



By the looks of the gearbox number it looks like it's an early 1850 single rail box with a 21 tooth reverse.



Selector mechanism was fine







Then I knocked out the layshaft....





Yep, that's toast! I suspect that it was one of the ones that wasn't hardened properly.

Took the input shaft out and knocked out the bearing and pulled out the mainshaft. Reverse gear is missing half a tooth and bits from other teeth.



More worrying was the state of a thrust washer and the amount of metal in the bottom of the box itself.







It looks like the laygear lost the needle bearings from one side, this has completely written off the laygear set itself so I'll have to find another one of them.



I got on with stripping the mainshaft









That looks fine and everything just needs a good clean now before reassembly. I just need a reverse gear and a new laygear set, the laygear set is proving hard to find, does anyone have one by any chance?

Hi James, Good job you caught that in time ! Looking at that lay-shaft it looks well -worn.
Now I have been trying to rebuild my spare 1850 box here and have discovered 2 problems.
* Shortage of useable spares.
* Apparantly "1850" gearboxes having 1500 parts in.
So I now have 3 different " 1850" boxes with a mixture of parts in . Some early, some late and some 1500 / maybe Vitesse bits in.
Can you count the teeth on each gear please and I'll let you know what I have here.
We may be able to swap bits so we both get working 1850 boxes.
Please do hang on to that layshaft. With the current parts shortage I'd like to see how much it would be to get that re-sleeved.
Let'cha know ?
Tony.

I'll have a look James, don't hold your breath, but I may have a GT6 laygear cluster which should be ok for your box. Is it the reverse idler gear you need? Reverse GEAR is the outer ring of the 1st/2nd synchro hub and as such, it's normal to change the hub as an assembly as they "grow together" with time and use.

Steve

Ooooh yes, I forgot to say; Hang on to the old layshaft as you can cut it down to make a dummy lay-shaft to refit the lay-gear.
And micrometer up the new layshaft and the needle rollers . This was a hint from our Jonners.