The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Well after using the "wing" mirrors rather than using my door mirror thats fitted,i think its fair to say the new wings probably wont have the mirrors fitted to them. (gives you a much wider field of vision around the sides of the car having them fitted to the wings,but the door mirrors give a much closer view around the car which is kinda important when overtaking i.e - motorway journeys etc. Although having seen numerous pairs of mirrors I have finally settled on one style of door mirror.

which I'm sure will suit the cars classic lines and isn't too much of a deviation from original spec as in my eyes it more of a "safety aspect".

And as Marty says,"customer had the choice of where the mirrors were fitted and the style of them" (sure the mirrors im thinking of weren't fitted from standard,but "one of my little personal touches"

Rob

Not sure whether you knew, but you can get wing mirrors with curved glass, which give you a better view. I wish I had on mine lol

hhmm there's an idea! But... can it give a "much" closer look towards the back of the car? - door mirror shows a lot further down the side of the car where the wing mirrors just show the edge of the gutter trim,silhouette of front door handles.. where the door mirror isn't convexed and shows much more around the car at a much closer view.

The mirror's I had seen were these

http://www.holden.co.uk/displayProduct. ... de=094.320 Chrome over stainless steel,full circular view - Could easily be placed "just" in front the opening quarter light windows due to the stubby little base. What do you guys think?

Rob

Defo not a good idea to put them in front of the quarterlights - I had a car that the previous owner had done this with and they made the quarterlights make a whooshing noise, took them off to check it was this and the noise had gone.

hhmm.. Ok Thanks for the heads up

Another style of mirror then..

Rob

What's wrong with the mirrors that are on the car? If they're both nearside (flat) ones, just fit a convex lens to the driver's side which is how they'd have been in "pairs" sold by dealers and accessory shops. Yes, as you suspect, they do give a different impression of the proximity of stuff behind, but very few door mirrors came in pairs which both had flat glass in any case, so same thing applies there and you soon get used to judging just how far off following traffic actually is.
Then there's looking over your shoulder as a means of seeing what's coming. Novel I know, to a generation raised on modern cars with their proliferation of reflective surfaces, but as with the motorway cats' eye colours mentioned, this too is in the Highway code and you'll still have that fresh in your mind as it's not that long since you'd have learned it for your test, is it.

True,I do check my blind spots anyhow from when riding bikes.

Id been thinking about that on my way home tonight about the mirrors..To get the "correct" view you would need to have them even "further" over to the outside of the wing,to have a true view of what behind (saying that i do have a rear view mirror anyway.and a neck ) so... I'll have a think about the mirrors.. as its not something im too fussed about

If you want to see more of the road to the side and less of the car as it were, place them further to the edge of the car when you replace the wings. I wish I'd moved mine a bit further tbh!

Although I have to admit, I rarely use mine (I prefer to look over my shoulder), and I've moved my mirrors so you have to move your head to see the part of the road you wish to look at - so that when some a***hole decides to drive everywhere with full beam on, you don't get blinded! (

Well.. yeah With the amount of "blind spot checking" i do.. I may just fit the mirrors on the wings... its a nice period touch That I would like to keep.

rob

I have door mirrors fitted level with the window channel and these work well giving good all round visibility and allow the quaterlights to be opened. They are prone to being knocked out of alignment when parked though.

I consider it essential to have a good clear set of mirrors and monitor them continually so that I know what is all around me, including in my blind spots, at any given point in time in case a rapid lane change is called for if something should fall from the vehicle in front or whatever.

JPB wrote: Then there's looking over your shoulder as a means of seeing what's coming.

I have to disagree John. Unlike on a bike, looking over your shoulder to see what is coming should be the exception not the rule when in a moving car, perhaps when joining a carriageway from a slip road. If you are traveling at 70mph and it takes you 1 sec to look over your shoulder you will have blindly covered over 31 meters in that time. The highway code mentions a quick sideways glance as a blind spot check if necessary during overtaking but this does not mean an over the shoulder look and should be unnecessary if the mirrors are being used correctly.

John

Definately door mirrors for me. I've found that wing mirrors vibrate too much, so are useless. Although period, the vast majority look awful and in so doing, make any very pretty car look less pretty imo. They always stop my eyes when admiring the flowing fine lines of any car.

Well.. Door mirrors it probably will be.. as much as I'd like to go 100% original.. the safety aspect wins overall.

on another note... Been a very,very busy boy today!! - picked up the Tan seats from Steve28 last night,came home,got up this morning have been stripping,cleaning,polishing and cleaning and finally..... fitting!! Never realised "how much smaller the 1300 seats are!" - and how narrow the gap is between the seat and the handbrake! however... I do have plenty of room from seat to door card

They have completely transformed the car! they not only look very presentable,but are also the original fitment

Day went something like this:

7:30am - outside,removing the first bolt from the passenger seat.. by 7:40am The seat was out - drivers seat out by 7:50am,rear seats out by 7:55am!. Footwell carpets up front out by 8:00am and the seatbelt buckles were out as was the carpet by 8:10am - cleaning started from 8:20am - and first seat was going back in by... 5:30pm! - 1001 carpet foam spray and plenty of "gentle" elbow grease.
Amazed to find a 100% rust free floorpan!... even more amazed when I found a small scrap of paper underneath where the drivers seat was (under the carpet,directly under the drivers seat) which said"No 63042" and looked like it had been there for some years... "any idea's on why this was there? don't think a previous owner would have just "placed it in this particular spot so neatly"

I will upload pictures of the floorpan tonight,just tried taking photo's of it all complete but my camera doesn't like the dark too much

The runners seem to be "very!" stiff any idea's - I do have some "copper slip" i know probably isn't the best thing to be putting on runners but its all I have at the moment,would this serve as a good"temporary grease solution?"

Rob

Graphite powder is ideal as it's dry so won't get everywhere. You might not have grease in, but every home has at least half a dozen sticks of graphite powder, wrapped in wooden storage media called pencils.

For the seat runners I use WD40/Double T/PlusGas/preferred penetrating fluid to lubricate the runners. Did you put some copper grease on the bolt threads? I fitted Sprint seats in my Dolomite 1300 and it transformed the comfort so it is well worth doing.

How about original spec door mirrors? When new BMX would've had the black ones which had flat glass. Rimmer Bros sell them for £18.15 plus VAT & postage so you'll find them cheaper elsewhere. The chrome ones (which I prefer) have convex glass and Rimmer's list these at £23.12 plus VAT & postage. Again these will be found cheaper elsewhere.

One thing to watch if you fit door mirrors - make sure they don't foul the quarterlights. I'm sure somebody on here has made that mistake. (not me - honest!)

So...

As I began by removing the two front seats,passenger seat first,then drivers,then footwell carpets up front,rear base,rear back rest,seatbelt buckles,wires that connect,and the carpet section.. - then cleaned up the "new seats" and then hoovered the floorpan,waxed it with car wax,went over the "outer trim carpet" and the door cards with 1001.








The black stuff in the drivers footwell is the color of the sound deadening - paint removed when fiddling with the clutch master cylinder,and some entered the footwell..










And... the seats finally in and all complete.. just need a good vac'ing tomorrow.



Gap between the two front seats and the handbrake





massive amount of work has gone into the cleaning of these seats.. near enough 10 hours of pure cleaning,spending approx 2 hours per seat!
Very please with the outcome,the general apperance of the car is up-lifted,no more tatty and ripped seats! and original too

a huge thanks to Steve28 for the seats at the bargain price.. "oh and the heat knob!"

Rob