The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

well feb08 is here and you will all be glad to know that porject zetec is still in the garage awaiting its new engine!!! time is a major problem at the minute. but i have been busyish. engine is ready to be dropped in. i'm using a escort 1.8 sump and pick up pipe on the motor and it just so happen that the sump fits perfectly in between the subframe. so motor will sit just where the 1300 did. i give up on making my own engine mounts plr did them for £55 so saved time. still having problem with gearbox tho.. hand brake will have to be moved and the floor will need some panel beating, the reversing light switch hits the tunnel!!! apart form that its all go. engine will be in next weekend promise.. anyone else thinking about a zetec then let me know and i'll try and help ya out..

cheers terry

p.s i've got photos but cant post them yet will be happy to e-mail if anyone is interested

engine is now in the dolly...sort off.. the engine fits like a glove between the subframe. just needs a tap here and there to line everything up.. as for the gearbox thats touching the tunnel so need to move that up to get the engine to sit levelish. i will be welding the tunnel back in for added strength as tunnel is gonna need a fair bit of work. apart from that very happy with the fit off the motor. all most looks like it came from triumph.

if i could work out how to put up photos i would.

cheers terry

That's going to be one hell of a Q-car.

hi there guys.. yes project zetec is still in the garage!!!! its taken me way to long now.. so after going to stoneleigh i decided to get on with it.. had pay rise(5.25%) from ford's back dated from nov 08. so have a few pounds to spend. so i now have a starter fitted. i needed so it cant work out where the engine was going to seat. i've now had one engine mount up and all welded in. and i have had the other side ready to weld up tomorrow. the gearbox mount should be done by the weekend as well.
i've now changed my mind on the motorbike carbs and hoping to run just one dgas carbon a rs2000 manifold via a adaptor plate..should make thinking a bit easier and quicker to sort ie all parts are bolt ons. i've done shed loads off research online and it looks like i can run a early mondeo ecu to get it running.
apart from that it all systems go again. photos to follow..

cheers terry

Sounds like you're doing a good job.

I initially scratched my head a lot over the exhaust manifold - most of the aftermarket ones gather the pipes together so that it can pass underneath the engine for a FWD installation.
It wasn't much use trying to shorten one of these, because the pipes didn't gather together into a single until it was already very low down.

An Ashley system designed for a Zetec installation into Mk2 Escort looked promising, but seemed to go too far back and was quite expensive.

One from a Ford Focus 115ps fitted nicely, and looks like a nicely crafted tubular bunch of bananas. They're quite common on ebay.

(I've moved the coilpack to the front of the engine and fitted a pukka Megajolt since this pic was taken, the wiring is a bit tidier now).

looks very nice there fella. its been two years now that dolly has sat in the garage. i really need to sort it all out.

cheers terry

come on man pull your finger out!!

sorry boss eyes a pulling!!!!!
second engine mount is now welded up and fitted. engine now seats in the car with no jack holding it up!! gearbox mount next should be sorted by the weekend. need to find some bushes 33-34mm dia tho! as these will be used to make up the mount.. i think i can use bushes from a rover sd1's watts linkage.. so sort of keeping in the family..

terry

Terry, which gearbox have you decided to use? Me, I'd go with the MT75. When I had Sierras and MK3 Granadas I found the MT75 to be better than the Type 9. I'm not knocking the Type 9. I just prefer the MT75 over it. You'll need to uprate your suspension and brakes if you're gonna be running that Zetec lump in your Dolly 1300.

hi there i'm using a type9 box. at the time i couldn't find a good mt75.. i've been thinking about using one off tracker's brake setups. and i'll sort suspension to sprint spec min.. cant make up my mind weather to run totally standard wheels and tyres for that sleeper look or sprint wheels for extra grip

terry

standards with chrome centres

Sprint alloys with 185 tyres. Snowdrop had 185s on Sprint alloys with no issues. Brown has 175s on Sprint alloys.

What are you doing over the propshaft?

Yours will have the sliding joint on the splines into the gearbox, but I think this can be changed fairly easily for a proper UJ.

Does your T9 setup have a doughnut in it? If so, will you be using it?
Some of the more powerful Mk2 Escorts had shafts without doughnuts (RS2000, Mexico, etc.) with splines which should match your T9.
Lesser Escorts have a smaller spline diameter.

I used the front UJ from a Transit shaft (no doughnuts in transits - even police ones) mated to the sliding joint and UJ from a Dolly shaft via a new tube.
Cost me about £65 at a local propshaft fabricators.
That's the MT75 box though.

Different versions of the Transit have used both T9 and MT75, so might be worth a look.

not sort prop out yet!!! i was hoping to get away with front half ford and rear half dolomite. or something like yours. sierra/dolomite, welder,grinder,lumphammerish... but that aint gonna be right so will get someone to sort it..

cheers terry

I'd put standard steel wheels on it, with hubcaps. Maybe a little wider than stock

Then again, I'd personally keep the car totally standard looking so it looks like a regular 1300/1500 Dolly... until you put your foot down!