The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

3/16 imperial drill bit would work, Farnell/RS/MSC do them.

I'm going to order some.

James467 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:06 pm 3/16 imperial drill bit would work, Farnell/RS/MSC do them.

I'm going to order some.

Highly likely the factory used imperial drills, everything on "our" cars was imperial, with the exception of the master cylinder brake pipe unions and the servo mounting studs on late dual circuit cars!

I couldn't be bothered to work out 4.8mm in imperial, note that Tony and I both gave our results in inches, but you had to complicate it with metric!

Steve

Robert 352 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2020 9:07 pm

I can give no meaningful comment to why Tony's measurements are different, perhaps as he says they were a little more random on the early cars and they used some sort of jig or template later.

Robert

This thread recently surfaced again through another enquiry, so a bit of an update on the measurements I took.

At the time the way the car was parked meant only the offside was available to measure & I reported the results. Now the car has been stripped etc it became apparent that the offside sill had been replaced, with original factory sills, some time in the cars history. I am guessing the bodyshop that did the work randomly drilled the holes which gave the odd dimensions.

The nearside sill has the same dimensions as Steve's car.

Tony

Carledo wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:13 pm I'm not sure about the standard of the day, as regards the fitment of this moulding at all. In early 73 when Tony's car was built, all the Dolomite shape cars available PRIOR to the Sprint's launch were the Toledo, 1500FWD and the early 1850 cars. I'm not sure about the 1850 but the Toledo and 1500FWD definitely DIDN'T have this moulding, so it's possible there was no jig to position the holes at this early stage of development. And some bright spark on the line said "wouldn't it be a good idea if we........."

That would account for it!

I have to admit to some surprise at how far in the end clips are at both ends on the "jigged" cars!

Steve

I am ever thankful that the Toledo, including mine, was never fitted with this moulding, which would almost inevitably encourage rust! I only wish that BLMC-Triumph had also had the foresight to omit the brightwork mouldings below the bottoms of the Toledo windows & C-pillars!

naskeet wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 7:50 pm

Carledo wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:13 pm I'm not sure about the standard of the day, as regards the fitment of this moulding at all. In early 73 when Tony's car was built, all the Dolomite shape cars available PRIOR to the Sprint's launch were the Toledo, 1500FWD and the early 1850 cars. I'm not sure about the 1850 but the Toledo and 1500FWD definitely DIDN'T have this moulding, so it's possible there was no jig to position the holes at this early stage of development. And some bright spark on the line said "wouldn't it be a good idea if we........."

That would account for it!

I have to admit to some surprise at how far in the end clips are at both ends on the "jigged" cars!

Steve

I am ever thankful that the Toledo, including mine, was never fitted with this moulding, which would almost inevitably encourage rust! I only wish that BLMC-Triumph had also had the foresight to omit the brightwork mouldings below the bottoms of the Toledo windows & C-pillars!

The sill moulding is by far the biggest rust trap of all of them and undoubtedly responsible for the early demise of many a Sprint sill. The only reason my car still carries them is because the shell was Ziebarted from new and is still on it's original unwelded sills. Welding up the clip holes, which I originally intended to do, would burn the Ziebart off and actually render the so far solid sills MORE liable to attack from the tinworms. So I sealed the clips in carefully and kept the moulding!

The sill moulding is closely followed by the "sacrificial" aluminium/black plastic rubbing strips fitted just below the lower swage line on post 76 cars (Toledos didn't have this one either) I have deliberately and happily dispensed with these on my own 78 car. Though the first supermarket trolley dent may give me pause for thought!

The stainless moulding below the window line doesn't seem to cause anything like the damage of the other 2, of many cars I have stripped for paint or repair, it's extremely unlikely to find any corrosion around the clip holes for this upper waistline moulding. I think you may safely keep these!

Steve

Carledo wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 9:49 pm
The sill moulding is by far the biggest rust trap of all of them and undoubtedly responsible for the early demise of many a Sprint sill. The only reason my car still carries them is because the shell was Ziebarted from new and is still on it's original unwelded sills. Welding up the clip holes, which I originally intended to do, would burn the Ziebart off and actually render the so far solid sills MORE liable to attack from the tinworms. So I sealed the clips in carefully and kept the moulding!

The sill moulding is closely followed by the "sacrificial" aluminium/black plastic rubbing strips fitted just below the lower swage line on post 76 cars (Toledos didn't have this one either) I have deliberately and happily dispensed with these on my own 78 car. Though the first supermarket trolley dent may give me pause for thought!

The stainless moulding below the window line doesn't seem to cause anything like the damage of the other 2, of many cars I have stripped for paint or repair, it's extremely unlikely to find any corrosion around the clip holes for this upper waistline moulding. I think you may safely keep these!

Steve

I am similarly glad that I don't have superfluous trim on the gutter rail and the B-pillar, which after the deteriorating, peeling, textured, black vinyl, was removed from the roof and the rear-quarter C-pillar, I painted with hammered-finish, Finnigans' black Hammerite paint, which looks so much better and complements the car's unique appearance.

Ideally, when I replace the ageing front windscreen seal, I can somewhere find a substitute seal which lacks a groove for the chromium-plated plastic-trim insert, which was always more trouble than it was worth. I'm so glad the rear window seal is a plain one which lacks a groove for the chromium-plated plastic-trim insert!

A few decades ago (probably the early-1980s, but I forget exactly when), I removed ALL of the Toledo's stainless-steel brightwork (it's all still up in the loft somewhere; assuming my father didn't throw it out during one of his unannounced clear-outs!), because of the rust that was forming around the mounting clips. Rust was also forming around the mounting holes for the driver's door-mounted TEX mirror. The worst area for rust, was around the push-on metal spring-clips, which held the < - section trim around the rear window and the upper, rear edge of the boot lid and adjacent rear lights area.

My father had an ex-demonstrator, 1977 Honda Civic 1500 Automatic (with dealership-fitted, 12 inch Cosmic alloy wheels), which had been Ziebart treated. Before it was three years old, there was a massive area of bubbling rust on the offside front wing, which became a large hole when I attempted to scrape off the rust with a screwdriver!

Whilst I will admit that Ziebarting a mid 70s Honda is akin to trying to hold the tide back with a table fork, i'm extremely surprised to learn of ANY car that has suffered rust penetration HOLES within 3 years. Your father would have had more than enough grounds to claim on Ziebart's lifetime warranty with that one (note that THAT lifetime warranty, like so many others, only actually lasts till the first owner sells the car!)

ALL of my 4 current Dolomite shaped cars were Ziebarted from new and I consider the treatment to be largely responsibe for their survival. Also many of the cars my customers present for repairs of one sort or another turn out, more often than not, to have been similarly treated. Probably not enough to be a statistical universe, but, IMO, far too many to be explained away by coincidence.

When you consider the design lifespan of a Dolomite (along with most of it's contemporaries in the 70s) was a mere 8 years, something that can preserve the cars largely intact for more than 5 times that span, has got to be a pretty good thing. In fact an idea has occurred to me, i'm going to start a poll on this forum to see how many surviving cars have been treated vs untreated cars.

Steve

Carledo wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 9:42 pm Whilst I will admit that Ziebarting a mid 70s Honda is akin to trying to hold the tide back with a table fork, i'm extremely surprised to learn of ANY car that has suffered rust penetration HOLES within 3 years. Your father would have had more than enough grounds to claim on Ziebart's lifetime warranty with that one (note that THAT lifetime warranty, like so many others, only actually lasts till the first owner sells the car!)

ALL of my 4 current Dolomite shaped cars were Ziebarted from new and I consider the treatment to be largely responsibe for their survival. Also many of the cars my customers present for repairs of one sort or another turn out, more often than not, to have been similarly treated. Probably not enough to be a statistical universe, but, IMO, far too many to be explained away by coincidence.

When you consider the design lifespan of a Dolomite (along with most of it's contemporaries in the 70s) was a mere 8 years, something that can preserve the cars largely intact for more than 5 times that span, has got to be a pretty good thing. In fact an idea has occurred to me, i'm going to start a poll on this forum to see how many surviving cars have been treated vs untreated cars.

Steve

During the early-1980s, much of my 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 was treated by me with Finnigan's Waxoyl (then only obtainable by mail order from the factory), using an extended spray-lance and brush, although some areas certainly got missed, including the insides of the hollow A-pillars.