The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Wait for it.....

My point being, surely for 1500 slave cylinders, there is but only one option, namely
get a stainless steel sleeved one?
Even more so since our Club sells them.

I agree with Ian

James467 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 06, 2020 5:14 pm Wait for it.....

My point being, surely for 1500 slave cylinders, there is but only one option, namely
get a stainless steel sleeved one?
Even more so since our Club sells them.

I agree with Ian

...but that is the whole issue, due to the cost of sleeving compared to the cost of an aftermarket cylinder, we have not speculatively had any 1500 slaves done. Maybe it is now time to start? I think I have at least one in the core pile...I'll take one in to get a price confirmed...

Alun when you get a price we obviously need to make certain that the company fit a Girling type seal and piston as the defective slave cylinders you have will more than likely have the other less reliable design fitted.

Bustergadget. When you have solved your problem please do let us know what you had to do to cure it.

Well, the new slave cylinder arrived from MEV in due course. I also ordered a new seal kit for the master cylinder (if you don't do both cylinders at the same time, the older one is guaranteed to leak very soon) Anyway, fitted both, and got my son to work the pedal while I bled the cylinder.
Result: floppy pedal and no clutch.
Back under, remove slave, get son to press pedal. Piston moving down cylinder ok.
Remembered previous cylinder had home made pushrod extension, Dug it out, popped it on, and refitted cylinder.
initially no clutch unless pedal pumped a million times.
Back under, bled cylinder again. Clutch now functioning only after prolonged pumping.
Locked car, went to bed, and slept on it.
Next day, popped in to have look before heading to work. Clutch perfect on first pump. Working fine ever since.
Last airlock must have gravitated upwards overnight.
I have owned Dolomites for over 25 years and you will never get the clutch to work first time.
Still, all is well now!

The reconditioners only use OE.

I took in the three OHV slave cylinders I had on Thursday, one aluminium bodied one and two steel, so the OHV slave cylinder, sleeved with stainless steel, will shortly be a stocked Club item. The steel bodied one will likely be more expensive than the aluminium bodied one

I have not come across any aluminium bodied slave cylinders on any of the 1500c Dolomites that I have had but I have noticed in the Moss – Europe, 2009 Spitfire Accessories and parts catalogue that it indicates the 1300 Spitfire has an aluminium bodied slave, part 144716, and that the 1500 has an iron bodied slave, part GSY 103. What surprised me is that the document also indicates that the repair kits are different, part 515297, is for the aluminium and part number GRK4019Z is for the iron.

It also needs to be noted that the Spitfire slave cylinder GSY103 is notched differently to the Dolomite GSY105.

My Toledo has an aluminium Girling clutch slave cylinder fitted which I believe is original. Spitfire's as far as I know use 3/8 UNF hydraulic unions and mine has the standard Toledo / Dolomite clutch hose (part no. 155956) with the 7/16 UNF unions. When I overhauled it I also used a standard rebuild kit sold for use on Dolomites etc. I note in the Triumph parts books that the Toledo clutch slave cylinder has part no. 155954 and the equivalent part for the Dolomite 1300 / 1500 is RTC7215. As Triumph in my experience appeared to change part numbers only when a part was revised I wonder if the cylinders changed from earlier aluminium bodied units to later steel ones and this is reflected in the part number change?
I have attached a few photos of my Toledo's clutch slave cylinder below:
Edited to include hydraulic union thread sizes.

Does your Toledo have a three rail box?
If it does, that is the Girling Cylinder fitted to Heralds/Spitfires.

It does indeed have a three rail gearbox.
As I covered above, Dolomite / Toledo clutch pipe unions are different sizes to Spitfire units, Dolomites / Toledo's using 7/16 UNF and Spitfires 3/8 UNF threads. If you look at my photos you can see that the bleed nipple is smaller than the pipe union, Spitfire's share the same size thread for their clutch pipe and bleed nipple. Therefore I do not believe it to be a Spitfire or Herald unit.

Richard the old one wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 7:17 pm I have not come across any aluminium bodied slave cylinders on any of the 1500c Dolomites that I have had but I have noticed in the Moss – Europe, 2009 Spitfire Accessories and parts catalogue that it indicates the 1300 Spitfire has an aluminium bodied slave, part 144716, and that the 1500 has an iron bodied slave, part GSY 103. What surprised me is that the document also indicates that the repair kits are different, part 515297, is for the aluminium and part number GRK4019Z is for the iron.

It also needs to be noted that the Spitfire slave cylinder GSY103 is notched differently to the Dolomite GSY105.

Useful info Richard. Unfortunately I have been caught out a few times assuming core units I've been passed have been from Dolomites and I have to be vigilant to the subtle differences; so far this has included master cylinders, starter motors and servos. I presume if the notch is different between the 103 and 105 the clamps are correspondingly different too? I have a clamp amongst Jon Tilson's things and that could well have been from a Spitfire or a Dolomite...

The slave cylinder mounting boss is the same for Spitfire's, Toledo's and 1300 / 1500 Dolomite's, part number 206175.

I now have two steel bodied and one aluminium bodied 1300/1500 slave cylinders in stock, sleeved in stainless steel. They are £65.00 inc postage to UK based addresses.

Why does the Spitfire require different notching to the Dolomite? The gearbox and mounting clamps being identical...

Why does the Spitfire require different notching to the Dolomite? The gearbox and mounting clamps being identical...

I expect that the difference in notching is probably down to quality control of reproduction cylinders (or lack thereof) rather than an actual design difference.

Doing a direct comparison between the Spitfire and a Dolomite 1300/1500 installations is not possible due to the Starter motor and flywheel differences, however it is possible between a Spitfire IV and a Toledo where both are fitted with a three rail gearbox. Both the Spitfire IV and Toledo use the same Flywheel (part no. 141675) and 3 piece Clutch kit (part no. GCK273), as covered above the mounting boss is the same, so the installation requirements are identical apart from the thread sizes used on the pipe unions. I would expect that the original positions of the notches was the same, but the only way to confirm this without access to the original design drawings would require original examples of GSY103 and GSY105 to compare with one another rather than the copies of copies produced nowadays.

Well it is now December and the MEV cylinder fitted in June is still going strong...so far so good..