The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Also, what's with the day-glo hoses?

It's like the car's come from an acid house party!

Thanks James

I am a bit partial towards my Bahco and Wera tools, the Sprint prefers the old Stanley workmaster ones.

The car is in my works yard, so we get a lot of recycling fridges, washing machines etc, handy for disposable trays, and temporary workbench, no need to clean.

And just like the man who tears bits of tissue paper, to keep the elephants away, those are gamma radiation sponge hoses, keeps everyone safe, truth is I chose them to show leaks or splatters, and did not want too much yellow won't notice much on black, but that green gets dirty just by touch.

I agree with James on the Hoses, but the biggest style fail for me is the engineers blue SU dashpots....

Old Bentleys are allowed black ones but all others should be dull but clean aluminium.

Job looks good. Nice you got that water out of the sump too...

No leaks from the slot and check the dipstick...just to be sure....


Jonners

Come on, I thought you would say why did I paint the inlet manifold washers yellow, the blue pots have been there from the first pics?

I have a spare set of carbs, will change them over this weekend ( I don't like the blue anyway ) inca yellow next paint up).

Can't do any more till Monday, soldiering on has given me a chest infection, have to rest or the asthma will make me rest (indefinitely).

Could not help but go and check the car this evening.

There is a leak, and it is at the thermostat and waterpump cover connector.

I've ordered new o rings (just in case), and will cleanup the old fitting, was never sure about the new one, it's fitting is a bit wobbly.

As the new rings will arrive in the morning, I know I can undo the inlet manifold and have enough space to change over, so I loosened the bolts, and that's the weird problem.

When I put them in, they were tightened to 20lbs on the torque gague, and I checked with a spanner, they were tight, after warming the engine this evening, they turned with just one finger on a std spanner.

Should I be tightening them on a hot engine ?

I'm never sure about swapping dashpots carb to carb...you can sometimes get a sticky air valve if you do...
Should be okay if you keep the air valve with its dashpot.

Dont change it just cause I said so...! I thought the washers were to match the hoses....

Damned annoying about the tube and its a new one too....You really do need to be scrupulously clean on the surfaces of the
water pump cover and the manifold...
I regularly clean off great gobs of silicon clear or orange muck sealant on these. All they need is cleanliness and decent O rings
with a bit of red stuff or vaseline so they dont suffer when going in...

On 1850's I sometimes push the tube in from the top. Sprints dont seem to line up so well so I stopped doing that with Sprints.

You'll soon be there.....

Jonners

I know, I hate liquid sealants, cleaned out a red and orange one from most places, always have believed that clean, flat mating surfaces should not need it, not to mention a garage once ruined my ex BMW 750il by using that stuff instead of two O rings.

Once the gearbox is sorted, the carbs will come out for a good clean, and a service kit installation, they are in bad setup, choke is imbalanced, same for throttle, breather pipe split, wrong needles, spindles notchy, linkage springs worn, I'm amazed it even idles (sort of).

I'm never sure about swapping dashpots carb to carb...you can sometimes get a sticky air valve if you do...
Should be okay if you keep the air valve with its dashpot.

Jon's right, if you're swapping the dashpots over make sure you swap the pistons as well, the pots and pistons are matched to each other.

You have Waxstats so you don't need to do a drop test.

Removed all the inlet manifold bolts, and I found there is sufficient gap to remove the connector.

Cleaned up the old one to go back in, but the new looks identical in size,
So the new one goes back, especially as it is not the culprit,
Put back in place, feels better this time, but as I was putting the manifold bolts back, a tiny drizzle turned into a downpour.

All stop till the morning.

O ring quality is an issue.
Even stuff from plumbing shops these days is not as it was....

Try again with vaseline or red stuff and you can't say too many times how important the quality of surfaces is in water pump cover and manifold.

1200 wet and dry is your friend again...

Jonners

Tightened everything back together this morning, and it's still leaking, but only under pressure.

The leak is on the top of the waterpump cover at the connector.
This leaves only a few possible possibilities,

1. The waterpump cover is not sealing, or has warped,
2. The connector new though it is, may not be sealing or is warped,
3. The new O rings are damaged again,
4. The inlet manifold is not sealing, (I have a spare at my other home, will collect this weekend)
5. Possibility of not sitting correctly.

To top it off, the thermostat bolt is just spinning, swapped bolt over and the threads in the manifold are fine, its the bolt thats worn.

No more molly coddling ! New parts ordered,

Water pump cover,
Water pump gasket,
New connector piece,
New connector O rings,
New thermostat gasket,
New bolts in UNF and Metric M8,

Best to just take off the whole shabang, and just re-do the job from waterpump cover to final test, gone on too long.

Hi Mahesh, There is an alternative part to the UKC2538 + the 2x TRS1114 O-rings, which in my opinion is a better engineered solution. Try and get a 156875 as fitted to early 1850 / Sprints . I see Mick Dolphin has one listed at about £4.
The 156875 is a one piece rubber part with the O-rings and the tube moulded in one. So it doesn't rely on after market supply or rubber rings.
As Jonners says, the areas where these parts sit needs to be very clean and in addition I always use a smear of Blue Hylomar on each end to help it slide in and seal properly.
Good luck you are nearly there.
Tony.

Thanks Tony,

I'll give them a ring Monday and order in.

Just leave it for a few days....

Its under max pressure before the stat opens. 70-30 It will stop when the stat opens and may well go away for good...

Jonners

You are learning the hard way why my Triumphs have Vauxhall engines!
But I promise you, it IS possible to build a Sprint engine that doesn't leak water, just not easy!

Jonners is right too, sometimes early leaks just cure themselves after a couple of warm up cycles - it's all part of the magic!

Steve