Edds Dolomite 1850 - Converted to Sprint.

[Phil_G]

Much as I find Rimmers to be an excellent source of many things for our cars, James Paddock have done me proud with some recent bits & pieces that they've been able to supply for less than the cost of the same stuff from Rimmers.

Paddock's service is even more convenient than Rimmers in many cases, as Paddock accepts PayPal as well as credit/debit card payments.

all that time i wasted on the phone ringing folk, thinking I would have to pay postage on parts, and i got a bloody triumph specialist about 30 mins from my door!!!!

John, thanks for the tip, I for one will be filling their till before too long

[eddbmxdude]

I went along to the Retro Rides awards night at the Ace Cafe last night and met a guy called John. He sent me a message on the RetroRides forum last week to ask if I was going, because he had a few parts he was going to let me have.
'A few parts' turned out to be this!

I needed an airbox too!


There's a waterpump cover (looks different to mine though), timing chain, oil pump, fuel pump and various other bits and pieces in here.


This is a full set of pistons and rods. There's also a brand new coil, a dizzy and some sort of bearing still in its packet in this box.


These are brand new, I only opened the boxes to take a photo.


Then there's a pair of brand new discs and drums, pads which are unopened and a brand new 3 piece clutch


Lastly, this. Brand new aswell!


I had tons of enthusiasm for the Dolomite already, but this has given me a massive boost! Theres loads of stuff here that will be a massive help to the project.
Huge, huge thanks to John (GTVSavior) from RetroRides

Edd

[Jon Tilson]

Blimey there is an easy 250 quids worth in that lot.
Very very generous...

Jonners

[JPB]

Wow! What a generous bloke. That said, I've often found such generosity on RR and have acquired a few bits myself from other members. (I'm Dolomatic on there...)

Those dampers without the spring seats but with a double-ended stud through their eyes look a lot like Volvo 140/160 series ones.

[eddbmxdude]

Got a bit more done this afternoon.

First task was unload all the bits I got from John.


I had a rough plan in my head of what I wanted to get done. Ideally I wanted to get the new crank seal fitted and get the new clutch on and ready for the gearbox to go back on. I also wanted to get the steering rack/subframe cleaned up of oil and get the poly bushes fitted.

I started off by making up a tool to lock the flywheel. Ta daa!


Here it is in action.


That meant I could undo the flywheel bolts and whip it off. Here is what was underneath.


I took the gearbox adapter plate off, changed the seal and cleaned up the whole lot.


Adapter plate cleaned up and back on.


Then I cleaned up the flywheel and torqued it up.


Time for a cuppa and a browse through the book of lies ;D


I decided that I didn't want to risk contaminating the nice, clean, new clutch with my filthy hands, so I'll make that first job next time Im down the unit.

I turned my attention to the engine bay. As you can see, the steering rack is rather grubby where that crank oil seal was leaking.



I unbolted the rack mounts so I could change the bushes and clean around it. Heres the clean rack/subframe with the bushes in position.


And all bolted back together.


Thats it for today. Next time I'll get the clutch on. I need to put new seals in the Metro clutch cylinder before that though, because when I went to leave I couldn't get any gears! >:(

Edd

[JPB]

I don't know how familiar you are with Metro clutch hydraulics, but if you're not, it may be worth removing and chucking away the clutch damper before condemning either cylinder. The damper tends to fail when it becomes clogged, then the diaphragm inside it lets go and air gets in to the system.
Bin that and the difference in clutch action won't be noticeable unless the head steady has perished bushes.

I mention that as roughly half of the miniMetro clutch hydraulics jobs I've ever done were down to that stupid damper!

[straylight]

good work there edd, cracking along nicely. I always found putting the steering rack U bolts back on to be a pain. Looking very neat. Good pics too, thanks, great to see other people at work

did you leave the heater blower on the bulkhead when you removed the engine or did you put it back on to keep it out of the way ?

stu

[eddbmxdude]

I don't know how familiar you are with Metro clutch hydraulics, but if you're not, it may be worth removing and chucking away the clutch damper before condemning either cylinder. The damper tends to fail when it becomes clogged, then the diaphragm inside it lets go and air gets in to the system.
Bin that and the difference in clutch action won't be noticeable unless the head steady has perished bushes.

I mention that as roughly half of the miniMetro clutch hydraulics jobs I've ever done were down to that stupid damper!

Thanks for the advice John. I don't think my problem is the damper this time. I replaced the seals in the slave cylinder and bled it and the pedal feels fine, it just won't go into any gears. I drove through a massive flood (Almost deeper than the wheels) about 2 minutes before I arrived at the workshop. Then it was sat all afternoon before I tried to drive it again, about 7.5 hours. Im thinking the clutchplate might be stuck due to getting wet.

good work there edd, cracking along nicely. I always found putting the steering rack U bolts back on to be a pain. Looking very neat. Good pics too, thanks, great to see other people at work

did you leave the heater blower on the bulkhead when you removed the engine or did you put it back on to keep it out of the way ?

stu

Thanks Stu. When I am looking up info on how to do certain jobs I love it when someone has taken really nice photos, showing clearly whats involved. Makes me feel a bit easier when doing a job for the first time, so I hope that by taking lots of photos as I go along, someone else will benefit in the same way.

I left the heater blower on when I took the engine out. Didn't really seem to be in the way. Should it have been?

I went down there yesterday and fiddled a little. I drained the engine oil, took the filter off and the fuel pump. I think the fuel pump gasket was leaking and thats where all the oil on the steering rack came from. I also tried to get the waterpump out but didn't really have the right tools. I will have to get a slide hammer for next time.
Cheers,
Edd

[FreddieS]

Top work edd, was following it on metropower but didnt realise you'd made a thread on here

[eddbmxdude]

Cheers Freddie

Got the clutch on the engine yesterday, but apart from that no progress.


Lack of moneys to buy stuff. I need a new waterpump because the splines on the shaft of mine aren't gripping the impeller

Also need a spin on oil filter conversion and a few more gaskets. The gearbox bellhousing has oil in it and I read somewhere that it'd be a good idea to replace the seals in the gearbox, just in case. Any advice on this?
I also want to test the O/D solenoid and wiring before I go and put it all back in, but am unsure how to do this.

I rolled it out of the workshop to make space yesterday.


Thats all for now,
Edd

[straylight]

testing the OD solenoid should be simple enough, hook up 12V to them and listen for the click or thunk as they kick in. Make sure you get the + and - around the right way.

Probably worth cleaning the switches on the Gearbox too. My OD inhibitor switch and reverse light switch needed taking apart and cleaning out. Easy to do while the gearbox is exposed. Check them with a multimeter or even a simple light circuit.

stu

[TahitiSPRINT]

I need a new waterpump because the splines on the shaft of mine aren't gripping the impeller

I had this with my Sprint a few years back. Sometimes it was working fine and the next it was cooking within a few minutes
After cooling down, it was fine again, etc.
Very hard to find the cause... Tried to fix the impeller to the shaft by means of a locating pin, but that didn't work -> a new shaft was needed

Cheers,

[eddbmxdude]

I got a little more done this evening. Not a great deal, but everything I do is one step closer to getting the beast done

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

I have been buying goodies over the last couple of weeks.


First job was going to be getting the old waterpump out and putting the new one in.


Heres my waterpump removal 'tool', because I forgot to borrow a slide hammer. needless to say, I didn't manage to get the pump out


Next was the fuel pump gasket. Took all of 30 seconds. I love easy jobs


I turned my attention to the spin on oil filter conversion now. Hmmm, needs a bit of a clean.


Cleaned up!


Spin on conversion on.


Oil filter on. Will need to remove it and fill with oil before I put new oil in though.


Then I turned my attention to the gearbox.


This is the problem I have. The bellhousing is full of oil! Im unsure where its comming from too.


I removed the release bearing and crosshaft ready for cleaning. I didn't have anything to clean them wioth though, so that will have to wait till another time.



Heres the old crusty engine mounts.


and here thet are after a quick going over with a wire cup in the drill. Next time Im down there I'll give them a lick of paint.



By this time I was cold and starting to get a little bored so I called it a night.
Its getting there slowly

Edd

[Jon Tilson]

Well lucky you that the wedgelock came out in one piece...

You need a new oil seal for the front gearbox cover. IIRC it goes inside the bit that goes over the first motion shaft and bolts on with 4 bolts.

Put some grease on the cross shaft bearings before it goes back in and have a good look at the weld on the lever that the slave cylinder pushes. I've had 2 of these break last year and one of the cross shafts was a new one!

Jonners

[eddbmxdude]

Well lucky you that the wedgelock came out in one piece...

You need a new oil seal for the front gearbox cover. IIRC it goes inside the bit that goes over the first motion shaft and bolts on with 4 bolts.

Put some grease on the cross shaft bearings before it goes back in and have a good look at the weld on the lever that the slave cylinder pushes. I've had 2 of these break last year and one of the cross shafts was a new one!

Jonners

Thanks for the info Jonners. I did have a look at the weld, looked all good to me. Is the wedgelock the square headed bolt that was holding the release bearing fork to the crosshaft? If so, it was pretty stiff to undo.