Got a bit more done today, patched the 2 holes in the boot floor under the fuel tank and one in the rear wheel arch where it meets the boot floor, still got the sills to weld on but everything is ready for them to attach, so after they are fitted that's everything from the bulkhead to the rear welded and sorted, then its onto the engine bay and front end, getting there slowly
Cheers managed to get the sills fitted today went for the "bend the extra lip over and weld it approach" looks a very neat finish if id have tried to cut it of I know it would not looked as good a job
Got the donor for the Toledo and made a start in stripping it down, not sure on which route im going down to fit the engine or running gear yet, make it up as I go along I think
Just so you know, I'm doing an MX5 Mk1 1.8 into a Dolomite, quite happy to share wisdom when I get that far! Gear stick is going to be fun, measure end of engine to gearstick... May need a back seat passenger to change gear for me.
geeksteve wrote:Just so you know, I'm doing an MX5 Mk1 1.8 into a Dolomite, quite happy to share wisdom when I get that far! Gear stick is going to be fun, measure end of engine to gearstick... May need a back seat passenger to change gear for me.
Steve
Yeah m8 could do with all the info I can get, know what you mean about gearstick, don't know if its even more so on a 2 door, so are you using just engine and box or whole front cradle, i'm undecided until the mx5's body has been removed
Im going to start a new thread on the running gear install so keep an eye out for it cheers.
Not updated on here for a while(facebook the killer of forums)so its been just over a year since I started this and ive managed to finish all the welding, i hope, new door skins fitted, subframe cleaned and built back up with poly bushes and get it back on its wheels, and then ive given it a quick wire brush and schutz so that's the underneath done, now I'm on with the engine transplant from the mx5 then i'll think about the upper half, as my daughter says why does it look worse now than when I first picked it up
These where a nightmare to figure out but got there in the end and I'm happy with the result
It' occurred to me that you've probably never driven a Toledo/Dolomite at speed yet - which that engine will give you.
The standard brakes are marginal when in good condition for 1296cc but pretty rubbish by MX5 standards. Have you considered going down the Trackerjack Sierra caliper/Golf GTi brake upgrade route? If you avoid Sprint alloys,Princess 4 pots should bolt straight on too.There is a V8 Dolomite on this forum (3500HL) which has Rover 45 calipers under steel wheels. Either way,making the brakes amazing can be done by scraap yard searches and quite economically.
Finished with Main Engines and Steering....
1981 1500 HL man/od
1972 Series 3 Land Rover diesel
2007 MX5 Sport
2010 Citroen C1
1993 Gas Gas GT32
wiggybum wrote:It' occurred to me that you've probably never driven a Toledo/Dolomite at speed yet - which that engine will give you.
The standard brakes are marginal when in good condition for 1296cc but pretty rubbish by MX5 standards. Have you considered going down the Trackerjack Sierra caliper/Golf GTi brake upgrade route? If you avoid Sprint alloys,Princess 4 pots should bolt straight on too.There is a V8 Dolomite on this forum (3500HL) which has Rover 45 calipers under steel wheels. Either way,making the brakes amazing can be done by scraap yard searches and quite economically.
Yes ive heard and read about the crackerjack brakes, i'll be addressing them at some point as always trying to utilize what I have stashed away which consist of various ford calipers including sierra and was thinking Mondeo also have the mazda which would be useful as ive a nice set of alloys from the donor, also ill be needing to upgrade the axle at some point due to having a heavy right foot I don't think the diff will last long, cheers for the heads up