My first Dolly - 1979 1500 SE

[Jon Tilson]

I would recommend bleeding a dual master with a vacuum approach - sucking the fluid through from the caliper bleed nipple rather than pumping the pedal. The seals do suffer with lots of pumping. I made myself one out of an old battery hydrometer...one of the best tricks I ever came up with...

Jonners

[trigger]

I spent some time this afternoon doing some more work on this, between myself and my dad we managed to get the new brake pistons fitted and the new seal kit, bled the brakes front and rear, replace the front wheel bearing and fit both the new exhaust rubbers.

I then took it for a road test, I must say it a real joy to drive, It's a totally different car compared to my Mk3 Cortina, much more sportier feeling with a nice driving position and lovely handling, the brakes are a bit spongy but I'm hoping that's because we've fitted new padsa nd shoes and everything's been apart, it probably needs bedding in a bit.

I can only imagine how much better it will be once I've replaced those dangerous tyres mind you. It still needs a service, it pinks a little as you're driving along and the ignition all needs refreshing still but that's a job for next week. I took some rubbish photos on my phone of it at the local farm, they do make it look a bit nicer bodywise than it really is.

1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE


1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

[Dolly-Dimple]

Looking absolutely superb mate well done

[Jon Tilson]

After all that work I wouldnt expect the brakes to feel spongey.
After using up all the servo vacuum they should be dead solid with minimal travel.
Suggest a look at the rear brake self adjusting which could be not working properly and maybe the flexi hoses.

Dual masters dont like lots of pedal travel...the seals are not as robust as the old single ones...

All the same its good you have it driveable again...and that you like it.

Jonners

[trigger]

Hmm... We did bleed both the front and rear brakes and no more air came out, I'll get the old man to drive it next week and see what he thinks.

[Jon Tilson]

If still you have about half an inch of travel but have bled it through front and rear its almost certainly rear
adjustment. You can confirm this sometimes if the feel improves when the handbrake is on.

Jonners

[trigger]

I'll have a play with it on Saturday and see what the problem is.

I found this in a 1979 issue of Autocar, It seems i need to dust of my flat cap!.

[Toledo Man]

Hasn't been taxed since 1988 so unlikely to have survived...

[trigger]

I thought that I'd better update this as the car has come a long way since my last update, I got the car home a few weeks back from my dad's, the brakes still don't seem right, i have the "brake" warning light on the dash and the pedal just feels horrible, It drops if you have your foot on the pedal and it has a spongy feel to it like you need to stand on them to stop it although they do work and pull up nice and straight. The next plan is to order another master cylinder repair kit and rebuild it again as well as a servo repair kit and rebuild that too.

As for the rest of the car...

I made a start on polishing the bodywork which amazingly has started to shine!





Fitted the correct 1500 badge too.





and gave it a clean under the bonnet, sadly i can't get the waxoyl off but it's probably best staying on there anyway. What should be on the missing sticker under the bonnet?



I removed the old washer bottle to give it a clean and thought I'd take a look at the old washer pump, there was nothing wrong with it!, God knows why the garage charged the last owner over £50 for a new one a back in March! Anyway i took that off and it's now running back on it's old one again.

It was at this point that things started to get serious!, I managed to get the chin spoiler off and found the valance was a bit grotty, removed the front bumper whilst managing to break the end brackets off (one side was already missing) and knocked the worse of the dent out.



My mate is coming over to try and weld some patches onto the valance, hopefully that will give it some strength again, to be fair that's probably the worse bit on the whole car.





I also done the sills and bottom of the rear quarter which were scabby.



Which after stone chipping and painting and a good polish didn't come out looking too bad i thought.



I'm not very happy about this rear arch, I might do that as well seeing how well the paint matches.



I'll paint the front wing when i do the valance.







The photos don't do it justice to be honest, I does look much nicer in real life!

The last few days I've been doing the offside which is pretty much the same as the other side but with door bottoms too!.



It currently looks like this, I sure most of you are thinking I'm probably mad for doing this amount of work with rattle cans in the garage but I'm enjoying it, It's nice to have something to get your teeth into!.



I've also bought this set of Yoko tyres of Blackcircles for £111 which seemed fair to me.



So there you have it, She's coming on well but there's still a long way to go. I can't wait to start using it though, as the seats are so comfy i keep finding myself sat in it and making brum brum noises!

[Dolly-Dimple]

Fabulous!! Well done mate, superb work and progress!! Keep it up

[Dolly-Dimple]

How's it coming along mate? Hope you are well. Kind Regards Russell

[trigger]

It's going well Russ but I wonder if i can have some advice of you good forum folk?. I'm still struggling with my brakes, between me and my dad we've rebuilt the master cylinder with a kit, the same way as it came apart, bled the brakes several times front and rear and there's definitely no air in the system and we can't see any leaks or bulges anywhere underneath YET the brake pedal still feels like poo, it's very spongy and feels like it has no resistance at all yet if you stand on it the brakes work fine and pulls up nice and straight.

Also the "BRAKE" warning light is always lit on the dash, I've ordered another master cylinder repair kit as well as a servo repair kit but could it be something else?, We was wondering if the bias valve on the bulkhead could be causing these problems?. Any ideas?.

Here's a current photo of the car, I'll update this tomorrow hopefully with more photos if you like.

[Dolly-Dimple]

Looking fantastic mate!!! I'm afraid I can't help on the brakes but I'm sure someone will be along soon with a suggestion or three Keep up the good work mate. Kind Regards Russell

[Toledo Man]

All SEs had the tandem brakes so the problem could be with the brake balance valve. Make sure you've bled all the air out. There is still some air in the system if the brakes are still feeling spongy.

[Jon Tilson]

I would have a look at the brake splitter and shuttle valve. James467's resto has a blow by blow...

Also look at rear wheel cylinder adjustment and the rear flexi hose.

Dual masters are prone to seal failure and don't like being bled much...as I said earlier I use a vaccum technique to suck
fluid through rather than pumping the brake pedal..


Nice body work skills there though.

Jonners