The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Paul, if it lost this fluid while it was standing, then pressurising the system probably won't show up anything, think about it.....

Pauldaf44 wrote:Tried to wake this car up from a long sleep today started lovely and was taking to the workshop for some tlc, only first time I touched the brakes it went straight to the floor. Obviously being 10yds from the house I turned round and took it straight back. At a cursary glance I cant see fluid on any wheel or around the master cylinder but I haven't looked thourighly. It had a dry reservior so it must have gone somewhere. My thoughts are the very cold temperatures have popped a dodgy seal that I hadn't noticed.

Plan of attack is to bleed it through and see if I can get pedal. If I have pedal I can then pressurise the system and spot a weep easier, then replace the offending part. Why does every car I own do this to me at some point?

Do these have a servo? If so, pound to a pinck of finest that it's now up to it's gills in dot4. Can I also say, with the greatest of due respect to you that trusting a hydraulic system that's had a major leak that's gone un repaired, with OTHER PEOPLE'S lives, let alone your own, is utterly idiotic.

I've had TOTAL brake failure twice now (hit the pedal and nothing there), once on a bypass at 70mph - problem traced to a brakepad falling apart and once about 10 yards off a bypass when I had hydraulic failure (m/c popped). To this day, I still think how lucky I am to have walked away both times.

Please, for your good, my good, the car's good and the good of everyone else you will ever drive that car past, please put a bit of time into tracing the leak properly. Don't just hope it won't happen again as it simply will.

Had some measure of success with this car this morning.

1st job was doing the alternator conversion. A small amount of bracket adjustment and its fitted and lined up.
Next step was too wire it in. Not as straight forward as first thought. The existing wiring was used but I had to remove the voltage regulator pack on the bulkhead. Join together the dynamo and field wires. The lights circuit then had to be spliced into this wire and the wipers directly earthed to the bulkhead.

Done fired car woohoo its charging and strongly so switched off. Ahh it carried on running even with the key out Easily fixed by running an inline diode.

Alternator fitted electrics converted now working. We also had to bypass the ignition light as that circuit was causing the non-charging fault in the first place. That will be repaired in due course.

2nd job was to fit the speakers and wire in the headunit. Done Bruce now has tunes

Then ran out of time so set off for home how did Bruce repay me? By shearing the joint between down pipe and silencer so a quick roadside bodge involving and exhaust splint has it together but it will require some welding

Hopefully one day this car will just be happy with the work it gets and not throw me another job straight away.

Paul

p.s. the headlights are so much brighter and it even feels a bit smoother stronger spark I suppose

...And the brakes?

Oli_88 wrote:...And the brakes?

Couldn't find any major leaks even with it on a ramp and tracing back through the whole system with a UV light. Fluid level hadn't changed either. As I had a master seals kit thats been resealed. The pedals a bit firmer and there where signs that it had been weaping from the peddle. Nothing that would have made it loose all the fluid in one though

Bruce went out for a good run and didn't even break down once in 300 miles
Although it did decide to make a loud clattering noise trying to go up a particully steep hill. Either a chain was rattling under heavy load or it was pinky fairly badly. Will check points timing and carburation. Mixture could well be out as I haven't set it up properly after replacing the carb needle and diaphragm as well as having rebuilt the fuel pump. I think it may be running rich as it will cold start with no choke!

Does anyone have a spare choke cable and knob as mine is so stiff it has to applied with a pipe wrench at the moment and im sure this will brake it soon. Choke pull is also knackered but im not too bothered about having the right one on as long as it works.

Oh and some photos others took on the meet.

Someone really likes arty farty shots

Yes it is dirty but it had just done a 300mile treck in appaling weather. Im gutted that my new bumpers have started pitting already

More Arty stuff would make a good avatar I think

That missing wheel trim spoils the look of a car thats just starting to look like its coming right. Blast you thieves


Paul

MOT time is fast aproaching so ive been poking bits that looked crusty and generally tinkering over the last week or so. On the mechanical side it seems to be fairly simple and quick. However this winter has not been so kind to the car rust wise. Now theres a suprise Bruce is rusty NEVER

Today saw a trip to motor factors for some supplies
1. Fibre glassing materials
2. Glass reinforced filler
3. fine coat filler
4. New knotwheel
5. Seam sealer
6. A big sheet of steel.

It was only on returning that I realised id forgotten to get a new welding mask as I lost mine not long back, and it was crap anyway. Hmm maybe i'll be looking the other way or shutting eyes.

So tomorrow this years weldaphon starts although thankfully its nowhere near as bad as last year.

Heres my list.

1. Passenger side inner sill in footwell needs a small patch.
2. I was abit over exuberent with the screwdriver on the rear passenger jacking point so a patch there, It does seem fairly locallised. Fingers crossed it is!!
3. Drivers side footwell is not holed but looks a bit on the thin side so may get some fresh metal.
4. Both front A pillars where they join the scuttle panel + scuttle panel corners. I felt up behind the dash and it all feels mighty crusty so that will be getting done. Otherwise it will only come back and it may even stop leaking
5. Hand Brake barely working so im going to adjust up the rear drums. I doubt very much that will be enough so is there anyway to tension the cable itself. I can pull the handle all the up to the stop at the moment.

Then as ive done that much for MOT I may as well carry on tidying. Ive made up a mould for a fibre glass arch repair as mine are frilly. Unfortunatly the rear arches are too far gone too mould from so im hoping that the front profile is the same. If not on this 1300 they will be

Hmm I better get my skates on me thinking I might have to hang onto it as theres no way I could sell it with that much to do I dont sell cars like that! and after Ive done all that i'll be all attached again.

Yes I know im strange but the more work a car makes me do the more I want to keep it no matter how much it p155 me off!

As promised today was a weldaphon. You will remember from previous posts that my right hand chassis rail was rotten at the front that was todays job. It was awkward to get at but is now all in place and looking and feeling solid. It has also made a difference to the way the car drives it just feels more solid.

Anyway heres how it was done

First stage was wire brush attack followed by removing rot and rust killer and then out with the hammers and tin snips to make a repair panel. This came in 3 peices. The first you can see here made the top and a flange to weld to

Then another panel was welded on the bottom hammered round and welded to the solid side

Here shows the second panel more clearly.

As you probably saw from the earlier picture I had blown through in quite a few places so cut higher and welded this patch on top

The last part was to weld in a shaped piece for the mount.
Then the whole lot was covered in underseal and should be strong for years to come.

Oh for those that had been wondering how I got around not being able to get a bracket for the subframe mount.

Take one 1500FWD mount and weld the bracket to the top.
That then bolts as the original should plus uses a spreader and bolts to the top. This spreads the load accross the whole member and should be better than new.


Hopefully one day my welding will start to flow and look less like pidgeon poo. But at least it has decent penetration and is solid

Other small jobs done

Valve clearances set, I think i need to use a bit more additive.
Alternator mounting bodged, untill a new casing arrives. As mine had cracked all the way through the casing on the forward lower mounting point

Scuttle panel corners are now being repaired and the shape is going to be a b'stard to do panel beat. But for my brainwaive. There is currently a single ply of fibre glass curing over the trouble area. Which has been sanded down smooth. Now I know what your thinking this is a structural area dont go near it with fibre glass you imbecil. You where weren't you? but here me out.

This is a former This will be removed from the car reinforced with another couple of layers of fibreglass and then boxed in with fibre glass reinforced filler. This gives me a perfect replica of the required shape. Which I can use to beat some steel to the correct shape. That will be done tomorrow and the area should then be solid again

You will soon see what the end result looks like

Paul

This is looking good Paul. Well done with your welding too, its not as easy as anyone thinks to weld. Its nice and easy if you've got clean metal and welding on a bench, but try welding when upside down on old metal and its another story. But hey if its don the job then its all good, and its what angle grinders are good for

Another weldaphon was done today and im still not finished.

This is what I thought I was doing. A small patch over a couple of pin holes and getting rid of surface rust in the drivers foot well. This like nearly all rust repairs escalated into something a lot more substantial.

I noticed that the floorpan was a bit of an odd shape like it had been beached at some point and the sound insulation was cracked. Knowing that I would have to remove some of the latter for the patch, I thought I might as well remove the whole lot. Oh my god I wish I hadn't!!

removal of the sound insultation showed pitted metal on 90% and 4 patches that where required. Obviously because of the ribbing these aren't the easiest shape in the world. So I cleaned the whole pan back to bright metal with a flap disc and found it wasn't as bad as I thought. Unfortunatly it also showed a good portion on the inner sill was filler. So another patch on that and all is now well. The whole pan is now etch primed but whilst driving home I noticed a couple of pin holes around my welds. So out with the mig to cover them. I think I might even get away with seam sealer. The etch is being left overnight to dry before I rub back around the welds themselves smooth out with some filler and then spray the whole floorpan with underseal. I will get some photos up tomorrow as well.

Also today drivers rear arch was ground back to sound metal and I am attempting to get the shape roughly right with fibreglass untill, I can afford repair panels. Others areas of surface rust have been ground back rust proofed and etch primed

We are getting there now one more week and Bruce should have another years ticket.

Here was my original list of MOT stuff and how it stands now

. Passenger side inner sill. - Repair sections made just got melt metal
2. Rear jacking point
3. Drivers side footwell is not holed but looks a bit on the thin side so may get some fresh metal. - Correction had lots of holes under the noise insulation which are now repaired.
4. Both front A pillars where they join the scuttle panel + scuttle panel corners. Scuttle panel done A pillars ready to stick metal
5. Hand Brake adjustment.

Im adding a couple of things

1 tyre
Front Valance needs a patch

Just a small update for today as not a lot has happened. Really just waiting for things to dry.

First stage was to clean up yesterdays welding and fill up some small pin holes where I had been slightly overzelous. Then a small amount of filler was used to smooth out the welds a little bit. Finally more etch primer then a coat of stonechip paint. That floorpan is now looking like this.

Not pretty but strong + when the carpets go back down you wont see it. The sill patch has come out well but again will be hidden


Moving onto other areas. A skim of filler has been put over the scuttle panel patches which will be smoothed out and sprayed tomorrow.

I know there is still a small hole there but it will cover up when I do that A pillar. It was very annoying as when I was cleaning the A pillar to patch up I discovered that the whole area had been stuffed full of filler. With that cleaned out I realised my scuttle patch should have been a fair bit bigger
Passenger side got the same treatment and with some sanding should look passable again


Work at rebuilding passenger side wheel arch or at least its shape continues. This will get it through an MOT untill I can afford some repair panels to let in.


Untill the next time tata

Paul

Been having a small problem with low oil pressure after about 30mins driving. Not dangerously low but a fairly significant drop.

When first started off idle its running at about 70psi and dropping to 50psi on idle which seems quite good to me.

After 30 mins its more loke 50psi running 25psi idle. Run it for an hour or so longer it drops again but after that stays level. 45psi at 60mph in top, dropping to 30psi between 5 and 50mph and 15psi at idle. The last figures seemed to low to me. So I ordered a new pressure relief valve and spring which ive fitted today. Couldn't see anything hugely wrong with the old valve but the spring felt a bit weaker and the valve body was full of oil.

Hopefully that will sort it especially as the oil pressure doesn't seem to relate to engine temperature. Temp doesn't rise over a third on the gauge ever and is often at a quarter with any of the pressure readings.

I think im now ready for the MOT with 2 weeks to spare

Firstly an apology for no pics as numptys lost the camera lead. Now onto the report.

I arrived at the workshop and got the polycarbide wheel out and attacked the passenger footwell and was very pleased to find no holes
Now I already new that there was a small repair to be done on the passenger side inner sill from the footwell, so that was the first to be patched. Whilst I was doing that my mate got the DA sander out and attacked the filler on the scuttle panel its all now smooth and painted.

After those two where done it was tea and bacon butty time.

After that I moved on to the rear jacking point, which initially looked like two patches. After flapwheeling I decided that there was just two much corrosion. So out came the snips and all offending rot was cut out. This left a few bit of the thicker parts of the jacking point intact but the sill otherwise open. Firstly cleaned up the wheel arch and welded on a closing plate to give me something to build the structure from.
Vices and hammers got some tin bended which was then welded into place. This was an s shaped piece which attached to the inner sill and outer sill. Finally a curved peice was cut and welded to meet the wheelarch. Which made all look well. Hopefully Mr MOT will be happy the welds are strong but a tad lumpy as access is evil.

Whilst I had the wheels off I adjusted up the rear drums and took up some slack in the handbrake. The result being 8 of us could not move the car with the hand brake on. I also had a bit of a dig around the rear inner arches and found one patch of isolated corrosion in a bit of a strange and scary place. After digging and knot wheeling a 1 inch slit appeared above the top spring mount. This was was repaired imediatly. Because of the area it got a lot of weld and double skin of steel. So shouldn't be causing problems again.

Photos when I find the cable. The only bits left are A pillars which are not within perscribed areas but will probably be fixed before the MOT anyway.

Paul