The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

bit more progress with the door fittings and a belatedely, a huge thankyou to Darren (eighties flamer) and MickeyB.

Darren visited Australia over a month ago now and asked if I needed anything brought out as part of his baggage. Mike had organised a vinyl roof from martrim for me and between them they sorted getting the vinyl (including C pillar trim) to darren and then across the globe to Australia as part of Darren's hand luggage. Once in Oz, Darren then posted the vinyl to me from Canberra and it has been sitting waiting for George to come over and lend a hand to stick it on. With Mart's excellent "how to" and plenty of forum pics, the roof isn't far off going on. I can't thank you enough guys, the vinyl sits on top of the car while I salivate over it.

I've run into problems finding replacement springs for the rear, my usual supplier (Vanguard Triumph in melbourne) didn't have any so I'm hoping Sprintparts will have a second hand set or, hopefully Aled has some in Sydney.

While I wait for the suspension parts so I can bolt the back axle on, I got stuck into the door glass over the last few weeks. My repect for Mart has reached epic proportions, because this took a long time and was the fiddliest, most awkward job I've done to date. I knew it was going to be a bugger, and having taken 3 hours to sort the lhf door out, I braced myself today for a session. Put some decent music on, briefed the wife that I'd need a coffee every 30 minutes and resolved not to damage any of the paintwork George had done.

But, 10 am through to 5.30 pm and the doors are (almost) done.








the extra square hole is for the triplecustard's technique for fitting central locking.




I found that a simple pull up tool was needed to sort the fiddly clips out. The final technique was:

quarterlight in but left loose (taking care not to scratch the paint as the chrome channel slides in through the top)
bailey channel in
glass in
fit glass to bailey channel
quarterlight pushed firmly into place
push glass down into door
fit inner waist clips (but not the strip)
fit outer waist weather strips (patience, it took a long time)
push home inner felt door strips
slide glass up so regulator would slide in (my dismantling notes suggested the regulator needed to go in before the glass, but it can easily be fitted around the glass)
drop glass to lowest position and attach regulator arm into channel
bolt in regulator
play with windows for 10 minutes

still to do:
fit stiffeners (they needed wire brushing and painting with zinc to clean surface rust)
fit pop rivets
door levers
electric windows
central locking

I used new bailey channel and weather strips (inner and outer) but reused the old quarterlight rubbers, which have seen better days. I ended up rubbing back the quarterlight black insert and painting matt black after a trial run powdercoating one. The powdercoat was just too shiny.


Vinyl on top of car.

Tomorrow looking at locks.

..and back to George with the family car. Hit a 'roo two weeks ago, only slight damage, luckily I'd slowed right down but still two of the buggers tried to jump in front of me. Insurance company approved George for the job.



stu

Hi Stu,

Yes I got your message, and been slack in returning your call, excuse is I have been very busy rebuilding/repairing race motor which will be used next weekend. (engine rebuild in 4 weeks, sorting new parts and machining/heat treatment, puts a fair strain on my time). I should have some springs, will check in the next day or two and let you know.

Mark

straylight wrote:

Is it possible to die of shed envy

Is it possible to die of shed envy

Yes it is, I desperately would like a larger "shed', but what will happen is you just collect more "crap" or junk.

Stu,

Good news I have located some rear spring and will post them to you this week.

Mark

thanks mark, much appreciated. If I get them next week, I'll be able to reinstall the back axle in the school holidays coming up.

shed envy ? meh, as mark says, you just fill it with more junk. My wife lost her work car a few weeks ago, which meant we could take the mothballed suzuki swift out of my shed and create a bit more space. The tractor is still living oustide, which is not good. The shed was built for the tractor and spray unit

2 hours to sort out a back door lock, and I'm not happy with it, so more time needed. At least I sorted all the parts out, got the anti-drum stiffeners in, riveted up the windows and I'm looking forward to consolidating the many boxes of window parts into one main box.

The lock appears to be striking cleanly, but I can open the door without pushing on the external (or internal) release. I'm guessing The external release needs adjusting.

stu

I had a similar problem with Brown's front passenger door. The latch wouldn't close. I just loosened the screws on the latch mechansim, tightened them and it was fine after that. Sounds like your latch needs some "fettling".

a few productive nights after work and all the locks, latches and openers are now in and working. Thanks Toledo man, it was a bit of jiggery-pokery (that, and routing the actuator rod in front of the door skin instead of jamming it behind, got it working, then spotted the obvious mistake)

Got the rear springs from Sprintparts today, thanks Mark. They have already been rubbed back, cleaned up and sprayed so should be fitted to the shocks tomorrow and then I'll work on getting the back axle back in.

I'm stuck on finding replacement firewall material. The search has been quite extensive, but no-one seems to sell the thick rubber foam stuff that has a solid rubber protective layer. Plenty of dynamat/bituminous/foam/aluminium stuff around, plenty of jute based stuff, but I'm having real difficulty finding something that at least looks like the original. Any ideas ?

a week of holidays coming up, with time free (I hope), should get a bit done.

stu

a week of holidays and progress.

started by finishing the job of cleaning the rear axle. Messy. Then got sidetracked with the springs, which arrived (many thanks Mark and Phil) and comparison with the current springs showed a big difference.


the originals are on the right, I don't remember fitting these, but they are certainly wrong, both shorter and thicker.



The door furniture, as previously reported. Windows wind, locks lock and everything is happy. Waiting to put the triplecustard central locking system in.


finished cleaning the rear axle.


no locking tabs on the left hub. Needs fixing. the slightest of leaks out of one of the bolts securing the hub to the half shaft.


I turned the axle over and collected quite a pool of diff oil as it ran through the pinion seal


removed the pressed in dust cap, read up the instruction book


removed the flange after making up a jig to hold the flange still while the nut was undone. Marked the nut, marked the bolt and marked the flange.


then realised getting the old seal out would be difficult, so made up some hooks from some old bolts by grinding off most of the head


put the puller into action and after a lot of mucking around.

out she came

after cleaning up the inside

new seal pressed in ($35)

then got distracted while I waited for the zinc spray to dry so set about the indicators and sidelights, made up some new gaskets out of rubber.

Got the lights back in but they are old and cracked, so I'll keep my eyes out for some replacements. The donor lights aren't any better.



so after a week of prep work, got the axle painted and today she went back in. Precarious job, just me doing it and two jacks would have been so much better. It fell off the jack twice (controlled falls with my legs taking the weight)



underneath, all set to take the axle. I found that some baulks of timber under the ends of each axle and a wooden lever worked. Once one of the radius rods was on, the rest was quite painless.


and I got so excited that I didn't stop to take any work in progress pics. None of the bolts are tightened, waiting for the weight to come on before evrything is tightened up


a few scuff marks. I have no idea how the experts keep everything so clean.


weight still on the jack. The shock absorber top plates ended up sitting with the tag pointed to the rear of the car. I checked both ways, they wouldn't sit up to the rear turrets with the tag piointed forward. I used non-setting sealant under the mounting plates.

Everything takes so long. I lost a washer from the shock absorber mounting plates and had to dis-assemble the whole lot to check it hadn't fallen through the shock absorber hole and become stuck to the sealing compound on top of the plate. It hadn't.


I got the brake compensating valve back on after this photo, then finished the day putting the handrake cables back in (new handbrake rubber boot and more sealant), then had a quick look at the hydraulic lines and actually got them in. Quite a surprise that one, I had imagined they would be a pain getting them bent to the body and relocating all the clips, but I'm up to putting in the junction valve thing. Even the rear axle brake lines went in smoothly.


and while it is winter here (and quite cold) a coupla' parrots in the back yard. One for Ian really

Next job will be to get the firewall insulation done, then start fitting up the firewall paraphenalia. I found a supplier of grommets and all things to do with cars, with an excellent catalogue. I've ordered in the grommets, temporarily sited the main wiring loom and put the dash back together, ready for fitting.

It'd be good to spend next week on her as well, but snow is falling and we are heading to Mt Hotham for a week of skiing. An annual holiday, leave tomorrow for the 8 hour drive to get there.

stu

Good progress Stu.

straylight wrote: and while it is winter here (and quite cold) a coupla' parrots in the back yard. One for Ian really

Thanks Stu!

Hope you have a good holiday.

Very impressive Stu. I love your pinion seal puller!

Looking very neat stu!

I promised myself I wouldn't post up my car's progress until I'd read through all 23 pages of your thread HAHA!!! I forgot I had to go to uni today.....sort of...

Anyways, I now see why as an underexperienced youngin that there is rust in certain places caused by my own... that can be fixed with ease i.e. gaskets on door handles.

She's coming along brilliantly mate, I'd re-imburse you for the headlining you have, however mine is only damaged on the rear C pillars, and dad would kick my arse if I pulled the screens!

Btw, I worked a brief stint with Seppelts just outside Heywood a few years back doing seasonal work as a vine tier / wire lifter, so if you're ever after a hand let me know, I'd be more than happy to do some work over the christmas holidays (when not pre occupied with the dolly). Let me know if you need a hand.

I've been slack on the updates, and this (slow) progress has taken place over late july and august.


I found some closed cell foam with perforated protection on it, on a website and called the factory in Melbourne. The kind fellow there sent me three "offcuts" for a small donation to their end of year bash. It seems quite tough, is ratyed beyond 100 degrees and is flame retardent. With time running out I decided to go for it and using a pattern from the old material, which had disintegrated, cut out a new one.



A bit of plumbing in place, to see where I would need the holes


cardboard template, offered this up several times to make sure I'd got the angles sorted. I had to jigsaw back together the old one, so it wasn't 100%


rough cut


almost there



in place. I used spray contact adhesive, probably should have used more layers. I didn't want a silver/aluminium foil outer layer, spoils the look.


Then the fun started, sourced the grommets, had to cut through the sleeve and open up and reconnect all the connectors. The main loom is now in, I'll cable tie it with some RTV gasket maker to produce a good seal where it goes through the firewall.


lashed out on a new fuse box. Should really have followed Roy's example and done a full interior board with relay connectors, but this has to be an improvement on the old model. I'll simply put a fuse on each of the 4 take offs, nothing difficult or flash


shiny brake union. Everything takes ages.


old headlight connectors. easy to clean and they now look great.


I had broken off the heater lever arm way back in the 80's and it had waited patiently for me to repair it !


presto, reattached. Sprayed in black zinc, the whole matrix cleaned thoroughly and put back inside the car.


more plumbing and the main loom





The old side courtesy light was cactus, so I made up a bracket for a new cebntral one. This is version 2, version 1 was a bit garish, this is a simple light. Tacked onto the roof with some windscreen sealent that george swears by. He gave me a sample to try and unstick, good enough for me !


heater box in place


One of the offfcuts from melbourne had adhesive applied and fitted the roof almost perfectly. Son gave me a hand getting it in. I was worried about it being a moisture trap, but figured if water was going to get in, I'm screwed anyway.


cleaned up, put a seal kit through the brake MC, bolted the servo back on. I figure I might as well sort out as much as I can while I've got good access. The engine install will be the main hurdle I think, working around everything else.


this is where I wonder on the suprhuman powers of mart and mary. I had a new headlining made up and then a friendly senior citizen who is the kids' defacto grandmother volunteered her services to make up one as well. Being an ex-seamstress, she did a fantastic job but I could get the one she made tight enough. back to the vinyl one, which I originally didn't like, but now it is going in, seems to look in place. How Mary gets this sorted for Mart is one of life's mysteries. I see it as being a time consuming and quite painful job, working from the centre and clipping each section as it is glued down tight.










recent storms here pushed over a tree in our back yard, missed the chook shed, took out part of the pool fence and some old sheds, landed on two lambs which, extraordinarily, survived to be rescued and luckily did no structural damage to the pool. A lot of pine in the tree, I'm thinking of getting a portable mill in to use the timber.

Everything on the car just takes forever, fitting a simple grommet, attaching the new door rubbers, the windscreen wiper motor had a larf at me. It is just a saga ! I'm still going strong, but looking forward to getting some steam up in a few weeks when holidays come up.

stu

Keep up the good work stu, keep the pics coming.

She's definately on her way stu! Looking great! Were you by chance at Millicent this weekend gone past for the Teagle Excavations Pines Enduro 400? it was brilliant!

Keep us up to date on the Dolly, she'll come up a treat! Now off to take some photos!