The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

back on holidays and some more progress

been faffing around under the bonnet and with headlining, been frustrated at my lack of oomph, so bit the bullet and after gluing down the headlining on the driver's side C pillar, realised I need to do the vinyl and sprint badge first, so quickly unglued it.

the seamed C pillar vinyl from martrim, courtesy of MickeyB (fettling) and 80sflamer (transporting), was easy enough to apply. I used contact adhesive and had little problem.







I still need to remove the masking tape I used to protect the paint and cut away the excess vinyl at the bottom.

Then, the big step, put on the roof vinyl. I read up on Mart's thread and followed his lead. Marked the centreline and worked from the centre of the roof out. I used clips to secure the vinyl in position on the passenger side while we simply pulled it tight and rubbed it down on the driver's half of the roof. Did it in 2 stages each side.


resting in place, clips providing the alignment



spray adhesive. We used high temperature headlining and carpet adhesive.


sprayed and ready to be rolled down. We found that applying tension to the vinyl and rubbing it with hands worked well.

holding it with clips meant we didn't have the problem of lifting it and making sure the first contact was exact, the clips had it lined up.


driver's side down. We used the blunt end of a shifter to rub the vinyl into the gutter, leaving it poking up over the rim. I'll stick that down over the rim tomorrow when it has set in the gutter


passenger side done


the gutter. The front and rear edges have been glued down but the gutter is a quandry.

I have the clips that slip over the gutter rail, but I don't think they are needed. they appear to be used to hold the vinyl around the gutter rail. The one with the "D" tag is obviously used to hold the A pillar extension of the vinyl down, but even that seems overkill.

How many of these small clips ae needed ? The chrome gutter trim will clip in easily over the rail and underneath the roof (around another ridge) without the clips. Should I use any clips or rely on the contact adhesive ?

Inside the car the B pillar interior trim is about to go on. I had a win on ebay with some second hand furlex/pinchweld which is in really good condition. the door rubbers are now all on. I've taken apart the washer bottle holder and pump and resprayed that and I'm looking nervously at the headlight fittings, all the broken plastic hex adjustment bolts.

thanks again to Darren and Mike for getting the vinyl out to me.

Tomorrow I load the youngest (henry) into the boot while I tighten the rear suspension up and finish the roof vinyl. Then I need to think about what to tackle next. Probably some interior sound insulation on the inside of the firewall and headlights. I'm holding off on putting the engine back in for as long as I can to give me easy access to the engine bay.

stu

Keep at it mate! because I have a goal for you.

Picture this: Mt Gambier show and shine, your Sprint parked next to my dolly? what do you reckon. I want to see that little beauty running, and if you need a hand with anything feel free to let me know.

Sound deadenning sounds like a good area to tackle next, I'd probably then look into finnishing up the interior? BTW I have a neat trick for fitting glass in dollies which i'd be more then happy to share with you as it makes things much easier, instead of a frustrating push to get the glass to seat it slides into position like butter.

thanks aaron, yeah, the MtG show'n'shine is a target

got the chrome trim back around the roof on yesterday, stuck again waiting for badge pin clips.

unfortunately I've got to get rid of the tree in the backyard now. Fixed the chainsaw.

onto ordering the clips.....

stu

It wouldn't be a bad idea to dock the wood up and store it until winter next year, by then it will be nice and dry, and if there's a bit too much to store you could always sell a trailer load or two?

Good to hear about MtG show 'n' shine, I'll see you there

(The best part is, it's an excuse to take a week off uni )

tree is gone, it took a 35 tonne crane to lift the stump out. I've set aside some good lengths of the pine for milling into useful timber.

and with that job out of the way, it was onto the sprint.

with the headlining done I tackled the dash.



It has simply been recovered with a foam layer underneath to provide spring. Only the top was done and carefully blended into the vinyl that was still okay on the underside. I didn't do it, but would feel confident of doing one now I've seen it done.

then it was onto the gearbox.


cleaned up and top cover removed

3 rails, the black is the RTV silicon for the new gasket.

I drained the old oil out and was surprised to only find 100ml in there

I was also concerned about the filings on the drain plug...


I have a spare gearbox but without the overdrive. Those filings look ominous.

I also removed the bottom plate from the OD, cleaned out the mesh filter, removed the plug and cleaned the pressure filter and put it back together. No build up of gunk, so that was heartening. Before bolting it back to the engine, I checked the OD and reverse light switches and found both were open circuit. I removed them, disassembled them, cleaned up the contacts, replaced an O ring in the Reversing switch and checked both worked. Then checked the OD solenoid was working. I could hear the click, so moved on to dropping the subframe again.

gearbox bolted back onto engine, new studs/bolts and replaced the 13mm headed bolt that bugged me when I took it apart. New fuel pump on (no spacer provided, only two thin paper gaskets). Replaced upper ball joint and U bolt on steering rack that had stripped a thread, only to strip it again and arrive at same washer stacking method of finding a good bit of thread as I had with the old one.


easy job really.


all set up, lift the engine onto the subframe, them lift the car over the engine...


again, pain free


car about to be lowered. I'd like to say this was also painless, and it was generally, apart from one exciting moment when the direction of pull of the hoist on the car pulled the car forward and it swung off the stands and I frantically pumped the hoist as it happened, to keep the body off the engine. My 10yo henry was helping and his remark was "that went well". It did in the end !

Then, I remembered the exhaust manifold and some bitter sruggles trying to remove it with the engine in the car, so everything has gone on hold, car body on stands, subframe supported on blocks of wood, while I sort out an EGO hole in the manifold (sep thread).


sandblasted with dodgy $20 attachment and then wire brushed. After EGO fitment I'm thinking of painting it with high temp barrel paint. If anyone has any advice on painting exhausts, I'd be grateful for guidance

so close to an engine start I can feel it !

stu

Good on ya Stu! keep it up mate. I'm finding it hard to be away from the ol' dolly atm.... it's so boring sitting behind a pc day in day out, as it's all you have here at uni when you're not at the pub.......

..and I think I'd like to be back in a Uni bar sometimes, sweating over assignments

straylight wrote:I was also concerned about the filings on the drain plug...

Doesn't look too bad, how many miles since the oil was last replaced / the drain plug cleaned?

actually hard to be precise zombeh, the last engine rebuild was in sydney in 1995, I'd guess he took out the gearbox and replaced the oil, since the RTV silicon gasket was around the top plate. Since then it did around 3000km. (trip across to SA and then some pottering around here).

stu

straylight wrote:..and I think I'd like to be back in a Uni bar sometimes, sweating over assignments

That's exactly why I'm bored of this place, my assignments aren't challenging, there aimed at townies who don't have any mechanical or engineering background, and well I am cert three engineering qualified, and have numerous other qualifications / skills. It's just booring.

Hope she turns over well for ya!

BTW I might ask, have you lowered the ride height of the car at all? and if so WHERE THE BLOODY HELL do you get the components? None of these 20-something year old repco / autobarn morons have a clue what a Dolomite is!!!!

Anyways mate, good luck to ya, I can't wait to see her running in person!

no lowering Aaron, I thought about lashing out on the rimmers lowering kit. Comes with 4 HD 1" lower springs and shocks. Maybe one day.

stu

No worries stu, I'm thinking of contacting an independant spring company up here in Adelaide who reckon they can do it dead easy, even if they just re-machine the stock springs they say, anyways I'll let you know how I go

away last weekend so little progress. I got the exhaust manifold sorted as some ebay goodness arrived during the week. Purchased a plug for the EGO sensor to screw into. A few places recommend stainless, but I went with mild steel tapered. Boring out a 22mm hole was beyond my drill collection so went down to the local ag engineering place where it was drilled and they welded the plug in, while I waited. Big thumbs up to ashley wilkin


the welded plug. simple arc welding job, cooled it down slowly.


with EGO sensor in place


sensor and kit.

the kit came from altronics, on special for $45. Monitors oxygen in the exhaust. Arrived on tuesday, assembled by wednesday, calibrated it, now ready for work. Sensor arrived on Thursday, $25 for a "universal type".

I'm worried about the obstruction in the manifold that the sensor creates. There was only the one place to mount it really, monitoring exhaust from #2 and #3, so it is really watching both carbs. I think I'll use it for watching/confirming the tuning and then probably plug it up with an 18mm stainless bolt, faced off so it doesn't obstruct the exhaust. The kit I'll leave as a removable unit, so I can use it when I need it. I read with interest the opinions on the EGO setup, wideband vs narrowband and the reliability issues. I guess it is all flexible enough to change to a wide band sensor (and controller) now it is in place and I haven't invested too much money in it. I'll see how it goes.

With the exhaust done and now painted in a "barrel paint" satin black it is ready for fitting to the head. Tomorrow might see the car lowered onto the engine, but softball season has started again and might interfere

stu

Looks like a nice neat set-up stu!

came down with a lurgy last week and got all excited that I could spend my days sick at home working on the sprint. Unfortunately it was a genuine non-sicky lurgie and I mainly spent the time in bed. Consensus is that it is whooping cough, which is doing the rounds here, despite immunisation as a child. Doctor has treated it as such, but hasn't tested.

but today, feeling a bit better, got on with some work. Progress to date includes:


car lowered over engine and secured, torqued up, all front suspension bolts tightened correctly. Quite straightforward

lowering into position. The engine hoist was ideal, gave enough swing so that I could line up the engine mounts, jack up the rear of the gearbox.


My wife pointed out that the oil filler cap was very high. I've looked at it, checked the engine mounts and there is not a lot of clearance between the cap and the bonnet. The cap lines up with the wings as you look across the top of the car.


bliss, being able to work on the gearbox from inside the car. I sorted all the connections to the od and reversing lights and checked 'em.


nice and clean, apart from dust

more sound deadening material placed on the door outer skins (from the inside)
sound/heat deadening placed on the passenger bulkhead

today I put henry in the boot to simulate the fuel tanks so I could tighten the rear suspension up



you can also see the new parcel shelf, 4.8mm masonite, ready for foam layer and vinyl top.

and I discovered I'd put the rear anti-roll bar facing rearwards....after tightening up the rear suspension points and quickly sorted this out. I noticed as it was fouling the brake compensation valve lever.

then, spurred on by all this productivity, set to renewing the drum brakes and wheel cylinders. Got it all nice and clean, new seal kit through and new rubber backing grommets. I'll set them up when I bleed the brake system, which is looking soon !

So, with an hour left, looked at the clutch slave and thought, why not fit it, bleed the clutch hydraulics, (putting the slave bleed nipple on top) and that finished the day nicely.

bad news though, is that with the manifold back in, the ego sensor fouls the turret by 3mm. I'm going to take the manifold out again, weld up the hole I made with a plate and fit another sensor bung in a better position, pointing up rather than sideways. Kicking myself I didn't think more about the relationship between the manifold and the turret.

stu