Project Dolomega, the next level

[Howard81]

Sorry I was posting from my phone earlier, must have mid-read something

But Vermillion is one of my favourite Dolomite colours

[Carledo]

Well the good news is the V5C arrived today only a week after I applied for it! Was a little worried as I bought it without one and did think I might be faced with an Identity Crisis but for once my fears were groundless.
The record shows a DOFR of 1/9/78, 6 former keepers, last change of keeper in Dec 94 with a Cirencester address (but not that of the guy I got it from) and curiously (or perhaps not) an engine number with no numbers in it! It just says VAHEA, is this a code for a recon or something? Its pretty academic as I celebrated the arrival of the V5 by getting most of the prep done to remove the engine for sale (it already has a buyer waiting). When its out I intend to have a good look for a number just out of interest.
I'm also watching a number of Omega Autos on e-bay, they seem to be the bargain of the century just now with running, taxed and tested examples of my preferred 2.2 litre model between 98 and 02 selling away for £3-400! Some V6 cars are even cheaper which has also got me thinking!!!! It does seem a little strange to be able to buy a driveable donor car for not much more than I sold the bare Sprint engine for! I'll probably buy one and smoke it about till the tax runs out, it will be a good test and will also let me measure up for the conversion as while I know the engine will fit, the autobox is a bit of an unknown quantity. It looks like I'm now going to have 3 ecus bolted to the bulkhead behind the glovebox, engine, transmission and PAS, oh well, not all electronics is unnecessarily complicated (thats what I keep telling myself!) Steve

[Carledo]

Sorry I was posting from my phone earlier, must have mid-read something

But Vermillion is one of my favourite Dolomite colours

I'll let you off this time! Personally I wasn't sure about Vermillion when I bought it but its growing on me! Steve
BTW love your avatar pic, its that Russian air cushion/flying boat thing, (schramm something?) isn't it?

Ekranoplan! (probably misspelt!) thats what it is!

[DoloWIGHTY]

BTW love your avatar pic, its that Russian air cushion/flying boat thing, (schramm something?) isn't it?

Is it? I thought it was a Gerry Anderson creation!

[Howard81]

It is indeed an Ekranoplan! Much more efficient than an aircraft, 200mph across water.. The Lun class in my avatar is about the size on an A380..



So much potential, but the fall of the Soviet Union saw them fall into obscurity after attempts to market them as search and rescue vehicles failed..

The Lun still exists too - anyone got any Easy-Start http://englishrussia.com/2010/03/12/ekranoplan/

[Jon Tilson]

Did I miss somethng?
I thought this sprint was being restored to original? How does that work with an Omega lump?

I think we have enough Trixhauls already...

Jonners

[Toledo Man]

Jonners, you've gotta admit that it is a change from the XE (Redtop) conversions and the Carledo is also different in that it has the "Family II" engine as used in most Astras, Cavaliers & Carltons.

[Carledo]

At the moment I only know of 5 Vauxhall powered Dollys, the ex Martin Bellinger Redtop Toledo, Ians french blue Redtop Sprint, a red Sprint (possibly in Oz, only seen 1 pic) with a 3ltr quad cam V6, my own Carledo with 8v "family II 2ltr and this car which will have a 2.2ltr Ecotec and autobox, power steering and a Rover 45 interior.
This represents a tiny percentage of the 3-4000 surviving assorted Dollys and Toledos and I don't see any reason to say there are enough already ! Even allowing in the handful of Rover V8 cars, another handful of Sprint powered Tollys and knightriders turbo'd nissan car, I hardly think the modified cars represent any kind of threat to the standard-ish majority!
Both my cars have been rescued from almost certain scrapping (absolutely certain in the case of the Carledo) and I have and am devoting considerable time, effort and money to making them live again. In the case of this Sprint, it will still be a Sprint whatever powerplant it carries and will still be an Auto, the power steering and Rover interior are to make it comfortable and driveable for my disabled wife (nobody could describe the original seats as ergonomic). Furthermore I will be going to considerable pains to keep its outward appearance stock.
I don't really know why i'm bothering to justify myself here, think your comment just touched a nerve Jonners!
Steve

[grifterkid]

This looks like a great project and I cannot wait to see how it develops... I like the idea of bringing something back from the dead and altering it to make it more usable and comfortable etc...

We all love our little Triumph saloons and I think that the more there are on the road the better the world is...?! Whether they be powered by a faithful little 1300 OHC lump or a behemoth of a 16-litre merlin engine is completley up to the owner. another one rescued is another one to be grateful for in my view even though period originality is my 'thing'...

Keep us posted on any developments, good luck with the project...

[Carledo]

Have just bought a donor car for the project, 2001 X reg Omega 2.2 auto saloon, taxed October, mot November and only 69k miles. it has a few minor faults like a brake judder from warped discs, some clonks in the suspension and one of the door locks is intermittent, BIG DEAL! Mine for £395! The empty shell will fetch £100 or so, another £100 for the alloys with tyres and £40 for the cat, its a start! Meantime I can drive around in RWD luxury for the next 5 months while I'm doing up the body on the Sprint!
Steve

[paulsprint]

It's your car you can do whatever you want to it. I think it's a great project. The car will still look the same , handle crap( by modern standards) and not stop all your doing is getting rid of some of the crap bits of these cars and replacing them with better engineered modern stuff.
I have also been looking into the mgf electric power steering when you put them side by side it looks quite do able. I intend to retain the orginal domite column adjustment, stalks and housing. Wiring looks a piece of cake as its a complete stand alone system. Road speed sensor with be a hall effect sensor reading the prop bolts. This gives a signal of aprox 115 hz at 30 mph. The engine speed in my case is easy as I will just use the tacho out from the EFI ecu. This is the next project after the EFI

[Carledo]

It's your car you can do whatever you want to it. I think it's a great project. The car will still look the same , handle crap( by modern standards) and not stop all your doing is getting rid of some of the crap bits of these cars and replacing them with better engineered modern stuff.
I have also been looking into the mgf electric power steering when you put them side by side it looks quite do able. I intend to retain the orginal domite column adjustment, stalks and housing. Wiring looks a piece of cake as its a complete stand alone system. Road speed sensor with be a hall effect sensor reading the prop bolts. This gives a signal of aprox 115 hz at 30 mph. The engine speed in my case is easy as I will just use the tacho out from the EFI ecu. This is the next project after the EFI

I may do a little to help the handling and I'm definitely going to help the brakes with a trackerjack convo!
It looks like you've done more homework than me on the PAS, I,m very interested in a couple of things you mentioned, ie engine speed and road speed sensors, I will have a rev counter feed I know and I'm going to need a road speed sensor for a Speedometer as the Omega gearbox dosen't have a speedo drive, taking its signal from the ABS. So here's my question, Is it ok to "share" the sensor signal between the speedo and the PAS or will I need 2 pickups? As it is I may have to diff mount the pickup as I think the Omega uses a rotoflex type joint at the front and fitting the sensor to that might be problematic. Also the sensors are not cheap, the one that goes with my speedo of choice is over £50! Steve

[sprint95m]

It just says VAHEA, is this a code for a recon or something?

Steve, that is the prefix(VA) and suffix (HEA) for a Sprint engine fitted for automatic transmission with no actual number.
It was common for Triumphs to be registered without engine numbers judging by numbers of Dolomites like this?


I don't know if it is common but I have heard of Vauxhall V6 engines suffering sudden complete failure. This happened to one
of my friends in a Vectra he had owned from new. He didn't bother investigating what actually caused the failure, instead deciding
to scrap the car. Now he is back to Ford.

[Carledo]

I don't know if it is common but I have heard of Vauxhall V6 engines suffering sudden complete failure. This happened to one
of my friends in a Vectra he had owned from new. He didn't bother investigating what actually caused the failure, instead deciding
to scrap the car. Now he is back to Ford.

Iknow of a few V6s in FWD apps like Vectras and Cavs that have let go suddenly and terminally, mostly because of timing belt failure (the belt is an absolute swine to change and very expensive to do with a transverse engine so gets neglected) or rear head gasket failure from undercooling of the back of the engine, again because of the transverse app. The NS fitting in the Omega seems to be much more reliable and is certainly much easier to work on so I'm not ruling out a V6 in the Carledo at a later date, the basic gearbox is the same and I'm sure the engine is short enough to fit comfortably, its just the width that might cause problems. The thought of 210bhp straight out of the box for a 3.2 IS pretty tempting though!

Steve

[paulsprint]

Wouldnt of thought the width to be a problem as ken wood runs a rover v6 in his rally car. On the power steering front. You where right in the fact that the splines are the same size. How ever in the way I plan on installing it it will make no differance. On the the speed sensor front the hall effect sensor I plan on using are about £20 from rs components. There is no reason why you cant use the sensor to drive the speedo and pas providing you have a output of aprox 115hz at 30mph. This is basically 4 pulses per rev of the prop at 30mph. I have started cutting up the steering Column now and it all looks quite straight forward the only problem is trying to get it all under the dash and still keep a good amount of in and out adjustment on the steering.