The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Between the shop and VA276 for Lee I have managed to get on with some work on JGJ!

Finished repairing the front panel...

















The inside of the front panel has been coated with the rust neutralizer that I use, slightly diluted in a spray bottle with a long nozzle. Once the car is painted this will all be wax injected with some Bilt Hamber S50. We shouldn't have a problem with rust here again.

The last thing to do on the passengers side was to repair the bottom of the door and get the alignment right.

And yes, the club hammer and some 4x2 was used!





Door bottom inner structure repaired...



New club skin grafted in, I didn't use the whole panel, it wasn't needed.





















The last thing to re-do was a small repair to the A pillar that I wasn't happy with.



All that's left is to repair the bottom of the drivers rear door, Robin is collecting a repair panel from Alun for me to grab at the NEC (Thanks Robin!) so I'll do that in the next couple of weeks.

Nice work @James467

yorkshire_spam wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2024 11:59 am Nice work @James467

Thanks Sam, we're getting there!

Still having problems finding a painter so once the bodywork is done I'll pop it back on the rotisserie and strip and coat the underside with gravitex. I'll prep and spray the engine bay, door shuts, boot and underside.

I can then get all the suspension powder coated and fitted along with the brake hoses and fuel lines etc... the engine and gearbox can go back in. Hopefully by then I will have found someone to paint the body and it will be easy to move around. Actually I should be able to get it to a point where it can move under its own power which will help.

Here we go, the last repair to do!

Drivers side rear door bottom, thanks to Alun and Robin for getting the panel to the NEC for me to collect.











Sorry for the lack of photos, I just wanted to get it done!

I have made progress...

I decided to strip the layers of waxoyl from the underside and reprotect it. 25 liters of white spirit, a bag of rags and some choice words later the whole of the underside of the car was stripped. I was cursing when I was removing it but it has done a fantastic job of preserving the underside of the car.

The rotisserie is a godsend!

I went to apply some primer before Gravitex stonechip but it seems like the waxoyl has impregnated the paint on the underside of the car and nothing will stick to it. Ok, I thought, lets just get the underside and the engine bay blasted. Prefect, I found a local company to do it for me, and apply the gravitex at the same time. Speaking to the owner, he knows a painter so I have a quote for painting as well, watch this space.

All the powder coating has been organised, just need to do the plating.

In the last two weeks after hitting brick walls all of a sudden things are progressing at a really good rate.

I'm not going to speak too soon but at this rate I'll be on target for being back on the road and up for sale by the spring.

Really lovely standard of work as usual James.

Do you offer your services professionally? My car will need some surgery at some point and I’m looking for someone I can trust to do the right thing.

All the best, Bish.

Bish wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 11:39 pm Really lovely standard of work as usual James.

Do you offer your services professionally? My car will need some surgery at some point and I’m looking for someone I can trust to do the right thing.

All the best, Bish.

Thanks Bish! Sometimes I do, I'm stacked up at the moment though. I really need to get NWL sorted, its been sitting for way too long!

Powder coating is done! Really pleased with it, can highly recommend Fast Blasting in Farnborough, speak to Mike and tell him that I sent you!



Blasting is all done as well, again by Mike. I'm really pleased with the results. A few pinholes were uncovered but nothing that I was worried about.



Back home and I have epoxy primed all the bare metal and the stone chipped the underside.

















Ready for paint!

Floors look good, I don't want to disturb the factory sound deadening.



I did a couple of repairs to the bulkhead, need to do a couple more before the engine bay is painted, just small holes that the blasting has uncovered. I have a club pedal reinforcer going on.



The rad looks ok and holds water, but I'm not convinced about the core. I've asked Alun if he can drop a core into GAT for me, thanks Alun!



Plating is all organised and ready to go to the platers

I am having someone shoot some paint onto the underside this week and have the paint shop deal with the engine bay and body. This way I can get it back onto its wheels, it's a real pain to transport on the rotisserie or dolly.

I have been making great progress.

The plating is back



I also got some more powder coating done.











You'll notice that I have stripped the heater, we'll get on to that when I reassemble!







The bottom has now been sprayed in a coat of matt paint code 19. I prefer matt under the car, it's a little less 'blingy'.





So, on to paint! Yes, I have found a painter!!!

First job was to clean up, I removed the vinyl roof, as well as the glue and cleaned up the roof and C pillars. A new vinyl roof will be fitted.



Then take the body off of the rotisserie and put it on a temporary front subframe and rear axle.





Last job to do was to completely strip the doors and interior, perform a small repair on the bonnet and give everything a wipe down.







Underneath looks pretty good! Thanks to NWL for donating an axle temporarily!





Then it was off to paint!!

A real masterclass and beautifully well documented

Quick Friday Update!

Bumpers and anything chrome has gone to Beckworth Technical Plating to be chromed. There's a long lead time on that so hopefully it'll be ready shortly before the car is finished which is good, I don't want freshly chromed bumpers hanging around!

The engine......

Well, the gearbox has been rebuilt, as has the rear axle by Guildford transmissions. The prop has been rebuilt by Dave Mac so the last link in the chain was the engine.

The bottom end went to Classic and Modern Engine Services to be assessed a few weeks ago. Where the block has been sitting I thought it would just take a hone, unfortunately not. We are not 100% happy with it so I have had to have it bored with new pistons. The crank had a slight mark on it, again I was not 100% happy so that will be ground and polished as well. As well as that I am having the block decked (with the timing cover on!) and the complete rotating assembly balanced. The rods will be balanced here using my apparatus! The internal condition was generally excellent, unfortunately it was just where it was left standing and condensation caught the bores.

It would have probably been 'OK' but well, you know me!!















The head has been completely stripped down, assessed and sent off to have new valve seats and guides installed then a minor facing. It all has a new camshaft, jackshaft etc... so the car will go back on the road with a completely reconditioned drivetrain.

Hopefully I'll get the bottom end back next week and I can start to build it all up.

I'll pop to the painters next week as well and take some photos.

new to this wrote: ↑Fri Apr 25, 2025 7:46 pm James do you try Harringtons to see if they sell Stainless steel bumpers may be cheaper than re chroming

No I didn't, I wanted to keep it original. But looking at their prices for other bumpers re-chroming is cheaper, they have NWL's bumpers as well so I'm killing two birds with one stone so to speak!

I popped into see the painter today, took a couple of shots. They're really busy but the verdict is that the body is very straight and they are very happy with the quality of the work that I have done. Just the bottom of the rear door and some finishing off before primer.

It all has a new camshaft, jackshaft etc...

The late Brian Kitley always advocated trying to keep used distributor drives, water pumps and jackshafts in mated groups and if he replaced one with new he'd recommend replacing all three....but then he was charging for parts and labour!

xvivalve wrote: ↑Mon Apr 28, 2025 2:18 pm

It all has a new camshaft, jackshaft etc...

The late Brian Kitley always advocated trying to keep used distributor drives, water pumps and jackshafts in mated groups and if he replaced one with new he'd recommend replacing all three....but then he was charging for parts and labour!

I've herd that for gearboxes, just to keep noise down. But for water pumps I'd say as long as you replace the bush and check the jackshaft play in the block you'd be fine.

Forgot to add....

"Why did you put a new jackshaft in it James?"

Well, the old one had play in it when inserted into the block, I tried a new one before having the block machined and a bronze insert pushed in. Luckily the new one is perfect with no play.