The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

On to the little jobs...

There was a hole in the OS rear wing that had been filled, that had to go!











and as if by magic!





There was also some rust in the wheelarch.



Not any more!



As well as a dent around the bumper mounting, that was pulled out with a slide hammer



A small repair needed on the inner wheelarch



I then moved on to the front wing top to get that to fit correctly. The panel gap wasn't good some I did some work here to make it much tighter.









Sorry about the lack of photos here, I then made a new wing bottom and fitted that ensuring it was aligned to the sill and door correctly.











Then as the front this side is finished I gave it a coat of Zinc protection.





In preperation of doing the rear door bottoms I aligned the doors correctly, I actually did this before the wing!





Then moved on to the roof







Still a lot to do but we are now all caught up here!

You have been busy James, what a superb job you are doing

Tony.

Lovely work as ever James! Good to see progress being made.

MC

Cheers for the measurements James.

Great work as always, just a word of caution, have you checked the gearbox crossmember fits in between the new chassis legs, the club ones (which are great) don't have the relief the originals had in this area.

The one I had replaced on my car by a mobile welder was fitted in the same location as the old one, I had to trim the end off the crossmember to get it to fit, might be a quirk to my car but worth a check before it goes to paint.

Tony

Tony Burd wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 3:27 pm Cheers for the measurements James.

Great work as always, just a word of caution, have you checked the gearbox crossmember fits in between the new chassis legs, the club ones (which are great) don't have the relief the originals had in this area.

The one I had replaced on my car by a mobile welder was fitted in the same location as the old one, I had to trim the end off the crossmember to get it to fit, might be a quirk to my car but worth a check before it goes to paint.

Tony

Good point there Tony, no I haven't yet. I'll do that tonight and report back.

Loads 'a room Tony!



I think thats the right way round, my brain is a bit fried today!

Oh and all welds will be dressed flat, I just havent done that yet!

I'm just about to do the same on my project. Good call Tony.. I'll check mine too.

James467 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 5:22 pm Loads 'a room Tony!



I think thats the right way round, my brain is a bit fried today!

Impressive!

Thanks chaps!

I have fitted the bonnet, there was a lot of filler on the leading edge which I assume was there to get it to align to the rubbish old front panel. With the filler stripped off the height aligns very well. However, I am not happy with the panel gaps to the front and rear. 10mm is too far, I know by BL standards theis is probably OK but it's not for me.













I'll do something about the gaps later, in the meantime I have the rear panel to address.

I see that you have gone the extra mile and reinstated the under rider support tube holes in the front valance, one question regarding these, the holes you have reproduced look like they are round?

I ask this as the original holes are oval, they are taller than they are wide, which is not immediately obvious. Even though the under rider support tubes are round, as they do not fit through the valance at ninety degrees their effective cross-sectional profile through the valance is oval and the valance has to allow for this. So if you intend to use the under rider support tubes it would probably be best to mock the bumper assembly up before paint to ensure that there are no interference issues, or that the fit through the valance doesn't look odd.

I see that you have gone the extra mile and reinstated the under rider support tube holes in the front valance, one question regarding these, the holes you have reproduced look like they are round?

No, and it's a good point as I had forgotten. Although they do look round in the photo they aren't, I think it's just the angle of the photo. Like you say, due to the angle of the valence the support brackets don't fit through a round hole. I have test fitted the bumper on the front with the support brackets that I made for Shaun but not published any photos of that for a reason, I was planning to do this when everything was done, the windscreen fitted and everything tidy etc... before and after!

Moving on, you know I said that the chassis legs marked the end of the big jobs. Well that was until I had a look at the rear panel! It looks like the car has had a minor rear end impact in the past. This reaulted in the bumper hitting the rear quarters causing the dent in the rear wing, plus both the inner and outer the rear panels had been pushed in. Some work with a big persuader only pushed the reinforcing tubes so after a chat with Shaun it was decided to replace the rear end panels.



You can see where the panel has been pushed back, a previous repair has been attempted.



New panels...







It's actually simpler than it sounds!

Remove the seam sealer on the boot floor and drill out the spot welds...



Remove the corner reinforcers







This one had been hacked around so I'll need to repair that





In some places there are tacks rather than spot welds so just cut these, remember to drill out the outer centre strengthning bar below the boot floor. Then I just cut down the seams for the rear panel and pulled both inner and outer off. The chair base is actually supporting the boot floor centre.





Drill out all of the spot welds and clean everything up!



Test fit the panels.











At this point it got pulled on and off about ten times as I repaired areas and made sure everything fitted perfectly, after I was happy I tacked it in.



Unbolted the inner panel and plug welded everything up. Before fitting the inner panel I seam sealed everything that would be hidden or difficult to get to. I then bolted on the inner panel on to ensure that the bumper holes aligned and to pull it in as well then clamped and plug welded it on not forgetting the centre hidden support.





Then refit the corner reinforcer sections.



Check the boot still aligns



Some etch primer and we are done!



There are a couple of holes on the back to fill in as the panel was obviously for a later car but it went on very well.

No, and it's a good point as I had forgotten. Although they do look round in the photo they aren't, I think it's just the angle of the photo. Like you say, due to the angle of the valence the support brackets don't fit through a round hole. I have test fitted the bumper on the front with the support brackets that I made for Shaun but not published any photos of that for a reason, I was planning to do this when everything was done, the windscreen fitted and everything tidy etc... before and after!

Great it's easy to miss.

Don't forget to drill the rear panel for the rear valance trim moulding's before paint also.

Aaah yes, a lot simpler than it sounds James Cracking good work though

Tony.