The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Mmmmm sump pan stew!

I wouldn't want to ruin the powder coat on the outside though Jonners!!

I'm blown away by the comments, thanks guys, it's really spurring me on.

Mart - This is the satin black paint I used for the back axle or anywhere that requires a satin finish really.
https://www.tetrosyl.com/tetconnect/pai ... ts/ATS013-
It covers really well, sticks to virtually any properly prepared surface, dries hard and has a fan nozzle on it oh and it's cheap! I got a case of 12 from eBay seller wmfltd2012 for £39.99 delivered, works out at £3.33 a can. Not sure about the anodising yet, I haven't had a chance to find out.

Can someone tell me how the axles left the factory, were all of the bolt heads painted over or left bright?
If you're shooting for factory finish you are way off target. I've just checked my NOS sprint axle, I'm afraid you need to strip that paint off again. Then, apply one coat of paint to about 80% of the surface. Use something thick, gloopy & hard to spread such as smoothrite having left the tin open for a month using as brush a lively spaniel. Be sure you apply enough paint to get a good selection of curtains and runs. Leave the remaining 20% unprotected.

But to answer your original question they were painted complete. It's hard to tell on the bolts specifically due to the years of dirt on mine but there are clear signs of paint on the tab washers and even on the plastic bungs in the brake cylinders.

Superb!!

Pippin - Thanks, I think I just have OCD! This is one of my spanner drawers...

Ok, I am going to have to admit something, I have a dream.

I've been going to the NEC Classic Car show for years and like many have marvelled at the cars on display on both the Auto Glym and Meguiars concourse stands.

This year there were too many Fords there for my liking.

I want to see my Sprint there.

It's a dream I know and I have never restored a car to that level of concourse condition before but I thought what the hell lets have a go and see if we can get a Dolomite Sprint on the one of the NEC's concourse stands.

Anyone who knows me knows how stubborn and determined I can be when I get an idea like this in my head!!!

So any advice and critical inspection is more than welcome, if something looks like it could be done better tell me, I promise it will not be taken the wrong way.

Thanks again for all the comments!

Welcome to the assembly room, or as my wife likes to call it, the laundry room.

It's next door to the workshop and has a clean floor for me to assemble things on!

I started to organise everything so that I could do a dry assemble to make sure that I had all the correct parts, everything fitted properly and that I had all the correct nuts and bolts.



Suspension Mounting brackets fitted, at this point all the nuts and bolts are on finger tight.





Upper wishbones with new bushes





Then I hit a bit of a problem. The two new plate washer shims that fit between the suspension mounting bracket that I got from Rimmer Bros are thinner than the two original shims that fix to the trunnion support bracket, this means that the support bracket and the mounting bracket don't line up correctly resulting in the trunnion bolt being slightly bent. The two Rimmer Bros shims are about 2.2mm, the original shims are about 3.3mm.





The solution is to put another one of the new shims in so that everything lines up correctly, I tested this with one of the shims from the other side. So I have ordered two which should arrive in the week, they'll have to be plated though so I'll have to run them over to the platers as soon as I get them. Hopefully I should get them back by the end of the week ready for final assembly.

In the meantime I got on with making sure that everything else fitted correctly. The good news is that was the only problem I had, the subframe's a bit dusty but everything will get a clean before final assembly.























I'm not happy with the finish on the steering arms here, I'll have to take them off and have a look at what I can do.



One of the ball joints is filthy, despite it being 'brand new'. Good news is that there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it so I'll just clean it up.

I cant do anything else here until the plate washer arrives so I'll try to crack on with the rear axle this week.

James467 wrote:Then I hit a bit of a problem. The two new plate washer shims that fit between the suspension mounting bracket that I got from Rimmer Bros are thinner than the two original shims that fix to the trunnion support bracket, this means that the support bracket and the mounting bracket don't line up correctly resulting in the trunnion bolt being slightly bent. The two Rimmer Bros shims are about 2.2mm, the original shims are about 3.3mm.

The solution is to put another one of the new shims in so that everything lines up correctly, I tested this with one of the shims from the other side. So I have ordered two which should arrive in the week, they'll have to be plated though so I'll have to run them over to the platers as soon as I get them. Hopefully I should get them back by the end of the week ready for final assembly.

That's interesting. I've often thought that if I do a resto I'd get some cut in stainless and get them done in 1x and 1.5x standard thickness to give the ability to more accurately set up the suspension. 3.3mm sounds awfully thick so I wonder if a PO of your car had the same thought.

I have some NOS I can check at the weekend.

Thanks Julian, the additional ones arrived today and everything lines up now on one side but not the other, I'll try to post some photos tonight.

The alternator on the Audi has packed up so I'm a bit distracted trying to sort that out today!

Speechless.

James467 wrote:Ok, I am going to have to admit something, I have a dream.

I've been going to the NEC Classic Car show for years and like many have marvelled at the cars on display on both the Auto Glym and Meguiars concourse stands.

I want to see my Sprint there.

That's a great dream and a challenge that you certainly seem up to acheiving. I for one wish you the best of luck with it, as it would be fantastic to see a concours Sprint alongside all the other makes. It could help to raise the general profile of our cars too.

Jer

James, you obviously have the means to make this happen. Keep up the good work.

James467 wrote:Then I hit a bit of a problem. The two new plate washer shims that fit between the suspension mounting bracket that I got from Rimmer Bros are thinner than the two original shims that fix to the trunnion support bracket, this means that the support bracket and the mounting bracket don't line up correctly resulting in the trunnion bolt being slightly bent. The two Rimmer Bros shims are about 2.2mm, the original shims are about 3.3mm.

The solution is to put another one of the new shims in so that everything lines up correctly, I tested this with one of the shims from the other side. So I have ordered two which should arrive in the week, they'll have to be plated though so I'll have to run them over to the platers as soon as I get them. Hopefully I should get them back by the end of the week ready for final assembly.

Hi James, I'm going to do the same work on the front subframe. The Yellow Zinc passivate is simply beautiful.

So, the question is about the shims. Original Sprint have 2 shims for side, true?

My Sprint doesn't have all the original shim in place because previous owners have done some creepy work in the past (some shim was lost)

I need to buy some new shims from rimmer, so, I read that they are thinner, must I order 6 shims (3 for side) for have the original factory quote of shimming?

Thanks

Demetrio

Damn Audi - the simple hours job of replacing the alternator has turned into a complicated two day job of replacing the alternator!!!

Hi Demetrio, yes as far as I am aware (and I'll be corrected if I'm wrong ) the factory setup was to have two shims per side. Camber can then be adjusted by either adding or taking shims away. The Rimmers shins are slightly thinner and I worked out that three of their shims seems to correspond to two factory shims. tinweevil is going to check and confirm this at the weekend. I'd imagine that no two subframes are the same so I'll be having the wheel alignment checked as soon as it's back on it's wheels, three shims does give a finer adjustment of camber.

I'm not going to get these plated yet, it's not cost effective for me to just do two small parts. I expect I'll end up having another batch of bits done as I progress, the perfectionist in me has already found a couple more bits on the front that I want done! I do want to keep it tasteful and not go too mad, it'll end up looking a bit too gold otherwise!

elmefrio wrote:So, the question is about the shims. Original Sprint have 2 shims for side, true?

It varies from car to car Demetrio.
Some have none at all or different number on each side.

It is probably best to start with none, measure the camber and adjust by adding shims if necessary.





Ian.

Thank You!

It's easy to add some shims with bracket and all the setup on car or I need to remove all every time?

Just loosen the bolts and you can add or remove on the car during alignment. When a car is lowered or highered makes already a difference howmany shims are needed.

Jeroen

The shims I have, NOS and used good condition measure around the 65 thou mark - 1.65mm.

The brand new un-plated shim that I have from Rimmers measures 0.92mm.

The NOS ones correspond with the ones I have for the smaller bracket, nothing's lining up using the Rimmers shims though, the larger original shims that I have are shot, looks like water's got between them.

Julian, can I buy a set of NOS shims off of you?