The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Colin needed the use of a spare king lead this morning. "I had one but it went in one of the boxes".

Doh!

Is it finished yet?

Purplebargeken wrote:Is it finished yet?

I was going to ask that, along the lines of "Dad, are we there yet?", but I resisted the temptation.

Good progress today. After tidying the rest of the parts we stripped all components from the doors, removed the rear lights, bumper and steering column. More tomorrow hopefully.

#epic, swift progress, you don't beat about the bush do you......I be the paintstiper is swelling the tins as we speak and the bin liners are at the ready.

Please to hear this is Pimento, always liked that shade.

Difficult to compute it was 7 years ago when progress on the resto was being made and good to see, that despite the challenges Colin faced, the car survived.

Enjoy the project

I imagine this will be back on the road in the next couple of months at this rate...!!!

So, what areas need the most attention?! Are there any points that needs some real digging into or do things look pretty straight and simple...?!

This looks like another epic and the end result will be more than worth waiting for I'm sure...

I think all garages should be built with an RSJ and chain hoist

well done Mart.

Ash, it should be straighforward resto. Both chassis rails and the front end have had plenty of attention during Colin's custodainship. We'll know what it is like as soon as the paint has been removed.

No idea what else Martin might find but the following areas will need attention to varying degrees (from what I could see anyway):

Roof: there is a small hole at the leading edge, just above the screen aperture, about the size of a 10p perhaps. A clean up and weld up should suffice. Towards the trailing edge there is an area of pockmarking which might respond to a good dose of Deox gel. There are varying scabby bits dotted here and there.

C pillars: again some pock marking to varying degrees, can't recall if holed anywhere or not.

Engine bay: has had some welding done which looks neat and solid, obviously the chassis legs have been attended to (to a good standard). The majority of stuff in the engine bay is surface rust and came up nicely with a poly disk when attacked briefly a couple of months ago. Nothing major that I can think of.

Wings and front end - nice and solid, just finishing off and general prepping.

Footwells: from what I can recall there is a fair bit of thin metal and crustiness. New panels would be the most sensible option methinks.

Footwells and roof are most likely the worst bits that I am aware of. The rest should be fairly reasonable. Boot lid is a bit surface rusty IIRC.

Mart?

We started stripping the paint off today...

Once the paint stripper has been applied it's a good idea to cover it with some plastic. We use bin bags (cut off the bottom & cut it up the middle). This helps the stripper to do it's job. See how I posed the paint stripper container.



Mary getting in those awkward places...









I started to do a bit of dual actioning but run out of pads and also my camera batteries died as I was about to take some close-ups of the not-so-good spots.

Apart from what Ken has mentioned there is a dent on the top of the RH front wing just above where the aerial hole has been filled in. The roof has a couple of dents in which will probably push out once we remove the headlining. The driver's door has a few holes along the bottom edge. There is a small dent on the RH passenger door and there is a hole on the RH rear wing, right at the bottom where it joins the rear valance. It's looking a bit flaky where the valance & boot floor meet but I haven't stripped that bit yet. I'm sure there will be more to come but nothing unexpected really. Fingers crossed.

That stripper is pretty good, how long do you leave it on for and removal is done how? Never used stripper before hence the dumb questions.

Most timely then, improved floor pan repairs, based on the actual panel, currently being fabricated...

What's the thinking behind taking what looked like sound paint off?

Is it past experience? I cant remember if you took SFB back that far and its a similar colour. Flamenco and Pimento
are very close.

Jonners

I think Mart has taken most of the resto's to bare metal prior to going to the body shop. It will help keep costs down and I suppose that paint quality/type may be unknown and bare metal might prevent a reaction. Possibly.

Looks like a solid car, like the color. I have learn alot from yours restro thread.

That paint stripper looks to be most effective (the chemical one, not the human one)...!!!

The plastic bad technique seems to work a treat... Does this allow the chemicals to 'sweat' the paint off a little better than it would if exposed to the normal atmosphere?!

I cannot speak from experience but I suppose it is better for a restoration to go back to bare metal so you can better assess what needs doing to the body as paint can hide this, that and the other...?!

I really do like this bright red colour, it'll look cracking 'fresh from the gun'...!!!