The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Ok, today...... final little patch welded on. Welding all done!!!!!

LD will hopefully be back with me today, S.E.M having a look at the brakes as I type, not sure if anything will be needed other than just a good clean. Disks look ok, pads look ok. Not sure about rear cylinders but I have spares. Fingers crossed.

Just the cosmetic stuff on the body to do now before the MOT.

Wipers still wiping

Oh, need toi check the reverse light bulbs as n/s isn't working and o/s is a little erratic. Not an MOT issue though.

Ken

More news.... LD back at home now. Brakes free'd off and cleaned. Although the front pads are good, they look a bit worse for wear after having driven whilst binding. New ones would be best. Rears not checked but handbrake is ok in the efficiency stakes.

New list of To Do's:

Cosmetic bodywork re: weldy bits
Fix holes in front valance
Fix holes in somewhere else.. can't find the word at the moment
Scrape and derustify the underneath/floor
Rustkill, prime, stonechip and paint the underneath/floor... generally make it pretty
Maybe new steering rack as there is a clunk somewhere there
Check rear brakes
New pads on the front

Phew!!!

Photos tomorrow.... promise.

Ken

Ken, when fitting the sill, if you can avoid joining on the sill return step you will not compromise your door gap or lines. Cut the replacement sill down about 1.5inch from the sill return step. Cut old sill off about 2 inch and 'joddle' the old sill along the full length. sit new sill in the 'joddle', weld, linish, fill, jobs a good un. It takes more time but you will get a better finish

Cheers Malc, I'll do that for the other side. The fit of the sill is good but it's just irked me a wee bit that I messed it up slightly

Not the end of the world and to learn from our mistakes is ok

Might have a break from LD tomorrow, need to fit a side step to the Landy and clean up the front bumper. Will take some piccies though.

Haven't done much 'cos I've had/got a miserable cold. Went down to the garage this morning anyway and sprayed the front bumper bolts liberally with Plusgas. I'll remove the bumper tomorrow and attend to a couple of niggly bits behind it. Just makes life easier to take it off (if it'll come off).

Also put the car back on stands so make the front valance more easily accesible too.

Sprayed plenty of Duck Oil around the engine bay and the oily bits are no longer oily, they're lovely. Great stuff.

Bugger, forgot the photos

Bumper removal..... went like a dream, everything undid beautifully.... except the bog standard rusty bolt someone had used on the n/s end of the bumper. Bugger! Will have to grind it away using the 'lecky file. Could have been worse.

Ok, ambled down to the garage, spent about half an hour with the flap wheel/grinder. Front valance down to bare metal. Worst bits at each end where the wing joins, the rest was just surface rust Nothing too drastic.

Pending birthday will bring a DA 150mm sander to the fold. That should do nicely in getting everything nice and smoooooth.

Cracking on then Ken... Good man.

We need piccys

I promise some piccies will follow soon Dave. I keep forgetting to take the camera with me

I need to do a bit more sanding on the valance, just by the o/s sidelight. Once thats done I will rustproof everything and take it from there.

The plan is to fit the chin spoiler I have sitting in the shed

Grand total of diddly squat done on LD recently. Seem to have lost the oommphh somewhere. Bloody stupid weather doesn't help

Weather's pants here too When i start losing interest with Patch, i switch tasks on him to something quicker and easier in order to get some faster results, usually manages to reignite my motivation..

Dusted the cobwebs off this posting

Ok, went down to the garage and finally fitted both front seats (brown vinyl a la FWD). They look rather smart. I actually prefer the vinyl ones. Gave the car a good hoover out. Have decided top remove the wing lower repair panel as I am not happy with the shape. I will fit in a section cut from one of the worthless fibreglass wings that I have in the shed instead. Just can't get that stupid n/s bumper end bolt out.... grrrrr.

Just got to do a bit of work on the rear wheelarch patch and then I can fit the rear seats. I grabbed a sound insulating mat of some type from RB2 (fits under the rear seat). Seemed like a good thing to have and will be fitted to LD in due course.

Ken

More time spent down the gargage today =D> Ground down the welds on the patch for rear wheelarch inner so they are now nice and neat. Cleaned up the odd bleb of rust on the rest of the panel. Not too much there actually

Removed the front wing lower repair panel as I wasn't happy with the profile. I will use a piece of the fibreglass wing as a repair panel for this. No more rust worries there then

I also made a good start on cleaning up the underneath of the drivers side floor panel. Again, it is totally solid, just surface rust and then I'm hoping to rustproof all of the bits and pieces tomorrow.

Useless bits done today: polished the windscreen wiper arms and polished some of the engine bay paintwork. Had to be done

Ken

Hey Ken, glad to hear you're back at Lemondrop after your despondency with her. I'm sure she's gorgeous and deserves every hour spent. I keep meaning to clean up my engine bay but it never seems to happen...

Thanks Mel. Too wet and thundery tonight to do anything in the garage. However, after work I did put Justyn's spare 1300fwd door onto RB2 and I chucked a bit more air in the tyres in preparation for a towing to J's place on Friday

Will try very hard to rustproof the bare bits of LD tomorrow.