The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi I'm Chris, 33 Yo from Southbourne near Portsmouth UK and ive just started to upload pics but camera went pop i will load some up as soon as i get a new one.
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I recently bought a Dolomite 1300.. vinyl ripped off the roof and covered in what can only be described as chalkboard paint
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I have a business that customizes cars and have all the machinery to do everything i need to do from spraying and powder coating to engineering my own parts and sandblasting
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Now the fun part I'm going to keep the Dollilama as my mrs has named it original but as it will be a show car i need a twist so coloring might be strange oh and also ones gonna put a turbo in there
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I know, i know its like putting a bible in a brothel but this is going to be our second show car the first been a Toyota celica that is raced in sprint jap thingy racing that i don't really care about as it my business partner car, but it good advert. This time its my turn with the dolli
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It will be our mobile advert as i use it everyday and will be showing it when we've finished around Europe to bet business in for me to make more money so i can do another car next year :p
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Now the first thing my partner in crime said was "get rid of the engine and we put a 2Ltr from a...blah blah blah" stopped listening to him and just loved the look of the engine and thought ahh theres plenty room around there for the tubing oh and move that radiator to the left, battery in boot then inter cooler where battery is...anyway he was still talking and i was just thinking thats the plan and i'm sticking to it, when i told him he just looked at me stone faced and said "REALLY?"
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I would like to ask a few questions to the guys in here, because we've never put a turbo in a car of this age before (usually boy racers wanting them in fiestas and crap like that) now the compression ratio is excellent for a turbo 8.50:1 but the rest of the car aint so i will upgrade and replace Shocks/springs/breaks/wire/pipework and much anything else that would not like the power rise
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I digress, to the questions....
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1) Ideal size turbo?
i was thinking low pressure turbo just give it that little boost as it only for show purposes and I'm not one for hanging round mcdonalds revving my engine at spotty kids in clio's
2) Gearbox and rear dif?
I was thinking of just upgrade to sprint box with O/D and dif from the same but any other ideas would be greatly accepteeeeed
3) Injectors or carb?
i can engineer the head (well i can make a new one to look the same but with injectors in it) and make my own injector system there but like i said i want to keep as much of the engine original so i was thinking push through carb
4) Am I mad doing this? Remember i wont change my mind to you best off saying "yes your mad, but if you must i will help "
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Feedback please

Frankly if you're going to stick a turbo on it needs to be one of a considerable size, it would be rude not to. That said I would not choose to attach a turbo to a 1300 engine and would look for an already turbo'd engine avoiding anything with a Ford badge on it as it will already be shagged.

Alternatively you can get some wild cams for a 1300, in fact I know of one in my local area which goes like stink, sounds great and looks the part all achieved at significantly less expense and complexity.

What's a 1300 doing with a vinyl roof?

Sprint diff won't fit the Marina axle, so possibly fit a complete Sprint axle or something altogether non-standard.
Are you mad? Of course you are, but it's a desirable qualification for any petrolhead I'd have thought.
Turbo? Why? There was a small journal 1300 on eBay not so long ago which was built to similar spec to the Jigsaw racing LeMans car's engine. N/A and making lots of high end power.

Welcome and yes. Happily Good on yer for ignoring the boring* bung in a modern route.

Have a read over at the Sideways Forums, lots of folk who like to blow up OHV Triumphs hang out there. They can be a bit one track though - you'll probably get told to swap the engine for a small bearing unit. This is an early version of the triumph 4 pot that had smaller main bearings and so less bearing drag and thus revs more freely. This is sound advice for building and extreme NA engine but the thinner cranks do snap fairly commonly at bleeding edge states of tune. So for a blown engine where you can 'simply' up the boost to overcome bearing drag stick with the stronger large bearing unit you have.

Trackerjack on this forum can sort you out with brakes up to the job.

I'll sit back now with a glass of single malt and enjoy the show. Cheers!

*No offence to DF and ALG1K**, I'd never describe that monster as boring.

** You might like to google ALG1K. It is the current state of the art in extreme modern engine in a Dolomite shell. DF is working on something that'll beat it which fair boggles the mind. Not much to see on pages 1-3 but stick with it, you eyes will go half way down page 4.

all sound advice this is why i was asking in here. i dont know much about dolomite
JPB i learn about the dif now so full gearbox to back axle it is then i might as well replace it all with sprint
but yes i am sticking with the 1300 engine and still putting turbo in it
tinweevil you show me some good things there you enjoy your whisky you earn it (drambuie man myself) and that ALG1K some sick power for a dolly lol
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buuuut i want to know has anyone try to turbo a dolly before? an actual dolly not one with another engine in it..surely someone try it somewhere even if they failed i would like to know what went wrong. at the end of the day nothing is impossible just improbable but its spell checker knows them words not me

Hi Chris, can't help with any personal experience of sticking a turbo on one of these engines but I can't see any reason at all why not. If BL could do it to the hugely inferior A series.......

Jod, where are you?

He's your man if you wanna get some more power out of the OHV lump. If you're going down the turbo route don't skimp on the turbo. I remember an episode of "Campervan Crisis" where the guy was restoring his Splitty and he bought a cheap turbo on eBay and it turned out to be a duff one (even though it was in the original box). You'll need to upgrade everything else (including the previously mentioned brakes) and you'll need to rebush your suspension. You're best off using Superflex bushes. I know you're considering using Sprint running gear and the only problem I can see is getting the gearbox to mate with the engine. You might have to cannibalize a Sprint and a Dolly 1300 gearbox or have a bellhousing custom made.