VA 9166 1974 Sprint Resto

[SGde3a]

Hi all,

This is the car that Sprinting put up for sale last year which i bought. Its current condition is pretty good now, nearly ready for rego.

The work its had on it so far:
-All new suspension bushings
-New front lower balljoints
-New grease in front bearings with correct float gap set
-Rear handbrake pressure level in rear hubs set
-New rear diff oil, front diff seal
-Gearbox oil
-New undercar handbrake boot rubber, link
-New unijoints in driveshaft, repainted driveshaft
-New fuel filter, cleaned gas tank
-New oil pump up front
-New engine mounts, gearbox mount
-New accuspark ignition kit
-New spark leads, spark tube seals
-Mild ported intake manifold, high flowed and rebuilt carbs
-New carb jetting needles, float bowl, float needle and seats, piston dampers, k&n filters
-Brake/Clutch pedal rubber
-Overrider rubber for fr bumper
-Gasket seals for blinkers/tail lights
-New Reverse light/brake light lenses
-Couple other seals and stainless screws

A lot of things like the radiator, alternator was in good nic, and the hoses. Not much rust on the firewall or anything like that. It had a repaint in the 80-90's im assuming and left to sit in the garage so it didnt collect much rust since then. The only others spots are a bit on the rear left door and boot lid, and front right subframe.







Really good spot of the original emerald green.

-Michael

[straylight]

welcome aboard Michael, quite a gathering of sprint owners over there in WA !

good amount of work so far, getting it on the road in WA involves going over the pits ?

thanks for the pics

stu

[tangocharlie1]

Pity you can't return it to its original colour Emerald green is vary rare on a sprint, I have only ever seen 2 others and one of them was trashed on the TOP GEAR programme.
Very nice though!.

[SGde3a]

Thanks Straylight and Tango

Yeah will need a little bit of work to go to get it over the pits.. Hoping they don't pick it up on wobbly front wheels when you rock them... they're designed to have a bit of movement its in the manual!

Thats the plan to return it to its original green. I have all the gear to do it just a bit rough on skill. But after i've driven it around a bit registered will have plenty of time to get it right.

They can't be that rare can they? I've seen one other one...

[straylight]

well, very rare in Oz, since the sprints were only available here in Mimosa.

stu

[SGde3a]

This one's an import. I heard there were a few white ones in syndey area in australia.. but yeah the rest yellow. There must be a few in england. Heaps of regular dolomites...

On the car:
Ended up dremelling the rotor cap on the dizzy to look like the next model up so that it fits and doesn't hit anything on the accuspark ignition. Car still doesn't start but i just need to check which way the magnetic addon bit is facing. Forgot that the rotor isnt aligned with the pickup point.

-Mike

[SGde3a]

Turned out it didnt matter with the accuspark which way the magnet was facing. But it did need quite a bit of advance. Had to move it up one tooth (take the distributor half out, turn the center gear, put it back in). Runs so good it was hard to tune. Currently flat spotting (basically stalling) when you put your foot down a bit in neutral to raise the revs, think its running a bit lean. Or its still running a bit retarded and the vac advance is comming off when you take it off idle.

But its basically running really good now bar that.

[SGde3a]

Took it out today for a spin...just a bit of retardation on the timing and it fired right up. Little bit of leaking from the Valve Stem Oil Seals and possibly the spark plug tubes but it runs really good. Little bit of smoke out the exhaust cleared up in a couple of minutes...

Has a couple of other small issues but generally really good at the mo.

Does anyone know how easy the rear wheel bearings are to replace?

[mahony]

Rear wheel bearings are a pain to change, you need a churchill puller or a equivalent, see this topic

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=25395

[Jon Tilson]

Have you put oil in the SU dashpots?

Common cause of "coughing" as you try to "increase revs" or step on the gas...

Jonners

[straylight]

keep up the good work Mike !

I can't offer any assistance on the rear wheel bearing, since I've never done one, but good luck with it.

stu

[SGde3a]

There's oil in the dashpots. But its all good now... just the timing too advanced,,, its hard to tell in neutral once its warm.

They really do look like a pain to change ....looks like i need a churchill puller, or just wait to see if it fails rego (seal is leaking) and then drive it and see how badly it needs changing. Good news is that it looks like the seal can be taken off before the bearings though.

Thanks Stu

[SGde3a]

One year later...

Didn't realise how long it's been since i posted anything up here.

Basically the head had to come off because the head gasket was leaking after changing the oil stem seals. I undid the head bolts along the bottom to get the rocker shaft stuff out so the tension came off the head gasket. Little did i know about retightening it more, but anyway... Also while the head was out the whole engine bay got some rust kill paint. There was a rust spot under the brake cylinder that got dremeled and rust converted first. Didn't fill up the hole/weld it... It's covered by the firewall insulation anyway so there's no breeze. Brake cylinder got some paint, exhaust manifold got some ceramic paint, and some new zinc bolts used. Will have to post some pics...

Major thing today was brand new tyres. Yokohama Bluearth eco tyres.