The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I thought I'd share some photos of my latest acquisition and use you guys for advice!

The story goes back a few weeks ago when a lady was asking what her Dolomite was worth on the Facebook group, having been wanting one for years now i decided to message her for a chat, It turns out that it was her father in laws car from new who stopped driving due to Parkinson's disease and when he passed away he left the car to his granddaughter, for the next few years it was sitting around until the daughter put it in her mums garage for storage where it's sat for the last couple of years, still being MOTed everywhere not not used, Mum is moving so the car now needs to find a new home.

So yesterday i went down to Saf Essex and took a look at it.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

This was the view on arrival at her house, It's a very rare 1500 SE, it's only done 59000 miles and although rather matt and scabby it seems very complete and original still.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

The wing has a nasty dent sadly where the old boy caught a post in his later years. Anyway after a test drive where it drove very nicely a deal was made and i took the old girl home, to much upset to the family who had known the car since new, the daugher had a photo of her as a child sat in the car (she's in her 30's now).

After filling up with petrol i decided to take the cross country route back home to Ipswich instead of using the A12 due the cars not been probably used in years and only done 1500 miles since 2006 that i know off, things started fine even giving me chance for more photos.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

Sadly after this things started to go downhill rather quickly, as i drove into Maldon there was a metal to metal grinding sound from the front brakes which got worse until i lost my brakes completely! In a panic i managed to park it into a farmer's field...

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
Bum hats.

There was blue smoke coming from the nearside brake which i thought was going to catch on fire and the expansion bottle was also bubbling over! There was even bearing grease running out of the wheel!.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

In the end (after a few phone calls) i managed to talk my dad into collecting me with his van and his 5ft tow pole to drag me back to his which was *great fun. In hindsight i should have got him to collect it for me with his trailer but where the fun in that?!

Anyway the cars now parked at his in disgrace, next weekend when i have more time I'll get the wheel off and find out what's happened to it, It's probably a seized caliper and the pads broke up, I'm worried about the head gasket too but I'm told these are easy to fix although this is all new to me as I've never worked on one before. I'm a bit worried about the brown rusty water all over the back of the block and gearbox too, I'm hoping it's from a pipe rather than the block?

Here's some more photos for now.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

The damaged front wing.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

It needs a lower half respray at some point as it's very scabby although it's still solid.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

The paintwork needs some serious mop action! I'm hoping it will come back.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

The boot area is still like new.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

The service sticker says it's due it's service at 26000 miles in 1984.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

This is the best part of the car, the interior is like new still and being the SE model it's very posh!.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

It still even has all it's original dealer keyrings and number plates. One of the keys is for the Unipart alarm under the bonnet with turns on and off via a key hole in the wing.

My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE Advert 1979

I spoke to the lady i bought it from today and she's said she's found all the original paperwork, service book and brochure and has posted it out for me so that's great news too!

I'm sure I've seen that car around NE London in the early 80's, the number plate looks so familiar.

Either way, looks pretty tidy and not too much work.

Looks like a winner to me! Very few SEs left now and even fewer as unspoilt as this one. Taking a car that has done next to no miles for a number of years on a long run is a great way of finding all the problems! Besides 4 heater hoses at the back end of the engine, there is also a core plug in the back of the head which may be leaking. If it didn't get TOO hot the head gasket may well have survived, but if it hasn't, its no big deal and removing the head will allow you to convert for unleaded fuel. The grinding and overheating brakes could have a number of causes but your diagnosis sounds reasonable and is probably correct. Recon calipers usually available from club spares, contact Alun (xvivalve)
The dent in the wing is nasty but should be repairable and don't worry if you have to damage or remove the SE stripes, the club do perfect replicas.
Welcome to the forum!

Steve

Looks like the PO also caught the bumper when he dented the wing, as there seems to be a kink in it below the headlight. And presumably the tape holding the glovebox closed is because there's a problem with the catch.

My first Dolomite was a 1500SE as well back in the 80's being FSE880T but sadly I hear it is no more Great choice you made and as above, very rare now

Lovely car. Another east coast Dolomite!

Thanks for the help guys, I hadn't noticed the bumper before but that will hopefully straighten with a rubber hammer. I'll need to get the car into a bodyshop at some point but for now I'm going to concentrate on getting it mechanically sound first.

The daughter in law of the original owner has sent me some goodies, this photo is from 1986 with the grand daughter who i bought the car of and the owner, he was a steam locomotive driver.



and today this lovely package arrived from her with all the cars history!, It's one of the most complete histories I've had with a classic car!.











It has all the mots from new!







He kept a load of newspaper cuts about the car as well!

Fabulous memorabilia - good luck with the resto and thanks for saving another of these rarities, 21 on our list of surviving cars

Great find....

A new set of caliper seals and pads and maybe pistons too will soon sort you out. All readilly available.

Beware of the master cylinder too. Its likely that the bleeding operation which will follow the caliper repairs
will finish the seals off if the car has been standing a lot.

I'm not a huge SE fan myself but that does look a great find and the interior is very nice indeed.

Jonners

Thanks for the advice everyone, today I've been out and bought a Wix oil filter (WL7213 which hopefully has the non return valve?), a 88° thermostat, some Borg & Beck brake pads, some 20/50 oil and some antifreeze so Saturday I'll be ready to get down a dirty with my Dolly.

Also why does mine has a 1500 HL badge on the back and the one in the brochure have just a 1500 badge?. Mine doesn't look like it's been changed at all?.

Also why does mine has a 1500 HL badge on the back and the one in the brochure have just a 1500 badge?. Mine doesn't look like it's been changed at all?.[/quote]

My SE had the 1500 badge and not the HL type

BSV205F wrote:Also why does mine has a 1500 HL badge on the back and the one in the brochure have just a 1500 badge?. Mine doesn't look like it's been changed at all?.

My SE had the 1500 badge and not the HL type[/quote]

The 1500 badge with the yellow bit is correct for an SE but it is easily swapped, all the badges are the same hole spacing, I have (amongst others) "Toledo", "2500 S", "2000 MkII" and "Dolomite Sprint" and all fit the same holes. Sadly I don't have that one, I think its quite rare, which may explain why its been swapped out for a 1500HL one (which is common as muck)

Steve

The SE is a Dolomite 1500 (non-HL) with the grey velour interior, a burr walnut dashboard & door cappings, black paint, the SE stripes and Spitfire/GT6 style wheels. If I've missed anything out I'm sure somebody will fill us in. As far as I'm aware it was only available with a single rail non-OD gearbox. I gave Andy P. a hand when he fitted an overdrive box on his SE at the 2007 Restoration Show.

Any further progress?

Toledo Man wrote:Any further progress?

A little, yesterday I made a start by getting the wheels off and inspecting the brakes, The rear shoes are right down a close to the rivets so they'll need replacing, the backing plate and drum was contaminated with old oil or grease but the cylinder was bone dry so i wonder if it's old oil that hasn't been cleaned off or if it's had the cylinders prepared and someone's over packed them with grease or something?



The front end needs new pads as they are worn but I've already got those and I've got to get a set of caliper repair kits for both sides as they aren't retracting back in like they should, the pedal doesn't inspire confidence either, not sure if that's because of the poor brakes, because the fluids been boiled (need to replace that) or if the servo has issues, we'll have to see on that one.

Next job was a look at the cooling system, I got the old stat out which was proper crudded up.



I spent an age cleaning everything, took the nut out of the side of the block for the water and cleaned the rubbish out of that with a nail as it was blocked solid and removed the coolant bottle and gave that a proper clean up with some Cif and small stones in the water and shook it up inside, The whole system is as if someone had poured a load of waste red oxide paint into it!



The engine bay will get getting a proper clean once I've got it home from my dad's, there's like a waxy seal over everything which I'm guessing was the Bodyshield rust protection that was applied when it was new, at least it's done it's job.



The expansion bottle cap was knackered, I have a feeling that was the reason the bottle boiled over yet the gauge was still in the "normal" zone.



The last little job was to mop a bit of the paintwork with some G3 just to see how it came up, I only done the lower part of the rear quarter but it's responded well, Hopefully I'll be able to save the top end, the lower half is very crusty though! It's only surface rust mind you!.



The underside is really good with no signs of welded, the front valance and nearside front wings aren't quite so good though, Hopefully once i've spent a day cleaning the car probably I'll feel more happier with the way it looks.

I spent a while last night sourcing parts for it, in the end on ebay i spent £32 on some new shoes, rad cap, 4x spark plugs and a set of plug leads and then a further £35 with a company called MEV Spares I've found who seem well priced on a set of front caliper repair kits., points, arm, condenser and a pair of air filters.

Not too bad considering the amount i got, Rimmer Brothers wanted £116 for the same parts delivered!