The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Anybody got the date for when the Waxstat jets came in for the Sprint Carbs? Want to know if a 1978 year model car's engine had them or not.

Graham

Not sure what year they came in but my Nov 77 sprint had them fitted from when i bought the car in 1985, ditched them years ago in favour of the non waxstat type which resulted in a lot better running ................... Jonners will no doubt be along shortly to tell us he is a fan of waxstats

Wax stat carbs were fitted as standard from commission number VA15989 onwards.

For completeness:

Up to VA6368 had AUD545s
From VA6369 to VA11216 had AUD661s
From VA11217 to VA15988 had AUD680s

All the above being standard jets. If the tag number is missing, originally the jets were colour coded, but these can have been changed over the years

xvivalve wrote:Wax stat carbs were fitted as standard from commission number VA15989 onwards.

For completeness:

Up to VA6368 had AUD545s
From VA6369 to VA11216 had AUD661s
From VA11217 to VA15988 had AUD680s

All the above being standard jets. If the tag number is missing, originally the jets were colour coded, but these can have been changed over the years

Okay, but what year model was VA15989?

Graham

Cant help with dates, but my 78 sprint has them and so do my 81 cars

Tony

Mine is VA15325 and it's a May '75 build; July'75 reg., 'N' plate, so 15989 can't be too far after that...

Seems to have been a lot built in 1975 as my sprint is VA10270 first reg 1st July 1975, and yes I did wish Harry the Sprint a happy birthday this morning!

August 1979 Triumph started using VIN numbers, so that pretty much narrows things down to late 1975 to 1979 surely?!

Edit: Okay, so not a birthday but first registration day but hey, in the absence of a heritage certificate...

Up to VA5446 built in '73
VA5447 to VA9678 built in '74
VA9679 to VA10745 and VA15001 to VA17523 built in '75
VA17524 to VA18278 and VA20001 to VA23282 built in '76
VA23283 to VA25836 built in '77
VA25837 to VA26896 and VA30001 to VA30293 built in '78
VA30294 to VA31188 built in '79 (up to end of August when the new 16 digit VIN took over on 01.09.79)

Wax-stats therefore standard fitment from around August/September '75...?

Of course, Triumph restarted the numbering for the 'series 2' at VA15001

Been a long week...

Okay, so a Dolomite Sprint engine built for the 78 y.m. should definitely have had waxstats when new.

Thanks guys

In theory, yes, but it is possible that a much earlier build sat around for a couple of years and wasn't registered until '78. Three year delay between build and registration (whilst production was still active) is the longest I've heard of.

It depends if the engine in question was ever put into a car, or was a crated fully equipped engine supplied separately; if the latter, then more likely to be 'of its time'.

I'm looking what carbs to use on a CH engine unit. It's possibly an engine scratch built to the spec of the day. I think the car it went in was, i.e. not even built on a car pulled of the line at Speke, but scratch built at Canley; because its a 78 y.m. built in May-June 77.

Graham

I'd say with 95% certainty they'd be wax-stats then

One point I've asked before, but has anyone ever seen a set of Sprint carbs with a Linkage Plate like the TR7's TKC1718? Better yet, does anyone have one?

Graham

The specific TR7 part wouldn't fit; the spacing between the carbs is wider on a TR7 than a Sprint; I think you'd have to have one made as I've never seen one on a Sprint, unless the factory TR7 Sprints wore one?