The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

hi
i have the chance of a triumph 1500 fwd car and wondered if is is possible to change it easily to rear wheel drive or is this a major job.Are the floor pans the same or did they change it for front wheel drive as there isnt a propshaft.Can anyone tell me if this is an easy conversion or not
Thanks
john

Lewis is the man to talk to about this, he had one. The shell is in essence identical to the sprint/1850/1500 dolomite one, as all the engine mounting stuff is on the subframe. Triumph apparently originally designed the 1300 that the whole range is based on with a mind to make a four wheel drive variant, so the propshaft and gap for a RWD axle have always been there.

Yea, just like DavePoth says - it's just the gearbox tunnel you need to convert a 1500FWD bodyshell to something to accept a RWD powertrain. Everything under the shell regarding fixings and stuff is in place - all holes, places for brackets, the works.

Bolt up all the Sprint bits (brake, hubs, axle, subframe, hydraulics, cooling, engine, box, bias valve, etc) and enjoy!

Thanks for the advice info etc.Is the tunnel conversion a straight forward one?

Yep. Dolomites have a nice big access aperture to make gearbox & clutch work easy. The tunnel is the name for the bolt in cover.

Tinweevil

Unfortunately the fwd triumph I was told needed no welding was rotton as a peach so the search goes on

Rallyman, what exactly are you after?

I'm guessing a RWD, but any particular model?

Hi
I am looking for any model pre 1972 that i can put sprint running gear into to produce a car for historic events.Preferably with as little hassle as possible.I did find a triumph 1500 and was considering building it into a rwd car (although to be honest it would probably end up as another of my unfinished projects) but it was rotton anyway.My ideal car would be a pre 73 dolly 1850 I suppose.

At the risk of speaking out of turn, are you sure that is what you need? Reason I ask is pre 1972 limits you 1300, 1500 and a handful of 1850 cars. Rocking horse poo in other words. See the Dolomite timeline

Many many moons ago I was preparing my sprint for historic rallying. Thats a 1978 car but it was permitted because it was technically identical to the earlier cars that had been rallied.

Sprints were still a gleam in Triumphs eye in Jan 1972, even the name 'Dolomite' only came into being in 1971. It seems unlikely that if 1972 is a strictly enforced cutoff that your events will permit an engine that did not exist (outside Triumph Development) to compete. On the other hand if sprints are permitted you may find as I did that late cars are allowed which would ease your search considerably. Mind you it was 12 years or more ago I was trying to compete so it is likely rules will have changed.

Tinweevil

The popular choice would be the 2-door Toledo, there have been a few of them converted to Sprint spec. Models with brake disks at the front would be more desirable, though it's not a big job to convert drum-equipped cars.

I have read that Triumph rallied a dolomite sprint in 1972 .My understanding of the regs is that if it was available in 72 or earlier then you can use it in the class of pre 72.So in theory i can use a dolomite sprint in the pre 73 class of rallies over 1500cc.I think that it would have been an 1850 sprint then but am not sure.

Well, for a start there is no such thing as an 1850 Sprint

What Historic Rallying class are you looking at? I don't know of any that use 1972 as a cut off point, the standard MSA Historic classes are Pre-68, 68-74 and 75-81.

IIRC the first Sprint rally cars were in 74, so you wouldn't be able to use then in a pre-72 class. But you could use a stock early 1850, if you can find one...

Some of the local car clubs have classes 1967 to 1972 and as i can only afford to do club events this is the reason for pre 73.triumph first used a dolomite sprint on the 1972 scottish rally so a sprint can be used pre 73.

How much more is a dolly 1850 worth if its a 1972 ( tax free) compaired to a 1973 car (tax payable)on a like for like condition,just interested due to Rallymans search

I have read that Triumph rallied a dolomite sprint in 1972 .My understanding of the regs is that if it was available in 72 or earlier then you can use it in the class of pre 72.So in theory i can use a dolomite sprint in the pre 73 class of rallies over 1500cc.

Well I sit corrected. There was a 2 litre 16 valve Dolomite in the prototype class of the scottish in '72. CKV2K Culcheth/Syer finished 2nd in class 19th overall. It was not badged as a sprint, just 'Dolomite' and nobody got to peek under the bonnet. It was the first outing for the prototype rally car. Does it count as 'available' tho given that it only ran twice in '72 and was not seen again until it was homologated until '74? Buggered if I know, hope so . I'll post some pics if I ever pursuade my PC to talk to my scanner again

Anyone know what became of CKV2K?

Tinweevil