My 1850HL TPC 799S

[Bumpa]

I've actually managed to do a little investigative work around the front of the Dolly. First off, I stripped off the brake calipers, master cylinder and servo and have sent them off for renovation. Then I removed the splash panels inside the front wheel arches. Amazingly all the screws came out really easily.

Inside the right wing, the metal is all solid and no repairs are necessary at all. In the photo you can see the radio aerial base. Incidentally I can't get the mast to extend properly, A couple of sections will come up, but the rest seem jammed. Is this type of mast still available?

I knew the left sill was rusted at the front so have cut a piece off the outer wing. I was encouraged to see that it is only the front 12 inches or so that is needing repair. I'll cut out the rusty outer sill and make repairs to the inner membrane, which is for most part still intact. Then I'll just weld on the necessary front part of the sill. No point cutting out oerfectly sound metal further back.

All in all, I'm amazed that on a 39 year old car this is the only corrosion of note. After all the horrible rusty seventies cars I have seen (and owned) this one has survived well. All the inner bits I've seen so far are liberally coated in Waxoyl, so thank you to my brother-in-law who did this regularly since the car was 3 years old.

More next year hopefully. No time until then.

Mike

[new to this]

Mike

look on ebay they sell that type of aerial,the car doesn't look to bad,will you make the repair for the sill or can you buy them,didn't know the splash panel was screwed in place,good luck with the repairs,keep the pictures going

dave

[Bumpa]

Dave, I bought a new outer sill and lower wing panel from the Dolomite club, although I reckon I will only use the front part of the sill. Hopefully, with a bit of careful welding, I can join the new to the original without the seam showing. The new sill doesn't include the bit behind the front wing, so I shall fabricate that, and I shall also fabricate a repair to the small section of the inner membrane that needs replacing. Quite a lot more cutting to be done to get rid of all the weakened metal - after the holidays are over.

My biggest issue is that the whole car needs a respray as there are many scabby patches on all surfaces. This is when repairing a car that has a low intrinsic value makes life tricky. The cheapest respray will be over £1000, and with the money spent on refurbishment of components I will quickly be spending more than the car is worth. The last car I rebuilt was a Lotus Elan and that was entirely different because the finished car was worth so much more. That was the only car I ever made a profit on!

I'll have a hunt on ebay for an aerial.

[Carledo]

You can get a generic ariel for peanuts and so long as you save and re-use the original plastic and metal adapters around the wing fitting, it will probably work. But the wing hole ex-works is too large and an odd shape and most generic spacers won't have it.

Steve

PS, try a bit of rubbing compound on that flat paint, you might surprise yourself!

[Bumpa]

Steve, it's not the flat paint that's the issue, it's all the many small areas with surface rust - bonnet, roof, in fact most exterior panels. None of it is corrosion from beneath - it's as though the paint was never properly applied in the first place, or the metal was not clean and unblemished before painting. Surely British Leyland had better quality control than that ? Yes, my tongue is firmly in my cheek.

As for the aerial, the problem is the extreme angle of the mounting. It's nearer to vertical than horizontal.

[sprint95m]

From my experience Mike, I would be looking at full sill replacement.
The rust is visibly well advanced on the inner membrane.

The sill structure has a moisture trap because of how the sections are joined along their length underneath,
so the sills rot happily from inside out .
You can test sill integrity quite easily, jack the car up in each corner (one at a time) and try opening/closing all four doors.



Ian.

[xvivalve]

The benefit of using the complete TDC cill is it is zintec coated steel...so won't rust.

The TDC could also have done exchange callipers and master cylinders for you. Our callipers are only £40 each side, fully refurbished!

[Bumpa]

Thanks guys. Yes, I can see the advantage of using the entire sill, but I hate cutting out perfectly good metal. The sill construction is very similar to the MGB, and when I rebuilt my BGT the inner membrane was all but missing, just a few frilly bits hanging down from above (see photo), so this Dolomite's sill is in remarkable condition in my opinion.

Regarding fitting the new club sill, where and how do folk normally make the top edge weld? The new sill only goes as far as the red line in my photo, so do you recommend leaving the horizontal surface intact and laying the new sill over it to plug weld, or what?

As for the brake components, I didn't think of ordering from the club. Will try to look at the list for my next ordering session.

Mike

[Carledo]

Yes cut the old sill off just inboard of the edge where the sill trim clips on. To maintain the door gap, I tap the resultant flange down a little before welding the sill on. Alternatively, if you have the tool, you can put a "set" or "joddle" in the flange which will let you keep the door gap. Technically, because this join is not an original seam, one is supposed to seam weld the sill on (or 1" of weld in every 4" by the book) But in truth it is much simpler to plug weld the sill on then clean up and a smear of filler to hide the evidence. What the tester can't see can't hurt you!
More of a problem is that the original sill structure has the lower face of the diaphragm panel attached to the inside of the outer sill so, even if your diaphragm panel is perfectly intact, (not a common occurrence) once the outer sill is removed the diaphragm will still be hanging in space. Whilst it is theoretically possible to drill the new sill and plug weld uphill onto the bottom face of the diaphragm, it's much easier to secure the bottom of the diaphragm to to the inner sill soffit by means of an extra strip of steel. Needless to say it is not a good idea to just leave the diaphragm panel hanging from a structural point of view!

Get a generic "high angle" ariel and use the original spacers and you should be OK.

Steve

[new to this]

So the sill you bought is only a skin sill,not a full sill as that would included the door step,i would try to keep as much of the original step as possible,it keeps the strength in the B and A post,then you wont have doors droping,if it was be i would fit the sill below the red line,trim the edge of the new sill, and step it, so it fits under the sill

dave

[Carledo]

So the sill you bought is only a skin sill,not a full sill as that would included the door step,i would try to keep as much of the original step as possible,it keeps the strength in the B and A post,then you wont have doors droping,if it was me i would fit the sill below the red line,trim the edge of the new sill, and step it, so it fits under the sill

dave

That's what I was trying to suggest! The club sill is indeed what you would call a "skin sill" There are still a few NOS genuine full sills about - for a price! They are also fiendishly tricky to fit since the car was effectively built "from the sills up" at the factory!

Steve

[new to this]

So the sill you bought is only a skin sill,not a full sill as that would included the door step,i would try to keep as much of the original step as possible,it keeps the strength in the B and A post,then you wont have doors droping,if it was me i would fit the sill below the red line,trim the edge of the new sill, and step it, so it fits under the sill

dave

That's what I was trying to suggest! The club sill is indeed what you would call a "skin sill" There are still a few NOS genuine full sills about - for a price! They are also fiendishly tricky to fit since the car was effectively built "from the sills up" at the factory!

Steve

Steve

you know what they say great minds think alike didn't see your reply when i wrote mine,still finding my way round this forum

dave

[Bumpa]

Saw my brother-in-law (the previous owner of TPC) over Christmas and he had found the wallet supplied with the car when new, and inside was the original handbook and the full service records, all stamped up right until 1992 when it was taken off the road. So I now know that the first owner was Mr D Bendall of Hendon and he bought the car from T H Russell Ltd of Midhurst in Sussex. My brother-in-law bought the car at three years old from Wilmotts Garage of Bognor Regis.

Also with the papers were several Kwik-Fit receipts for tyres and an exhaust. I wonder if the guarantees are any good?

It's nice to have the history.

[GlenM]

T. H. Russells was just a few miles from where I was brought up, and where I live again now. I remember it well, it had quite large premises that went round the corner of two roads in the centre of Midhurst. They must have ceased trading in the early 1980s. My first car was a 1300 Dolomite that was supplied by them.

[Bumpa]

Spent some time in the garage today with the weather being milder. I'm getting ready to lift out the engine and gearbox. I have an O/D gearbox to replace the current non-O/D unit and before taking the old one out, I wanted to see if the prop shaft will compress enough to allow fitting to the O/D box. Some correspondents on this board said it MIGHT fit.

My measurements suggest that the drive flange on the O/D box is about one inch further back than the flange on the non-O/D box. I can't compress the shaft any further than to give about a half inch gap, so I guess it ain't going to work. What do the experts reckon?

Does anyone know where a shaft for a 1977 1850 with O/D could be bought?