The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hello All

I'll be picking up my Sprint in a week or so and I thought I would be handy to draw up a list of the spares that I should carry with the car wherever I go. I'm not suggesting that I would be able to make all of the repairs myself at the roadside, but I don't want to get stuck for the lack of a £2.00 part.

The car is a 1974 Sprint with Lumentronic electric ignition fitted.

What sort of spare parts would you reccomend as essential for being in the boot of the car at all times?

Thanks

Chris

Spare points & condensor, coil, fan belt, plugs......

Speaking as someone who has had an electronic ignition failure before carrying a set of points and a condensor is always a handy spare. Other useful spares:

Fan Belt
Set of spanners (imperial AF obviously)
Pipe Clips
Wire
Spare fuses
Screwdrivers
Length of hose e.g. fuel hose
Spare oil
Spare Antifreeze
Foor pump and inflatable bed adapter (great for blowing muck out of fuel lines)
Fuel additive if your car needs it.

Besides those I can't think you really need anything else. Spark plugs rarely go wrong so can't see the point in those. There's no real point in carrying masses of spares or tools just enough to help you get by in the event you have a problem. Always a plan to have Breakdown cover in any case, my free cover with my insurance proved very useful once.

Thanks Guys

What about hoses? I've got a whole set of good used ones. Should I bring the lot? Or are there any specific ones that are a priority?

Thanks

Chris

You want an old but known good set of plugs, points, cap, arm, condenser, leads plus a new fanbelt and a yellow plastic card or equivalent thereof. The very nice men will carry fit all hoses. IMO.

Tin

I carry a few basics plus tools and trolley jack and fluids, and have very little room left in my boot! Plus, my fan belt went a week or two ago and I thought, ooh clever me, got a spare in the boot, but didn't have anything to tension it with so had to call breakdown recovery anyway! Just not possible to carry everything. I reckon a relaxed attitude is the best thing, and a warning triangle as I don't have hazard lights....

It is a question of what you can carry. I have a roll of spanners, an adjustable wrench(just for holding things), and screwdrivers (flat and crosshead) which will be enough tools for anything I could hope to fix by the roadside.

A wire coathanger. Very very useful if one of your exhaust hanger rubbers breaks. A spare fanbelt fits nicely into one of the cutouts in the vertical inner face of the bootlid - you'll always have it with you and it wont be in the way. When you change your HT leads, keep the longest one in your glovebox if it was working when you took it off. A hi-vis vest and a warning triangle. A torch or home-made worklight that plugs into the cigar lighter. WD40. Some money, even if its just a few quid to buy some sweeties while you wait for the tow-truck. An old sweatshirt and maybe a lightweight rain mac, pop them in a carrier bag and leave them in the boot with the spare wheel. Some rags. A fuel can.

..... and make sure the spare fan belt you are carrying is a used one, never a new one. A used one will be a little stretched and easier to slip over the pulleys without needing tools.

...a pair of old socks with the toes cut, these go nicely over your sleeves when groping about under the bonnet.

a couple of lengths, maybe 1ft, of un-terminated 2.5mm mm cable, a stanley knife, some zip ties, and latex gloves. dont laugh, this all helps stop you getting gunge on your steering wheel and interior.

Or you could tow a smart car, or put a monkey bike in the boot...

Thanks guys for all your suggestions. I particularly like the idea of the sox for protecting sleeves, the latex goves the high-vis vest and rain mac. Good ideas all of them. I will add those to the tools and parts that fit in a small army bag I have.

Just to clarify one point though: If I have Lumnetronic Ignition and this goes wrong while Im on my travels, which ignition parts do I need with me to revert back to standard ignition to get me going again? Is it just the points and condenser?

Also, If one of my giant 8mm Magnacore HT cables fail, can I use a cable of lesser diameter for a short period to get me going again, or do I need a spare 8mm cable?

Thanks

Chris

Its rare for a good qualityelectronic ignition to go wrong,If I was taking the car abroad I would take my spare standard distributor, points all ready gapped and ready to go,just a case of looking at position of rotar,undo clamp, fit and conect the leads,

Multimeter

I'm gonna fly in the face of all this and say that since I bought LCG off Mark it has done about 500 trouble-free miles which included the trip to Rimmer Bros. Most of the niggles have been sorted out.