Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

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xvivalve
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#106 Post by xvivalve »

Are you anticipating any conflict between the heat from the exhaust and the cooling system, or are you planning an alternative location for the radiator?
Boost All The Dollys
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#107 Post by Boost All The Dollys »

jackharper wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 8:34 am Looks great! Is the sump baffled at all? Did you have to move the oil pickup?
Firstly, kind of. I put a plate in and just secured it with one or two welds so it’s not like a precise slow baffle but should be enough, the oil level is quite high so I don’t envision having many issues but if I do I can pull it off and add more weld.

Yes and no, I had test fitted the exhausts before I did the sump and the passenger side exhaust was hitting the pick up point so I had bent it to try and make it fit but couldn’t so bent it back to as close as original as possible so it’s pretty close but might not be exactly.
xvivalve wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 11:48 am Are you anticipating any conflict between the heat from the exhaust and the cooling system, or are you planning an alternative location for the radiator?
I’m running a front mount radiator so I don’t have to do much engineering or rear rad set up, I’m not a fan of them but I understand their necessity. I’m expecting a small amount of heat buildup but mainly because I don’t want to run any bonnet vents. I was also going to fit a skid plate as a way if both protecting the sump and to strengthen the subframe, but this limits the amount of air I can evacuate from the engine bay as this is where most of the air goes from the stock triumph. If I can get away with it, I might try and run some ducting out through the wheel wells via the holes in the subframe near the steering rack.

If not, I was considering adding a bonnet vent as a last resort , either a small one similar to the Porsche 911 GT3 where it’s about 2-3 inches wide right at the nose of the car so it doesn’t mess with the look of the car too much or something bigger similar to the triangle bonnet vents on UR Quattros and Mantas but running down one side of the bonnet and balancing the look out with a NACA-esque duct to feed the engine.
So many ideas... So little budget... So little time.
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#108 Post by Boost All The Dollys »

September Update.

Hey all who are following this, hope you’ve had a good summer and have been enjoying the weather (sarcasm, it’s currently raining cats and dogs)

I’ve been spending a lot of time working on the car the last month or two so I’ve got a lot of progress to share.

First big point is I’ve finally mounted the radiator! It’s taken me a while to do just because of issues with the engines position close to the anti roll bar, namely that the front of the engine and the roll bar want to occupy the same space. To remedy this, I’ve moved over to an MX5 anti roll bar so I can mount it further forward and away from the engine.

Since then, I’ve got the radiator and heater core plumbed up and waiting for coolant.

I’ve also mounted the centre section of my exhaust. I’m running 2 cherry bomb style silencers, an X pipe and side exit exhaust which exit just before the rear suspension mount. I didn’t have the space to go over the axle like I had planned so this will have to do. They’re cut where the sill seam is so you can’t see them when you’re stood next to the car so I think they work perfectly.

I’ve also been messing around with the speedometer and made an electrical conversion so it can take the VR sensor from the gearbox and calculate speed and display it on the original Smiths dial. The odometer needs some more work to it but that’s not as critical just yet.

All in all, only a handful of small jobs are keeping it from being driven, if not to an MOT just yet.
So many ideas... So little budget... So little time.
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#109 Post by jackharper »

Sounds good progress.
I’ve also been messing around with the speedometer and made an electrical conversion so it can take the VR sensor from the gearbox and calculate speed and display it on the original Smiths dial. The odometer needs some more work to it but that’s not as critical just yet.
How are you doing this? with another microcontroller hooked up to a motor or something? btw, are you still using a speeduino for management?
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#110 Post by SprintV8 »

jackharper wrote: Fri Sep 29, 2023 9:39 pm Sounds good progress.
I’ve also been messing around with the speedometer and made an electrical conversion so it can take the VR sensor from the gearbox and calculate speed and display it on the original Smiths dial. The odometer needs some more work to it but that’s not as critical just yet.
How are you doing this? with another microcontroller hooked up to a motor or something? btw, are you still using a speeduino for management?
I’m using a SpeedHut Speed Box.
Which basically is an electronic box that converts a GPS signal to a motor inside the Speedbox to a cable which then connects to the Original Speedo.
There’s no speed sensor on the six speed RX8 box as they use the ABS sensor for speed info.
Keeping one of the original features. LOL.

Not cheap new but managed to find a new one on an unfinished project.
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1980 Dolomite Sprint with a touch of BLTS
Balanced Lightened and Tweaked 13B Rotary and SuperCharged.
Back in my possession 22 September 2019.
Rebuilding the Sprint time taken so far, 111Hrs@15/12/2020
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Boost All The Dollys
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#111 Post by Boost All The Dollys »

jackharper wrote: Fri Sep 29, 2023 9:39 pm Sounds good progress.
I’ve also been messing around with the speedometer and made an electrical conversion so it can take the VR sensor from the gearbox and calculate speed and display it on the original Smiths dial. The odometer needs some more work to it but that’s not as critical just yet.
How are you doing this? with another microcontroller hooked up to a motor or something? btw, are you still using a speeduino for management?
I used another arduino and built an enclosure and gearbox onto the back of the speedo unit to use a servo to move the speedometer needle. A mildly better idea would be to use a regular motor and drive the speedometer and odometer (basically replacing the speedo cable) but I was thick and didn’t do that.

And yes, still using the speeduino for engine management
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#112 Post by Boost All The Dollys »

Christmas/End of Year update.

Well, it feels like forever since I posted the last update but I’m getting closer and closer.

Firstly, the car is now 95% mechanical done. Everything that the car needs to move and stop has been done, re-done, painted and installed. The only thing that’s left to work out is the handbrake cable but I have a plan for that. The issue I have is that the Fiesta calipers I’m using at the back don’t connect easily to the Dolomite cables and I can’t buy a set of Fiesta cables (I’ve no idea why). I think I can make the dolomite cables work with some tweaking but it’s not a super high priority for now.

What I’ve been mainly working on is rust repair. Jesus Christ, the rust. I’m going to have PTSD from the amount of rust repair I’ve had to do. I knew there was some rust that needed repairing but every time I start the repair, I end up finding bad repair after bad repair, which leads me to cutting out more than I envisioned and taking far longer than I anticipated. So far, I’ve repaired the Drivers Side “A” Pillar and the front subframe mount, both were quite badly rotten.

What I’ve been doing for the past week is the passenger side sill. At one point, I jacked up the car using the rear jacking point and as I lowered it down, I could hear the sound of rusty metal breaking, so my dad repaired as best he could (this was around 9 years ago).

After finishing off the mechanical bits and pieces, I go through and start sorting out some of the more serious rust spots out and I have a look at that jacking point and after several years of being sat on axle stands, the rear half of the sill had started to fold in on itself. So I start cutting and find some terrible repairs that has left the sill reinforcer panel basically not attached at the bottom for the whole length of the sill :help: . So I’ve had to cut out the entire outer sill panel (which was also very rotten along the bottom) and almost all of the lower inner sill (both rotten and badly repaired) and about an inch off the whole length of the sill reinforcer. I’ve made good progress so far on the repair; repaired most of the lower inner sill, significantly strengthened the rear jacking point with some 2mm plate, and made a repair panel for the reinforcer. This has been at least 40 hours so far and it’ll probably take another 40 to finish.

Just my luck :roll:

My new goal is to get it done and ready for February, which felt like a long way away when I set it last month but it’s only 5 weeks away. I’d best get a move on then

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all
Attachments
How badly the sill had been repaired. They just put 2mm plate across from inner to outer sill
How badly the sill had been repaired. They just put 2mm plate across from inner to outer sill
IMG_7123.jpeg (161.38 KiB) Viewed 88927 times
How much I had to cut out
How much I had to cut out
IMG_7121.jpeg (117.11 KiB) Viewed 88927 times
So many ideas... So little budget... So little time.
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#113 Post by new to this »

Ive been setting targets on mine as well :) :) inner rear arches so i can then do the outer arch

When i did my rear brakes, i used the same hand brake cable as the calipers, then mounted the cable to the hand brake leaver

Dave
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#114 Post by Boost All The Dollys »

new to this wrote: Sat Dec 23, 2023 1:50 pm Ive been setting targets on mine as well :) :) inner rear arches so i can then do the outer arch

When i did my rear brakes, i used the same hand brake cable as the calipers, then mounted the cable to the hand brake leaver

Dave
That’s what I’ve done with the sill, basically gut everything but leave in a reference point or two and build out from there. Once you get enough done, I just removed the reference point that was rotten


I would do that but for some reason Ford or any other parts garage don’t sell the handbrake cable for the car I got the calipers off. The rear calipers are 2018+ Fiesta ST, I think the only one with rear disc brakesEither it’s not been released yet or it will never exist, I’m unsure. Also, have a strange two part cable from what I can tell. One cable that runs from the handbrake lever to **almost** the caliper that’s common across several models, and then there’s a short connector cable. I’ve managed to get the connector cable for the lower spec Fiesta that does kind of work but the spacing between the end of the wire and the bit that pushes against the caliper is too big. And I can’t connect the Dolomite cable to the Fiesta one as I’d need to make a mount and guide for it to stop it from flexing instead of pulling taut.

But I’ll work it out…eventually
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#115 Post by new to this »

Boost All The Dollys wrote: Sun Dec 24, 2023 10:12 am
new to this wrote: Sat Dec 23, 2023 1:50 pm Ive been setting targets on mine as well :) :) inner rear arches so i can then do the outer arch

When i did my rear brakes, i used the same hand brake cable as the calipers, then mounted the cable to the hand brake leaver

Dave
That’s what I’ve done with the sill, basically gut everything but leave in a reference point or two and build out from there. Once you get enough done, I just removed the reference point that was rotten


I would do that but for some reason Ford or any other parts garage don’t sell the handbrake cable for the car I got the calipers off. The rear calipers are 2018+ Fiesta ST, I think the only one with rear disc brakesEither it’s not been released yet or it will never exist, I’m unsure. Also, have a strange two part cable from what I can tell. One cable that runs from the handbrake lever to **almost** the caliper that’s common across several models, and then there’s a short connector cable. I’ve managed to get the connector cable for the lower spec Fiesta that does kind of work but the spacing between the end of the wire and the bit that pushes against the caliper is too big. And I can’t connect the Dolomite cable to the Fiesta one as I’d need to make a mount and guide for it to stop it from flexing instead of pulling taut.

But I’ll work it out…eventually
If you look for Focus ST hand brake cable it will be easier to find, there the same
Dave
ClassicFan

Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#116 Post by ClassicFan »

Boost All The Dollys wrote:I’ve made good progress so far on the repair; repaired most of the lower inner sill, significantly strengthened the rear jacking point with some 2mm plate, and made a repair panel for the reinforcer. This has been at least 40 hours so far and it’ll probably take another 40 to finish.
Chin up, just remember your looking at a saving something around £5,000 in labour costs by doing the welding work yourself...
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#117 Post by Boost All The Dollys »

Spring update… more rust repair and deadlines

So, February has came and went and I have still not finished this damned car. This was caused by a number of issues. Firstly the shear amount of rust I discovered over the Christmas holidays. secondly some slight technical issues with the ECU and the tuning software. Thirdly a slight calendar conflict with another project with higher priority. And finally, getting ill at the worst possible time.

So back to the beginning:

Over the Christmas period, I started tending to the various rust points on some of the more structurally significant parts of the car, starting with the passenger side sill. After cutting the bottom few inches of the whole sill off (see previous pictures), I managed to make and install the lower portions of the inner sill panel, sill reinforcer, outer sill panel, and jacking point reinforcements before I shoved as much rust protection product into the sill as possible. This included;
• Most of a tin of diluted Hammerite paint
• Waxoyl box section/sill protection
• Seam sealer on basically everything
• Stone chip paint
• Waxoyl underseal

The diluted Hammerite was brilliant but amazing messy. I thinned it out loads so that it would seap inbetween the spot welds on the seam, forgetting that means it would flow OUT of the seam and on to the floor… que panic and lots of rags. I still have to finish off the passenger side sill as I have to repair a section of the rear wheel arch that caps the sill off. As of today, I’ve made the patch panel, but not welded it in place. This repair did end up taking around 80 hours to do so far, and that doesn’t include any of the fillers, sanding, and finishing work. It’s no where near perfect at the moment, and I’d probably end up putting 10kg of fillers getting it to the proper shape, but for now, it’s good enough. Next time, I’m going to buy Club outer sill panels.

While sorting out the passenger side sill, I ended up looking at the drivers side sill in the hope that I didn’t need to do anything as it didn’t look too bad.

Then, I started digging… and digging… and digging. In total, basically half of the sill needed replacing as the lip above the seam had just gone and you could move the inner reinforcement panel (what was left of it) with your finger. When I cut the outer sill off, the bottom 2 inches of the reinforcement panel was gone. And not that it was weak or crumbly, I mean it wasn’t there at all. I also ended up looking at the join between the sill and the drivers side floor, which was also very rotten. And as the drivers floor had previously been patched to hell, I ended up making a new drivers side floor along with the front 3 feet of sill panels. I also discovered that the front cap for both of the sills were also entirely missing! They were fun to fabricate up.

How much material I had to remove from the drivers side
Image

In total, I’ve added around 6-8 square feet of new metal to the car!!

And I’ve also finally finished off the ‘A’ pillar repairs on both sides. I did have to cut off a bit of the front wings to get to the worst parts, but at least now I don’t have to worry about the structural rigidity of the car too much, I should probably fit a roll cage or something at some point, just in case.

Drivers side A pillar repair:
Image

As for my ECU woes, since I had the engine running, I haven’t really done much to the engine apart from take it out and put it back in. The only thing I changed at all was the intake manifold, which I changed the design to use a fully 3D printed manifold instead of a half printed/half Jag manifold. And unfortunately, the laptop I was using to tune the car stopped working so changed laptops and had to fiddle around getting it to connect to the ECU.

And somewhere in the drama of changing laptops, the car wouldn’t run, and I’m trying to get it to run, I blew up the intake manifold 4 times. So each time, I would have to remove it, disassemble it, re-bond it back together, then re-fit it to the car, which made trying to diagnose the issue very time consuming. In all, it took me two weeks to work out it was an incorrect crank offset setting combined with an incorrect injector setting. With those remedied, she runs! just not brilliantly yet, but I haven’t had time to get the tune a good going over as I’ve been busy with the rust repairs.

What I’m up to currently is body work and odd jobs. Now the A pillars are repaired, I’ve filler and sanded them to be pretty well and just about ready for paint. The current aim is to eave the back half of the car the red it currently is and paint forward of the A pillars in primer so I can MOT it and drive it until I nail down a colour I’m happy with. I also need to repair the lower seam between the passenger front wing and the front valance as it’s completely disintegrated. I’ll probably just fibreglass fill it for now, but I’ll probably replace the wings and valence with FRP or something similar in the future.

If you read all of this, thank you. It’s been a long few months but the end is in sight. Well, the first end is anyway. I would post more pictures of what I’ve done but these would just be too many for this post.

Hopefully I’ll get around to meeting some of you at a Dolomite day or a car show soon.
So many ideas... So little budget... So little time.
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#118 Post by Boost All The Dollys »

April update.

Well, not been very long since the last update but things are progressing.

Got 90% of the welding done, just a small patch in the passenger side rear whee arch and front floor and that’ll be all the welding done. With those 2 weld patches being the last mot-stopping jobs, I’ve been doing all the small jobs that take up the most time so that when the welding done, the cars ready for it’s MOT.

So I’ve mostly finished the front end sanding and painting for now so I’ve reassembled the front end! It now has headlights, bumper, grills, and splitter and it looks a lot better now.
Image
I’m actually liking the primer grey, or at least it’s grown on me

I’ve also fitted most of the interior. The black carpet set I bought 9+ years ago mostly went back just fine but I did have to make some alterations to the gearbox cover section as the gearbox tunnel has been drastically changed to clear the gearbox. I decided to use as much of the original as possible and then fibreglass what needed added. I made a quick wireframe out of some 4mm rod with some flat bar where it would bolt down so I could just add the fibreglass sheets over the top. It came out quite well but did end up getting twisted when the epxoy set so it’s a slight struggle to get it in and out but nothing horrendous.

Image
The wireframe for the alterations to the gearbox tunnel.

I’ve had to use the original dolomite seats for now as the seats I had made were too tall so need to make some adjustments to the frame to make them work.basically my head was in the headliner or I’d have to lean so far back I couldn’t reach the gearstick.

But for now, it’s getting close, scarily close. Hopefully I get the welding done in a week or two and I can MOT it soon. first trip will definitely be to a dyno, the tune I’ve made is ok for starting and idling but is seriously rich at high rpm.
So many ideas... So little budget... So little time.
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#119 Post by Boost All The Dollys »

May Update

Not as big of an update this time, but a significant amount of work has been done.

I mot the car back together, refitted the interior, and even managed to get the car out of the garage for an MOT!!

But alas, it was not to be. In my rush to get it MOTed, I had assumed that the throttle cable mount I had 3D printed in ABS would withstand the drive but as I approached the garage, I was getting less and less throttle travel, and as I rounded the corner to the garage, I had exactly no throttle at all. This was half a saving grace as the handbrake had also given up working.

I limped it home with the help of my family and fixed these issues and rebooked the MOT for later in the week, only to find that the rear trailing arm bushes were so badly perished that the axle was moving under load and the wheels would rub on the rear of the wheel arch when reversing and the front of the diff was hitting the tunnel when accelerating.

So now I’m armed with some new trailing arm polybushes, hopefully I can get them fitted, the handbrake fixed, and the engine tuned well enough that I can MOT it soon.

All I can say is that short drive to the garage has left me wanting more. It was a right laugh to drive on the soft suspension. Accelerating pitched the front up hard and the cornering felt like I was driving a supertanker, and I’d happily do it again.
So many ideas... So little budget... So little time.
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Re: Jag V6 swapped Dolomite

#120 Post by Boost All The Dollys »

June update

It’s big news, it finally passed its MOT!!

It has taken me just under a month to get it to pass an MOT but it finally did it. It has been an absolute mission to get it to pass the emissions test, it kept running too rich or too lean and being way over the emissions limits for Hydrocarbons but I got there in the end. Now the real annoying work begins, finding all the small niggles and kinks that only come out when driving it around. Such as some pretty bad propshaft vibrations, small oil and coolant leaks, tyre rubbing, and heat management.

The vibrations I can get to clear up but (so far) I haven’t been able to get the axle centralised and not vibrating. The leaks I can fix fairly easily, I know where they are and they just need the jubilee clips tightened. The tyre rub can be sorted with some smaller diameter tyres. I’m not willing to get narrower tyres as I feel that they would be too narrow for the power. they’re already quite small at 195/60R15 but I think some 195/50R15 would be enough. the front wheels are just catching on the arch liner mount flange so the change to 50 profile tyres will give me about half an inch of clearance.

As for heat management, I’m not so sure how I want to go about this. As I’m wanting to keep the outside looking fairly stock so I don’t want to put a massive vent in the bonnet or anything like that but the heat under the bonnet is quite ridiculous. To the point that after driving it around for a few minutes, it’s too hot to even touch the bonnet at the front. I might add a cover plate to help guide the air down and out of the engine bay. I would add some sort of duct to the back of the radiator but there is so little space, it wouldn’t be easy or worth it. I might put some vents into the inner wings to give the air somewhere to go

Anyway, here’s a picture of the car on the night before it’s MOT:
Image

The primer grey is only temporary until I find what colour I want to repaint it to. I’m currently torn between Signal Red, the original Carmine red, or that lovely new Mazda Soul Red.
So many ideas... So little budget... So little time.
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