The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi
I am in the process of rebuilding my front parcel shelf and have made some drawings with the measurements.
Hope this is of use to other members who might be attempting this job.

Darrell

Can you make one for me?
Great drawings very useful, thanks for posting.

Great stuff, well done for going to the trouble of posting. Hopefully, your drawings will prove useful to many folks.

Hi

Thought I would let you see the finished result in the car.
It is a vast improvement on the original that was looking very tired.

Lovely Job!

Great job

That is a good job Darrell.
I have had a go at this using correx board, which has turned out okay but
what I have struggled with is recovering the rail and have yet to find a solution.

Delft blue is a smart colour.

Is that a 13” steering wheel?
I am going to try one but am fitting a 3.25 turns rack and 185 section tyres.....


Ian

new to this wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 4:38 pm Nice job,is that mill board ? did you have any touble bending it

Dave

Hi
No it is just hardboard, I covered it with Vinyl and re-enforced the corners where it was bent,
Which seems to work
To bend it backwards I made a score with a Stanley Knife at the front and bent over a straight edge,
to bend it forwards, again I scored the front with a Stanley blade but turned the blade sideways and did it again to make a wider score, then again placed over a straight edge and bend,
Once you get the bend going I then covered it with vinyl, then when fully stuck heat up and continue the bend, I then re-enforced the bend with right angle posts
The lower bends which are not right angles that meet the base I ran a bead of glue to strengthen them

sprint95m wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 10:52 pm That is a good job Darrell.
I have had a go at this using correx board, which has turned out okay but
what I have struggled with is recovering the rail and have yet to find a solution.

Delft blue is a smart colour.

Is that a 13” steering wheel?
I am going to try one but am fitting a 3.25 turns rack and 185 section tyres.....


Ian

Hi
The rail wasn’t easy, I cut the Vinyl out, it’s a strip about 4 1/2” wide, I then put masking tape on the area that contacts the sponge, and apply the spray glue to the lower edge and lower part of vinyl, remove half of the masking tape from that side,
Fit the lower edge, I found it best to wrap round the sponge and attach it to the lower edge like that,
Once it has grabbed apply spay glue to the top edge and vinyl, remove remaining masking tape and attach to top edge, apply some heat to the bends,
Hope this helps,
This is the First time I have done it so I am not an expert,

And yes it is a 13” Mountey Steering Wheel which i modified in order to fit the Dolomite Pad.
I bought it back in the early 80s, it used to be on a Hillman Imp, then A Vauxhall Magnum, Those cars long since gone, but I kept the wheel,

I might now be able to sort out a front parcel shelf for my 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 "HL Special" with Triumph Dolomite HL adjustable steering column and sculptured dashboard.

At the moment, I have the original Triumph Toledo parcel shelf and a couple of badly distorted Triumph Dolomite 1500 HL parcel shelves, so it's probably a case of combining the best of what I have to make one decent one.

Hi all.

My first post (from Australia) and it's ref. the parcel shelf and my particular solution.

I had the same as everyone problem; the parcel shelf had been butchered by previous owners removing and shoving back in, plus severe folding and warping from moisture absorbtion over the years. Surprised and frustrated that such a commonly needed and obviously fragile item does not have a readily available remanufactured replacement, I did the following:

1) Removed all the split rivets and traced and cut a new base in 2mm MDF (original was masonite, which would have done as well, but MDF was cheaper on the day), including rivetand bolt location holes. The new base was covered in a thin black vinyl similar to the rear parcel shelf material

2) Used a technique of a Ewe-Tube vintage radio restorer who, when faced with warped or damaged rear panels (usually made of masonite or the same lousy carboardy stuff the parcel shelf is made of) would soak the item in a water/PVC glue mix for a few hours, then press the item between two layers of clingwrap, clamped tightly between two boards and let it sit for a few days to a week. With the cardboard part of the tray now dead flat and rigid, it was easy enough to fold along the original seams. Sprayed the whole with a semigloss black.

3) Soaked a large number of split rivets in a mild acidic solution to etch the stainless steel and then after washing, dipped them in bueing mix, to turn them black

4) re-assembled rail, new vinyl covered base and rejuvenated shaped cardboard original backing.

The radio cutout was a problem as sometime in the past it had been cut overly large. An aftermarket under dash single DIN radio holder in black plastic flipped upside down and trimmed to fit beneath the heater vent sits almost perfecttly in the hole and was bolted to the parcel shelf using existing support bar bolt holes.

Maybe this will help someone

Are there any tips for removing the split rivets before I try the flattening trick on the cardboard?

I'm trying to avoid gouging the original cardboard or myself...

I know I'm now getting ahead of myself but I'm guessing that the rivets aren't re-usable, so are they still available and are there any tools to make fitting them easier than it looks?

Well I'm past the point of no return now!



Next job is finding sources of the appropriate materials... can anyone point me in the right direction please?

IIRC places like matrim and woolies do millboard if that's right/suitable?