The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I am not sure if I am posting this in an appropriate section but recently joined the forum following the purchase of a 1500 FWD (not a Toledo - see below) to take part in the "Banger Challenge" which is run in aid of the Disasters Emergency Committee for Ukraine Relief Work.
A school friend and I are about to take part in this which involves buying a pre-1980 car and driving 1,000 miles in 4 days (avoiding motorways) in aid of Ukraine Relief Work before selling the car again. (As an additional competition, entry requires making a contribution to a second charity pot and the team spending least gets to contribute this to the charity of their choice).
Should you be interested in keeping up with this, there are short video diaries and (once we've mastered the technology) we plan to submit some too. You can see these if you go to the GoFundMe webpage and search for 'Banger Challenge' (and then scroll down to ‘Updates’)
The Toledo is a1972 30,000 miler in very good condition. We’ve just fitted a set of radials (sorry if this offends purists but it was the only option for us) and the only thing we’ve found wrong with it is that the fuel gauge doesn’t work (and the carpets are pretty poor).
We start on Monday from Harrogate, driving up the A6055 to Cotherstone (coffee) and then by Alston and Brampton to Loch Ken in Dumfriesshire. Tuesday takes us up to Strathpeffer, probably by the A702 and A9.
Wednesday the plan is for coffee in Lossiemouth and lunch in Peterhead before heading down to near Perth via Braemar (which could be a long day).
Head home on Thursday by way of Gretna Green.
Should anyone live on the route it would be great to see you and should anyone be kind enough to consider donating, do make mention of the TDC, and raise the profile of the club too.
I do hope this is in the spirit of the club .... and if anyone is interested in buying a 31,000 mile 1500 FWD (former Toledo - see below ) in a week or so do let me know!!
Gordon.

Looks more like a 1500 FWD to me…

How embarrassing! I haven't actually seen the car yet, it's at my mate's, but he was adamant that he bought a Toledo. However it is a 1500, so you must be correct....and I've been telling everyone that it's a Toledo. Funnily enough, I've just spoken to my mate who says that it was sold to him as a Toledo and he was convinced it has a Toledo badge on it - until he checked!!!!

Thanks very much for that; the local paper is coming to see us off tomorrow so at least I can get them to get it right!!

Sorry if this is not "your bag". Hope I haven't offended anyone by posting.

Should anyone be interested in the video posts (assuming we manage to upload any) the YouTube address is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNhFo9 ... RvXRlJuFvA

Wingman wrote: ↑Sun May 01, 2022 11:07 am How embarrassing! I haven't actually seen the car yet, it's at my mate's, but he was adamant that he bought a Toledo. However it is a 1500, so you must be correct....and I've been telling everyone that it's a Toledo. Funnily enough, I've just spoken to my mate who says that it was sold to him as a Toledo and he was convinced it has a Toledo badge on it - until he checked!!!!

Thanks very much for that; the local paper is coming to see us off tomorrow so at least I can get them to get it right!!

An easy mistake for the less familiar; there are plenty of similarities, though many differences too.

I'll probably upset some by suggesting you have a better car than you thought, and I think a rarer one too...once you've done a 1000 miles in it, you may want to keep it!!

Don't worry about the lack of response, most contributors on here are hard to offend (those that were left years ago!) but traffic has slowed (at time of writing your post had only been viewed 50 times) since the advent of facebook; the club has an official group on there too so you might want to post on that too. I would post you a link, but I closed my account last August, so can't.

Good luck with your journey and enjoy.

Thanks very much for that; appreciated. So far, my friend's only comment has been on the lack of power steering and the need to straighten up after a bend rather than letting the car do it itself.

Topic now shared on social media.

Thanks for sharing!

As you are the people who may be most interested in our technical progress, I thought I’d give an update.

The car has run really well and we are fairly used to it now - still get a momentary burst of adrenaline when hitting the brakes and still trying to change into fifth gear.

The not so good bits are the loss of the quarter light mirror (there are no wing mirrors) and last night the fan belt went. Unfortunately, we had not been able to get a spare before we left. There was some squealing before this, so now I’m thinking the water pump may have failed. It was dark last night so need to check it out this morning. Unsure how easy it will be to get spares. We are currently at Strathpeffer near Inverness.

I’ll let you know how we get on.

Squealing could just have been the belt disintegrating and being a little 'longer' for the last few minutes of its life. It's an easy job to replace and a common size (Halfords had something to fit when I was in a bind once).

Steve

I was a bit horrified to start with as I thought you were going banger racing with it.

As it is front wheel drive, does it have the doughnut drive couplings? they could be the weak point in the long drive.
Hope all goes well.

Malc

Thanks very much for comments, guys. ‘GeekSteve’ you are absolutely correct - water pump is fine.

My mate’s son located the last fan belt in Inverness which we got delivered by taxi! Halfords were pretty disappointing for stock.

Anyway, on the road again and running sweetly. Couldn’t release nut on top bracket but managed to get enough movement to get belt on between us.

Magenta Auto Sprint wrote: ↑Wed May 04, 2022 11:38 am I was a bit horrified to start with as I thought you were going banger racing with it.

As it is front wheel drive, does it have the doughnut drive couplings? they could be the weak point in the long drive.
Hope all goes well.

Malc

where does this myth about the donuts being a weak point stem from, is it from the same person who says that 1850s eat head gaskets or that 1500 Dolomites break con rods?

Car ran so well today after belt change. We are staying the night between Perth and Dundee and the clientele of the bar were most generous in their contributions to the charity.

Tomorrow is our last day. We may be struggling to achieve our target of 1,000 miles as we had to shortcut today’s planned route due to lack of time after the belt change.

Thank you very much for your interest. It is very much appreciated.

Gordon.

Completed our challenge today. The car ran very well, no real issues except the exhaust is blowing slightly at the flange (manifold to pipe).

Thanks for your comments.

We now have to sell the car as part of the Challenge and there is talk of a promoted auction to do just that. Please let me know if anyone is interested in receiving details of this.

I had huge respect for the Sprints back in the day. I had/have a tuned Cooper ‘S’ and Sprints were a real problem! My Mini has been off the road for a long time (I’ve owned it for 49 years) however it should be completed this year, hopefully.

I’ll look out for the TDC at any shows I get to.

Kind regards, Gordon.

TrustNo1 wrote: ↑Wed May 04, 2022 9:21 pm

Magenta Auto Sprint wrote: ↑Wed May 04, 2022 11:38 am I was a bit horrified to start with as I thought you were going banger racing with it.

As it is front wheel drive, does it have the doughnut drive couplings? they could be the weak point in the long drive.
Hope all goes well.

Malc

where does this myth about the donuts being a weak point stem from, is it from the same person who says that 1850s eat head gaskets or that 1500 Dolomites break con rods?

I have heard it before but also I had them on my Hillman Imp, sometimes the bolts would snap and other times the doughnut itself, maybe the Triumph FWD ones are a better design.

Malc