Project Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - Dolomite in "most reliable" shocker - 08/02/24

[captain_70s]

Went down to the Post Office, guy couldn't work out what to do. Will try again when the full timers are in tomorrow...

[plasticvandan]

I've heard rumors that it can be done online when taxing...

[Skizzer]

I paid online to tax my Vauxhall as usual, figuring I’d claim it back later - but before I did, DVLA sent me a cheque for all the money back and a letter saying they’d changed the tax class for me. Obviously fronting up the cash like this isn’t the ideal solution, mind, but I was in a hurry.

 

I know it’s cool to moan about the DVLA but they’re actually pretty good these days in my experience (and I do have a fair amount of experience with them, see signature for details).

[Eddie Honda]

I'll mibbie try when I get home then...

 

Regal is insured. Not taxed since 1992. V5C has tax class TRICYCLE.

 

Place bets now.

[captain_70s]

Repair? What repair?

 

 

It must have taken a millions years to craft those arches out of filler quite so nicely. I can't be fucked with that shit so my filler is an ugly lump of shite.

 

I also found that the rattle can that came in the boot is indeed the same shade as the car.

 

 

The shade in question is a commercial Mercedes colour, confirming my suspicions that is wasn't sprayed in the original colour and is a touch lighter.

 

 

So Japanese design, constructed in Britain, with Russian repair panels and painted in a German colour...

[richardthestag]

liking the feel good thread this has evolved into

 

top work

[oldcars]

Fair play, you have cracked on with this. Glad to see it will soon be back on the road.

[captain_70s]

Acclaim is booked into FOAD's MOT centre of choice for the last spot on Friday.

 

In other news I decided to car tinker after work today. Removing the brake calipers from my fucked Civic which I desperately need? No, re-fitting the Doloshite's bumper of course!

 

I did as Vulg suggested and spaced the rear bumper out from the bodywork with washers to compensate for the dent. The car now looks far less shit from behind.

 

 

I took it for a wee spin to the recycling centre to drop off some bottles and when I got back the oil light was flickering at idle. Given I've not changed the oil since 2015 I'm going to assume it is no longer functioning as oil correctly and give the car a service...

 

I did stumble upon a very shite VW Camper though. The 1970s never ends in Glasgow...

 

[oldcars]

Your flying through the work. Let me know your address i will dump the Reliant there with a list for you

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I'm here for the welding pics.

[captain_70s]

You'll be struggling as I never took my camera on Friday, FOAD only did long distance shots and I've now undersealed the thing...

 

Picture, if you will, various bits of Triumph Acclaim undercarriage with squares of Lada floorpan welded on to several places with a mixture of half decent welds and pigeon shit depending on how hard it was to clean up the steel...

[Eddie Honda]

for the last spot on Friday.

Is that the "here's your ticket, I'm aff tae the pub" slot?

[Datsuncog]

Snap! My preferred MOT slot is 7:50pm on a Friday too.

 

At least that way I know any fail points are genuinely worth the tester's time to type in, rather than some of my highly suspect 'fails' that might be attributed to a quota system, if one were to think cynically...

 

(Everyone and their dog knows NI's government-run testing centres operate a failure quota, including the folk that work there. The quotas are generally filled well before the end of the day.)

 

Best of luck for the test! This is becoming an epic thread.

[vulgalour]

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Snap! My preferred MOT slot is 7:50pm on a Friday too.....

...and preferably in late autumn/winter.

[captain_70s]

OIl/filter changed, oil light still flickering when it gets hot.

 

One cause of this may be the idle is quite erratic at the moment, every time I drive the car I need to adjusted it once it's warmed up. The idle control screw seems very loose and it's possible the ignition timing is still drifting. More investigation needed...

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Oil pressure tester req'd. The 1500's in particular were known for big end wear but not tragic to whack a set of shells in.

[loserone]

After a mere 13 hours of welding I left Foadwerx at 00:45, the Acclaim is now back in Glasgow.

If there were ever a thing to put into that "outside of work, I like to go for country strolls with my wife and always seem to end up in IKEA" section of CV, this would be it.

[Guest Hooli]

OIl/filter changed, oil light still flickering when it gets hot.

 

One cause of this may be the idle is quite erratic at the moment, every time I drive the car I need to adjusted it once it's warmed up. The idle control screw seems very loose and it's possible the ignition timing is still drifting. More investigation needed...

 

Could be worth a quick check of the sensor too. My 1500 Midget (Triumph lump) had the same & it was a little bit of gunk blocking the sensor intake.

[captain_70s]

Aye, my 1850 started flickering it's oil light and it transpired to be a duff sender unit.

 

On the flipside the engine is shagged, one piston had visible lateral movement about halfway through it's stroke the last time I had the head off and the big ends have been knocking at high rpm ever since I bought the thing...

 

It'll probably need a crank regrind so I'been ignoring it for the last 15k and have put it down as a "characterful quirk" of the car.

 

The oil light never lit up before it's lay up though so it could well be crap in the sender!

[Aston Martin]

I posted this in lazy spotters, but it seems appreciate here.

[captain_70s]

Sporty, yo. Something weird going on with those indicators though...

 

Cleaned the fleet of functional cars inside and out, seam sealed the Acclaim and T-Cut/polished up the bonnet  and tops of the front wings on the Doloshite as the paint was faded and flat:

 

 

Still need to do the roof and bootlid.

 

Then took it for a spin down GWR, along Byres Rd and back up to Anniesland via Partick. Which, at a giddy 5 miles is the longest trip it's done since the journey South.

 

Still several issues to sort, namely:

 

The front brakes are binding slightly and squealing at low speeds.

The clutch biting point is so low I've had to take out the carpet.

The steering column is rattling.

The idle speed resets itself all the time, usually to being too slow causing the oil light flickering and stalling in extreme cases.

The car bogs down if you use anything more than half throttle.

The alternator is rattling like fuck, it's not sitting parallel to the belt either, it's at a noticeable angle.

 

I may take it to work tomorrow if I can be arsed.

[SiC]

Apart from dodgy tune, is the butterfly valve on the carb ok? Bushes can wear on the HS4 and cause a dodgy idle.

[vulgalour]

I posted this in lazy spotters, but it seems appreciate here.

 

That's Frank! http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/189808/1983-triumph-acclaim-frank

[DodgyBastard]

Congratulations on your mot result!

 

RJC_2076 by srblythe, on Flickr

[Supernaut]

FUCK YES.

[trigger]

Well done on the pass Anthony! I had complete faith in you...

 

[captain_70s]

Apart from dodgy tune, is the butterfly valve on the carb ok? Bushes can wear on the HS4 and cause a dodgy idle.

 

Must confess I've done fuck all to the carb in all the years I've owned the car. It's been on the forever growing "things to do that aren't urgent" list...

 

Also, as FOAD posted, today this happened:

 

 

The tester complimented the condition of the car and said while it'd obviously been tickled with the welder a few times it all looked to be repaired to a good standard!

[danthecapriman]

Well done. Richly deserved!

[egg]