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


captain_70s

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So, the last few weeks were pretty busy with me getting the car ready for FOTU.

Polishing the entire car and refitting missing trims.

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Also got the parcel shelf refitted.

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Discreetly wired in some upgrades.

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Flushed the coolant system out (doing the rad, heater matrix, block and expansion tank seperately).

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Gave the steels a halfarsed satin black.

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@davidfowler2000 popped over with a wet vac and the interior was cleaned, seat runners greased etc.

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Before on passenger side, driver's side done.

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Replaced some exhaust mounts which were tired...

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Drained and refilled the gearbox.

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Car was running great and the only issue was the bonnet release cable snapped and was replaced with a bit of wire sticking through the grilles in the bonnet as a temp measure.

Of course, those who've seen the FOTU/Grumpy thread know the outcome...

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About 15 miles in I noticed it was getting hot, over 1/2 on the gauge. This never happens, it rarely ventures much above 1/3rd. I flicked the heater on and reduced cruising speed to 55mph as I had been going pretty hard and didn't fancy stopping on the hard shoulder with the girlfriend in the car unless absolutely necessary.

Pulled into Hamilton services with the gauge tapping the red marker. Heard something hit off the undercarriage and spotted something roll off towards the lorry park in the rear mirror.

Met up with @blackboilersuit and @Supernaut and then jogged over the road to see if I'd ran something over or something large had fallen off. It's not uncommon for me to leave tools in the engine bay... Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the crankshaft pulley nut.

@blackboilersuit and @Supernaut launched off back to Mr Suit's house to acquire a BIG SOCKET to reinstall it while I had a nose at the coolant system.

It hadn't exploded out of the overflow but was clearly very hot and opening the rad cap with a very long screwdriver revealed a lot of foamy coolant. I quickly whipped out the thermostat to make sure it hadn't stuck, but it seemed find.

We then refitted the crank nut (with Loctite this time) with me manning the bar while the radiator was held up out of the way.

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Then we could restart the engine. This showed that the water pump was working but with the rad cap off revving the engine would overflow the rad with foamy coolant. I went to check the oil and found it reading slightly overfull, and the car nearly stalled when I took the dip stick out. HGF M9.

Coolant was topped up and I toddled back home at a steady 50-55mph with a check of levels at the halfway mark and no issues. The car also never got massively hot, although admittedly the 'stat was still out of it.

My best guess is that when I'd flushed the coolant 2 days prior and ran the car around the block I actually had an air lock somewhere in the system. I've never had an issue with air locks but @MrsJuular had loads of issues getting the air out of her mechanically identical Toledo. The car didn't really get used much the next two days as I was out of the house 12-14 hours at work. Throwing the car at the motorway and sitting at 75mph then cooked the cheapo head gasket. 

It wouldn't be the first time I've had a generic gasket fail not long after fitting, but I couldn't get hold of a decent Payen one for this engine as they seemed to be out of stock everywhere. At least a head gasket is only a 2hr job and there doesn't seem to be any major mixing of liquids... Jury is still out on the oil level as neither my driveway or the place I'd broken down were on level ground.

As a bonus the 740 blew a tyre on the return leg of the trip.

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Not much fun changing a wheel  in the dark on a bit of the A66 with no hard shoulder but some guys in a pair of Mk3 Cavaliers were making their way north post FOTU en-route to Belfast and stopped to help.

 

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  • captain_70s changed the title to Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - FOTU DISASTER - 30/07/23
  • 4 weeks later...

Nothing much to report lately.

Been busy at work and post FotU I've not been majorly arsed.

Acclaim is in the garage, new fuel pump is located, just needs a power supply sourcing from the switched ignition side. Need to refill my gas bottle so I can weld up a new mount for the wipers.

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Re torqued the Dolomite's cylinder head. Only two nuts were appreciably loose although one did managed over one revolution!

Ran it up to temp and it's seemingly no longer pressurising it's coolant. Massive exhaust leak though, one of the nuts/clamps for the exhaust manifold had simply vanished and another was spinning loose. Reinstalled but it still sounds like I'm running open headers, so will require some further fuckery.

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Moved to the front of the driveway for ease of test driving...

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  • captain_70s changed the title to Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - Fleet functionality status = Partial - 27/08/23
  • 2 weeks later...

So. No signs of continued HGF over the last 100 miles. A mix of A-road motoring and a few 65mph motorway blats. Temp once went up to the 2/3 mark after bombing down the motorway for 20 miles and then coming to a dead stop in traffic but that's to be expected when it's 25C... It never went higher and once we were moving again dropped to 1/2.

Currently have a Payen gasket sat on the shelf, just in case.

On to the exhaust blow. Tightening everything did fuck all so it seemed like the manifold gasket had blown.

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Yes. I'd say that is done.

Managed to pry the detached manifolds far enough off the studs to post the new gasket in without having to take off the carb/downpipe. Which was nice.

With the exhaust blow fixed the car was now running and idling properly as well as not sounding like a farting tractor.

A new issue was the oil warning light flickering on at idle... I thought it sounded a bit rattly but I'm known to err on the side of paranoia and Triumph SC units tend to sound like a washing machine full of stones at the best of times.

Today I rigged up the oil pressure and compression testers despite dissolving in the heat.

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That's fine for a bitsa engine built by a monkey. The pressure switch is set at 5psi so it's just fried. I'm going to rig up an actual pressure gauge 

Currently waiting on the rain washing off this Sahara dust or whatever the fuck it is...

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Those cold compressions are a fair bit lower from what I measured with my tester. What brand tool are you using?

I found my generic red box compression tester incredibly inconsistent and inaccurate. Nearly condemned my BGT engine with that tool.

My Gunson is much more consistent and I have far more faith in it.

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  • captain_70s changed the title to Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - Fleet functionality status = Partial - 10/09/23

It's some no-brand Chinesium one I've had for years. I'm not too fussed as to the exact figures as long as the readings are fairly repeatable repeatable and similar across the cylinders. Which they are.

It drives fine and has plenty of shove, especially at higher rpm so I'm content to say compression is adequate, even if the gauge reads low.

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  • 4 months later...

I think late September was about the last time I was arsed doing fuck all.

The Dolly had a run out around Northumberland during Twixfest.

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It was then driven into the garage and forgotten.

The has Volvo continued to rack up daily driver points (for the very few car miles I do these days).

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A major issue for the WBOD was lack of a heater blower motor. The resistor having failed and then the motor seizing solid not long after. Naturally both a unobtanium. I acquired a 940 motor which seemed to be the same with a different plug and then couldn't be arsed fitting it, because summer.

Then winter came so I went to fit it.

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Ok. So the blades are marginally bigger so it's a very tight squeeze to get it in but then... Wait. It won't screw into the housing?

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Naturally, the threads on the 940 motor are deeper and incompatible with the 740 housing.

I pondered options for a while and eventually concluded with destruction.

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It's now an interference fit aided with tape. I may go back and make up some sort of bracket so it's less likely to fall on to Girlfriend_70's feet if we hit a pothole...

I've got a Volvo 850 resistor which is similar-ish to the 740 one. I'll have to make up a loom adaptor though, which I can't be arsed with, so it's all or nothing as far as fan speeds go.

More critically it's pulling badly to the left, is eating the outside edges of the front tyres and the exhaust is blowing at the mid section. So for now it's laid up.

The Acclaim is in the garage.

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I've fitted a electric fuel pump to replace the original (unavailable) mechanical one. It's the sort usually found on upgraded MGBs/Morris 1000s and the like.

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Powered by a relay that takes a signal off the ignition control module wiring. So it only runs when the ignition is on. It works well and means it fires first turn of the key as the pump brings fuel up to the carbs without spinning the engine.

I also made up a new mount for the windscreen wiper which had collapsed into the bodywork.

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Here is a crude representation of the metalwork where the wipers mount.

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The red is what I would call the bulkhead and is a few big panels with minimal holes.

The yellow is presumably a reinforcer of some description, it has quite a few big holes pressed in it despite not obscuring anything, presumably to save weight.

The white is a "cup" which holds the wiper spindle. As seen here...

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So, the white cup is welded to the yellow panel along one edge, the yellow panel is spot welded to the red bulkhead directly under the windscreen.

You might think that the force of the wiper spring and the linkage moving around would cause quite a lot of stress on such a small area, and you'd be right, as while 99% of the yellow panel was minty fresh the area where the "cup" was attached was rotten. As it'd fatigued the wiper had started wiggling around adding to the fatigue and multiplying the rusting.

Grand. So, how to repair? The best method would be to remove the windscreen and dashboard to remove the scuttle panel to get access. Well, the screen is already cracked in one corner and they're notorious for shattering on removal (making spares rare) and the seal is perished and also unobtanium (The last known supplier of Mk2 Civic screen seals ran out a couple of years ago and announced no more would be made due to worn out tooling and lack of demand).

Right. Fuck that then. Screen is staying in. 

Second option would be to cut the scuttle panel out without removing the screen. Suspect the heat/flexing caused by removing big chunks of metal in the proximity of the screen could well break it. Let's not do that either.

So. Keyhole surgery through the fresh air intake grille it is.

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That's as far as the pictures go. The plate had way too much flex in it to hold the spindle steady and my attempts to add strengthening ribs made a mess. Especially as the welder decided wire feed was optional and would only move wire about 15% of the time I pulled the trigger. 

In the end I added another plate here:

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The curve was needed to clear the wiper mechanism but also acted like a big spring to hold the "cup" in place. 

Ultimately, while it was sturdy and not structural, the repair looked like shit so you don't get to see it.

So with a new fuel pump and functional wipers we had a functional car, yes?

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No. Not really. After being laid up so long the electrics have gone a bit... sporadic. The light switch on the stalk now has dodgy contacts so various lighting circuits will just randomly stop working. I'm hoping I can strip it and clean it, but if not I think I have a spare stalk somewhere...

Oh. And it immediately blew a hole in the centre section of the exhaust.

Also it wouldn't idle. Ran fine on choke but when choke was off it'd die instantly. Suspect the idle circuit is blocked...

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So the next step is cleaning up these carbs full of unobtanium rubber seals. Just waiting on some JIS screwdrivers landing...

Once the current wave of repairs is complete it'll be 4 SAIL as, with having a works van for commuting, it just never gets used. The Volvo eats motorway miles and the Dolly is the go-to smoll saloon, the "very reliable car on classic insurance" is no longer a requirement. Lack of use is the cause of most of its recent issues - Dried out fuel pump diaphragm, corroded electric contacts, water sitting in the lowest section exhaust.

This leaves the Dolomite as the most dependable vehicle on fleet, as it always starts on the button and just goes. How times change...

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  • captain_70s changed the title to Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - Dolomite in "most reliable" shocker - 08/02/24

sad to hear of the Acclaim going, I mean its been part of/a fixture of the forum for so long, or certainly as long as I have been on the forum! but hopefully it finds a home with another shitter :) (it will make a good purchase for someone, already MOT exempt and come 1st of April this year it will be £NIL tax/ULEZ exempt as well :) @wesacosa you hear that! :mrgreen: )

and certainly a Dolly and Volvo are still a fine paring on their own :) 

 

 

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Aye. It'll be a shame to see it go (even girlfriend_70s said so!) but 3 ongoing projects is too many and lack of use does it no favours!

It's MOT exempt but still taxed, a weird limbo period. Already exempt from Scottish ULEZ because their cut off is 30 years, not 40.

Can confirm a sorted Acclaim will wheel spin through 1st and into 2nd. The engine is comically advanced compared to the ancient 1300 in the Dolly.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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