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


captain_70s

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  • captain_70s changed the title to Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - MOT Prep- 20/01/21
53 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

Thank fuck the weather has remained ideal for finishing this thing and not a mixture of rain, snow and freezing fog....

Oh wait.

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Now back to functioning as An Car, just needs some fuel hoses for the tank breather system and the handbrake adjusting before work tomorrow and I can drive it to the MOT station.

There is still a bit to do, interior and trim needs a massive clean and fitting, a few panel gaps need tweaking, wheels need painting and the FUBAR bumpers replaced but the big stuff is hopefully done...

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Excellent! Fresh plates too?

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So, the car was thrown back together over Wednesday and Thursday morning, I got the train over on Thursday so I could drive the car to the MOT station and then take the Saab to work.

Behold the winter wonderland and natural beauty of Central Scotland:

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Naturally things didn't go entirely to plan. The handbrake cables are slack as buggery and even at max adjust aren't great, the auto adjusting drums also weren't keen on auto adjusting, or indeed adjusting reliably at all. 

We also noticed a nut was missing for the rear suspension arm for the passenger side was missing. It must have been removed to facilitate moving suspension component during the rust repair and naturally we couldn't find the nut. Indeed, the only thing we found that'd fit was a wheel nut, so that was deployed a temp measure.

The world's most convoluted (5 fucking hoses to multiple pipes) fuel tank breather system was re-attached.

Fuck it, need to go now or I'll be late for work. About a mile down the road it was fairly obvious something wasn't right, the car wouldn't pull at anything under 3,000rpm, spluttering and misfiring like a bastard. Above that, smooth as silk.
Well, it's a Honda engine so that still left 4,000rpms to play with. Upped my gear change target from 3k to 4.5k and hit the motorway hoping a long blast would clear it's throat a bit.

Ran well once up to speed, bombing along at 70mph. The steering feels heavy/tight as fuck after having PAS for the last few months, took a while to re-adjust.

Coming up to my exit slip road on the M8 heading towards the Clyde Tunnel I ease of the throttle and go for the brake to give a lorry some space and the brake pedal goes straight to the floor and nothing happens.

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Yes, complete brake failure. For the second time for this fucking car.

Thankfully the sliproad is long as fuck, has a hard shoulder and the handbrake was functional enough to stop me.

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Went underneath and couldn't find much wrong aside from a brake pipe rubbing against the rear axle strut thing. This pipe felt quite hot to the touch when I bent it back to where it should have been. My first thought was that friction from it rubbing had heated it up, but I think it's more likely the drum on that side is binding and had boiled the brake fluid. The reservoir still had plenty left in it and after a few mins of me lying underneath the car the brakes pumped back into life.

I gingerly drove the car the 2 miles home. OG plan was to go straight to the MOT centre, which is about half a mile up the road from my flat, but I figured I'd try and sort some bits out last minute Friday morning and then drop it off.

I then dashed out to work, came home 9 hours later to find the passenger door hadn't closed quite right and the interior light had been on forever.

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The car is currently running the Dolomite's battery which thankfully has plenty of life in it having been regularly charged.

This morning I slept in, typical. Dashed out and hoovered out the interior 'cause it was bogging and emptied all my shit out of the thing, then put the rear seats back in.

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BRAEV SOLJER

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Then went to my local hardware store to find a more appropriate nut for the rear suspension. They didn't stock M14, joy. Drove to B&Q, their hardware section was in the usual state of disarray. I eventually found an torn open bag of M14 nuts with two left in it. Anyway I don't know what happened after that but I found one in my pocket later on, guess it was there the whole time.

Anyway, it didn't fit. Wrong thread, looks to be slightly thicker. Fuck it. Wheel nut back on, drove to MOT place, was gonna' say "look, find something that fits this and chuck it on pls" but no need 'cause their computer had died to death and they wouldn't be doing MOTs until *insert future date here*

Naturally. Sod it. Gives me more time to find out what the fuck is going on with the brakes and to find a more appropriate nut for the suspension arm.

Oh, the car is now utterly filthy too and I can't really wash it 'cause the paint is still soft (we're hoping some UV exposure will sort it out). I see why these came with front and back mudflaps as standard now!

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To-do list is something like this:

Replace suspension nut
Change numberplate light
Reattach front upper bumper trim
Reattach missing wing rubbing strip
Refit various interior plastics I cunningly left at the workshop
Service and re-balance carbs (suspect a pilot jet has some shit in it)
Adjust rear drums
Tweak door hinges for better panel gaps
Replace bumpers
Mega clean inside and out

Hoping to get some of the more MOT critical stuff done this afternoon...

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  • captain_70s changed the title to Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - Attempted murder 2.0 - 22/01/21

I would say there's at least a good chance that this:

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

The handbrake cables are slack as buggery and even at max adjust aren't great, the auto adjusting drums also weren't keen on auto adjusting, or indeed adjusting reliably at all. 

and this:

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

I think it's more likely the drum on that side is binding and had boiled the brake fluid

are closely related. 

Also... Epic story!  Sounds like you have some "shakedown" items to fix, but it's well on the way.

Did the sustained >3000rpm sort the running issues out?

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3 hours ago, captain_70s said:

I see why these came with front and back mudflaps as standard now!

I'm not actually sure that they did. I worked in a Jag/Rover/Triumph dealer parts department when the Acclaim came out, and the mudflaps were Unipart. I think most of the cars had them fitted after being sold or gifted them by the new car salesman.

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