Project Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - Actually doing things with shit cars - 03/07/25

[Christine]

I was just looking at the before and after pics of the Triumph brake shoes on the previous page .

One of them is fitted  wrong...?? The lining on the left is upside down or the right way up or on the wrong side ???? Its in a different position on the shoe...

Edit ...Or I could be wrong , its a different side !!!! Silly me ,as you were ..

[vulgalour]

Don't forget, when you space out the bumpers you've got the bolt that goes through the valance and the bolts that attach the bumper to the bracket so you should be able to push it out quite a bit if needed.  Providing the bolts come undone.  Which they probably won't.

[plasticvandan]

Regarding mots,if you have or know of a classic friendly tester use them,even if not your nearest,I've been using the same guys since I was 16 on bikes,tricycle and cars,even though I'm now 25 miles away.

[Alusilber]

Is a torque wrench really such exotic a tool?!?

To a Kwik-Fit fitter, it probably is

[captain_70s]

So, today was a thing.

 

I eventually managed to get the Civic's rear calipers off. Couldn't split the two halves to had to pull them off whole. What was left of the O/S pads and retaining clips fell apart in my hands although I did managed to separate the two parts of the caliper

 

 

 

On the N/S the pads were in far better shape but I couldn't seperate the two halves of the caliper, not yet at any rate.

 

 

On both sides the pistons are well stuck, the O/S seems to be jammed at full extension as pressing the brake pedal has no effect on it at all...

 

Obviously I'm going to need new parts to reassemble the car in some sort of working fashion which leaves me with zero functioning/road legal cars. Hence why tomorrow I'm going to Fife on a train to acquire another car. Not to keep mind you, Nisfan has generously lent me one of his fleet to use until the Civic parts arrive.

 

I also pulled the Triumph's front wheels off today to fine... Sticking disc brakes. I've decided to not even entertain the idea of working on them until the Civic is finished, I quickly wire wheeled them and applied PlusGas to all the bolts. I did however do a cheap and nasty refurb on the wheels and wire brush/Vactan a few areas of surface rust on the sills and front valance...

 

 

I also had a prod around underneath and have come to the conclusion that it definitely can't have gotten the same tester as the Acclaim and I'm just going to wait till it's exempt before doing anything else with it...

[JeeExEll]

It's lookin good tho.

[captain_70s]

A few more pictures:

 

 

Actually very good for a Dolomite, the front valance on my 1850HL was 100% paint.

 

However the underside of the front wing looks like this:

 

 

Frankly I've no idea what's going on here, from the fit of the front wing and the car it is quite a bit less rusty than the opposite side I'd say it's been replaced at some point and the way it's been attached at the bottom seems to have been with copious amounts of underseal which has since dried and crumbled off.

 

Bah. To rub salt in the wounds as I was walking home from the Chinese a very tidy early Moggy 1000 came flying down the road as if to show me what could have been.

[Guest Hooli]

You know those calipers on the civic need the piston screwing in right?

 

You can get a proper tool but I just lean hard on them with thin nose pillers prodded in the slots on the piston to wind it in. With worn discs & knackered pads it may well be at full extension already, hence the lack of movement, I once had brake failure on a Merc when the inner pistons on both back calipers fell out due to worn discs & pads....that was fun*

 

 

 

*80mph into a 30mph corner between stone walls, at least I can say I managed a Swedish flick once in my life. I could never do it deliberately though.

[captain_70s]

Aye, I was trying to wind it in. Not a lot of working room though and it is very disinclined to move. I think I'm going to take the caliper off the car entirely for ease of access, buy some refurb kits and strip the whole thing down...

 

In happier news I noticed a chap from the building next door loading rubbish bags into his new DS3 this morning, then he set about stuffing in a roll off carpet. I enquired as to taking ownership of said bit of carpet and can now work on the car in shag pile comfort...

 

 

Also the bloke who lives in my block and usually drives a Range Rover Sport had something a wee bit different yesterday...

 

 

[captain_70s]

So today I managed to loosen the two brake pipe hoses for the calipers but the bracket which holds the handbrake cables in place are seriously stuck on both sides. So I headed into town, met up with the girlfriend and drove to Cowdenbeath to borrow a car from Nisfan which some of you may be familiar with...

 

 

Yes, the AS bike Rover 220Sli is now in my hands! It drives really quite well, although that is to expected as it's barely even run in:

 

 

My girlfriend approves of it in theory but I'm banned from keeping it. She also says it needs to be seen in motion from the outside to truly appreciate it's unique aesthetic qualities.

 

 

Artsy shite:

 

 

This should tide my over until either Civic or Acclaim is fixed, whichever gets done quickest. A thousand thanks to Nisfan for lending me the car, he's a real life saver!

[Guest Hooli]

Roverlicious!

[SiC]

Just don't break brake this one!

[Tam]

Haha you actually escaped an earlier meeting with the bike when I had it. I was gonna offer to lend you it when you were in need of a motor once before! Not sure what happened but you solved the problem yourself.

Looks like it's picked up a few bruises and a controversial set of wheels!

[richardthestag]

So today I managed to loosen the two brake pipe hoses for the calipers but the bracket which holds the handbrake cables in place are seriously stuck on both sides. So I headed into town, met up with the girlfriend and drove to Cowdenbeath to borrow a car from Nisfan which some of you may be familiar with...

 

DSC_2882 (Copy).JPG

 

Yes, the AS bike Rover 220Sli is now in my hands! It drives really quite well, although that is to expected as it's barely even run in:

 

5666805059402174056 (Copy).jpg

 

My girlfriend approves of it in theory but I'm banned from keeping it. She also says it needs to be seen in motion from the outside to truly appreciate it's unique aesthetic qualities.

 

DSC_2873 (Copy).JPG

DSC_2878 (Copy).JPG

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Artsy shite:

 

rover.jpg

rust.jpg

mirror.jpg

 

This should tide my over until either Civic or Acclaim is fixed, whichever gets done quickest. A thousand thanks to Nisfan for lending me the car, he's a real life saver!

 

4 x May 2019 calendar pic recommendations in this post alone.

[captain_70s]

Just don't break brake this one!

 

Not long after I left Cowdenbeath the Mk4 Civic Nisfan was using lost it's master cylinder, if anything I've spread the curse...

 

Haha you actually escaped an earlier meeting with the bike when I had it. I was gonna offer to lend you it when you were in need of a motor once before! Not sure what happened but you solved the problem yourself.

Looks like it's picked up a few bruises and a controversial set of wheels!

The wheels are from Bub's old Variomatic Ovlov, fitted as they have alright tyres.

 

The car actually functions as a car pretty much perfectly aside from a noisy wheel bearing, it certainly doesn't feel like it's done 160k!

[captain_70s]

What a motley crew...

 

 

If only the Acclaim were here, then I'd have a representation of a small family car from every decade from the 70s through 2000s...

[Aston Martin]

Imagine how happy you’d be if you still had the Corsa...

[davehedgehog31]

Oh, fancy.

 

The rear arches are even more rust-tastic than mine.

[oldcars]

What a motley crew...

 

DSC_2885 (Copy).JPG

 

If only the Acclaim were here, then I'd have a representation of a small family car from every decade from the 70s through 2000s...

Yes, you have a three wheeler now too 

[captain_70s]

Imagine how happy you’d be if you still had the Corsa...

The Corsa was garbage, £190 a month on finance payments and it lost £3k of value in less than a year... Dad has bought a new Corsa van and it keeps having to go back to the supplying dealer for warranty work all the time, his courtesy car is a Civic ironically enough.

 

Yes, you have a three wheeler now too 

 

Two wheeler actually!

[Aston Martin]

The Corsa was garbage, £190 a month on finance payments and it lost £3k of value in less than a year!

Mines slightly less a month, but it’s lost £9k in 15 months. I guess buying 3 years old cars make sense.

[captain_70s]

 

 

Three generations of quality* British* motor vehicles.

 

I washed the Rover last night and linseed oiled the bumpers because I felt sorry for it. In process of doing so I locked my house keys and phone in the flat and had to break into my own home with a chisel I borrowed from the bloke who lives across the hall...

 

Today the garage finally gave the Acclaim back with it's new shock fitted so now the weldathon can be planned.

 

[davehedgehog31]

The three amigos. 

 

Does the Dolomite feature a coin tray like it's two newer companions?

[Ghosty]

You need to find a 213 to complete the set!

[captain_70s]

Sadly the Dolly lacks a labelled coin tray, although there is a space above the radio which I store coins in...

 

I did lament my lack of SD3 in my FB post!

[Zelandeth]

That generation of Rovers were astonishingly nice driving little cars, and always felt to me just "right" from behind the wheel.

 

Quite how I've not wound up with one yet I'm not sure.

 

We had a TD example at the garage for a while which we struggled to sell, never did figure out why...seemed a lovely little car to me.

 

Didn't have the wacko exhaust system tow two silencers at opposite sides of the car at the back the earlier 200s had either...I recall those being a swine to fit straight.

[Yoss]

You just need this to complete the set.

You seem to like a challenge.

[chancer]

 

DSC_2896 (Copy).JPG

DSC_2895 (Copy).JPG

DSC_2910 (Copy).JPG

 

 

Absolutely love these photos as its where i sit to have lunch in the van when im in the area.... nice wee peaceful spot. Must remember to look out for your cars next time

[captain_70s]

Today I started cutting out the Acclaim's rot. Dreams of a light recommissioning are fading rapidly...

 

 

That's the N/S/R wheel arch, by far the worst bit of the car but still mighty scary. Actually getting in there to cut out the rot is a major pain in the arse as well. Now, time for a quick shower and then 9 hours at work...

[captain_70s]

Well, things started off fairly promising today as I started stripping back the opposite side of the arch and actually found some solid metal hidden behind the fibreglass that is the arch lip. 

 

 

Sadly things took a turn for the worse when that metal turned out to be an old repair and the rest of the car had vanished around it and been replaced with a mixture of filler, fibreglass, tinfoil and sealant...

 

 

The entire wheelarch is gone and made of fibreglass, to a considerably worse extent than I thought. The bottom and outside edges of the inner arch are also MIA and the rest is wafer thin. You get patches of good metal surrounded by stuff which is just rusted through entirely.

 

 

I also had nosy at the sill near the rear jacking point

 

 

At this point I sliced my finger on some rusty metal and started bleeding profusely so I gave up and came back inside.

 

Now, as the old saying goes, when the going gets tough the stupid learn to weld and fix their shite car. However I'm not sure this is within my skills range to repair, I've not even started stripping back the other side (didn't flag up at the MOT) but a cursory glance shows the same situation, potentially worse...

 

I think the moral of the story is that if a good Acclaim usually costs £2000+ don't be surprised when your £850 example turns out to be rotten.