Bolly Dolly - Now boringly reliable - snoooooooooze

[Guest Breadvan72]

Bolly Dolly did station duty this morning, affrighting the sleepy Ox and Bucks populace at 0630. 

 

Here is the to do list from Mark the Mech.  He has omitted to mention the most important thing, which is that three of the five gauges, and the clock, are lit up in green as they should be, but two are lit up in white.  Junkman would scrap the car for this, and he would of course be right to do so, but I will get it fixed.  

 

TL/DR:   it's fucked OK-ish

 

 

 1. Flat spots/misfiring under load - tune using air/fuel lambda kit

    after airflow synching carbs, replacement float/needle kits (as

    needed to solve the mismatched float levels) - would suggest 'grose;

    type jets are used as these don't wear or stick like the viton

    tipped ones:

 

    http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-GAC9201X

 

    Also forgot to mention you should have a stub stack on both carb

    intakes - the lack of these means the carb will run too lean due to

    airflow being lower than designed at edges of carb intake. See here

    for options - I would need to measure first to see which will fit:

 

    http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-RL1396ALT

 

    http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-RL1396

 

    Check fuel pressure to make sure correct approx 2.5-3 psi

 

    The carbs (once tuned) can then be checked for any lean spots in the

    power curve during road test. That will allow altering mixture, and

    if not satisfactory a new richer pair of needles can be selected

    using the SU needle comparison tool.

 

 2. Brakes - slight excess travel - adjust rear drums to reduce pedal travel

 

 3. Gearbox whine in 1, 2 3 gears - check oil & oil level/condition. Use

    borescope to inspect condition of whatever can be

    seen (I have 2 of these)!  [bV comment - the whine may just be because seventies, but we shall see.]

 

 4. Knocking exhaust on n/s panhard rod - remove rear section & weld in

    spacer rings to increase clearance

 

 5. Throttle action not smooth - lubricate or replace throttle cable

 

 6. Steering column knocks over bumps - replace column top (& bottom if

    needed) bushes. Top bush not available at present - this is most

    likely what's needed though. I know an old chap with hoards of old

    stock car parts - will give him a call.

 

 7. Heater getting hot but no air from screen vent - investigate with

    borescope if necessary.

 

 8. Fuel hose 7/16" Internal Diameter to replace last clear breather hose  [bV comment: the guy whom I bought the car from had a business selling tubes for use in anaesthesia in operating theatres, and had fitted groovy looking but not very suitable clear tubes in various places.  All but one of these have since been replaced]. 

 

 9. Check diff oil condition & use borescope to check internals

 

10. OSR door not opening/ locking - remove door card to find cause(s)

 

Think that was most of it - let me know if anything missing - forgot to say I couldn't mix the black engine enamel with the red as one earlier was spirit based, the other cellulose. Will look for some on my travels this week - I know the red stuff is available as I had a dried up tin that colour not so long ago.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Driving the Dolomite home from my local railway station last night, I went (slowly and carefully) over one of the eleventy ninety three speed bumps in the accursed village of Chinnor.  I heard some metallic clangour, as of something falling off the car.  I stopped and could find nothing amiss, but did find a piece of curved metal with broken ends lying in the road.  The metal is about a centimetre or so in diameter.  It is solid and non flexible, but has snapped off something at each end of the hemisphere shown below. It has been painted black, and also has a bit of black rubbery coating or what may be the remains of glue or some other compound attached to it in places.  

 

I have NO CLUE whether this is random road junk, or something that has fallen off the underside of the car.  I will go and gaze with incomprehension at the underneathy bits when I have stopped drinking tea, but now I have TEH FEAR.

 

 

[Longblackcoat]

A bit of spring? Depends on diameter, obvs?

[Guest Breadvan72]

Here it is next to an hour-appropriate egg spoon for scale, along with a photo showing the broken bits at the ends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RoadworkUK]

I might be going totally mad, but that doesn't look like '70s British spring to me. Looks eerily like post-millennium German.

 

That said - I'm only really familiar with the latter.

[Guest Breadvan72]

A bit of spring seems a good bet.  Hopefully not one of mine, but having just had a roll around on the ground, I can't see the springs, and won't be able to without getting the car jacked up or on a ramp or lift.  On the one occasion that I can recall when a spring broke while I was driving a car, I heard the noise of it breaking and noticed that the car then felt wrong at the front end.  I don't recall the Dolomite feeling kershonked when driving the rest of the way home last night, but I was knackered and a bit preoccupied, so will take the car out later this morning and see it it feels like a spring has gone.

 

Luckily I have the marvellous mechanical Mr Skizzer on his way even as I type this - he is about to decant the blue Granada of many fabulousnesses on my driveway, and I will then be taking him to the railway station, so there will be two of us to go hmmmm and haw.

[Snipes]

Deffo spring. Unlikely to be the front if you have coiliovers as thy tend to be quite narrow. Maybe rear or you just picked up some debris off the road.

 

Coilovers tend to be painted bright, primary colours too. Black is more OEM.

[Eddie Honda]

That's a bit of coil spring, but probably not your one.

 

The broken end doesn't look fresh.

[Yoss]

As I think you've already guessed, if it's a piece of spring (and the general consensus is that it is) then it won't be one of yours.

 

You would have seriously noticed if it was seeing as Triumph springs have flattened off ends so that piece would have had to fall out of the middle of yours.

 

You've just run over it and thrown it up making clangy noises under your car.

[Tamworthbay]

Agree with ^^^^^ but it is possible as they sometimes get stuck on the seat and held in place by the remaining spring but you normally have to hit something biggish to dislodge them then.

[Yoss]

Standard Dolomite front spring. Difficult to judge scale from the photos but the piece you have looks larger diameter.

 

Yours may not be standard (I think I saw mention of this further up the thread) but whatever you have will be of this diameter.

[purplebargeken]

Your bit looks bigger (hey hey) than Triumph stuff. Possibly from a lost BMW somewhere. Wouldn't fret.  

 

Door thing may well be a rod that has popped out of it's clip. Not unknown at all tbh.

[Skizzer]

I've now had a mini-hoon in this marvellous beast (thank you) and it doesn't feel at all like it has a broken spring. There is clonking but that's explained by the exhaust/panhard rod interface as per mechanic's notes above.

 

It's a super thing - really lively and feels like it just wants to run around and play cops and robbers. It looks fantastic inside and out and will be an absolute hoot to drive once the flatspot is sorted out (especially if you don't forget to let the overdrive out like I did).

 

Sounds like you've got yourself a really good mobile mech there too. Winner all round.

[Guest Breadvan72]

We R totes forgetz to do suit-Woollards on Granada and Dolly!.

 

I opened the Webasto all the way and drove home in the sunshine.  Much happys.

 

Thanks to all above for reassuring words.

[alf892]

Could be yours..........You certainly wouldn't notice that little bit missing.

 

Soz for non reassuring words!

 

Mind you it will be fine anyway....

[Guest Breadvan72]

The car has coilovers and other suspension tricksery, although whether the springs are in WKD colours I don't know.  As noted above, the broken bit on one end of the spring fragment looks to have been broken a while.  I hope that I merely hit a bit of someone else's problem.  

[Guest Breadvan72]

Dolly hanging out with Granny -

 

 

[Guest Breadvan72]

A visit to the local motor bits shop, where I saw this, er, very slammed Mini, which belongs to a bloke who works in the shop.  Well, to each his own.

 

There is a possibility that the alternator that was put into the Dolly only a couple of months ago is on the blink.  Grrrr.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Hooli]

That Bini looks broken like that & they don't look good to start with.

[Jim Bell]

The roofline of the Dolly is still on a par with it.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Yep.  The Dolly is just a tad lower than factory standard, but hasn't been dropped to its arse.  The Mini bloke tells me that he has a button inside the car (be thankful that I have spared you photos of the interior) that can lift the thing up to go over bumps and so forth; but I remain unconvinced.

[purplebargeken]

I quite like BINI's but not that one.

[Guest Breadvan72]

In a perverse sort of way I vaguely admire it, because it has been done so thoroughly.  If you are going to go stupid, go STUPID.  Don't mess with Mr Inbetween.

[Guest Breadvan72]

"The rides of Spring."

An early evening hoon.  Hmmm, how did that brake dust get on the wheels?

 

 

[purplebargeken]

Wandering folk have small bags of the stuff which they surreptitiously pour onto the wheels of cars that look like they might be fun to drive.

[Guest Breadvan72]

What, the magical Hoon Fairies?

[purplebargeken]

They prefer Hoon Elves I believe, fairy was felt to be too fae. 

[Guest Breadvan72]

"Are you a goblin?"

 

"No, I've just got a headache."

[Skizzer]

Blessedly, there isn't a lot of space on the rump of a Dolomite for a 'Powered by Fairy Dust' sticker.

 

Lovely pic. Fab car.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Have anuvva:-

 

 

The gates in the background belong to a grand estate called Thame Park.  One of the Pink Floyds lived there in rock star stylee back in the day, but these days the estate is owned by some Far Eastern investment outfit that has apparently allowed the big house to fall into a state of grot, and some of the land has already been sold off to facilitate the seemlessly endless expansion of Thame (a formerly quaint market town that is becoming more and more of an urban sprawl).

 

The car still has a flat spot most noticeable when accelerating in third gear, but in other respects is flying along.