Dolomite SE all finished... For now!

[Felly Magic]

Inspiration for Triggs. One seen at a show in Leeds a few years ago

 

 

[purplebargeken]

They do look bloody smart.

 

Wonder why Triumph never pushed out cars with metallic finishes. 

[Felly Magic]

I think Corgi missed a trick with their Vanguards Dolly too, a square headlamp SE would probably sell to the Triumph perverts

[captain_70s]

They do look bloody smart.

 

Wonder why Triumph never pushed out cars with metallic finishes. 

There is the surviving 1300SE prototype in Denim Blue. I've seen it in the metal and it looks fantastic.

 

I think Corgi missed a trick with their Vanguards Dolly too, a square headlamp SE would probably sell to the Triumph perverts

I'd buy one, but I'd paint it green to be a replica of my 1300.  There is already a Vanguards model of my 1850HL, RLK 126R out there somewhere. It's a custom job as a guy wanted a model of an 1850HL so modified a Sprint, he googled for pictures of an Inca Yellow car and saw mine, it even has an authentic MOT tide mark of doom front valance!

[purplebargeken]

I'd forgotten about that one! That has been around for a good few years and looked lovely in blue metallic

[trigger]

The lady who used to own the Dolly messaged me today to say she's found the original sales invoice and is posting it out to me, she sent me a photo of it, amazingly the old MG Midget he used to own is also still shown as being taxed and on the road!.

 

[michael1703]

 

Triumph Dolomite SE JMT19W rear.JPG

They've kidnapped Billy's dog

[beko1987]

That car is lovely. Just lovely, no more, no less!

 

With all that history there should be a profit in it when your done without having to resort to a white room too!

[purplebargeken]

Forgot to say. ATF is a good alternative for the dashpot top up.

[trigger]

So I spent some time this afternoon playing with this, I have to admit moral is sagging a bit on it as everything seems to be against me and every time I look at it the bodywork seems to get rustier.

 

It was moted in March and had nearly £400 spent on the brakes, god knows what they done as the rears were thick in grease and down to the rivets and the pads were metal to metal as well as two holes in the inner arch at the rear and the centre exhust mount is broke, on and when they fitted the new steering rack gaters they forgot to do up the track rod nuts so it was all loose!! Stevie Wonder must have done the test.

 

So we replaced the rear shoes without to much hassle and cleaned them up, the front weren't quite so good, we fitted a new caliper repair kit to the offside but the nearside was really rusted up and full of water, I'll need to order a pair of pistons for it as well as a wheel bearing and now a master cylinder repair kit as that's started weeping now too...

 

 

 

Bloody old cars!

[captain_70s]

So I spent some time this afternoon playing with this, I have to admit moral is sagging a bit on it as everything seems to be against me and every time I look at it the bodywork seems to get rustier.

Ohohoho, this is merely the beginning, friend. Welcome to Dolomite ownership.

 

If it makes you feel better I couldn't even get my calipers off, rounded all the bolts. Haven't even dared look at the drums, the entire handbrake system appears to be seized on which is impressive given that it failed it's MOT on the damn thing not working...

[michael1703]

Manvers might have the Pistons

http://www.manverstriumph.com/contact-us/

[Anglevan]

Welcome to BL ownership, had to do the same and more to my Marina. One of the bolts snapped for the caliper on mine! Keep going, you'll get there. ...

[purplebargeken]

It's BL, once you recognise that all will become less stressful. Send the calipers to Big Red for a refurb, they used to be quite reasonable.

 

Rust. You think you have rust? Come and see the green Dolly. 

[trigger]

I spent a little while on the Dolly this afternoon, after the fuber by the supplier of the brake parts me and dad decided to refurbish the brake master cylinder instead.

 

 

The kit was £12 which is good value really, managed to get the old one off and stripped and cleaned, the inside was black and a few of the seals were damaged so it's no wonder it leaked and I lost the brakes!

 

 

 

After bleeding and refitting it it's looking a lot better now. We can't check it yet though as we still need the caliper pistons.

 

 

Also spent most the day on the Sierra. It failed it's first mot in 9 years on the handbrake cable, thankfully a local old school motor factor had one on the shelf so we fitted that. It was sod of a job.

 

At this point my dad was swearing like a docker as he couldn't get the front part in without dropping the proshaft centre.

 

 

Still got it all sorted in the end, next problem is that the car keeps cutting out when it warm, we checked the fuel pump and no fuel comes through it so not sure if it's the pump or a blockage in the tank. I've ordered a new pump and pushrod and will see if that sorts it,

If not then we'll have to drop the tank.

 

I'm looking forwards to getting this home and to start cleaning them and using them at last!

 

[purplebargeken]

How's it going?

[trigger]

How's it going?

 

Funny you should ask, I spent a few hours on it this afternoon which helped my mojo no end!, We fitted the new caliper pistons and seal, replaced the wheel bearing, bled the brakes all round and changed the exhaust rubbers too.

 

So that means all that's left mechanically now is a good service, adjust the tappets and change the ignition parts, especially as it's pinking a little bit. I took it for a road test up to the local farm, the brakes are a bit spongy but with new pads and shoes as well as caliper seals it's all got to bed in so i guess that's to be expected for now. It's such a nice car to drive though! the little sporty steering wheel and neat little handling along with the bumbling exhaust note makes it such a fun little car to nip about in!.

 

I'll be happier once i get some of the bodywork sorted and fit a new set of tyres, trust me, my camera phone does make it look nicer than it is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some artistic instagram shots.

 

 

[purplebargeken]

Great progress! The SE's are a lovely thing!

 

Have a look at what needs doing on the body and make a list (then post on here )

 

Take some piccies of the rusty bits too.

 

Just tackle one bit at a time so you don't loose that mojo and then move on to the next bit. 

 

The car looks lovely as it is, just a bit flat (easily tackled).

 

I have really grown attached to the green Dolly and once she is welded up I will really focus on the paintwork.

 

Keep going

[trigger]

The first job will be the wheels as it needs new tyres anyway so I'll get them rubbed down and rattle caned up, then over winter I'll concentrate on the worst of the scabby bit, It will have to be rattle cans but that will be better than how it is at the moment.

 

The Cortina is moving into the in laws garage for the winter, i might take it over today in fact, so that i have the garage back to do the work in. Once I've got the Dolly home I'll get some better photos with my decent camera so you can see how scabby it really is.

[trigger]

Today I done all the serviceable bit on the car, points & condenser, set up the timing, change the oil and filter, new plugs and leads, had a bit of a mare whilst adjusting the rockers as the rocker cover gasket I bought of eBay was of a Ford and the old one broke when I removed it and as we couldn't get a replacement we had to stick the old one back on again.

 

 

The brake master cylinder still isn't right as the petal loses pressure whilst you foot is on it, if you pump it it comes back again.

 

 

It home now anyway, the drive back in the dark was painless other than the brakes, it's a little tappy but that could be a exhaust gasket and the lights puslate with the engine which wouldn't be great if I suffered from epilepsy! The tyres are harsh as hell too.

 

There's penty there to keep my busy over winter!

[purplebargeken]

Lights pulsating with the engine??? I would check all of the earth connections and the earth lead from the battery to the body which fastens just under the bonnet mounting lip at the front end of the car. Check the earth that ends on the suspension turret by the coil.

 

This might be a battery problem or an alternator problem too. Luckily neither are that pricey.

 

Tyres are harsh. Could they have squared off a little with the car standing? Might be worth chucking another 10 or so PSI in for a few days, then reset for normal use.

[purplebargeken]

Rocker cover gasket: 370638458168

[trigger]

Annoyingly my I did order the right gasket but the seller posted me the wrong one! I'll need to buy a set of tyres anyway as the old ones have started to crack, it's currently on 155/80/13's but I was wondering if 165/70/13's would be better?.

[Six-cylinder]

Annoyingly my I did order the right gasket but the seller posted me the wrong one! I'll need to buy a set of tyres anyway as the old ones have started to crack, it's currently on 155/80/13's but I was wondering if 165/70/13's would be better?.

Your such a boy racer, you will be wanting aerofoils on your wipers next!

 

More seriously I reckon 165/70/13 will be fine, my Vitesse was on 155/80/13 is now on 165/80/13.

 

I wonder what difference it will make to the diameter and will 165/70 fill the wheel arch. Also I guess the gearing is quite low so you don’t want it significantly lower.

[purplebargeken]

I'm useless at this tyre size crap

[MrBiscuits]

Isn't the profile just the height of the sidewall as a percentage of the width? I always thought so anyway. In that case the 185s would be 8.5mm shallower.

 

I doubt that makes much difference to the rolling circumference or how they look.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I think to keep the same overall radius you should go for 175/70 13's.

I also know that if you put 185/60 13's on a 3.0 GXL Crapi the speedo will show 140........ Just before it seizes.

 

One of my pet hates is incorrect looking tyres ,especially on old cars- all those Escorts with RS Ally's and ultra low profile 13's make me shudder.

[captain_70s]

I run 155/80/13s on both my cars and have never had an issues regards lack of grip, hell I can't even spin the wheels on a dry road in the 1300!

 

When I first got it the 1300 was wearing a random assortment of 155/75/13 tyres from makes I'd never heard of which had decent tread but were 7 years old, I fitted a set of Uniroyal RainExperts and the change was phenomenal. All of a sudden it cornered and stopped and didn't feel like it was going to fall over on every bend in the road and you could pull away on a damp road without the wheels furiously spinning. Even in stock size decent tyres will make a world of difference and even the 90bhp 1850 handles find on the skinny rubber.

[fordperv]

The circumference of the 80 profile is 1816.5 mm where as the 70 is 1763.1mm this equates to a 3% difference on the indicated speed so at 30 you would be doing nearly 31

[Six-cylinder]

I fitted a set of Uniroyal RainExperts and the change was phenomenal.

I put these on my Visa and I agree they worked very well but wore very quickly and I have replaced the front ones after only 9,00 miles