Dolomite SE all finished... For now!

[greengartside]

Hmm, that rear bumper mid section looks better than mine

 

If you are going anywhere near with a large tin of PlusGas and some spanners

 

Jumbo tin of PlusGas needed...I'll see if I can have a crack at it when I'm down there next.

[trigger]

Some photos taken earlier today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's now currently looking like this, hopefully tomorrow after work I'll get some primer on it.

 

[purplebargeken]

Gets worse before it gets better mate

[Guest Breadvan72]

I really do like this car.  Uber rare in that spec, I should imagine.  Hope you get the body etc sorted. Top find!

[trigger]

Cheers BV. I believe there's any about 21 SE's left known to the owners club. The SE being the only Triumph saloon made with factory black paint.

 

Work on this is still progressing, my replacement grill arrived yesterday, sadly the bloke has sent the wrong side though! I've spoke to him and he's sending the right one out and told me to keep the wrong one so that's a result.

 

Tonight I plan on finishing flatting the primer on the rear arch and masking it up painting tomorrow.

 

[purplebargeken]

[trigger]

I'll get some better photos at some point but I've painted the offside now and it's looking pretty awesome even if I say so myself.

 

 

And now I've made a start on the scabby wheel arch on the other side.

 

 

Meanwhile my alternator is playing up as when the lights are on and it's running they flicker all the time, with a multimeter on the battery it charges at a steady 14.6v yet if you unplug the alternator the lights are perfect again until I plug it back in.

 

The local motor factors have offered to test it for me for free but have said it's possibly a poor earth on the car. I've dropped it off with them today to see what they come back with though.

 

[Bear]

Does the flicker go away if you run a jump lead from the -ve on the battery and the engine block somewhere?

[trigger]

I don't know to be honest as I never did any more testing!

[danthecapriman]

Good progress. Your painting looks good!

[trigger]

Thank you. TBH without blowing my own trumpet I'm really pleased with how good the paintwork and repairs have come out, they are pretty much perfect!

[Timewaster]

Thank you. TBH without blowing over my own trumpet I'm really pleased with how good the paintwork and repairs have come out,!

Better?

[purplebargeken]

Trig, check the 2 earths, one on the turret by the coil and the one at the end of the battery neg cable. Triumphs = keep your earthing points sound

 

Maybe also give the connector a blast with some electrical contact cleaner spray. You never know. 

[purplebargeken]

I have a new alternator here if you want it/need it.

[Pillock]

I seem to have missed most of this since purchase, that's looking absolutely cracking... Well done Triggster.

 

Lights flickering sounds like the alternator needs a refurb, if the voltage is up and down your multimeter probably won't react quick enough to see it.

[Anglevan]

Well done trigs you are doing a grand job. Makes me feel rather embarrassed that I still haven't got my Marina on the road yet.

You're showing me up at the speed of your workings especially given you have a little un on the way.

[trigger]

Cheers guys! I must say I'm really enjoying myself on this!

 

I took the alternator to the local motor factors to be tested and they found that the voltage was fine but the ampage was all over the place, something he hadn't seen before and said it wasn't worth repairing so I bought a new one for £50, it seems to have fixed the fault although with both the lights and hazard lights on the inteior light flickers but I can live with that for now, it's probably a earth somewhere.

 

Meanwhile I've repaired that scabby wheel arch from the other day which looks much better now.

 

 

This sticker will make it go faster.

 

 

I've ground down the rust underneith, it's surprisingly solid considering. I've since treated it with Kurust and red oxide.

 

 

 

I need to replace this tie bar bush as it looks knackered and the rear axle doesn't quite feel right.

 

 

 

I've also found this *great repair someones done with bodyfiller. I'll get my mate to patch that for me.

 

 

I'm currently painting the wheels ready for the new tyres to be fitted on Wednesday so I'll hopefully get some better photos then.

[cort16]

It's looking good. The worry comes when the sills and floors are rotten but the worst bits seem to be reasonably localised.

[purplebargeken]

Brilliant progress mate. 

[trigger]

I made a quick video yesterday after fitting the alternator to show to a mate, hopefully this works...

 

https://youtu.be/8VP2d-L-duI

[Noel Tidybeard]

try having alook at battery light to see what bulb wattage is- if it is a 1.2A change it for a 2A which has the effect of making the alternator charge form lower rpm (old trick for curing flickering bat light in minimetros )

[Rusty_Rocket]

Body & paint looks stunning in that vid, Trig!!!

[purplebargeken]

The car does look like a cracker in the vid! 

 

The flickering could well be down to earths, check the two I mentioned in the previous post. There is also one earth point on each sidelight unit. It literally is a bit of folded metal and a bullet connector. There are a couple of earth points from the rear light clusters, again a small bolt and an O connector. Check and clean each bullet connector in turn. This should sort any problem out. Might be worthwhile giving the bulb holders a clean too. Nothing major but strangely satisfying

[purplebargeken]

The SE has to be the nicest looking of the whole range in all honesty. Although I would have preferred the 1300 engine. I love those little things

[trigger]

It's funny you say that, I discovered the other day that they did make 3 1300SE prototypes.

 

 

 

 

I must admit, I love the colour of this one.

[Skizzer]

Massive progress, that's looking great.  Can't wait for more photos with the wheels done.  Hats off to you Trig.

[Hertz]

Superb work, reminds me of the first wheeler dealer series where Ed did everything himself. Top marks!

[trigger]

So today I finished doing the wheels, they were bad, i spent several long dusty hours de-rusting them with a wire wheel and grinder before painting them with Kurust, then priming and painting them.

 

 

I done the insides with Hammerite Silver Wheels.

 

 

I'm not 100% happy with them, the colour is a bit too silver and they are a bit pitted but other than shot blasting and powder coating them this was so good as i was going to get.

 

 

I got the new Yokos fitted this morning for £40 as well as part worn Pirelli fitted on the rear (This cost me £25, only £10 less than the brand new Yokos, lesson learned there).

 

The chrome trim rings are shot to bits and really need replacing, I had a go on them with aluminum foil and diet coke with did amazingly work to get the worse of them before finishing with Autosol. I need to find replacement though.

 

 

 

I also gave the dash a quick polish with some Pedge.

 

 

I've painted the underside with some Hammerite Underseal so that now looks much smarter and hides up the rust repairs.

 

You can see the new alternator here, I really have a issue with the brakes though if any of you can help, I've rebuilt the master cylinder with a new kit, bleed them front and rear so there's no air in the system but the pedal is still really spongy and just feels shite, the "BRAKE" light on the dash is also on all the time, could it be the bias valve causing the problems or the does the servo need rebuilding?.

 

 

I'll get a better photo if you like tomorrow with it outside, It's looking good though, I'm really pleased with the progress still.

 

 

Next job will be getting my mate round with his welder so that i can finish the front end.

[RobT]

New tyres and painted wheels set that off a treat. The interior also looks a pleasant set up, fluffy carpets and wood FTW.

[nacho man]

That looks proper ace. Great work.

 

 

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