The Autoshite spec Triumph thread

[Tamworthbay]

A nice box of parts arrived yesterday. I couldn't resist the temptation of a car that could be easily moved so fitted the slave cylinder at about 8pm last night, also did the air filter as I had taken the housing off to check which one it needed. A quick bleed of the slave cylinder and all is good. Looking forward to a darn good fettle over the weekend.

[purplebargeken]

Brilliant! The Mitsu is actually already loaded with Dremel sized wire brushes, cleaning products of various flavours, headlights and a coil (just because).

 

Looking forward to seeing the Dolly in the metal. 

[Tamworthbay]

There is plenty to do still, I have just done a little work on one of the rear arches and fitted the petrol cap which arrived today. What time are you planning on getting here Ken?

[purplebargeken]

I hope to depart the North London wasteland around 7am. 

[purplebargeken]

Looks like its around 118 miles each way.

[Tamworthbay]

So guessing around 9-9.30?

[purplebargeken]

Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Is that ok with you?

[Tamworthbay]

Perfect for me,I usually get a brew on and start around 9. What sort of thing do you like for lunch?

[purplebargeken]

Lunch? Very decent of you Sir.

 

Am happy with anything mate. Not fussy at all.

[Tamworthbay]

Got to look after the workers mate, it's hungry work fiddling about with these old motors. I run on cups of tea and a well placed sarnie or plate of chips.

[purplebargeken]

Gotta laugh, I don't drink tea or coffee 

 

I am a bit of a disgrace lol

 

 

As a kid I was told that I should have my own cow hehehe.

[Tamworthbay]

The fridge is always stocked with milk, Coke, orange juice and there is always council pop......

 

I never drank tea as a kid, I alway drank milk and still do in the morning and at night. I can't touch coffee, it gives me migraines.

[purplebargeken]

I drank so much milk as a kid and still do to an extent that my surgeon commented on how bloody hard my bones were lol.

 

The liquid contained within your fridge sounds just perfect mate

 

Thank you

[Tamworthbay]

Lol I am similar, when I was on steroids for several years due to arthritis they kept doing bone density scans. The consultant was amazed that I never had to go on calcium supplements but I was on a couple of pints of milk a day so I guess that did the trick!

[Tamworthbay]

Getting ready for a good days fettling, the dolomite probably hasn't seen this much attention in years.

 

[Tamworthbay]

Ken turned up with the sun shining behind him and we set to on a fettle session. A very productive few hours has seen several jobs done and others worked out or started. We found out that the previous owner was a spring fetishist - the carb had four return springs on the throttle, we found out that with a minor adjustment a pinto thermostat housing gasket fits a dolomite and we found out that the previous owner had a love of wood screws. Overall everything looks very good and with a bit more time and effort she will be a cracking car.

 

A massive thank you goes to Ken for driving up and helping me today and bringing the much needed headlights with him as well a supply of other essential items which made life much easier.

[purplebargeken]

It was a great day today. Lovely weather and a fairly hassle free drive up north'ish. 

 

Clive is a sound chap and has a lovely family who oddly appear rather old car friendly    Little puppy Daisy was soooo cuuuute. Nearly considered dog napping 

 

It was lovely fettling with what will be a rather tidy little Dolly. The engine runs beautifully and will do even better with some fresh oil and so on. The 1300 engines are little gems.

 

No sheared bolts hindered us in the work that we did and we had a bit of a surprise moment when we discovered that the lower front valance and T piece were fibreglass. No rust issues there!  The only real downside was how many bloody wood screws the PO or whoever had used and how badly aligned it was. Bloody muppets. Still, none of it is out of Clive's skill base. The important bit will be the MOT obv. 

 

Apart from the rear arches, a couple of bits on the sills and front wings, the car is actually a very solid thing. The interior is very clean indeed That steering wheel is simply lovely and was admired by a passing TR owner. 

 

The cooling system was a nice easy task, just a couple of hoses required and a brass radiator plug. The amount of crud that came out was simply amazing. Still, it is about a 1000 times better now. The amount of wood screws left in a pile was impressive. If anyone needs some springs then Clive is the bloke to contact. God knows what drugs were being taken atthe time but this was total spring overkill. Clive said thatthe throttle pedal was a little firm. Now I know why

 

Belting little car and I look forward to seeing it progress. A 10/10 day to be sure. 

[Tamworthbay]

Squeezed another couple of hours this morning, the bloody primer filler wouldn't go off and I ended up getting drags, then issues with the spray gun so rear arch looks a bit rough still and will need a lot of time still. On the plus side I have sorted a couple of electrical gremlins while I waited for stuff to go off. I now have indicators on both sides, rear right was a dodgy earth as predicted by Ken, the brake lights was even simpler- whoever fitted the new brake light switch has lost the adjuster nut so it wasn't switching. I made a spacer out of an old spacer from a bookcase of all things and it works perfectly now. I also sorted the front light but needs work to get the grill in as something isn't quite right but ran out of time so it will have to wait. It only needs a bit of welding on one side and the other rear arch sorting and will be ready for the MoT but weather forecast is terrible this week and I have a couple of busy weekends coming up so progress will slow.

[purplebargeken]

It is nice when simple fixes occur. 

 

99.9999999999999999998% of all* Triumph lighting woes are down to dodgy earths. 

 

Well done that man.

[Tamworthbay]

Would have been a sod to do with the parcel shelf in and having the tunnel out also helped, I am not as flexible as I used to be! The indicator was a bit odd as the cluster earth was ok but the indicator wasn't earthing for some reason. I just ran a second earth and all is good. I don't enjoy electrics most of the time but it was simply a job of tracing through and using a bit of knowledge and it's not hard. Gently raining now so won't be doing much else today. Still have a few little jobs to do but will depend on the weather this week.

 

I tried to get the headlight surround out but it's riveted in as well as the adjusters, no idea if they are handed or not but I just ended up putting the new one in and it seems ok. There are little brackets on the back to locate it but they are on the wrong side. Maybe I should just try to turn the whole bowl upside down.

[purplebargeken]

I've never known the headlights to be handed. I'll have a look at the other two I have and take a piccie to compare. Maybe the bowl was in upside down. 

[Tamworthbay]

I've never known the headlights to be handed. I'll have a look at the other two I have and take a piccie to compare. Maybe the bowl was in upside down.

 

I have searched and searched and now 100% sure they aren't handed, based on the other things we found yesterday I believe it's far more likely to have simply been put in wrong.

[purplebargeken]

LOL, you could well be correct. 

 

You really are getting into this Dolomite malarkey

[purplebargeken]

Really, really wish I hadn't been talked into selling my TR Toledo

[Tamworthbay]

LOL, you could well be correct. 

 

You really are getting into this Dolomite malarkey

after waiting over twenty years to get one I have really got the bug, and I have only driven it up and down the drive so far!

[Tamworthbay]

Played 'how to fix a dolomite whilst it's hailing' tonight but managed to get a couple of bits done in between the delightful summer weather. I have drained the gearbox oil, well it's draining - will leave overnight as had to do it cold unfortunately. Yet again the removeable tunnel makes life soooooo easy. The oil that came out was disgusting as only old transmission oil can be. Then I took a look at the dodgy window regulator on the rear passenger door. If you didn't know how to get the winder off you would never guess. Once off I used my door trim removal tool (fancy pliers) to good effect. The regulator shaft is just a bit rusty so I applied a load of plusgas and will give it a good working tomorrow and see if that sorts it. Then the heavens opened so I have to give up for today.

[Tamworthbay]

Sorted the insurance, cost me a massive £54 for the year.

[Isaac Hunt]

Check careful the spec of the oil for the gearbox, some of the modern stuff is not recommended for older gearboxes, something to do with additives and phosphor bronze. I forget the detail and have to check every time I'm near 70's technology

 

 

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[Tamworthbay]

Check careful the spec of the oil for the gearbox, some of the modern stuff is not recommended for older gearboxes, something to do with additives and phosphor bronze. I forget the detail and have to check every time I'm near 70's technology

 

 

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I have come across this before and always use Comma oil, I checked the spec before and all seems good. Getting decent quality mineral gear oil is all but impossible these days.

[purplebargeken]

Any bits planned for this weekend other than the gearbox oil?