1974 Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Outside...

Didn't get much done today - pulled off the front bumper for no good reason and also removed all the badges.

Did get another coat on the bonnet though and tested a (just sprayed, hence the shine!) matching spraycan on a ready-to-go area to see what kind of finish I get compared to the roller. All I have to do is wait for it to dry!



I'm likin' it, so far.... those two dents in the bonnet in that rough patch - that's from when two sparkplugs tried to make a break for freedom ;D War wounds! Sometimes people don't pay enough attention putting plugs in, cross thread them, then they consequently escape...

Tomorrow I think I should get serious and pull off all the trim, rip of all the vinyl and start prepping it - as well as giving it all a really good wash so it's clean and ready to go That way I can start piling on paint when I get the chance.

Actually pretty good! It's still taxed till March and MOT'd till April!

I poked around and have only found one very minor hole that requires patching, on the passenger underside of the sill. The rest of it, including the chassis rails, looks to have been well protected.

I will probably get that attended to (along with one other bit of slighty furry looking metal at the front edge of the same sill) by a professional, or maybe have a go myself. Learnin' time!

There's some other minor blebs here and there so I've got some Kurust convertor and will prep, paint, prime and protect it all in due course

Looking good mate! bonnet looks good for a roller job.. what are you painting it with?

More progress!
Firstly, excuse the quality of the photography. By the time I got around to taking any pics it was half past three and already getting pitch black!

Anyway, to do it properly, all the trim's got to come off. I removed all the chrome edging strips and door trims. Now I've just got the rear bumper to go but it requires jacking up so I can get the towbar off too - weight saving!



I also spent what felt like an hour painstakingly removing the coach lines from the car, much nicer without.

The rear vinyl pillar trims had not suffered the tests of time well; if I'm honest I've never really liked the vinyl much either. I prefer the clean, unblemished look of the earlier cars (like my old 1500) without the chrome as they seem to show their shape better and look sharper.

Consequently, I pulled them off ;D



.......exposing the usual corrosion points behind. Vinyl makes a good rust trap, when it's not in great condition as these were.

I washed it, sanded it all down, cleaned it with thinners and let it dry. Then, to convert the rust to a safe, paintable material I sloshed some Kurust on it.



You can just see it starting to 'blue' here, indicating the rust is converted to 'safe' metal.



To check I really did like the look I was going for, I masked up the front wing roughly and with a can of matching spraypaint, ran a few quick guide coats over (still wet in the shots):





.....and I do like it, so that's definitely the look I'll be rolling out soon!



Less is more!

So, tomorrow, I'll finish removing the vinyl from the roof and start prepping in earnest. Today I just ran a knife around the trapped bits so I can pull the whole shooting match off but it requries preheating to soften the adhesives a bit (you can see in some of the shots where I've ripped bits off as a test!).

I'll also see if I can find the neater drop-down chrome rear as seen on the 1500 and fit it to my Sprint - not a fan of the 'wraparound' section under the tail lights, looks a bit messy.

I also think most of the chrome will be blacked out but I may photoshop that before I do it!

Blaaaaaaaaaack!

good luck lewis, may i suggest a different colour for the roof? a nice deep metallic purple would look the dogs knob ;D

Update!!!!!

You should be able to buy some 'label remover' type stuff in a stationary shop or similar. Essentially it'll break the glue down so it'll be wiped off. Or white spirit of course!

Looking good, keep it up!

Had a bit of an odd one today. Realised that my prep on the roof was nowhere near adequate for paint (did a few test patches and was not impressed with the results) so that's now tomorrows task, get it really flat and smooth. Despite using spirits, sanding and scraping, there's still pits, bits of glue and roughness in patches.


(The primer was just to cover some bare metal, I later tried some satin on it)

I then proceeded to get into an argument with my roller and paint tray, for some reason the paint's acting up and not going on well and it also doesn't seem to be covering much ground. Consequently I got bored and just hit the spraycans - it's still wet in most of these shots but gets the idea across:


(Maybe.....)









Really impressed with the mileage I'm getting out of the Halfords satin sprays, so I'm kinda inclined to just do the whole damned thing in it now and save my paint for internal panels and detail work, or bulking areas out. You get a nice smooth finish as well, provided you prep the surface to a suitable standard. Maybe I'm just more comptent with spray than I am brush, I just can't repeat the result I had on the bonnet at the moment.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to prep every panel well, mask everything up and get it all good and clean so I can just get a rattle on with the cans. I also did some 'crossover' tests today on previously sprayed satin, to see how easily you can blend between the panels so I'll find out the results of that tomorrow.

I still need to take the windscreen out.

I also still need to take the rear bumper and hitch off.

Must prep everything really well......it's all in the prep! It's boring and unrewarding but I just have to get it done so I can move on with any effectiveness. Just bumbled around too much today.

Tell you what though - it's black. Turn off the lights and the satin parts just.....evaporate into nothingness!

Good view through the Webasto too:

Noooooooooooooooo
don't do it,i think i will scream if i see another car ruined by spraying it satin/mat black.
why do people spend ages repairing their cars in all weathers then cop out when it comes to paint!
Sorry for the rant but their are paint suppliers that can put any colour of paint you want in arosol form so why paint it black ,red always looks good when freshly painted.