|
|
Jan 16, 2012 11:31:20 GMT
|
Hello all, I've been lurking RR for some time and thought it's about time to post my own project. My name is Rico, I'm a 24 year old student and I live in Holland. Ever since I bought my first Mini, I've had a thingy for classic British cars. Being a total noob I tried to save one wreck after another for the past five years, and learned. Today I finally have my own shed and enough knowledge to have a slight idea of what I'm doing Didn't keep a thread from the beginning, so I'll try to show from the beginning to today with a lot of pics and not so much blabla It all started when I found some abandoned Dolomite 1850 HL on the internet in 2008, went to pick it up the same day. In the end I got it running and even did a small test drive, but it turned out to be rotten to the core. At that time I didn't have any welding skills or money, so I planned to sell it until this happened: After loads of fun, trouble and costs I sold all of em and went back to Mini's. Until in early 2009 I found a huge bargain 1980 Dolly 1850 for only 300 euro's. This was my first serious project, I removed the engine, did some welding to the chassis legs, even drove it all the way through Europe in the summer of 2009. When the engine's big end worn out right after, this car was laid to rest for a year before I found a free engine, swapped, MOT'd and sold the car last year. By this time I had found this threads subject. A rotten Pimento Red 1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint Will show it in the next post =) Hope you enjoy reading and watching. I've loads of pictures so please ask if you want to see anything!
|
|
-1974 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5a - White -1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Red -1979 Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL - Red
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2012 12:06:01 GMT
|
|
|
-1974 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5a - White -1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Red -1979 Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL - Red
|
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2012 12:15:05 GMT
|
Hi Rico, good to see you over here. (Oli from the TDC) I had wondered what happened to your yellow Dolly after the terminal engine diagnosis... Nice to see you've got another! Not sure how much the postage would be on some GRP panels from Alun to Holland...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2012 12:21:23 GMT
|
Hi Oli, good to see you here too! Yellow Dolly is being restored at the moment! Not by me though =) The progress I'm posting right now is from August 2010. I should have noted that more clearly. I'll be catching up to date the next days The car is on it's way back to the road, it'll be a few more months though.
|
|
-1974 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5a - White -1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Red -1979 Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL - Red
|
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2012 13:59:29 GMT
|
Hi Rico, the Dolomite Sprint is one of my long time favourites! Not too many to be seen, at least around here Didn't you also have a yellow Scimitar? I seem to remember a video on youtube.
|
|
Citroën DS 21 '66, Renault 16 TS '73, Scimitar GTE '74, Audi 80 '87, Merc 190E '88, Peugeot 205 GTI '88, BMW 735iL '89, Merc 230TE '89 , BMW 320i '92
|
|
Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
|
|
Jan 16, 2012 15:57:42 GMT
|
I love Dollys as well, I wish I had an excuse to buy either that or a Giulia (type 105)! I'll follow your work very very closely
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2012 20:21:27 GMT
|
I grew up with Dolomites including Sprints - I think I'll have one at some point. We had a Yellow dolly like your old one, and pretty sure we had a red one too.
Keep it up!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2012 22:43:20 GMT
|
hezekiel, yeah you're right! Also that one is in further restoration elsewhere at the moment, I replaced it with a good condition white one =) Here's some more from late August 2010 when I did a little test drive to see what technical work was to be done to the car. Quickly, a rattle in the engine came up. To date I still have no idea what it is, compression, oil usage, valve clearance, chain spanner all seem in fine condition. Also the engine fails to idle under 1200 rpm, replaced the entire ignition system and cleaned and ajusted carbs a million times. Car runs great in all other circumstances though. Like any other Sprint, this one also suffers from overheating problems, the Kenlowe fan doesn't seem to succeed curing that. The water pump also turned out to be leeking because the car had been in storage for over a year when I bought it. So 2 months later I got this: Then I started working again. Some stuff that I found was so nasty that I lost courage and the resto kind of stranded. Concentrated on other projects and moving to another house (with garage ;D) took about a year of the Dolly's life standing on some parking lot. In this time I used to test drive it sometimes on the University campus.
|
|
Last Edit: Jan 16, 2012 22:50:13 GMT by riconijhof
-1974 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5a - White -1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Red -1979 Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL - Red
|
|
ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,256
Club RR Member Number: 170
|
|
|
I do like the Sprints. It seems you are well and truly bitten by the Dolly Bug . British cars really do get under your skin eh? Quite a few of them can overheat due to the water pump being incorrectly shimmed (most people will whack on the thickest gasket when as a matter of fact the thinnest gasket is all they need), in addition to the correct thermostat being required (the latter may be more of a Stag issue). I suffered from a voltage regulator issue which an IR thermometer showed me . Always great to see panels getting rescued from their remains although I can appreciate it is not always easy to do so. I am quite enjoying looking at how the car is turning out and you can be sure I shall be keeping an eye on this .
|
|
Last Edit: Jan 17, 2012 0:21:31 GMT by ChasR
|
|
|
|
|
I really like your collection of past triumph. sprint is real nice too, i look forward to your project.
I always remember reading in magazine, engines run on air and air doesnt go down ignition system or wires! if it idle too high it is sucking too much air, you have a leak.
do I remember right the sprint engine use camshaft running directly ontop of inlet valves, then run exhaust from rocker fingers ? (or opposite way round) knocking sound maybe rocker shaft warn, binding even when clearances are good.
|
|
Last Edit: Jan 17, 2012 9:57:57 GMT by darrenh
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2012 18:21:56 GMT
|
ChasR, you're right, even though a reconditioned water pump was fitted the engine still overheats. I have cleaned all water channels in the last few weeks, and I'm planning to improve the cooling system as a whole. darrenh, thanks, I checked the entire inlet for air leaks. I suspect the carburettor damper piston bore is worn and let's and uneven air flow escape through the sides. You're right about the cam setups, I will re-check the rocker shaft =)
|
|
-1974 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5a - White -1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Red -1979 Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL - Red
|
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2012 19:27:57 GMT
|
|
|
-1974 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5a - White -1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Red -1979 Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL - Red
|
|
8tee8
Part of things
Posts: 288
|
|
Jan 17, 2012 19:37:40 GMT
|
Will you be keeping the chequered roof?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2012 19:38:11 GMT
|
Wow it's great (if a little surprising) to see a non-British Triumph getting some love. Good find on the shell too, I guess if the paint is good and you like the colour you could have even saved money as well as a huge amount of time. One question though, why a Triumph? I wouldn't say a Dolly Sprint is an obvious choice even here.
|
|
I've got Rovers.
|
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2012 19:38:27 GMT
|
WOW, bargain price for that body! Alleen dat schaakbord op het dak kan niet
|
|
Click picture for more
|
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2012 21:21:16 GMT
|
Haha, my personal choice wouldn't be a chequered roof, but I must admit it started to grow on me. I will be fitting Sprint wheels powdercoated in black and white to suit the roof. The shade of red is unfortunately also a bit towards pink. But hell, it was a bargain and the quality of the paintjob is great. It came with bills that said the painiting of the chequered roof only costed near 1000 euro's. sam, I don't know. There's something I really like about the Italian design combined with the British feel to it. I think they were actually pretty smart and luxurious cars for their time, besides they're different. Here's a small list of plans I made for the car, some modifications are already present: -Electrical water pump and controller combined with a Kenlowe fan to replace the original pump unit and thermostat. -Electric fuel pump. (done) -Flowed head with K&N filters. (done) -Yokohama A539 tyres on white/black restored Sprint wheels. (done) -Fully adjustable height and stiffness suspension. (needs a good clean and inspection) -Janspeed sports exhaust system. (needs tidying up) -Steel braided brake hose upgrade. (done) -Oil cooler and thermostat. -Modern fuse box. -Re-chroming bumpers. -Fully polybushed suspension. (after rebuild) -Second fully reconditioned and tuned engine. (after rebuild) -Aluminium radiator (shortly after rebuild)
|
|
-1974 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5a - White -1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Red -1979 Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL - Red
|
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2012 21:41:49 GMT
|
Sounds like it's getting the works I agree on them being smart for the time. I remember reading that when the engineers got the first test engines, they had them running reliably at 170bhp in bench testing! They set a more modest target of 135bhp for production, and aimed to call it the Dolomite 135. But, it was made in Britain, so production could only manage 127bhp . I like the name 'Sprint' better than '135' anyway.
|
|
I've got Rovers.
|
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2012 13:07:40 GMT
|
|
|
-1974 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5a - White -1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Red -1979 Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL - Red
|
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2012 13:42:55 GMT
|
|
|
Last Edit: Jan 19, 2012 13:43:40 GMT by riconijhof
-1974 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5a - White -1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Red -1979 Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL - Red
|
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2012 15:03:56 GMT
|
Loving this! Thanks for posting. Great luck with that shell, and I actually like that roof - maybe unsurprisingly.
|
|
|
|
|