For the latest update ( 8th Feb 2012) scroll down to the bottom of the page.
March 2011
Work has quietly been happening around the Triumph for some weeks now. The first job on the agenda was to replace those rusty sills. The Drivers side was started first with a new set of replacement panels coming in from one of the big Triumph dealers.
It's easy to moan when the quality of panels isn't too good but to be honest sometimes you have to take the viewpoint that you're lucky to be able to get any panels in the first place. The outer sills that arrived were usable but you could see that they were largely hand made and I did wonder if we might have problems with them.
One thing that we could see would be a problem was that the surrounding body work around the sills. There was a real danger that too much steel could be removed at one go and then the body shell could possibly distort. To avoid this the door posts were braced before the outer sill was removed.
The outer sill although rusted put up a real fight when it came to removal. 1970'S Triumphs were constructed using cheap steel fro Russia and so have a reputation for becoming weakened through corrosion. On the plus side, these cars seem to always be heavily engineered and make modern cars appear to be made from baking foil. The hundreds of spot welds all had to b located and drilled out one by one.
Once off, the center sill was also removed on a similar way. For the inner sill, I decided to repair what was there rather than go for replacement on the basis that full sill removal would seriously weaken the car and was unnecessary anyway.
Rusty sill structure- the bit you don't usually see.
On removal of the centre sill, I found that the inner sill section was very badly rusted at either end due to water getting in through the wheel arches, The jacking point at either end were hardly there as well but enough remained of the structure for me to measure up and fabricate new sections. The area was then treated with layers of anti rust paint and the new centre sill trial fitted.
At this point I took a good look over the work and was concerned to see that the inner sill section had shifted slightly whilst under repair. The welds were fine and all the adjacent panels still fitted in position but it didn't look right. There was nothing for it but to cut out the repairs at one end and re-do it again at cost to the company. Just occasionally this sort of thing can occur.
Jacking point and sill end. This was actually the front jacking point and the rear inner sill repair together for a photograph.
Now aware that the extreme end of the sill was capable of moving slightly, the area was further braced and measured before repair number 2 was fabricated and fitted. This time it all looked so much better and I was able to move onto fitting the centre and outer sills.
Sill Trial fit.
The fitting of the centre sill was quite straight forward however the outer sill proved to be a nightmare. With the outer sill positioned and clamped into position the doors were re-fitted to check for even gaps. I had expected the gap between the top of the sill and the base of the doors to be wider than before. This was because the new sill did not have the pressed in recessed for the bases of the door posts to snugly fit into. Far worse than this though was that the rear door would no longer shut. What had I done?
Doors in the right place but with a poor fit to the sills.
After a whole day spent re positioning the doors and the center door post to achieve correct gap. I discovered that the new sill actually went up-hill at the back. The black marker pen in the blurred photograph above shows how the sill should have run. Always check the basic stuff first!
Dodgy door gaps after shifting everything around trying to get an even gap between the sill and the doors.
Now that I know of this fault I've been able to re-position all the other panels back to where they were originally and mark out where the new outer sill needs modifying.
At least if I encounter the same problems the other side I will know what to do. With problems such as this it's not really possible to blame anyone ( except maybe myself for assuming a hand made sill will be straight) and therefore cannot charge for the hours spent working the problems out. It is all good for putting down to experience.
I'm looking forward to seeing this one running. The last one that we restored really turned heads in the high street.
Wednesday 5th January 2011
Months ago we sent our 1970,s Triumph Dolomite Sprint away to be blast cleaned. There was a bit of a rush on before Christmas and so the body shell had been put to one side by the blasters until they could find time to get the job done.
The car was scheduled to return on the 6th January but the weather didn't look too good and as Steve had his truck in anyway to transport One of our Rover projects we made an executive decision to collect the Sprint at the same time.
The car came back just as it was getting dark outside and literally moments before the heavens opened. Mark used his fork lift to get the deceptively heavy shell off of the truck and onto the trolley which saved a few bad backs I can tell you.
In the light of the workshop the first impressions were that there were quite a few holes. One or two were unusual but most of the corrosion was fairly typical for any 1970's British Leyland product. We had assumed already that at least one front wing would be going so the nasty hole isn't too much of a problem.
What is a constant thorn with these cars is that although quite highly rated by enthusiasts, they have a low value compared to other classics which means that not enough are being restored. The knock on effect is that not enough spare parts are being made and the original spares stock is dwindling.
Sadie our resident Dolly expert is already scouring the Internet looking for those elusive panels.
Project : Dolomite.
Fitting a full length sliding sunroof. 8/2/12
The next best thing to a full convertible I like to think is the full length sliding fabric sunroof as fitted to scores of motoring brands right up until the eighties. I'm fairly sure that Triumph offered the sunroof for the Dolomite Sprint but in any case this Sprint did not have one from new. Fairly early on in the project the owner and I hatched a plan to fit one and in due course a suitable example was located on eBay.
It's not so much second hand as second-second hand judging from the amount of abandoned fixing holes in the support frame but it's still quite serviceable.
The stripping down of the fabric roof, still fitted to the remains of an Escort Mexico roof, the careful marking out and cutting of the roof has so far taken five hours. Hopefully from here it's down hill as the initial loose assembly gets underway tomorrow.
Using the old roof to check my measurements
Sunroof laid across the hole to see how it looks. Pleased that it didn't fall through....
Slightly home made looking inner supports after cleaning and painting
Raw edges treated after the roof came off
Hole it the roof..
The Re-spray
Most of the paint work on this car was done in house and now that it's so shiny you begin to forget the gaping holes and rust that the car had hidden away when it arrived. The photograph below is looking at a hole where the front passenger feet would normally be.
The car just back from getting an oven baked clear coat and polish to finish the job off nicely.
Shiny car.
Prepped for the final coats. The car as it looked when it was sent away to be finished.
Rainy day when the car came home.
The refit is now well underway. There's loads to do. Currently most of my work is on getting the doors built up and the trim on the car. There's less chance of damage of loss that way. Windscreen wipers wiring and the dashboard are also to be fitted at this early stage.
Painting the fuel tank
Panel before trim fitting
Same panel after trim. How much better it looks.
Boot area with parts loose fitted
New spares to go on in due course.
Section of roof trim with part of the roof inside still. This car was really rusty in places.
