Dragging the Dolomite into the 21st century

Just installed a couple of Christmas presents into the Dolomite this afternoon. Some good old fashioned pod speakers in the corners of the front parcel shelf to compliment the rear pods I fitted a few weeks ago, which suit the cars age. 

However the other accessory is a bit more this century, a Pioneer Radio/ media player. Allows me to plug in and play tunes from my iPhone and iPod controlling them from the head unit or even plug in a USB stick. Definitely not very 70s but at least my iPhone and iPod have some good old 70s tunes in thier library!

White Lion Breakfast Meet

Went along to the White Lion Breakfast Classic Car Meet today in the GT6. Always a nice varied selection of Classics everything from Jags, to MGs, To Replica Bugattis to a Deloreon. I recognised a White Dolly 1500 that parked next to my GT6 as a car that had parked next to me outside the Auto Factors in Camberley a couple of months back. Turns out that the owner David only lives about 1/2 mile away from me and he recognised my GT6 and knew I also had a 1500 Dolly as he'd seen it parked on my driveway.... He's owned the car since the 80s and it looks pretty tidy, it's up fro sale at the moment if anyone is looking for a Dolomite give me a shout and I'll put you in touch.

Back to the Future?

Saw this Rusty MG Driving through the town yesterday with the Kids, looks rough but sounds sweet and it's got a bit of rally motorsport in it's history.

Saw these Bugatti replicas a couple of years back when they dropped into the Club Triumph National day at Hollycombe steam museum.



OK Not a classic Car I know but it's certainly a classic bike, chopped Matchless Twin, very 70s...

This Anglia was very tasty, it's got a Lotus Twin Cam Engine

"Log" Music and the RBRR

It's been a bit of a lonely journey when I've used the "Flying Log" for work recently as it had no radio fitted. I have a nice Pioneer Media Player with full ipod/iphone control coming for Christmas but as a temporary fix I've found an old Phillips Radio Cassette Player I used to have fitted to the GT6. So I now have "Log Music" available.  Not that I have much in the way of cassettes anymore in this CD/MP3/iTunes  age but at least it's got a decent radio. The other good thing it's an ISO fitting so in installing it I've got all the connections and hardware in place ready for an easy swap to my new media player on Christmas day :-) .

I finished off the installation with a pair of Radiomobile 3 way POD type speakers that look pretty retro and in keeping with the car.

The other important bit of news about the "Flying Log" is that my entry went in the post for the Club Triumph Round Britain Run last night. the intention is to use the Dolomite, Paul "Bodders" Bodiam is co- driving for "Team Log". This time around the charity being supported is Macmillan Cancer Support so I'll be on the scrounge for sponsorship nearer the time next year...

Dolly Front Parcel shelf back in

My refurbished Parcel Shelf under the Dashboard is now back in the Dolomite and looking good. I've got a modern ISO type Radio mount/shroud in place as well ready for fitting a Radio CD player in due course. needs hovering as a load of dust fell out from under the dash when I was manoeuvring it into place... I'm well happy with the professional looking job I've made of it though..

Dolomite Parcel Shelf Refurbishment and Oil....

The previous owner of the "Flying Log" had replaced the front parcel with one from a Triumph 1300 which is different than the original and not a brilliant fit. He did supply me with the original Dolomite one though which had a warped and split shelf section and damaged front trim strip. It also had a bodged repair with some sheet metal holding it together.

The split shelf was made of textured black hardboard so I decided to make a new one out of hardboard and paint matt black. The front trim strip just needed recovering in black vinyl leathercloth. Fortunately the upright back portions of the parcel shelf which are made of mill board were solid just a bit scuffed so I decided to take the assembly apart and rebuild it.

First thing to do was remove the rivets and take the assembly apart. I used a hacksaw blade to cut through the rivets.

Having removed the rivets I lay the old shelf which had disintegrated into  3 pieces on top of some fresh hardboard and marked out the shape.

It was then a case of cutting a new shelf out with a jigsaw and drilling the various holes for rivets and fixings. I used the front trim and the upright back pieces as templates to ensure I got the holes in the right place.

 I then painted the shelf in 2 coats of Matt Black paint. I also freshened up the rear upright millboard pieces by giving them a coat of matt black paint.

After the paint had dried I assembled the shelf and rear uprights, I used hex cap headed screws where fixings would be visible from inside the car and pop rivets at the rear where it wouldn't be visible.

I then paid attention to the front trim strip removing the Vinyl Leather Cloth Cover material

 

I cut a strip of Vinyl Leathercloth and fixed it along one edge with impact "Evostick" type adhesive. I pegged it in place and allowed the glue to dry fully.

Once dry, I stretched and glued the other edge, again pegging in pace until dry.

Then I timed off the excess Vinyl leathercloth with a scalpel.

Next I Fitted the front trim strip to the shelf with the original screws where screwed and pop rivets in place of the original spilt rivets. pop rivets.

Finally I trimmed the ends of the bar.

Before fitting to the car I'll be fitting a radio housing that I've ordered on ebay to allow a modern DIN type radio CD player to be added. But I'm pleased with the progress so far.

The other jobs I did this weekend was a change of Gearbox and Engine Oil. The previous owner advised me that he had used a 50/50 mix of EP gearbox oil and 20/50 Engine Oil in the gearbox as he reckoned this was better than plain Gearbox oil for an overdrive box. I'm not convinced so I drained this a refilled with fresh EP80 as I understand that from empty EP80 should be used with EP90 for top ups.

I also changed the engine oil for some good quality Valvoline VR1 20/50 oil and a new oil filter.

Clutch fixed at last, but.......

After 3 long sessions of trying to bleed the clutch on the flying log and passing over a litre of fluid through the hydraulic system trying to get the air out, it is at last sorted. I was away a couple of days and I think leaving it to itself for a couple of days allowed the air to work its way to the remote bleed nipple which is the highest point in the system and this afternoon with one manual bleed the pedal pressure came good.

I do have an issue though, whilst bleeding it on Friday, my bottle of hydraulic fluid slipped while trying to top up the master cylinder and I spilt a fair amount of brake fluid on the exhaust. The previous owner had fitted the down pipe with heat reflective exhaust tape which soaked up the spillage and when I started the car there were plumes of steamy smoke as the fluid burnt off. I left the car ticking over for about 20 minutes with the bonnet open to try and burn it all off. That was on Friday. Today I've found that where the steam laden with brake fluid had condensed it had splattered the tops of the wings. I hadn't noticed it at the time as it was raining and there were rain water droplets on the wings beaded by the wax polish, anyway the bad news it has marked the paint on the top of the front wings and a couple of marks below the windscreen too. The bonnet top need a re-paint anyway so looks like I'll have to paint the wing tops and lower screen surround at the same time....

Marks Caused by condensed brake fluid on the wing top. The offside one shown is the worst of the two as it's nearer the exhaust so had more of the fluidy steam condense there.

GT6 Bodywork back to how it should be

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember the little off road excursion that my GT6 had during the 2010 RBRR due to having to take avoiding action against a Stag Deer that ran out in front of us on the A9 in the middle of the night south of Inverness.  This left the rear valance dented and split, the front valances dented and pebble dashed and the front of the sill pebbled dash, not to mention the suspension damage. Add to this the fact that my tailgate, the rear deck below the tail gate and the boot floor had some corrosion the car was in need of a little bodywork repair.

Well 3 years later I've got around to it! The car was last resprayed and had some extensive bodywork back in 2006 and the rest of the body is still in good order so now the car body is back to great condition....

Here's before and after pictures of some of the repaired areas. The photos of the before don't really show the extent of the issues that well, it was worse than it looked...

Rear Valance Before, split and Corroded, Boot Floor behind was also corroded.



Rear Valance Panel replaced, boot Floor Behind has welded repairs.

Rear Deck Before Corrosion Bubbling through

Bottom of Tailgate Had corrosion bubbling through

Bottom of Tailgate and Rear Deck, Corrosion cut out, steel repairs welded in place and sprayed.

Inside bottom of tailgate had rotted through

Repair Welded in and sprayed.

 

Offside Front Valance Before, Dented and Scuffed

Repaired and Sprayed

Offside Front Valance Dented and Scuffed

Offside Front Valance Repaired and Sprayed

Sill Front was chipped by Pebbles from Roadside Gully

Sill front re-sprayed

Rear end of car and roof panel  re-sprayed to match existing

So the GT6 is now in very good order. I'm struggling a little with the Dolomite Clutch Hydraulics though they are proving a pig the bleed. Still the clutch works if you pump it so I'm sure it's just a case persevering to get the air out of the system.