pmccarthy Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Today I dragged home a 1976 Triumph Dolomite. Young bloke had spent $20k on an engine rebuild and parts from the UK, then gave up on the project. I paid a quarter of that so am chuffed that I got a good deal. Now I am excited to get it running. Funny how things like that are still fun even though it hurts to do them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgmwa Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Something to keep you motivated: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetrack Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Peter, is it a Dolomite Sprint? The Sprint is quite rare today. How could anyone spend $20K on engine repairs, for a motor that's not even 2 litres?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmccarthy Posted July 12, 2023 Author Share Posted July 12, 2023 It is just an 1800 Dolly. I got receipts for everything. Engine remove and rebuild was over $8k. New wheels and tyres. A bootload of trim items from Rimmers. New battery. SS exhaust system. New suspension. Etc. this project is for my daughter, who had the same model as her first car 30 years ago. She has even offered to come around and help me work on it. I probably would have been put off by the complexity of the sprint engine, which was the first of the four valves. I like the electric overdrive on this. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmccarthy Posted July 12, 2023 Author Share Posted July 12, 2023 (edited) I should have added, after re-reading, the $20k included his original purchase of the car. Edited July 12, 2023 by pmccarthy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Not wishing to be a harbinger of doom, and knowing what restoring these English cars is like, I did a bit of a search and came up with this link: https://www.classicandsportscar.com/features/buyers-guide-triumph-dolomite The write-up quite praises the car. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetrack Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 (edited) I'm afraid I've never been a fan of Pommy chariots. Working on them always seemed to be the worst job out, with frustrating design and ill-thought-out placement of important items seeming to be a constant problem. But by far, their greatest failings were in crappy plastics that rapidly fell to pieces in our hot sun, and alloys that were absolutely dreadful for corrosion, unless special care was constantly taken with regular coolant replacement. Edited July 12, 2023 by onetrack 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 The Dolomite is an above average quality jigger just a bit heavy for track work. The crappiest plastics ever were on the SIMCA, a Spanish built Fiat inspired thing. Modern JEEPS have a lot of short life plastic in the ducts under/part of the dashboard. Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 Motor vehicle manufacture is carried out for a worldwide market. Where is that market? Mainly between 35 and 60 North. Therefore plastics used in motor vehicles are designed to handle the UV radiation typical of that zone. In Australia, only Victoria and Tasmania lay in that zone. The market for motor vehicles in Australia is minute compared to the rest of the world, therefore it is not economically feasible to develop plastics specific for Australia's UV intensity. Therefore the manufacturers formulate the plastics for their worldwide production to meet the needs of the majority. Once again, economies of scale leave us with products not really suitable for our environment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 Hate to think how they would go in the deserts. Modern cars have a lot of "structural' plastic these days and IF those bits become unavailable you're up SHIP creek without a paddle. They are mostly accident damage. THIN Hight tensile steel is not repairable either. Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spenaroo Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 54 minutes ago, facthunter said: Hate to think how they would go in the deserts. Modern cars have a lot of "structural' plastic these days and IF those bits become unavailable you're up SHIP creek without a paddle. They are mostly accident damage. THIN Hight tensile steel is not repairable either. Nev There is plastics and plastics though. I know Ducati swapped to a plastic subframe... but Its more like a controllable metal then plastic. they can do so much with how its formed and strengthened. full of carbon/graphene. you just cant get the same structural integrity to weight with current metal manufacturing technology. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 Plastics ain't plastics, Sol! I thought that we were talking about the plastics used in trims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmccarthy Posted July 13, 2023 Author Share Posted July 13, 2023 Got it started and drove around the yard. No brakes yet, I think it needs a master cylinder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 Try bleeding them first? Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 Maybe PMC is still going round and round.? Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmccarthy Posted July 13, 2023 Author Share Posted July 13, 2023 Like a teddy bear. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 2 hours ago, pmccarthy said: Like a teddy bear. One step. Two step. PMC's got a new baby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 Congratulations and you and your daughter may have some quality time. Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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