Insurance claim

I rang Footman James to put in my claim. They were helpful and said an assessor would be round to look at the car in a few days. Meanwhile I went round to the recovery place to clear out the rest of my stuff. A couple of the guys in the yard were helpful. I gave the recovery firm my insurance details so I won't have to worry about storage costs. One of my Dolomite friends has offered me a bodily sound Sprint so I may be able to ressurect the car in some shape or form but I'm getting too far ahead of myself at this point. I'll have to wait and see if the car's a total loss (highly likely) and what the insurance will offer me.

I think I've killed it...

Last night on my way to Anita's house I lost control of the Sprint on a dry straight road which was well lit. The back end broke away to the right so I steered to the right to straighten up then it went the other way and ended up going sideways and hit a cable box. The nearside has been pushed in with the rear door taking the most damage. The B post is bent and the rear of the car is misaligned. Fortunately, I was just a bit shaken up but otherwise uninjured. Amazingly, the car was still drivable so I was able to park up and call the recovery service. The Sprint is now stored at the recovery company's yard (they have storage facilities) and Project Blue has been put back into use. I can't understand how I lost control. I've been up and down this same stretch of road in all weathers (especially during the recent rain) on a daily basis and I've never had it slide out of control. The only explanation I can think of is that there was some diesel on the road (this has killed many a Triumph through no fault of the driver) causing me to lose all grip. I'm glad that I didn't hit any other cars. I suspect that this car is beyond repair due to the distortion of the bodyshell. I'll have to see what the insurance says. A sad end to such a fine car...

Starter motor troubles

This problem has been coming on gradually and now it is getting to the point where I need to address it. What happens is when I turn the key the starter will click. It takes several tries until the starter spins. I've asked the question on the Triumph Dolomite Club forum and it looks like that either the connections are dirty or the starter needs to be reconditioned. I'm hoping to remove the starter tomorrow if the weather stays dry.

Insurance

I've got my renewal quote from Footman James. Just short of £400 so I've gone ahead with the renewal. Over for another 12 months and not bad considering I've got 4 of my cars on the policy. One more thing out of the way! The next thing will be the road tax on the Sprint.

Sorted!

Yesterday I went over to S&S to pick up the fan assembly. It was complete with the fan blades and at £25+VAT it was well worth it. Simon & Steve are great guys - true enthusiasts. I spent more time chatting with them. The place is an Aladdin's cave of TR7 parts. I wouldn't mind a TR7 myself but I've too many Triumphs!

The weather was dry so when I got home I got down to the spannering. The old assembly came off quite easily but the bolts were awkward to get at. Fitting the replacement wasn't too difficult but once again the bolts were awkward to get back in but with the help of my 1/2" spanners (no room for a socket & ratchet) I got there in the end. I also fitted the new fan belt I'd bought from Rimmer Bros and tensioned it up. The old one is now in the boot as an emeergency spare. While I was at it I removed and refitted the bracket for the air cleaner trunking as it was held on by only one bolt. It is fitted to the right of the radiator sharing it's mounting bolts. I'd fitted it in a bit of a rush using only the top bolt. I repositioned the battery clamp as it wasn't quite in the right place and I finally fitted the loose exhaust clamp. It had been like that since before my Irish jaunt! The result - it works a treat! I found out why the battery clamp had been moved. When the car was ticking over the air cleaner would come into contact with the battery clamp. I suspect that an engine/gearbox mounting is the root cause. I'll have to dig out the list that Carl (who owned the Sprint before Mark) had done.

The sh*t really has hit the fan!

It's finally happened. The fan has decided to let go just as I was setting off tonight. Fortunately, it hasn't done much damage. When I took a look I noticed that the tolerance ring had broken so I'm wondering if that was the cause. I'd spoken to S&S Preparations who have a second hand viscous coupling for £25 which now has my name on it. Snowdrop's going be put into service if she will start. I haven't used that car since last Saturday. I'm now forced into action if I want to get the Sprint useable again. I'm down to one useable car now. It's at times like this when I'm glad I've got a fleet. I'd have been stuffed if I hadn't sold Snowdrop!

The sh*t has hit the fan

Well not quite...

A noise has appeared and I've traced it to the viscous coupling on the fan. I've already ordered a new fanbelt and a tolerance ring from Rimmer Bros and I've sourced a good secondhand viscous coupling from a known fellow TDC member. I just wish this bad weather would let up so's I can get some spannering done. I've got an exhaust clamp that needs doing up and the wet cold weather is stopping me from doing anything.

Luck of the Irish

My trip to the Emrald Isle went without a hitch and the Sprint didn't let me down even though I went all over Ireland. The car just kept right on going. I'm in no doubt that it will finish the forthcoming RBRR which will be taking place in October. Thursday saw us going to Waterford. Friday was a trip to Belfast to the Ulster Transport Museum. Unfortunately, there were no Triumphs there but there was an Amphicar. (which had the Herald engine) On Saturday we went to Athlone which is right in the middle of Ireland. On Sunday we ended up in Dun Laoghaire (where the Boomtown Rats originally came from) before getting the ferry back. A few hours before I got on the ferry I saw a French blue Stag in Dublin. As he overtook me the driver waved at me. I didn't expect to see another Triumph in Dublin let alone a Stag!

Suspension woes

There's been a rattle with my Sprint whenever I hit a bump or a speed hump and whenever I set off there was a "twitch". It turned out that the two were related. I jacked up the OSR corner and after removing the wheel I found out what the problem was. The right hand tie bar was loose due to the nut becoming undone! Fortunately, it hadn't come off! Upon closer inspection I found out that the clip that is supposed to stop this very thing was missing on both tie bars. I suspect that whoever rebushed the rear suspension didn't reassemble it quite right. I've called Mark (the Sprint's previous owner) to see if he can shed any light on it and left a message on his answering machine (I normally HATE answering machines with a passion and I usually hang up) so I'm waiting for him to come back to me. I've got all the parts I need to replace what's missing but for the time being I've tightened up the nut and fitted split pins which is better than nothing. It has cured the problem and once I've replaced the gearbox oil (hurry up Brian!) all will be well for my forthcoming trip to Dublin next Wednesday.

The heat is (back) on

Sorry for not updating this as I've been struck down with a bad cough which kept me off work for most of this week just gone.

I went over to Brian's in the hope of trying to cure the lukewarm heater. We flushed the heater matrix (it was clear) and came to the conclusion that the heater valve was faulty. The fanbelt was retensioned and isn't squealing any more. I'm looking at tuning the carbs so I bought a decent carb balancer from my local Moss. While I was there I bought a 82 deg thermostat to see if that was the problem. Fitting the thermostat was easier than I thought and it has cured the problem. The car warms up quicker getting up to temperature as it should and the heaters are warmer than before. Problem solved!

All moved now

The move is complete & as you can tell from the pic Project Blue made it up to the new home. I comitted a schoolboy error when I reconnected the battery and ended up blowing one of the fusible links. I robbed Becky's to get the car going again and fortunately the car seems to be none the worse but I think I've killed the radio/cassette. I've got a nice Panasonic radio/cassette or I could fit that Sony CD player which was in Becky.

The Sprint's fanbelt has started squealing (only does it when I've got the headlights on - strange!) so it will need retensioning. Trouble is that it is a bit awkward to get at and the wet & cold weather hasn't really helped. I've also noticed that the overdrive sometimes slips so I'll need to check the gearbox oil level. (another awkward job when you don't have a garage with a pit!) I've fitted most of the parts that I ordered from Rimmer Bros. The wheel centres are on and I fitted the air intake hoses so the car is that bit closer to what it was like when it left the production line in 1975. I'm now on the reserve list for the Round Britain Run so if enough crews drop out then I'll be doing the run. The Dolomite Sprint is the car of choice (a no-brainer!) and my co-driver is Brian an ex-work colleague who restored a Herald 13/60 convertible. If you're reading this Brian I'll be in touch soon!

Splashing out

I've been giving the debit card a bit of stick. Well when Rimmer Bros are having a Dolomite Parts sale you've gotta take the liberty of getting a few essential bits. This is more importantly so when you've just entered your Dolomite Sprint in next year's Round Britain Reliability Run. I've have already ordered the following bits:
2 air intake hoses
2 wheel centres (missing from the rear wheels)
12 spark plugs
Air intake hose bracket (bolts on the the right hand side of the radiator)

I'm probably not done yet. I'm toying with the idea of fitting a spin-on oil filter conversion (told you the Sprint was nearly 100% original spec!) and getting a replacement engine steady bracket. I can't think of anything else I might need. The windscreen's leaking somewhere (I found water in the drivers' side footwell today) so a replacement windscreen rubber and sealing strip could be next on the shopping list. I've helped install windscreens on a couple of Dolomite Sprints before so I know what to do.

Parts on the move

I'm now at the point where the parts emporeum has to move. As I mentioned earlier there's an outbuilding which will be home to the new parts emporeum. I've now got use of my mate's van and I was able to shift one load of parts last night before my torch battery ran down. I'll be carrying on where I left off tonightby which time my torch should be fully charged. If there's enough room I'll also be getting the rest of my parts from the garage I had use of (if they're still there!). I still need to move Project Blue. This will have to wait until I've finished moving my parts. My tools are in the boot so it won't be a problem.

Moving

As I mentioned earlier Anita is moving house and the Sprint has been put into service to move stuff. It's amazing what you can do with these cars. Here it is parked on the driveway.

One of the first things I did was put this sign on the fence. I've had it nearly 18 months and I've finally found somewhere I can put it.

As you can gather I've not had any time to do any spannering. My parts collection still has to be moved along with Project Blue (once I've reconnected the battery. I removed it to charge it up). There is a small outbuilding which is suitable and it even has electricity and light so it might make a good working area (space permitting).

Good & bad.

I'm gonna start off with the bad. Project Blue has let me down big style. I was supposed to go down the the Heritage Motor Centre on Saturday. The car started to run like a bag of spanners which I put down to the fuel filter being blocked. After changing the filter it happened again so I turned back at Nottingham and I managed to get back as far as Birstall when the car died and wouldn't start again. I called out the breakdown people and got the car towed the rest of the way to Anita's house. The ongoing fuel filter blockage problem is due to a rusty petrol tank the only cure for which is replacement of the tank. Fortunately, the local Acclaim Guru has provided me with a replacement tank (rust free!) so Project Blue will be out of action until I can fit the tank. This shouldn't be too difficult because I've done it before.

Moving on to the good. I cured a small problem with the Dolomite Sprint's cooling system in that it wouldn't go above the quarter mark on the temperature gauge. The first thing I did was to replace the expanison tank cap, then I flushed the cooling system and refilled with fresh coolant. It seems to have done the trick as the heaters feel a bit warmer and the gauge reads a bit warmer but it still doesn't go above halfway. Problem solved! This car is less trouble than Project Blue at the moment.

Round Britain Reliability Run

It was suggested that as my Sprint had done the last Round Britain Reliability Run in 2006 that I should enter next year's. The entry has now opened but I'm faced with a couple of dilemmas:

Which car? Project Blue (the Acclaim CD) or the Dolomite Sprint. The Acclaim would use less fuel but the Sprint would be more fun to drive.
I will also need at least one co-driver.

The other problems that would stop me doing this run before (cost and getting time off work) no longer apply so I'm up for this one. Anybody care to join me on a 2000 mile non-stop drive around the country next October?

There's just one more thing...

...as Columbo would say. I also took the liberty of cleaning up the engine bay a little. I cleaned up the inner wings with some baby wipes. I painted the blower with some more of the black Hammerite smooth and I painted the air cleaner box with some silver Hammerite smooth.

This is the end result. A smarter looking engine bay. Not pristine but it looks a bit better.

That's it for the time being. I'm really enjoying this car. Project Blue gets a bit of use at the weekends to keep things free.

Mirror images

After doing the wheels I then got round to fitting the passenger door mirror I'd bought the week before at Stoneleigh. It came with 2 types of plinth so I decided to use the same one as the mirror on the other side.

I cleaned the paintwork where the mirror was going to go...

I then applied masking tape in order to avoid any damage to the paintwork should the drill slip. Also useful for marking where to drill.

The holes were drilled and the plinth fitted into place ready to receive the mirror.

The end result. A very useful and worthwhile addition and it looks like it came with the car when it was new.

Wheely good

I finally got round to smartening up the wheels on my Sprint. This was before any work was started.


This was after the first application of Wonder Wheels.




This was after the second application.



This was after the third application and compared to the first pic it is a whole lot better.



I then moved on to painting the segments with some black Hammerite smooth. I did some prep work by removing the flaking paint and rubbing down.

The end result! It looks much better and it may not be the best but I'm pleased with it. The best thing is that it didn't cost me a single penny as I'd already had everything I needed to do the job.

No further progress...

I don't seem to be getting anything done. Life it seems, is just getting in the way and the dark nights don't really help either. I went to see a Brian, a former work colleague (who restored a Herald 13/60) to show him my Dolomite Sprint. He was quite impressed with it. So much so that he's thinking of getting one himself. Like Blankety Blank I didn't come away empty-handed. He gave me some stuff to clean my alloys with. It is called "Wonder Wheels" which is manufacrured by CarPlan. He swears by the stuff so I'll give it a go. He's still reading my Blog (I'm glad somebody does!) so watch this space!