Practically Classics Forum

You've been busy. do you have a DA or are you doing this by hand?

Quality British steel, these pre-'75 Dolomite shells. None of that awful Russian stuff that was found in later Dolomites (and most Alfasuds as it happens).

Are you doing it a dark colour then? I ask because of the red primer, that would show nicely through oranges and lighter reds or is that just an extra coat between the etch primer and a final coat of something thick and grey?
Either way, you have a solid shell there so the end result should be good to look at.

Terry, bit of both, power sander for the big panels, but still finished by hand in a sanding block.

John, it's just something to go on for now, once it's all done, I'll flat that back, re primer, flat etc before applying colour. Red was to get primer on that didn't stand out like a sore thumb for the CCOTP show. Now that's done, grey will be the order of the day Thankfully someone nice has already done the colour scheme, so if you squint a bit...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1980-TRIUMPH- ... 232cafbd1a

Now that's orange!

I like the (MGF?) wheels on that eBay car, is yours staying with the Sprint alloys or are other options being considered?

It'll stay on the Sprints, yes those alloys are off the MGF, after I broke mine for spares I had the wheels left over, well, it was rude not too...



(I had to shop it slightly, as for some reason, after dropping it off the jack, the front end stayed remarkably high??) Decided that the Sprints looked far better on it

Yes, you get that when you drop a car with wishbone front suspension off a jack. In a car with struts, the hubs move more or less vertically so remain parallel to each other but in a wishbone setup such as the Dolly has, the hubs move through an arc and move closer together when the suspension is extended downwards so when you let it down, the tyres land closer together and can't just shuffle sideways until the car is moved. It's a bugger when you set up headlamps for MOT purposes immediately after having the car jacked up in the same spot to fit a set of pads. I might know "someone" who almost failed his MOT because of this phenomenon but knew the tester and let himself be laughed at in exchange for a certificate.

Well I've not done much as I have my parents visiting for the next few weeks, although I have kinda thrown some bit's back on so it's road legal so it can go for a spin, so dad can have a go, and if the weather is nice pop down to CCOTP Sunday. Still need to sort the front valance in a couple of places, but apart from that, it's just around the screens and doors I have left to sort, then, once they're all sorted I can think about laying on some colour.

Having a 'free' day as the wife was out and about running everyone around I got stuck into the worst door, which I had planned to leave till last, but thought we'll get it over with, rest should be easier then

So, off with the door, out with the sander and off with the paint. Surprised to see no filler and the bottom is as sound as it was when it left Canley, it was just surface rust that caused the breakouts. All in all another successful day.

Bit more progress at last, the original plan was to go vinyl for the roof, but after a long hard think, decided paint is the better option, so roof is now prepped and primered. Just 3 doors left to prep and then we can finally get things sorted for paint.

Work progresses slowly, BL build quality as good as usual


On the plus side, whilst not quite as good as the rear door, there's no big holes, just surface corrosion again, and what appears to be a repair to a mirror mount or some such just under the quarter light.





Primed up and refitted as off to a show tomorrow, I expect Plod would take a dim view to going with a door missing, so




Paint was ordered today, I've gone for something, understated and plain, so it'd blend in to the surroundings, Ford Signal Orange