With a couple of coats of high build primer this side isn’t looking too bad. Still a lot of work to do before I put the top coat on.
Very tidy, nicely done.
I have always avoided bodywork, just do mechanical stuff.
Should really have bought that Lancia Integrale that had light blistering back in the 90s when offered for 6K
Cheers omsoc. I know a couple of pro body repairers who would have sorted this job in half the time but I enjoy the challenge. There’s still a few defects showing through that primer but I’ll stopper them up tomorrow and then the tedious rubbing down starts. I’m not too bothered if it’s not absolutely perfect as the car is having a colour change next year and there’s quite a few other body defects to sort out.
I’ve had a… checkered… past with my car and tyres. To be more specific, in order to travel 39,300 miles in four and a half years, I went through 14 (fourteen) of them. A fortnight ago, I clipped a kerb avoiding a piece of farm machinery that looked like Gerry Anderson designed it and this was the result;
As such, I decided that, rather than repair the wheel or buy a single replacement, I’d take all four of the useless, hulking bastards off and drop a size. Specifically going from the factory 19 inch to an 18 and going from a 35 to a 40 section tyre to recover the rolling radius.* This was completed yesterday;
Four OZ Supertourismo Aero wheels from a company called Rimstyle (who were great to deal with I have to say). As ever, I owe much to @PapaLazarou who undertook the changeover and sourced four Pirelli tyres at less than half the price per tyre of the rubber band style Continentals it was on before. Early indications are it still isn’t what you’d call ‘cosseting’ but road noise is significantly lower and the steering has perked up. Also quite happy with the reduction in clues it is anything other than a 1.4. Might take the wanky gold badges off next.
*The old wheel has a diameter of 647.1mm. The new one is 637.2mm so close enough to be basically the same.
Finally have the new wheels installed and tyres installed, as well as seemingly fixed (so far) the poor running issues, that all point towards crud from the fuel tank getting though the previous fuel filters. That and replacing the whole ignition system with an electronic ignition kit & coil, Magnecor leads, plugs and cap have helped with some misfires and poor running over 3.5k rpm.
Yes, it was a scheduled stop, not broken down…
Triumph Dolomite 1850HL by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
Triumph Dolomite 1850HL by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
That looks lovely.
Yay, you can drive it to the scrapyard now
Yeah, but
How many rainbow spots in the puddle below where you parked?
None, honest…
Had one in the 90s.
It was particularly bad,but hardly surprising as I only paid £100 for it.
Remember mpg wasn’t great
Cheers, very happy with it!
Yes, slightly suboptimal. They were the only company willing to sell those wheels for less than two grand though and they were excellent at answering my (many) questions.
Those wheels really suit the car. Lovely.
Good to hear.
Last month I ordered 4 (steel) wheels fitted with winter tyres (Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance) from MyTyres for my jalopy.
What a fucking palaver! I ‘might’ see them on the 13th (4 weeks after I placed the order for “stock items”) but given the incomprehensible emailed replies I’ve had to even the simplest of queries, I’m not staking my life on it. As for phoning them, I’ve tried twice and on both occasions I’ve been informed that I’m 13th in the queue and 20 minutes later that gets updated to 12th, at which point I’ve hung up.
0/10 for customer service
A few pinholes and sanding lines to sort out before a final coat of high build. Another day flatting should see it right for painting
I’ve finally split the front and rear clamshells from their bulkheads. In my rush to get it painted I forgot that the inside of the arches still needed a couple of layers of matting. That’s all done now and I need a break from all this grip shit so I’m going to leave it for a few days and get on with something else.
Managed to get the inside of each arch finished just before Christmas. Just need a couple of coats of underseal after I’ve painted the outside
A rush wiring job put me back a few days plus I haven’t felt too good over Christmas. I think this is the first time I haven’t been in my workshop on Boxing Day 🫨 but today I managed to put a few hours in and I reckon tomorrow will see the arches ready for paint.