My new car project

[pmccarthy]

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.

[rgmwa]

Something to keep you motivated:

[onetrack]

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??

[pmccarthy]

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.

[pmccarthy]

I should have added, after re-reading, the $20k included his original purchase of the car.

Edited July 12, 2023 by pmccarthy

[old man emu]

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. 

[onetrack]

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

[facthunter]

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

[old man emu]

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.

[facthunter]

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

[spenaroo]

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.

[old man emu]

Plastics ain't plastics, Sol!

 

I thought that we were talking about the plastics used in trims.

[pmccarthy]

Got it started and drove around the yard. No brakes yet, I think it needs a master cylinder.

[facthunter]

Try bleeding them first?  Nev

[facthunter]

Maybe PMC is still going round and round.?  Nev

[pmccarthy]

Like a teddy bear.

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, pmccarthy said:

Like a teddy bear.

One step. Two step. PMC's got a new baby!

[facthunter]

Congratulations and you and your daughter may have some quality time.  Nev