1974 Dolomite Sprint

Talk about your cars etc here. Keep it sort of sensible and on topic please.
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Scruffy Bodger
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by Scruffy Bodger »

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I played that game with the Justy, I had the luxury* of the outer panel to work to but nothing left of the inner arch for reference and nothing available to fit to it. I ended up cutting a strip the same width as the inner lip and cutting and notching it to match the new wing, welding it as I went and somehow not welding it to the new wing either. I then test fitted the wing, found some random pieces of metal/nails and attached the strip where it was meant to be. I then very carefully removed the outer panel and filled in the gaps I was left with.

Oh what fun old rotten cars are :roll: :lol:

I think you are making the right move using panels where you can. The money you are saving doing it yourself must easily outweigh that cost, the photos you'll have will prove the work done and I'm sure decent Dolly's will only prove harder to find in the future.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by SiC »

Longest Dolomite project ever?

Got on with the front inner membrane this weekend. Took way longer than I hoped.

Cut out the old front bit.
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Used the cut piece as a template to go on the new piece.
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After I cut this piece down, I realised that this was the wrong side. (I hadn't written nearside on it at that point!)
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Cut and welded that all in. There is a squared off bottom to the inner membrane. From the online guides it appears it should go inside and the top on the bottom of the inner sill. However I decided to cut off the bottom of the inner sill as that was past its best. So instead I drilled holes and plug welded to the bottom of the inner sill. I'll have to make a new piece all the way along the bottom for welding the outer sill to
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I then deliberated if I wanted to cut out that remaining middle piece. I'd already welded up the bottom but I wasn't completely happy.
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So I decided to cut this out. I'm glad I did as the backside was rusty and pitted. You can also see the messy backside of my welding! I'll blame it on the thin pitted steel Image Image

Again the cut piece made a handy template. The rear most piece I have lost the bit I cut out when I last tidyed up. So I had to use a paper template to figure out where to cut.
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Clamped in
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Then an awful lot of welding and grinding.
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Also to mention from last time is that I finished the top piece by the door.
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Looks alright with the sills and arch panel temporarily in place.
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Also removed the rear pillar plastic finishing piece. Took a lot of careful prying to not damage anything doing this. Another rot prone area that I'm thankful isn't too bad. I'll clean up with a wire brush and then maybe weld the hole with copper behind to close it up.
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I had hoped to get those piece on this weekend too. Instead I spent a solid two days sorting the above. But I'm slow and it's time consuming to do this.

Currently my shoulders ache pretty bad from laying on my side all weekend. It's going to punish me this week.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by SiC »

Today I did some more welding on the Dolomite. Current plan is to do much less thinking and more welding. Even if it doesn't turn out precisely correct, I want to get stuff progressing properly again on it.

Put a lip across the bottom of the inner membrane for the outer sill to attach to. A tad shorter than the outer sill section as I'll seam weld the outer sill on the inside for neatness.
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Started fixing the inner arch.
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Unfortunately my plan of doing less thinking led me to get the positioning slightly out when I put the outer arch panel on. Ended up putting slits on the inner arch that I'll use to try repositioning it to fit.
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Put a small section in the front of the inner arch. Needs the bottom bit next but the repro inner arch panel is an awful fit and will need a lot of fettling.
Outer sill only clamped in place for now.
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Last edited by SiC on Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by DodgeRover »

They were probably not the greatest for when new!
Well done for keeping at it.

PS can you buy aTR7 convertible next please
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by SiC »

My head says I should like the TR7 but heart just can't.

Maybe it'll change in the future. I never used to like the Herald but they've grown on me a lot.

To be honest, the next classic I'd get is almost certainly a Spitfire (ideally GT6 if right price). Will satisfy my lifes urge to get the BGT, Midget and Spitfire trio.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by SiC »

Fixed the first image. Tapatalk messes up the images when hitting submit. No one seemed to have noticed that the image didn't correspond to the text. 😆
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by Hooli »

That reminds me, I got an email the other day, Tapatalk needs an update on here. I'll do it this week.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by paulplom »

I just thought you had repeated a picture. There was two of the first, another further down.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by mercrocker »

SiC wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:42 pm . Will satisfy my lifes urge to get the BGT, Midget and Spitfire trio.


If you'd walked in and ordered them all new you'd probably still be waiting for one of them.
There's a great long bar in Rock & Roll heaven.......
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by christine »

One way round it
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