1974 Dolomite Sprint

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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by mercrocker »

Certainly the case with modern Minor mounts - they are indeed shit. Folk have been replacing them because the old ones "look knackered" and getting a whole bunch of vibration that wasn't there before. Wonder if the snaking on back-off is down to shit rubber in the new centre bearing, too....
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by SiC »

I had another play around this morning before I went off to work. Fan and viscous coupling spins freely. There is an ever-so slight amount of play when pushing forwards and back though. I assume its normal to have a bit of movement on that? The next sensible thing will be to remove the aux belt and see if the noise goes away or changes.

I did start it up this morning too. Didn't seem as loud or severe as I remember last night. Engine doesn't rock about much seperate to the car body - I'm wondering if the mounts are a bit too hard and stiff? Interestingly it goes away at certain revs and sounds worse at others.

Oil is pretty black and probably due a change though, so changing that will be next on the asap todo list. Any recommendations on filters and oil? I assume usual 20w-50 classic stuff for oil and the filter is a canister one on mine, rather than spin-on. I've got a new dizzy cap and rotor arm coming. Probably change the plugs while I'm at it too. Did notice that the dash pot oil was pretty much empty, so I'm a bit surprised I managed to get it back running half decently. Carb mounts are pretty knackered and look like another thing on the todo list very soon. I believe the previous owner gave me a set of the alloy mounts in the spares boxes in the boot.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by PhilA »

Whatever the manual suggests, in terms of weight will be better than what's in the sump right now.

Viscous fans will have a small amount of slop in them, don't forget that they are normally only under a pulling load (i.e. towards the front of the car) so will sit heavily against the front bearing and wear it slightly in use. They also need to be slightly free to work. When they don't have that slack is when you get Howling Fan at high RPM (A Bad Thing).

Reckon mounts too, take a poke about with a light and a stethoscope to identify the source of the knocking, hopefully it's external and something's just clattering on the bodywork.

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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by AutoshiteBoy »

If the engine oil is thick and dirty, I'd recommend a brief run in fully synthetic to act as a mild flushing agent.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by SiC »

Went to Moss today and picked up a few consumables. Was actually surprised the stocked the Sprint specific distributor cap and rotor arm. Even though they don't list Dolomite model officially, there is still a small stock of consumables that they do have.

Possibly useful to know for any Dolly owners that live near a Moss as even though they aren't the cheapest, being able to pick stuff up the same day is very useful.
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Plan is to drop the oil & filter and check it. Hopefully the oil is not grey and the filter isn't full of metal! Also want to run the engine with no belt and check to see if the noise changes.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by Uncle Albert »

Lovely, looks like a bit of a bargain too.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by Junkman »

I advise against 20W50. I used that shit in my R16 and found it took ages for it to reach all lubrication points on startup and it always felt a bit tough if you know what I mean.
I'm now using so called hot hatch oil, it's a 10W40 with ZDDP for classic - well - hot hatches.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323802258092
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Our 60s/70s hi po engines aren't like those 1,200 OMGRPM anvils of yore, thus require something different than tar for lubrication. Also, any oil available today is lightyears better than the shit they tossed into those engines back in the day, which was probably straight 30 weight detergent.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by SiC »

Spent the first half hour tonight doing a walk around video. Currently uploading, so hopefully that'll be up by this morning.

Afterwards I decided to do a bit of fiddling. First up was fixing the drivers window winder.
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Thankfully the round handle bit was in the glove box, so I had something to work with.

First off was getting the handle off. Turns out there is a beveled pin that fits in to hold it on. It has to be tapped out the right way and once it goes, it seems to be the type of part that gets lost on the floor in a blink of an eye.
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I didn't have any circlips or such to fix the back on, so I got creative/bodged it with a flat washer and a spring washer. Worked surprisingly well! Only thing is that there is a bit of play and no doubt it'll rattle in use. I wish I put a flat rubber washer or similar the other side to take up the slack. Oh well it'll do for now and I'll keep a hunt out for a replacement at autojumbles next.
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Getting the handle on was a fiddly job with pilers and trying to push the pin down. Got there in the end.
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Next up was trying to remove this insert on the wheel.
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If I understand correctly, early Sprints had a narrower stud and later were larger. I guess for whatever reason, on one wheel a narrow one was used and not changed. Thus an insert put in the alloy. No idea which had it, but as the wheels seem happily attached, it must be ok. I'll no doubt find which one it is some point soon.

However it has to go as I want this wheel back on the front and remove that ancient remoulded tyre.

Tried bashing it through with a socket but didn't have much success.
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Ended up going vicious with a centre punch to knock out the side walls enough to cause it to loose it's bite into the metal.
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Tomorrow I'll put this week back on and should give me a chance to put stands on to get a good look underneath.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by SiC »

Junkman wrote: Thu Jul 25, 2019 10:43 pm I advise against 20W50. I used that shit in my R16 and found it took ages for it to reach all lubrication points on startup and it always felt a bit tough if you know what I mean.
I'm now using so called hot hatch oil, it's a 10W40 with ZDDP for classic - well - hot hatches.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323802258092
Image

Our 60s/70s hi po engines aren't like those 1,200 OMGRPM anvils of yore, thus require something different than tar for lubrication. Also, any oil available today is lightyears better than the shit they tossed into those engines back in the day, which was probably straight 30 weight detergent.
Interesting. Everyone seems to recommend 20w-50 for older cars but I do feel that's a bit too generic. Like you say, these engines are much more modern technology and design than the boat anchors before. I can understand 20w-50 in my MGB engine or a lawnmower as they're basically the same thing - just different size lumps. However this engine is a lot more advanced than that. Over head cam with a long chain drive and reasonably high n/a power - still a respectable bhp/litre output even today.

I'll probably lob 20w-50 in for now because I have some on the shelf and I can't really afford to buy more stuff right now this month. I'm not convinced that the engine isn't going to need a rebuild soon and then the oil will need dumping back out in the not too distant future. This all really depends where this knocking is coming from. Timing chain cover also leaks, so something much thinner will probably piss everywhere even more.

I kept the revs down on the drive back and will keep them down for now until I properly determine the health of this unit. Hopefully it's something minor like a shitty modern repro exhaust mount allowing it to bash against the subframe.
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Re: 1974 Dolomite Sprint

Post by Warren t claim »

I think you'll find that the important thing about the oil is that it's not mixing with the water.
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