The Isle of Wight Triumph Forum

As some of you know I have a Dolomite Sprint that I'm turning into a track and auto test car.
I've had it since December 2006 and progress has taken alot longer than planned as the project has got more extreme as I have gone..
The planned mods are:
race grade Poly bushes fitted to strengthened suspension components.
4 pot callipers and larger vented discs on the front and ford hubs to reduce flex and increase the choice of wheels.
bias adjustable pedal box.
hydraulic handbrake.
quick rack and solid mounts.
AVO coil overs with uprated and lowering springs.
Ford atlas back axle with LSD modified to fit.
6 link group 4 escort back end
maybe disc conversion on the back as well.
Roll cage.
seats.
harnesses.
15" wheels to fit the brakes under.
group 2 arch kit to fit the wider wheels and back axle under.
strut brace.
remove as much weight as possible from the car.
lightweight bonnet and boot lid.
plastic windows.
oil cooler.
I intend to leave the engine stock to start with and just get the car running and then rebuild my spare to get some more poke.

Having stripped the car I have found that both sills need to be replaced and the front end needs completely rebuilding after some moron has bodged it back together after a small crash.
The rest of the body work seems remarkably solid though.


stock brakes


Uprated brakes before cleaning





Uprated suspension components


Group2 arches


Just a few bits removed



Stripped ready to be moved into the garage



floor with sound deadening removed


On the spit ready to start hacking bits off

I have removed the front wings in order to replace the sills, seam weld and fix the bodged front end. I may reuse the wings as they are in ok condition or I might replace with light weight GRP ones.




After removing the replaced front wing I then had to remove the remains of the original wing.


I cut the outer sills off to reveal more rust so will be replacing inner, reinforcement and outer sills.








Inner wing taken back to bare metal read for minor repair and seam welding




I bought some harnesses off of ebay which came with some seats that I may or may not fit.


I have also bought an Atlas back axle with LSD that should arrive monday and have ordered my weld in roll cage which will take 6 to 8 weeks.
Progress has been a little slow but I thought it time for an update.
I have stripped more panels back to bare metal, removed all of one sill, done some repair work in the engine bay, Seam welded most of the front and modified the suspension turret.


Most of the paint removed

[IMG] http://zombeh.dyndns.org/~neil/sprint/sill.jpg[/IMG]
The old sill removed and the car braced.

[IMG] http://zombeh.dyndns.org/~neil/sprint/sill2.jpg[/IMG]
The floor seems to in ver good condition which should make putting it back together a bit easier.

[IMG] http://zombeh.dyndns.org/~neil/sprint/sill3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG] http://zombeh.dyndns.org/~neil/sprint/sill4.jpg[/IMG]

Unfortunately when the new panels turned up the outer sill was very badly made out of lots of bits stuck together and completely the wrong shape. Since no one else makes the complete panel I have bought a repair panel and got a mate to make me the top part and i will have to fabricate the rest which I'm sure will be fun.

[


The engine bay cleaned up and seam welded, still needs abit of work to be finished.




I have cut a large scallop into the nearside turret to allow fitment of a tubular exhaust manifold at a later date.


The new panel welded in and cleaned up.








The atlas axle with LSD awaiting modification.

next to move on to making and fitting the new sill and soon I will have to make a decision on 4 linking the rear or not.

After some persuasion from from a mate with a group 4 rally escort I have commited to 4 linking.
Some shiny bits turned up the other day.


I have bought the bits from Gartrac the brackets are mk2 escort group 4 items, the 4 link arms have been made to suit my dolly, and a diff cover to take whatts linkage.

original sprint axle put back on car to work out position for new atlas axle


positioning atlas axle to take measurements to order 4 link arms.


Both new inner, middle and outer sills now made and fitted to the car fitted to the car although not yet finished.



The rear arch now roughly cut out to make way for wider axle and tyres.

My roll cage turned up yesterday, I don’t know why but I hadn't expected it to be in more than 40 pieces.



Roughly chucked in the car to see if it will fit.


A couple of pictures of how it should look when fitted properly



Now that I know where the cage will go I can start hacking the back about to fit the new rear suspension and then move the front of the boot floor back about 4 inches to clear the watts linkage.

I decided it was time to stop putting off replacing the front panels that had been bodged by the po.

The front panel removed.


The front with front panel removed


The front panel stripped as this will be going back on.


Parts of the old panels left behind when the outer panel was changed before


The dodgy seem where the right front corner was badly replaced before.


The rest of the front panel being removed.







The front outer panel having been removed and cleaned up ready to be painted.


The front inner panel welded in place and the outer panel liad up to adjust for fitment.


Shiny new ally uprated radiator which should save a few grams.


Some nice light second hand alloys I bought.


Layed up against my bros Dolly which we unforntunatly raised the ride height of ready for some gravel action.

Finally made some progress having broken another dolly to salvage the front wings to fit on to mine. I am converting them to bolt on rather than weld on so at a later date these can be replaced with either carbon or fibreglass ones. I have used the wings to setup the front panel position ready for welding. It just needs a bit of final fettling then I can paint the bits that wont be accessible later and hopefully welding will commence tomorrow.


showing adjustment of shut lines between wings, front panel, bonnet and screen.



All front panels clamped in place and grills and spoiler roughly attached to check fitment.


The eyebrow panels welded into place.


Painted with zinc acid etch primer and all seams sealed whilst accsesable before welding of outer panel.


Outer panel welded in place complete with speed holes.

I have also bought a bias adjustable pedal box which should hopefully arive next week.
A fair bit more progress over the last week or so although I am probably spending twice as long measuring and checking as I am cutting at the minute.


The axle having had the old brackets ground off.


Half the brackets welded on, setup on the bench above two level blocks to allow me to set brackets to the correct angle which is 2 degrees tapered inwards and the diff at a 2 degree downward angle.


The start of cutting one of the slots in the floor after much careful marking out.


The first bracket tacked in place in the car and axle put up to check.


4 link arms running through the floor. These slots need to be widened and boxed in.


Both sides tacked on to the car and axle fitted up.


The brackets sticking up inside the car where the rear seat used to be.


My new bias adjustable pedal box for a mk2 escort which I think can be made to fit, will be bit of a squeeze as the dolly should have the clutch to the left of the steering column and the escort has all three to the right.

More bits turned up today and Iv'e started hacking the boot about.


I have to move the front vertical face of the boot back 90mm so that I can fit the watts linkage in behind the axle. The intention is to fold the remaining vertical lip horizontal and just add a new vertical panel.


Group 4 escort turrets turned up today on loan from Gartac to see if I can make them fit or have to fabricate my own.


The watts linkage brackets also turned up in flat pack form with a high quality assembly drawing;) Now just to try and make them fit the car, I think I may have to build a bit of chassis at the rear to tie these into.

Its actually starting to look a bit like a car again so thought I would put a few more pics up.


The floor folded level and the hole ready to be plated in once I've worked out how to fit the watts brackets properly.


The axle now fitted with the watts diff cover.


The wheels bolted on for the first time and amazingly they seem to be in right place.


Checking for travel and looks pretty good.


The wheel sitting at approximately normal ride height which will be around 3" lower than stock.


Shows the clearance to the inside of the arches which will be reduced a bit once the shocks are fitted.


This shows the clearance and how the turret is fitted on weaves car.

I've not been able to find much time lately so progress has been rather slow again but my new shocks and springs turned up today.

AVO coilovers with seperatly adjustable bump and rebound.

The pedal box roughly fitted, I had to modify both the box and the bulkhead slightly, I will need to modify the pedals aswell to move them closer to the center of the car.


The back before I took an angle grinder to it.


The hole cut ready to fit the turret.


One of the many bits no longer needed.


First turret tacked in place.


Both turrets in and braced.



Shocks bloted in to check alignment and clearances.

Unfortunatly the two turrets are a completly different shape and as such I may have to twist one round a bit so it looks less obvious as the two surfaces that I have lined up will not be on show in the boot and the ones that are different will be seen.

I have been sorting the boot floor out to make it strong enough to take the watts linkage and replace the vertical part that has been moved backwards 4" to make room for the watts towers.


The new vertical panel clamped in place.


The new chassis rail welded in over the top of the original top shock mount which has been plated up, the turret has now been cut to fit the car properly and mostly welded in and the somewhat large watts tower welded up and tacked in place. I originally bought a mk1 escort watts tower but gave in with this as it was easier to make a custom one from scratch. It will be braced to the boot and have a web running down to the new chassis rail and also an extra web inside the boot.


Next is to make and weld in the wide tunnel to clear the diff and then to make the watts bracket for the other side
.