Post by Matt of the Vivas on Feb 18, 2017 20:49:24 GMT
My friend Ben has a Triumph 1500 FWD, it was his first car and he loves it. Its a bit scruffy but he likes it that way, and mechanically its perfect - we rebuilt the brakes and suspension last year, plus new drive couplings and various other bits, and some localised welding underneath. It drove a 500 mile round trip to Beaulieu Autojumble this year with nothing more than a quick points adjustment, so i can understand his love for it - it just keeps going...
Sadly, this year its got to the point where some attention to the inner wings is needed for the MOT - and annoyingly Triumph welded the wings on, so access involves cutting and grinding.... The wings are full of filler, and the headlamp panels are typically rotten, with the outer lamps held in by little more than mud and fresh air. So time for a front end rebuild - its pretty solid from the bulkhead back and areas like the subframe mounts are fine so its still well worth doing.
Pictures so far:
The man and the car.
Bubbly, fillery wing tips, the only real outward signs of trouble.
Big lump of filler fell out of the driver's wing earlier this year...
Driver's front wing chopped off
Front of sill behind wing is pretty good, they are normally missing. Some minor repairs to do but nothing bad.
Typical Dolomite headlamp panel rust - theres 4 seperate panels here and they make a superb mud trap. Plenty to do here!
Close up of the main trouble spot - this is supposed to be a closed box section, triangulating the strut top mount to the bulkhead. This has been bodged before and is pretty weak!
Starting to remove the passenger's wing
Pretty much the same, rust wise...
Very weak "strengthener"
Headlamp mount non-existant
Odd bulge on the front panel was stripped back....
.... to reveal plenty of filler covering previous accident damage.
Both ends of the front panel have some typical rust and filler, and the lower valence is pretty frilly.
We have a pair of perfect reinforcers cut from a scrap shell already, so we can repair these areas and the front of the sills with some hand made patches. The Dolomite club do repair sections for the headlamp mounts, and then we have to decide on the front panel - repair or replace? Again, the Dolomite club do a full fibreglass set of both front wings and a full front panel thats known to be good quality and fits well, so thats probably the way to go on this car - its never going to be a show car so GRP will be just fine.
Sadly, this year its got to the point where some attention to the inner wings is needed for the MOT - and annoyingly Triumph welded the wings on, so access involves cutting and grinding.... The wings are full of filler, and the headlamp panels are typically rotten, with the outer lamps held in by little more than mud and fresh air. So time for a front end rebuild - its pretty solid from the bulkhead back and areas like the subframe mounts are fine so its still well worth doing.
Pictures so far:
The man and the car.
Bubbly, fillery wing tips, the only real outward signs of trouble.
Big lump of filler fell out of the driver's wing earlier this year...
Driver's front wing chopped off
Front of sill behind wing is pretty good, they are normally missing. Some minor repairs to do but nothing bad.
Typical Dolomite headlamp panel rust - theres 4 seperate panels here and they make a superb mud trap. Plenty to do here!
Close up of the main trouble spot - this is supposed to be a closed box section, triangulating the strut top mount to the bulkhead. This has been bodged before and is pretty weak!
Starting to remove the passenger's wing
Pretty much the same, rust wise...
Very weak "strengthener"
Headlamp mount non-existant
Odd bulge on the front panel was stripped back....
.... to reveal plenty of filler covering previous accident damage.
Both ends of the front panel have some typical rust and filler, and the lower valence is pretty frilly.
We have a pair of perfect reinforcers cut from a scrap shell already, so we can repair these areas and the front of the sills with some hand made patches. The Dolomite club do repair sections for the headlamp mounts, and then we have to decide on the front panel - repair or replace? Again, the Dolomite club do a full fibreglass set of both front wings and a full front panel thats known to be good quality and fits well, so thats probably the way to go on this car - its never going to be a show car so GRP will be just fine.
