1977 Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL The "Day Job"

The volume of distractions is reducing, major Dad DIY projects have completed significant milestones and the T5 Camper conversion is fully finished so time to get back on with this.

As a reminder the current focus is sorting out the sub standard work done on the front Driver's side corner. It has a new inner wing fitted but repairs to the bulkhead are below par and the only way to tackle that us to remove it, so that's what I did!



The replacement panel I obtained to repair the bulkhead needed a couple of small repairs in the vicinity of the chassis leg and sill interfaces. Simple patches were fabricated and tacked in, I will seam weld in due course.



Next stage is to decide where to make final cut of the existing bulkhead to let in the repair, going to take my time here as getting it wrong could put the shell beyond saving so not to be rushed. Ideally I'd like to keep away from the areas where there are reinforcement ribs but I think that might be tricky.

Also looking forward to the point when I cut out the A post and its support panel I added some further bracing inside the car tying bottom corner of the windscreen to the existing bracing and the inner sill ensuring that all maintains the correct gapping, I have also hatched a plan for a fixture to align the new A post using a pair of door hinges and some box section, however the A post will not be removed until the bulkhead is repaired fully, there's quite enough fresh air in this area already!

More soon, thanks for reading.

Sean

Back at it after a weekend in the Lakes for my Son's Stag party. Everyone enjoyed it, nobody got arrested and none of the injuries needed medical attention so I'm calling it a result!

So first step was to remove a stiffener from both the car and the replacement panel. This spans the width of the area behind the pedals and straddles the cut and join line and would make matters too complex trying to work around it in situ. Made a bit of a mess getting the original one off the car but the one on the replacement came off nicely so that's the one which will be used.

Interesting that alignment of this stiffener seems to be important as there's a dimple on the bulkhead that intrudes into a pre drilled hole in it and another pre drilled hole aligns with the one on the bulkhead for the clutch master cylinder.



Next step was to trim the existing bulkhead back to a finished joint line. Considerable time spent keeping as much of the original car as possible whilst ensuring we had good thick, uncorroded metal. The cut lines were worked straight with a file thus giving me the best possible chance of getting a good fit with the replacement.

I then cut the repair section down a bit to remove any excess material on it that would prevent it being flatly fastened to the car.
The area of overlap was cleaned back to metal and received a coat of Yorkshire Engineering Blue (a chisel point Sharpie)



Then using a number of existing bolt holes the new panel was offered up and bolted in place. I then drilled and fitted a number of Clecos to speed up trial fitting.



Next step was to carefully scribe around the cut line leaving a clear contrasting line in the Inked area. This took rather longer than it should have as my Scriber was nowhere to be found and I spent 15 minutes searching for it before it was located, inexplicably it was in my pencil/pen/marking tool tin exactly where it belongs! No wonder I couldn't find it....

And that is what passed as progress. Next steps will be to trim the replacement to the line. It's a fairly flat panel but it curves around at the top so I need to trim some material back before refitting and rescribing the panel as it will move forward in relation to the existing panel once the cut line allows it to.

I will also need to contrive some alignment pieces that I can use to keep the two pieces in the correct relative positions after the ability to use the overlapping bolt holes are lost in the trimming process.

I'm hoping that if I get the cut lines tight as I was taught on the Summer School last year that this joint will be TIG welded but if it looks anything other than perfect it will be MIG

Thanks for reading

Sean

Further progress made today.

Firstly pondering how I could align the repair panel after it had been fully trimmed I concocted a pair of tabs that sit behind the existing and repair panels. I drilled holes in the tabs whilst the panels were overlapping and aligned according to the factory holes so reasonably confident we have a rigid positioning system.



Final scribing of the replacement panel was then undertaken, as was continuous welding of the small repairs that it needed.



Then it was a case of cut to the line, sounds simple but I crept up on it very cautiously. Initially cutting off the excess leaving about 10mm excess, then a couple of trims with snips, and final finishing was undertaken with a file. My patience was repaid with a really tight join which I think should TIG up quite nicely, the area where it curves at the top may be a bit looser than ideal but I've discovered that TIG responds well to the Copper bar dodge I've used to good effect when using MIG on tricky joints so I'm reasonably happy I can get it fused.



Hopefully tomorrow will see it at least tacked in, if not fully welded.

Despite spending approximately 6 hours on this today it doesn't look like major progress but I am actually very happy with what I achieved. It's quite a Mojo boost to see what was a shonky bodge eliminated and have line of sight to something that will be pretty close to factory again.

Thanks for reading

Sean

Out of interest what do you use for filler rod? Old metal coat hangers?

Glad I'm not the only one struggling with the welding at present! keep at it you'll get there!

Great momento!

Interstingly a car on a S plate should not have had those hubcaps, 1976 saw a face-lift and the creation of the HL models which had awful plastic "bin lid" hub caps, similar ones were fitted to TR7s and Itals.

I much prefer the earlier version as above.

Sean

Further progress, not dramatic, but progress nonetheless.

The required repairs were made to the replacement panel this included welding in a captive nut for the fuse box which I had previously ground off thinking I wouldn't be using as much of the panel as I did. The rear face was then cleaned back and given a coat of Zinc weld through primer.

It was then fastened in place and tacked in.



That went reasonably well so we then progressed to seam welding.



A couple of small additions of filler rod required but 95% was pure fusion weld.

Finally a quick once over with a sanding disc in the air grinder to tidy things up.



Next job is to fabricate the jig for the A post to allow me to cut the old one out so that I can turn my attention to the replacement of the panel it attaches to.

More soon.

Thanks for reading

Sean

I've known Mr H Robinson for a number of decades and I've made him aware of your attempts - He's inducted you into the junior ranks but commented that you need improve on your use of previously used box section rather than going for the quick fix of using new in some places   

We progress

First job was to reinstate the bulkhead stiffener which was removed to allow the original and replacement sections to be welded. Alignment is easy as there are two factory holes that pick up on defined features on the bulkhead, I wanted to weld this in before the A post support panel went on limiting access. It was simply a case of plug welding through the holes I'd made previously when drilling out the spot welds. Picture before welding took place.



Repair panels were then given a coat of weld through primer where they were to overlap. I also punched some holes in the A post panel in the area under the screen Pillar where it overlaps one of the panels which make up the Pillar. The factory seemed happy with a couple of tacks on the edge but it was perfectly feasible for me to spot weld the generous overlap so that's what I'll be doing.

Panels were then clamped in position and a couple of strategic welds made to secure.





I didn't go straight in to fully weld as I had a final opportunity to confirm alignment. This area provides the attachment for the under wing splash panel so it made sense to trial fit it and check it looked OK



All very good.

Next job is to fully weld everything in.

Thanks for reading

Sean