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Just looking at your new steering wheel which looks excellent btw......what mtg boss is that?How does it steer with the smaller wheel...how heavy is it? ....my new Momo steering wheel. It feels so much nice than the bus sized and tiny rimmed OE item.......Just need to find a horn push that fits and doesn't have a modern, out of place logo on it.
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Last Edit: Jun 8, 2016 13:59:30 GMT by rochey
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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The boss came from Scarborough Racing, can't remember the make off hand but there wasn't many places that listed for both Triumph and Momo fitments, most are for the different PCD steering wheels.
I actually find it's easier to steer with this wheel than the standard thin one as there is more rim to hold on to! It's so much better at proper driving speeds, and although it is a little heavy when parallel parking it still very doable thanks to the great turning circle it has. One of the reasons for not wanted to increase wheel/tyre width was to keep it easy to drive.
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Last Edit: Jun 8, 2016 16:21:05 GMT by b3nson
'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Jun 12, 2016 17:23:31 GMT
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,192
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Jun 13, 2016 20:55:40 GMT
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It is surprising the difference a steering wheel can make the the car. On my 944, going to a thicker wheel really changed the feel of the car. I have always love the Prototipo wheel but I have never been too sure of it in a Triumph. You have have just convinced me otherwise. I'm not the biggest fan of the bumperless look on Dolly Sprints but we are all different . I bet you are as pleased as punch to see the car back in action again.
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Jun 15, 2016 19:17:39 GMT
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It is surprising the difference a steering wheel can make the the car. On my 944, going to a thicker wheel really changed the feel of the car. I have always love the Prototipo wheel but I have never been too sure of it in a Triumph. You have have just convinced me otherwise. I'm not the biggest fan of the bumperless look on Dolly Sprints but we are all different . I bet you are as pleased as punch to see the car back in action again. Thanks for comments! Yeah so happy, will be using it as much as possible now, give it a good hard run up the hill at the Gathering later this year!
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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With 'Stage 1' of my plans completed I've been using the car as much as a I can, it really brings a smile to my face and the reaction people give even just parking it up on the street is so cool, I have to allow an extra 10mins when I make a journey as it almost always ends in conversation about the car!
Anyway with using more I have narrowed down a list of 'Stage 2' jobs, which are:
New seats - as although the originals are quite comfy short term, they are terrible for anything longer than an hour and the support is non-existant for more spirited driving. The cheap Recaros I bought previously are going to cost too much to retrim for my needs but I may have found another set in the correct colour to match the rest of the interior and I'm going to have a look at them Sunday.
New headlamps - one of the original sealed beams has blown, and the standard lights are useless at night compared to modern stuff. I've got a set of 4 upgraded halogen bulb lamps to fit, and found a perfect relay for the job too. This will be done next weekend.
Brake pipe and brake bias valve - This should probably be at the top of the list, but meh, who needs brakes. The RHF copper brake pipe is slightly twisted (happened when fitting the braided hoses) and as pointed out by someone on the Dolomite forum NEEDS REPLACING ASAP AS IT'S ABOUT TO BURST AND I WILL CRASH AND DIE. It's done 1000 miles since this occured so I'm not overly worried, but it's a fairly simply job so worth doing if only for peace of mind. Also the rear bias valve still needs setting up properly as the rear brakes lock before the fronts, again not really ideal. I have a suspicion it might be siezed so it may involve bypassing it completely and fitted an adjustable one somewhere in the line as the originals are like harder to find than unicorn poo.
Tune carbs - We've had a little play with the carbs, they still need fine tuning as it runs great now, but over-runs when turning it off slightly when hot.
New tyres - Looking at a couple of photos of Toledos on here make me want to find some more summer based tyres in a lower profile, they look a tad balloony at the moment. This is pretty much the most unnecessary change as the current Pirellis are almost brand new, but it's all about the looks isn't it? Anyone got any tyre and size recommendations?
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,192
Club RR Member Number: 170
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185/60R13s are a good shout . Something like the Yoko A539 or Toyo CF-II should do the job nicely. I can see why people are worried about the pipe. Copper pipe IME snaps very easily and it is one reason I am not a massive fan of it, despite zealous MOT testers being all too keen to replace it.
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Jul 16, 2016 10:30:49 GMT
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One good little trick - you can loosen and rotate the tach, so that the redline is when the needle's dead vertical. Makes it a bit easier to see, at a glance. Here's a terrible shot: I ended up fitting an Autometer 5' air-core tach, though, as the original was never accurate enough.
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logicaluk
Posted a lot
Every days a school day round here
Posts: 1,311
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Jul 16, 2016 19:16:22 GMT
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Rotating the tach a propper old school racing mod 👍👍👍
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Jul 16, 2016 20:38:47 GMT
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I know a lot of people have issues with copper brake pipe, but I have never had a problem, I use good quality thick wall pipe and support it regularly, we have done around 100k miles in TR since it was fitted 25 years ago, the other cars also have it with no problems.
The one failure I have had is a corroded steel pipe on the range rover a couple of days after buying it, I have also seen a steel pipe fatigue to fracture. Personally It is copper every time for me.
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Jul 17, 2016 17:22:09 GMT
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New seats are here. A quick morning jaunt to Kent and back has provided me with these: Generally great condition bar a bit of wear to the drivers bolster, and the colour is much more suited to the Dolly so I can fit them straight away and worry about a retrim much further down the line. Also they're a bit deeper and a much nicer material than the other ones I have sitting in my kitchen. They were however pretty dirty so spent alot of the afternoon cleaning them with Autoglym Interior Shampoo. They've come up much better, but there's still a way to go. And the dirty water coming off them was pretty grim!
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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luckygti
Posted a lot
I need to try harder!
Posts: 4,912
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Jul 17, 2016 21:07:02 GMT
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Nice seats, they'll definitely make a difference really like the look of the car without the bumpers, and agree that the profile on the tyres could go down a bit. Think I have 175/60/13's on the Escort and they certainly look better.
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simonh
Part of things
Posts: 77
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Jul 19, 2016 12:06:40 GMT
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Just read through this and really like the retromod approach. Those metalwork repairs are impressive.
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Jul 19, 2016 15:24:56 GMT
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Bookmarked. Love Sprints.
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Jul 19, 2016 16:06:50 GMT
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Thanks for the interest guys!
Seats are still proper dirty, even after hours of cleaning, so going to do what I should have done in the first place and bring them into work and wet-vac them. Not today though, it's too hot for any kind of physical effort.
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Last Edit: Jul 19, 2016 16:19:39 GMT by b3nson
'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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So I had a fairly eventful weekend by my standards. Got the Dolly out of the garage Friday in preparation for a fair bit of work on it this weekend, drove about 3 miles down the road and started smelling petrol. Turned out the pipe from the fuel pump was perished and very split as I was greeted with a fountain of the fuel when I opened the bonnet. Friday lunchtime was therefore spent replacing that hose and any others I could see. Drove it Friday evening and Saturday morning no problem but then driving back from work Saturday lunch time I could smell petrol again. This time it turns out it was flowing out of the overflow for the rear float chamber. I quick wiggle of the float (after I worked out what the hell was going on) and it resolved it temporarily, but was still dripping when I got home. It was the first time I've actually had to pull over and work on it on the side of the road, so am I officially a classic car owner now? Sunday my buddy Taylor came over to tick a few things off the list with general tuning/tinkering. That float chamber was also added to the list and after blowing it through with some brake cleaner it seems to be ok, possibly some grit or something had got in there when changing the hoses. We set the carbs up properly and adjusted the timing as it was waaaay out. Probably to compensate for the carbs being so badly set up too. It was running pretty well before but now it drives like a dream, so much torque and power all the way through the rev range. The only issue being the choke/idle from cold, which I'll find out if we've resolved when I start it this morning. Next up was to replace the NSF brake pipe as it got a little twisted when replacing the hoses previously. Better to be safe than sorry and all that. After that we set about on the headlamps and replacing the whole set with modern halogen versions. I wanted to a run a relay to protect the switch on the column, as standard all the headlamps run through that without any fuse, and I don't really like the idea of a fire above my crotch when driving. We mounted a twin relay under the dashboard and connected that up direct to the battery, then separated the wiring out and connected it all up. The headlamps were a straight swap into the old carriers. And success! Well almost, all the lamps worked apart from the LHF dip beam. Bizarrely the flash main which hadn't worked before was now working. After checking the connectors and bulbs it became clear the wiring must be at fault somewhere. We pulled apart the loom under the bumper and it was immediately clear the wiring was well dead. It was probably 90% corrosion and blackness and 10% copper. As the day was getting late and foolishly I was running out of wire, we ran a new connector to the headlamp and new wires to dip and earth. I didn't have enough for main beam but at least it's useable. I'm going to have to redo the whole front lighting loom at some point as it's pretty knackered, so will tidy everything up then. Last job of the day was to free up the rear suspension, as I'm going to be using it for one of my wedding cars in 2 weeks and with passengers it scrubs really badly on the new wheels. Unfortunately the rear struts are stuck solid, so won't be adjusting anywhere. Looks like I'll be chucking the original wheels for the wedding and sorting it out at a later date. After that we went for a quick blast to fine tune the carbs and it was bloody excellent. Which put my mind at ease, I have 2 big trips this week in it, one to Classics on the Common in Harpenden on Wednesday where it'll be on display in the show, and then another to Silverstone Classic at the weekend. Can't wait to get out in the sunshine and do some miles in it.
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Last Edit: Jul 25, 2016 6:13:52 GMT by b3nson
'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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Jul 25, 2016 12:08:26 GMT
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Spotted you the other day driving through beeding!
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Jul 25, 2016 13:18:23 GMT
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Looking at the photos on your build thread you must just be round the corner from me! Been trying to use it at much as possible, haven't got a garage in the village so I have to plan ahead slightly if I want to use it for commuting etc.
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Nice moody photo after Classics on the Common. I can also confirm it does pretty awesome burnouts!
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Aug 12, 2016 17:34:36 GMT
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Used the Dolly as the groomsmens car for my wedding last weekend, so had to swap my standard wheels back on so I could take people in the back. Got so much attention wherever it was parked, alot of guys with fond memories. It's nice to have such a relatively cheap car that is a big talking point. New Yokohamas have been ordered in a 60 profile, hopefully these will be fitted to my Compomotives by the time I get back off of honeymoon. Also ordered some seat runners so I can butcher them to fit my Recaros. I'd really like to get them fitted before RRG as I'm running up the hill now.
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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