I am thinking of using a triumph dolomite sprint as a donor car. Has anybody got any experience of using one or know anybody that has?? Any info gratefully received!!

I used to own a dolly sprint years back.

I thought of using one too.

If the rear axle is wide enough, thats a good start cos you could use it.

The prop has a centre bearing, not one peice - but you have to hack up the prop anyway.

The engine, at 128hp with nice simple carbs and electrics, is also good. If you have overdrive, that would give you a nice novelty with 6 effective speeds.

In some ways I wished I had used one - I ws thinking of a 90hp 1850 I could buy at the time.

what put me off was that its 60s tech, and not 80's (!) tech like the sierra / granada.

However, sticking with a live rear will save a lot of time and I think being triumph gives it a bit of history - if you are into that.

What also put me off is that the engine is a slant four - it leans over to one side. Without access to a car I had no idea if it would fit a chassis.

We (certainly I) could let you know the dimensions of our under bonnet space if it helps you.

atb

steve

Early Robin Hoods were Dolomite Sprint based, Maybe one of the Hoodie sites could point you in the right direction.

Cheers

Chris

cheers steve & chris for your thoughts!!

I used to own a dolly sprint 20 yrs ago and come over all nostalgic at the very mention of them!!

I seem to remember the engine was really shoe horned in under the bonnet so perhaps youre right about the fit

more homework required....

I dont know a great deal about the sprint, but the engine is canted over to the n/s, which would makethe steering column a bit easier than the BMW which slants over to the o/s.

The engine was great when running, which was not that often! It was VERY prone to blowing head gaskets. BLMC got fed up with it in the end and sold the rights to SAAB who made the 900 turnip out of it, curing all the reliability niggles on the way.

I wonder if the SAAB would fit on a dolomite box....

for the year or so i had it, there were no engine problems.

I think the design was modded to make the V8 for the stag(?) which did have a head gasget reputation. I have heard tho if you treat em right they are not too bad.

Back to my 60's tech statement - and also made by leyland when they were at their best!

In its day, the sprint was the xr4i that people wanted to own.

It was fairly fast - only 9 secs to 60! (other typical cars of the day did it in 50% more, and the mini was doing 22 secs!).

My car wouldnt corner well, and at 8 years old was pretty rusty - took if for an mot once and it came back with big holes in the sills - still passed tho!

Brakes were total crap - perhaps it needed new disks, but an emergency stop from 60 left you with no brakes by 20, even with new pads.

I remember the engine had a nice 'bassy' grumble under accelration. If you put it in third, you could flick nicely between it and overdrive third (basically identical to 4th) with a little switch in the gear lever.

The wooden dasj was cool - thats why I have a 70 quid burr walnut verneer panel in my car.

atb

steve

I have used a triumph TR7 as a base with no problems.

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Originally posted by chris.chatland
I have used a triumph TR7 as a base with no problems.

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Originally posted by interestedparty

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Originally posted by chris.chatland
I have used a triumph TR7 as a base with no problems.

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Did you use the front suspension? If so how did you adapt the struts?

John

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Depending which way you look at it the dolomite sprint engine was litterally half the Stag engine.

BL/Rover liked doing things like that. The Metro 6R4 lump was a Buick/Rover V8 with 2 cylinders removed and modified to wet liner so that the cc could be quickly adapted from 1.5l up to 3.0l to and all points in between to allow for rule changes. Didn't see the out lawing of the class comming did they. (oh bye the bye my sis was responsible for the design & sorting of the ignition black box system for them) (& at same time Aston Martin Lemans team & Jaguar Lemans team) (never did ask me to any testing days)

[Edited on 4/1/03 by jollygreengiant]

probabvly cos a 6r4 has not attatchments for baby seats?

atb

steve

but what about the 5 point quick release harness.