After the sale of SYD, I came across a couple Dolomites for sale. These gained my interest due to being on the historical road tax class. This meant they would be MOT and Tax exempt. Ideal for potential cheaper running costs.

April 2023: In the outskirts of Exeter, I went to view a 1500HL. The owner had her stored in a barn where she had sat for a number of years.
Overall the car looked rough, the engine barely ran, and there were various pieces missing. However, I was able to drive it out of the barn into daylight. Which at the time, I felt was enough of a base standard to work from. I gave the owner an offer, and next thing I knew I owned a Triumph Dolomite.

Mechanically, Florence was in a very bad way. There were a lot of knocks and rattles as she was being driven around. The front-end felt majorly loose.
My first port of call was to check and replace ball joints (to which almost all were worn). However something was still not right.
After investigating, I located the noise to where the top of the shock absorber bolts connects to the car. With the bonnet up, I checked the bolts for the top mount, but couldn’t find anything loose. Weird.
Bonnet back down, I went to turn the car around. Turning right, I heard a bang. I got out to find the spring had kicked out into the tyre with the top of the shock absorber fully detached.
After manouvering Florence back into the garage, I took everything apart to find out what was going on.

As it turned out, she was kitted out with a rather tired set of SPAX shock absorbers which for the most part were not fitted correctly.
These have an adapter that connect the shaft of the shock to the top-mount. In this case, the shaft had worked loose from the adapter, whilst the adapter remained attached to the top-mount. So from above, nothing looked amiss.
A lot of the threaded components were left dangerously loose, which unfortunately by the time she was in my hands, they fell apart.
It was fortunate this was caught before I put the car to proper use on the road.

It was after this discovery I had a major realisation that this is one of the biggest issues with the MOT exemption rule. There is nothing to stop an owner of a classic vehicle doing a bit of “DIY” on major components, and there being no professional enforced to check. Such as the suspension “upgrade” performed by a previous owner of this car.

Anyway, with the suspension fixed, onto the next chapter.

Florence was in fairly regular use by this point. I had given the engine a service, but it still ran awfully.
Eventually the head gasket gave way and I had to be recovered home.
My first attempt at changing a head gasket was underway. Aside from navigating a few awkward bolts, this was fairly easy task. The photos above show where the gasket failed, between cylinder 3 + 4 and a coolant port.

Even though the engine was running once again, it still clattered and ran poorly. So I opted to search for a new engine. The 1300 engine of the same era was reported to be the stronger sibling to the 1500. So when I spotted one for sale in Plymouth, I immediately went to pick it up.

Both the 1300 and 1500 have almost identical block designs which made it an easy swap. I had given the 1300 a precautionary light rebuild, with a hone, new piston rings, and headgasket. Soon enough Florence was back on the road and roaring away.

One day, out of curiosity, I decided to compare the needles on the twin SU carbs. Turns out they were completely different.
No wonder I could never get the engine to run correctly!

Applying a fresh coat of lacquer to the wooden door caps.

Clearing off old underseal, treating any surface rust, and reapplying a fresh coat of underseal.

———————————–

Goodwood Revival 2023:

Florence was successful in completing many long distance trips. The biggest one being Snowdon and Anglesey. For that we had no problems, aside from when we had to drive through flood water and the clutch got a bit wet.

I had Florence in use right up to June 2024.
A big feat, being the first ‘proper’ classic vehicle I’ve owned. It had its own set of challenges. A great learning experience in itself.