|
 Will twin carbs fit
my Toledo / Dolomite 1300? |
| Yes. Best fit is S.U.HS4’s
and manifold from dolly 1500, if possible fit exhaust manifold and system
from donor car at the same time, as this is a better system. |
|
 Can
I turn my auto 1500 / 1850 into a manual? |
|
Yes but only with overdrive
unless you feel like fitting the front subframe from a manual car, overdrive
is preferable anyway. You will need the prop shaft, flywheel, clutch including
pedal master and slave cylinders, overdrive gearbox and mount, tunnel
cover, carpet and interior tray, wiring harness for gearbox and possibly
the engine back plate, check part numbers, 3 rail or single rail boxes
will fit. It is preferable to take all the parts from one donor car, don’t
scrap it till you have finished the conversion!!
|
|
 Can
I change my 3-rail gearbox for a single rail gearbox? (Or vice versa)? |
| Yes all cars, except Sprint,
(see below) will take either gearbox but 1300 / 1500 and 1850 boxes are
not interchangeable. The 3-rail gearbox has 10 square splines on the input
shaft while the single rail gearbox has 20 triangular splines so the correct
clutch plate will be needed; this will fit the flywheel all right. You may
need to fit the tunnel cover to suit the gearbox, don’t forget the
carpet and interior tray; you may also need the prop shaft on some combinations.
If you swap gearboxes from one model to another you will need to change
the Speedo pinion in the back of the gearbox for the correct one for your
car to keep the Speedo within legal limits. The Sprint gearbox is totally
different and should not be replaced by any other gearbox, as they are too
weak!! |
|
 My
1850 eats gearboxes for breakfast! Can I fit the stronger Sprint gearbox?
|
| Ha bloody ha! Yes, but you need
to rotate the engine in its’ mounts by about 7 degrees so that the
gearstick will appear through the hole in the tunnel cover. This will be
easiest achieved by the fitting of a Sprint front subframe and engine mounts
including the brackets on the side of the engine. The exhaust down pipe
may need modifying and you will need the propshaft from a Sprint as well;
then to make it reach the 1850 rear axle you will need a 1 1/8” (28.5mm)
spacer to suit the propshaft and diff flanges. I have recently been down
this very labour intensive road and still ended up with an 1850 gearbox,
as I did not want to go so far from standard (insurance). Although the Sprint
gearbox did improve the ratios of first and second gears (I test drove it
without the gearbox cover) it was only when I came to fit the gearbox cover
that I discovered the seven degrees rotation of the engine. Probably done
to make room for the 16-valve head on the Sprint! If you are going to go
to all this trouble why not just fit the Sprint running gear to your body
shell and have done with it!!! |
|
 Can
I change my seats and dashboard from base specification to H.L. specification?
|
| Yes the interior fittings are
mainly interchangeable with the exception of early and late wooden door
cappings needing their fixing holes moved (drill new holes), and changing
the flat dash for a curved one necessitates the changing of the angled bracket
which secures the top of the dash to the bulkhead / firewall. This is located
immediately below the wind screen and has the wiper spindles fixed through
it, also the wiring loom for the car will need changing, or a bit of fiddling
to re-configure the pins in the block connector to match up the wire colours
/ functions. |
|
| What
is the biggest engine that will fit easily into the Dolomite / Toledo bodyshell?
|
|
I have seen pictures of a Toledo
/ Dolomite sporting Stag alloy wheels and reported to have a Stag V-8
engine fitted, I have also seen a triumph six cylinder engine fitted in
said bodyshell. These conversions would have taken a lot of effort to
accomplish. However the Sprint engine will fit nicely in the shell but
you need the whole works, engine, gearbox, front subframe / suspension,
rear axle / suspension, prop shaft, brake compensator valve (you may have
to drill holes on some early shells, check for cluster of four grommets
under rear seat squab just to the off side (U.K.) of the transmission
tunnel), remote clutch cylinder and reservoir and the BRAKE SERVO, this
is all that upgrades the brakes from Dolomite to Sprint. There ore also
many other small items that will be needed so don’t ditch that donor
car ‘till you have finished the conversion (or gut it right out).
|
|
| Can
I modify my early Toledo to make it go and stop better? |
|
Yes as per Toledo / Dolomite
carb change (see above) Also add a servo if their isn’t one or fit
a servo of a larger size (this reduces pedal effort for the same brake
performance) if your car is still equipped with drum brakes remove these
and fit discs. A servo should not be added to cars with front drums as
it may cause snatching of the brakes due to the self-servo action of twin
leading shoe type front drums.
Due to the rarity of the two
door Toledo I don’t recommend the changing of anything which cannot
be returned to standard with the exception of the fitting of front discs
as this is a major safety consideration and I would not recommend even
the most ardent originalist to return to drums on the front. The thought
of a two door Toledo being turned into a convertible is enough to make
me cringe as they are far more aesthetically pleasing as a saloon, and
however well it is done it is a waste of a rare car. Please don’t
think of me as an originalist as I am by no means one of those and I do
enjoy making my cars nicer to drive by whatever means available, though
I do always use bits from the Triumph parts bin. This is after all how
some of the different variants created by Triumph came into existence
in the first place.
|
|
| Can
I put an auto box in my Toledo / 1300 Dolomite? |
| Yes you could, but why? It would
be under powered for such a heavy body on an auto box. It would be best
to take the complete set-up from a 1500 auto Dolomite (minimum), you will
need the front suffrage as the extension for the gearbox mount on the manual
cars fouls on the auto box the rest is similar to changing from auto to
manual covered earlier in this section. |
|
| What
is the easiest way to change the engine and gearbox on my Toledo / Dolomite
1300 / 1500? |
| Disconnect everything associated
with engine and gearbox in the engine bay, remove the carbs and remove the
gear stick. Jack the car up as high as possible and support on axle stands
at the body jacking points (use pieces of wood about 4”x1” about
12” long to spread the load and support car just behind jacking points).
Remove road wheels, remove brake callipers from stub axle carrier (don’t
disconnect hoses) hang the callipers from the inner valance using string
to remove the weight of the callipers from the hoses. Remove the front shock
absorber units from the car, disconnect the propshaft from the gearbox,
and disconnect the Speedo cable, if you have an auto disconnect the selector
link rod at the gearbox and tie out of the way. If your gearbox is auto
or man O/D use suitable sized pieces of wood to wedge between the gearbox
and subframe then carefully remove the nuts holding the gearbox mount to
the body ensuring that the wood wedged in earlier is taking the weight of
the gearbox before finally removing the mount. Support the front subframe
on a trolley jack and remove the nuts from the four large bolts that secure
the front subframe, slowly lower the trolley jack and front subframe, if
the subframe is not descending approximately level reaffix to body using
the four large bolts (at least four turns on each nut) and reposition the
jack to improve the balance then support the weight again and remove the
four nuts again. Lower unit about six inches then check for things still
connected once certain every thing is disconnected carry on lowering the
unit steadying from above. If you have got the car high enough the unit
will now roll out from under the car on the trolley jack if it will not
come out forwards it will probably come out through the wheel arch (higher
ground to body clearance) be careful not to hit the axle stands if you have
to go this way. If it still won’t come out on the jack but would probably
come out sat on the ground, place some sheet steel on the ground to aid
sliding and pull the unit out from under the car MIND THE AXLE STANDS. If
it still won't come out you will have to raise the body further. |
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