Benson's '74 Dolomite Sprint
Discussion
Evening all, I thought I'd start a thread on here as I've been visiting the website for many years, and using a fair bit of information from the forum for road trip planning (more on this in a bit), so it's only fair to contribute myself.
A little bit about me then - my current fleet consists of my 1974 Dolomite Sprint of which this thread will be focused on (if anyone is actually interested!) and my daily Alfa Romeo 159 TI. I also have a Clio 172 that's currently for sale in the classifieds
. Previously I've had a NA MX5 (which I loved for many years) and an EP3 Civic (which I didn't really warm to).
I did a couple of big European roadtrips in the MX5, of which I have done write ups elsewhere, so if there's an audience for that kind of thing here I'd be happy to share.
Anyway onto the Sprint:
I'm a huge believer of properly driving my cars and next June I'm going to be taking this up to the Highlands to do a variation of the NC500 route and various other 'must do' Scottish roads with 2 of my best mates in their Mk1 Golf GTi's. I've been all over the South in it this year and been to lots of events in it, of which I'm keen to do more of next year as well as I've really enjoyed getting involved with other car enthusiasts.
I'll update this as I go along if there's the interest, as I'll be changing and improving the car as I go along. Next up is fitting a large set of the brakes on the front, so I don't disappear of the side of a murky Scottish mountain next year.
A little bit about me then - my current fleet consists of my 1974 Dolomite Sprint of which this thread will be focused on (if anyone is actually interested!) and my daily Alfa Romeo 159 TI. I also have a Clio 172 that's currently for sale in the classifieds
. Previously I've had a NA MX5 (which I loved for many years) and an EP3 Civic (which I didn't really warm to).I did a couple of big European roadtrips in the MX5, of which I have done write ups elsewhere, so if there's an audience for that kind of thing here I'd be happy to share.
Anyway onto the Sprint:
I'm a huge believer of properly driving my cars and next June I'm going to be taking this up to the Highlands to do a variation of the NC500 route and various other 'must do' Scottish roads with 2 of my best mates in their Mk1 Golf GTi's. I've been all over the South in it this year and been to lots of events in it, of which I'm keen to do more of next year as well as I've really enjoyed getting involved with other car enthusiasts.
I'll update this as I go along if there's the interest, as I'll be changing and improving the car as I go along. Next up is fitting a large set of the brakes on the front, so I don't disappear of the side of a murky Scottish mountain next year.
. As always the Dolly is looking great.
Thanks for the replies.
Brake upgrade is in fact the Sierra caliper one! Discs and brackets are already with me, caliper and carriers are arriving next week. Everything I've heard about it points to it being a great improvement over the standard brakes, which are a little sketchy at times. Nice to see you from RR too!
Vinyl on the rear pillar is coming unstuck and has hardened slightly. It's all been replaced by a previous owner as part of a restoration so is not original. Will get them replaced at some point, although at the moment I'm more than happy with rust free rather than completely mint! With that said apart from some dodgy paint on the boot lid which will be getting sorted this winter, it's in fantastic condition. I had the guys at Restoshack in Devon cut out some rust on the rear arch, sill and front panel and they did a great job at fabricating all the new metalwork and the following paintwork.
Other bits I have done so far is fit a modern Alpine stereo hidden away in the glovebox (as I can't live without music in a car), upgrade the terrible sealed beam headlamps to modern units with halogen bulbs, fit a modern fuse box as the original was 2 fuses for the whole car, removed the bumpers for that race-car look and fit the Compomotive wheels.
Once I changed to slightly wider, more modern rubber the change in the car was phenomenal, it really handles well now. I've recently fitted a Recaro recliner to the front drivers side as the original seats offer very little in the way of support and were uncomfortable on longer journeys.
Plans going forward are to refresh the suspension with new GAZ shocks, as the old Spax units on it are past their best. Also I would like to get it a tad lower, so need a bit of extra adjustment on the height.
I also plan to remove the centre exhaust box to give it a bit more noise.
Anyway, lets throw some more photos on here!
Brake upgrade is in fact the Sierra caliper one! Discs and brackets are already with me, caliper and carriers are arriving next week. Everything I've heard about it points to it being a great improvement over the standard brakes, which are a little sketchy at times. Nice to see you from RR too!
Vinyl on the rear pillar is coming unstuck and has hardened slightly. It's all been replaced by a previous owner as part of a restoration so is not original. Will get them replaced at some point, although at the moment I'm more than happy with rust free rather than completely mint! With that said apart from some dodgy paint on the boot lid which will be getting sorted this winter, it's in fantastic condition. I had the guys at Restoshack in Devon cut out some rust on the rear arch, sill and front panel and they did a great job at fabricating all the new metalwork and the following paintwork.
Other bits I have done so far is fit a modern Alpine stereo hidden away in the glovebox (as I can't live without music in a car), upgrade the terrible sealed beam headlamps to modern units with halogen bulbs, fit a modern fuse box as the original was 2 fuses for the whole car, removed the bumpers for that race-car look and fit the Compomotive wheels.
Once I changed to slightly wider, more modern rubber the change in the car was phenomenal, it really handles well now. I've recently fitted a Recaro recliner to the front drivers side as the original seats offer very little in the way of support and were uncomfortable on longer journeys.
Plans going forward are to refresh the suspension with new GAZ shocks, as the old Spax units on it are past their best. Also I would like to get it a tad lower, so need a bit of extra adjustment on the height.
I also plan to remove the centre exhaust box to give it a bit more noise.
Anyway, lets throw some more photos on here!
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