Rusty doors?

[widiril]

The two rear doors on my Toledo are very rusty along the bottoms, I was planning on sanding down and sorting, however I may just replace the doors. A few questions first ;

Are dolomite doors exactly the same?
How much should I be paying, per door?
How difficult are they to find?
How difficult is it to get a colour match when respraying?

Cheers,  ;)

[dolomiteman]

All of the four door saloons are identical, ie Dolomite Toledo(4 door) 1500FWD 1500tc

You can pick up doors from next to nothing up to £50 a shot. Beware of two things; tinted and untinted glass and horrendous fit problems between cars. I ofered one up last week and it was both too short and too long and looked like it was from a different model. There is adjustment in the hinges, but not a lot.

There seem to be a fair few doors around compared to other panels, I guess because they are easy to unbolt.

Colour match depends on what colour it is, the skill of the paint mixer and your spraying ability!

The dolomite Club have produced repair sections for the bottoms of the doors up to the lower swage line in zintec (doesn't rust) for £19 ea. delivered; allows you to keep you original door and its standard of fit.

[widiril]

The repair sections sound good, has anyone on the forum used them? How are they fixed? Does anyone have a site link?

Thanx.

[Toledo Man]

Just one thing to be careful of it you're reskinnng your doors:

Make sure you do it with the door still on the car. That way you can check the alignment. If you take the door off and do it you will find that your door won't line up properly. I think somebdoy in the TDC told me this but I can't remember exactly.

[dolomiteman]

The repairs have fold over edges for the sides and bottom as per the original skin, the top is welded, but if you have the rubbing strips this hides the join.

Many have now fitted them and there is an example fitted on a door in my shed to prove how well they work. As Toledoman says though, do the initial fit on the car to preserve the lines/gaps.

A lot easier than a full skin to fit and 1/4 the price.

[widiril]

So where do I get these panels from? Just done a search on the web and can't find anything for the Dolomite/Toledo.

[dolomiteman]

http://p206.ezboard.com/fthetriumphdolomiteclubfrm19

[dollyboy]

just for note, on my first dolly I had to replace 2 doors on one side.  the ones I found were used, and unrepaired from a chap called tommy bolstridge who used to race dollies, but he kind of disappeared from the dolly scene some time ago.

luckily they were both with tinted glass which matched the rest of the car, and by total fluke/luck/act of god, they went straight on 1st time, lined up perfectly and no moving lock assemblies or anything either - now thats a very rare thing! 

Kev's advice (for what its worth!?) just a personal point of view, but if you're not that experienced with welding, body work and spraying and want a pukka job, i really would advise getting a reputable bodyshop on the case, preferably having seen some of the work they've done first.  I'd buy the panels and supply them to the body shop.  Use  TDC as first choice for supply, or Rimmer Bros as second choice, as they're a bit more pricey, and usually just mild pressed steel rather than the zinc alloy / galvanized or whatever it is no rust type stuff. 

the other side is that you dont get experience without having a go yourself - i'd suggest approach with care, because if you f*!k it up, not only could it cost you extra for the bodyshop to sort out, but you may end up needing another set of repair panels!  I've tried bodywork repairs and spraying in the past, and found that while I can get 'almost' the result I want, it takes me ages ages ages, and its too much farting around, so I tend to stick with electrics, fairly straight forward mechanics, and anything that can just be unscrewed, unclipped, unbolted and replaced.  Anything im not confident with, i'd rather just pay someone else to do. maybe a more costly approach initially, but I find saves time, if its from a proper trade source the work/parts should have a warranty, and can also save grief and money in the long term.

Jesus.  im 31, and starting to sound like my dad !!

[widiril]

I've not started sanding back the door bottoms yet, so I'm not too sure of the extent of the metal worm. I was just fishing for some ideas really.
If I do find that they're beyond repair I'll definately get a body shop to do the work and then spray it myself.

Cheers guys.

[dollyboy]

PS - my practice was on a mark 1 metro... the wings bolt on and you could pick up doors and panels in return for a bag of jelly babies, so not much risk if you made a mess of it.  triumph marques are regarded as classics, so i'd say its more worthwhile doing a pukka job.

Unless you're planning on banger racing it of course, in which case i'd go with mild steel chequer plate repair panels that overlap the sills by 2", or in fact weld the doors shut and cover both doors completely in chequer plate, paint smiley faces all over it, with a big fluorescent yellow " OH NOOOOO!" on the underside of the car in case you roll it, and for good measure weld in a roll cage made from RSJ's, which in those circles will probably get you much reeeespect, maaaaan!

you can visualise it, cant you?!

HAHA.

sorry, i go off on a tangent sometimes...