D1092 Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 Hello all, After many years of thinking about it, I finally bought a Doretti for restoration last year. Mine is #1092, originally red with black interior and (maybe) brown top, and until my ownership it had spent all or most of its life in the US state of Florida. It now lives with me in Texas. I've done a little bit of tinkering, and I am now considering whether it's time to start the restoration in earnest. The main issues are cosmic: i.e. time and space. My goal with the car is to keep it original in appearance, though I do plan some safety/reliability improvements. Disc brakes for the front and finned drums on a TR4 axle in the rear are planned, and over the last few months I have collected most of the parts. Seat belts will be installed as well, of course. An alternator conversion looks straightforward. Other suggestions are welcome. One glaringly non-original element that I am investigating would be fitting a Daimler 2 1/2 liter V8... don't laugh! The Daimler eights are fairly compact engines, and in a standard state of tune they are by no means overwhelmingly powerful-- I am not looking to create another Balchowsky-style monster. In fact, Mr Richard Larter has done this conversion to a Doretti of his own. Does anyone on the forum have Mr Larter's personal email address? I would be interested to know more about the project. I have a couple of photos of his work, found on doretti.co.uk, but I wonder how extensive the modifications to the car were. If it requires a lot of chopping, I may not be interested! Nigel, I have read your postings to this forum with interest. I'm looking forward to more photos of the rebuild. I hope it is coming together well for you. Best regards, Vittorio Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alec Pringle Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 Hi Vittorio, and welcome ! Richard is at Balfron Sports Cars in Glasgow, although I don't have his email address to hand. If all else fails, ask the TR Register office, when they return from Xmas break they should be able to assist you. The Daimler V8 ought to fit without radical alteration - it can be slotted into a TR2 without any great drama. It's a nice engine, but not cheap to repair - be warned ! TR4 running gear should cope adequately with the extra power, brakes and transmission wise, we're not exactly talking Nailhead torque from the little Daimler V8 . . . Cheers, Alec Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nigel C Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 Hi Vittorio, Sounds interesting, lovely looking engine as well, how about the dynamo mounted on the top front of the engine. Do you have enough bonnet/hood clearance? that's all ways been the stumberling block for me If so it really would look good with the original dynamo or one of those alternators inside a dynamo type thingies! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Elliott Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Vittorio - I have sent you a Personal Message Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D1092 Posted January 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 Don, thank you for the PM. It's worth repeating on the forum what you mentioned: Tom Householder in Ohio (USA) is a great authority on the Doretti. I would be shocked if there was anything he did *not* know about these cars-- a true expert! Though I've unfortunately never met him in person, his emails over the years have been unfailingly helpful. So if there's anyone out there needing Doretti info, contact Tom via his webpage (www.doretti.com). I'm moving the Doretti to a new workspace this month, and if all goes according to plan I should be able to start the restoration in earnest. I'll post pictures if others on the forum would be interested in watching the progress... once there is some progress... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nigel Wilcox Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Hello all, After many years of thinking about it, I finally bought a Doretti for restoration last year. Mine is #1092, originally red with black interior and (maybe) brown top, and until my ownership it had spent all or most of its life in the US state of Florida. It now lives with me in Texas. I've done a little bit of tinkering, and I am now considering whether it's time to start the restoration in earnest. The main issues are cosmic: i.e. time and space. My goal with the car is to keep it original in appearance, though I do plan some safety/reliability improvements. Disc brakes for the front and finned drums on a TR4 axle in the rear are planned, and over the last few months I have collected most of the parts. Seat belts will be installed as well, of course. An alternator conversion looks straightforward. Other suggestions are welcome. One glaringly non-original element that I am investigating would be fitting a Daimler 2 1/2 liter V8... don't laugh! The Daimler eights are fairly compact engines, and in a standard state of tune they are by no means overwhelmingly powerful-- I am not looking to create another Balchowsky-style monster. In fact, Mr Richard Larter has done this conversion to a Doretti of his own. Does anyone on the forum have Mr Larter's personal email address? I would be interested to know more about the project. I have a couple of photos of his work, found on doretti.co.uk, but I wonder how extensive the modifications to the car were. If it requires a lot of chopping, I may not be interested! Nigel, I have read your postings to this forum with interest. I'm looking forward to more photos of the rebuild. I hope it is coming together well for you. Best regards, Vittorio Hi Vittorio Congratulations on your purchase and good luck with your restoration plans. I'm afraid that I do not have details of the Daimler V8 engined Doretti but I'm sure that I have a photograph of the rolling chassis which I downloaded from the net to allow me to take a better look at his steering rack conversion. Hopefully Alec's response has allowed you to make contact by now. My restoration has made good progress since my last posting. The steel underbody is now finished and painted. The mechanicals are finished (although I suspect that I will revert from the current TR4 axle to a Girling TR3 axle when I can find one because the clearance appears to be inadequate for my shiny new 5.5 inch wheels and planned 185 70 15 tyres). The wiring is as complete as it can be until I fit the lights. The boot conversion, petrol tank, tank relocation, steering rack and column conversion are all thankfully completed. After a lot of head sctraching I have recently managed to fabricate a 3 way slip ring assembly to allow me to retain the original steering wheel and indicator switch assembly. I have now driven the car allbeit in it's current unfinished state. This brought a great big smile to the face which lasted until I got some estimates for the next stage - the alloy panelwork! I'm trying to come to terms with these but I may have to learn to oxy weld aluminium! If anyone has any wizzard ideas on how to get some good quality alloy work for a price within this stratisphere these would be gratefully received! I will try to post some more photos if anyone is interested - I just need to find get the file sizes down. All the best with your project Nigel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.