Triumph Dolomite Club
Latham & Specials Register
There is now a dedicated Latham website at www.lathamf2.co.uk.
There are more pictures of the Latham F2 and the Robin Hood in The Gallery.
Here are a few tips from Tony Vincent for anyone building or thinking of building a Latham F2 .
Windscreen wipers : it is possible to use the Dolomite wiper system, after shortening the linkage between the two wipers and modifying the motor so that it switches off at the correct park point, but this gives problems when it comes to fitting the windscreen demister vents since space behind the dashboard is so cramped. Latham suggest that the MG-B wiper system is preferable, but this can prove quite expensive due to the high price that MG suppliers place upon anything ever parked near an octagonal badge. Not all MG wipers self park, either, so if you decide to go this route, try to get the motor from a later model.
You can get an identical setup to the MG one from any scrap Mini/Maxi/Allegro (you don't even need to modify the plug) for around a fiver. The centre tube, however, must come from a Maxi and requires shortening a few inches by simply hacksawing it down and then reflaring the end by inserting a six inch nail and wobbling it around.
Heater : the Dolomite heater fits reasonably well, and works well as long as the metal water pipe supplying it isn't gunged up (I have also seen this problem on a friend's 1850 RWD).However, the heater does take up most of the space behind the dash, and makes it quite difficult to fit a radio/cassette; even more so if you decide to fit the gear lever heater vent. In order to improve this situation I have decided to try fitting TWO Mini heaters, one in the position of the standard fan/blower unit blowing into the car via the existing hole in the bulkhead, and one in place of the normal heater. The general idea is that one will blow downwards to heat the occupants, and one will blow upwards to clear the screen. I am intending to use some large resistors from the Dolomite heater to provide speed control (Mini blowers don't provide this facility).
The new heater system will also make in unnecessary to tie up large amounts of dash space with heater controls (just two electrical switches now) - see below.
Incidentally, all of the screw in water pipe fittings on my (TR7) engine are METRIC! This seems very odd when every other bolt is UNF or UNC, but it does make it very handy when you need to modify the heater pipe runs; just nip down to your local Pay-it-All and Do-Less and buy a handful of 15mm pipe junctions, and a piece of copper pipe. My personal preference is to use compression fittings, cut down and soldered for safety. The 1850 is the same, and I suspect the Sprint engine is too, so bear this in mind when you get round to the awkward bits of pipework supplying the heater.
Dashboard : the Latham dashboard is, I believe, a very rare beast indeed; is this the reason that you are building your own? I have decided to do likewise, simply because I found the Latham one too difficult to trim properly (too many curves in the wrong places). I also found that the steering wheel partly obscured the speedo.
Anybody interested in buying a ready trimmed dashboard from a prizewinning Latham (best in class, Sodit 94. OK it was the ONLY car in the class but so what?)?
Window winders : Latham recommend the use of Spitfire winders, and window channels and glass is available through Marcus Potts. I found that the window channels were not a very good fit, and some modification was necessary, which made the expensive "plastic coated" option a waste of money. I would be very interested to hear how you get on with your MG Midget system, but remember that altering the position of the window may have an adverse affect on your hood fitment. This may not be too much of a problem, really, since the hoods are effectively tailor made for each car anyway.
Door Gaps : persevere! It can be done! Beware the additional weight of mirrors, windows and locks; this will tend to make the door drop a little, and might make it difficult to close (a problem I have to live with for now).
Door Handles : I thought that the standard Latham practice of using Dolomite interior door handles might lead to rattles, as well as being a bit prone to joy riders (I live in Merseyside, remember?) so fitted Allegro handles instead. These are obviously very good; when did you last hear of anybody nicking an Allegro? Incidentally, the same handles are also used on Lotuses and Lagondas, so don't laugh too much. The handles off a Landrover Discovery were another option, but you don't see many of these in breaker's yards.
Interior mirror : the MG-B mirror seems to be the usual fitment, but quite frankly it's crap. The mirror is tiny, has a very narrow field of view and no dipping/polarising facility, but does at least provide a useful means of checking whether your hood is folded properly, due to its low mounting position. Unfortunately, it's useless for seeing behind the car.
My solution is to use the Dolomite mirror and adjuster ball bolted to an 'L' bracket which is mounted on the windscreen's top nut; this gives a much improved rear visibility.
Ground Clearance : I believe Marcus has done some legwork here, so you might find it useful to contact him, but I have had many problems in this area, not least of which was a badly damaged sump after grounding on the M6 near Birmingham at around 70MPH (honest)! Check your front springs; the ones supplied with my kit are 13 coils, but at least one owner has been supplied with longer 16 coil springs which appear to greatly improve ride height. I have also added some spacers above the rear springs to raise the rear ride height by an inch, and have had the front wishbones re-welded to provide a 1.75 inch lift at the front (this appears to redress the wrong spring problem which I didn't find out about until afterwards). Be careful how you mount the exhaust; if you can get it to pass OVER the rear axle rather than under it then things will be much improved.
A modified sump is essential, though Latham charge far too much for this service.
Ref your drive : for some reason the Latham seems to have MUCH better clearance in reverse - I found this while struggling to get mine on a car transporter. Incidentally, the AA man has a panic attack if you break down anywhere; they don't have the facilities for transporting such a low car, so it HAS to be repaired at the roadside. You can't even tow the car without taking the bonnet off, because there's nowhere to attach a rope!
Wiring : the Dolomite loom works OK but needs a fair amount of hacking about to get it to reach all of the appropriate parts of a Latham. Particular problems include the extension of most of the instrument wires, the moving of the alternator to the far side (my donor was originally an 1850) away from the battery, and the extension of the wires to the front lights. Also, while I appreciate the simplcity, it is a little worrying to have provision for only two fuses on the entire car!
It is also useful sometimes to be able to remove the bonnet, so I have fitted a box of relays above the front wheelarch, fed by a couple of multi plugs to ease bonnet removal. I have also found that this gives me brighter headlamps than the Dolomite loom originally did, so there may be a large voltage drop inherent in the Dolomite loom; a useful tip for all Dolomite owners?
In any case, the new wiring gives me far greater peace of mind than the 20 year old Dolomite loom, so I am going to carry on and re-wire everything before the new dash goes on.
Boot hinges : Latham suggest using the Dolomite hinges after weakening the springs with a blowtorch. I found that this made the springs too weak, so suggest that you only weaken them one at a time. Alternatively, I have seen one car using Morris Minor bonnet hinges for the boot lid, and may well adopt this myself; the Dolomite hinge plates do take up a lot of boot space.
In case you are missing
some parts, I have the following parts for sale (or shortly will have) :
Transmission tunnel top
Heater elbow
Dash assembly, part trimmed and with glovebox
fitted
- all available for any reasonable offer.
Tony Vincent