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Go Back   Madabout Kitcars Forum > Mad Build Area > Vintage and Classic Roadster Kit Car Builds

Vintage and Classic Roadster Kit Car Builds For Vintage and Classic era kit cars. Post your build reports, problems and progress here

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  #61  
Old 23rd June 2019, 09:38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister Towed View Post
…Need to be getting on with mine, really...
[Tapping fingers impatiently on table]

And do you have any progress to report?

[/Tapping fingers]

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  #62  
Old 23rd June 2019, 13:37
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...only on the Midget, I'm afraid. I bought it a year ago as a summer runaround while I finished my Speedster and it's turned into a full on running restoration.

It's now mechanically perfect but I'm currently stripping it down for a full respray. Once that's done then I can get on with the Speedster.

Really sorry for the delay, note to self - don't buy another project until you've finished the last one.
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  #63  
Old 24th June 2019, 09:00
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No worries mate.

I am sure the extra practise you get spraying the Midget will help you get a nice finish on the Speedster.

Good luck, Paul.
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  #64  
Old 15th October 2019, 15:10
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I know it is another hard top, but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erkdc7Q7ASM

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  #65  
Old 20th October 2019, 11:13
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Hi Paul, thanks for sharing that, I'm always looking to pinch ideas from pro builders

That car isn't my favourite outlaw as it's a little overdone imho. I much prefer the silver Coupe with the 'holed' wheels in the background in one of the scenes.

Work started on my Speedster again yesterday after a year spent fettling my MG Midget, so I hope to post some progress reports soon.
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  #66  
Old 22nd December 2019, 16:47
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Just trying a different image hosting service as photobucket don't seem to want me to share any pictures even though I've reduced my stored images to below their 'free' limit

Anyway, here goes...

https://ibb.co/rMyGK97
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  #67  
Old 22nd December 2019, 16:47
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Doh!
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  #68  
Old 22nd December 2019, 16:48
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Try again.

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  #69  
Old 22nd December 2019, 16:50
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Ahh, there we go, BBCode Full works on IMGBB.
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  #70  
Old 22nd December 2019, 19:11
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Been a while since I posted any updates as I hadn't got round to finding a new image hosting site.

I've been making some progress recently, anyone who's familiar with my front engined speedster project will notice that the chassis is now wearing wide-five bolt early steel wheels (4"x15") on adaptors, and that I've cut the bonnet off.



Although I really liked the MGF 'square peg' alloys, ultimately I felt that they just looked too modern, even for an Outlaw style Speedster.

The bonnet 'mod' is down to me living with an MG Midget for eighteen months and really missing the easy access to engine and suspension components that the flip front on my Spyder allowed. So, my Speedster will have an opening front bonnet for oil and coolant checks and the whole front will flip forward for everything else.

With the front end separated from the body, I've also let a pair of MGF cooling vents into the front and trial fitted the lights -



I have a pair of Marchal fog lights that I might fit inboard of the air intakes, it just depends on whether I like the look or not when I trial fit them.

Another change since I last posted is that I've moved the engine back in the chassis by 80mm so that the front carb clears the underside of the bonnet. That was achieved by fabricating a pair of engine mounts to take MG Midget rubber mounts and using an overdrive prop on a non-overdrive box -





80mm is as far back as it can go without having to use a different exhaust due the 4-2-1 stainless system fouling the chassis.

The result is quite pleasing, allowing about 10mm clearance for the rear dash-pot and giving a fair bit more space ahead of the engine for a radiator. It also moves the whole engine behind the front axle line making it effectively (front) mid-engined.





I'm hoping to get the lower section of the frame welded together during the Christmas break so I can mount the body, start fabricating the floors and look at fitting the doors.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Last edited by Mister Towed; 22nd December 2019 at 20:26.. Reason: Remove huge images
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  #71  
Old 22nd December 2019, 19:14
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Oh dear, not sure why some of the pics are huge. Will have to look into that.
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  #72  
Old 22nd December 2019, 19:53
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  #73  
Old 23rd December 2019, 13:31
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Nice to see you have made progress

The wheels are much more in keeping with the car
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  #74  
Old 23rd December 2019, 13:52
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Seconded on the wheels , you've use the 65/66 Beetle wheel with the slots too ...good choice .
Moving the engine back is a wise move too ...As you know I do it on most of my builds as well.....makes a lot of sense . Good to see some progress ...
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  #75  
Old 24th December 2019, 08:18
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Thanks guys, I'm aiming to be on the road for Goodwood next September, which I don't think is unrealistic now I've (mostly) finished the Midget. I just need to get on with it.

The MGF alloys kept nagging at me every time I went into the garage so I'd occasionally look for wide fives on ebay. Originals often crop up in ones and twos in varying condition, and while reproduction ones are available, I really wanted an early matching set in the slotted style.

So, when a full set of five 4x15's that had been blasted and painted OEW came up locally for a starting bid of just £50 I pounced and won them as the only bidder.

I already had a set of Triumph to 4x100 adaptors on the shelf and the 4x100 to 5x205 adaptors were £25 each from Limebug. The adaptors widen the wheelbase by a total of 100mm, which is around 40mm less than splined adaptors for MGB wheels did on my Spyder. I'd already replaced the spindly Triumph wheel studs with Land Rover Freelander ones - they're a straight swap - so I've no concerns over the adaptors failing in use as the LR studs are made to cope with a vehicle four times the weight of my Speedster.

When looking at tyres I was tempted by 155/8015 Vredestein Sprint Classics, but settled on 165/65/15 Uniroyal RainExperts which are half the price at £200 for five, and I know grip like limpets on the road as I had a set on my Spyder.

They also fit without fouling anything while the Vredesteins would've been marginal as their sidewalls are 16.7mm taller and there's only around 17mm clearance on the Uniroyals.

Anyway, if anyone wants a set of five MGF square peg alloys complete with wheel bolts and centre caps and fitted with new 175/65/15 tyres for £100 (collect from Downham Market, Norfolk), PM me and they're yours. (more pics on the 'for sale' thread).




Anyway, Merry Christmas to one and all!

Last edited by Mister Towed; 24th December 2019 at 09:21..
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  #76  
Old 24th December 2019, 10:05
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Although I am using different tyre sizes, I now only buy the Uniroyal rain masters, quality tyres at a reasonable price but the main reason is you can get them 149mph rated. Most 15" higher profile tyres are for vans and are normally 98 or 118mph rated which will invalidate your insurance if fitted to a Z3.
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  #77  
Old 24th December 2019, 17:08
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Originally Posted by Jaguartvr View Post
Although I am using different tyre sizes, I now only buy the Uniroyal rain masters, quality tyres at a reasonable price but the main reason is you can get them 149mph rated. Most 15" higher profile tyres are for vans and are normally 98 or 118mph rated which will invalidate your insurance if fitted to a Z3.
I've used Radar Dimex Classic tyres. They are VR rated and available in all the typical high profile sizes including 15" options. They are budget tyres, I was a little dubious at first but they appear to be good quality, time will tell how they handle and last.
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  #78  
Old 26th December 2019, 16:13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister Towed View Post

I already had a set of Triumph to 4x100 adaptors on the shelf and the 4x100 to 5x205 adaptors were £25 each from Limebug. The adaptors widen the wheelbase by a total of 100mm, which is around 40mm less than splined adaptors for MGB wheels did on my Spyder. I'd already replaced the spindly Triumph wheel studs with Land Rover Freelander ones - they're a straight swap - so I've no concerns over the adaptors failing in use as the LR studs are made to cope with a vehicle four times the weight of my Speedster.
If I've read that right , you've bolted adaptors to adaptors ...I'd be wary of that ...I'd want to make the two adaptors one unit by welding together or something ...that's a lot of bolted parts between wheel and hub to come loose ...... Just my opinion ion of course but I would be happier with one larger adaptor than two separate ...
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  #79  
Old 26th December 2019, 17:08
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Sound advice, and if both sets of adaptors were steel I'd definitely weld them together and have them balanced, but one set is steel and the other aluminium.

To make sure everything will be safe I've fitted Land Rover Freelander studs to the hubs, which, being much heavier duty than the spindly Triumph ones will easily take the additional strain.

Additionally, the Limebug adaptors are very thin at just 8mm, so there's very little extra 'leverage' to cause problems. https://www.limebug.com/product/view...drums-only-945

As for having two sets of nuts and bolts to connect the rim to the hub, from an engineering perspective that's really no different to fitting split-rim wheels, which are bolted together with much lighter duty fasteners than I'm using.

All the bolts, locknuts and studs are new and will be assembled with a drop of loctite, so I'm confident that nothing will break or rattle loose. The inner adaptors are also wide enough to ensure that the Limebug ones don't foul the brake calipers like they would on a Bug axle.

The wheel bearings will obviously be taking more strain, but that will be a fair bit less than on my Sammio as the engine is a third lighter and the wheels aren't pushed out as far from the hubs as the MGB wires were with splined adaptors fitted, and I never had a problem with bearing failure on that.

Overall, I'd say that there's less risk running these adaptors than there would be from using second-hand splined wires. After all, if the splines fail you completely lose all braking on that wheel, while it's not unknown for the spokes to collapse during 'spirited' cornering which is likely to cause the car to flip.

And finally, the wide fives just look so cool I don't want to fit anything else...
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  #80  
Old 28th December 2019, 14:56
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looking good!!
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