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Go Back   Madabout Kitcars Forum > Mad Build Area > Formosa Builds, Ideas and Discussion

Formosa Builds, Ideas and Discussion Formosa 120 GR and related builds

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  #1  
Old 14th January 2019, 15:52
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Default Chris F's build ....

This arrived ...... ex HSCC car ..




Then this happened ...



leaving us with this .....





probably the nicest chassis I have started with to date .....engine has gone away to be rebuilt , its a 3.1 with a couple of tweaks ...was good for about 190 bhp according to owner ...

Frame is being made this week and a visit to the laminators today revealed they have started Chris's body ....being moulded in concrete grey , which is actually a pale sage green type of colour ....

Car is going to be finally painted Aston Martin Chiltern green and is getting 16'' XK140 wires and fully radiused arches ....

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  #2  
Old 14th January 2019, 16:02
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More pics over the coming weeks as she progresses ....
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  #3  
Old 14th January 2019, 21:55
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Shame, sorry but the Scimitar looks far too good for a donor.
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  #4  
Old 14th January 2019, 23:08
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaguartvr View Post
Shame, sorry but the Scimitar looks far too good for a donor.
I get what you are saying and it is a nice chassis , does it help if I tell you the reason the body was removed as sympathetically as possible is because it's going on another chassis and being put back on the road ?

Some donors will be controversial , some decent MX5's and Z3's have given their selves to the cause over the years as well ....builders choice I guess.. ...
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  #5  
Old 15th January 2019, 07:08
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaguartvr View Post
Shame, sorry but the Scimitar looks far too good for a donor.
+1.

Love those Alan Mann colours, let's hope it finds a good home.

Regards, Mick
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  #6  
Old 15th January 2019, 08:12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lancelot link View Post
I get what you are saying and it is a nice chassis , does it help if I tell you the reason the body was removed as sympathetically as possible is because it's going on another chassis and being put back on the road ?

Some donors will be controversial , some decent MX5's and Z3's have given their selves to the cause over the years as well ....builders choice I guess.. ...
Its going back on the road and probably track too .... the bodyshell has an average quality hand painted paint job if that helps make you feel a bit better !

Last edited by lancelot link; 15th January 2019 at 08:59..
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  #7  
Old 15th January 2019, 19:04
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Z3's are pig ugly and chopping them up is the kindest thing to do.
Just have a soft spot for Scimitars, I'll let you off so long as it goes back on the road!
Seem to always be some very sad Scimitars for sale on eBay that are probably past saving as a restoration project.
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  #8  
Old 15th January 2019, 19:40
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While I understand the reluctance of some to use a good quality donor I think is makes a lot of sense.

Especially if you are paying someone else to build the car for you.

As every hour Gary has to spend repairing a rusty chassis must be added to the donor car cost.

So at some point you could actually end up paying more a poor donor that needs repairs than the cost of a decent donor.

My donor was bought purely to build my car, I didn't want a Spitfire.

However, I made a lot of Spitfire owners happy when they could buy all the bits I didn't need.

Each to their own I guess.

Cheers, Paul.
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  #9  
Old 16th January 2019, 09:47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaguartvr View Post
Z3's are pig ugly and chopping them up is the kindest thing to do.
Just have a soft spot for Scimitars, I'll let you off so long as it goes back on the road!
Seem to always be some very sad Scimitars for sale on eBay that are probably past saving as a restoration project.
AGREED ...But as Paul says , economically it can make sense sometimes to buy the best you can afford ......

I told the customer what type of donor to buy , he bought this one !
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  #10  
Old 25th January 2019, 20:22
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Chris Farthings build on the HSCC Scimitar has made some progress ....chassis outer rails boxed , some repairs done , engine and gearbox moved back about 4 inches and propshaft shortened ...frame going on on Monday , collecting body on tuesday ....

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  #11  
Old 26th January 2019, 08:53
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Gary, I do like the 120 (and I love Scimitars). Did you move the engine back for it to fit the shell or to improve weight distribution? Not that I am thinking of my next build at all...
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  #12  
Old 26th January 2019, 09:16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oxford1360 View Post
Gary, I do like the 120 (and I love Scimitars). Did you move the engine back for it to fit the shell or to improve weight distribution? Not that I am thinking of my next build at all...
It's primarily to get the gearstick in the right place approx 48'' from the centre of the rear axle ...its not fixed in stone ..47 / 49 etc are ok ...the engine and box move back quite easily on the Scimitar , easier than the Vitesse ...

Also , as you say there is the advantage of getting the weight back a bit too ...
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  #13  
Old 1st February 2019, 09:32
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SOME MORE WORK DONE ON CHRIS'S CAR ....

I collected the cement grey body and fitted it to the frame and started to fabricate the bulkhead area etc... Triumph pedal clusters have been fitted and early Land Rover brake master cylinder , a shelf for Servo , battery etc. has been made on passenger side too ..

As the influences are definitely going to be Aston Martin inspired , Chris turned up with some 16'' Jag XK140 wires powder coated in black gloss and 3 eared spinners



Using MWS 52mm wheel adaptors drilled to suit the Scimitar , these were eventually fitted ( powder coaters managed to coat some of the splines resulting in about an hour of filing and cleaning out with a needle file ! )



These are the same wheels as used on the Survivor F-120 GR but have larger tyres and the Aston has huge wheel arches , so I opened the arches right up and split the top and pulled them out to cover the wheels ... ( same as Car 121 ) ... As the front is wider than the rear on these , no mods are necessary to the front wings ...




Fuel tank going in today and some general fabrication ....

Last edited by lancelot link; 1st February 2019 at 09:38.. Reason: added text and picture ....
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  #14  
Old 1st February 2019, 10:36
Lucky@LeMans Lucky@LeMans is offline
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I'm liking the look of this one already.

Gary, would it be worth your while taking a mould of the finished rear end so you could offer a "standard" wide option ? It would open up more donor options, this isn't the first time you have had to cut up a body to go wide.
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  #15  
Old 1st February 2019, 14:33
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PROBABLY LUCKY ...It would mean moulding both sides and the rear to achieve it ...I'm kind of on hold waiting to see what needs to be done to get the Norwegian examples fully underway ...there will be some re-moulding involved in those bodies due to a slightly wider track ...I'm hoping I can achieve my options in one go as , my laminators are very good , but not the cheapest ....

When Chris chose his gelcoat colour , my initial thought was ...oh ... but he wants a greenish base for the chiltern green paint and the green options weren't cutting it ...but now it's here , I actually like the colour , with the black wires , it looks really good and I wouldn't rule out a similar colour for a future build ...

Last edited by lancelot link; 1st February 2019 at 14:36..
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  #16  
Old 1st February 2019, 19:31
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I must confess the first thing I thought when I saw the body was nice colour as it appears very period looking.

+1 to nice wheels too.
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  #17  
Old 1st February 2019, 20:44
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Apparently grey was the most popular colour choice for new cars in 2018.

Ford do a lovely light shade of grey which would look stunning on a period looking car like this one and it would match the black wheels as well.
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  #18  
Old 2nd February 2019, 20:33
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Just ordered an aluminium Spitfire tank for the car ..not had one before , looking forward to seeing one ...anyone used one ?
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  #19  
Old 9th February 2019, 11:52
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Some progress ....

Fuel tank framework with removeable cross brace in place , rear body mounts and seat belt anchorage points ...




Steering column , throtttle pedal and centre tunnel arrangement .. Chris has an early gearbox with the remote shifter arrangement , so high at box , but dropped down to give space between seats



Door hinge pivots ...

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  #20  
Old 18th February 2019, 12:14
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SOME MORE PROGRESS ... Bonnet framework is done , radiator mounts and extended hoses ..everything is bolted to existing holes in the chassis so it can all be removed easily to get Engine etc in and out ...I welded 8mm nuts into the inner arch tubes to allow bonnet frame to come off easily and lower mounts are utilizing the bottom anti-roll bar mounts ...keeping it all simple .... I welded a bracket on Graham's car that stopped the radiator coming out , so try to think about dis-assembly as well as assembly whilst putting these together nowadays !!



Bonnet fitted , face cut out and some inner wing/brace bits glassed into the nose to stop flexing ... I'm going to make a jig today to enable me to radius the 4 arches for clearance on the 16'' wires today ...


Last edited by lancelot link; 18th February 2019 at 12:18.. Reason: added some more rambling ...
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