Mister Towed on the road...

[Viatron]

T, is it an optical illusion or is that rear wheel cambering in at the top?

[Mister Towed]

There is still a bit of positive camber on the back wheels, but not as much as there was yesterday.

[Viatron]

must be my eyes it looks like negative camber to my eye, ie the top of the wheel further inboard than the bottom. That said if it handles nicely than who cares!

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Viatron

must be my eyes it looks like negative camber to my eye, ie the top of the wheel further inboard than the bottom. That said if it handles nicely than who cares!

Sorry, I meant negative camber of course. There's a bit of toe in too, but the handling is most satisfactory as it is without bothering to have it properly set up. As it's a road car and I like the way it drives I'm not going to mess with it. If I wanted to go racing it might be a different matter though.

[1iTim]

thats an awesome dashboard Mr T - did you do that yourself or is it from another car or is it part of the sammio?

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by 1iTim

thats an awesome dashboard Mr T - did you do that yourself or is it from another car or is it part of the sammio?

It was one of the benefits of being on this forum, Tim. I'd added a post saying I wanted to create a dashboard that put the instruments ahead of the driver, perhaps something like the original Lancia D24 Spyder -



I also said that I really like the simple, three dial dash panel in the Porsche 356 Speedster and 550 Spyder -



That's when Gary Janes (creator of the Sammio Spyder) contacted me, said he had a dash moulding taken from the Porsche 550 Spyder project that he'd sold a short while ago laying around in the workshop somewhere and would I like it? I bit his arm off at the price he asked and this arrived a few days later (if you're reading this, thanks Gary) -



As you can see, it didn't exactly fit straight out of the box, but then I didn't expect it to. After a bit of narrowing and fettling it ended up looking as if it was made to measure. I also had to modify the frame behind the dash to allow the instruments to fit without fouling -











So, after lots of filling, sanding and spraying, this was the result-



As with everything Sammio, simple, huh?

[1iTim]

simple, not.
beautiful, yes.

top work

[Mister Towed]

As a continuation of my suspension mods I've now ordered a pair of 175/80/14 tyres for fitting next Wednesday.

Reason for only going for two at the moment is that I know they'll fit on the back with no problems but I'm not sure I'll be able to get them to fit on the front without fouling the bulkhead.

So, the plan is to get the first two fitted and try them on the front. If I can get them to fit I'll order two more, if not I'll fit them to the back and keep the 175/70/14's on the front. Or maybe try 165/80/14's...

[Mister Towed]

Just to prove I'm not a fair weather Spyder driver, I've just got back from Hunstanton beach where my son and I went for a bag 'o' chips for lunch.

First picture is of my car playing 'where's wally?' behind the sea wall -





There were some really dedicated windsurfers enjoying the gale rather more than we were -



And finally, a video of my lad enjoying the chips that weren't either blown away or eaten by the seagulls that kept mobbing us -



Spyder's safely back in the garage now before the rain starts

[Paul L]

Mr T - I still can't get over how low your car is when compared to modern ones.

Does this present any visibility issues when you are driving along?

Cheers, Paul.

PS
Where did you get the stainless steel mesh you used for your fibre glass repairs?

[Mister Towed]

No problems in modern traffic, Paul, you just drive defensively (assume everyone else is an idiot and leave them plenty of space to make stupid manoeuvres) and you won't go far wrong.

The stainless mesh is meant for modelling - model railway landscapes, etc - and I got mine from ebay.

[Scottie22]

Mr Towed, what a fantastic car! Its the first time I've seen it! Well done!
How long has it taken you to build?
It looks like a 2 litre GT6 engine you have there?
I also absoluteley love the way it looks so tiny and low, against modern cars, and hope that mine has the same stance when its done!
You just enjoy it now!!


Scottie.

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Scottie22

Mr Towed, what a fantastic car! Its the first time I've seen it! Well done!
How long has it taken you to build?
It looks like a 2 litre GT6 engine you have there?
I also absoluteley love the way it looks so tiny and low, against modern cars, and hope that mine has the same stance when its done!
You just enjoy it now!!


Scottie.

Hi Scottie, glad you like my car, I'm rather pleased with the way it turned out myself

I took two years to build it after estimating I could do it in six months A lot of the extra time was spent rebuilding the chassis, which fell apart when I took the body off. At least it gave me the chance to learn to weld.

I did everything myself apart from trimming the seat shells and home made side panels, which were finished in black leather by some local craftsmen (who also made and fitted the tonneau). They did an awesome job for a very reasonable price and I'd recommend Brockwell Brothers in King's Lynn to anybody.

It's running a Triumph Vitesse 2 litre mk1 engine that came with the donor, so it's the same as a mk1 GT6 engine. It was rebuilt to run on unleaded by the previous owner and has a massive 79bhp! That might not sound like a lot but it has over 100ft/lbs of torque and only weighs 780kg's, which is a fair bit less than the current model Lotus Elise. It feels pretty quick, returns around 35mpg and sounds awesome now I've fitted a side exit cherry bomb.

I'm following your build with interest, I like what I see so far so keep up the good work and you'll be on the road before you know it.

[Scottie22]

Mr Towed.

Of course I like your car! I'm a petrol head! Its a credit to your skill and perseverance.
I was surprised rto hear that the engine had 89 BHP though, as I have had (over the years) several GT6's, and the mark two's and three's
Had basically the same engine which had been uprated to 104 BHP
Perhaps the extra power may be easy to obtain?

Also, every time I see your name anwhere on this site I have amusing thoughts, and I have tried to put them to paper!
I t is not my intention to upset you, but I somehow don't think I will
[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

[Mister Towed]

Ha Ha! That was the reason for choosing the name and spelling it the way I did - an acknowledgement that I'm likely to end up being towed home in my old car.

So far, that hasn't actually happened yet. I've put 1,300 miles on it since it passed it's MOT in early August, and apart from the clutch failing on the dyno it hasn't missed a beat.

The engine should have 95bhp but the dyno chappy seems to think the carburettors aren't feeding it enough fuel at higher revs. The compression ratio is a bit low too (part of the unleaded conversion) so a head skim would add a bit more power.

My 35cc/min methanol/water injection nozzle decided to block before the power runs too, so I still don't know whether that adds any oomph. I've put a 70cc/min nozzle on it now to stop it blocking again and it certainly runs better with the methanol and water than without it.

I have a spare engine in the garage which I'll probably rebuild to fast road spec when funds allow, but, to be honest, the car's plenty quick enough as it is and never fails to put a smile on my face.

I can't begin to describe how much fun all those miles have been, so crack on and get yours on the road so you can find out!

[Scottie22]

I guessed you spelled the name that way etc etc.!!

I have looked into this engine thing, (I have a GT6 MK3,which I was renovating,) I have put it to one side until I have finished the build.

However, the spit engine weighs 100 kilos @ 80 BHP
the GT6 engine weighs 200 kilos @ 104 BHP (not much gain for twice the weight)
a Rover 1.4 engine weighs 100 kilos @ 103 BHP (that's pretty good)

and I have a spare Rover T16 turbo engine which
weighs 170 kilos @ 200 BHP That would be insane!

But Like yourself, I think the engine in it at present ,will be perfectly adequate and quite tractable.

[Scottie22]

Should have added this bit

At a glance, the Rover 1.4 is probably the best bet, half the weight of your present engine yet more power. A double whammy increase in all except weight

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Scottie22

Should have added this bit

At a glance, the Rover 1.4 is probably the best bet, half the weight of your present engine yet more power. A double whammy increase in all except weight

Ahh, but would it sound like this though?



Just out of interest, how easily available are adaptors for the K series engines to fit to Herald/Vitesse gearboxes?

[Scottie22]

Hi MT,

I am not sure that an adapter is even available for Rover engine to Triumph box, but I know for certain that adapters are readily available
for Rover engine to Ford type 9 box, as that is the route that all Rover engined cars seem to go. Even the mighty Rover T16 with its 200 BHP drives through a Ford type 9.
Apparently they are kind of legendary in that capacity.
If you did go that route, there would be all the extra work that would entail, different gearstick position, mountings, trim etc.
But a 16% power increase and a 100 kilo lighter car, perhaps would have been the way to go if you known all this earlier.
I can identify with your situation, all finished all wonderful, don't want any more work, but niggling in the background is the little seed of thought!!!
In the not so distant future, I will be facing the same dilema!!

[Scottie22]

Mr Toad I should have added, to get the 103 BHP,
the Rover 1.4 twin cam 16 valve engine would be required, not the lower powered 8 valve one!