Mister Towed on the road...

[redratbike]

Originally Posted by davecymru

So you have a car on the road that you're enjoying _and_ you're going to the Gym....

Just like the rest of us.......

He only parked outside..didn't actually say anything about going inside

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by redratbike

He only parked outside..didn't actually say anything about going inside

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Mister Towed

... I sure am glad I fitted a heater though.

I was going to ask whether you got the heater sorted out.

Where do you have the heating vents pointing?

Cheers, Paul.

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I was going to ask whether you got the heater sorted out.

Where do you have the heating vents pointing?

Cheers, Paul.

Heater works fine Paul, it just needed the inlet manifold 'pipe' clearing out and a bleed valve adding to the outlet hose at its highest point to get the air out of the system.

The vents are behind the wireless and can be rotated to point at your feet or into your lap.



The engine provides a fair bit of heat into the cabin too, I've driven it in some pretty cold conditions over the last few days and it's nice and snug in the cockpit. I'm aiming to keep using it through the winter on dry days, in fact, I'm off out in it now

[slartibartfast]

That's it Mr T ... if you've got it, flaunt it
ATVB
Slarti

[BazMason]

What's the clothes peg behind the gear stick for Towed?

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by BazMason

What's the clothes peg behind the gear stick for Towed?

Well spotted Baz. My cheap ebay choke cable wouldn't hold itself so it was to keep the choke open. So far I haven't needed to use the choke so it's been a bit redundant. I may reuse the choke cable to pull a little weight to tap the solenoid when it sticks and leaves me embarrassingly stranded at petrol stations (twice now )

[davecymru]

I've got a pair of mole grips tucked down next to my drivers seat for exactly the same reason

[Paul L]

Mr T - Can I be a real pain and ask another question about your heater?

What does it need in terms of operating switches, is it simply on/off?

I guess the obvious shopping list is:
- Heater
- Vents
- Ducting from heater to vents
- Hoses from engine to heater
- Fittings to hold all of the above in place.

Is there any thing else I have missed?

Cheers, Paul.

[christinedmc]

a warm suit and something for you eyes and ears?

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Mr T - Can I be a real pain and ask another question about your heater?

What does it need in terms of operating switches, is it simply on/off?

I guess the obvious shopping list is:
- Heater
- Vents
- Ducting from heater to vents
- Hoses from engine to heater
- Fittings to hold all of the above in place.

Is there any thing else I have missed?

Cheers, Paul.

That's pretty much it Paul apart from a control valve. I used one from a London Taxi, which is opened and closed with the donor's choke cable -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heater-Con...item2ec805d854

I reused the donor's heater switch to turn the fan on and bought some (expensive) bulkhead connectors to pass the hoses through the bulkhead without them fraying, but that's it, warm, toasty feet for me

[Mister Towed]

Finally got round to fitting the 150lb Spitfire front springs today, quite a simple job which took about two hours.

For those that didn't follow my build thread I cut my 200lb Vitesse springs down by 95mm. This gave me a cool look but no ground clearance and a ride harsh enough to blur your vision at 50mph.

After doing some calculations on the back of a fag packet I decided to cut the new springs down by just 35mm. Here's the old and new springs -



The result of changing these over is to give about 2" more ground clearance and a much more forgiving ride.



You can really feel the difference on the road, front end grip is stronger because the tyres are staying in contact with the surface rather than hopping about and braking feels stronger too for the same reason.

It now sits slightly nose up so I'll probably raise the back an inch or so tomorrow to compensate, then I'll probably change to 175/80/14 tyres from the current 175/70/14's to fill the arches a bit better and give the classic, tall tyre look that suits these cars best (imho).

Overall I'm very pleased with the softer set up front and rear and I don't think it'll spoil the looks once it's level either -



More tomorrow

[slartibartfast]

Very nice Mr T.
With the 175/80 14s will you have to adjust/cut off some of the bulkhead or will they fit?
From memory, when we met at Revival you explained that you moved the bulkhead backwards about 20mm.
Keep up the good work.
Slarti

[christinedmc]

Hello Towed,

It looks very good the way it is. Are you sure you want to change the back? It doesn't show on the photo that the cars hangs a bit to the rear. It's pretty.
Bigger tyres could make the picture complete.

Michiel

[Mister Towed]

Thanks guys, it never fails to draw a crowd when it's parked up.

I did move my bulkhead back 20mm Slarti or even the 175/70's would've fouled. I should get away with the taller profile tyres without any further mods though, the bulkhead slopes forward as it rises from the chassis rail and as I've raised the front suspension a couple of inches it moves the centre of the tyres that bit further down the slope so clearance increases. That's what I'm hoping anyway

[The Shadow]

inspirrational stuff towed. your car is a real ambassador for the Sammio/ribble range. I love 550's so your colour and dash choice is obviously swaying me a bit! keep it coming .

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by The Shadow

inspirrational stuff towed. your car is a real ambassador for the Sammio/ribble range. I love 550's so your colour and dash choice is obviously swaying me a bit! keep it coming .

Glad you like my car TS. I went with silver because I initially wanted a 718 RSK replica (very expensive to build and I didn't fit in the cockpit when I tried one for size) which looks stunning in silver. Despite everyone telling me silver would be hard to spray I actually found it quite straightforward and the result looks period correct - it reflects the light nicely but isn't a mirror finish which would just look too new.

I still take my hat off to Gary J for evolving the shape from an old Nikri body he bought on ebay and reinventing the rebody concept, and I have no complaints about the quality of my mid production body shell (number 50 or thereabouts) for the price I paid. Bearing in mind that I got the complete body, internal frame, egg crate grille, lowered battery tray and 550 dashboard for under £1,300, while the body alone for a 356, 550 or 718 would've been around £3,500 + VAT, the Sammio is an absolute steal, even if it was rather thin and wobbly until it was bonded onto the frame and the cockpit boxed in with ply.

The best thing I can say about the product is that it genuinely seems difficult to build a crap looking one. They suit all colours and most chop and change mods, like bonnet scoops and bulges, and even look good in the bare fibreglass - just take a look at the gallery photo of 'skippy' an unpainted budget build completed by the chap in the goggles.

On the whole I can thoroughly recommend this kit to anyone.

[rattler]

hi T just thinking about my exust can you tell me if you used just a cherry bomb on the end . thank you dave r

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by rattler

hi T just thinking about my exust can you tell me if you used just a cherry bomb on the end . thank you dave r

Yep, mild steel cherry bomb which was about £30 on ebay. Sounds nice

[Mister Towed]

I've now had time to remove the 40mm lowering block from the back and replace it with three short sections cut from the original top leaves, each 5mm thick. This has raised the back end another inch without ruining the look of the car (imho) -





I've now gone from 95mm lowered 200lb springs on the front and 75mm lowered spring with three leaves removed on the back to 35mm lowered 150lb springs on the front and 15mm lowered spring with six leaves removed on the back. These changes have transformed the ride of the car which now feels far more compliant while still firm enough to be sporty. It's also given a tad more ground clearance so I shouldn't have to stop before speed bumps any more

Final step, when funds allow, will be to switch to a higher profile tyre, either 165/80/14, 175/80/14 or even 155/80/15's if some 4.5x15 wheels come up at the right price. Having taken a look at the clearance on the front I'll probably need to give the bulkhead another bashing to get any of the above to fit without fouling.