New project
 

Having (just about) finished my Tribute 250 I find myself itching to do something else.
I had pleaded and grovelled to Chris at Tribute to do a Daytona 365 Spider but he doesn't like the car so just isn't interested.
There was then a project to fit an old Southern Roadcraft body to a Z4, this looked ideal but unfortunately got shelved to unforeseen events.
I then had the opportunity to buy the remains of the Southern Roadcraft shell.
I was intending to carry on the project by using a Z4. However studying pictures and a diagram of the body shell it looked to me as if the top of the boot was going to be a problem. It just sits too high and would need cutting out and replacing with a flatter cross member, this would then fall foul of the dreaded IVA.
https://s20.postimg.org/ym20bccjx/IMG_0802.jpg
]Plan B, go back to the trusted Z3, if all fails (quite a likely possibility) I can always do another Tribute 250 which I want to do again in the future anyway.
However trying to source a reasonably priced 2.8/3.0 Z3 is proving to be impossible. Cheapest at the moment seems to be around £2.5k. As I'm not sure if the project will succeed I don't want to sink too much money into it.
So Plan C
Rover SDI convertible replica! But will fit it with pop up headlights and a few other modifications. It is a Rover replica and the "F" word must not be used.
https://s20.postimg.org/oq0xbp6rx/sdi_convertible.jpgSo going to used an E46 BMW. Have just picked up a 325 cabrio, 2001 cat D with a damaged wing mirror, odd set of wheels and a roof that doesn't open for £600.
Hope to end up with this, as seen previously on the "What would you like Chris to build you" thread.
https://s20.postimg.org/ec4ow7bf1/e46_daytona_copy.jpg

It is going to be a long slow project, the shell I picked up has been chopped up quite a bit more since the top picture. Sills and a lot of the rear body has gone along with one of the front wheel arches which will probably be my hardest problem. Making it back up will be hard enough, getting it to be symmetrical to the other side will be almost impossible, let the bodging comence.

Could you remove the stretch of glassfibre that links the two rear wings, and cleverly blend the wings? The Daytona boot may need a little reworking but you might even be able to use the original hinges.

One of the features of the "Rover" boot lid is that it is very flat. If you look at the rear clam you will see it is resting about 3 inches above the top of the door line. I'm not sure if it could be done, certainly not with my skill set.

Utter, utter, utter barst....................
All that grovelling I did!
Put me down for the first one please.
My wife is probably going to cut my gonads off now, so much for my new cunning plan.

I know you said you had another project in the pipeline, it does look very good on the Z3, I wanted to try my bodyshell on my Z3 but couldn't bring myself to remove the 250 bodywork as it now all painted but it does look like a very do able conversion, in fact it looks closer than the 250.
Do you know what kit it is. Mine is the Southern Roadcraft and I can see some small differences straight away. There is more bodywork between the front of the rear wheel arch and the rear of the door, the bonnet has less of a lip on the trailing edge and the front wheel arches aren't so bulbous.



Bugger, bugger, bugger........

So THAT is what is under the shroud?

I think we need to know what is under the 2 blue covers, obviously up to no good!

Jag - Just so I can keep up...

Are you now abandoning your "Rover" replica based on a 3 series and switching to the Tribute version based on a Z3?

Either way, good luck, Paul. :)

Tribute Castrato then. :shock:

Actually I'd stick with what you're doing - the over shaved rear deck on the grey car looks like it was done with an etchasketch. Reminds me of the Panache slabby pre cursor to proper countach replicas. Not good.

Smash - It might be a tad premature to judge the final product from a photo of some panels just resting in place. :rolleyes:

Or do you want to add the bonnet gap is too large and the door will not open past the front wing to your 'over shaved rear deck' observation?

Should have gone to SpecsSavers. :icon_wink:

The picture of the 365 on the Z3 has got me thinking again. It looks as if it is made to go on the Z3 and i think it looks brilliant.
My cunning plan was to do an E46 AND a Z3 but as the E46 came up so cheaply I thought I would start with it. However seeing the Z3 I am beginning to think it would be a lot easier to start with the Z3, even if I use a poverty spec 1.8. Ideally I could work on both at the same time but don't have the room.
Decisions, decisions.

Any plumbers in the house? The E46 has V2 BOG as a number plate, ideal for a plumber or similar.

You're right - I'm sure it will be top quality, reputation to keep up and all that :icon_wink:

They do indeed, top quality product. In speaking to Chris I was asking some questions about the 250 swb as I still want to do another. Apart from the bonnet improvements which have already been mentioned on the forum, the doors have also been modified to improve the fit and gaps.
These were the only 2 areas that really need to be improved, the bonnet was an easy modification for me to do, the doors a lot harder.
This should make the build even easier.
I did also mention to Chris that I was also going to carry on with my plan for the SDI on the Z3 and that I would like to buy a pair of 250 sills to modify and he said no problem. I think most manufacturers would have told me where to go, just shows ham friendly and helpful Tribute are.

Thanks DS.

The more I look at the E46 the trickier it gets! I think the doors are going to be a big stumbling block as the door handles pull out to open. Chris's method of opening the doors on the 250 is both very clever and very simple.

I was lucky in that my donor came with a private registration plate that I have just sold and it has almost covered the cost of the donor. At the same time a Z3 2.8 auto came up and I managed to get it for the princely sum of £700 and for a change it was local too. Very good condition apart from a cracked rear screen, Mot was out as the owner's insurance had expired so he couldn't drive it to the MOT test garage. Has 140K on it and is an auto but should make an ideal donor.
In offering up my SDI:eyebrows: panels it is going to be far easier to use the Z3 than the E46 so this is going to be my new cunning plan but I hope to still do an E46 at a later date. I just have too many cars on the drive so need to thin them down a bit.
Chris has offered me some great advice as it going to supply me with a pair of 250swb sills that I can then modify, much easier than starting from scratch.


Anyone got a cheap set of Ferrari style 15" or 16" alloys going spare?

One of them is Zagmad's.

My guess would be the other one is Roadster's or the MXico.

Jag - I am sure you are now a dab hand at modifying fibreglass, so I look forward to seeing the build progress. :cool:

Good luck, Paul. :)

You would be amazed at what I can stick with GRP, hair, hall carpet, most of my kitchen utensils etc.
I did get a bollocking from SWIMBO when she found a big patch of pink GRP paste on her new sheet, twigged that I had had an afternoon nap!

I keep a dedicated pair of old jeans and tennis shoes as well as a few battered tee shirts to wear when fiberglassing/grinding, etc.
Change before going into the house. Fortunate that I have the room.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/25325...?ul_noapp=true
This is the third time these have been listed not sure if original or not.

Too pricey for me I'm afraid.
I was thinking of Using Triumph Stag wheels, only 4 stud so would need adaptors. Plenty about so if my project works out then they would be much easier and cheaper to source. Still keeping an open mind.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-S....c100005.m1851

I have just got a set of Daytona chrome bolt on wire wheels for my 250, the original MWS chrome powder coated wheels are going to be fitted to the new Z3 donor. I must pull my finger out but it's been cold and wet, I may have to borrow WCA's pansy hat!

Stag ones would work painted all one colour with badged yellow centres, my wheels were cheap (needed a re-furb), had to have adapters made in USA, mine are of a 1982 308 was out bid on the ones on ebay he has three tires for them and has been let down twice now so they may go for less they slightly different as they don't have the curved edge around the studs and are not marked Chromadora or Capelagno as most should be, he offered to deliver them to south wales as I have connections there. Might be worth making him an offer.

Ferrari wheels - new
 

Hi, Superformance sell new reproductions of Ferrari 308 wheels - a set of four for 795GBP:
http://www.superformance.co.uk/308/wheels.html
http://www.superformance.co.uk/parts/308model_sm.jpg

Thanks for the links, may well be worth it after it is all finished and painted.
For now I will put the wires on and keep my eyes out for hopefully a cheapish solution.
It is amazing what comes up cheaply on EBay if you keep searching.

I was thinking of using these wheels as a more affordable 'looks similar' to Ferrari wheels

http://www.junkwheels.co.uk/rejekt.html

But seeing the link to the superformance wheels it would seem they will be the way to go for me. Cheers for the link :yo:

John

They look very good, seem reasonably priced but would it be worth spending that little bit more and going for the original wheels?
Still got to buy the tyres and adaptors.
Although a lot of the alloys on eBay seem expensive, the expensive ones don't often sell, after listing a few times they often go to an auction listing and can go for a fraction of the original price.

Mine were £150 for all 4 but had to collect from Litchfield I live in the south east they are magnesium alloys apparently special refurb with plastic beads, I used a but of emery cloth acid wheel cleaner the high build primer paint and clear lacquer, still look good now. (£38 for four centres, same seller now asking over £100)
Thanks for the link as genuine wheels going for stupid money now.

Ending tomorrow

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Sta...26&_mwBanner=1

refurbishing magnesium wheels
 

Just a note of caution about genuine old magnesium alloy wheels. If they were originally treated with a Dow process(usually looks greenish underneath the top paint coat) then they will dangerously corrode if you blast or strip or otherwise remove the passivation layer. And it'll happen under your shiny new paint so you won't see it. This is the case on old Ferrari Cromodoras.

here's a quote about Ferrari Dino Cromodoras from the Dino site I belong to: "Noooooooooooooooooooo!

"Blast cabinet"

No no no.

Dearly protect the DOW 17 (greenish coating).

Research Mil-M-45202 protective coating for magnesium. Very expensive to do correctly. You can call General Magnaplate, or TAGnite. Big undertaking. Chemicals used are vicious. DOW 7 & DOW 9 are not the same level of coating. DOW 17 is a military quality coating for Mg that revolutionized use of Mg for automobiles. Before that, it was watch them disintegrate."

A lot of wheels are colloquially called "mags" though - and this may not apply to them.

Thanks for the info but I suspect magnesium or genuine Ferrari wheels will be well out of my budget.

These would have been great as they are down to £200.
Just had a word with my mate who only works on Ferrari's and he pointed out that they have to be fitted with metric tyres which cost mega bucks.
Most Mondials have been fitted with modern replica wheels that take imperial tyres.
Bugger.

Success, old Compomotive Jag wheels so they should fit ok 16"https://s20.postimg.org/8167oim31/s-l1600.jpg
Slow progress, been cold and wet and I still have too many cars on the drive to really get stuck in. One problem at the moment is that the back of my kit donor has been cut away and replaced with soft hardboard, if it gets wet it will just warp and disintegrate. Need to get some GRP on it to stiffen it up a bit.

Just fitted my Rover style :icon_biggrin: alloys and if I must say so myself they look good. Used spiggot rings on them and the original BMW wheel bolts fitted as well.
https://s20.postimg.org/rhrxomjf1/wheel.jpgI've been working outside today as it was quite warm and I managed to reinstate the rear wheel arches that had previously been cut off.
Hopefully tomorrow I can place the rear end on top of the existing panels and decide on my next job.

http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/y...2/IMG_2629.jpg

First fit, won't go on with the bumper still attached so will have to remove it first. Just wanted to get an idea of what to chop about first. As you can see from the photo, quite a bit of the rear deck has been removed and replaced with softboard. I have fitted a metal brace underneath to keep it all steady.
I have ordered so clear pvc table protector, I intend to use this to mark out the rear deck and then cut it out and mould it in grp to allow me to build up the rear deck again, hopefully, it will work.
Rear wheel arches glassed back in, the wheels that I have fitted are slightly wider than standard so I'm hoping that the shell being slightly wider than the Z3 will work.
If you look carefully you will see some alloy tape holding the front section together. It is what the airlines use to repair the baggage trollies (Ryanair & Easyjet use it to repair planes). It is very strong and sticky and ideal for forming temporary edges that you can use to make a mould.

Progress is good. Coming along nicely.

Slowly, slowly I'm afraid.
I ran the petrol too low in the 250 and it cut out dead. I had put some petrol in it from a can and thought it must have been old petrol. Couldn't syphon it out with the new fuel pipe route so I undid the pipe on the petrol filter thinking it would drain out, would it bugger!
Have to turn the engine over to pump it out. Turns out there is water in the tank, probably from when the pipe was exposed and plugged with kitchen towel!
I then had to remove the fuel pump to syphon the remaining petrol/water mix out. Simple job but took ages due to the weather, my daughter is also learning to drive so am taking her out every day as I have given her only 6 weeks from 17th birthday to test.
Where does the time go, thank god I don't have to go to work or I would never get anything done.

Well, it is a longish term project after all.
Keep at it, you'll eventually get there.

Weber carb expert needed
 

The cold and wet weather has halted my project up to now. However, I have acquired a Robin Hood Daytona. I talked myself into it thinking it will help me with my project, how I don't know but I didn't need much persuading.
Last on the road in 2008, failed an MOT in 2016, main items were handbrake, steering rack mounts and emissions. It seems to have new rear pads and the handbrake callipers have new split pins and bolts holding the pads so I am hoping this was done after the MOT failure. Still to look at the rack mounts but I have done them in the past on an XJS that I owned and it wasn't a big job.
My main problem is the carbs, it's a Jaguar V12 pre HE that would originally have had fuel injection. This was removed at some time in the past and replaced with 4 strombergs which is what E types and early XJ12's used. These were then removed and fitted with a set of 6 Weber 40 IDF carbs. It starts and runs but you can smell how rich it is running, doesn't sound smooth and there is quite a bit of spitting back through the carbs.
I found a rolling road locally that advertised "we love setting up classic carbs", as soon as I told them what it was, they went off carbs very rapidly and said they couldn't help.
I have quite a few previous receipts for carb tuning in the past which is suspicious, there is also a bag of carb parts in the boot so it looks as if someone has tried to sort it out in the past, probably without success.

Do you think it is going to be possible to get it running sweetly on the webers and if so any recommendations of someone in the Thames Valley area.
Or would it be a better idea to try and source some strombergs and an inlet manifold.
The final option would be to retrofit fuel injection but I know nothing about how they work and my electrical knowledge is pretty close to zero.

Can't help with the carbs but, Pics, we need pics :photo:

I'm guessing the donor was an XJ12 rather than a converted TR7, think I remember seeing an article where a Jag based RH Daytona was featured. Must have required a lot of modification.

My RH kit was based on a TR7. I got it in a state where the TR7 and RH panels had never come together and the TR7 was rotten. Work had been started, the front of the TR7 had been lengthened and the outer TR7 panels had been removed but then just left for about 15-20 years. Was no good so sold all the TR7 bits I could to help fund the purchase of a TVR 350i Wedge which seemed to be a pretty good fit as a donor (Very similar wheelbase to Daytona, no IVA).

I've just got the Wedge to the stage where it is now MOT'd and on the road, so I was going to drive it about for a bit (couple of months) then start in earnest to get the RH Daytona body panels on it.

I kept the TR7 windscreen and frame along with a bit of the bulkhead and A pillars, doors and hood. Is gonna be a big job. Can't wait though, Daytona is the car I've always wanted.

Will do my own build thread once I've made some progress.

Hope you get yours sorted soon, just in time for the good weather.

John