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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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  #181  
Old 15th November 2020, 22:13
Mitchelkitman Mitchelkitman is offline
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What about if you build the body yourself? maybe receipts for wood, matting & resin?
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  #182  
Old 16th November 2020, 07:13
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Thanks guys, yes, it does look like the people signing off the rebodies at DVLA do actually seem to understand the specialist car/bike world.

There has been the odd scary story circulating, but it's mostly multi-millionaires trying to register their brand new Argentine built Type 35 Bugatti's as 1920's originals to multiply their value by 10x.
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  #183  
Old 16th November 2020, 08:42
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucky@LeMans View Post
I shouldn't worry about not having a receipt. The photo shot of the ebay ad will be fine as is the case with a hand written receipt for second hand bodies. Mick didn't have a problem with his Monaco recently, he got that second hand as a swop for a bottle of JD and a bacon sandwich. I think he wrote that in the comments second of the form !
Close. Tell the truth and shame The Devil, as my late mother taught me.



Regards, Mick
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  #184  
Old 16th November 2020, 09:37
Lucky@LeMans Lucky@LeMans is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitchelkitman View Post
What about if you build the body yourself? maybe receipts for wood, matting & resin?
No problem there, just tell them its a home made body. Come up with a name for it so they can fill in the make / model section.
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  #185  
Old 16th November 2020, 11:36
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucky@LeMans View Post
Come up with a name for it so they can fill in the make / model section.
One Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman did this with his second re-bodied effort, so you'll be following in the footprints of the master...



Regards, Mick
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  #186  
Old 16th November 2020, 17:14
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Wow, that's a real beauty.

I see it has fully adjustable wheelarch gaps, you just need to select the right hammer.
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  #187  
Old 19th November 2020, 14:02
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slartibartfast slartibartfast is offline
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Mr T : how's your waterworks if I might be so bold!? Have you sorted out the leak and have you managed to fire it up yet?
.....Good find in the field
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  #188  
Old 19th November 2020, 18:47
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Thanks Slarti, leak sorted but haven't fired the motor yet due to me probably installing the cam out of sync. with the crank.

I'll be taking another look at that tomorrow and hoping to hear some vrooming noises this weekend, but I'm not going to hold my breath...
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  #189  
Old 22nd November 2020, 16:27
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Success!

Of sorts.

The story so far is that, before continuing with the bodywork I wanted to make sure that I had the engine running as it's much easier to access everything with no bodywork in the way.

As with all things Kit/Classic Car, it sounded so simple - Take an old Triumph Herald 13/60 engine that the seller showed me running so I knew it was a good one.

Modify to Mk3 Spitfire spec with a rebuilt, high compression head and a Piper 270 cam. Add a pair of rebuilt HS2 SU's and an electric fuel pump. Wire up to a new battery. Ignition on. Press starter and run engine for 20 minutes at 2500rpm to break in the new camshaft.

Only it didn't quite pan out like that. The engine turned and turned but there was no hint of it firing.

I double checked the cam timing - full lift on no.1 inlet valve at 108 degrees atdc as per Piper's spec. Check.

Valve clearances set as per Piper's spec. Check.

Compression checked on all cylinders with my compression tester, which I believe may have been manufactured in the land of China*. Check.

*A cheap piece of crap which, once I'd spent an hour trying to get the connectors to hold together under pressure showed 45psi in all four cylinders. Eek! A quick check of my Midget, which runs fine and returns 40+mpg showed exactly the same result, so it's clearly a faulty gauge. Phew.

New plugs properly gapped. Check.

Nice fat spark from each plug on turnover. Check.

Firing order 1-3-4-2 anti-clockwise. Check.

Ignition timing set to 6 degrees btdc. Check.

Carburettors rebuilt with new SU service kit. Check.

Fuel getting to carburettors. Check.

But the engine just wouldn't start.

So, I double checked everything again and decided that the only thing I couldn't check was whether the fuel was getting from the carburettors into the engine (anyone know a way to check that?).

As an experiment, yesterday afternoon I tried squirting some fuel directly into the intakes and turning the engine over again. It didn't start, but it did cough on one or two cylinders, which was encouraging, as it confirmed my suspicion that it was a fuelling issue.

So, this morning I removed the HS4 carburettors and manifold from my Midget's engine and bolted them up to the Speedster's motor.

All hoses and other connections double checked, ignition on, press the starter and...



Sorry, forgot to show you how I set up the cooling system with an old Renault header tank, so thought I'd share this pic with you.

Ahh yes, the engine.

After about two revolutions on the starter IT FIRED!

I quickly ran it up to about 2500rpm and held it there with a bolt mechanism I'd cobbled together. I also switched on the electric fan so it wouldn't overheat, eased off the choke and adjusted the revs.

As I've already said, I needed to run it for twenty minutes at quite high revs to avoid ruining the reprofiled cam, and it behaved itself impeccably, running really smoothly and sounding awesome. No clattery bug engine for my Speedster!

I was so happy I did a little dance.

After just under ten minutes I noticed that the coolant in the expansion tank had risen to near the cap, then scalding hot coolant started gushing out of the overflow on the radiator, then about a minute later I got a 360 degree shower of boiling coolant from the cap on the expansion tank.

Damn, it was boiling over so I had to shut it down.

As soon as the engine stopped running I realised what the problem was as I couldn't hear the electric fan running. A quick check of its power supply - zero voltage, a fuse must have blown somewhere in the loom.

A few seconds later I connected the fan up to another live wire and got it running. After topping up the coolant, ignition on and a press of the starter saw it fire instantly, but running it up to 2500rpm again almost immediately resulted in a shower of fluid cascading upwards from somewhere near the distributor. Damn.

It wasn't coolant this time, but oil, and I got covered in it. I looked like Red Adair after capping a gusher (google him if you're too young to remember).

On closer inspection with the engine off, the oil pressure switch housing has a take off for an oil pressure gauge, which had been capped by a previous owner with a length of plastic tube with a bolt screwed in the end. That tube had become brittle and been ejected by the oil pressure from the engine, spraying about a litre of oil all over me, the engine and chassis and all over the inside of the garage door that was open above my head.

So, to avoid that happening again I softened a new length of plastic tube with a heat gun and pressed it over the 'Christmas Tree' barbs on the take-off tube. Once that had cooled I wound a bolt into the other end, then applied some heat shrink tube over the whole thing and shrunk it down with the heat gun to lock it all in place.

After a nice cup of tea and a quick top up of the oil, I started the motor up again and it ran perfectly for a full twenty minutes at 2500rpm without overheating or losing any oil.

Success! Even if I did have one hell of a clean up job to do on the chassis, the inside of the garage door and me.

So, something's wrong with my HS2 carburettors and I'm thinking of using something else instead, maybe a single 45 DCOE. Has anyone tried one of those?

At least I now know that the engine works and I'm both delighted and relieved in equal measure.
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  #190  
Old 22nd November 2020, 22:10
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Mr T - Apologies, I am behind in my replies...

But many congratulations on getting to the bottom of your engine problems.

Am old enough to remember Red Adair, so I have a great mental image.

Good luck, Paul.

PS
Any chance of another photo of your coin find, after you cleaned it?
(That was a great story too.)
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  #191  
Old 23rd November 2020, 17:52
Dpaz Dpaz is offline
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Your epic non starter reminded me of two embarrassments. Number one. A 1725 Hillman Hunter with a cast iron block and head and clapped no.3 big end. Replaced with aRapier (I think) Identical engine only with an ally head and twin exhaust pipes, so I replaced it with the cast head all bolted up, would it go? No!
Very long story short after taking the manifolds off it was obvious. Different valve placings. IIRC In Ex In Ex Ex In Ex In vs Ex in Ex In etc. Two days later, Ally head replaced and it ran like a dream. Two days of bodging twin pipes and away we went.

Number two after rebuilding a non running 2.5 Sherpa Diesel it wouldn't start. Again very long story short another engine sourced, heard running, fitted it. Fitted the polished ally rockerbox cover of the first engine. Would it start? No! So I took the rockerbox cover off to check the valves and it started!! Cover on and it stopped, cover off, and look inside microscopic marks where the rockers fouled on the shiny rocker box so that the valves didn't close. The previous owner of engine number one had put the cover in the vice to polish it, after which it wouldn't start, since it was old and not very good anyway he sold the vehicle and I bought it as a non runner that did need a rebuild. I then had two running engines and a rocker box that needed ten minutes to fix. Oh what fun I had, Not!

Last edited by Dpaz; 23rd November 2020 at 17:55..
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  #192  
Old 27th November 2020, 11:55
deni deni is offline
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Great news Mister Towed. I think you must be relieved this is nearly sorted out and you can progress with the build. Looking forward to see more updates.

P.S.good luck with the treasure hunting too.
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  #193  
Old 28th November 2020, 08:30
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Thanks for the encouragement, guys, it's much appreciated.

I partially stripped down the offending carburettors on Thursday but couldn't find anything wrong with them - with the dashpots off and needles removed, fuel bobs up out of the jets when you blow down on them and everything else was set as per manufacturer's instructions. I'm guessing it was just that they are adjusted way too lean for the engine to fire.

Plan was to fire up the engine with the Midget carbs fitted just to check everything still runs after its shenanigans when breaking in the cam, then refit the 1 1/4's and richen them up to see what happens.

...which I will do next weekend when a new starter motor arrives as the old one has died since last weekend. I'd rob the one off the Midget but it's a PITA to get to and there's a danger I'll have no Midget left by the time the Speedster is up and running

Paul - I'll take some pics of my Stater today, Gold really is incredible as after spending 2,000 years rolling around in the mud, a quick rinse under the tap saw it as clean and shiny as the day it was minted.
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  #194  
Old 28th November 2020, 09:16
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Good news on getting the engine up and running

Hopefully you’ll be able to move forward a bit quicker

Sounds like the detecting bug is taken over that gold coin is just stunning.

As a child my dads mate had detectors and we used to borrow them found some musket balls in knole park and coins somewhere else

The guy lived near biggin hill and was forever digging up relics of air raids like bombs and shells etc I think he was the bomb disposal squads best customer at one time in the end he used to rebury the items as couldn’t be bothered with the hassle and all detecting is now forbidden in the area if I remember correctly
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  #195  
Old 18th December 2020, 07:27
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Issue with the HS2 carbs now solved. They weren't set too lean and everything was adjusted fine. The only thing I hadn't done was fit a breather 'Y' pipe from the rocker cover to the carbs, but that couldn't stop the engine firing, surely?

An internet search didn't throw up anybody who'd cited it as a reason for their engine not working, and the breather pipes on a MkIII engine are just tubes with no one-way valves in them so it made sense to me that running without them fitted would make no difference to the manifold pressure so shouldn't affect the running of the engine.

Despite not really thinking it would make any difference, I stuck some insulation tape over the breather tube on each carb, then, ignition on, press starter and Vroom! It worked.

So, for future reference the old Triumph Spitfire or Herald motor won't fire if the breather tubes are disconnected. Who could'a known?

Hoping to make some real progress now I have a working motor
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  #196  
Old 26th December 2020, 09:10
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I hope everyone had the best Christmas possible given the circumstances, I certainly did so now I need to go on a serious diet!

Nothing much to update on the Speedster yet, but I'm aiming to get on with it in a day or so. I did have an interesting day out in Iris the Midget last Friday, though.

As you may be aware, after selling my Spyder I bought Iris as a running car to use on sunny days while I finished the Speedster. That quickly turned into a total mechanical refurbishment of the suspension, overdrive unit, cylinder head, new clutch, new brakes, full respray, etc., etc., which swallowed about a year of kit building time.

Okay, with hindsight I should have just got on and finished my Speedster instead, but at least Iris now looks like this -



Which rather unexpectedly led to me being asked if Iris would like to appear on television.

So, after a wash and polish (and the inevitable strip down and rebuild of one of the carburettors due to a jet jamming open when the choke was released) it was off to a secret film set hidden away in deepest, darkest Norfolk -



Setting up took about two hours - the camera track had to be dismantled to get the car into the 'garage' (mostly made of polystyrene and ply board) then reassembled and levelled, and the set had to be dressed to look like a domestic garage scene -





Which was followed by lots of lighting adjustments, camera checks and test shoots -



Before I went on set to play second fiddle to Iris and do some acting -



The young media savvy production team just loved Iris and apparently I'm a natural in front of the camera, perfecting the art of zipping up my overalls and pretending to remove a hubcap in only about 200 takes.

The shoot was for the sponsor of a new series of The Car Years, which is due to go out on ITV in February. They have also shot a selection of other vehicles - a modern, high performance SUV, a 70's Escort rally car, a Rat Look Bay window bus, etc., and the film will be edited to look like the camera is scanning a row of terraced garages with owners attending to the various needs of their pride and joys.

If they use the footage (I hope they will), Iris and I will be on screen for about three seconds at each end of the adverts. I guess if they repeat it enough times we'll get our fifteen minutes of fame.

All in all it was a very interesting day out and the fact that Iris was considered worthy to appear on TV just shows what you can achieve with a bit of mechanical ability, a domestic garage and a £150 spray gun at home.

Last edited by Mister Towed; 26th December 2020 at 09:12..
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  #197  
Old 26th December 2020, 10:33
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Bloody brilliant!!! Well done that man
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  #198  
Old 26th December 2020, 13:27
Dpaz Dpaz is offline
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Great stuff. Lovely car the Midget, we had a Mk2 Sprite in the '70s my wife would get 3 children and a large Golden retriever in it when I was working weekends. They were broken-hearted when I swapped it for an A40 countryman!
I wish my garage looked as clean and tidy as yours! Good luck with the new career. The Saint (Rodger Moore) had a P1800 and you have a Midget!
All the best for the New Year to everyone out there!
PS Re breathers: Maybe there is a small hole in the rocker box pipe. Failing that, who cares, it works!

Last edited by Dpaz; 26th December 2020 at 13:32..
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  #199  
Old 27th December 2020, 02:22
Munky Munky is offline
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Wow, that’s exciting!
Next you will be working with Mike Brewer - go on, hold yer hand out...

Seriously though, that’s so cool. What a great end to an otherwise rubbish year.
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  #200  
Old 27th December 2020, 09:05
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Thanks for your kind words, guys, and yes, it was a good end to a piss-poor year in terms of classic car events.

Funnily enough, the whole thing came about because my wife has some pictures of my old Spyder on her facebook page and a friend of a friend got in touch to ask if she knew anyone with a more conventional classic car. She sent back some pictures of Iris and that's when we were invited to take part in the advert.

It was a grand day out and I was pleased to see how genuinely interested the young trendies doing the filming were in Iris as most of them had never seen an MG of her vintage.

Chatting to them during the setting up process it turned out that most of them aspire to own a really old classic car themselves. Maybe something like an E46 M3 from as far back as the late 1990's. You know, from the time before they were born
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