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Go Back   Madabout Kitcars Forum > Mad Build Area > Sammio Builds and discussions

Sammio Builds and discussions Sammio bodied car builds and specials

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  #1  
Old 18th September 2011, 21:34
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Default Mister Towed's Tai Chi build

Ok, so it's about time I started a build thread of my very own.

The story so far is that I bought a Vitesse 2 litre mk1 way back in April and started stripping it immediately. I sold off most of the excess bits on ebay, making back all but 98 quid of what I originally paid for the whole car.

The bonnet alone went for over 300 pounds and I'm left with a reconditioned unleaded straight six attached to a non overdrive gearbox (less trouble in the long run) exhausted through a stainless steel system all bolted to a chassis that's rather more corroded than I'd hoped it would be.

I picked up my Sammio body on July 13th 2011, making it somewhere around number 50, collecting it on the same day as a chap who loaded a twin head fairing body onto the back of a pickup truck (and I'd be interested to know the exact number if you're reading this Gary...)

Work and family commitments over the rest of the summer meant that I made no real headway but I've been busy hoarding away shiny new bits to attach at vast expense and planning what I want the finished jobby to be like.

One of the most adventureous modifications is that it's going to have a self built water/methanol injection system. This isn't intended to increase power as such, it's just to allow the distributor advance to be set where it was originally intended to be with the 5 star fuel the Vitesse engine was designed to run on, but using 93 ron unleaded pee pee fuel. Hopefully this should restore its full 95bhp with no detonation.

I'm also hoping to sqeeze some luggage space in somewhere as I'd really like to take it touring across Europe one day.

I'm adding a servo to the brake system, mainly to ensure consistency of pedal feel between the spyder and my (modern) daily drivers: a Saab for personal use and a Mondeo estate at work. I tried a Lotus Elise on a track day earlier this month and had a massive omg moment when I got to the first hairpin bend at over 100mph and rediscovered how hard you have to hit the pedal on unservoed brakes to get any retardation at all.

I'm aiming to do just about everything myself: sand blasting; welding; spraying, even though I've never done most of them before.

I have to admit I'm not completely clueless, however, as I undertook a fast-track engineering apprenticeship in the military when I was sixteen and served as an armament engineer for 23 years. I've also previously restored and heavily modified a vw beetle including converting it from a semi-auto to a manual gearbox while keeping the double jointed rear suspension setup, which was quite a task. In my current job I don't get my hands oily at all which is one of the reasons for wanting a project like this to keep my hand in so to speak.

I have a few trick ideas up my sleeve that will make my car unique, which is part of the joy of Sammio ownership of course. As a teaser I'll say that I've always found a tunnel mounted handbrake rather awkward to use in a low sports car so mine will be relocated somewhere else...

I spent today assembling my multi-purpose blasting/spraying/wedding receptioning garage extension so I can start sand blasting bits tomorrow:



The front bulkhead in the background should give you an idea of the scale of the thing which is huge but didn't cost an awful lot (ebay again). The idea is to keep the garage relatively free of dust during the blasting process, and to make it easier to produce a relatively sterile booth for spraying in.

First job in the morning is going to be to sand blast my ebay mgb wires. Here's some 'before' shots:





I'll upload some 'after' shots once they're nice 'n' shiny (I hope!)

I'll also be degreasing the engine prior to replacing the leaky sump gasket, sealing the new one in with hylomar to stop the damned thing piddling oil all over my garage floor. It's currently out of the chassis courtesy of the one tonne hoist bought new off ebay for 28 quid delivered!



I've absolutely settled on the colour choice, which is going to be... It's going to be, erm. Bugger.

I've always loved silver, black or bright red on sports cars but if anyone can give me the paint code for either the dark red Lancia D24 on the Google images or the Aston Zagato spyder in the pic's on 'the next sammio' thread then I'll possibly make a decision...



Yes, that one, that's the colour. Or should that be colore?

Anyway, time to click the 'submit new thread' button before this entry gets longer than war 'n' peace.
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  #2  
Old 19th September 2011, 10:59
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"it's going to have a self built water/methanol injection system. This isn't intended to increase power as such...."



All looks good matey, best of luck with the sand blasting, that's one of the bits is didn't do and TBH i wish i had.

I look forward to seeing your handbrake option and if you're after an "always-off" style lever and don't already have one then i do have a Jag XK8 one in the garage that i bought for the failed Lambo conversion, that i may be persuaded to part with for the right price
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  #3  
Old 19th September 2011, 12:41
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No, honestly, the water injection is just going in to make the best of what the engine has to offer and the methanol is only added to stop bacteria growing in the water and gumming the whole thing up.

Do you think my insurance company will buy that?

Thanks for the offer of the Jag handbrake, Dave. Already got one from an Austin A50 though.

It's an umbrella handle type and the aim is to have it under the dash in similar fashion to the (genuine) Porsche 356. That'll mean I should be able to get away with a lower profile prop shaft tunnel freeing up a bit of space for my mgb seats.

Small matter of rigging it up to work though...
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  #4  
Old 19th September 2011, 19:40
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Plan for today: sand blast five mgb wire wheels, tidy up, have some lunch then spray them with primer to stop them rusting again and spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Slight issue in that I've never tried sand blasting before, but how hard can it be?

Reality: instructions that came with the 'blaster are meagre to say the least. It took me four hours to figure out how it's supposed to work. First go, loads of blasting grit coming out of the nozzle but it was just pinging off the surface and not removing the rust or the paint. The tank also emptied 25kg of grit in about four minutes. After much head scratching and some trial and error I discovered you have to regulate the flow of grit out of the bottom of the tank by not fully opening the flow valve.

Once I'd got it set up right wey hey! Off we jolly well go.



TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER...


It was still very laborious work, the wires are a really complex shape to sand blast with each one taking about an hour and a half to do properly, meaning I only finished two today. There's something quite satisfying about watching a nice, bare metal wheel emerge from within the encrustation of rust and old paint.



RESULT!


After a marathon clean up session I even managed a couple of coats of primer. I rather like the look of the wires in white. I've already bought silver wheel paint but I could change my mind yet...



I'm glad I tried the sand blaster on a small job first as it'll give me some confidence when I start on the bulkhead and chassis.

Back to work tomorrow so I'll finish the wheels later in the week if I can find the time.
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  #5  
Old 20th September 2011, 15:45
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Nice! Can't wait to get started on mine. Have fun. John
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  #6  
Old 20th September 2011, 17:42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jmc14 View Post
Nice! Can't wait to get started on mine. Have fun. John
Thanks John, much appreciated.

The weather's thrown a spanner in the works as far as progress goes today: I've had to dismantle the multi-purpose garage extension before it blew away.

As I'd assembled it on my drive I'd anchored it down with mega strong parachute chord tied to old paint buckets that I'd filled with concrete, which I figured would be heavy enough to stay put even in relatively strong winds.

I was absolutely right on that front, the buckets full of concrete are still exactly where I put them, but I hadn't bargained on the loops on the marquee failing and allowing the whole thing to move around. It's a good job I'd tied the tarpaulin I used as a floor to the inside of the frame and left the wheels in it or it would have taken off in a Dorothy's house fashion.

When I got home from work my aged parents (who live next door) had tried to help by taking the side panels off. This allowed the wind to get inside and made the whole thing collapse so I was confronted by a couple of frazzled pensioners struggling to hold down what looked like the remains of the Hindenberg.

Oh well, these things are sent to try us...
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Old 20th September 2011, 19:17
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Oh no!

Is the multi-purpose garage extension savable, or is it totally wrecked?

Nice to see another Spyder builder starting their build, you'll be on the road in no time!

Trevor
http://www.sammiospyder.blogspot.com/
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  #8  
Old 20th September 2011, 19:58
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Hi Trevor, it's not a complete write off thankfully.

Considering how small a box it came in it's amazing how much space it's taking up now it's all scrunched up in a sorry looking ball.

On the plus side, having seen the amount of dust that sand blasting generates I'm glad I put up a separate 'building' to do it in. Otherwise everything in the garage, including the engine, gearbox and all the shiny new things I've bought would be completely engulfed in gritty crud.

On balance, I think the garden marquee is a practical solution to providing a suitable blasting/spraying booth on a budget. I just got unlucky with the weather this week.

I'll be reassembling the garage extension later this week, weather permitting, and I'm aiming to get the wheels, bulkhead and chassis blasted before the end of the month.

Then the fun part begins!
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  #9  
Old 23rd September 2011, 16:05
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Got another two wires blasted and sprayed in primer today.

I also found out what happens if you get half way through sand blasting a wheel and then leave it for three or four days without spraying it - the surface flashes over with a grey powdery coating that's really difficult to shift, even with the 'blaster.



I've really got the hang of the sand blaster now though and I can't wait to get stuck into the chassis and font bulkhead over the next few days.

Will post pics when there's something worth seeing.
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Old 23rd September 2011, 16:31
Sammio Builder Sammio Builder is offline
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It's amazing how quickly things start to rust.

I remember an old set of hubs that would go Orange with rust after a week or so!

Trevor.
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Old 24th September 2011, 14:52
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Got the sand blaster out between shifts at work today and decided to 'blast a couple of test patches on the chassis.

Pleased with the result, taking about ten minutes to go from this:



To this:



It's ripping through the rust and old paint no problem but struggles with the areas that are covered in old bitumen underseal. It'll strip it with persistence but it's easier and quicker to wire brush the rubbery crap off first.

I noticed an area on the backbone that had a suspiciously thick coating of underseal on it while I was moving around the chassis, and, after a bit of wire brushing and a quick once over with the 'blaster, this appeared...



Nightmare, structural corrosion in one of the main chassis rails.

The plan all along has been to do as much work as possible on this project myself, but I'm seriously considering calling in a pro' welder to fix this particular chassis chasm.

After all, this is fundamentally what holds the car together and if it's not done properly it'll be an accident waiting to happen...

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Old 24th September 2011, 15:04
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I feel your pain. When I found 15 holes I was gutted, but it only cost a pro mobile welder £200 to fix the lot.

Trevor.
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  #13  
Old 24th September 2011, 15:09
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Thanks Trevor, that's comforting. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet on this one and get a pro' in as I'm a complete novice welder.
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  #14  
Old 30th September 2011, 21:27
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Hmm, self imposed deadline to complete the blasting of the chassis and front bulkhead expires in less than three hours and I'm browsing the 'net with a beer in hand, so I guess I'm not going to get it finished.

On the plus side, another 25kg's of blasting grit turned up a couple of days ago which will double the length of time between tank refills, and I've got three days off coming up in the middle of next week (I'm working Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights, however) so I should make some progress then.

Feeling very inspired by some of the builders who're 99% there and can't wait to get mine roadworthy. Still can't decide on a final colour though. Black, silver or red? That is the question...
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Old 30th September 2011, 21:48
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Why not have black, silver and red stripes??? Best of all worlds!

Seriously though, it is a tough choice.


Is your beer making it any clearer?!!


Trevor.
http://www.sammiospyder.blogspot.com/
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Old 30th September 2011, 21:49
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I've been thinking of colors as well. I like silver but most of the Porche 550 spyders are silver. Probably won't go that way.
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  #17  
Old 30th September 2011, 21:56
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'Been looking at this and thinking P51 Mustang in polished aluminium after the allies acheived air supremacy towards the end of WWII.

http://chromepaint.com/?page_id=8

Small matter of the price, though. Cheap, it aint'.
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Old 30th September 2011, 22:00
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Wow - that liquid chrome is the dogs ****ocks!

But the price for a whole body - bloody hell!

Trevor.
http://www.sammiospyder.blogspot.com/
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  #19  
Old 30th September 2011, 22:05
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Yep, thick end of a bag'o' sand I reckon. Wouldn't 'alf look the biz though.

Check out the black chrome too, it's a tad cheaper and I think it would really suit the spyder body.

I was a bit worred about the durability but if you look at their gallery pics they've done a jet ski in it. If it's suitable for that application a car body will last forever.
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Old 1st October 2011, 13:44
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Mister Towed,

How are you getting-on with that main rail corrosion? It looks very similar to my problems and a couple of sessions with a local welder got me back on track.

I used my Sammio frame, bolted into place, as a jig before cutting out any of the corrosion in the main rails.

Chris
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