Are you madabout kit cars      
 "We've Got Kit Cars Covered" Information about Madabout-Kitcars.com Contact Madabout-Kitcars.com         Home of UK kit cars - madabout-kitcars.com Various kit car write ups All the latest kit car news Kit car related and general discussion

Search
Manufacturers
Kit Cars
Kit Car Data sheets
Picture Gallery
SVA Knowledgebase
Clubs & Communities
Build cost estimator
Kit cars for sale
Knowledge Base 
KitcarUSA.com
Classic-Kitcars.com
 

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

Sammio Builds and discussions Sammio bodied car builds and specials

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 2nd September 2013, 17:43
Mister Towed's Avatar
Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,328
Mister Towed is on a distinguished road
Default Mister Towed on the road...

So, after two years spent putting my Spyder together, my marathon build thread is now at an end and I'm at the stage of actually driving the thing.

I thought I'd start this new thread which will cover the experience of using the car and fettling it for the road.

Driving impressions so far are that it's really quite easy to drive. The steering is light but full of feel, the clutch and brakes (servoed) are no more difficult to use than those on my wife's Micra, and it handles better than the MX5 I had about five years ago. It's great fun and gets loads of attention everywhere I go in it.

On the negative side, the ride is rock hard and I've lowered it a bit too much as I have very little ground clearance (lighter/longer front springs on back order, rear lowering block on the list of things to modify).

First job today was to sort out an issue where hot oil fumes were getting into the cockpit. So I've removed the cheap filter from the breather and connected a hose into the air box instead, which seems to have done the trick -



I then drove it over to Wisbech and picked up an MSD multi-spark ignition system from WASP Speed shop -



That's now fitted and working (after the inevitable wiring faff) and provides five sparks at the plug on each firing below 3,000 rpm, and an adjustable rev limiter.



The result is that the engine idles smoothly at a much lower rpm and pulls much stronger at low revs. The rev limiter also means I've been able to explore the upper reaches of the rev range without worrying about over revving the motor (my tacho died a while ago and I haven't got round to replacing it). My 3.27:1 diff and 14" tyres actually give me a comfortable 60mph in second without hitting the 6,000rpm limit...

More later
Reply With Quote
Available from eBay
  #2  
Old 2nd September 2013, 18:51
HouseMartin's Avatar
HouseMartin HouseMartin is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 147
HouseMartin is on a distinguished road
Default pressure cap

Great photos Mr towed,
I think your car will never be truely finished!
It will just continue to evolve with constant refinements like the porsche 911.

So to steal an idea, I like the location for the water pressure cap in the hoseline rathe than by the thermostat.
I need to relocated the expasion bottle on the G46 and thought your solution very neat.
Is the pressure cap housing a truimph part or sourced elsewhere?
Cheers
HM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister Towed View Post
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 2nd September 2013, 20:00
Mister Towed's Avatar
Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,328
Mister Towed is on a distinguished road
Default

My in line radiator filler cap came from Car Builder Solutions -

http://www.cbsonline.co.uk/product/I...eck_38mm_INF38

Wouldn't you know it, Just when I thought everything was going so well I went to the wine rack a and, to my utter dismay, I was completely out of champagne.

So, what's a chap with a thirst to do? Aha! Spyder to the rescue!



Now safely home from Tesco's car park the bubbly is chilling and that's my plan for the evening too.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 5th September 2013, 09:56
Mister Towed's Avatar
Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,328
Mister Towed is on a distinguished road
Default

Received my insurance renewal a couple of days ago, I can't believe it's a year next week that I towed my Spyder to DVLA Peterborough for the rebody inspection, which is when I took out the policy.

I paid £99 and a few pence last year. This year I expected a modest inflationary rise. To my surprise it's actually gone down!

OK, it's only gone down by about £2.50, to £96.84, but that's still a saving of 2.5%

Good old A-Plan insurance brokers, they'll be getting my business for the foreseeable
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 5th September 2013, 10:17
WorldClassAccident WorldClassAccident is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,558
WorldClassAccident is on a distinguished road
Default

The Tesco shot really gives the sense of scale to the car. I had forgotton how small and low they are compared to that hulking great Corsa parked next to it
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 5th September 2013, 11:36
oxford1360 oxford1360 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,152
oxford1360 is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by WorldClassAccident View Post
The Tesco shot really gives the sense of scale to the car. I had forgotton how small and low they are compared to that hulking great Corsa parked next to it
Looks even better next to a load of anonymous tin-tops.

It is interesting to see that most of your car sits no more than six inches above the tops of the wheels. Just look how much sits above the Corsa arches. Yours makes a GT40 look positively lofty. Brilliant.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 5th September 2013, 12:24
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

I also love the Tesco's car park photo.

I'm guessing Mr T will now be offering to "nip out to the shops" on a regular basis.

Great stuff, Paul.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 5th September 2013, 14:12
Mister Towed's Avatar
Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,328
Mister Towed is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul L View Post
I'm guessing Mr T will now be offering to "nip out to the shops" on a regular basis.
Funny you should say that, but I had a couple of items reserved for pick up at Argos this morning.

Trouble is, my Smart ForFour doesn't have the biggest boot in the world and I was worried that the 6"x4" box and A4 envelope sized packet might just not fit. Hmm, problem.

Aha! My Spyder has unlimited head room, so I could always strap the box to the passenger seat and leave it sticking out the top. Problem solved -



Sadly, the sun was shining straight at me over the top of Argos which would've ruined the shot so I had to take the picture the other way, towards Pizza Hut, but you get the idea
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 5th September 2013, 18:38
Mister Towed's Avatar
Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,328
Mister Towed is on a distinguished road
Default

Interesting comments about the height of my Spyder compared to the modern motors in Tesco's car park.

Funnily enough I drew up alongside a Boxster at a roundabout this afternoon and it looked huge by comparison with mine. I'll have to park next to one and get a photo...
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 6th September 2013, 08:25
Charman.tech's Avatar
Charman.tech Charman.tech is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 363
Charman.tech is on a distinguished road
Default

Towed

I thought that you were not allowed to display race numbers on a road going car? Do you have special dispensation?

The down side of the height above the wheels is when you are along side a HGV, scary but probably no less dangerous than being in a Corsa!
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 6th September 2013, 09:22
Mister Towed's Avatar
Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,328
Mister Towed is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Charman.tech View Post
Towed

I thought that you were not allowed to display race numbers on a road going car? Do you have special dispensation?

The down side of the height above the wheels is when you are along side a HGV, scary but probably no less dangerous than being in a Corsa!
Wasn't aware of any issues about displaying race numbers on a road car myself. Funnily enough I've just been looking at the configurator for the Fiat 500 and they offer a bonnet roundel with '5' in it as a factory fit option.

Anyway, they're not race numbers, they just help me pick my car out of the hundreds of similar repmobiles in the car park when I forget where I've parked it...

As for coming alongside bigger vehicles, it's not as intimidating as you'd think. There's a big roundabout on the A10 at King's Lynn (The Hardwick), where the lanes aren't marked too well so people tend to change lanes without indicating. Or looking. I admit that I'm a bit wary when there's a truck, van or cyclist alongside me there, but I just keep my wits about me and hover a hand over the horn button.

Rain is forecast for today so it's back to the tin top I'm afraid

Dyno time is booked again for Monday though, so should have a few interesting facts 'n 'figures then.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 6th September 2013, 09:24
oxford1360 oxford1360 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,152
oxford1360 is on a distinguished road
Default

When we used to race, the belief was that the MSA stated that you should not take your race car (with competition numbers) on the road, i.e. if you were driving to or from the event you should remove or else cover them. The potential penalty was to lose your competition licence.

Whether or not this is true........
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 6th September 2013, 10:30
Charman.tech's Avatar
Charman.tech Charman.tech is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 363
Charman.tech is on a distinguished road
Default Race numbers

Interesting comments from Towed and Oxford perhaps it is a race rule rather than a road use rule.

Towed, secret to using the car in the rain is to go faster and the rain goes above your head, havn't got a cure for sitting in the traffic in the rain though. Also the other problem is that you need windscreen wipers on the inside of the screen as well (if you had one)
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 6th September 2013, 15:57
Mister Towed's Avatar
Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,328
Mister Towed is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Charman.tech View Post
Interesting comments from Towed and Oxford perhaps it is a race rule rather than a road use rule.

Towed, secret to using the car in the rain is to go faster and the rain goes above your head, havn't got a cure for sitting in the traffic in the rain though. Also the other problem is that you need windscreen wipers on the inside of the screen as well (if you had one)
I've already driven it through a light shower. I didn't get too wet but the raindrops didn't half sting my face at anything over 50mph. That wasn't enough to wipe the silly grin off my face though.
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 6th September 2013, 16:47
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

Racing Numbers:

My understanding is that race numbers on road cars are fine.

E.g. In London, Foxtons the estate agents have a fleet of minis with numbers on the sides.



I think the black line through the numbers relates to road legal racing cars on the road.
But this is their own "in house" rules trying to encourage a better public image.
E.g. Rally cars driving between stages.

But as always, what do I know?

Cheers, Paul.

PS
Mr T - Do you come back to find a crowd around the car?

Last edited by Paul L; 28th February 2014 at 07:15.. Reason: Problems with original photo link
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 7th September 2013, 09:55
scimjim's Avatar
scimjim scimjim is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Gloucester
Posts: 247
scimjim is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by oxford1360 View Post
When we used to race, the belief was that the MSA stated that you should not take your race car (with competition numbers) on the road, i.e. if you were driving to or from the event you should remove or else cover them. The potential penalty was to lose your competition licence.

Whether or not this is true........
I don't know what the penalty is but it's definitely still an MSA "blue book" regulation: "Competition numbers must be covered at all times whilst driving on the public highway."

I don't think it's a road car regulation though - the beetle has been available with 53 numbers (from the factory) for years?
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 7th September 2013, 13:38
Mister Towed's Avatar
Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,328
Mister Towed is on a distinguished road
Default

Sounds like it's a good job I've no intention of taking mine racing if the MSA doesn't allow roundels on the road. Killjoys

I reckon my car could be pretty competitive on the track though, the handling is excellent, even with the weight of the six pot out front, and it pulls like a train from low revs in any gear. The Vitesse motor has plenty enough power and torque to make it quite exhilarating.

Paul, these cars do draw a crowd. I parked mine in my local leisure centre car park while I used the gym during the week. It's attached to the High School and I could see it from the cross trainer I was using. At lunchtime, crowds of sixth formers started gathering and taking photos of themselves with it on their i-phones. I guess it's all over face-crowd on the interweb by now.

It also gets lots of positive comments from people when I'm out and about in it, ranging from old gents to young dudes, everyone seems to love it! Gary J really did get the styling right with this one.

Oh, and mention of Gary isn't an invitation to start a slag-fest about his business skills or lack thereof. Please.
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 7th September 2013, 20:08
Mister Towed's Avatar
Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,328
Mister Towed is on a distinguished road
Default

First go at a Spyder movie today, sorry about the camera placement, memory card running out of space two minutes and forty six seconds into the drive, and the jet turbine on reheat sound effects, but you get the idea (click on pic) -



Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 8th September 2013, 07:22
christinedmc christinedmc is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 159
christinedmc is on a distinguished road
Default

very nice towed. Look like the car is accelarating very easily and drives relaxed. Indeed the suspension looked a bit stiff when you got your car in reverse and left your house. On the other hand, this should also be fun, making the car some sort of cart.
michiel
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 8th September 2013, 07:49
oxford1360 oxford1360 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,152
oxford1360 is on a distinguished road
Default

They could be Fangio's forearms.

Looking very stable, and the steering looks good and positive - no "old car" sawing at the wheel.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +0. The time now is 07:06.

copyright © madabout-kitcars.com 2000-2024
terms and conditions | privacy policy