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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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  #521  
Old 12th October 2021, 15:57
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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I remembered doing similar in '91 to the bonnet of my Dutton P1, my third kit car.



I seem to have gone a bit mad with the rivets!
Regards, Mick
I bought this P1 in late 1990 for only £80, as the owner had enthusiastically T-Boned a Chevette at the end of his road. I cut off the 1" box tubular front suspension bay, took it to my welder, and had a new one made for £120. A special builder friend welded it back on for pocket money . I used it for six months and sold it to a club member for £600. He found he couldn't fit in it so I bought it back for the same money, used it some more and passed it on again. Fast forward 30 odd years and it's appeared, fully restored, on Ebay. A nice little sportster, just as long as you're skinny!

Regards, Mick
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  #522  
Old 12th October 2021, 20:17
Lucky@LeMans Lucky@LeMans is offline
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It's funny, all the kit cars I've owned over the years have never been seen again ! The only exception was my McLaren M6GTR by UVA. I caught up with that after two years at the now defunct Donnington Kit Car Show about 18 years ago !
Looking on the government website and entering various reg numbers from my old cars found a few more, mostly SORN and off the road for years ! Some seem to have vanished all together, exported perhaps or scrapped, I hope not !!
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  #523  
Old 22nd October 2021, 10:07
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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My very short drive to and from the retro festival highlighted......a second problem relating to the rather vague remote gear linkage, the driver end of which is mounted to the body so is not in sync with engine/gearbox movement. This makes changes from 2nd to 3rd and back very hit and miss. I considered replicating the A352 solution of joining two butchered Triumph remotes with aluminium channel but this was a non starter due to the limited clearance. Sitting in the beast yesterday evening pondering the problem, I decided to fabricate a Ferrari style gate, so this morning I've ordered a small sheet of 3mm aluminium. Time will tell.

Regards, Mick
Before even making a card template, I carefully measured the throw of the lever in both planes and in all gears. It was apparent that a funky Ferrari style gate wouldn't be possible, so my dream of a highly polished one with a couple of dummy slots for that six-speed look quickly evaporated .

I went cardboard assisted design as usual, offering up the template whilst selecting all gears - I was reasonably happy that it was there or thereabouts and cut my ally sheet accordingly, with the gate slightly undersized for relieving as necessary. After six or seven trial fittings with judicious filing of edges and ovalising mounting holes in between it finally worked . I'll fit the tunnel end with a tech screw for now and cut it down to a nicer shape and put an M5 Rivnut in the tunnel when time and enthusiasm permit, tidying off with a gaiter from my seat cover fabric.



Regards, Mick
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  #524  
Old 9th December 2021, 07:54
paul_n paul_n is offline
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Mick

Is this a distant relative ?

https://retrorides.proboards.com/thr...-random-racers



and



all the best Paul
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  #525  
Old 9th December 2021, 09:07
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Mick

Is this a distant relative ?
Good shout!

Back in '68 my sister's then boyfriend bought an up-and-running Super Two, a kit which used that Hamblin Cadet bodyshell. It was the cheapest on the market at £99:0:0, although the floor was an extra!





It prompted me to buy my Lotus VI from the girl next door's boyfriend for £100 and spark a lifelong interest in kit cars. In the 80s, around the time I was building my first Dutton Phaeton, I joined the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club and tried to track down a Super Two, but without success. When the Monaco burst on the scene at £499 circa '86 I immediately sent for the brochure (a pound coin taped to card and an SAE were needed IIRC) and began a 30 year dream...

I've seen a good few Super Twos over the years at the Specials Day held at the Cotswold Wildlife Park each August, and have many photo's taken there, although this evocative period one is my favourite.



There are a couple of FB groups which cater for nostalgia freaks such as myself: '50s/60s Special builders' and 'Homebuilt Cars from scratch or kits', both absolute mines of information!

Season's Greetings

Mick

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 9th December 2021 at 13:10..
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  #526  
Old 19th February 2022, 09:33
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Cool Bromyard Speed Festival 29.5.22

Entries for this spiffing event, for both spectating and exhibiting, are now open. If mine's successful, I'll reprise this pose-athon .



The Monaco's possibly a little down market for this prestigious event, but the chance of a slot in the parade lap, led by the Vampire Jet Car, is unmissable.

Regards, Mick
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  #527  
Old 19th February 2022, 17:17
Lucky@LeMans Lucky@LeMans is offline
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Great event and worth a look if you haven't been before.
Not sure how the jet car will get around the streets of Bromyard, at 30 feet long, hardly any steering lock and no reverse !
Might enter my new Mini Beach project, should be done by then.
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  #528  
Old 2nd May 2023, 10:39
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Tonneau. Part 1

Tapping into my suddenly resurgent enthusiasm (for the Phaeton), I decided to attack the long neglected length of Double Duck and make my tonneau cover. Having been more than happy with the one my seamstress friend (now stateside ) had made for the A352, I plumped for a similar two part design, the passenger side of which would provide a modicom of draught protection.

I'd ordered a metre of the DD but ended with almost two as it was the end of a roll, the extra being FOC . Retrieving it from the dark recesses of the cave and stretching it out revealed a marking that looked like a giant frog.



I cut off a rectangle slightly bigger than the passenger side opening and, leaving a suitable margin for trimming, made an impression in the fabric by thumbing it hard onto the front centre male 'Lift The Dot' fitting. I could then march back down to the cave and attach the first female fitting. Mating the two and stretching the fabric back I could then similarly mark the position of the centre rear fitting. It was then repeat at a fitting at a time to ensure reasonable tension. The angle of the sun makes it look slack but it's quite taut enough.



This seemed to take an age marching back and forth to the cave fourteen times . I then repeated the above for the driver's side, but this time fitting the first two to the remaining uncut length, generously marking the edges before roughly cutting it oversize.



Accurate cutting to size and binding the edges yet to do.

Regards, Mick
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  #529  
Old 6th May 2023, 14:55
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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A couple of days ago, whilst waiting for the guy coming to collect my redundant Phaeton hardtop, I carefully cut to size the edges of the covers, replaced them and admired my handiwork but neglecting to take a photo'. Today I decided to experiment with sewing the edge binding, but using scrap off cuts for my inevitable blunders. After two or three false starts I managed to achieve an almost satisfactory sample by doing the underside first, then folding over the visible edge for stitching a little at a time. Excuse rubbish photo'.



I'm certain that sewing the unwieldy covers will prove quite a bit more difficult than my small sample, with concentration at a premium. Time will tell.

Regards, Mick
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  #530  
Old 5th August 2023, 07:46
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Je t'aime...

British engineering and imagination meets French enthusiasm .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFe5PQ3ir4g

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 9th August 2023 at 08:33..
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  #531  
Old 24th August 2023, 06:40
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Gloucester Goes Retro

A quick plug for this event where, once again, I'll spend the day posing alongside the Monaco ..

Regards, Mick

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 26th August 2023 at 05:42.. Reason: Typo.
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  #532  
Old 27th August 2023, 20:25
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Talking Bank Holiday Cosplay Fun.

Yesterday's sortie in the Monaco was to the above event, making three in a row to add to the A352's two.

Despite starting first touch consistently during the week, Friday night's damp had me in despair for a short while at 0715. However, leaning out of the cockpit and aiming a jet of Easy Start at the air filter got the job done. It's only about a two mile drive to the centre where the steward couldn't initially find me on her printout, which bizarrely wasn't in alphabetical driver order. I let her off as I was her first customer and motored the last 100 yards or so to my customary pole position for all day faux 50s motoring overalls/flat cap pose-athon..

The weather forecast hadn't been too clever but there were some good spells of sunshine before a couple of heavy showers mid afternoon which my home made tonneau cover dealt with admirably . I lifted many delighted children in and out of the driver's seat for parental photo' ops, and chatted endlessly to a stream of interested punters, only one of whom identified the car's underpinnings before I fessed up. The most common question asked was "Do you race/hill climb it?". I resisted temptation when replying. Queried as to how much it had cost me to build elicited surprise each time at my modest outlay, again answering truthfully.

She started first time at my 1730 departure and I motored home in the sunshine having had a cracking, if tiring, day.

This morning, having noticed yesterday that the fuel gauge wasn't registering, I removed the rear number plate and just managed to worm my arm through the access hole I'd long ago cut behind it and successfully reattach the errant spade connector. This shows the two riveted on plates with M5 Rivnuts which take the attachment screws.



Regards, Mick

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 28th August 2023 at 08:39.. Reason: Add photo'.
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  #533  
Old 10th September 2023, 10:09
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Exclamation It took you how long?

Yesterday, after a week in which I addressed some of the remaining tweaks to my build, with which I won't bore you at present, I took the Monaco out for a couple of spins.

Firstly, I motored about a mile to my second nearest petrol station (the nearest involves a stretch of busy dual carriageway and I wasn't feeling very confident) and put about twelve litres in on top of the couple of cans full of possibly stale old juice. I was waylaid on the forecourt by a curious guy on a pushbike and a young lad on an e-scooter who said "That's the sickest car I've ever seen." Praise indeed!

Reeling from the heat on return I waited for some high cloud to arrive, and set out on my usual test run up to Painswick and back (7.4 miles x two, according to Goggle). This involves a decent hill climb outbound and a scenic photo' op mid way. Sadly, my camera's batteries died as I took a couple of shots so illustration will have to wait.

Climbing the hill revealed two things:1) The standard fan (which had a floppy blade which I broke off long ago, as well as the one opposite it to maintain balance) struggled to keep the gauge out of the red, and 2) She pulled like a train despite the 15" wheels, even in top .

So, a couple of jobs for this week before venturing to Shelsley Walsh next weekend: 1) Fit the electric fan I found in my shed and 2) Move the electric pump switch to a more sensible location - it currently (no pun intended) lives behind the passenger side seat back.

Regards, Mick
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  #534  
Old 12th September 2023, 09:42
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Fan-nying about.

On Sunday I pitched in early to address radiator fan fitting. I first offered it up to the ample nose space and decided to hang it from a lateral bar with downward angled bottom supports. Each side of the inside top of the bonnet opening there was originally a glassed in wooden stiffener, the offside one of which I had partially replaced with a sturdy length of aluminium angle to bridge the missing chunk cut out by a previous owner for DCOE Weber clearance. The upper support will mate with these, the lower two with existing holes in the Triumph radiator supports on the frame rails beneath. After seeing what was available on Ebay I bought a couple of metres of 15mm x 15mm x 2mm aluminium angle which should arrive in a couple of days.

So, yesterday I addressed the wiring. First job: disconnect the battery's earth lead! Searching through my box of switches I found one to match the existing, tested it and drilled its new home hole in the dash, using my stepped bit. Why I didn't buy one of these decades ago I do not know, as the previously half-hour job was completed in a couple of minutes, including smoothing the edges. I ran the switch's feed wire from a spare spade on the ignition switch and another from the former's supply side through the bulkhead to a fused relay I had decided to mount on the engine side. Probably not essential but better safe than sorry. I ran an earth wire from it to the frame rail beneath where there was an existing drilled and tapped earthing point. I then used 17amp wire both from the starter solenoid to one of the relay's switched spades, and from the other along the engine bay side to in front of the radiator, leaving enough length spare for connecting and tidying up. I likewise ran a 17amp earth wire from the fan's proposed home straight down to another of my demon earthing points.

Let's hope the nice man brings my ally angle soon so that I can complete the job, when I will post again



Regards, Mick


Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 12th September 2023 at 09:44.. Reason: Typo.
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  #535  
Old 17th September 2023, 06:02
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Almost there...

Over the last couple of days, having received my ally angle, I've pitched in with my fan supports. From a left over strip of the ally I'd used to locate the fuel tank, I fabricated four angle brackets to locate the ends of the angle to the body. Two can be seen at the top and bottom of the picture. I used a Tech Screw to locate the top one into the GRP/wood support, the other (and the two bottom ones, having decided on a bottom lateral support) with M6 nuts and bolts.

The 15mm depth of the angle provided insufficient bearing for the fan's leg supports so I made natty pop riveted on fishplates to take them. Note the felt tip F reminder to ensure that I didn't repeat my usual trick of getting things back to front/upside down when assembling down in the cave . It took multiple tries, nibbling a little off each time, to get the length right (and many many more for the lower one) to bridge the opening accurately.



Once the top support (joined to the fan's legs with M4 nuts and bolts) was in place I could carefully dangle the fan, with its bottom fishplates attached, to mark their locating positions on the temporarily wedged in bottom angle. This done, with extreme care, I could then begin final assembly. I'd almost finished when both rain and lumbar discomfort called a halt, with only the end body mounts of the lower angle and wiring attachment/tidying to do for another day.

Regards, Mick
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  #536  
Old 17th September 2023, 14:08
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Job Done :)

This morning, the forecast thunderstorms having failed to show up, I finished off the fan job. Carefully manoeuvring the bottom length of angle until it was aligned with the top one, and judiciously tweaking the angle brackets at each end until they sat snugly against the body, I drilled through from the outside, using the 'hit and hope' method. My careful measuring paid off and the M6 fixings soon had everything rigid.



The wiring proved a doddle and, after blowing the 3A fuse I'd long ago temporarily fitted to the relay to test continuity, and replacing it with a 20A, the fan blew a treat.

Regards, Mick
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  #537  
Old 21st September 2023, 17:34
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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So, a couple of jobs for this week: 1) Fit the electric fan I found in my shed and 2) Move the electric pump switch to a more sensible location - it currently (no pun intended) lives behind the passenger side seat back.

Regards, Mick
Happy with the fan installation, I turned my attention to the switch. The existing is a bathroom pull switch located against the RH side (as you look at it) of the vertical plywood panel shown, and hidden behind the absent, in this picture, battery.



My thinking was that a potential thief would never guess why they ran out of petrol after a couple of hundred yards. The power for both the switch and the pump's fused relay came directly from the +ve battery terminal, their respective earths from a terminal block I'd mounted on the boot floor with a stout cable to the -ve.

After a bit of head scratching I decided that the simplest solution was to break the relay's earth and extend it along the existing loom on the passenger side, up to the switch on the dash, and from that to my frame earthing point in the engine bay below the loom hole in the bulkhead. This was a doddle except that the switch I'd selected from my box turned out to be a dud which passed current irrespective of position. I substituted a tested one from the box and all was well functionally. However the replacement switch is a tacky looking plastic abomination, so I've today ordered a repro Lucas item which matches the one below the horn push. It's located to the right of the indicator warning light, its matching fan control twin symmetrically to the left.



Regards, Mick

p.s. It's the Lotus at 75 themed retro meeting at Castle Combe on Saturday and the weather forecast is good!
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  #538  
Old 24th September 2023, 09:24
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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p.s. It's the Lotus at 75 themed retro meeting at Castle Combe on Saturday and the weather forecast is good!
Yesterday I attended this event and, sadly, was underwhelmed. Given the good weather I'd anticipated an absolute flood of Lotus but I think the best represented marque was Caterham. I left at lunchtime having seen only one car that truly blew my skirt up.



My camera/Flickr seems to have enhanced the colour somewhat, but it was a beauty.

Whilst loading it my computer recognised the one I'd taken of the Monaco on its first real outing, having previously ignored it. Weird!



Regards, Mick
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  #539  
Old 24th September 2023, 12:11
Lucky@LeMans Lucky@LeMans is offline
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Wow, that Maserati looks fab ! Is it and original ? It almost looks too perfect.
Chris at Tribute has a buck for one of these, don't think he has taken a mould yet but it is on my radar as a future build !
Some of the shows can be a bit underwhelming that's true but finding a gem like that can make your day !
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  #540  
Old 24th September 2023, 13:34
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Wow, that Maserati looks fab ! Is it and original ? It almost looks too perfect.
Chris at Tribute has a buck for one of these, don't think he has taken a mould yet but it is on my radar as a future build !
Some of the shows can be a bit underwhelming that's true but finding a gem like that can make your day !


The programme reads: No.78 Richard Wilson Maserati 250S 2490cc 1957 Red. If you went for the Tribute, what underpinnings would you go for?
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