Kev's workshop projects

[Sud 145]

Do Avon make anything in your size?

[KevJTD]

Exceptionally limited choice in the sizes we are going to run guys, Yoko or Nankang are the only people doing both sizes front & rear as they are different each end.

[KevJTD]

Been confined to home today with the bad weather, so Rob set about polishing the Imps' wheels.
Kept him busy anyway!
He did want to go up to the unit but the flat roads near our house were blocked let alone up into the Wolds!

[Kegsti66]

I still can't believe you did them with cans.
I think they look fantastic.
This snow is really buggering us all up, isn't it .

[KevJTD]

I've had plenty of practice over the years with cans mate, so guess that helps!
They do look pretty good though, we can't wait to get them on the car as the red should reflect nicely in the polished dishes

Snow is a PITA really. Got up early to get to work today but the roads were blocked. By mid morning work had decided to declare us closed so nobody got stuck trying to get in, or stuck trying to get home!
Worse still it was too cold to make use of it by going to Jims'

[Johnboy]

Great job on the wheels boys

[KevJTD]

Well at long last we have the Imp running.
New electronic ignition kit fitted which was a great kit really, get a complete new distributor with the kit already in plus wiring loom for it, new coil and even cap and leads. All for less than £100 Rob says!
Much better than messing with points..
We've also fitted an alternator in place of the dynamo and separate voltage regulator which I seem to have wired up ok!!
Sounds pretty sweet with no nasty noises or rumbles, clear exhaust, no leaks and no side effects of being stood and the broken spark plug saga!

Next week we'll get the brakes and clutch bled so Rob can at long last drive it around the yard for the first time

[KevJTD]

We did keep hearing the snow on the unit roof but thought it wouldn't be too bad, a bit came in on the 155 as the wind was blowing it a funny angle under a sheet..

Outside the snow did seem to be drifting more than we thought!
Nothing like as bad as a week or two back and unbelievable that 3 days ago we were in the teens temp wise!?

Looking forward now to getting on with it, can see by then end of next month it'll finally be done....

[Kegsti66]

Good to see the Imp is coming together nice boys.
What electronic ignition kit did you use Kev?
The old wind does push the snow everywhere. It creeps up on you as well when there is no wind and it silently builds.

[junior]

Yep. Just been in my shed and gone` oh bugger!' again.

Its amazing how much you can get under a door.

[KevJTD]

Rob got the ignition kit, I'll ask where he got it from, wondering if they do other kits?

Fingers crossed the snow is on it's way out as quick as it came, hoping to be at Donnington on Tuesday for the BSB test day...

[KevJTD]

He got the kit off ebay, like this one but for an Imp...

Powerspark is the manufacturer, all decent stuff by the looks of it, fit and finish seems good.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electronic-D ... SwIQdZMtnx

[Kegsti66]

Cheers Kev, I saw a kit for the Sud and wondered if it would be a good investment.

[KevJTD]

Rob has been busy getting the Imp nearer to completion, he made up some door cards as the old ones were rippled and ripped. 3mm hardboard and some vinyl of suitable pattern plus the added pull strap that they don't have (no idea what you are supposed to use to close the door?) and I don't think it's a bad effort at all from him

We managed to get the brakes bled at last as the new master cylinder arrived this morning, after some fettling to the new manual shoe adjusters.

Clutch still not quite sorted, had a leak at the flexi which was a pain as it's buried at the back above the engine. Still a little more bleeding to do before it's 100%
Rob was itching to try it though and time was marching on.....

He's waited for a long time for this day so hard to refuse him the joy of a little ride around the yard

A bit more fettling to a few bits before it's fully completed mechanically but nothing too much now. The interior is still in need of a few more days work though, not to mention some glass still to go in!

The ignition switch has revealed itself to be faulty now though, intermittent on supplying ignition apart from when cranking!
Hung back tonight and took it apart, lovely old stuff you can actually take apart and repair!
There were two broken contacts inside it which I replaced with pop rivets, similar to what was already in there. Works just fine now. Might do a few hours tomorrow rather than veg out in front of the TV

[KevJTD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O07aOjH ... e=youtu.be

[KevJTD]

Spoke too soon of course....

Couldn't get it into reverse yesterday, assumed linkage alignment problem but ran out of time to try.
Went up this afternoon to try and adjust it as Robs' club investigations last night revealed they are prone to a broken piece in the end casing......
Seems like that's the problem as with linkage removed and trying to manually get the gearbox into reverse was a fail.

Engine and gearbox out next weekend....

Supposed to be a fairly easy and cheap fix, so that's something!

Blame myself for not checking before it went in but I'm spinning too many plates it seems

[Kegsti66]

Hey Kev, great to see the Imp going around the yard.
I think Rob's door trims look great, really taking shape now.
Shame about the linkage issue.

https://youtu.be/_ZOF42yW9Yc

[junior]

Yep that's proper plate spinning!

Shame the box's got to come out again. When your Rob's age that kind of set back is very gutting.

[Kegsti66]

Shame the box's got to come out again. When your Rob's age that kind of set back is very gutting.

It would be pretty gutting at my age as well.

[KevJTD]

and mine!



luckily enough though it doesn't now have to

a think about it overnight and a bank holiday Monday morning ride up to the unit to try something...

I couldn't get it into reverse on the gearbox input shaft mainly because the polished shaft surface didn't allow me much purchase with the grips....but mostly because I was trying to go the wrong way

so a double check and a refit of the linkage plus now a spanner could be employed next to the gearbox to get things moving and hey presto, reverse!

issue is another common Imp problem, there's a 3.5" long section in the linkage that is like a twisted spring, designed to allow movement between the drivetrain and linkage but actually allows quite an amount of rotational flex, which isn't strong enough to overcome the detent spring for access to reverse.

a simple brace applied meant gears could be just about found.......

now that I can relax a bit and not look forward to taking things out next weekend I've come home to hopefully watch the BSB on TV, assuming Donnington gets enough of the rain water away enough to race!

I'll come up with a better solution next weekend, but we're both relieved to leave the 'box in the car!

[Kegsti66]

Result !!

[Sud 145]

Not up to your usual standard.

[junior]

Off to watch the telly!

Not practicing the plate spinning on whilst stood on top of someone's head then ?

[KevJTD]

Yes, just a temporary repair to prove the worth, it'll get something a bit better for the long term solution!

No plate spinning today, my time

[KevJTD]

Hallelujah!
Gear linkage all sorted now....

I'd planned on having to chop the springy section of linkage out and weld in a pair of UJ's to get things working, a PITA but gears seem to be something that's needed
On taking the whole linkage off (engine in the back remember, long linkage under the floor..) I noticed that the front pivot point under the lever itself wasn't bolted to the mechanism at all.........no portion of blame being thrown but between Rob and me doing the car it wasn't me that built it up and fitted it to the car
Poor gear lever was trying to rotate with nothing to lean against, poor thing. No wonder it was like stirring porridge!
Pair of fresh bolts fitted and everything back on the car and sweet as a nut

A few more little bits gone on, rear number plate and surround. I quite like it as it breaks up all the red as it doesn't look like stainless bumpers are going back on..

The little side bins in the rear quarters in the rear seats are usually left bare metal, talked Rob into cutting some more fabric like he's done over the wheel arches and rear shelf and glue-ing it to the inner sides, I think it's given it a bit more luxury The panel covering the arch lips over the top edge to pin it back neatly.

A bit of wiring done, not my favourite task! The car actually left the factory with not a single fuse anywhere, as they all did it seems...We aren't taking any chances so I'm putting in relays and fuses to protect the higher load circuits.

Heated rear window is something the car didn't have....even has a light up switch now Other switch will be for the electric rad fan that we've added as a precaution to supplement the engine driven one.

Elements seem to be working....not that it'll get out in many damp days I hope!

Still a few tasks to do, well loads of tasks really! But he's still hoping to be done in the next month or so....Cadwell for the Wolds Trophy is the aim now in mid May...

[Bluesuit]

Kev,

Thought you might like to see one of the entries at todays Anglia Car Auctions Classic Car sale

[KevJTD]

Kev,

Thought you might like to see one of the entries at todays Anglia Car Auctions Classic Car sale

Very interesting to see that mate, did it make much?
Notice it has an aerial on the front scuttle panel, that area is pretty well boxed in so wondering how they did a retractable one there? Maybe it goes through to behind the dash!

Cheers for posting, looks very smart and tidy.

[KevJTD]

Didn't do a great deal this afternoon at the unit, just finished off the wiring alterations that we have done.
I've mentioned before I'm sure that the Imps' are devoid from any fuses at all, not a one!

So the decision was made to add some fuses and utilise a few relays where deemed necessary.

Some tidying to the wiring to do and maybe still a few more bits to add but we are getting there. Most systems are now fuse protected and heavy load stuff have a relay. Hopefully this will prevent any electrical fires!

This plate has two new switches for systems the car has never had, a heated rear window and an electric rad fan.

Rob though had been busy in the morning.
We had previously put some Imp "Monte Carlo" springs on that were said to be uprated and slightly lower, the result though was a very hard spring sat up in the air! Which also fell loose when jacked up!
After much calculations and finding of spring rates we settled on what I hoped would be about right..
The standard springs are 195lb rated (remember, rear engine and the whole car is only about 800kgs so no weight to the front) and the uprated ones were reputedly 250lbs. They were also around 9 1/4" tall, about an inch shorter than standard which allowed them to "fall out" with minimal rebound bump.

My solution (I hoped!) was to buy some 225lb springs 7" long springs so they would settle at the desired ride height. We also got a pair of 4" spring helpers which being just 5lb rate are purely just to keep things located on droop, together with the adapter ring to go between the springs that amounted to approx. 7.5" relaxed length (with helper compressed) and about 11.5" with everything relaxed so things would remain in place.

The results we are both very happy with, perfect stance without being too low and does at least have some compressible movement now!

The front springs in situ on full droop..

And settled on the floor...

Things are getting sorted now, we really aren't that far away from being done now

[Bluesuit]

Kev,

Not sure what it went for, we only stayed for the first 60 odd lots, before the fumes got a bit much, but they'll post the results on the website. My daughter was interested in the Standard 10, but that was a wreck that probably only someone with your skills would consider. We looked at the A35, but she decided that was perhaps a bit small, but was taken with an A40 Cambridge, but whilst a runner, needed lots of bodywork. I was tempted by a 2001 916 Spider that went for £1050, but will need to sell one of the Landys before getting something else!

Ian

[Kegsti66]

Imp sits really nice now Kev, great result.