kee
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,991
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Mar 13, 2007 14:12:32 GMT
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howdo everyone, been looking on these boards for a few months, one of my housemates got me into the retro car scene, and iv decided i love imps, now i don't really know anythin about cars, but i know things stop workin and wanna know any problems imps get and whatnot.
plannig on wacking a bike engine/powerful car engine in one, maybe for hillclimbing, maybe for scaring people, all depends on the job i get once iv finished uni
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Mar 13, 2007 14:38:15 GMT
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kee
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,991
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Mar 13, 2007 14:41:48 GMT
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oof, unforutnately, as of yet, i hav no transport, but iv got a placement year starting in summer and plan on getting a car after the easter break, depending on when i start work, so maybe. think my housemate is going, hes on here sometimes has a suzuki powered mini and a 1275gt
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Mar 13, 2007 14:43:45 GMT
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rear engined, light weight, built in Scotland or something weren't they? Early ones have some kinda crazy vacuum operated throttle or something. Not beig a lot of help here am I? A mate of a mate used to have a Sunbeam Stiletto with a 1275 or so CC motor, huge Del'Ortos and that ran like high 13s or very low 14s. Insane little car.  |
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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ImpManiac
Part of things
Imps... Imps... Imps...
Posts: 868
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Mar 13, 2007 14:56:02 GMT
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Imps rule. Buy one. ;D Hey! I'm biased!  I got into Imps by reading one too many magazine articles back in about 1991. The article mentioned light weight (circa 700kg all up), an all-alloy, OHC engine that loves to rev and excellent handling due to being designed by a talented engineer (Tim Fry) and a racing driver (Mike Parkes). Imps have a cunning suspension design. Semi-trailing arms at the rear, so a sophisticated, effective design to control where the weight is (Imps are rear engined). They use swing arms at the front of the car, so the suspension is tailored extremely well to the mechanical layout of the car. The opposite of an air-cooled VW Beetle... Uh-oh...  Imps handle brilliantly. Imp engines are magnificent - end of story. All alloy, extremely light (around 170 pounds, including ancillaries  ), using an overhead camshaft, non-crossflow cylinder head with eight ports in all versions. Unlike the good old 5-port cast iron A-Series boat anchor... Uh-oh...  Imp engines are based on Coventry Climax fire pump-cum-grand prix engines of the 1940s to 1960s, so have an excellent, race-winning pedigree. Really! ;D In a car that could be yours for under a grand! All in all, a misunderstood, fabulous little car for peanuts. What goes wrong? Well, they have a reputation for doing head gaskets and overheating lots. Many have been maintained and run on a shoestring, without proper attention to using antifreeze all year round. Corrosion results, along with limescale build up. This blocks the radiator and leads to overheating and HG failure. I've never blown a HG on mine but I replaced the rad with a reconditioned high-efficiency one straight away, more or less. King pins need to be greased up regularly or they wear out rapidly and need replacement - simple to do. Otherwise, they are decent little motors. Get one and it'll make you smile. But then I would say these things. Just look at my forum name.  "I'm"  P.S. I'd love an early Beetle and an early Mini (with an A-Series)! One day... |
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Last Edit: Mar 13, 2007 15:26:43 GMT by ImpManiac
1966 Singer Chamois sprint/hillclimb car in white over blue two tone
1975 Triumph Stag long term project (over 20 years so far) in colour TBA
2003 Vauxhall Vectra GSi 3.2 in black sapphire
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ImpManiac
Part of things
Imps... Imps... Imps...
Posts: 868
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Mar 13, 2007 15:01:20 GMT
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1966 Singer Chamois sprint/hillclimb car in white over blue two tone
1975 Triumph Stag long term project (over 20 years so far) in colour TBA
2003 Vauxhall Vectra GSi 3.2 in black sapphire
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kee
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,991
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Mar 13, 2007 16:30:19 GMT
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yeah iv been looking at that for weeks, love it, prefer the standard looking ones, not too much a fan of those others up there.
i was looking into getting one for my first car cos it would be cheap on insurance, and tax obviously, but then i would need to be using it everyday and thought id just wait till iv got room for 2 cars, maybe more
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ImpManiac
Part of things
Imps... Imps... Imps...
Posts: 868
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Mar 13, 2007 16:41:48 GMT
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Pop over to the Imp Club forum ( www.theimpclub.co.uk/forum/index.php) and have a look around. Join the club too. It's not expensive and you get the entertaining IMPressions magazine every month, usually with at least one or two tidy cars for sale. I joined before I bought my first Imp. "I'm" |
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Last Edit: Mar 13, 2007 16:42:17 GMT by ImpManiac
1966 Singer Chamois sprint/hillclimb car in white over blue two tone
1975 Triumph Stag long term project (over 20 years so far) in colour TBA
2003 Vauxhall Vectra GSi 3.2 in black sapphire
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kee
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,991
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Mar 13, 2007 16:48:45 GMT
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yeah ive been looking at that site, tried joingin the forum but i guess i need to join the club aswell cos it wont let me log in. not got much money left at the moent but as soon as my loan goes in my bank after easter I'm there
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Mar 13, 2007 18:46:48 GMT
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imps can be what ever you want them to be mild  wild  or just wtf?  great fun,my only real advice is buy the one with the best bodywork you can find,as although panels are available at a price mechanical bits are cheap as chips (hail the orange man ;D) and there's no need for a bike lump,one of my imps revved to 10k and pumped out @120bhp all from one litre. and joining the imp club is a must,a great bunch of lads ,a great mag and our own spares dept. |
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Mar 13, 2007 18:52:02 GMT
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imps rule, wish i had one.
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Mar 13, 2007 20:15:35 GMT
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Do it!
Imp's are great, I love mine. Am desperate to get back behind the wheel of it!
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I got into Imps by reading one too many magazine articles back in about 1991. The article mentioned light weight (circa 700kg all up), an all-alloy, OHC engine that loves to rev and excellent handling due to being designed by a talented engineer (Tim Fry) and a racing driver (Mike Parkes).
Imps handle brilliantly.
), using an overhead camshaft, non-crossflow cylinder head with eight ports in all versions. Unlike the good old 5-port cast iron A-Series boat anchor... Uh-oh... 
Imp engines are based on Coventry Climax fire pump-cum-grand prix engines of the 1940s to 1960s, so have an excellent, race-winning pedigree. Really! ;D In a car that could be yours for under a grand!
