1993 Litton Corse I - Strato's Replica

Thank you for the kind words they are appreciated - There are more project capers in the links below now they have been split up into separate threads rather than the collage that this thread drifted into for a bit should further diversions from what you really should be doing be required.

A small step - I finally go around to dropping the manifolds off with my mate for him to work his magic with improving the interface where the carb and manifold meet - Much as I expected he looked at and said "that's curse word! a lot of material is going to have to come out of there, you up for welding if I break through as it likely to get a bit thin in places to sort that out" I just told him to crack on and if it needs building up with weld in places then that's what it needs. The 44's do not sound to be much bigger than the 40's but when the runners were a bit small for the 40's and completely the wrong shape that's a lot of material to get removed.

May have mentioned it already but the decision has been made to go with the carbs on this rebuild as there are so few replica's running carbs even less running the triple IDF's. Everything out there now is built on modern donor EFI or throttle bodies but this old dog is going old school. I can smell the fuel bill from here.

great to see the progress, did you see the retropower guys are having a go at one

Not much to report on - chassis is up on end whilst I do a few final welding jobs on the rear window - final bit of paint to strip, one last bit of ugly to rectify and then its the gearlever and linkage system and going though the ancillaries list like the oil cooler and remote oil filter and such to look at the required brackets.






Ugly







Paint to be gone - whats left inside the box sections can stay as primer for the next coats.

Got a couple of photo's

In the last picture you will see that to get the shape that was required, even though the manifold was about 1/4" thick, the material was not quite thick enough and ended being so thin it was broken throuigh when polished so some building up was required. A lot of material has been removed - I will have them back in a week or so and will drop them back on the bench to see if we have gained a few extra CFM

Cut out that final bit of ugly - the last part has now been removed - probably get around to welding in its replacement during the week.




I also gave the sill and the wheel arch a run over with the wire wheel to remove any surface rust before mixing up a batch of epoxy mastic











It was a bit cold in the garage and this stuff was very thick - Gel coat type thick - I thinned it down 5% which made it just about brushable so there is a nice thick covering - that's was the coverage of about 200g of the stuff. See how it goes off and what its durability is like. All of the box sections and any parts that will not require a decorative finish - i.e. stuff thats out of sight/covered by alloy panels will get brush painted, the rest will get it sprayed providing I can get it thin enough.

Looking for as smooth as possible - Too cold for that though and the temp means it's still not anywhere near curing after 24 hours. Will try 10% thinners next time plus trying to pick a warmer day.

Carried out a few more bits of welding today


Filled in that final bit of ugly that had been chopped into the large mid cross member. Cleaned back top and bottom - cut a new piece from 16 gauge welded and flatted off with the 40 grit flapper.







I did notice that whilst cleaning back the area for welding the epoxy mastic also flatted off and sanded back very nicely its really nice to work with and is really tough. Will get a bit more painting done this week with a bit more welding in between.





The couple of cross tubes from the door bar back to the chassis still need to be done and a couple of 3mm x 50mm strips for the seat mounts to bolt to - these will need a few holes in before welding.

Finished the welding in of the rear window surround as well so need to order up some sealant to seal it fully and then a window rubber seal.




It's getting very near to the time where I need to order up the floor for the car. The old one has been kept for a pattern for the drill holes for all the rivets - I had pretty well decided that I would use anodised aluminium for the floor but I am half drawn to using a sheet of stainless steel as Lister bell fit on the STR's



I will have a ponder on that one - I have had no issues with flimsy floored cars in the past 18 SWG gauge being the norm - I was going to opt for 16 SWG to 2mm on the Stratos.

Very much doubt there is anything in there to kill or cure rust - I suspect that it's just a re-badged Jotun - I don't hold much faith in rust "cures" having a preference for cutting it out putting in good steel and then sticking a good durable coating over the top that keeps out the oxygen. @grumpynorthener is probably your man for advice on rust treatments and thin sheet steel - The thinnest steel on this thing is 1.6mm.

About the stuff - Which is why I though well why not.