1965/67 Hillman Imp pick-up (lots of panels)

Hopefully its a 6-1/4" and the release bearing pad is not wobbling all over the place- Good 6-1/4" covers are few and far between now so even good S/H ones are getting expensive - Flywheels are easy enough to come by and they benefit from a bit of a diet.

Plates are easy enough to get hold of as are roller bearing replacements for the release bearing.

So in amongst the cleaning this week there was the sump and air-box for the twin carbs.

I will be stripping these by electrolysis before painting so wanted to get all the grease off the sump.

I was also determined to have one last look to find the shadow of the date on the bottom of the sump. These were painted on and a lot seem to have survived but there's no trace of mine. Sometimes even when paint or something has disappeared you can still see the ghost of it, as the metal has corroded/weathered differently, but there is nothing on mine.

Again this could be due to fact it was an unstamped engine. I don't know if the dates were stamped on as the cars left the production-line or if they were put on in the sump-painting dept.

The sump is a bit dented on bottom face. I'm thinking someone jacked it there and strangely the paint on the other side of that dent is worn away as if something was rubbing in there. There aren't any moving part but the oil pick-up pipe/strainer probably touches there and that was a bit loose. You can see in my pics it's unscrewed from the body.

As I said before my sump isn't the really early type with drain at rear but there were two later types and I don't know what the difference was.

I didn't think anything of this but noticed afterwards in the WSM that 'no attempt should be made to remove it'

The air-box is quite badly corroded inside where water has obviously puddled at some point. Probably stored in a damp shed or something before I found it on Ebay.



sump degreased inside & out. note worn paint above dented bottom face




paint sanded prior to electrolysis



air-box is very scruffy



airbox degreased and sanded prior to electrolysis



rust is heavy inside. pinholes will appear when cleaned

Yeah. The end of the horn on mine is a bit mashed-up. Actually looks like it used to be longer lol. I've seen pics of sumps with the date on them. Month and last 2 digits of year in what looks like white paint. I think the thing about T on gears is incorrect. Am thinking it's the number of teeth. Not sure how you'd count the teeth (vanes?) on the crank gear tho. Looks like 4 across on mine but perhaps they were thicker or thinner if the pump-gear did have a different number of teeth

Regarding the Strom's - as per my post on page 1 - although I have reduced my hoard of Strommie spares quite considerably I still have a good few kicking about so do not be afraid to ask.





That's how they should be, it's the casting for cold start. Its on both sides of the body but only one side is machined depending on the handing on a particular engine, if its twin carb etc. If you take the cold start block off the other side of the carb you will see the same casting but ports are open so that the metering slide can feed fuel.

Ok so the regression back to 30 years ago continues: not working, no transport and arsing about with Hillman Imp bits

I may have said before but all the bits of my Imp (except interior trim) have been in various lock-ups over the years. I count 5 or 4 for some as one was being constantly broken-into by the local vermin so about 15 years ago I brought all the bits into the flats where I live. Lots of boxes of powder-coated bits (hubs etc) in tubs in my bedroom and some larger stuff (fuel tank etc) in 'pram-store' on ground level. The drawing for the flats actually call them that but no-one keeps prams in them. They are like long walk-in cupboards I guess. About 9' high, 3 1/2' wide and maybe 8' deep.

Anyway in amongst all the curse word, like Christmas trees and old carpet, the fuel tank was still there and also a large coil of cables that connect the engine to the front of the car. What am I one about?

Well I remember dismantling the car and the wires and hoses that run front to back were coiled up for safe-keeping.

I was pleased to find it but wasn't quite what I was looking for.

I have an insane plan to fire the engine up outside the car but using all the normal components - such as throttle cable and fuel-lines.

I can see on the tank there is a threaded hole for the pipe-union but no matching pipe in the coil. Looking at the parts list it shows a hard line going to a hose which connects to the fuel-pump. I'm not sure how long each one is but I won't have thrown anything away. If the hard-line is long it will be in the rafters of the first lock-up the Imp lived in. I have pics of this somewhere which I can scan

So yesterday was supposed to be heavy rain so I procrastinated all day about heading to barn with the tank. I wrapped it in plastic (to look less of a weirdo) with the coil inside too and it only weighed 5kg but bit of an awkward shape to carry under your arm for 4 miles.

Eventually got on my was about 5 and went by Halfords for carb-cleaner.

Spent the night fiddling with the carbs and digging out more bits to clean and inspect. Am thinking I may as well include the intake parts (standard carb etc) that were on the car when I got it as it will be interesting to compare the performance of the Sport and standard set-ups.

So back to the carbs. I eventually got the 2nd float-bowl off. It was strange as the bowl was rotating on the screw but just would not come off despite lots of fluid and wiggling/levering.

I eventually started removing the top of the screw with a Dremel bit but that was slow progress until I found a bit which was flat and it worked great. sort of milled the screw flat and fitted in the bowl-drilling with room to spare. There is actually quite a big gap between the casting and the screw. Just enough to build up a thick layer of corrosion.

It's not a good pic but you can see with the bowl removed all the corrosion at the end of the screw. It wasn't corroded into the carb-body at all. This was a very similar situation to the head-studs on my V12 - the studs are buried more than 2" deep in an unthreaded part of the casting and this locks-up completely with the stud whereas the threaded part is clean as a whistle.

I also got the stuck stud c/w nut away from the carb. I said last time I planned to use a ball-bearing but the ones I laid my hands on were too big to go into the tapping on the manifold so I dropped a bit of the sheared carb screw into the hole, tightened the stud down into the now-shorter hole which meant the nut could then be turned downwards onto the clean part of the stud. It then wound off no problems leaving the stud in the manifold. I assumed it would have brought the stud back out leading to more fiddling but it worked better than expected.

The last issue I have is that one of the carb pistons is stuck solid in the lid. The pistons have a tube coming up from the middle which is a close fit into a passage in the top cover. I can see, when assembled, that this piston isn't stuck at top or bottom which means it can be released either up or down but despite some strong levering last night it won't budge. I didn't want to break anything so have left it doused with ACF50. Someone has suggested putting lid back on and using a tube to drift it downwards. I did try putting a deep socket on the needle-end and tapping that but it didn't work.

I suspect this one has seized because the dashpot-damper is missing from that carb. Possibly been stored in damp or outdoors for years and the tube and cap have corroded together

Regarding transport. I used my other Raleigh Bomber (3-speed version ) and despite the freezing rain on way home it was a breeze compared to walking it.

Only problem is I'm planning to take the radiator down today and don't fancy that on the bike



not used this brand before




more parts to clean



carb ready for carb-cleaner



top end needs cleaned



flat-ended burr used to remove some of screw inside bowl-drilling



corrosion at end of screw was stopping bowl moving up it



foreign object dropped into manifold tapping....



....stud screwed back into manifold allowing stuck nut to be wound downwards



piston is stuck part way up/down

Nice selection of spares there and yes it certainly looks like a T - so the Tutrified thing must be true. But unless we know where the gear came from doesn't solve the Sport/non-Sport question.

Amazing the things that come up

Well I didn't get to barn today but went to the lock-up the Imp originally landed at and up in the rafters found the fuel-pipe c/w rubber hose. Also found the clutch fluid-pipe.

Anyway the fuel pipe is long. It goes right to back of car. It's also quite corroded so I think I'll just ID the union and make a new shorter version for the engine start-up plans.

Will do the same for the radiator hose(s). Obv they are very long on an Imp, running front to back.

Strangely I found the windscreen, or a windscreen, smashed on the floor. I've no idea how that happened as I've had 2 up in the rafters for perhaps 30 years and suddenly one decides to hit the deck.

No big deal I guess as I have another but curious now if it was the original one. I know some screens have a kitemark thing on them

Thanks very much twincammy

The black one is actually in better nick but there is something about the blue ones (visually) that's hard to beat.

They are actually called Super Bombers and the frame etc is fully chromed then coated with a translucent blue coating that was called Superchrome lol.

This obviously peeled off quickly (especially on the rims where the brake blocks rubbed) but it's amazing how good quality the chrome under it is. It still looks good imo with part blue and part chrome.

The tyres are cheap copies. A bit faded and slightly less beefy but I have NOS ones which I should really put on - just for the hell of it


summer tyres?


I remember seeing the Bombers in catalogues etc when I was about 12 and actually dreaming of cruising about on one. When the Super came out a year or so after I thought 'that can't be real!'

IIRC the standard for JIC fittings was set around 1950. Very commonly used in industry for hydraulics etc. used everywhere offshore in my experience.
As you say the flared end is to the hose side, plain side to the block, plain side could be various threads, tapered or parallel depending on the application. Tapered versions seal on the threads, parallel with a seal ('o' ring, dowty washer etc) A higher tolerance version (but not interchangeable) would be a AN fitting (both are 37° flares) not to be confused with or compatible with a SAE fitting which has a 45° flare.