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

Apologies to anyone who may have been waiting for more info on the last post but I've moved on a bit this week.

I've no excuse now really not to get the head torqued down.

Looking at the manual is advises to set all the tappet-clearances then do it again once the head is bolted down. Fair enough.

You may remember last year I got a couple of tins of shims. Well I'd previously cleaned them all and set about measuring them. Did it first with a vernier but problem was they just seemed to fall into 3 or 4 basic sizes with a few thinner or thicker ones. Actually it seemed like the previous person may have had a thick tin and a thin tin.

I had stack of 2.4mm, 2.5mm and 2.6mm from one tin and some of 2.7mm, 2.8mm and 2.9mm

I then set about measuring them more accurately with a micrometer but this isn't as easy as it sounds as you can get a reading which changes by like 0.04mm or 0.05mm just by tightening the thumbwheel slightly more. Then it changes when you try measuring the shim again.

Anyway I got them all laid out as accurately as I could then started substituting the ones I stuck in to get started (my original 8) with my pile of new ones.

The problem I then found is that no matter how accurate you measure your shims you don't really have an accurate figure for the gap between the tappets and the back of the cam-lobes. My feeler gauges are 0.05mm, 0.10mm, 0.15mm & 0.30mm and with a combination of those am trying to get a gap of 0.10mm-0.15mm on the inlets and 0.25mm-0.30mm on the exhaust.

So for example if you can get a 0.15mm blade under an inlet lobe you don't know if it's actually 0.17mm or 0.18mm gap

Anyway with the camshaft on and off several times I got a decent range of results so it was time to bolt it down for real. But wait....

What about the inlet-valve stem-seals? I went back thru this thread and found I had put the originals from over 30 years ago back in.

I needed to open a new gasket-kit anyway to get the tiny o-ring that goes between block and head so decided to change the seals too. Also noticed in the pack there were the paper 'joints' which go under the spring-seats so decided to replace them too.

Problem is the holes in the middle were smaller than the old ones and I cba cutting them out so shelved that idea. I'm glad I decided to change the seals as the old ones are definitely hard. In the pic I am squeezing one old one quite firmly and it's not squashing.

Also noticed that #1 exhaust-valve spring wasn't on right. It was sitting on the edge of its seat so have put that back in place. Am guessing the tappet-clearance for that will be well-out now.

I put my new camshaft bearings in the other day too. Prior to starting the valve-clearance checks.

And lastly. The little o-ring mentioned above....

I sat it in its place in the gasket and it fell straight into the timing-cover

I was just about to start dismantling the engine from stand etc while looking for a torch and wondering if I could turn the engine upside-down to make it fall out when I spotted it sitting on a shoulder behind the cam-chain. Result

So that's me finally ready to bolt it down but....

The WSM says the bolts should be dipped in Shell Ensis 256 first so I asked on the Facebook group for opinion on this and they came thick & fast with lots of differing opinions so that's another delay I guess

NB I broke my decent camera the other day (it fell off a roof I was working on) so last pics are a bit poor quality as the stand-in camera isn't as good (more so with colour/light than detail)




new cam bearings in place



manual gives various valve-clearance figs dependent on what head/cam you have. I'm going with Mk2 figs as despite having 4 series head I have STD cam



shims measured



some valve stuff found in gasket set



joints for under valve-spring seats. hole in centre of new joints seems too small



old stem-seals. 'I crush your head' has little/no effect



new seals squish fine



this goes between block & head. dropped it down timing-cover but 'Praise the Lord!' managed to retrieve it

Yes that's what was on the car when I bought it.

• 533 head
• no oil drain
• STD cam & carrier
• single valve-springs (with seals on inlets)
• Solex carb
• 25D4 distributor

Not sure if I posted before about this but basically I have 2 Imp bonnets (1 early and 1 late) and they are both badly rusted at the front.

There was no paint or protection from the factory between the bonnet-shell and the inner panel that goes across the front.

So I figured if I can make a good job of repairing the bonnets I'l be able to repair the rest on the bodywork no problem

I put the late bonnet in electrolysis last year and today set about repairing it. It was going well until my CO2 bottle emptied - I only bought it last week and have done less that 5 mins welding with it. I was *****n raging!

Probably my own fault as the regulator stopped working when the last bottle ran out (it lasted for ages) and I took it all apart to get it working and obviously haven't re-tightened it properly



there is a panel in this pic somewhere




after electrolysis


front of bonnet with the inner panel removed


plenty work ahead of me. there are repair panels available


not sure if you can buy inner panel


1st repair piece tacked in

So I'm still continuing with the bonnet repairs and despite the messy look in the photos am very pleased with the way the shape is coming back into it.

Am about 3/4 of the way there now and will then move on to the outer skin. Obviously that needs to look better for paint but I will be fully-welding the joins on the inner bit then probably grinding them down and it'll all get de-rusted (again).

This was a job I expected to be almost impossible so I am chuffed about it

Another job I've had a complete mental-block about is putting the starter back together. Well more about soldering the new brushes on.

Anyway I gathered together all the bits yesterday, spent some time cleaning all the bare metal parts and had a closer look at the brush situation.

It looks like the ones on the plate are soldered in to their connections . The ones on the coils/field I've been told you can't solder as it's aluminium. I will therefore just need to cut the wires from the brushes and solder them to a bit of the original wires.

It was round a bout this point I realised I hadn't bought a new soldering-iron. The one I had isn't working and apparently that's very common. IE these cheap electric ones never work for more than 5 minutes. I also read on another resource that one guy drilled the soldered connections for the ones I wanted to de-solder. I did have a go at that with a tiny drill but figured I was just going to break the drill-bit. Will wait till I get a new soldering-iron.

Point is now that all the bits are on the bench together it seems more do-able.

One problem is that the plastic insulator on the main terminal is cracked and now I can't find one on Ebay etc. Am sure i had one in my watch list for ages. I may be able to glue the old one back together.

Whilst trawling the 'Net for this part I found you can (could) get all sorts of Lucas kits for starters/alternators/distributors etc and they had all these bits in them. can't see one for a started for sale right now but here is one for the dynamo for £5 and that's what I'm planning to refurbish after the starter



front of inner panel shaping up well



starter-motor parts laid out for re-assembly



end-plate cleaned up. need to remove old brushes which seem to be soldered into terminals



have kept all the little parts from terminal in right order but plastic insulator is broken

So I got the other two brushes done. Won't go into as much detail on that except to say I didn't bother drilling-out the other brush connected to the commutator-plate. Just soldered it.

After that I ended up having a go at fitting the motor back together despite not planning to do that. Am sure there was a good reason for planning another delay but now I can't think of it.

It turned out to be a lot more fiddly than I expected in some ways but not others and I also found out there are still things needing done. Plus a glance at the Imp WSM manual shows that there are several tests you can do to check everything is right 'electrics-wise' and it would make sense to do all those checks before I try to spin it on a battery.

I'll pad-out the blurb later but I need a new bush for one end, I think I've lost one of the washers that goes on the commutator shaft, I probably need a new armature and I can't find the bit of 'paper' that isolates the stuff inside from the body and I can't find the metal band that goes round the outside - despite seeing that 2 days ago. One of the washers I found on the floor (I think) but don't know which end it was from and it could be from something else entirely.

Also, surprisingly, can't find a Lucas manual or anything online which gives comprehensive details on the part-numbers etc. I've found bits and pieces of info that are helpful but sometimes contradictory.

Anyway. Here's some pics and I'll explain more later



trial-fitting commutator-pate noticed (original) brush tails very close to body of motor



whereas new long-tail brush from field-coils looks fine



new commutator-plate brush also looks very close



removing parts of original short-tail field-coil brush



new brush soldered on



job done



2nd original brush cut away from commutator-plate



new one on

So I made a little progress on the starter....

After turning the barn and shipping-container inside out trying to find the metal band for it I found the other shim/washer. With the amount of stuff I have I was quite pleased with this. Putting it next to the one I found the other day I'm satisfied they are both from same family and they fit the armature shaft just right. The first one I found on the floor of the container a few days ago and the other one on some scaffolding I have inside the barn.

With these in place I checked the endfloat again (visually) and it's still big. Will need to do some research as to what it should be or, perhaps. the very worn bush in the end-bracket is letting it move ib and out too easily.

The Ebay seller got back to me with the dimensions of the bush and they seemed ideal so it's on its way for £5.99

Lucas part-number is 253316

I was reading the Imp WSM last night (regarding test/checks you can do on the starter, and dynamo) and found some interesting information I wasn't looking for. It actually details how to deal with replacing the brushes (including cutting/soldering the wires) but it also gives advice on how to replace the bronze bush that I'll be getting soon. The instructions were far more complicated than I envisaged and may call for a tool to be made on a lathe

I've also been staring at the pinion parts for a few days now thinking 'how the hell do these go back on?!' but strangely the manual doesn't cover this. I'll have to look back on my disassembly pics for clues but the issue I'm seeing isn't so much the order or method of putting them back on it's the lack of space on the shaft that's puzzling me.

In other news that's the inner panel of the bonnet basically fixed. New metal all along now. Just need to join the dots with the various gaps in the welding.


washer found in container a couple of days ago


joined, on left, by washer found in barn yesterday



am sure first one goes on this end of armature shaft



and other one on this end




endfloat. in and out



pinion parts. not sure how these can all fit on end of shaft



made decent curved repair section for bonnet panel the other day



but it didn't replace all of rot and a little more cut out



new piece tacked in



starting to take shape

I learned a long time ago that it's best to finish one thing before you move to another and the starter definitely isn't finished yet but my next ancillary to tackle is the dynamo (generator?) and I decided to take that apart the other day.

I only bought this recently, so it's in no way original to the car, but I believe(ed) it is the correct type for the Imp - Lucas C40

Turns out it might not be as the parts list shows the Imp used the C40-1. I'll go into all that in more detail soon as I bought a 1968 Lucas 'Equipment And Service Parts' catalogue off Ebay the other night so that will hopefully clear-up any confusion.

After dealing with the starter the dynamo seems pretty similar and also a bit simpler as it doesn't have brushes on the coils and the brushes it does have screw on and off.

Looking back on my (April 2023) Ebay purchase of the dynamo it was listed as a Hillman Imp Dynamo and iirc the seller told me it had probably been rebuilt as there was a sticker over the normal data stamped on the case.

It came apart quite easily but I have my doubts as to how well it was rebuilt as it had a crunchy-sounding bearing when you spun the pulley and seemed to be soaked in grease or oil inside.

I also don't think it was stripped right down before as the pole-shoe screws seemed untouched.


The disassembly was pretty easy:

• hold pulley in vice and loosen nut on end of shaft
• remove all loose bits from end of shaft
• remove long screws and pull end-bracket c/w armature out of shell
• remove rivets which hold bearing-retaining plate to bracket then pull bracket off bearing
• pull bearing off shaft
• grind/drill head off rivet which holds terminal to shell
• remove commutator-end bracket
• remove pole-shoe screws
• remove pole and coils from shell
• go on internet to see what's available and if you have the right unit

time to delve in to this dynamo



loosened nut on shaft by holding pulley in a small vice



nut, washer, Woodruffe key, pulley, fan removed



rear of fan. has one bent vane (at 6 o'clock)



removing thru-bolts with a large flathead screwdriver



end-bracket removed with armature still attached



note this fitting that goes on inside bracket/bearing-retainer



1 of the 3 rivets from this plate is missing/damaged


rivets viewed from outside. all 3 heads still present


some data here. looks like armature is from 1967


case of dynamo is from 1971



damaged rivet pushed out



removed the other 2 by drilling heads off



pulling bracket off bearing reveals wave-washer and felt-seal



trying to pull bearing off shaft. end of legs are hampered by plate behind bearing



feet modified



success. bearing & plate off shaft


this dented Romanian bearing must be from 'rebuild'



rivet which hols terminal to casing stops commutator-end plate from coming off



head of rivet ground off



pole screws removed



poles have some sort of paint/coating on them



end-plate removed reveals coils, paper insulator and terminal. also very greasy inside



commutator-end bracket also quite oily



pic of brush-springs for reference. brushes look relatively unworn



coils removed c/w terminal and insulator. coils are covered in sticky/oily substance



this fragile-looking connection is probably OEM

So back to the electrical units....

I got my Lucas/Rootes 1967 catalogue, which I found very interesting and useful, and satisfied I'd ID'd the armature properly for the starter ordered a NOS one from Italy.

There was another, slightly cheaper, in Slovenia but it had no markings on it that I could see and I asked the seller to check and at the same time made a cheeky Best Offer to the Italian seller for their one.

Got home to find the Slovenian seller hadn't answered but the Italian one had accepted my offer so for £53.36 I have a NOS armature on its way. I would love to get the original fixed but what would that cost? £150? £200? who knows....

The original price was EUR 58.00 (£48.90) with EUR 16.00 (£13.49) P&P so I saved a tenner.

The Slovenian one was only £28.66, with similar P&P costs, so it's perhaps a pity they didn't reply as I'd have saved another tenner but I like the look of the Italian one as it's in the original box whereas the Slovenian one looked like a library photo.

So I still need to press the new bush into the starter but when the new armature arrives that'll be it ready to go.

I started cleaning/examining the dynamo and have come to the conclusion it's actually a mixture of various C40 parts but I think it will work fine on the Imp engine.

As shown before the casing is from 1971 but the armature is from 67. The number on the commutator-end bracket doesn't match anything in my Lucas catalogue and neither does the number on the drive-end bracket but I can see that one online in various places at least. I think the commutator one must be a good bit older.

The catalogue shows the dynamo fitted to 1968 Imps was 22715E and this one is 22715K. I'm pretty sure the letter suffix is year-related which seems pointless as the cases are stamped with week-number and year already but the catalogue shows the 22715 units had a drive-end bracket which didn't use the sort of rivetted tripod thing to retain the bearing like mine has.

It seems a bit obvious but the suffixes sort of match the car-reg ones... like my 1967 car is an E-reg and K-reg cars were used in 1971. Surely it can't be that.

As well as the mismatched parts I found the pulley is a MOWOG item. Fair enough as these starter were used on all sorts of vehicles (MOWOG is basically an early version of BMC) but it lead me (back) to the Imp parts list which shows a bewildering amount of pulleys used on the Imp range. 5 different dynamo pulleys. 3 different water-pump pulleys and 5 different dynamo fans.

I said earlier about the WSM giving details of how to do electrical-checks on the units. Well I found myself getting the multimeter out and combined with a flat(ish) battery did the checks on the armature and coils from the dynamo and everything was as it should be.

Bit tricky to show that in pictures but i was happy with the results. I also said the dynamo had a crunchy bearing but it seems fine. I think the fan was rubbing on the bracket or something.

I ended up cleaning the case, pulley and fan and painting them and they are looking great. No pics of the black but yet but a while back I did a gutter-repair and needed some black paint early in the morning and ended up with something from Screwfix or Toolstation which looked a but dubious but there was nothing else.

After etch-priming then priming (undercoating?) the parts I needed something waterproof to go on top and as i had nothing else reached for the emergency paint. It looks fantastic and seems quite tough and has a sort of semi-gloss look.

On the subject of paint it seems the dynamo was originally painted with red-oxide primer inside and it even went on the poles. I'm no expert but surely they need to be bare metal for the rotating armature to get max EMF going.

In a similar vein the coils themselves are oily as well as having tatty oil-impregnated tape on them. This didn't seem to affect the Ohms reading I got over them (manual says should be 6 ohms) but like the pole-shoes I would have thought cleanliness was important.

Whilst looking for advice on what tape to rewind them with I came across a resource where a person who reconditions these things said they are fit only for scarp if they have oil on them.

I think I'll just get a new bearing, clean the paint off the shoes, clean and re-tape the coils and put it into service.

Having said that I just bought another C40 for a tenner off Ebay as am curious to see what parts that has on it.

I've also emailed the Rootes Archive Trust to ask for copies of the drawings for all the different pulleys & fans

I'm not expecting a quick reply there but it will be interesting to see if the pulleys I have are anything like the right sizes.




oily dynamo casing cleaned inside reveals what looks like red-oxide paint



pole-shoes seem to have same paint on them



why does my Imp dynamo have a Morris/Wolseley pulley?




rust/grease/loose paint cleaned off pulley and fan prior to etch-primer



dynamo case cleaned. 22715E was fitted to 1968 Imps. 22715K is from 1971



number on drive-end bracket doesn't seem right for the 22715 unit



commutator-end bracket also not matching 22715



casing after normal primer over black etch-primer



used this as top-coat



removing oil-contaminated tape from one of dynamo coils



coils also need de-oiled

Thanks for that jimi

I was wondering what tape to use and was going to clean the coils with contact-spray, so no abrasion