Hillman imp + Datsun,then Honda flat 6 ,now Datsun again...

Must have been so fun cleaning that shell Alex! We used to have a Beetle that had faded to a similar shade of blue - original colour was called marina blue

You should try post pics of some of your previous Imps! Vaguely remember you saying Hannah once had something quite sporty..

Hope you're recovering well from the floods

Steven

Nice to see there's time for the car stuff again...

Dare I ask what is the story on the red boat? (love boats for some reason as well as cars)

I remember doing this to the shafts in my Chammy Coupe with a warm 875 sport engine - I found them with almost a half twist when dropping the engine out after the diff that had siezed solid, it made for fun drifting until finally gave in. A mate and I have just had some shafts built for our G15 projects that a bit OTT based on Elan spiders and 38mm tube shafts.



I will keep an eye out for some 1" shafts over the next couple of months should you still be trying to source some prior to your visit this summer.

The only thing to look out for with modifications away from the Rotoflex is the multi role of it not only taking up shock loads and providing articulation but also its function of driveshaft length compensation to maintain the seal of the gearbox output shafts and stopping them moving in and out.

just read your thread start to finish sorry to hear about the cyclone , the imp cleaned up well. looking forward to seeing this progress

Yeah luckily the engine has typical side mounts so all together 4 mounts (which are all perished and failed...typical of the state of things I'm finding on this car)

The Datsun shafts are well known for being very...'slidey'? They are a popular swap in NZ Triumphs which always suffer the 'trump twitch' * - where the original shafts would indeed lock up under power/squat and then with a lift off of power unlock and suddenly extend.

I suspect the fitted red nolathane doughnuts don't have a lot of give either. Infact - I wonder how much sideways movement there is through the suspension travel?







*Nothing to do with that red headed idiot buffoon in the US.

Yeah it is a very early box but ill hopefully change it for a later stronger box.. If I can find one locally cheap.. :-)

I'll measure what lineal movement the axles go through when I reassemble the rear suspension and assess the joints it came with.

Started on the rot removal over the weekend. Its going well. Trying to sneak in time here and there between jobs but did some good hours on Sunday. As usual I am finding it super addictive and very satisfying. I had no idea what I was expecting to find under the outer sill skins so straight into it..



and luckily the drivers side is in really good condition. Just surface rust.





Glad to have peeled off the skin though. Gave me a chance to clean it out and paint it. Then a new outer sill - which I have to make in two sections because my folder is only 600mm :-)



Also had to make new 'rear sill' or is it lower B pillar ? was clean as under there luckily so again just a new outer needed.



The passenger side though.. Oh dear. curse word. The rot had taken out the bottom half of the heater pipe boxing. The inner sill/floor edge had one small section with rot I had to cut out as well. Nothing for it but to chop it all out and let in some new steel.



Before I went any further I had to remove the long heater hoses- one on each side. I can see these being a right mare to re-install. I'm sure there are some secrets you fellow Imp old timers know about.



Then new boxing..



New vertical sill piece. Lots of holes for plug welding..



Welding in place. I must say I was happy that the shell was empty and resting on the table neatly along its length. There was enough decent upper sill including decent vertical sections to hold the shape of the doorway :-)







With that lot fixed I painted it all in a heavy zinc rich paint and then welded on the new outer. I butt welded the whole lot because I didnt want any little seams that might collect moisture. I'll fill the lot with cavity wax later on (always a fun job..)





I then carefully shaped up a new 'LowerB pillar, guard bottom sill end' (what is this bit called...just the sill I guess..) and was about to weld it in place after having treated and painted the inner section.



But I was not feeling happy about the look of that inner bit. I just had to delve deeper and I'm glad I did. I knew the floor corner was rotten but I was going to deal with that later. However it made more sense to do the lot in one go. I cut the curved inner sill off and then there was this..



Hmmmm... what's under here ?....



Rebuilt it all..



New inner cover...



Then on with that outer..finally. Both sills complete, rot free and strong again :-) They are sort of the most critical of repairs to get right on this car. The rest is just about rot removal and letting in steel with having to use heaps of filler (I don't really enjoy sanding filler so I'd rather get the repair as close as possible and just allow for a skim if any )



I was going to do the floor next but this lot was right there, laughing at me. I had to cut it out and see what gives..



Note the factory carefully installed bags of foam, designed to absorb sound...and moisture...



Shaped a new piece to suit. Luckily not as tricky as I was expecting. Given the awkward shape around the corner I'll break these corner repairs down into sections. The wheel arch rot visible will be dealt with afterwards.



Drilled a new drain hole for future cavity wax applications and then painted the inner with Por 15..



Ready in place to weld.



And that is where I was last night. Its welded in now and I'll continue on around the corner, then do the other side. The battery box is rotten but the battery will be moved up front anyway in order to redistribute the extra 20kg of the Datsun engine.

Work will slow down on the Imp for now as I have sold on our family Datsun 120Y 2 door wagon on to a friend from Oldschool. I'll be doing a fair bit of rot removal on that before it gets taken away. That earns me money where as this Imp doesn't. So Datsun wins the time allocation. But I'm sure I'll sneak time in here and there. Plus Hannah can do work on either car to help with progress (when she's not at the beach swimming with her sister who's visiting - pfff....priorities..)

I have also eventually come to realise that it might well be a slightly tall order to try and get this Imp on the road for the nationals in 2 weeks time....... :roll: So Viva HB wagoning we shall be for that fine event.

But hey- I'll continue as is and at least I should have done the vast amount of rot work by then :-)

Cheers man. I do enjoy doing thread updates... less grinding dust inside when on the computer :-)