Bond 875 rebuild and improvement.

The Bond 875 used the rather neat hillman imp 875 engine transaxle and rear suspension. As usual this created more problems when Rootes were bought out by Chrysler USA who found a massive hole in Rootes bank balance caused mainly by the Hillman Imp (caused by GovernMENTAL idiots insisting on production in Linwood Scotland, in a new factory using unskilled and strike prone workers ! When Chrysler bought Rootes they became less happy to sell parts to Bond ! IMP Quality was poor and bodies were made in Coventry and sent on open Trains , unpainted and then sat outside for months on end ! (unpainted). Engine castings went from linwood to be assembled in the midlands ! assembled parts then went on the train again all the way up to Scotland, adding cost and increasing timescales and reducing quality (pictures of 100's of sub standard engines and transaxles piled up at Linwood !)



The complete engine and gearbox weighed 170lbs, was detuned to 34bhp (GovernMENTAL idiots are becoming a trend because they killed off so much British industry for political reasons).

So what am I trying to achieve with this rebuild ?
Get a reliable engine with about 50 rear wheel horse power from the 875 engine.
Update many parts (electronic ignition and electric water pump , the IMP water pump and fan was originally driven by the engine, this costs in excess of 5 bhp at 5,000 rpm ! That is alot when originally the car only had 34 bhp but could still hit 80mph. (IMPs overheat, and though inefficient the fan and water pump used up 5bhp at 5,000 rpm ! The transaxle would also swallow 20% of the engine power (so less than 23 bhp at the wheels where it counts) and the Bond 875 could still hit 80mph due to the smooth high rpm engine.

Upgrade the interior, the Bond EVERYTHING was extra light to pass the 400kg weight limit. I hope to keep it light but more modern.



Many parts need rebuilding so I'll get the engine and gearbox rebuilt (they both are IMP weak spots). The engine known to overheat and the gearbox is weak and vulnerable to running with low oil. Both will be upgraded. I have already bought a LSD just BECAUSE lol.



The wiring and carburation will be replaced. Fibreglass cars and poor design of having the prone to leaking carbs sitting over a red hot exhaust ! This happened to one Bond 875 that I know of ....





Not much left for the poor owner having just started the car after winter storage.

2 bond 875's on ebay at present.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bond-875-very-early-Preston-built-MK1-complete-rolling-restoration-project/184004389727?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D40733%26meid%3D58867ff443354a39b5d1d930373ff7c9%26pid%3D100290%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D123954222664%26itm%3D184004389727%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2060778&_trksid=p2060778.c100290.m3507



www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bond-875/123954222664?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D40733%26meid%3D1098cd51e26742c2b0595f0d245f49ca%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dco%26sd%3D184004389727%26itm%3D123954222664%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851



you get a lot of car when you buy a bond ! most 1960's cars start at £5k !

never expected there to be a fibreglass monococque, didn't think it'd be able to hold up to the task of that

LOL thats right , what it needs is a 300kg boat anchor that is a Rover V8 and auto box !

Or do what a lot of IMPers are doing fitting a K1200RS using the OEM IMP transaxle.



www.torquestats.com/modified/index.php?pid=calculator&action=calculate_times&drive=RWD&bhp=130&weight=400&submit=Calculate

Using 130 bhp in a 400kg car is 330bhp per tonne ! 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and standing quarter in 12.36 secs /107mph - nice.

I'll bear the rover V8 in mind lol

You need to stop air going under the front and spill it to the side, some sort of air dam below the front bumper ( you can put it a bit further back to make it less conspicuous) and lowering the front would help. The dam needs to be fairly close to the ground, some sort of thick rubber is ideal.



Theres not a lot you can do about the low pressure at the front of the bonnet without changing the shape, lowering just the front will help a little though though.

Hitting a big car with a small car head on is not a good idea. I doubt he would have survived in a 1960's mini or any other 1960's small car. One thing about composits is they do (in certain circumstances) have excellent energy absorbtion !

The front clam is just fibreglass, so you have 4 feet of crumple zone !



If it was front to side less so ! Glad you mate survived !

i know you are anti adding weight but a bit of ballast up front could make a big difference. the day swmbo purchased a 1200 estelle back in the day we dropped a handling kit (25kg bag o' sand) in the front end. instant go cart.

Its a historic vehicle (free road tax no mot) any material changes would probably negate all that (probably adding a 4th wheel would turn it into a kitcar).

Interestingly Bond were trying out a 4 wheel Bond 875 (before Reliants take over). A different market but allegedly 'Crysler' lol didn't want a better competitor than the IMP !

3 wheeler cars enable 16 year olds to drive (early post war) and motorcyclists to drive 3 wheels on a motorcycle licence (both of which concessions have been removed, you couldn't drive one in the gErman Union ! das )

A 450kg car with 60bhp would have revolutionised 1970's car production ! ( no chance the GovernMENTAL meddlers would allow it )



The Bond 875 3 wheel front wheel leans like a motorcycle, this gave more grip in turns ! (you could argue why bother with a 3rd wheel because a motorcycle is more efficient than a car)

Just doodling....



I guess you´d more or less be ending up with the worlds ugliest Davrian.