Bond Equipe GT4S, now awaiting the estate completion

Had another shot at this in photoshop....
I think a lot of it is that the wheels are a bit too small for the body. I tried these Rover coupe wheels and reshaped the arches to fit. The top is slightly chopped too, just because.

That does look nice ....

Well that's sent me down a rabbit hole and no mistake horrido.

I can't see the roof chop happening as I need the headroom, but big wheels, could work, if my spreadsheet filling out is correct,
gearbox set up is a guesstimate as I'm not 100% sure which GT6 OD box I've got in the back of the workshop.
1st 2.66
2nd 1.78
3rd 1.3
4th 1.04 (3rd OD)
5th 1 (4th)
6th 0.8 (4th OD)

As a baseline I used 3.63 diff with 175/80/13 tiers, and compared it to 4.11 (herald) diff with 185/80/14s (rover P4) and got exactly the same speedo readings



But 14" wheel options are MGF steel spare wheels or unsuitable alloys, and 185/80/14 isn't a common size.
15" wheels however I found MGF 8 spoke minlite that won't look out of place, 185/65/15 is very popular and less than 5% speedo error.



The next thing is will they fit? The rears should be no problem, I can re tub the back as required, the fronts probably, the tub again not an issue as they were getting changed anyway, but it might need lock restrictors to stop the tiers fouling the chassis.

The only question I have is will the trunnions be happy? If the answer is no, there is Canley Classics trunnionless conversion at £400.

Rabbit hole bottomed.
Dan

OK I'm sold on the wheels, and I'm amazed what a difference the bigger wheel opening makes to the stance of the car.
If anyone has a set of MGF 15" Minlites under their workbench, message me please.
Dan

I woke up this morning thinking will the diff coap with the added torque.

Great score! Can't wait to see them in place.

Well the sheds up, but not finished, I haven't touched the bond since. But there is some news......

I've been given a body shell, which appears to be in much better condition than the original, and not have a sunroof, but there's always a catch, it's 250 miles away, which wouldn't have been an issue if I hadn't sold the CRV the week before, luckily a mate has jeep and a spare day to get it with me over Christmas.

So the Bond was on my mind, and looking at horrido Photochop of the bigger wheel, and I asked my self how's the front going to look with a bumper delete.


I started with the usual pic




and deleted the bumper and reg plate




deleted the central bar




made the grill larger




and added another




then put the bar back in again




reshaped the grill and added an indicator




then added side light




tryed to add some depth and a number plate.



What do you think?


Now it's time to try to shut my brain down as it's 2am.

Night

Bigger grille and quarter bumpers ? ? ?

I spent the day on the bond, I didn't achieve as much as I would have liked, but it went something like this.

Clear the pile of wood from in front of the garage, put away all the carp that had been dumped appeared just in side the door.

Have some lunch.

Remove the fuel tank and tail lights, the last reversing light proved to be stuck solid, so I did the right thing and gave up and left it there for now.




Then I got choppy with it, and cut out the numberplate plinth and tried unsuccessfully to make it look flat with card.




Then cut out all the light bases, which was much easier when I worked out I could use a hole saw.



Food for thought.

Next I wanted to test fit the Minlites, but the standard wheel nuts pass straight through the boltholes, so that's a non-starter till I've upgraded the studs to Freelander ones, and can't chek the fit till thats done. which leads on to the next part, I intend to build the bond up to late spit/GT6 spec with a swing spring which I have most of the parts for in stock, but I don't have late spitfire 1500 long drive shafts, does anyone have some under a bench or in a shed?
I'm looking for;
Long drive shaft from com.-no. FH 50.001; 1500
part no. 155928, drive shaft with yoke
Length from centre U.J. to end of cone 19.5"
length from centre U.J. to end of thread 20.5"

Just the shaft or a built-up with hub.
Dan