here is my offering to the fold:
www.quiddity128.net/WP/WP/4212005113338-USA%202004%20057.jpg
www.quiddity128.net/WP/WP/4212005113445-USA%202004%20058.jpg
www.quiddity128.net/WP/WP/4212005113630-USA%202004%20059.jpg
www.quiddity128.net/WP/WP/4212005113715-USA%202004%20060.jpg
Bought her 2 years ago as a slightly naive but enthusiastic youngster, I knew i needed to rebuild the engine but other than that i just intended it to be a daily runner. but after the bonnet flying off the second day i had it (yes, really!-if you look closely at the pics you can see the scratches and chips where it hit the road at 50mph!), the brakes failing second week of ownership, the engine kicking out a smoke screen, the clutch failing whilst a new engine was being built, knackered fuel gauge (aren't they all?) discovering the reason for dodgy handling was that the anti-roll bar was missing!! and generally finding lots of rot and bodged jobs by the previous owner, it became clear it was actually more of a project car!!!
I don't think the previous owner was deliberately deceiving me, just think he didn't really know what he was doing, as he'd supposedly "restored" the car!
With the negative stuff out the way, onto the positive.....
The work done so far, for anyone interested is:
-fixed the Fibreglass bonnet (the mounts had torn off when the catches failed, but other than a few scratches and chips the bonnet survived surprisingly well))! sort out dodgy catches and fit a bonnet strap just to be on the safe side!!
-New Brake master cylinder, new front calipers, new rear shoes and slave cylinder
-completely new clutch system from master cylinder to the clutch itself
-Rebuilt engine bored out to 1312, uprated cam, increased compression ratio, AE pistons, Lightened and balanced crankshaft and flywheel, flywheel lightened by 2.5kg, didn't weigh crankshaft, but an awful lot of metal came off it! Standard twin but tiny SU carbs have been binned in favour of a beefier single SU
The sound of this car is awesome! all the lightened internals and the loopy cam means it just rumbles away when its idling, i love it!
Unfortunately it hasn't had much use due to me not being able to take it to my uni in manchester, and there being a serious oil leak coming out of the rear crankshaft seal.
i think its cos we took so much metal off the crankshaft, i've really tried to plug it up with high quality sealant, had it all apart a couple of times, but the problem persists. i've seen some products on the internet which say they fix the problem, (one at peter may engineering, another the morris minor centre) one of these is next on my shopping list! (does anyone know anything about this problem with A-series or about these products???)
The other problem is the rot underneath, i'm a bit of a novice at all this (i built the engine with A LOT of help from a friend who owns an engine building business), and i'm a bit scared of hacking at the bits of rot, and discovering i don't have a car! I also need to learn to weld!! the car has passed its last 2 MOTs tho.
Hopefully get it on the road properly this summer (thats what i said last summer!)
Sorry, bit of a detailed description! always feels a bit like my life story when i talk about this car!
Hope you like!
Oh, and if anyone is bored/feeling charitable and can shrink the photo's down and stick them in a post for me it would be really appreciated, Penski put them on the web for me (cheers by the way!) but i forgot the pics are massive and i didn't really want to bother him again! I don't really get all this new fangled internet malarky yet!
www.quiddity128.net/WP/WP/4212005113338-USA%202004%20057.jpg
www.quiddity128.net/WP/WP/4212005113445-USA%202004%20058.jpg
www.quiddity128.net/WP/WP/4212005113630-USA%202004%20059.jpg
www.quiddity128.net/WP/WP/4212005113715-USA%202004%20060.jpg
Bought her 2 years ago as a slightly naive but enthusiastic youngster, I knew i needed to rebuild the engine but other than that i just intended it to be a daily runner. but after the bonnet flying off the second day i had it (yes, really!-if you look closely at the pics you can see the scratches and chips where it hit the road at 50mph!), the brakes failing second week of ownership, the engine kicking out a smoke screen, the clutch failing whilst a new engine was being built, knackered fuel gauge (aren't they all?) discovering the reason for dodgy handling was that the anti-roll bar was missing!! and generally finding lots of rot and bodged jobs by the previous owner, it became clear it was actually more of a project car!!!
I don't think the previous owner was deliberately deceiving me, just think he didn't really know what he was doing, as he'd supposedly "restored" the car!
With the negative stuff out the way, onto the positive.....
The work done so far, for anyone interested is:
-fixed the Fibreglass bonnet (the mounts had torn off when the catches failed, but other than a few scratches and chips the bonnet survived surprisingly well))! sort out dodgy catches and fit a bonnet strap just to be on the safe side!!
-New Brake master cylinder, new front calipers, new rear shoes and slave cylinder
-completely new clutch system from master cylinder to the clutch itself
-Rebuilt engine bored out to 1312, uprated cam, increased compression ratio, AE pistons, Lightened and balanced crankshaft and flywheel, flywheel lightened by 2.5kg, didn't weigh crankshaft, but an awful lot of metal came off it! Standard twin but tiny SU carbs have been binned in favour of a beefier single SU
The sound of this car is awesome! all the lightened internals and the loopy cam means it just rumbles away when its idling, i love it!
Unfortunately it hasn't had much use due to me not being able to take it to my uni in manchester, and there being a serious oil leak coming out of the rear crankshaft seal.
i think its cos we took so much metal off the crankshaft, i've really tried to plug it up with high quality sealant, had it all apart a couple of times, but the problem persists. i've seen some products on the internet which say they fix the problem, (one at peter may engineering, another the morris minor centre) one of these is next on my shopping list! (does anyone know anything about this problem with A-series or about these products???)
The other problem is the rot underneath, i'm a bit of a novice at all this (i built the engine with A LOT of help from a friend who owns an engine building business), and i'm a bit scared of hacking at the bits of rot, and discovering i don't have a car! I also need to learn to weld!! the car has passed its last 2 MOTs tho.
Hopefully get it on the road properly this summer (thats what i said last summer!)
Sorry, bit of a detailed description! always feels a bit like my life story when i talk about this car!
Hope you like!
Oh, and if anyone is bored/feeling charitable and can shrink the photo's down and stick them in a post for me it would be really appreciated, Penski put them on the web for me (cheers by the way!) but i forgot the pics are massive and i didn't really want to bother him again! I don't really get all this new fangled internet malarky yet!
