Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 11:09:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Norman
Subject: RE: Engine Oil? - Bonnet

>So you've rebuilt an Imp ? Tell us all about it.
>
>What model is it ? How much work did you have to do ? How long did it
>take you ? Will we see it in St. Andrews in August ?
>
>I'm sure we'd all love to hear about you car.
>
>Anne


Well.....

It is a Chamois Mk 2, which I have had for almost 10 years now. About 2 years ago it was beginning to get really scruffy & I had blown the head gasket, so it had got to the stage where something pretty drastic had to be done. I eventually found a bodywork shop who said they'd be able to rebuild it in six weeks for a reasonable amount.
After six weeks they hadn't even begun to order the repair panels.
It went slowly. In fact it took roughly one and a half years for them to finish the rebuild. I think this was because they underestimated the cost of doing it, and were fitting the work inbetween other jobs to spread/hide the cost. Anyway, after a lot of agony it was finished, and to be fair to them they have done a superb job of the bodywork.

It has had new doors, bonnet and rear beam, and quite a lot of work on the sills and drivers side rear wing. It is now sprayed in two-pack paint, the colour is Talbot Oxford Blue. I was told this was the same as Rootes Oxford Blue, but it is quite a lot brighter than the original colour, so either the shade was changed in later years, or I made a mistake about what it was. Anyway I prefer the new colour to the old, which is the main thing. The bodywork certainly looks impressive, and, given the original quality that Imps were finished to, I think one could say it is now better than new! So far as trim goes, most of that is original, and has polished up pretty well.
Incidentally I am still looking for good condition front & rear bumpers, so if anyone has any, do let me know. The door handles are a little pitted, but it doesn't show at any distance, and since I want this as a day to day working car, I can't say I'm that fussed about them. The only real changes I've made to the outside are locking engine cover handles and reversing lights.

So far as equipment goes, I have made it a new wiring loom - based on the original, but with the kind of features you would expect on a newer car, such as relays for the lights, fuses, blown light detection, and provision for extra accessories later. The relays and other equipment are housed in two seperate boxes - one in the engine compartment, where the dynamo control box was until the alternator was fited, and the other will be fitted just behind the binnacle, attached to the top of the steering column.

The engine was bought as a 'kit' from Malcolm Anderson, and is a 998, with wills rings. (It was put together by a good friend of mine, Nick Hampson, who describes himself as an ageing hippie.) At the moment I'm running it with the original solex carb, and the original exhaust, though of course these are only temporary - I aim to get a sport exhaust & better carb soon. We had one scare with the engine - once it had been built, it was fitted while the car was still in the body shop. We got the engine going there, and it seemed fine, but a couple of weeks later I got a call from the people working on the car, saying that they had had the engine running, and it was now leaking water very badly from between the head & the block. They totally denied having overheated it, and when I went in to see it, it certainly looked pretty horrific - it was leaking evenly all along the botom edge of the head, at what I guess would be about 1 litre every 5 minutes - i.e. a lot! There wasn't anything much I could do about it then, so I left it for the bodywork to be finished, with the strict instruction not to touch the engine at all. Once we did get it back to Nick's garage & took the head off, we found that the sealant we had used had been attacked by what I can only suppose was the antifreeze. We'd used Hylomar - one that I'd always thought of as good, but where it had been in contact with the water - the outside seal on the head, and the thermostat cover - it had gone green, slimy and watery - hence the major leak. It had not been affected in areas where it was in contact only with oil, so we left all the other joints, and so far they seem OK. I've never seen anything like that before, and don't really see why sealant should be attacked by either water or antifreeze - particularly since it had about a month to set before the engine was filled.

Well, the car has been on the road since monday this week. It failed it's MOT on monday - for not having a chassis plate - the body place had forgotten to put it back on (aaaggh!!). Passed its MOT on tuesday, got its tax disk on wednesday, and has been on the road ever since.
I'm driving it pretty gently still, but am not holding the traffic up quite as much as I was two days ago! It has been off the road for one and a half years, and it's just great to have it back! We hope to be in St Andrews, though I haven't yet booked anything - just in case!

Mark.

Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 03:12:23 +0100 (WET DST)
From: kenneth barlow
Subject: Re: Engine Oil? - Bonnet

And how about photos, can we get some??

Kenneth