centaur mk1 a funny thing (only just!)

[steve g]

well i bought the centaur on ebay on a whim and by accident ( i typed in £10 too much and won it with my maximum bid). i loved the shape and thought that i could modify it to make it look better, by giving it pop up headlights, a better wheel and tyre combo, and tinted doors.

during my research into centaurs i noticed that my particular car was very different from other centaurs, and delving further i discovered that it was the first one ever made, and was the one which actually appeared in custom car in 1973 and autocar in 1974. the car was supposed to have pop up headlights and tinted doors, but the headlights had problems so they were altered to fixed headlights. the list of differences is quite long

the petrol tank is a fabricated item and not an imp one

there is no bottom where the headlight covers go(so you can the see the front wheels through the headlight covers)

inside the boot area at the front its completely flat,

the bonnet is identical to a probe 15,

the windscreen wiper parks under the bonnet,

there is no fake air intake at the front under the bonnet

the roof section doesn't lift out,

there is no steering column support(and never has been)

it has a smoked grey engine cover

the back is open with a grille

the lights are mounted in the engine bay

there is a cut out for a 10" spare behind the engine

the dash board pod has dials left and right of the steering column( speedo and tacho) and oil temp fuel and volts in the centre of the cockpit

the roof section is 4" narrower than other centaurs.

and the battery is mounted behind the passengers head (safety first, safety second!!)

although the car ,in my minds eye, is brilliant, the build quality is not very good in some areas, even though it is 30 years old it still hasn't done 3000 miles yet ( yes thats 3 thousand), so it's probably down to the fact that it's been dry stored and and has never done many miles that it's survived.

here are the pictures of it's current state

ef05_1.jpg

afca_1.jpg

f961_1.jpg

[steve g]

picture of the original bonnet mould.

centaur mk1 bonnet 2.jpg

i may also have a photo of the car when it was first built which i'll post on here when i get it.

[steve g]

well it was a nice day on sunday so we started to strip down the front of the centaur so my grp expert friend can help us to repair and prep the front end.
this was no easy job as every screw was fixed to an alloy plate behind the grp so after 30 odd years they were stuck fast. we had pozi, phillips, slot, dome head, countersink head and al manor of lengths and sizes and that was just for the clutch/brake reservoir.

web centaur 3.jpg

centaur web 1a.jpg

and before you all start wondering how i managed to achieve so much in so little time
well here's my secret.

web centaur.jpg

it's ted my 4 year old pertrol head son.

[steve g]

hi all

6 months and the centaur pictures are here

pnv edit.jpg

here it is withits original number plate etc

centaur timpson.jpg

and heres the man himself building it.. and i've a load more.



special thanks to paul impmaniac , roger swift and simon benoy for the offer to go and see her.

[steve g]

the kevlar i used was 1200gsm (very thick and heavy), i had no idea that it would be so difficult to cut, i knackered 2 pairs of fabric shears cutting just 2 layers so its costing me £20 a layer in scissors .
the first layer that i wetted out was 4 way woven 600gsm fibreglass matt, and then i wetted out the first layer of kevlar and boy did that soak up some epoxy. i had a cup of tea, tidied my work area, wet out the second layer of kevlar and then wetted out a peel sheet, the idea of the peel sheet is that when the epoxy sets you rip it off and the top layer of epoxy fractures leaving a surface that the next layers can bond to more effectively (saves sanding to key the surface) i used over 3 litres of epoxy resin in the first stage and at 9pm the epoxy had nearly set, although still a little sticky on top it is absolutely solid, i'll still add more layers (hopefully one evening this week)
i do have to say that epoxy and kevlar are definately not as easy to work as grp but hopefully the strength i gain will be worth it.

kevlar web.jpg

[steve g]

hi all
last week a heat wave and this week everytime i want to add more layers to the front end of my car it's either too wet or too damp!!!
today all i managed to do was cut out the next 4 layers ready for wetting out, i hope tomorrows better so i can finally apply them.

centaur 010.jpgweb.jpg

cut out fabric waiting for epoxy.