Clive - Singer Chamois Sport

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Mon Jun 25, 2018 9:45 pm

tiker wrote:Some great work there Matty you will be overtaking me soon my cars been sat for months just other things on at the moment keep going it's getting better every day
Regards Gary

Thanks Gary! You'll finish before me especially once you get your new garage all up and running, its taken me 3 and a half years to get to this stage.

yoeddynz wrote:Do or have many people widened the standard Imp 12" wheel? I'm guessing its not really worth doing due to lack of decent wider tyres though..

I love the look of standard steels with shiny hubcaps... especially widened. My Viva on its widened steels.... (car now sold but i have a set of them for the HB wagon

I am planning on getting a pair of steels widened by an inch and a half to bring them up to 6 inch for the rear (and fit 175/70/12 tyres) just to fill the rear arches a little more, as I do like staggered wheels on my other Imp I have 7's on the back and 6's on the front.

Matt

yoeddynz · Post by **yoeddynz** » Mon Jun 25, 2018 9:49 pm

cool. looking forward to seeing this. Will it be lowered a tad to suit?

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Tue Jun 26, 2018 8:34 pm

yoeddynz wrote:cool. looking forward to seeing this. Will it be lowered a tad to suit?

It'll be on Monte Carlo springs so a little drop.

Matt

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sat Sep 29, 2018 8:35 pm

Another belated update.
I've been making steady progress on the nearside rear corner, well okay I started it in April and just finished it so its more glacier pace. I'll do an update about that soon.
Some of you might remember that I welded up the old sunroof hole and at the time all was well but I had a door hinge box fall from the garage loft onto the repair and at first I thought I got away with it with only a small dent but I noticed later on that the repair now 'pops' up and down. So I made a strengthening brace to go in and well strengthen it

So out came the bead roller and one brace was made which says 'SPORT' even though no-one will see it once the headlining goes up. Ohh how I missed having the car up on the rotisserie as i forgot how much a pain it is welding above your head.

Matt

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Fri Dec 07, 2018 8:51 pm

Progress is still ticking along on the Sport, got the nearside rear corner all done. I used a outer wheel arch repair panel for the inner wheel arch and Expressed Panels lower rear wing panel. As you can guess with this Imp there wasn't much left of the original inner wheel arch but using the repair panel worked quite nicely had to tweak it a bit to fit with the Expressed Panel wing but that was expected and then made up all the bits like where it joins the rear of the sill.

Once all the welding had been completed, everything got painted in a rust converter and zinc primed then seam sealed and sprayed in body colour. Some sound deadening was applied and the wing welded on. Have to get a photo of the completed wing but the car is starting to get somewhere now with a 'completed' side as long as you ignore the completely misaligned door.

Also made a new battery tray.

Matt

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Fri Dec 07, 2018 9:39 pm

What's the anti drum material you're using?

Lotus-e-Clan · Post by **Lotus-e-Clan** » Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:42 pm

FAB metalwork skills - be proud!

tiker · Post by **tiker** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 12:04 am

It's coming along its getting all the joints on the wheel arches to line up ,inner to outer I found one of the most time consuming jobs ,stick at it your doing a grand job
Regards Gary

bazzateer · Post by **bazzateer** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:26 am

The Nun wrote:What's the anti drum material you're using?

It's on the product 'Silent Coat' ☺

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 5:06 pm

The Nun wrote:What's the anti drum material you're using?

As Baz has said its Silent Coat I've got the 2mm thick sheets.

Lotus-e-Clan wrote:FAB metalwork skills - be proud!

Thanks LeC

tiker wrote:It's coming along its getting all the joints on the wheel arches to line up ,inner to outer I found one of the most time consuming jobs ,stick at it your doing a grand job
Regards Gary

Thanks Gary!

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 9:11 pm

So the Sport is finally back on its wheels after spending 1145 days (27,480 hours (dread to think how many of them I spent welding)) on the rotisserie but now after new floor panels, new outer sills, new heater sills, repaired inner sills, 4 inner wheel arch repairs, two front outer wheel arch repairs, two lower rear wings panels, front valance repaired, front compartment floor repaired, rear suspension cones replaced, both A-posts repaired, plus various holes. The shell is almost solid only the rear parcel shelf remains.

Now the rear parcel shelf was the first bit of welding I did on the Sport over four years ago, as in its previous life it had a bike engine fitted with air ducting from the rear side windows into the engine bay as seen below.

I made panels and welded them in but the trouble is the rear shelf is just too thin with pin holes all over the place so I decided if I was going to the trouble of cutting all the rust out the rear shelf has to go and make a new one. I waited till the car was back on the wheels for the simple reason is that I could finally cut all the bracing out so I didn't have a climbing frame to contend with.

I'll grab some photos of the finished shelf over the weekend but the old one got cut out including the angle brace underneath and a new one of those was made as well. I'll leave you with a photo of the engine bay being mocked up.

Matt

colimp66 · Post by **colimp66** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 9:07 am

Matt,
You have continued to make great repair panels on your Imp and your doing a sterling job on the restoration.
Nice one, keep the good work going.

Cheers
Col.

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:47 pm

Only 4 months late but progress is still being made.
Firstly the rear shelf, my bead roller isn't big enough to make the new shelf in the same way as the original so ran the beads horizontally instead. And I even remembered to make and weld on the clutch hose bracket.

Whilst I had the engine in mocking up a few parts I made a exhaust heat shield so out came the bead roller again.

Matt

bks974c · Post by **bks974c** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:52 pm

Love the heat shield looks very nice, well done

Scott

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Wed Jan 01, 2020 5:00 pm

Firstly I hope everybody had a good Christmas and New Year, the Sport had steady progress last year finished all the welding, paint prep and sprayed. I've been as good as ever with the photos as I managed to take zero photos during the paint prep but to be honest they would have all looked the same. The finish of the paint isn't the best with some dust settled into it but I'm not worried as that can be flattened off and redone if it bugs me down the line. At this moment of time I just want the car in a driveable condition. Anywhere here is a photo of it how it currently sits.

Matt

bazzateer · Post by **bazzateer** » Wed Jan 01, 2020 9:07 pm

Nice colour ☺

tiker · Post by **tiker** » Thu Jan 02, 2020 3:48 pm

Happy New year that looks great and a really rich colour too.
Don't forget to stick plenty of cavity wax in it now
Regards Gary

Dave ' Linwood ' Lane · Thu Jan 02, 2020 4:58 pm

Claret metallic

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:48 pm

Thanks Baz and Gary!
It was Claret Metallic when it left the factory but I've resprayed it in RAL 3032 Pearl Ruby Red as that's the closest match I found. Being a RAL colour I should always be able to get more paint in the future ... well that's the plan anyway.

Matt

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Fri Jan 03, 2020 7:27 am

Looking great, Matt

. You could probably make and sell a few of your heat shields - especially in stainless !

Andy G

oli · Post by **oli** » Fri Jan 03, 2020 7:09 pm

Yes Mat, I might be having a chat to you about making one for my combined inlet / exhaust single 40 DCOE Weber manifold...

colimp66 · Post by **colimp66** » Fri Jan 03, 2020 8:59 pm

Looking great Matt, really like the colour.

Cheers
Col

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:04 pm

colimp66 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 03, 2020 8:59 pm Looking great Matt, really like the colour.

617sqn wrote: ↑Fri Jan 03, 2020 7:27 am Looking great, Matt . You could probably make and sell a few of your heat shields - especially in stainless !

Thanks Col and Andy!

If I get time before National I'll make a couple to bring along so you guys can have a look in person, they would be in mild as my Tig skills isn't up to scratch at the moment for stainless but you never know, one day!

oli wrote: ↑Fri Jan 03, 2020 7:09 pm Yes Mat, I might be having a chat to you about making one for my combined inlet / exhaust single 40 DCOE Weber manifold...

No problem Oli, just drop me a message!

Matt

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:09 pm

Express do now make the Sport version in mild steel though, whether they would do a different material to order, aluminium say,?

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sun Mar 22, 2020 6:20 pm

Update time! Normally I'm bad at taking photos as I go and this time is no exception so I apologise now.

Brakes and Suspension
All the suspension got stripped off and repainted, the O/S trailing arm had rusted through so got swapped with another I had in stock. The kingpins and wheel bearings were all changed along with the driveshaft UJ's. Protech shocks have been fitted all around with Monte Carlo springs. New kunifer brake pipes have been run and being a rear mount Servo car there certainly plenty of them, I also made a front disc conversion using MK2 Fiesta parts.

Wiring
I bought a new loom from Autosparks (my hand was slightly forced there being the original loom had been cut into 4 sections when I got the car) and then modified it to include a fuse box, relay box, an amp and speakers and soon an alternator conversion.

Body
Not much has changed on the body since the last photo at the end of last year as I've been concentrating on getting the car running for Going Dutch but due to the unfortunate circumstances at the moment I can now take it more steady and flat the paint and polish back up and fit the trim. Got a fiberglass Sport engine lid from Honeybourne Mouldings to paint and fit. The sound deadening has been going in with a layer of Damping Mat and then a layer of Sound Absorber on top of that on the roof so one of Lesley's headlining's can be fitted now and some Damping Mat has been applied on the rear shelf with some more ready to go on the floor.
Made a set of wood cappings for the dash out of Oak and clear stained, (Yes before anyone comments I know the grain doesn't run correctly through to the little triangle piece (which actually matches the end of the gauge piece which is hidden behind the binnacle) but I've got enough wood to make 3 more sets and some walnut burr which can applied to this set to hide the miss match grain if it annoys me in the future.)

So in total of 3 months work I managed to take 3 photos a new record I think, anyway stay safe everyone and hopefully we'll be having a pint in a field at some point this year.

Matt

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Sun Mar 22, 2020 6:35 pm

Nice progress Matt. I've done a couple of refurbs to wooden dashes using pre-glued walnut veneers. It's a great feeling when they turn out as you'd want them !

Keep us informed then. You'll have plenty of time !

Andy G

ganderson888 · Post by **ganderson888** » Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:47 pm

Here's newly veneered wood trim I currently have in stock.
I also have 2 sets of door trim and rear quarter wood trim to the same spec.

Chamois Veneered Dash .jpg

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Tue Jul 07, 2020 9:35 pm

Progress Report

I've recently started working on the Sport again, got the dash panels in, still need to do final alignment on them and finish painting the binnacle but its good to see its all starting to come together. The wiring is almost complete just need to add a couple of connectors on the dash and add in the alternator wiring in the engine bay.
The brakes and clutch have fluid in and have been bled will still need another bleed before its gets driven as its got a small amount of air trapped.

The gearbox (with one of Bobs magnetic drain plugs) and Sport spec engine have also been fitted along side one of Malc's HE radiators.

Matt

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Wed Jul 08, 2020 11:14 am

Your rear engine mounting bush might be upside down by the looks of it, unless it's a photo illusion, the void should be at the top?

oli · Post by **oli** » Wed Jul 08, 2020 9:25 pm

You've spoilt my fun Peter - I was going to point that out to Matt when I see him on Saturday!

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sat Jul 11, 2020 7:23 am

Thanks guys for spotting that, I'll add it to the list to sort.

Matt

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:31 pm

Made a little mount for the USB charger, that will live under the driver's seat.

Matt

Pog · Post by **Pog** » Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:43 am

Very neat!

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sat Mar 20, 2021 8:48 pm

Progress Report

Well there hasn't been any... until this week. Made some new SU to Stromberg manifold adaptors, they are slightly thinner than the current ones which will help the air filter elbow to chassis leg clearance. So all being well get those bolted on in a few weeks time.

Matt

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Fri Nov 26, 2021 9:41 pm

Update time

I did get the car together; far from finished but together enough to drive it over the summer. The first couple of drives were a bit interesting bearing in mind the car has been built from unknown parts over the last 6 years, one of those parts the voltage stabiliser was faulty meaning the temp and fuel gauge read maximum, a new one soon fixed that problem. Got a list of little niggles to sort out over winter to get the Sport ready for 2022.

IMG_2667.jpg

IMG_2654.jpg

Matt

bazzateer · Post by **bazzateer** » Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:33 am

Looking good. Nice work on the SU adaptor.

Dave ' Linwood ' Lane · Sat Nov 27, 2021 5:37 pm

concur on the SU adaptors , nice job

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Fri Dec 10, 2021 9:13 pm

bazzateer wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:33 am Looking good. Nice work on the SU adaptor.

Dave ' Linwood ' Lane wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 5:37 pm concur on the SU adaptors , nice job

Thanks, one bonus in working at a machine shop! This weeks lunchtime project has been a UJ gear linkage.

IMG_2897.jpg

IMG_2898.jpg

Matt

bks974c · Post by **bks974c** » Fri Dec 10, 2021 10:13 pm

Lovely job on the gear linkage

Scott

oli · Post by **oli** » Fri Dec 10, 2021 10:42 pm

Hey Matt,

hope that it doesn't make the gearstick vibrate too much! Keep up the good work.

Oli

bazzateer · Post by **bazzateer** » Sat Dec 11, 2021 8:04 am

Nice

colimp66 · Post by **colimp66** » Sat Dec 11, 2021 9:17 am

Very nice

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Sat Dec 11, 2021 9:20 am

oli wrote: ↑Fri Dec 10, 2021 10:42 pm Hey Matt,

hope that it doesn't make the gearstick vibrate too much! Keep up the good work.

Oli

Having it completely solid can give you a buzz when driving your imp, might be you have to suck it and see.

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:01 pm

Update time

Well the Sport was driven a total of 0 miles last year and was only started twice, I think more parts were robbed off it for my other Imp than actually fitted

However I have started to wet flat the paintwork, as the current plan is to take the Sport to the 60th Anniversary in Coventry so I better crack on and get it finished.

EXF has been used and abused like normal but it is getting a bit tatty around the edges, I even had to weld up a hole in the sill for its MOT last year. The most obvious rust was the front edge of the bonnet as the inner and outer had come apart.

I made a new inner piece and welded that in and then made a couple of pieces for the outer, then gave it a quick coat of paint. Its a bit wavy but I'll take that over the rusty mess that was there before and at least it wont rain rust every time you open the bonnet now.

The plan for EXF is to tidy the interior up, ideally I would like to respray it before National but realistically I know that wont happen so just give it a general tidy up.

Matt