The start of the journey

[Alanm]

Hopefully, this is the final assisted journey for Mary before she is powered by her own, newly reconditioned, engine and transmission.

[Grahame59]

Hopefully, this is the final assisted journey for Mary before she is powered by her own, newly reconditioned, engine and transmission.

Really lovely, Alan.

And in the best colour too!

[Alanm]

Hi Grahame
I'm very pleased with her, the paintwork is very good but not so good I'll be worried about using her. There are a few tiny defects but you would have to be a bit anal or searching for car show prizes to worry about them. I'm pleased the holes in the front (ex spots) and the aerial hole has been repaired and the drivers door re-hung. These were all worth doing. The engine bay is now very clean after the respray so that whole area will look very good indeed, at least for a few months until normal use starts to take its hold. I decided to keep the whole body (with the exception of the front grill) in 708 white and to reinstall the original black side body strips. I think it looks great and close to original.

As part of the respray and engine/gearbox upgrade, I've changed the front shock mountings to eliminate the occasional noise from that area under load, Fitted new UJ joints to the drive shafts, new gearbox mountings, new window rubbers all round, an oil cooler, twin strombergs, LED lights at the rear and bonnet seals.

What's still to be done?

1) I've got a small rear hatch rubber challenge and I'll solve that once she is back and running.
2) The carpets need replacing and I'll get around to that after the summer season.
3) 1" inch drive shafts are scheduled for fitting, again after the summer usage.
4) I'll see how she performs with the standard radiator, always been very good in this respect but maybe now with more power I'll need to keep my options open on this issue.
5) I'm desperate for a pair of rear hatch stays. Mine are shot and unless I find some I'll have to think about a mod in this area. Perhaps some standard cupboard stays might be modified to work.
6) re-installation of the windscreen washers, easy and scheduled.
7) anything else I come across while doing the above

Hopefully, once she is finished I will be able to park next to your awesome Super Imp and not feel embarrassed.

Hope to see you at the Cranleigh show, let's go in convoy again this year.

[Grahame59]

Hi Grahame
…I decided to keep the whole body (with the exception of the front grill) in 708 white and to reinstall the original black side body strips. I think it looks great and close to original.

…Hopefully, once she is finished I will be able to park next to your awesome Super Imp and not feel embarrassed.

Good decision to keep the colours and trim as per original. Polar White is 108 not 708.

Looking at the pics of Mary in her new attire I think it will be my Imp which will feel embarrassed now!

[Alanm]

Latest pictures, nearly roadworthy again.

[Grahame59]

Looking good, Alan. Really fast progress. Looking forward to seeing it.

I see from one of the photos you have standard Rotoflex couplings (doughnuts) fitted. I know you are looking for a pair of 1" Sport driveshafts. Should a pair turn up I would seriously recommend you upgrade the standard Rotoflexes to competition type (Malc can supply) while you're at it. Not cheap but, with the torque your 1040 will generate, necessary.

And if the standard ones currently fitted are marked 'SUK' change them immediately as that make are barely able to handle the standard 39 horses!

Standard_and_Comp.jpg

On a different subject, the engine looks great now it is installed. I see you have an oil cooler (excellent) — when you bought it and its associated bracketry did it come with a small plate about 2 x 1.5 inches? If so, and you are wondering where it goes, it sandwiches between the rear engine mounting and the crossmember, left hand side, to 'balance' the bracket on the right. No big deal that it's missing though.

Oil_cooler_bracket.png

[Grahame59]

Alan,

I'm gather you have been advised that 1" driveshafts are not needed. Perhaps not essential on a road car but a sensible upgrade nonetheless. Imp Sports had them as standard and they were only 875cc. Your 1040 has far more torque than standard Imp Sport and more too than a 998. I have seen a pair of standard (7/8") shafts which John Simister had on his Imp (998); they were twisted like a barber's pole, evident from the seam line on the casting. 1/8" may not sound much but in terms of extra metal it's considerable. I would advise fitting both the 1" shafts and competition Rotoflexes to Mary for peace of mind.

[The Nun]

SUK couplings were for ice cream vans, they will just about stir a bit of raspberry ripple and that's about all.

[Alanm]

Today was a big day. I collected Mary from the garage that was replacing the engine and gearbox and fiddling with a few other things I didn't fancy. On collection, the mechanic said that the gearbox was "tight" but that this might be because it was new! I think he was having a joke because trying to get into gear was a nightmare, first was virtually unavailable and the rest of the gears only usable if I timed the changes to suit the ratios. After driving a few miles, it was obvious to me that the clutch was not working correctly and I thought this was due to the hydraulic slave cylinder not having enough clout. However, I nursed Mary home and immediately decided to bleed the clutch. The crap that came out was alarming, you couldn't really call it fluid. Anyway, after bleeding the clutch well, all the gears were easily selectable and, much to my delight, driving her was much as I remembered before starting the re-work, except of course the selection of second gear from third was now very easy, whereas before it was pretty much impossible. 1-0 to Transimp.

Whilst the garage got the clutch issue completely wrong, they did do a good job fitting the twin carb air filters. Initially the rear one hit the driver’s side chassis leg, but on collection both filters were installed and clearing the chassis, albeit only by a few millimetres. It is my intention to fit two 90-degree elbows soon and then decide if a pair of small K&N filters or installing a standard sports filter tin is the way forward. The filter tin is more authentic, but the K&N stuff will probably look better.

So, what remains. I have a couple of second hand hatch stays coming and hopefully they will be good enough to use once cleaned and checked over. I have to fit a rear hatch seal as the one I fitted recently was bodged to allow the hatch to close and a better solution needs to be found. I've checked the doughnuts and they are proper Rotoflex units and not the cheapy SUK items. 2-0 to Transimp. I need to get the Smiths temperature gauge working as the sender unit was originally installed in the water return hose but went missing during the re-build. Question: Can I connect the gauge directly to the temperature sender at the rear of the head or do I need to fit a new sender unit? The water washers need some TLC and last, but not necessarily least I will tidy up the inside, new carpets and a good clean and then get back out and put some miles on her.

Some pictures of her at home today.

[Grahame59]

Stunning!

[Alanm]

Oh, and of course, a rear bumper

[Grahame59]

Just curious why the 3-way junction (to the left of the rad) isn't bolted onto its bracket?

You need to give that radiator cap a polish!

[Alanm]

I knew you would pick up on the three way junction and its a long story but worth telling.

The printshop lost my original and we only noticed this when we came to refit the cooling system. Finding one was urgent as I didn't want to leave the heater unconnected and it is, of course, the preferred way to bleed the system of air. Having tried the usual suppliers (how do we survive when Malcolm Anderson goes away?) I took a gamble and tried Dennis Allt. He had one that he cleaned and painted in the time it took me to drive from Worthing to Hemel Hempstead and collect it; he is a great guy, so knowledgeable about Imps and seemingly always keen to help out a fellow Imp owner. Having looked at the junction it was clear that it didn't have a securing bolt on the bottom to enable it to fit on the chassis leg. Dennis believes that some early junctions were left floating and never secured to the chassis in any way. Has anyone else seen such a junction floating unsecured? Regardless, the fact that it enabled me to complete the cooling installation was a more important point at the time. Since then, I have found a replacement with the necessary securing bolt and this will be installed when it becomes convenient. Mary always had one secured and this is how I would like it to remain.

[The Nun]

The 3 way bleed valve without the stud, ie its free floating is off the later IMP, Chrysler ones, it was a cost saving cheapo feature, all early cars they were fixed to the support you have there with a single stud/nut. Doesnt matter to how its works of course it does the job any way fixed or floating, it just isnt right for an early car thats all.

[impmann]

all early cars they were fixed to the support you have there with a single stud/nut. Doesnt matter to how its works of course it does the job any way fixed or floating, it just isnt right for an early car thats all.

Not *quite* Peter...

The early cars (like Skye, our 1964) didn't have the bracket - *or* the three way. The *early* cars had different plumbing altogether and the bleed tap in the front. This gorgeous example is quite a bit later than an "early" car - its a Mk2.

Very nice car!

[paulchin]

Has anyone else seem such a junction floating unsecured?

I'm pretty sure my '73 Deluxe had the 3-way just floating - it was a while back now, but as I remember, it's base was just flat with no hint of any securing method?

[ImpManiac]

Your Imp looks stunning, Alan. She's a credit to you.

Did you get the clutch issues resolved?

IM

[Grahame59]

Your Imp looks stunning, Alan. She's a credit to you.

Did you get the clutch issues resolved?

IM

As I understood it, from Alan's post on 9th June, it just needed bleeding.

[ImpManiac]

Ah. Trying to get caught up. Thanks, Grahame. The car is lovely!

IM

[Alanm]

Hi All

I have used Mary for a few weeks since getting her back from the body shop and came up with the usual items of fiddling that needed to be done and one surprise item. The biggest and surprising issue was an oil leak from the newly installed transaxle. Over a period of 12 days sat in the garage Mary deposited 450ml of gearbox oil in the drip tray! I don't have great facilities to get under the car but when I did it was clear that oil was dripping from where the main selector shaft enters the gearbox and, whilst oil looked like it was coming out of every other possible exit point as well, I think oil was being sprayed back from the main selector shaft area when Mary was being driven and liberally covering the rest of the transaxle in the process. I had a word with Dennis Allt at Transimp and this weekend he has taken the transaxle out of Mary and resolved the problem. I'm collecting her tomorrow and optimistically confident that the leak is resolved.

Other issues uncovered to date was a cold start problem that was traced to the poor fitment of the choke cable during reinstallation of the engine (hopefully fixed), a small engine oil leak due to a poor crimp on the engine oil cooler hose, a rear hatch window rubber that is poorly installed (bodged, don't ask) that needs replacing, I have one in stock and, I still need to finalise the fitment of both windscreen washer jets.

I have sourced and fitted a pair of rear hatch stays and Transimp has fitted a pair of 1 inch drive shafts this weekend because the engine was out and it seemed like a good time to do the work. Other than that I have given the interior a good cleaning and that now looks really nice.

So, looking forward and assuming everything uncovered to date is resolved I intend to enjoy using Mary over the rest of the Summer and undertake some more refinements during the Winter months. On my list is a new carpet set and the installation of some noise reduction material on the floor and some panels, the investigation and sourcing of a pair of replacement front seats that improve driving comfort but don't spoil the interior look and feel of the car (any suggestions welcomed), the fitment of a tachometer and the fabrication of a pod that this and maybe two other supplementary gauges will reside, oh, and more urgently I must bleed the clutch again as it still doesn't feel perfect.

That should keep me busy.

[PhilMarino]

Hi everyone
I've just found this thread !
Mary is now being cared for (and "owned"/ registered )by me.
15 years impless. ......then Ebay does it again.
A month of fettling and a few "bits n bobs" jobs are ongoing...thank you Bob and Manic Malcolm.

More to follow soon