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You just have to be patient - the good things about last-second bidding with your highest shot are that, 1/ you might just land a bargain, and 2/ you can't give it another go yourself and then regret overpaying for the item.
I've also received a 'second chance' offer of my maximum bid on an item I was outbid on less than five minutes after the auction ended, which suggested to me that the seller was bidding on it himself to bump the price but aimed too high. I declined the offer, then won it for a much lower price (as the only bidder) after it was relisted a week later.
The local powder coaters have taken the chassis away today. Thats given me a bit of a chance to go over the engine and gearbox to see what's what. I've already rebuilt the heads and port matched the inlet manifold. That was a job worth doing as there was a step mismatch between the head ports and manifold ports of around 5mm at the worst point. I marked out the manifold and ground away the aluminium manifold until it all lined up. I opened up the plenum area under the carb too which is another trick I learned back in my Autograss racing days. I bought a set of tubular exhaust manifolds from ebay that should flow really well being a long branch three into one design with a 2 1/4" collector. A straight through system front to rear with a single cherry bomb will finish it off !
Should sound great ! Plenty of space under the car for an extra silencer if required but I don't want it too muffled !
The body is ready for collection so the build can start next week. If I can put in a couple of hours a day it should be done by March, maybe !
Slowly making progress ! The engine work is now complete along with the gearbox conversion. To say the RX8 gearbox fitment was easy is an understatement. The standard Essex clutch hooks right upto the Mazda box, they have the same splines. The spigot bearing in the V6 is the right diameter for the Mazda input shaft. The Mazda bell housing just needs a little trimming to allow the standard Essex starter to fit. The only issue will be the lack of a speedo cable drive, the Mazda box hasn't got one !
The powder coaters are delivering the chassis in the morning and the suspension is largely rebuilt and ready to go back on. Thanks to Gary for a spare set of Scimitar coil overs, a couple of mine were leaking. I've done some research for softer springs to replace the existing ones. Looks like a set of MK1 MX5 will fit straight in and provide a more compliant ride.
The chassis was delivered today and I've made a start refitting the suspension. I hope to have the engine and box back in over the next few days.
Looks like this is going to turn into another lock down project !
I had the Essex engine and RX8 gearbox offered up to the chassis earlier. Stock location for the engine and its sitting on new rubber mounts. I modified the standard Scimitar gearbox cross member to fit the RX8 box mounting point.
I also made the prop shaft up using the front section of RX8 prop grafted onto the Scimitar rear section. Pretty standard stuff, I have built several props in the past so nothing unexpected.
Next job is to run new brake pipes from front to back along with fuel tank and fuel line. Probably look at the exhaust system too whilst the body is off.
A bit more progress has been made. The rolling chassis should be complete in the next few days and I plan to offer up the body by the end of the week. I need to modify the exhaust manifolds as they are too close to the floor, touching on the passenger side. They were second hand parts so I think they must have been for a Capri originally rather than a Scimitar ! I've ordered a set of Mk1 MX5 springs to replace the too hard and too long Scimitar ones. The combined weight of the engine, box and chassis isn't enough to compress them from their fully extended position !
Edit - Ignore the advice re the Mazda springs , they don't fit !!
Light blue hammer finish paint for the block. Black, aluminium and grey colours will feature throughout the car !
I've just got in from the garage having extended the exhaust manifolds by 1 1/4" to give clearance under the floor pan. One of those quick little jobs that take hours !
I've had a chance to offer up the space frame body support structure onto the Scimitar chassis. It fits pretty well and is located in such a way that you can't really get it in the wrong place ! I've decided to lower the central tunnel section as the RX8 gear lever is quite short and low at the rear of the box. The tunnel is pretty high as standard especially towards the front .
Whilst the frame was resting in place I thought I might as well drop the body over the top to see how it looks. All pretty straight forward and it won't be long before it can be fitted for good !
I'm waiting on a set of tyres to fit on my wire wheels. I found a set of 5 1/2" - 15" wires in the end and I've chosen some skinny 165 / 80 profile tyres.
My tyre shop was having problems sourcing the 165's so I've opted for 185/80's now. A bit taller and wider, they should be fitted on the car by the end of the week.
A case of three steps forward and two steps back at the moment. Still waiting for parts to arrive through the post. Had a spot of bother with the RX8 gearbox conversion which required more work on the clutch release arm and bell housing. I've found that a Range Rover slave cylinder will fit in the tight space between the back of the engine block and the release arm. So final fitment of the gearbox for the fourth time in the morning !
Nothing major, just a clearance issue with the clutch cover fouling some webs on the inside of the bell housing. Two minutes with angle grinder to trim the webs down a few mm. I needed to tweak the release arm to find a few mm behind it to give some clearance at the front for the release bearing. They don't tell you that when you buy the adaptor plate, " it all simply just ", bolts together !
Westfield built one of their cars at Stoneliegh many years ago. Start to finish in a weekend. Whilst I was there I watched one of their blokes "fit" a rear light unit with self tappers so long they went that far through the grp wing and touched the tyre ! He didn't bother to drill a hole first so you hear the GRP cracking as he pushed it through, nice one!
The tyres arrived and are now fitted to the wheels. Fitted the hub adaptors and turned down a set of wheel nuts to allow the wheels to fit properly.
I've had the body on a couple of times and decided to raise it 3" over the internal framework. My reasoning being;
1/ To bring the lower sill of the body flush with the bottom of the chassis rails.
2/ Allow for softer springs so the axles aren't fully extended as at present. I hope to see a 3" drop with the softer springs.
3/ Effectively lower the seating position so you feel lower down in the car.
Decided on the final finish at last, I'm going for an aluminium look in the same way as the Testarossa I built. I'll apply the same detailing on the Formasa, think it will look the part, its not a million miles away as it stands ! I think I can recreate that dirty, bare aluminium finish once again like the car in the video below !
