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They all look great! But together? That is something else
Love your cars gents
Dave
Thanks Dave, they do have quite a presence and always attract positive attention wherever we go in them. Phil's owned a wide range of classic performance Jags - XK150, E Type etc. - and says he enjoys his Sammio far more than any of them, they're that good.
There must still be quite a few unstarted Sammio kits/abandoned projects out there and I'd recommend anyone who wants to build their own sports racing car to go find one and get building. They were the best value kit on the market in the last thirty years imho.
Thanks Dave, they do have quite a presence and always attract positive attention wherever we go in them. Phil's owned a wide range of classic performance Jags - XK150, E Type etc. - and says he enjoys his Sammio far more than any of them, they're that good.
There must still be quite a few unstarted Sammio kits/abandoned projects out there and I'd recommend anyone who wants to build their own sports racing car to go find one and get building. They were the best value kit on the market in the last thirty years imho.
I agree with you mister T
A lot of these kits were sold and the price made people buy and then later realise the scale of the project they had taken on.
Gary looks like he is going to find them one by one and put them on the road where they belong.
I would love to see a TVR chassis Spyder, seen a few wedges with damaged bodies and with the ford v6 or rover v8 would make a great donor
No, surely you'll be on the road by this summer, Paul...
Started on the changes to the rear lights today. I was never really happy with the setup I ended up with, to my eye they did rather emphasise the lack of symmetry in the rear valance.
As I'd also gone for a single, central rear brake light (perfectly legal on a '68 car) people behind me kept honking, flashing their lights and shouting that my brake lights weren't working, which got a bit tiresome.
So, I've removed the lights and reflectors, sanded down the raised areas they were mounted on and fitted up the number plate with the pair of the motorcycle lights I'd originally used as my single brake light and fog light under the valance. I've also mounted a pair of round reflectors on the corners - they might stay there or they could move down a bit, I haven't fully decided yet.
Once I'd got everything pretty much where I wanted it I cut some circles of fibreglass sheet (left over Sammio dash) and bonded them into the holes left by the old lights with fibre filler. While I was doing that I also tackled the crack on the offside corner of the back end.
So, after three years on the road and five years since I collected the body I finally decided to sort out the rear valance today.
The problem was that the rear 'valance' on my Spyder body sloped down close to 20mm from starboard to port (right to left from behind).
I only noticed this after I'd finished the car when I couldn't understand why my lights and numberplates looked cock-eyed in some photographs even though I knew they were absolutely level.
A lot of staring and beard scratching later and I worked out that the lights were level but the valance wasn't.
this was the issue -
Right side -
Left side -
This was the rather drastic solution -
And this is the result -
Much better, and I didn't even damage the paint (wouldn't want to have to pay £5k to have it resprayed, after all). Only 'damage' was my letter 'D' fell off the numberplate while I was sanding back the edges with my Black'n'Decker mouse. Looking at the back of the plate the steel circular compression clips that lock the plastic studs on the letters in place are getting very rusty. Possibly time for a new plate, methinks.
Gap at the back is now about 30cm across the middle and about 28cm at the edges. The ruler doesn't show that as the end was on a piece of wood, not the ground which is brick-weave like yours and not completely level block to block.
Just measured mine out of interest, I'm sitting at +_ 230mm but I'm on stock herald wheels and tyres guess that will raise slightly when I finally get the mg wires and tyres fitted..
Just measured mine out of interest, I'm sitting at +_ 230mm but I'm on stock herald wheels and tyres guess that will raise slightly when I finally get the mg wires and tyres fitted..
Yep, 14" wheels with 175/80/14 tyres should give you another 50mm ground clearance. I've also now removed all lowering blocks from the back so it's at standard Vitesse ride-height, but with one main leaf removed in addition to the top three short ones to make the ride soft enough for road use.
Oh dear, I may have a slight technical hitch with my car…
Distance between bottom of rear valance and ground:
Mr T - 30 cm
Pops - 23 cm
Paul L - Less than 19 cm
See my build thread for more details.
Measured mine again today Paul after driving it forwards and stomping on the brake pedal to settle it as I'd measured it after reversing yesterday, which does jack the back up slightly. It's actually 28cm across the centre.
I don't have a problem with exhaust ground clearance as my silencer is raised up above the chassis level. When I did have the single stainless back box fitted, 70 profile tyres and a 3" lowering block it did foul speed bumps a couple of times.
The trick Phil J used on his was to fit a pair of slim, E-Type Jag silencers directly under the rear axle. Although that puts them lower than if they were sloping up towards the rear valance they rise up with the wheels on speed bumps so maintain the same clearance whatever the wheels are doing. With the silencers set further back they can ground on the crest of a hump as the wheels travel down the far side.
Putting 14" wheels on would make quite a difference too.
My back valance is 230mm at the center to road and 130mm underside of silencer to road, twin cherry bombs with pipes running below the back chassis rails.
My! Did you ever get some flak on my thread re expensive paint jobs!!
I watched Wheeler dealers the other night, you know the one, where a really good mechanic does his best to sort out a complete rubbished wreck bought by an "expert" mouthy yobo
who knows sod-all about cars?
Well they were doing a VW van, and they paid £2000 to have
wait for it, the [U][U]interio[/U][/U]r painted!! The inside of a van for goodness sake, that has to be a bit steep I think, considering it was all stripped out and prepped for the paint shop beforehand.
All this talk of spray job costs got me thinking, surely the cost of the job has to be relevant to the cost of the build and the final vehicle value. I myself could never justify 5k on a car that will be worth little more than that once finished, I am willing however to follow your lead with my Liddles compressor, machine mart spray gun and Internet paint all in around £500. I will also have the satisfaction that whatever the result it was all done by my own hand ground up.
Pops
My! Did you ever get some flak on my thread re expensive paint jobs!!
I watched Wheeler dealers the other night, you know the one, where a really good mechanic does his best to sort out a complete rubbished wreck bought by an "expert" mouthy yobo
who knows sod-all about cars?
Well they were doing a VW van, and they paid £2000 to have
wait for it, the [U][U]interio[/U][/U]r painted!! The inside of a van for goodness sake, that has to be a bit steep I think, considering it was all stripped out and prepped for the paint shop beforehand.
Cheers Scottie, been living with that valance for three years and it bugged me every time I pushed it out of the garage. Nobody else ever commented on it though.
You're absolutely right about Wheeler Dealers, I like the chap who can but the wide-boy gobshite isn't really my cup of tea. Reminds me too much of what has become of what was a pleasant rural community in my native county. Essex...
As for the unpleasantness over on the Tribute pages, sorry if I spoiled your build thread in any way, I didn't mean to get involved in a slag-off with a pro painter. I was just trying to offer an alternative view to the 'you must spend five grand to have your car professionally sprayed or it'll look crap' statement.
Funnily enough, the only people I see complaining about their paint failing over in Tribute world have paid a pro to paint their car for them. Strange that, when you think how much work and skill goes into a professional job.
All this talk of spray job costs got me thinking, surely the cost of the job has to be relevant to the cost of the build and the final vehicle value. I myself could never justify 5k on a car that will be worth little more than that once finished, I am willing however to follow your lead with my Liddles compressor, machine mart spray gun and Internet paint all in around £500. I will also have the satisfaction that whatever the result it was all done by my own hand ground up.
Pops
All this talk of spray job costs got me thinking, surely the cost of the job has to be relevant to the cost of the build and the final vehicle value. I myself could never justify 5k on a car that will be worth little more than that once finished, I am willing however to follow your lead with my Liddles compressor, machine mart spray gun and Internet paint all in around £500. I will also have the satisfaction that whatever the result it was all done by my own hand ground up.
Pops
