MadaboutKitcars

Brakes



SteveD, great link.
I had looked at fitting a balance bar with dual 0.70 master cylinders as the early scimitar had no brake bias for the rear.
But I had not come across this combined solution before.
Have you any idea what the diameter of the morgan master cylinder?
I too have no servo fitted and find the brakes more than powerful enough to lock the front wheels in anger on a dry day.
I did struggled to get the required 25% from the handbrake on the MOT.
So ended up extending the arm onto the handbrake lever at the rear hubs and now the handbrake applies more force than the rear service brake!

I have been trying to keep away from using wood in the interior and instead sticking with fiberglass panels like the original scimitar.
The interior really makes the car, especially to the driver, so will be outsourcing the upholstery to a local craftsman.

The white G46 had a nicely finished interior.



HM

Slight mistake in my previous post, the pedal box I have with hanging pedals is from Demon Tweaks not Burtons.
The Morgan cylinder is either .7 or .75 so should be good for our needs. I will probably also fit an adjustable restrictor in the rear line (Demon Tweaks again) in case the cars lock rear wheels.
The white car certainly has a nicely finished interior but I plan to go for a much more basic 50's racer style.
I have an SE5 and a SE4 coupe for everyday use, neither of them have servos so the Morgan cylinder is headed for one of them, probably the coupe as I am doing some other jobs on this car at the moment.
SteveD

[QUOTE=HouseMartin;63841]Jim, Nice of you to point that out. What were the production rear light like?

I do wonder if the the G46 will ever go back into production.

It's not impossible, I do know where the moulds are safely stored away!
SteveD

Hi SteveD,
can you please elaborate about your remote servo failures?
I am building my car with an Iruna dual circuit remote servo (linked above in post #149) so I'm interested in your failures.
Was it this type of servo??
thanks, Peter

Hi Peter
The first failure was on an Alfa Romeo GTV (1969) when the seals failed and all the brake fluid was sucked into the engine, hey presto - no brakes!
The second time the servo started to hang on, the car would stop but the brakes didn't release immediately culminating in an embarrasing struggle to get going at a set of traffic lights.
More modern servos incorporated into the master cylinder / pedal box asssemblies are more reliable but I still prefer my brakes without assistance.
I find I can easily lock all the wheels on my Scimitars in the dry and they sail through MOTs.
What car are you building?
SteveD

Thanks for the feedback. I'm building a rather unconventional Royale Sabre.
So if I understand you correctly, the servos were Alfa Romeo parts?
...peter

The first one was an Italian servo but the second was a girling.
I have been a race and restoration engineer most of my working life and have seen at least another dozen failures like my first one where the servo sucks out all the fluid. I have seen this with several makes of servo, only with the remote ones though. The bulkhead integral type don't do this as the fluid doesn't enter the servo.
SteveD

Sorry, I keep forgetting to ask if you managed to find the time to paint the car?

Cheers, Paul.

No rub down



Paul,

Nice of you to ask

It seems the excitement of the MOT pass caused me to engage my fingers before thinking through the body work issues still outstanding.
I wanted a bigger boot to get the spare wheel in so put the rub down on hold.

I have also be at those unseen jobs, such as finishing the rear inner wheel arches, making sure the bonnet fits flush at the top, aligning the doors, fitting the behind the seat trim panels. Adjusting the steering wheel height and position. Trimming the door opening and flowing the shape of the dash into the doors.


Boot Before


Boot After


It's MOT is due again this week so the photos show how little time I have spent on it.
House maintenance has taken priority so just a few drives through the muddy countryside.

It does now have lights covers so the bowls don't fill with water!



but the engine has developed a troublesome habit of stalling on the overrun with very low oil pressure at idle and I think it will have to drop the sump over the winter.

Without Hoops


With Hoops


Subconsciously, I think i don't want to finish it as I will be worried it might attract to much attention and I would have to polish it a take it to shows.

Someone else, however feels quite at home in the Spyder.
She cant wait to pass her test, so I have a dead line for the paint job of 2020!



She has offered her services for the photoshoot provided we go via McDonalds!

In my dreams I have a plan for a hood, so I am still working on the metal work behind the rear seats for fastening the hood loops.

I would like something like this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDbRCTNZJaU

Finger crossed for the MOT

HM

HouseMartin – Thanks for the update.

I certainly know how long all those little ‘unseen’ jobs can take.

But it is amazing what a big difference the headlight covers make.

Really pleased to see your daughter likes the car.

As my two teenage daughters wouldn’t be seen dead anywhere near mine.

Good luck for the MOT and I am sure the car will look spectacular when it is finally painted.

Cheers, Paul.

2018 Summer Update

Year six and still no paint job.

MOT passed again with just more headlight adjustment to do.
New big end bearing shells fitted with the engine in the car by dropping the sump seems to have sorted the low oil pressure problems.

My wife is convinced I keep delaying to put off doing jobs inside the house.
I think that I will never be happy with the appearance of the body and tinkering at little things is just keeps me happy.

So below is lots more picture with very little changed.

New steering wheel birthday present from my dad


Finally modified the rear lights so I can get them out.
I had bolted them onto fibreglass backplates then bonded them into rear arches. The flush cut out was not big enough to get them back out!


heater inlet grill was blanked off so no air got into the heater matrix, now sorted and nice cosy warm feet and slightly heated screen


Passenger door alignment was bugging me so I have built up the body with fibreglass matting for a better fit.


The side skirts were always a little wavy so I took out the angle grinder and chopped them level with the scimitar sills. I am not sure this was a good idea, but at least i can lift the body off over the chassis rails now

drivers side sills before



passenger side sills



Driving around the muddy roads up north highlighted the back of the headlights were letting in brown water into the bowls and onto the covers so good old silicon sealant sorted that.


I have finished levelling the top right boot were the original mould had a head fairing so I am certainly near getting it sprayed now.


Yesterday I took the video camera for a ride so hopefully a little clip (10 seconds) of the beast in motion to follow.

HM

HouseMartin – Congratulations on another MOT.

It certainly makes sense to make any body work changes before paint.

The fact you have been driving around means you know which things you want to do/leave as is.

I look forward to seeing the video clip.

What is the general reaction you get from the public to the car?

Good luck, Paul.

Nice! Going the "skippy" route and thoroughly enjoying from what i can see?

One thing that never comes across in photos is exactly how big and intimidating the g46 is on the road.

Shame there arent more on the road.

Video



Dave,
Is the "skippy" route hopping about on little jobs?
Yes I am enjoying the challenges and dreaming of something finished in shiny black paint.

Here a 13 second clip, because everything else that was filmed is in wobblevision!
I am hoping the youtube private video security will let you view it.

https://youtu.be/lWR5tIozzZ0

Paul, the usual reaction is "What is it?" with locals referring to it as the batmobile.

Cheers
HM

I believe Gary J referred to it as 'The Whale' during development, partly due to its size and partly due to him struggling with the project in the same way that Ahab struggled with Moby The Great White.

2019 Update

Another year and still no paint job.
However, I have put a few miles on during the summer.

Even managed to run out of petrol on the A1 going to the petrol station.
As I had to leave it at the road side while I walked with my empty petrol can.
It was not long before I got a lift from a curious petrol head who wanted to know about my 'jag'.
Fortunately they also had some jump leads as the battery went flat turning the V6 to fill the filter and carb.
It was a relief to hear it fire up and make to the the pumps.
Electric fuel pump now on order!

Fettling has involved:
Greasing rear wheel bearings which where noisy or right hand bends.
Re-tightening gearbox mounts to remove some vibration.
Replacing the master cyclinder and adjusting the brake pedal height/brake
light switch.
Raising the steering wheel to give easier access.
Fitting nice shiny exhaust ends


Modifying the dash switches so I now have:
Overdrive and wiper switches by the steering wheel.
headlightlights and heater fan by the passenger.



Oh yes, I removed the engine in the winter



Rebuilt it with new skimmed heads



new piston rings/honed bores and all lower bearings



So I know there will be no problem down there to worry about.

I am still messing around with an MX5 soft top to mount in the roll bar hoops.
I have reshaped the header rail to match the curve of the 356 screen and extended the door bars so I now have a frame.



But it is work in progress to get it to fold tidily.
Anyway that's all for now.

Maybe a paint job before next September..

HM

House Martin – Good to see you are getting some miles in the car.

It also looks like you are continuing to update / improve the car as you go along too.

Without wishing to rush you into paint, have you got a particular colour in mind?

Good luck, Paul.

Colour Choices



Paul,
As the first G46 by Gary in paint was red,
The second by Micky was blue
The third painted G46 was then white.
That's the union jack covered.

I thought I would like British Racing Green



The clean look of Black was a good colour for such a large car






But with that porsche 550 windscreen i know silver will look great so i considered some barbecue additions






Maybe even a 2 tone



But it wont be reliant yellow, orange or highland purple!

HM

House Martin - Apologies for the late reply, but I think your car would look good in any of those colours.

2020 update

Finally got round to open that garage and take a Sunday drive.

Still no paint job apart from a couple of test spears on the rear.
I thought it might be called "big bastard"



Parked by a prancing horse



Off for a drive on some empty country lanes

HouseMartin – Good to see you out and about.

I probably already know the answer, but was the convertible top hard to do?

Cheers, Paul.

Progress

[IMG]c:/documents[/IMG]Should have my ex WCA car on the road this spring, rebuild has taken longer than hoped, work was hectic up to July when I managed to retire! Many other problems with the original build meant I ended up restarting from a bare chassis.
Now has steel body frame panelled in aluminum, twin circuit balance bar brakes, triple carb larg valve engine, rear disc brakes etc.

Nice Job

Paul, The soft top is still not done.
I have had to cut and stitch panels myself to make the mx5 cover fit.
When I am happy with the way it looks it will be used as a template for a professional cover.
My trial and error method is not recommended.

Steve, you have done a very profession job on that engine bay and interior.


Tripple Webers no less certainly make a very sexy engine.
You just need a ferrari tessa rossa clear engine bulges to show them off!
How much over 200bhp are you expecting it to put out?



I was very interested to see your frame bracing behind the rear seats.
What you are doing about the seat belt shoulder mounts with the body being so low at that point.
Maybe you have avoided that problem with the flat floor.

I have my battery behind the passenger seat so wondered if you have done the same?
Nice idea to have the external battery connector on the passenger bulkhead.
My method is very crude by comparison although access is easier with two missing humps



I currently have my diff in pieces on the workbench, but no plans for rear disc at present.
Mine had a terrible clunk on taking up drive.
On stripping down, I found that one sun gear dish washer was paper thin and other had completely worn away.
New washers, bearings and swapping shims have enable me to remove loads of backlash.
I still need to take one drive shaft to the garage to get the hub off as I cannot shift it to replace the wheel bearing.

Hopefully, I will also be back on the road in spring.
Ready for that silver paint job.

I look forward to some pictures of your dash

I reckon to be around 250hp with the engine spec.
I have full harness belts so shoulder straps are mounted to the rear cross member where the floor lifts up to boot level.
Battery is in the box visible in the rear bulkhead jpg.
Couple more pictures attached.
I have a genuine Reliant puller for rear hubs, if you are not too far from South Leicestershire maybe I can assist with the driveshaft.
Steve

A build thread with two G46s for the price of one!

Hope you are both back on the road by the time the Summer arrives.

Good luck, Paul.