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This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.

Mick O'Malley's Moss Monaco

25 Jan 2018, 5:20pm
It as fewer groope than red ;)
25 Jan 2018, 7:02pm
Donor wrote:
It as fewer groope than red ;)


Silver rarer than red? And better looking...
25 Jan 2018, 7:23pm
Mister Towed wrote:
Silver rarer than red? And better looking...


yes of course, but the red has 3 essential assets :)
31 Jan 2018, 8:41am
And still they come.......

This appeared today.

Regards, Mick
31 Jan 2018, 11:23am
Looks nice I wonder what the V5 says? Why is he not finishing it? Is it like my Marlin when I got it, looked Ok till I found all the things that had not been done right.?
31 Jan 2018, 8:44pm
Dpaz wrote:
Looks nice I wonder what the V5 says? Why is he not finishing it? Is it like my Marlin when I got it, looked Ok till I found all the things that had not been done right.?



You can just about make out the reg number in the third photo and the government website says its registered as a 'Moss'
31 Jan 2018, 9:17pm
Cheers for that.
24 Feb 2018, 9:43am
The wheels certainly give it a real vintage look.
24 Feb 2018, 4:52pm
That looks like Cortina front suspension arms with the bottom tie bars removed ...they go forward on a stock Cortina with a huge rubber bush and fixing nut , we used to reverse them left to right and right to left to get them to face backwards and mount to the side of the chassis rail on the open wheeled Hot Rods we built using Cortina running gear ...

Cortina front suspension works really well on a car like this , the wide track really looks the part .....but not with the tie bars removed ! I'd be interested to know how that drives with its adjustable wheelbase !!
Unless I have missed something ...

Correction ....I think they are on there , backwards and tucked very tight to the front arm .....ignore the above ( apart from the complimentary bits ) !!!!
6 Mar 2018, 7:22am
Our Loss. Their Gain

Another Monaco has gone through the tunnel, I learnt from my Moss Owners' Facebook feed this morning. Triumph straight six powered - lucky old Pascal!





It broke down on the way and this good old boy stopped, correctly diagnosed the fault, and rectified it. Entente Cordiale in action!



Regards, Mick
28 Mar 2018, 7:52am
What A Joker!

Rather than scraping his meagre living selling on kit cars, I think he could easily make a fortune as a stand-up comedian...........

Regards, Mick
2 Apr 2018, 8:59am
Mick O'Malley wrote:
Wow!!!!

Regards, Mick


Quite like that

Mmmnnn the exhaust pipes !!
15 Apr 2018, 7:04am
Progress (sort of) at last.

After what seemed to be one of the most depressing winters in my seven decades, I made the effort in yesterday's sunshine and visited the man-cave brimming with enthusiasm.

My modified rear suspension tie bars are at my welders, hopefully ready next Wednesday, and the exhaust mounting kit I ordered from Canley Classics has yet to arrive, so I decided to start work on my 15" MGF 'Minilites'.

I first gave them a good wash with warm water + detergent and left them to dry in the sun while I constructed an impromptu spray booth in my front garden. I then gave the wheels a quick rub over with 320 emery paper, followed by a final de-grease with acetone before commencing spraying with satin black from a rattle can, one of which was sufficient for all five wheels.





I'm somewhat boracic this month, as I have to pay the balance of my Classic Le Mans trip (I have until Thursday to decide whether to lash out an additional £199 for two parade laps in the A352), but when pay-day arrives I shall get some rubber, by which time I'll hopefully have fitted the necessary Range Rover studs.

Regards, Mick
15 Apr 2018, 11:38am
It sure ain't been a good winter for the car port and unheated garage people.
Yesterday was just warm enough to spray the nose and wing of my Marlin, now I just: have to wait for another warm day for the lacquer coat. :violin:
9 May 2018, 4:41pm
Progress-ish

After a rest day following my energetic weekend, I decided to offer up my exhaust. I rolled the beast out of the cave, recruited my son and attempted to remove the body - first time this year. It seemed strangely heavy and my son said it felt attached. A quick check revealed that I had left the gear change linkage attached. The M6 bolt that I'd dropped through the clevis and the clevis itself were bent. Aaaaagh! I managed to lever the bolt out with my wrecking bar, and the strangely lightened body came away with ease :rolleyes:.



I dug out my pre-owned stainless exhaust and the Canley Classics fitting kit and consulted my Spitfire manual to try and make head or tail of the bits. No luck, not even a diagram :(. I offered the long pipe up to the manifold and it sat nicely between the chassis rails, but none of the Canley bits seemed a likely candidate for attaching it to the front diff hanger bridge. Luckily, there was a rubber mounted bracket on it in the correct position already, so I was able to fabricate a hanger from some 3mm galvanised sheet I had knocking about and, using one of the Canley 42mm clamps, secure the rear of the pipe. It was clear then that the back box would have to be suspended from the Monaco's rear 'floor'. Exhaust progress suspended!





I then turned back my attention to my recently damaged gear linkage. Fortunately, left over from my demon extended A352 gear remote, I had a spare to replace the bent one: ten minutes and it was done :).



Whilst on gear change duty I then set about putting a little more bend into the lever, which a trial had revealed would result in bruised knuckles on the dashboard in 1st and 3rd. I stripped it out, clamped it in the vice just below the existing bend and, with the knob thread protected with a big nut, cold set it with a 4' length of 1" box slipped over the top. Perfecto!

I then quit whilst I was ahead.

Regards, Mick
15 May 2018, 5:48am
Exhausted

Having fitted the long section of the exhaust, and the long metal fuel pipe which I P clipped to the side of the frame (I forgot to photograph this), I bought two heavy duty exhaust bobbins fondly imagining that the back box would soon be hanging from them. With the body replaced I offered up the box and immediately realised that it wouldn't do :(.



It would be possible for me to construct a bracket attached to the body to support the right hand end but it would be very ugly, but in the wrong way, not in keeping with the overall Monaco ugliness. It also only just cleared the bottom angle bracket attaching the Mini fuel tank to the floor. Hot exhaust and fuel, what could possibly go wrong?

I'll buy a longitudinal back box and offer that up.

Regards, Mick
1 Jun 2018, 5:27am
Mick O'Malley wrote:
I'll buy a longitudinal back box and offer that up.

The Saturday before last, on my way back from the Beaulieu Spring Autojumble, the diff. on my A352 gave up the ghost, resulting in my being towed the last 20 miles home. My go-to for Triumph parts is 'Spitfire Steve' who has met my requirements on many occasions. A 'phone call secured not only a replacement diff. but the longitudinal back box I needed. He kindly exchanged it for the transverse one FOC. Result!



The sole snag with the replacement was the 2" inlet stub which wouldn't mate with the 1 5/8" pipe. I'd hit this problem with the TR6 exhaust I'd fitted to the A352 and had found an excellent supplier of stepped connectors in stainless steel which I again used.



These are made to order and despatched 1st class by return for the princely sum of £10, including the clamps. Top service!

Regards, Mick
1 Jun 2018, 7:37am
Lovely job Mick but do tell about exhaust supplies. :gossip:
1 Jun 2018, 4:19pm
Dpaz wrote:
Lovely job Mick but do tell about exhaust supplies. :gossip:


Ditto, I need a couple of adaptors to fit some motorcycle silencers to a stainless twin setup on my Speedster.
2 Jun 2018, 5:19am
The supplier trades as 'everyexhaustpart' on Ebay. His score is 64154 transactions at 99.9% positive. This is him outside Ebay.

Regards, Mick
2 Jun 2018, 7:33am
Thanks for sharing 'Every Exhaust Part'.