MadaboutKitcars

So, now we have lighter evenings and some sunny days on the way, it's time for me to start my next build thread.

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but life just tends to get in the way of the best laid plans and all that.

To bring anyone who isn't aware of my previous build up to speed, between June 2011 and July 2013 I built a Sammio Spyder that turned out to be quite the attention grabber -



The Sammio was great fun to build and own and I used it as much as possible, with three trips to Goodwood Revival plus lots of exhilarating blasts around the mountain roads of Norfolk*.

After four years of ownership and tinkering to get my Spyder just the way I wanted it, I waved it a sad farewell in September 2017 -





The reason for the Sammio's departure was to make space for one of my dream cars, a Porsche 356 Speedster. I've wanted one of those for about 35 years now, so, as I'll never be able to afford a real one, it's about time I got my act together and built one.

But, having run a 'restocal' bug back in '89, I don't really want a wheezy bug engine hanging out back, the unpleasant sensation of having no control over the front wheels at anything over 50 on the motorway or the complete ballache of needing IVA after building a car with a chopped up a Beetle chassis underneath.

So, a plan formed in my head that may or may not be possible, but I'm going to give it a go anyway.

To cut a long story short, this build is going to be a low-drag Outlaw Speedster body sitting atop a Triumph Spitfire chassis and running a water cooled twin-cam up front.

No, really it is.

I've made a start already, having found a '67 Spit with a pretty much rust free chassis and all its running gear but with a very rusty bodyshell from an abandoned project.

I've treated it to all new bearings, brakes & bushes, given it a good clean and a couple of coats of a glass reinforced anti-corrosion paint that they use on North Sea oil rig legs -





AS you can see, it's fitted with 15" MGF 'Square Peg' alloys which have the same PCD as the Spitfire, but I've uprated the hub studs to Freelander ones all round to make sure they stay attached. The back ones bolted straight on but I needed 5mm spacers on the front as the nuts reached the end of their travel before securing the front wheels properly without them.

The wheels are currently wrapped in perished MGF rubber, but I have five Hankook 175/65 HR 15's waiting to be fitted which will look more period and not make the steering too heavy.

Oh, and once the car's finished I'm toying with the idea of getting some adaptors made so I can fit wide-five 356 style wheels, but I might just keep the MGF ones as I rather like the Outlaw look.

So, the next step is to take this -



...out of this -



...bolt it up to this -



...then drop this on it -



...followed by a bit of trim and some paint to make it look something like this-



There are a few hurdles to overcome on the way - the Spitfire wheelbase is only 9mm different to the 356, but I've managed to buy a Banham body by mistake which is 180mm longer than either, but I do own an angle grinder.

Once the Puma engine is mated to the RX8 'box and offered up to the chassis I'll be able to check to see if it's going to fit under the 356 bonnet. If it doesn't, this is going to be a pretty short build thread...

*April Fool, Norfolk's as flat as a pancake

Yep, support frame similar to Sammio Spyder and will probably be using new Spitfire steel floors and maybe a fibreglass bulkhead (need to speak to Tribute 'bout that...). Won't be too different to a Chesil or similar in the body to frame department.

Hi Paul, I'm going to be using the engine, fuel tank, side impact bars, door locks and wiring loom from the Puma, everything else will be scrap. The pedals, steering column etc. will be good old Triumph parts for simplicity.

The Puma doesn't seem to have an alarm, but I suspect it may have an immobiliser of some sort. My plan is to use the entire loom with all its black boxes intact and hope it starts.

I've already disconnected all the wiring to the doors as I figured if anything was going to be linked to an alarm or immobiliser it'd be those. With the surprisingly complex looms disconnected from the doors it still starts and runs and doesn't drain the battery after a few days (so long as you switch off the interior light), so it looks promising.

If I can't make the Ford engine work then plan B is to fit a Spitfire engine and box instead. The Puma came with a month's MOT and cost me £110, so it won't have been a particularly expensive mistake.

There won't be a scoop on the bonnet, maybe a blister if necessary, but if I can't make the engine fit under the hood I'll source another body to go on the now very nice Spitfire chassis and either start looking for a beetle donor or sell the Speedster project on.

Should be getting the engine out of the Puma tomorrow if all goes to plan.

Okay, take the engine out of a Puma and put it in a Spitfire chassis you say. Half a day's work maybe?

No. How about two days just to remove the fuel tank due to the very rusty state of everything on this seventeen year old Ford. Everything's seized, 'quick release' fasteners just won't and everything breaks when you try to force it.

And then you find that the tank is looking too rusty to use anyway as some of the metal feels awfully thin to me.

But, new Puma tanks are cheap so I started to disconnect all the ancillaries and connectors from the engine. Lots and lots of connectors. Which is when I realised that this modern engine is just too complicated for what I want. Even if I could get it installed and running, if it ever broke down I wouldn't have a clue how to fix it.

So, the Puma's off to the scrappy and the gearbox and adaptor are for sale and Plan B it is.

£200 takes it all away.





https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142758865867?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Hi guys, the Puma's being collected for scrap on Friday and they're paying me £65.00 so it cost me £45.00 to give it a go.

The whole PATS thing is what's put me off using the Ford motor, which is a shame as it ran sweet as a nut and revved like a bike engine. Given enough time I probably could get it fitted and working, but if it ever did break down that would be a real problem as I'd have to pay to have a diagnostic check and it may never run again. Instruments were also going to be a bit of a headache due to various engine complexities.

As my old Triumph six-pot only broke down once in four years, and that was due to the failure of the brand new MSD electronic multi-spark ignition module, I'm happy that I can find/build a motor capable of reliable running and definitely fix it myself if it does fail.

Alfa boxer engine is a gem and I always planned to use one if I built a bug based Porsche replica. They're getting quite rare now, though, and as my car is front engined Spitfire based I need an inline four to fit the chassis.

Slowly gathering the parts from ebay to get it running with a Spitfire 1300 motor. Won't be as powerful as the Puma, but it'll still sound great and propel my little Speedster at an age appropriate pace.

Hmm, smartphone app you say? T'is Witchcraft of which you speak!

Spitfire motors aren't that powerful out of the box, but the 1300 and 1500 are both good for 110bhp with tuning, which is enough in a very light road car. I'll probably start with a standard engine and modestly modify either it or a spare to give around 85bhp without breaking the bank. Big power would just break the diff anyway.

Yep, Corroless it is. No idea if it's going to be any good long-term, but it went on nicely.

I now have a complete 1300 small-crank engine in my garage. It was expensive at £295, but it's the most responsive four-pot motor to tune (they can happily rev to 9000rpm in race tune) and was running immediately before removal from a (Herald) donor. I've stripped it down and it looks like it just needs a decoke and a lick of paint for the time being before going into the chassis. It'll probably get some power parts once the car's been on the road for a while.

I also bought a 3 synchro gearbox for a pound and a 1500 block complete with a set of unused pistons and lots of other parts for 99p. Bargain.

Before anyone points it out, the Herald 13/60 engine doesn't have the high compression cylinder head or high lift cam that the MkIII Spitfire got, but it's the same block/pistons/crank/etc. When I do get a polished and ported cylinder head for it I'll be able to fit its original 8.5:1 head onto the 1500 block, which will give it a 9.6:1 compression ratio and create a much lazier but torquey motor for another project.

Progress is likely to be a little slow over the next six weeks or so as I have a number of family commitments coming up.

More later.

Task for today: drop Herald engine and gearbox into the Spitfire chassis then see if the bonnet is going to fit without fouling.

First stage, engine and box roughly fitted (just bought a gearbox bracket on ebay so it's just supported by a bit of wood at the mo) -





Then separate the front and rear clamshells and drop the front one over the front of the chassis and support it so that the bottom of the sills is level with the bottom of the chassis -



And from a few more angles -











Doesn't look too promising that last shot...

...but the wheels and gear lever look like they'll be in the right places -





And now for the moment of truth, will the bonnet fit over the engine?

Drum roll...



Success!







The bonnet needs a little fettling to fit, but that's just because the bonnet doesn't quite fit the opening anyway.

The pic's were taken with the carburettors removed though as the front dash pot does just foul the underside of the bonnet, causing the right-hand edge to lift about an inch -



I do have a cunning plan to address that though.

To say I'm happy it's going to fit is something of an understatement, I'm absolutely delighted!

More later.

Should be able to get away without needing to move the engine back and also won't be needing a blister or scoop.

Much as I like blisters and scoops, either would look a bit odd on the front of what's supposed to be a rear engined car, and although I'm going for the custom Outlaw racer look, I want the body to look like a modified original as far as possible.

So, one of the most common items added to Outlaw 356's is a through bonnet fuel filler to replace the under bonnet one on standard 356's, so I'll be putting a flip-top filler right over the front carburettor to hide the protruding dashpot.

Job done.

Interesting ideas, I had already looked at those bike carbs but decided against them as Phil J found that they have to be angled upwards to work so you lose the apparent height advantage.

The Weber will also stick out so far width-ways that it'd foul the inside of the bonnet as it slopes down towards the wing.

I'm pretty sure I can get the SU's under the bonnet one way or another so I'll be sticking with them.

Paul, you're right, I couldn't find an Outlaw 356 with an offset fuel filler when I looked through Google images. Mind you, I couldn't find a Lancia D24 Spyder in silver either...

Task for today was to offer the rear clamshell up to the chassis and work out how much the body needs shortening.

Not sure if I've mentioned it in this thread yet, but although there's only 8mm difference between the wheelbase of the Spitfire (2108mm) and Porsche 356 (2100mm), I managed to buy what is probably a Banham New Speedster body intended to fit on a Rover Metro/100, which is 2270mm.

So, rear clamshell supported over the back end of the chassis at the right height -



Plenty of space in here for a fuel tank and spare wheel -



And with the front clamshell lined up with the front wheels where I want them, you can see the problem -



Oddly it seems that I only needed to shave 110mm out of the body to get the wheels neatly in the arches. I decided that the easiest way to shorten the body would be to take the difference out of the door apertures. I also now believe that's where Paul Banham added the length anyway -



Leaving me with a body that's the right length now -



That's as far as I got today but slow progress is better than no progress at all.

Cheers Gary, yes I'm feeling a lot happier about using the old Triumph lump for a number of reasons, the DVLA registration thing being one of them.

To get around 90 reliable hp out of it is going to blow about a £1500 hole in my budget that I hadn't really bargained on, but hey, you only live once.

I did a lot of surreptitious door measuring of real 356's and Chesil (et al) kit versions at various shows and I didn't find two the same, but they all looked much shorter than what I have, hence the decision to take a hacksaw to them.

Banham kit quality seems to get a lot of stick on the 'net, but mine seems pretty well moulded given the price. Will be getting on with it now the sun's (almost) out and I'm coming out of hibernation.

So, big box of parts arrived from Canley's yesterday so I'll be stripping down my Herald gearbox (ebay, 99p) and starting to rebuild it tomorrow. Should be interesting as I've never rebuilt a gearbox before.

If by some miracle I manage to rebuild the gearbox in a couple of hours I'll also refit the camshaft which has been reground by Piper cams to their 270 fast-road profile.

Timing the cam will have to wait until Canley's supply me with a rebuilt, unleaded cylinder head, which is currently on back-order (I believe they strip and build them to order).

Then with the rest of the day (!!) I might just get on with my work-in-progress rear deck cover -





Which, believe it or not isn't polished mahogany, but cardboard covered in parcel tape!


More later.

Thanks Paul, hadn't seen it but it's very nice indeed.

Couple of little jobs to finish to get the Midget fully roadworthy - new shocks, oil change and recondition/balance the propshaft (I've outsourced that job) - then I can get on with my own Outlaw build.

So, no updates for a while as the very nice summer whizzed by and now it's nearly 2019.

Yesterday was the Brass Monkeys run from Brandon (Suffolk), through Swaffham and on to Wells Next The Sea (both Norfolk). I'd have loved to have been driving my Speedster (fingers crossed for next year)


The event is a very casual affair and attracts a wide selection of British classics, customs, rat-rods, US classic Muscle Cars and modern exotics.
Indeed, I followed a newish Lotus Elise with a registration ending 10TUS down to Brandon, easily keeping pace with it right up until the 40mph zone we were in ended, when it went off like a scalded cat while making a very agreeable noise in the process.

Among all the customs attending, this truck stood out for me for its elegant simplicity -



And just to show that the North Norfolk coast is a mecca for classic car enthusiasts, this Bristol Zagato wasn't actually part of the procession, it just happened to be parked outside a chip shop in Wells -



I have a few jobs to do to make Iris perfect - finish the hard top, a couple of oil seals to replace and a little attention to the paint, then I'll be getting on with my Speedster (finally).

Happy New year to all classic and kit-car nuts, and I'm hoping to see a lot more cars finished and on the road in 2019, including mine.

Soon I'll be able to start making use of the Outlaw Speedster parts that I've been gathering over the last six months or so, including:

...suitable seats -



...a 550 Spyder moulded flyscreen -



...and dash -



...a pair of Marchal fog lamps -



...and a pair of genuine Porsche European spec headlamps -



More updates next year.

Funnily enough, I'm looking forward to the Speedster updates too.

Midget hardtop is going to be RAL 5011 Steel Blue, which is a very, very dark blue. Should contrast nicely with the Iris blue body. The perspex rear window and roof lights are also blue tinted so it should all gel together nicely.

Hi Deni, once I've mounted the body onto the chassis via a steel subframe I'm in the process of fabricating and centred the wheels in the arches, I'll take a section out of the centre of each door.

I'll then 'glass them back together with the halves mounted in the door openings to make sure they'll fit. I'm also toying with the idea of bracing them internally with aluminium sheet, both for strength and so it looks like an alloy body if you look inside the doors.

I'm aiming to create 550 style interior door panels which have large elongated holes to give access to the simple door 'pulls' and will also allow a pretty unobstructed view of the inside structure of the doors.



Target is 'on the road' for Goodwood in September, so I'd better crack on with it!

Hi Paul & Dave. Still using Photo$ucket for pics so it's a bit hit and miss, I can't see the image of the Marchal lamps or the 550 screen myself today but they were definitely there yesterday.

I bought the load leveller thingy hoist to help get the engine out of the Midget as it doesn't have the luxury of a flip front like my Spyder did. I'm still toying with the idea of making the Speedster flip front, but the bonnet opening is actually very large so I might just leave it as Porsche intended.

Made a start on the doors today. Here's the problem, they're now about four inches too long -



Bit of measuring and marking up with parcel tape -



Chop, chop with the old angle grinder -



Then use some of the cut out section to line up the two halves -



Once I'd lined the halves up in the door opening I stuck the two halves together with bonding paste, 'glassing the inside for extra strength -



And there you have it, one shortened door -



There's a bit of work needed to get the panel gaps looking their best, but they're not too bad as it is.

Terrific, love those seats. Need to be getting on with mine, really...