Mister Towed's Tai Chi build
 

Ok, so it's about time I started a build thread of my very own.

The story so far is that I bought a Vitesse 2 litre mk1 way back in April and started stripping it immediately. I sold off most of the excess bits on ebay, making back all but 98 quid of what I originally paid for the whole car.

The bonnet alone went for over 300 pounds and I'm left with a reconditioned unleaded straight six attached to a non overdrive gearbox (less trouble in the long run) exhausted through a stainless steel system all bolted to a chassis that's rather more corroded than I'd hoped it would be.

I picked up my Sammio body on July 13th 2011, making it somewhere around number 50, collecting it on the same day as a chap who loaded a twin head fairing body onto the back of a pickup truck (and I'd be interested to know the exact number if you're reading this Gary...)

Work and family commitments over the rest of the summer meant that I made no real headway but I've been busy hoarding away shiny new bits to attach at vast expense and planning what I want the finished jobby to be like.

One of the most adventureous modifications is that it's going to have a self built water/methanol injection system. This isn't intended to increase power as such, it's just to allow the distributor advance to be set where it was originally intended to be with the 5 star fuel the Vitesse engine was designed to run on, but using 93 ron unleaded pee pee fuel. Hopefully this should restore its full 95bhp with no detonation.

I'm also hoping to sqeeze some luggage space in somewhere as I'd really like to take it touring across Europe one day.

I'm adding a servo to the brake system, mainly to ensure consistency of pedal feel between the spyder and my (modern) daily drivers: a Saab for personal use and a Mondeo estate at work. I tried a Lotus Elise on a track day earlier this month and had a massive omg moment when I got to the first hairpin bend at over 100mph and rediscovered how hard you have to hit the pedal on unservoed brakes to get any retardation at all.

I'm aiming to do just about everything myself: sand blasting; welding; spraying, even though I've never done most of them before.

I have to admit I'm not completely clueless, however, as I undertook a fast-track engineering apprenticeship in the military when I was sixteen and served as an armament engineer for 23 years. I've also previously restored and heavily modified a vw beetle including converting it from a semi-auto to a manual gearbox while keeping the double jointed rear suspension setup, which was quite a task. In my current job I don't get my hands oily at all which is one of the reasons for wanting a project like this to keep my hand in so to speak.

I have a few trick ideas up my sleeve that will make my car unique, which is part of the joy of Sammio ownership of course. As a teaser I'll say that I've always found a tunnel mounted handbrake rather awkward to use in a low sports car so mine will be relocated somewhere else...

I spent today assembling my multi-purpose blasting/spraying/wedding receptioning garage extension so I can start sand blasting bits tomorrow:

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics209.jpg

The front bulkhead in the background should give you an idea of the scale of the thing which is huge but didn't cost an awful lot (ebay again). The idea is to keep the garage relatively free of dust during the blasting process, and to make it easier to produce a relatively sterile booth for spraying in.

First job in the morning is going to be to sand blast my ebay mgb wires. Here's some 'before' shots:

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics206.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics208.jpg

I'll upload some 'after' shots once they're nice 'n' shiny (I hope!)

I'll also be degreasing the engine prior to replacing the leaky sump gasket, sealing the new one in with hylomar to stop the damned thing piddling oil all over my garage floor. It's currently out of the chassis courtesy of the one tonne hoist bought new off ebay for 28 quid delivered!

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics194.jpg

I've absolutely settled on the colour choice, which is going to be... It's going to be, erm. Bugger.

I've always loved silver, black or bright red on sports cars but if anyone can give me the paint code for either the dark red Lancia D24 on the Google images or the Aston Zagato spyder in the pic's on 'the next sammio' thread then I'll possibly make a decision...

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...-Spyder_11.jpg

Yes, that one, that's the colour. Or should that be colore?

Anyway, time to click the 'submit new thread' button before this entry gets longer than war 'n' peace.
:smash:

"it's going to have a self built water/methanol injection system. This isn't intended to increase power as such...."

:eusa_liar:

All looks good matey, best of luck with the sand blasting, that's one of the bits is didn't do and TBH i wish i had.

I look forward to seeing your handbrake option and if you're after an "always-off" style lever and don't already have one then i do have a Jag XK8 one in the garage that i bought for the failed Lambo conversion, that i may be persuaded to part with for the right price :)

No, honestly, the water injection is just going in to make the best of what the engine has to offer and the methanol is only added to stop bacteria growing in the water and gumming the whole thing up.

Do you think my insurance company will buy that?

Thanks for the offer of the Jag handbrake, Dave. Already got one from an Austin A50 though.

It's an umbrella handle type and the aim is to have it under the dash in similar fashion to the (genuine) Porsche 356. That'll mean I should be able to get away with a lower profile prop shaft tunnel freeing up a bit of space for my mgb seats.

Small matter of rigging it up to work though...:icon_frown:

Plan for today: sand blast five mgb wire wheels, tidy up, have some lunch then spray them with primer to stop them rusting again and spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Slight issue in that I've never tried sand blasting before, but how hard can it be?

Reality: instructions that came with the 'blaster are meagre to say the least. It took me four hours to figure out how it's supposed to work. First go, loads of blasting grit coming out of the nozzle but it was just pinging off the surface and not removing the rust or the paint. The tank also emptied 25kg of grit in about four minutes. After much head scratching and some trial and error I discovered you have to regulate the flow of grit out of the bottom of the tank by not fully opening the flow valve.

Once I'd got it set up right wey hey! Off we jolly well go.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics213.jpg

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER...


It was still very laborious work, the wires are a really complex shape to sand blast with each one taking about an hour and a half to do properly, meaning I only finished two today. There's something quite satisfying about watching a nice, bare metal wheel emerge from within the encrustation of rust and old paint.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics212.jpg

RESULT!


After a marathon clean up session I even managed a couple of coats of primer. I rather like the look of the wires in white. I've already bought silver wheel paint but I could change my mind yet...

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics214.jpg

I'm glad I tried the sand blaster on a small job first as it'll give me some confidence when I start on the bulkhead and chassis. :icon_frown:

Back to work tomorrow so I'll finish the wheels later in the week if I can find the time. :ballchain:

Nice! Can't wait to get started on mine. Have fun. John

Thanks John, much appreciated.

The weather's thrown a spanner in the works as far as progress goes today: I've had to dismantle the multi-purpose garage extension before it blew away.

As I'd assembled it on my drive I'd anchored it down with mega strong parachute chord tied to old paint buckets that I'd filled with concrete, which I figured would be heavy enough to stay put even in relatively strong winds.

I was absolutely right on that front, the buckets full of concrete are still exactly where I put them, but I hadn't bargained on the loops on the marquee failing and allowing the whole thing to move around. It's a good job I'd tied the tarpaulin I used as a floor to the inside of the frame and left the wheels in it or it would have taken off in a Dorothy's house fashion. :icon_frown:

When I got home from work my aged parents (who live next door) had tried to help by taking the side panels off. This allowed the wind to get inside and made the whole thing collapse so I was confronted by a couple of frazzled pensioners struggling to hold down what looked like the remains of the Hindenberg.

Oh well, these things are sent to try us...

Oh no!

Is the multi-purpose garage extension savable, or is it totally wrecked?

Nice to see another Spyder builder starting their build, you'll be on the road in no time!

Trevor
http://www.sammiospyder.blogspot.com/

Hi Trevor, it's not a complete write off thankfully.

Considering how small a box it came in it's amazing how much space it's taking up now it's all scrunched up in a sorry looking ball.

On the plus side, having seen the amount of dust that sand blasting generates I'm glad I put up a separate 'building' to do it in. Otherwise everything in the garage, including the engine, gearbox and all the shiny new things I've bought would be completely engulfed in gritty crud.

On balance, I think the garden marquee is a practical solution to providing a suitable blasting/spraying booth on a budget. I just got unlucky with the weather this week.

I'll be reassembling the garage extension later this week, weather permitting, and I'm aiming to get the wheels, bulkhead and chassis blasted before the end of the month.

Then the fun part begins! :biggrin:

Got another two wires blasted and sprayed in primer today.

I also found out what happens if you get half way through sand blasting a wheel and then leave it for three or four days without spraying it - the surface flashes over with a grey powdery coating that's really difficult to shift, even with the 'blaster.

:doh:

I've really got the hang of the sand blaster now though and I can't wait to get stuck into the chassis and font bulkhead over the next few days.

Will post pics when there's something worth seeing.

It's amazing how quickly things start to rust.

I remember an old set of hubs that would go Orange with rust after a week or so!

Trevor.

Got the sand blaster out between shifts at work today and decided to 'blast a couple of test patches on the chassis.

Pleased with the result, taking about ten minutes to go from this:

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics217.jpg

To this:

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics216.jpg

It's ripping through the rust and old paint no problem but struggles with the areas that are covered in old bitumen underseal. It'll strip it with persistence but it's easier and quicker to wire brush the rubbery crap off first.

I noticed an area on the backbone that had a suspiciously thick coating of underseal on it while I was moving around the chassis, and, after a bit of wire brushing and a quick once over with the 'blaster, this appeared...

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics215.jpg

Nightmare, structural corrosion in one of the main chassis rails.

The plan all along has been to do as much work as possible on this project myself, but I'm seriously considering calling in a pro' welder to fix this particular chassis chasm.

After all, this is fundamentally what holds the car together and if it's not done properly it'll be an accident waiting to happen...

:boom:

I feel your pain. When I found 15 holes I was gutted, but it only cost a pro mobile welder £200 to fix the lot.

Trevor.

Thanks Trevor, that's comforting. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet on this one and get a pro' in as I'm a complete novice welder.
:baby:

Hmm, self imposed deadline to complete the blasting of the chassis and front bulkhead expires in less than three hours and I'm browsing the 'net with a beer in hand, so I guess I'm not going to get it finished.

On the plus side, another 25kg's of blasting grit turned up a couple of days ago which will double the length of time between tank refills, and I've got three days off coming up in the middle of next week (I'm working Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights, however) so I should make some progress then.

Feeling very inspired by some of the builders who're 99% there and can't wait to get mine roadworthy. Still can't decide on a final colour though. Black, silver or red? That is the question...:twitch:

Why not have black, silver and red stripes??? Best of all worlds!

Seriously though, it is a tough choice.


Is your beer making it any clearer?!!


Trevor.
http://www.sammiospyder.blogspot.com/

I've been thinking of colors as well. I like silver but most of the Porche 550 spyders are silver. Probably won't go that way.

'Been looking at this and thinking P51 Mustang in polished aluminium after the allies acheived air supremacy towards the end of WWII.

http://chromepaint.com/?page_id=8

Small matter of the price, though. Cheap, it aint'.

Wow - that liquid chrome is the dogs ****ocks!

But the price for a whole body - bloody hell!

Trevor.
http://www.sammiospyder.blogspot.com/

Yep, thick end of a bag'o' sand I reckon. Wouldn't 'alf look the biz though.

Check out the black chrome too, it's a tad cheaper and I think it would really suit the spyder body.

I was a bit worred about the durability but if you look at their gallery pics they've done a jet ski in it. If it's suitable for that application a car body will last forever.

Mister Towed,

How are you getting-on with that main rail corrosion? It looks very similar to my problems and a couple of sessions with a local welder got me back on track.

I used my Sammio frame, bolted into place, as a jig before cutting out any of the corrosion in the main rails.

Chris

Thanks for asking, Chris.

Today, I have mostly been uncovering more chassis woes as in WHOA! What the blinking flip was holding that back wheel on?

Bear in mind this Vitesse was sold to me as practically mot ready...

Starting to peel back the 'repairs'
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...illion/001.jpg

Hmm, on closer inspection
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...illion/002.jpg

And once all the layers of 'puff pastry' tinplate are off...
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...illion/003.jpg

Will be spending a few quid on new parts from Canleys I feel. :hurt:

i wouldn't worry, that'll polish out! :)

Before you spend any money with Canleys may I recommend that you speak to Bill at Rarebits4Classics. He is extremely knowledgeable about Triumphs and has helped me find the best places to get particular parts as some sources are definitely better than others.

Hope this helps.

Chris

Thanks Chris, I'll give them a go.

The chassis rails I need to replace aren't expensive at about twenty five quid a throw so I'm not looking at too much of a hit.

My main concern is will I be able to weld them on straight? Could introduce some 'interesting' handling challenges if I misalign them. :rip:

heck, the metal worm has been busy, you can buy new out riggers from rimmer bros.....GOOD LUCK

Yep, at least I can boast a genuiely 'lightweight' chassis at the moment. Colin Chapman would be proud. :icon_sad:

Good grief! I feel for you I thought my herald was a pig (part restored) but at least my chassis was solid the engine needed putting back together and bits making some throttle linkage fuel pump but it came with gaskets which was a bonus. Can't see to much in the piccy's but I do have spare either side front out riggers and a centre out rigger if it helps.... Pat

Thanks for the offer of the chassis bits Pat, but I've just this second placed an order with Canleys for all the bits I need just before going back on this site.

I didn't really have the time to shop around other than on the net but Canleys prices are pretty competitive anyway. I've ordered a rear outrigger, a side rail and a front outrigger for the driver's side (as that's pretty rotten too) and each part is under £25 inc vat, which is about 2/3 of what Rimmers charge (although Rimmers are cheaper for some other parts).

The trouble with shopping for essential parts is that one or two other items tend to slip into the basket when you're not paying attention: like a fibreglass gearbox cover and a set of 'blue' polybushes on this occasion, which bunped up the total a bit.

Still, I'll end up with a much better car in the long run and I can't wait to get it on the road.

Spent a couple of hours today removing the sump that was piddling oil past its gasket.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics220.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics219.jpg

Thankfully no stray nuts 'n' bolts fell out of the engine while the sump was off and everything looks squeaky clean inside.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics218.jpg

Once I'd shaved the remnants of the old gasket from the mating surfaces I fitted a new one, sealing it in with blue hylomar sealant, wonderful stuff that really does the job imho, although I inevitably ended up with more hylomar on my fingers than on the gasket. But so long as it fixes the oil leak I just don't care.

The new chassis bits from Canleys turned up today too. I placed the order on Sunday and the parts arrived on Tuesday: great service as far as I am concerned.

Aiming to get some 'blasting done tomorrow and then teach myself to weld. :laser:

Might be worth staying away from West Norfolk over the next few days in case of power outages...:icon_neutral:

Thorry everyone, but the trouble with hylomar ith that it'th theriouthly thticky thtuff. Tho thticky in fact that it'th thtill thtuck all over my fingerth and I've managed to get the 'eth' key thtuck down on my computer keyboard.

I'll have to thee if there'th thomething under the think that can unthtick it thoon or I'll really be in the thhit when I try to potht replieth to peopleth Thammio thpyder build entrieth.

Normal thervice will be rethumed ath thoon ath poththible. :twitch:

tuperb! good luck!

Thankth.

Well, it was howling a gale outside today but I've reassembled my blasting/spraying booth inside my garage so I was as snug as a bug in a rug (whatever that means).

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics221.jpg

CALL ME 'DEXTER'...

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics222.jpg

I got a lot more of the chassis blasted back to bare metal today. It's a slow process though, primarily because of the copious quantities of black bitumen underseal gummed all over the place.

I've now taken to doing a couple of minutes blasting followed by a couple of minutes power-drill wire brushing the bitumen. The wire brush doesn't remove it, but it spreads it out thin and heats it up while the compressor gets the blasting pot back up to maximum pressure. Once it's warm and thin the blaster will then strip it off in a few seconds rather than taking ages.

I'm sure a pro' blasting rig wouldn't struggle with the bitumen but my amateur setup is doing the job without causing any unnecessary damage. It's slow 'n' gentle rather than fast and indiscriminate. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

A few more holes have appeared in the chassis today, but they really don't look quite so daunting now and I'm going to have a crack at welding everything up myself. :flame: Won't be for a while though as I reckon there's at least another full days' blasting to be done tomorrow, then it's back to work again. :ballchain:

Carried on with the chassis blasting today in my Dexter tent. Once I'd finished the top a quick flip with the block'n'tackle revealed the underside which looks to be in pretty good condition. There are a few repairs but these appear to be of a far higher standard than the tacked on tinplate on the outriggers.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics223.jpg

The front of the chassis turned out to be like new under the thick coating of engine oil and dirt and blasting the underside took only half the time of the top surfaces.

Last job of the day was to give the good bits of the chassis a once over with red hammerite (not much point in painting the bits I'm going to replace), chosen because it was on special at half price, only a tenner a litre at Halfords. Methinks it's starting to look not half bad.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...vidpics224.jpg

Back to work tomorrow so plenty of time for the paint to dry before any further progress. :juggle:

Looking good, feels good to when progress can be seen as well...PAT

Thanks Pat, you're absolutely right. Although it's taking far longer and costing a fair bit more than I'd anticipated there is a real sense of achievement in breathing new life into a tired old jalopy.

Once my spyder is on the road I'll be able to honestly say 'all my own work'. :biggrin:

Snap on both accounts! :)

In some ways i wish i'd stripped and blasted the chassis right the way back the way you are doing yours, but the top of mine was solid and the patches underneath i plan on looking at in detail once it's all done as long as they get through the MOT. Fingers crossed there aren't any more surprises for you!

Anyone looking for a cheap donor?

Take a look at this but be quick, it ends today!

If it doesn't sell you could always contact the seller and make an offer...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1968-trium...item27bedac685

found a cheap engine for that donor car....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Sp...item3a6aeaafe7

Hmmm, tempting.

I fear it may possibly be a bit peaky for road use though. Think I'll stick with my straight six.