|
Sammio Builds and discussions Sammio bodied car builds and specials |
3rd July 2011, 16:47
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
Davecymru's Build thread
Seeing as we've now got our own Sammio area (whoo hoo) i thought i'd add a build thread for my Sammio Spyder
The story so-far......
I bought a Triumph Herald 13/60 that had had 000's spent on it in the early 80's upgrading it to full 2L Vitesse MKII spec, as the receipts and engineers report proves.
The body had had it's day, but the chassis, suspension, running gear and engine all seemed good, as suitably demonstrated by No.1 son:
Closer inspection shows that it wasn't exactly mint and that some work would be needed. i.e. there was no throttle pedal!! something i'd overlooked on viewing the car, but you sort of assume it's there! Also the engine would need a bit of fettling to get it working again:
|
3rd July 2011, 16:52
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
Body came off with a bit of persuasion and use of a big rubber hammer (a tool that has come into it's own so far!) and compared to the fairly good state of the chassis i think that i actually put the body out of it's misery!
Chassis has a bit of surface rust but nothing serious, which was good news and meant i could break out the Jennolite and Hammerite rather than the welder:
Was getting all excited by now and i pulled a long "garage session" and did the initial bulkhead trim (i know, it's also trimmed in the pic 2 above, but i forgot to take a pic at that stage!) :
|
3rd July 2011, 16:55
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
At this point Gary rang and told me that the body was ready 2 weeks early!! (ordered at Stoneleigh, donor bought 1 week after that) so after i finished panicking that i wasn't ready, i ordered a long wheelbase transit and set off on the road-trip to pick it all up.
Body safely home on my drive, after a nerve-racking drive home with lots of creaking and groaning from the back of the van:
I went for the premium frame as i'd had enough of welding on my previous project and i just wanted to get on with building:
|
3rd July 2011, 17:04
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
Frame required a bit of fettling, but nothing i wasn't expecting or able to deal with.
Picked up a Spitfire Mk4 petrol tank and it went on as soon as the frame was on and the paint dried. I also ran some new brake and fuel lines the entire length of the car while the body was off (as if i didn't have enough to do!) Sine this pic was taken i've re-routed the fuel line to take it off the rear outrigger:
For the handbrake i went with a Morris minor one as it looked easy to fit and only required a small amount of fabrication to fit. Plus i quite like the look of it
You can also see in this pic the seat belts i've fitted that i had left over from a Mk2 Toyota MR2, they needed a small sub-frame fabricating and fitting to the body frame, but they went on nicely and i'm going for the look that i've seen on a few Cobras as that seems to fit the look i'm after.
Another angle of the seat belt sub-frame and how i've fitted them:
It's also worth adding that i've fitted the belts and mounting points to comply with the IVA regulations on seat belts, as even though i don't need to put the car through an IVA i've never fitted seat belts from scratch before and i wanted to make sure that i was doing things 'properly' and safely.
|
3rd July 2011, 17:10
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
Sorted out the wiring loom to the rear and removed some of the 42 years worth of after-market "improvements"
I'm 6ft 2" so i've gone for seats that fit me and i'll alter the car around those!
I've ended up with Black cobra bucket seats from Moss in Bristol. My sons seem to approve!
As you can see on the last pic, the seats are quite high so i decided to bite the bullet and fabricate lowered seat pans:
Made from 1.2mm steel with a 3mm steel H-style sub frame welded in for strength and rigidity, then seam sealed & painted with Chassis Black and bolted AND bonded to the floor (with large load spreader plates) all along front and rear edges and screwed in down the sides just to be doubly sure.
|
3rd July 2011, 17:14
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
While the welder was out i fabricated a lowered battery box from some left over 1mm steel and welded it in place:
Then the last thing left before the body went on was lowering the back end. I opted for a Swing spring conversion and a 1" lowering block both bought from Canley Classics (nice people!) that ended up with the rear wheels sitting nicely just where i wanted them!
Old spring off:
Swing spring and lowering block fitted:
|
3rd July 2011, 20:02
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Reading, Berkshire
Posts: 150
|
|
Hi Dave,
Great build photos, I will take quite a lot of inspiration from them!
What is the make or brand of bonding paste you're using, and where do you get your fibreglass matting and resin from?
Trev.
http://www.sammiospyder.blogspot.com/
|
4th July 2011, 12:36
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2009
Location: POOLE , DORSET
Posts: 2,200
|
|
Excellent stuff Dave - well done.
Won't be long before we see the car in the flesh looking at those pics ....
We can get that car inspected anytime now , as long as body is secured , we can do it....
No Inspections locally until week beginning 11th though ....
|
4th July 2011, 19:51
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 935
|
|
looks good - i forgot how drastic it looks when your down to a bare chassis.
It makes me feel better about mine. I feel my own build thread starting.
Have you started to dream of what colour to paint her and adding the detail parts?
|
5th July 2011, 12:21
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 208
|
|
roadster mine was in a bare matel state of drastic confusion for short period, but then all the paint was applied and bits starting to fit back on,then you get your second wind,and wish the body was on like dave`s..
|
5th July 2011, 15:57
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
The only parts i am now waiting on are 4" of fuel filler hose and a new fibreglass gearbox tunnel, then that's it apart from the paint!
I already have all of the other parts i need thanks to a bit of guidance from Gary at Stoneleigh meaning that i went on a bit of a spending spree for lots of Chrome and wood!
Initially it's going to be quite sparse internally with just a padded top being added to the tunnel for comfort. I'm not even sure if i'm going to vinyl wrap the interior straight away or just drive it all plain painted for this summer just so that i can get it on the road. Then i'll modify it during the winter with extra padding / posher dashboard / heater / possibly a wireless. I'll just see how it goes
As for the colour..... i'm down to a choice between Alfa Romeo Red and Jaguar Metallic Gunmetal!
But as I'm going to paint this myself i suspect that i'll go with Red, but i've got a week or two to go until i get that far so there's time for some more reading yet
|
6th July 2011, 18:46
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
No photos yet, but the two rear wheelarches have now been boxed in with 9mm ply and glassed and bonded to the bodyshell.
Now for the sanding to begin ahead of getting it down to VOSA either next week or the week after!
|
6th July 2011, 19:07
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Reading, Berkshire
Posts: 150
|
|
Would love to see pics of that area if you do get the chance another day.
These Spyders do allow a really fast progress if you're prepared to put the hours in don't they!
Trevor
|
11th July 2011, 20:29
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
Rear wheel arches now boxed in and underbody painted, although there's still some tidying up to do on the non-road side of them.
Now on to the sanding, and filling, and sanding, and filling and sanding.......
The angled instrument pod is now done although i still can't get a photo that shows it off very well so this will have to do for now:
And from the back it's really starting to look good, if only Europa would hurry up and send me my Fuel filler pipe i would get the filler cap on as well!
Now i'm just going to give it one more sanding and then i think that it's time to clean it all off and start wiring everything in and try and fire up the engine so that i can drive it onto the trailer for the VOSA inspection next week!
|
11th July 2011, 20:39
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 935
|
|
Almost there - its looking great
I look forward to seeing it at a meet sometime soon
|
14th July 2011, 09:31
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
Mulberrys general overall shininess got me thinking that it was about time i started putting the shiny bits on my car! Not that I'm jealous or anything
So here's a pic of the new shiny rear exhaust box fitted, the style was chosen by the wife and i think she chose very well!
Note: In order to avoid any problems with the nice man from VOSA, the mounting bar and support brackets have all been fitted in such a way as to not have to alter the original chassis.
|
14th July 2011, 12:37
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: birchington, kent
Posts: 1,769
|
|
Looking good Dave
Could you use a flash, next time....
Is anyone out there going to use 15" rims? I feel that this will feel more 50's.
Also what size steering wheel?
|
14th July 2011, 12:49
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
All photos are taken on phone (and normally as I'm packing away for the night), so no flash I'm afraid.
I'm using 15" wheels, they do look very nice and if i get the engine started and the car out of the garage this weekend i'll get some pics.
I think i went for a 14" steering wheel in order to give me a bit more legroom, although I'll have to double check.
|
17th July 2011, 08:06
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
6'2"
Now that i'm sorting the interior i keep test fitting the drivers set in order to make sure everything is perfectly set up for me.
So-far i've chosen instrument placing etc. with the new wood rim wheel in place but i've taken that out and wrapped it up so that i don't damage it during the final stages of the build. Only to find out that the original Vitesse wheel is actually quite nicely suited to the Sammio shell and also worth a few bob as well! If i hadn't already splashed out on the wood wheel I'd seriously be in two minds over it now that i've seen the Vitesse one!
|
21st July 2011, 11:54
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
|
|
VOSA done!
I'm no longer the owner of a Triumph Vitesse, but i am now the proud owner of a Sammio Spyder!
Well..... as soon as the V5 comes back!
It was a 10 hr day, 9 hrs of which was driving, but it was worth it! And despite the best efforts of the weather (it pished it down and completely soaked me! Twice!) there were no problems. Although quite how "a bit cloudy with a 20% chance of rain" turns out to be "torrential downpours at the most inopportune moments!" i don't know!
Car all loaded and wrapped up and ready to go. Actually i'm cheating here, this was taken when i got back, but it was such torrential rain when i was loading it, i was in no mood to take photos!
Stuart (top bloke!) doing his inspection while Gary and i watched on and got thoroughly soaked. Note the look of enjoyment Gary has on his face! MANY MANY MANY thanks to him for this!
And when i got home it finally stopped raining enough for me to unload it!
Now officially a Sammio Spyder
As i knew that i'd be leaving Somerset i even took my passport with me, but i wasn't asked for it once? odd
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT +0. The time now is 01:17.
|