RGJ767E aka "Boris" Hillman Imp Super Spring Special - The adventures of !

[John A. Ross]

OK and have I modified Boris, well yes.

One huge difference was changing the wheelbox seals on the wipers to nice machined stainless and o ring seals, the originals had totally perished.

See the change

Crappy disintegrating material to a nice machined stainless seal with o rings from Bob Picton

[John A. Ross]

Boris alwasy handled well, front shocks are actually spax with slightly lower spings, not my doing, car came like that, spax and almost nuetral camber, still on 12" pirelli tyres as well !

[John A. Ross]

One small issue I had was acoolant "weep" which was eventually traced to the repaired sport 180 head, in the past it had suffered a crack around the headbolt between cylinder 2 and 3, after 4000 miles of my driving the previous repair was starting to fail.

So I removed all the previous repair back to the welded section, I must say whoever did it did a fantastic job but filling alloy that has been cast is not easy.

As technology has came on Loctite/3M have a fantastic compound now which seeps into cast and saves the casting, it is indeed used by several manufacturers in production and you would never know. So the welded section was coated and the compound left no evidence of itself, filled up and ran to temperature (it has a 88 deg stat) and no sign any more of a weep, so the repair was completed with some re-enfoced epoxy (liguid metal like JB weld) and i gave the repair a coating / cap to keep anything else out. Job done, another 1k+ miles and no weep, even with the weep Boris still goes like a train

[John A. Ross]

And Bob pictons nect project the washer jets, again a crappy but effective solution by rootes but it does not stand test of time. Disintegrated.

New stainless replacements worked a treat, and the finished look with wheel boxes and washer jets replaced

[John A. Ross]

And now for another Imp problem, common, sorted out with another mod from Mr Bob Picton

The fuel grot !!!!



Even with this, it can still sit in the fuel line needing a blow back

Eventually some does get through to here, best solution is it not to leave the tank !

So Bob Pictons machined stainless skills to the rescue with a massy in tank filter, out with the sender, blocw back the fuel lines, fit filter over fuel pipe exit, deed done. Peter Nunney started this one off with the tea strainer idea !



Sealed back up, deed done

[John A. Ross]

And with those repairs done Boris is off again, this time a bit of night time driving and a quick photo op on the esplanade of Stirling Castle with a visit to the coast first with helen and Hayley




A bit wet on the ground by the time we arrived back home

[John A. Ross]

So what did Boris look like before our ownership, well pretty much the same !!!

[John A. Ross]

But of course on any journey in a 50+ year old car the miles do take its toll, on prep for the Monte start one year I found a buggered bearing on the rear hub, so a new bearing was fitted from a "reputable source" and looked OK but the bearing was in fact too small ! When i looked up the spec it was metric !!!!

So I fitted another bearing and hey presto it was happy again.

Deed done in less than an hour.

[John A. Ross]

And what about snow you ask, well he has no fear, snow or not he will be out and about, nothing a good hose down wont fix when back home





From Cumbernauld, to Paisley




To St Andrews (not exactly around corner from paisley !!

[John A. Ross]

So how has Boris faired over the years, well here is a view from top side

[John A. Ross]

And after top side we have inside !

[John A. Ross]

Engine wise he has never gave much trouble except the odd occassion on fuel starvation which ended up being a duff non return valve in the fuel pump and a clogged filter

All good after adding Bobs Filter and cleaning out the lines (the new fuel pump, or parts of anyway helped also Cheers Kevin !!! )

[John A. Ross]

There has been times he has been neglected as a few other toys to play with so it was usually at work or while the E55 was getting done he lived in the garage at home nice and cosy

[John A. Ross]

Where did all the imp stuff start for me, back in 82,

The place, just down the road, I used to use my own garage and the lady across the roads.

While driving rather spirited I hit the throttle and killed my first Imp ( RSD16M ) into the corner of a house putting my mate through windscreen.

Imp vs house, no contest !!!

The house in far right with red car outside was the one I crashed into, as you can see its up a hill after the drive makes it a bit of a launch ramp.

I now own the house that Boris is sitting at, it used to belong to my late neighbour but my mum still lives next door.

So for now Boris and Helens 356 hid behind the house for shelter as i have no garage space any more








What happened to the car I smashed, well i out it on the road again after 0ver 30 years but it was a complete heap, so I transferred the plate off the car and donated it to my mate (another imp fan) for his 50th to remind him not to go through any more windscreens in his E55 !

[John A. Ross]

And how has Boris fared, most of all UNDER NEATH !

He is starting to suffer a little but still well sound and no leaks. Except the back window, it has a drip now and aagain just never had time to catch it, the back windows leak is one of the mysteries of the imp !








He has fared wuite well, non of the usual rust spots and if your eagle eyed enough the Dave Weedon serial number on the reconditioned transaxle can be seen and the gear linkage refurb is a few posts up