1970 Deluxe aka The Pest a very long process

[Colimp66]

Well that was most of the structural rust and repairs done I then got on the case of improvements or things that I wanted in the car. Nice seats for one.
BMW M3 seats came up at a great price... FREE!!!!:D So they were going in no matter.

First remove the seating hump that is welded into the heater channel, floor and central tunnel and replace with 1" box section to keep the strength but keep the seats low on the floor.

Now this was great I now knew I had somewhere to comfortably enjoy the Pest once I get it moving under its own steam. Thing was the steering wheel was miles away form me now..????
I know lets put in another steering column that is adjustable. A steering column from a MGTF was purchased and offered up, the bottom part form the Imp column cut and welded in place , brackets remade from various parts hanging around the garage and quick release mechanisms form a bicycle seat clamp used to make it all adjustable and easy.

[Colimp66]

These two photos show the new steering column in the high and low position and you can also have it anywhere in between the two.
A new dash was made around this and to help accommodate the full roll cage that was going to be fitted.

[Colimp66]

After fitting the steering column I had to think about the switch gear for indicators, horn and the high beam controls. I really wanted to retain the Imp switch gear which luckily fitted the MGTF column but left it looking ugly with all the wiring hanging loose. I wanted to make it look neat and hide the wiring so I made a cover for it all and whilst I was at it made the ignition barrel and steering lock on the column as well.

As I said earlier a new dashboard was made up at this time to suit the steering column and the roll cage that was being fitted. First strip the dash to its bare bones and start from there.

Clocks were added and a shelf on the left without a door on it. Once I was happy with that I redone the crash pad foam so it resembled an Imp shape and recovered it in 4 way stretch faux suede.

[Colimp66]

A heater was required as I had chucked the original Imp heater as the hardboard was all rotten and mis-shapen of years of damp. A heater from Car Builder solutions was purchased, brackets made up and new holes for the pipework drilled in the bulkhead. At the same time the routing for the screen demist was also fabricated.


Whilst ~I was in the inside of the car and working on the controls and comfort aspect I decided to modify the pedals with making them slightly larger so hopefully more comfortable in day to day use.
With the drill being out I may have lightened them a bit too.

[Colimp66]

Like a lot of but not all I wanted to have a front mounted radiator as I definitely wanted to improve the performance on The Pest. The front panel was cut and a box section was welded inbetween the chassis legs to offer up strength that I may have lost by removing the heater box inlet at the front of the car.

[Colimp66]

Around the same time I was making the front radiator conversion I got an alloy fuel tank and made up brackets to mount this in the open space hat was once the area for the original fuel tank.

Tank straps were made from alloy strip bought from B+Q and to retain the tank in place stainless motorcycle spokes were bent and used to hook it altogether.

This now left a bit of a space on the rhs of the boot space where a nice little tool tray could be placed.Only the framework was made at this point and even now December 2019 I haven't completed the tool tray although the rest of it is cut and ready to be bolted on. I got a litte distracted with the motor aspect of the car.

[Colimp66]

After reading through the Millington book of how to improve the Imp I thought I should turn my attention to he suspension, more so of strengthening the wishbones front and rear.
Welder and grinder in hand with a lot of metal i started strengthening.

The rear crossmember also got the treatment and once they were all finished and painted they were fitted with polybushes.

[Colimp66]

Oh yeh, the motor. Originally looked like this, nice littkle thing and the one and only time I fired it up it was quiet too..

I did think of fitting something like this to the engine as I had a MG Metro turbo set up with carb etc but decided against it.
Some folk have done it and succeeded and made pretty quick Imps.

There was also the thought of doing this with a Peugeot Rallye 1.3 TU motor sitting upright in the engine bay but at the time I didnt want to cut into the Imp bodywork. :D

A 998 block and pistons along with Sport head, cam, exhaust were all in my possession at one point before but the expense of doing a proper job was too much for my pocket so they were sold.
Next thought was a bike engine in the back after I was offered a Honda Blackbird engine with all the ancillaries in exchange for building a pair f wheels for a Norton motorbike. How could I refuse???? A lightweight engine, powerful to the tune of around 140hp standard with a sequential gearbox... and it may well fit in place of the Imp engine without cutting too much of the parcel shelf away.
A deal was done.

[Colimp66]

On collection of the Honda engine I did the thing most folk do and that is sling it onto the skateboard and slide it into the engine bay to see if it will fit.

Make a little space for it to go further forward.
Offer up the MX-5 diff and check out driveshafts.
try the both together.... This may work?????
A frame is needed to hold the engine and diff in place.


There is around 4-5 inches of clearance between the bottom of the sump and exhaust to the ground, hopefully this will be enough with the car sitting on race springs front and rear and the tyres being 185/60x13 on the rear.

[Colimp66]

I forgot to mention that before the engine was put in and the Pest was back on it's wheels I painted the underside of the floor. All covered in Hydrate 80, two coats of Zinc 182 primer,seam sealed, Gravitex before the top colour was applied.

[Colimp66]

Back to the engine and the fitting of that. With the carbs being so close to the top of the engine bay and underside of the window I had to cut this section slightly to help get some sort of airbox in there. A sponge type filter could have been used here as it would go to the shape of whatever but I didnt want a huge amount of induction roar if I could help it so I mocked up an airbox in 2mm alloy sheet and had a mate weld it up. This would then be fed through a remote filter as there was little room for one in the newly formed airbox.

Once I was happy with the airbox and filter position I placed the oil cooler in a place where it would fit and get some cool air going through it.
This photo also shows the final position of the exhaust silencer which will poke through the rear panel which is fibreglass.

[Colimp66]

A couple of photos of how the drivetrain works and power gets to the diff and driveshafts which are a mix between MX-5 and Imp.

[Colimp66]

To help stop The Pest now that it has the potential to go reasonably quickly I made myself a disc conversion for he front brakes using Mk1 Fiesta discs and calipers.
and fitted .

The rears have uprated shoes and new slave cylinders and stainless fittings throughout finished of with braided flexes.

[Colimp66]

After trying to get the underside and engine more or less sorted and I knew what direction I was going in with the car I concentrated on finishing of the bodywork to get to the painting stage. Being pushed in and out of the garage many times to check alignment of doors etc were and how good the body filler had been applied I got an offer to move the car to a farm which would allow me to have the doors on and being able to fully open them without fear of rattling them of a single garage wall.
This event happened late on this year and the results are as follows..
From this ...

To fitting of the glassfibre doors once I had removed the original hinges from the steel doors and messed about with them to give a better panel gap.


A lot of body filler applied and a lot removed to try and get the correct shape which isn't easy n a single garage when there is so much of the car to do.
This is what it was like before I moved it to its temporary home at a farm where I was able to erect a "spray booth" that I have on loan from John Ross(thanks again John).:D
Build it and cover it in a clear DPC membrane and seal it the best we could with gaffa tape.

For air filtration going in and bought 3 filters to sit beside the door and for extraction another mate gave me an extractor fan and I fitted 4 filters in front of that to the rear of the booth.

Now I was ready to bring the car into the space..

[PMCG]

I like your booth Colin, very stylish, going to look good when painted.