Build Your Own Car - Kitcars Specials Replicas

Another episode in the Build Your Own Car saga.

Although the major part of building the chassis was done, there were still many jobs left. To avoid rust, the chassis was painted with a rust inhibiting paint which was bought from Screwfix. (Great if you want to build your own car. Loads of fixtures and adhesives and tools etc). The chassis was de-greased using white spirit and all surface rust was removed before painting.

The back axle was also painted and trial fitted, along with the front stub axles and hubs and steering rack. All of the braking components had been refurbished with new seals etc, new pads and shoes and new discs.

The next stage was fitting the steering rack, an Escort Quick Rack which John the welder just happened to have about his person. I had bought new mounting rubbers as the old ones had seen better days, covered in oil and very soft. New ball joints were fitted to the ends of the rack. The next problem was fitting the Ford Sierra steering column. For the SVA, the column had to be collapsible and also had to have a kinked joint at the bottom where it attached to the rack. The column had to be extended as the standard column was too short for the Locost. This was done by cutting the end off the column and welding a piece of seamless tube between the shortened column and the end which had been cut off. Getting the position of the spider joint that connected to the rack correct was difficult to say the least. There was not a lot of clearance between the chassis and the engine, but with some tweaking and modifying one of the chassis uprights we got it in.

The engine and gearbox were also trial fitted and the mounts adjusted (with a file) to line up with the mounting blocks on the engine and gearbox. I didn’t have a lifting tackle (owned one once, but lent it to a friend who left it in the boot of a car that he sold). So I tried to find, (remembering from the past) a cheap and cheerful hoist made I believe by a company called Haltrac but they seemed to have disappeared of the face of the earth. Soo, I went to a local boat chandlers and got him to make me up a block and tackle with bits normally used for hoisting up sails. Effectively, it was the same idea as the Haltrac hoist with stainless steel pulleys and a cord which was probably nylon or polypropalene. It worked brilliantly and enabled me to lift the engine and gearbox in and out of the chassis with little effort. Fortunate, as I subsequently found I had to do it several times.

I now had a chassis that could be wheeled around which made life a lot easier.

Below are some pictures of the rolling chassis at this stage.

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All of the steel was cut for the chassis, but I was not confident enough to fabricate the front wishbones.. These, along with the suspension bushes and panhard rod were bought ready made from Martin Keenan. Great guy and incredibly helpful. The welding was done by a friend of mine, John who is an absolute whiz with MIG.

Initially, the chassis shape was marked out on a large piece of blockboard and the bottom rails were laid out. All of the joints were first tack welded, working from one side to the other to avoid distortion. The bottom frame was the checked for squareness and adjusted as required. Once we were happy with it the joints were fully welded, again working from side to side and again, checking for squareness as we went.

The next stage was fitting the uprights, again tack welding and checking for squareness. It’s amazing how much things distort when they are heated up. The top rails were then tacked on.

The most difficult things were the front frame and trying to get the angles correct and correctly positioning the suspension, trailing arm and panhard rod mounting brackets. Both of these jobs were accomplished by making up jigs to hold things in place when they were tack welded. Once all of the chassis rails were tacked in place the laborious job of fully welding all of the joints began. Again, this was done by working from one side to the other, continuously checking angles and squareness.

A couple of things were done differently to the book. The engine mounts were slotted to make it easier to get the engine in and out, the gearbox mounts were drilled and tapped for the same reason. Also the angle of the back of the chassis was steeper than the book. I can’t remember why we did this, but there was obviously a good reason.

Brackets had to be welded onto the Escort rear axle. I had read that some people had problems with this. Mainly because the axle distorted. We didn’t have any problem at all.

Although it took several weeks of part time work the chassis wasn’t too bad a job to do. Below are a few pictures of the finished chassis. Also a couple of pictures of the Zeemeride coil-over shocks that were bought for the car.

To be continued…..

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If you have read my previous posts and still feel you want to build your own car, then you are probably as crazy as I am. The problem is, that once you have done it you are hooked.

I went for many years driving various production vehicles and had absolutely no intention of doing it again. On October 5, 1996 my wife pointed out an article in the Daily Mail “Schoolboys Make Classic Roadster From Scrap” featuring a book by Ron Champion called “Build Your Own Sportscar for £250″. At the time I was working for a large book wholesaler, so I bought the book (at discount) and read it and thought “I can do that”. The Locost book sat on my bookshelf for 2 years as I didn’t have a suitable garage, or the time. In August 1998 my wife and I moved to a house with a garage that was large enough for “The Project”. In December 1998 I ordered the steel for the space-frame chassis and started to cut it according to the dimensions in the book.

Meanwhile, I was also on the hunt for a donor. The book suggested a Ford Escort and I managed to find an Escort Huntsman estate. This is not the actual car below!!

All the major were stripped from the car, engine, gearbox, back axle, radiator, instruments and anything else that may be of use. The engine was shot, but I managed to find another 1300cc one that had been rebuilt. The carb on the old engine was virtually brand new, so that was cleaned up to be used. The rebuilt engine was stripped down and checked as it had never been run. Whoever had rebuilt it had done the bottom end, but not touched the head. The bottom end was stripped down just to check that all was OK. I’m very glad I did as although it had been re-bored and new pistons and rings fitted, several of the rings were broken!! I also had the crankshaft polished, but re-fitted the bigend and main shells which looked new. The head was stripped down , new valves and springs fitted after de-coking. They oil pump was also badly worn, but I managed to purchase a brand new one at a reasonable price.

Many other new or refurbished parts were bought including Cortina hubs and stub axles, alternator, battery, electric fan etc etc.

Next epsiode: The building of the chassis.

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So the Gentry was finally on the road. I proved that it is possible to build your own car.

Although she was now legal, she was still not finished. Various bits of chrome needed to be re-done, the rear suspension needed sorting out and the wire wheels were still waiting to bit fitted. Below are a couple of pictures before these things were done.

Sorting out the rear suspension was a priority as the ride was putting it mildly, somewhat uncomfortable!! The rear suspension on all of the Triumph Herald based cars is somewhat unusual. It is a weird form of independent suspension, but unlike most IR, instead of having separate coil springs and dampers it has a tranverse leaf spring. Anyone who has cornered any of this range of Triumph cars at speed will tell you that it is to say the least exciting. It isn’t like any other car I have driven. It will stick to the road like glue, no sign of the backend sliding, so you can’t get it to drift like other cars. Then, all of a sudden the rear wheel will tuck under and you completely lose control. I did this in a Spitfire I owned while I was going rather quickly round a roundabout. The backend let go and I ended up with the car facing the wrong way. Fortunately it was early morning, so there weren’t too many people about and there was no major harm done apart from my wounded pride. Back to the suspension of the Gentry.

In the build instructions it was suggested that from a Vitesse spring which I seem to remember had twelve leaves you should remove three of them. They also said that it should be flattened by about one and a half inches. I took it to a local blacksmith and had this done, but the rear still sat very high and the ride was hard. I then removed two more leaves re-fitted the spring and took the car out for a test drive. The difference was amazing. A more comfortable ride and the ride height now looked OK. The old steel wheels were taken off and replaced with the re-furbished wire wheels. It was starting to look more like the MG TF.

The interior trim was next. The original modified Herald seats were replaced with new ones in a red leatherette. I recall the company that made them were called Cobra. All of the interior paneling was covered with a matching leatherette. She was starting to look great. I had also purchased a hood and sidescreen kit from RMB so that she could be used in inclement weather!!

Below are some pictures taken by a friend of mine, Rob Large on Ashdown forest when she was finally complete. I think anyone would agree that the Gentry is a very pretty car and is and excellent way of re-cycling a donor that has seen better days.

I ran her for about two years, until finances dictated that I had to sell her. I had a great time building and driving her and was sad to see her go. I would love to know what happened to her and where she is now, if she is still around. I believe that the person who bought her from me fitted his own personalised number, but I have no idea what it was.

Next epsiode, the Locost!!

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I felt elated. To build your own car is an achievement, but to have a professional mechanic give positive comments and to pass the MOT was the icing on the cake.

On the drive home from the garage, I noticed that the water temperature gauge was starting to rise at an alarming rate. I thought, only about four miles to go, so keep on and investigate when I got home. Wrong!! There was a loud hiss from under the bonnet and clouds of steam.

One of the convoluted hoses had decided to burst. I let the engine cool down and wrapped a piece of rag around the offending hose. The water was topped up and I continued the drive back home with no further problems. My first job was to check all of the plumbing and I ended up replacing all of the the convoluted hose with proper reinforced radiator hose. It meant I had to fabricate more pieces of copper pipe to accommodate the hoses I had available. Before I did this, I went to the post office across the road to get my road tax. This was on a Saturday and the post office closed at 1pm. I arrived ten minutes before they closed, armed with my V5 registration document on which I had changed the body type from a four seater saloon to a two seater sports car and the name was changed to a Triumph Gentry. This would be forwarded to the DVLA by the post office after they had issued the tax disc. I also had the insurance certificate and the MOT certificate. I presented them to the post mistress along with the appropriate fee. She was what is known as a “Jobsworth”. “I can’t give you a tax disc. You will need to send the V5 back to the DVLA yourself as you have changed the body of the car”. After some persuasion, she reluctantly issued the disc and agreed that it wasn’t a problem and they would forward the V5 to the DVLA.

I now had a road legal car that I had built myself. The reflectors were found and fitted to the rear bumper as requested by the MOT mechanic. A few weeks later, I received a letter from the DVLA. I was expecting it to be my registration document updated with the changes I had made to the car. Instead it was a letter from the local office asking if they could inspect the vehicle. I telephoned the the office and arranged for the inspector to come and look at the car. I had no idea why they needed to do this, but he turned up at the appointed time (with his dog) and said that it was necessary to check the identity of the car. It was possible that if there were not enough parts used from the original donor vehicle it would need to be re-registered with a “Q” registration number. These are issued when the age of the vehicle cannot be accurately determined. As this was a TF replica, I didn’t like the idea of a “Q” plate as it detracted from the authenticity of the car. He also needed to see the receipts for the parts that had been bought and for the donor vehicle to make sure that it wasn’t built of stolen parts. He was a really nice guy and incredibly helpful. As far as he was concerned, there was no problem and he would arrange for the issue of the changed registration document. He also made some very nice comments about the car.

About a week later the registration document arrived, so the Gentry was finally completely legal. My next jobs on the car were to sort out the rear suspension and do the trimming.

Come back for the next installment
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To build your own car requires dedication, time and patience. Fortunately I have all of these in abundance. Well maybe two out of three:-)
Below is a picture of the car just before we set off for the MOT. Click for larger image.

We arrived at the garage and parked the car outside. The mechanic who was doing the test had a good look round the car to make sure there was nothing obvious wrong. After satisfying himself that the car looked OK he started the test. First thing was the braking efficiency. The car was driven on to the rolling road and I sat in the car following his instructions to hit the brake pedal when he asked me to. First the front brakes, balance OK, efficiency well within the limit of the test. Next rear brakes and again no problems. Finally the handbrake which also passed. So far so good. Off the rolling road and the exhaust emission tests. No problem there. Headlights next. The aim was slightly out as I had set them up by eye, sticking a piece of tape on a garage door and adjusting the beam. This was easily corrected with a few turns of a screwdriver until they were correct. Indicators OK, side lights OK, indicators OK. Horn fine. He now needed to check the underside of the car for any problems, so it was up onto the four poster lift with me still inside

.

In the photo above, the front wheels were raised so the steering and front joints could be checked for wear and play. All the steering joints were new so no problems. The wheel bearings and oil seals were also new so again OK. He also checked the run of the brake pipes to make sure there was no chance of them fouling on the suspension or bodywork. The same with the fuel pipes.

The lift was then taken to the top and he continued to inspect the underside. Chassis OK, could I wiggle the steering wheel from side to side. He checked all of the other steering joints and found no problems. Pull the handbrake on and off. Again no problems. Push the brake pedal up and down. All OK.

At this stage everything seems to be going well , although from the look on my face and that of the mechanic you wouldn’t think so!! The car was then lowered back down to the ground and the mechanic went off to do the paperwork. Had it passed?

YES!!!

He was impressed with the quality of the build and congratulated me on what I had achieved. The only thing that he could have failed it on was the fact I had forgotten to fit rear reflectors. I had them, but it had just slipped my mind. He issued the MOT certificate on the condition that I would fit them as soon as I got home.

More to follow….

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