Rusted old wrecks

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Wot? I've missed that one, although at one time I had a 309 diesel.....
Was the belt twisted through 90 degrees or something? :eek: Surely not.
John :)
 
I remember that one, it went round an idler pulley set at 90° to the pulleys on the front and drove the fan. I wonder why they didn't just use an electric motor?
 
Mursal said:
Fiat Mirafiori (MK1), had to reverse up the road to release the front caliper, or was it just me? When you eventually got home, you always had that sense of achievement.
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My grandad had a Mirafiori Abarth! By all accounts it was an absolute beast of a car, but it ended it's days at (relatively) low speed when some berk jumped a red light and T-boned it.
 
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haha, I've owned Imps for the last 14 years and never had one overheat on me. Think people look after them better and use better fluids and the gaskets have been improved nowadays. I've snapped a cam in three a couple of times, but never any overheating. (Think bouncing the revs round the 9k mark may have pushed the cam to it's limits).

My MOT guy is used to me now, I always jump in there when he checks the king pins on the Imp van and get's a bit of play. I tell him it's always going to have a little play and he just replies "yeah, I know I'm in to my classics as well"
 
Talking about Imps, doughnuts exploding and reverse gear selector pivots sheering off, back wheels (NS) coming off due to tab washer failure and play in the splines. Heater hose changes, Oooo loverly job, bleeding air from the cooling system, steering rack coming apart, rust aound the boot jam and the rear hatch window. throttle cable breaks, you have to use the choke to get you home....deep joys....I loved my imp for all its faults and there were many.........
 
Dont forget the upmarket Singer Chamois with its twin carbs..back in the old days I bought the parts van (imp) from main Chrysler dealer I worked at, Obviously the paint scheme had to go,painted it rover zircon blue...lovely! Those imp engines always seemed ok, revved freely, poor maintenance by owners(usual story) Not bad though considering it started life as a water pump.Anyone remember the Hunter GLS?
 
Definitely not the 309, it was a good bit before that. I think it was the 304 or 504
 
kilovolt said:
Dont forget the upmarket Singer Chamois with its twin carbs..back in the old days I bought the parts van (imp) from main Chrysler dealer I worked at, Obviously the paint scheme had to go,painted it rover zircon blue...lovely! Those imp engines always seemed ok, revved freely, poor maintenance by owners(usual story) Not bad though considering it started life as a water pump.Anyone remember the Hunter GLS?
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Do you have any photo's of it in the dealer colours? Would help me with a project I have on the go.
 
And the "classics" Chrysler Sunbeam, Horizon and the middle one that I cant remember the name?

Scrap as a word don't really do them justice.
 
I had an Imp back in 88, put a Sunbean Stiletto motor in her(twin carbs, oil cooler etc), rebuilt it 1st (I worked in an engine shop at the time) - skimmed head & block (oversize gasket fitted), new valves, seats and guides, rebored & new pistons, reground crank with new ends, mains and thrust washers, machined the reverse scroll off the crank and machined the block castings to take a regular oil seal, new cam, chain and cogs, fully balanced and lightened (rods etc) the FULL MONTY, was running it in (max 50mph) - got to 400 miles and one of the heads fell off a valve, landed upright on a piston, said piston came to tdc pushing the head into the piston, split the piston in 2 and cracked the block (cast liners in an alloy block for those who are not familuar) - bits cost me 300 quid at the time, went back to suppliers and they said very sorry - faulty valve, heres a replacment valve for free ! aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !
 
Stivino said:
Definitely not the 309, it was a good bit before that. I think it was the 304 or 504
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Could have been a 304 (long time ago and I only ever worked on one (actually only ever saw 1)

Defo not the 504, that was the one where you could get the engine out on 10 minutes (unhook 5 lots of wireing, 3 hoses, pull rad out and undo 3 allen bolts to g/box)
 
£300 wont buy you much in Imp engines these days. A second hand Sport lump from a Sunbeam Imp sport or Stiletto will set you back anywhere from £250 to £500 and the 998cc can cost over £2k for a basic tuned one, full race in excess and over bored 1040cc etc will easily take you over the £4k mark... yes, you can restore a complete classic mini for the price of a full race Imp engine!!!

My Californian currently has a 915cc with performance solex but I did have a 930 from the Talbot Sunbeam which is the same block, just upright rather than at 45 degrees.

Wish I could fit the Lotus Talbot Sunbeam engine in it ;)
 
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