Excellent! Frank in QLD has an Imp Sport head for me, missing a couple of springs but they would be replaced anyhow I guess. Also got the proper GT distributor and oil cooler plumbing for me too. Should have the parts in a few weeks.

It seems the poor old blue car has had a fair few of its GT parts swapped out. Today I confirmed its driveshafts are not the proper 1″ GT shafts. Never fear though, if worse came to worse the shafts in the red car are the ridgey didge item. But I don’t need to go to that extreme as I had a complete set of suspension arms with hub/brake assemblies and 1″ driveshafts given to me by the previous owner.

This is a blessing in disguise though really (did I just use the “b” word? thats out of character!) as it means I can refurbish these arms, get them nicely sandblasted and powder coated, replace the bushings, the bearings, freshen up the brakes and all ready to slot straight under the blue car after its painted, meaning it wont have to spend any more time without suspension under it than it takes to swap the old for the new. I just hope this suspension is the same pivot point setup as the car needs. (knowing my luck lately it wont be)

And just so it doesnt feel too neglected, here are some photos of the red car.

Previous owner seems to have had a fetish for spotlights…

Today I removed the engine and gearbox from the GT. Engine removal from Imp’s is a relatively straightforward process. It was made even easier for me because there were a few parts not there or not connected, namely the heater hoses, oil cooler (thanks to not having the correct head), coil and the throttle linkage.

Anyhow, I took my time disconnecting things, taking note of where they came from. I took care to put a label on all the electrical connections so I knew what they went to.

Everything came apart quite easily, with the exception of the flexible coupling for the gear shift. I thought I had it detached, and propped the engine up and pushed the car and it took the engine with it, so I put the rear crossmember back on and hung the engine back up, and lifted the car off the ground again. Eventually I got the flexi coupling off, and removed the entire gear shifter assembly, as it needs to be replaced with the proper GT item from the red car anyhow.

I dropped the car back onto the ground and removed the engine mount and rear crossmember, after propping the motor on an axle stand, trolley jack and piles of wood. I gingerly pushed the car forward and the engine stayed put! Yay! Even better, it didn’t fall over! Though I did have a clearance issue with the side of the radiator cowl and a rotoflex coupling, and also with the side of a carburettor and a bracket on the chassis rail, but it was nothing a little jiggling about of the engine didn’t fix.

 

So with the car clear of the motor, I ended out with this.

 

Here are the casting numbers for the head (a Mk1 head unfortunately) and the block.

 

The block also has these numbers cast on it…

 

This is sort of below where the generator sits.

 

This is below the starter motor.

 

These are indicators as to bore size for the original builders to let them know what size pistons to use.

 

This is on the top of the bellhousing.

 

Not sure what this stamping means on the head…

 

Thermostat housing.

 

The number stamped on the distributor tells me this is not the proper distributor either. Though I will probably replace it with a 123ignition system if they do in fact work on Imps. Though they are not cheap, they are maintenance free and should go quite well.

 

This is where the engine number is meant to be stamped. Its absence suggests the block is a spare part block bought new at some point.

 

I have been told this is an oil pressure switch for a gauge but I dont think the car has an oil pressure gauge…?

 

Pretty sure this is the temp gauge sender.

 

Just a shot of the twin Strombergs here.  Seems they are about the only GT part left on the motor (that and the oil cooler).

 

Another wrong part… the oil filter block does not have the connector for the oil cooler on it.

 

The round moulding in the block seen here needs to be drilled and threaded for a banjo fitting for the oil drain from the head. The sport heads springs did not allow enough flow of oil down the timing chain cover so it had a drain on the other end of the head as well that went to this point in the block.

 

This shot shows the casting numbers on the gearcase/transaxle.

 

And finally this is the left hand side rotoflex, its quite stuffed.

 

Any comments, information, corrections or answers are greatly appreciated. A big thanks to the crew at Ozimps especially Darcy Frank and Tim for their help so far.