Nigels Imps http://impgt.com Restoration of two Hillman Imp GTs Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:27:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Suspension Bushes http://impgt.com/2009/12/suspension-bushes/ http://impgt.com/2009/12/suspension-bushes/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:27:06 +0000 Nigel Honey http://impgt.com/?p=43 Had a bag of new Fulcrum suspension bushes arrive today from Frank. Plan is to fit these to the spare suspension after I get it blasted and painted, and swap it over into the car, meaning the car wont have to sit on blocks.

]]> http://impgt.com/2009/12/suspension-bushes/feed/ 0 Oops. Nearly a year. Damn, http://impgt.com/2009/12/oops-nearly-a-year-damn/ http://impgt.com/2009/12/oops-nearly-a-year-damn/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:59:20 +0000 Nigel Honey http://impgt.com/?p=36 Nearly a year since the last post here.

Car is still in the shed.

I have a new laminated windscreen and rubber sitting under my bed.

I have some new suspension bushes on the way, should be here tomorrow I guess.

I should do some work on this damn car.

Oh there was an Imp for sale in the paper the other day, I went and had a look.  Advertised for wreck or restoration, but it would be a brave man who would take on this job.  Blue seems rather good by comparison.  Actually, even Red does…

]]> http://impgt.com/2009/12/oops-nearly-a-year-damn/feed/ 0 Slack http://impgt.com/2009/01/slack-2/ http://impgt.com/2009/01/slack-2/#comments Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:20:59 +0000 Nigel Honey http://impgt.com/?p=35 Well, I have been almost as slack with the build blog as I have been with actually working on the car.  Yes I am still here, still alive, just had no time to work on the car… doh!

]]> http://impgt.com/2009/01/slack-2/feed/ 0 Windscreen and other ramblings http://impgt.com/2008/08/windscreen-and-other-ramblings/ http://impgt.com/2008/08/windscreen-and-other-ramblings/#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:40:04 +0000 Nigel Honey http://impgt.com/2008/08/windscreen-and-other-ramblings/ Well my new laminated windscreen is finally in Australia. Now we just need to get it to Hobart.
I am still hunting for a panel beater / spray painter to do the body work as well.
Hopefully the weather will start to fine up again soon so I get motivated to do some work on the Imp.
I have also been wondering about the Smart FourTwo powerplant. I don’t know a great deal about them but they are RWD, I guess mid mounted? Three cylinder 900cc I think, with a turbo version too. I wonder if it could be made to fit an Imp?

]]> http://impgt.com/2008/08/windscreen-and-other-ramblings/feed/ 0 1/4 vent seals from Frank http://impgt.com/2008/07/14-vent-seals-from-frank/ http://impgt.com/2008/07/14-vent-seals-from-frank/#comments Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:06:56 +0000 Nigel Honey http://impgt.com/?p=32 Well here we are, the future is here. I am sitting in my lounge room writing my blog on my iPhones tiny virtual keys so excuse the typos here and there! My 1/4 vent rubbers arrived from Frank the other day and while it will be some time before I can fit them they are great quality and Frank is to be applauded and supported by the Imp community for his efforts in keeping the marque alive. I will try get some pix up soon.

]]> http://impgt.com/2008/07/14-vent-seals-from-frank/feed/ 0 BBC Four Documentary – The Cars The Star http://impgt.com/2008/05/bbc-four-documentary-the-cars-the-star/ http://impgt.com/2008/05/bbc-four-documentary-the-cars-the-star/#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 08:07:01 +0000 Nigel Honey http://impgt.com/?p=31 Found this on YouTube, well worth a watch. Tells the story of the Imp.

Part 1

Part 2

]]> http://impgt.com/2008/05/bbc-four-documentary-the-cars-the-star/feed/ 0 Whats going on Nigel, there hasn’t been an update in a month! http://impgt.com/2008/05/whats-going-on-nigel-there-hasnt-been-an-update-in-a-month/ http://impgt.com/2008/05/whats-going-on-nigel-there-hasnt-been-an-update-in-a-month/#comments Mon, 12 May 2008 00:17:37 +0000 Nigel Honey http://impgt.com/?p=30 Why? Because I have been bloody slack really. Not had time to do a thing to the car, barely even opened the garage door. However the windscreen should not be far off, and the 1/4 window seals Frank has made are ready. I need to get the glass out and get the paint off. The guy that is/was helping me to do the bodywork tells me he is not keen to do it, but will guide me on doing it myself. I dont know if I will have time, but the guy that owns the swimming pool where Lucas has his lessons just had a VW Beetle painted buy a guy who I am hoping might be able to help, he has done a great job on the VW, so I would be happy for him to do it. Will keep you posted…

]]> http://impgt.com/2008/05/whats-going-on-nigel-there-hasnt-been-an-update-in-a-month/feed/ 0 Owner of the dark blue GT found… possibly http://impgt.com/2008/04/owner-of-the-dark-blue-gt-found-possibly/ http://impgt.com/2008/04/owner-of-the-dark-blue-gt-found-possibly/#comments Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:06:32 +0000 Nigel Honey http://impgt.com/?p=29 Got an email from a guy by the name of Jason the other night, who says he believes the dark blue car in this post is his car.  

Hi Nigel

Just been looking at your Imp pages on the web.  I used to live in Tas until 2001 and kept an eye out for Imps.  I purchased a blue GT in Hobart in about 1996 with a light blue interior.  It had been resprayed a darker blue over the original mid blue.  It was unregistered when I purchased and had a problem with the gearbox but it ran and was a clean car with no rust.  I am not sure whether the unidentified blue car in the picture could be my car before I purchased.  It looks a bit shinier than I remember mine being but you never know.  The car is in storage in Tas.

I was also given an early GT from a guy in Burnie.  The car was a complete wreck with an amazing amount of rust and dents, and a seized motor.  I was going to use it for a few parts (glass etc) but the car had to be moved when I was overseas and the last I heard was that it was taken away by a wrecking yard.

I also recall looking at a white GT in Launceston in about 2000 which had been brought to Tas from the Northern Territory.  It was a pretty original running car but I had no room at the time and passed up the opportunity to purchase it.  Funny, but it was for sale again on ebay last year – dont know where it went from there.

You dont see many Imps around anymore.  Good to see there are a few fans of these little cars out there.

Regards
Jason
Queensland

Naturally I asked if the car would be for sale, but Jason would like to get the car back to Brisbane at some stage, though the logistics of that are a bit daunting. Come on Jason… sell me the car dammit ;)

]]> http://impgt.com/2008/04/owner-of-the-dark-blue-gt-found-possibly/feed/ 0 Another book http://impgt.com/2008/04/another-book/ http://impgt.com/2008/04/another-book/#comments Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:05:01 +0000 Nigel Honey http://impgt.com/?p=28 Picked up another Imp book from ebay, this one is called “The Cassell Book of the Hillman Imp”, not a bad pickup for $5 plus postage.

]]> http://impgt.com/2008/04/another-book/feed/ 0 Stupid Word Press http://impgt.com/2008/04/stupid-word-press/ http://impgt.com/2008/04/stupid-word-press/#comments Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:35:23 +0000 Nigel Honey http://impgt.com/?p=27 Well I upgraded WordPress to 2.5 (from 2.3.3) and its broken the site. The installation said there was only 3 steps and “were you expecting more”. Well I wasnt expecting it to break things! I am working on it and hope to find out where the error is soon….

EDIT: Its all kinda fixed now, though I still have some settings to fix up and so on.  But it works and thats the main thing.

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