Excellent! There is a cardboard box on my kitchen table at the moment containing an Imp Sport head, GT distributor, and oil cooler fittings. Excitement! I will have to get some pictures later on.
Just got an email from Frank saying my box of parts came back to him. Seems the heavy rain in QLD managed to run the ink from the texta he wrote my address with. Damn lucky the return address didn’t get smudged too, or it would have been lost forever. The box suffered some damage and the carby top must have fallen out and has disappeared, so Frank is looking for another one for me and will send it later, which will slow down my carby rebuild process (provided I actually get myself a rebuild kit some time soon)
Took my neighbor Dave to see the red car tonight. We had to move it further into the garage, as it was blocking the entrance. We decided it best to push the car back out of the garage and push it back in forwards, which worked a treat, though we had to make a few alterations to the trajectory to save the door mirror and handle. The other reason for the visit was to pinch a wheel from the front of it so I can move the blue car to the garage back at home. We made the journey to the red car armed with trolley jack, axle stand and wheel braces. However it was all unnecessary when we opened the front of the car to find a serviceable spare wheel and tyre. Both the rears on the red car were flat as a tack, and the blue cars drivers side rear is falling to pieces, delaminated and split very badly.
Since we did not have to jack the car up and remove a wheel, we got to looking for something else to do, so we tried to remove the passenger side engine cover latch, which was missing from the blue car. One of the screws didn’t want to budge so I went poking around elsewhere. Dave decided to keep going at it and eventually got the screw out and cleaned the mechanism up nicely, so its ready to go on the blue car now. I pulled the dummy GT grille from the front of the car, as well as the Hillman gear shift knob, steering wheel centre piece and the rubber button that pumps the windscreen washer.
We gave the car a bit of an inspection (I didn’t have my camera with me unfortunately) and I have definitely made the right decision choosing the blue car as the one to fix first. The red car has a lot more dents, some nasty rust and is generally worse off. I will pull whatever parts I need off it, but only what I really need because its missing or broken on the blue car. I think the glass is in very good condition, though the frame for the rear window is quite rusted. Incidentally, there was a gas strut on the rear window of this car. A modification I had planned for the blue one. Thats one job saved, I just need to transfer the mountings over.
Some very dodgy wiring in this car too. I do wonder why the previous owner felt it needed two pairs of driving lights PLUS a pair of yellow foglights… The windscreen washer bladder has been replaced with a drink bottle. And there is an old fire extinguisher cable tied to the underside of the dash top, passenger side. I couldn’t pull it out, fat load of good it would have been in a fire.
It is interesting to note the differences between the cars. I have no idea what the build dates are for the cars. The red one has the Chrysler pentagon badge on the bottom of the front guards. The blue one hasn’t, but thats not to say it never had them. I discovered a bonnet release cable on the passenger side of the dash that seems missing from the blue car. They both have a purple wire going into the air intake for the ventilation system, not sure what that is, as I thought they didnt have a blower? Maybe they do? Maybe thats what the other toggle switch on the dash is for? The red car has a choke lever on the floor directly in front of the gear shifter. The blue car does not have this, I can’t even see any provision for it there. Unless it is an automatic choke model? Again, I have no idea if there is such a thing…
Anyhow, we got what we needed. Though I walked away a little saddened. I knew the car was not as good as the blue one, but the closer I looked tonight the more I found, and it is sad since it was the car that originally got me interested in Imps. Oh well. Maybe one day I might properly strip it to bare minimum, fit some fibreglass panels and a spaceframe and fit a motorbike engine or something to it and make a hillclimb or drag special out of it.
The blue car continues to amaze me with how good it actually is. Yesterday we had very heavy rain and it only sprang a small leak from the rear window/hatch. I emailed off today asking about wheels and tyres, and also about rubber seals and window seal kits. Looking forward to getting a fresh coat of paint on it and all. Really keen to see if the motor will start, just need a few small parts before I can try: a battery, a coil, an ignition key(!), a carby linkage bracket and a rubber seal for the radiator fan should just about do it. The radiator seems to have straight water in there so I hope it has not corroded too badly. The oil seems quite clean, though should be changed. The air filter element is AWOL and I am yet to check the spark plugs. Inside the distributor looks clean and good. Brakes will need fluid, there is a lot of air in them. Otherwise they to are an unknown quantity.
Seems most of the interior panels have been made out of beer cartons or signs. Boags mostly. In both cars. But thats OK, they will serve as a template and we will cut new ones out of some thin MDF and cover them, either in a black vinyl or I might go plush and use alcantra. Probably going to get the Cobra Classic seats though they have no headrest. There is a version with headrests but they are around $200 dearer each… hmm. I think they only come in black vinyl. But even still the alcantra would look trick on the door trims, and I would probably get the whole dash done in it too.
Hopefully tomorrow I can get this wheel on the car and borrow some mates to help push it up into the garage.