rain & rust

Today and yesterday I set about fitting the slave front shockers to the shell. When I removed the original Armstrong shocks years ago I did it by undoing the top nuts not realising you can also remove them by unscrewing 2 nuts and 2 bolts that hold the strut cap to the body. This cap holds the whole spring/shock assy in place.

 The second hand parts I bought had the top caps in place so I decided to remove my originals and just bolt in the new units. To say my caps were rusty is an understatement but things always look worse when its wet and dark. I could hardly see what I was doing as there are no lights in the lock up and not much daylight coming in from outside but my trusty mobile phone meant I could take pics of hidden areas to asses the situation and also use as a light source.

Amazingly the nuts all came apart without anything shearing so the pronts are now on and the rears I fitted a few months ago. Next step is to fit the steering mechanism up front then tip the whole thing back on to solid ground and get it wheeled on to a trailer.

The rain coming in is truly depressing so it will be nice to get the shell to somewhere dry and get working on it.

Snap-On 1/22 single hex socket good fit on old nut

driver's side front strut bracket

passenger side strut bracket with old cap still in place underneath

underside of driver's side strut with top cap still in place

driver's side strut bracket with cap still in place

old cap after removal

underside of driver's side strut bracket after top cap removed

top of passenger side strut bracket after cap removed

passenger side front strut bracket after top cap removed

second hand 'slave' strut with top cap in place

warped

A major factor in the lack of progress on the Imp recently has been the problems I’m having with my welding. I had an SIP Migmate 100 for about 15 years and welding with it was never a problem. I quite enjoyed it as I always got good results. In March 09 the Migmate stopped working and I ended up with a Clarke 100 EN gas/gasless machine and the results I’ve had with that have not been good. I decided I would use it throu to the end of repairing the panel I’ve been working on then by something else if I couldn’t get good with it.

As detailed in previous posts I spent many hours preparing the ‘sub panel’ for repairs trying to get the new metal to match the original corroded areas as closely as possible. The pics below may show how the repairs could have been succesfull.

many hours spent creating perfect patch to repair end of strut but with only minimal welding it bent out of shape

sub panel looking a lot better with new metal on the corroded ends

on 1st side repaired problem with deeper-than-original-flutes was tackled by hammering reliefs into metal to clear strut on rear

new metal to repair corroded end of strut

sound end of strut showing how flutes need reduced in depth to sit properly on strut

on 2nd side repaired different technique used…. flutes cut down middle folded in and re-welded to lose some metal

this side tackled first. strut on rear needed repair section as well as ribbed panel

I spent many hours working on the panel above trying to replicate the original corroded areas as closely as possible only for it all to be ruined by warping of the metal which I have never encountered before. The pics below will show this.

another view of distortion which occured at final stage of repairing RHS of panel

many hours spent creating perfect patch to repair end of strut but with only minimal welding it bent out of shape

 

I can now bring myself to deal with this problem as I have bought another Migmate 100 :  )  and am filled with enthusiasm thinking that in a week or so I’ll be welding away again. Tomorrow I am also starting the task of getting the shell back on four wheels again to be moved to the barn where there is a space waiting for it.

time to move on

Last summer I had plans to move the Imp bodyshell to my rented barn to start on the bodywork. This isn’t a easy as it sounds because the car was stripped of all components and turned on its side in the lock up garage shown in the 2nd picture below (one with the doors open).

All the running gear was stripped to be powder coated and that involves removing bushes etc so it can’t usually all be bolted straight back on without some new parts. I embarked on refitting it all so I can get the shell rolling again to move from the lock up to the barn and by about October ’09 I had assembled some 2nd hand shockers etc and it was nearly ready to go but the barn is also full of other projects which I have been busy on (Daimler Double Six VDP 1974 and 5 1970’s motorbikes) so I didn’t make the move over the festive period etc. 

Anyway I visited the lock up on Saturday gone, where the car has sat without rusting any further than when I got it, to find water pouring in the roof from the thawing snow because the local kids have ripped all the felt off the roof. I could have killed someone! and it is pointless trying to get the council to repair the roof as all they want to do is take the rent for the garages but not maintain them. The doors are hanging off, the lights don’t work and the roofs leak.

They say ‘every cloud has a silver lining’….well in this case it is that it means I will be moving the Imp now. I cleared some space for it in the barn last night and searched for the original front shocks to get the mounting bolts for the slaves I bought.  At the moment I can only find one but the other will turn up or I can use a metric bolt of similar size.

The original shocks are actually pretty special as they are adjustable armstrong ones from the 60s. You can see the model no. etc on them and I recently bought a CD Rom online with the original Armstrong sales literature for the shocks to compare with mine. They are AT9 models i believe and there is an article in the June 2001 edition of Impressions which gives a list of parts fitted to the Works Rally Imps by the Rootes competition Dept and their part no. was 1208 Armstrong adjustable AT9 front shock absorbers £6 10s. 

Armstrong AT9 adjustable front shocks

I also dug out the original wheels which, at first site, look like Minilites but have a slightly different rim. 

front and back views of Tech Del magnesium alloy wheels (12")

The February 2002 edition of Impressions (the monthly magazine of the Imp Club) shows a period ad for the wheels I have. They were Tech Del magnesium alloy wheels costing between £12 15s 6d and £15 18s depending on rim width. Mine were originally painted gold but I had them powdercoated silver a long time ago and got new tyres fitted. Looking closely at the add I can now see that the tyres in the ad were what was still fitted to mine when I bought the car!

period article (Autocar 16/8/66) featuring Tech Del alloy wheels