1967 Hillman Imp super

[14james]

Hi everyone
Thought I might aswell make one thread out of the two Imp ones I have on here
I got this car last november for my 14th birthday
And this was the state it was in



If your wondering why its so high, its because it was used for trialling, then it was sat in Stuarts (ex owner) graden for 5 years until he told me and my dad about it.
My dad and his mate simon had been trialling this for about 8 years

This car was bought for £50 and was painted in dulux.
I did my first three trials in this car, when mine was ready for an engine and gear box, they were taken out of the blue one and rebuilt and put in mine.
There was loads of body work to do on my car, the drivers side floor was replaced, both of the rear sills, the rest of the car was strengthened.
Then the prep work was done

The car was then painted and put back together.





























This was the cars first trial with me.









And the brown one
Yesterday we went to look at another Imp for me that I can restore for when I'm 17, originally I was supposed to be looking at a standard mk2 that was pretty original but I saw this brown race car that looked like a little club racer from the 80's, And thats because it is. My dad remembers seeing it at silverstone in the 1980's racing in the pre 65 masters so I know it's got history.
I only got one picture yesterday because it was in a barn with about 20 other imps. I havent got it home yet as we are busy doing trackdays and going to the saab national all next week but hopefully I will be able to get it home before the Imp national in about 2 weeks so that I can get some bits I need at the autojumble.
Anyway, heres a picture, If your wondering why the windows are smashed well its because a bunch of yobos got in the old barn and thought it funny to throw bricks through the cars windows.

Does anyone recognise it or know anything about it. From what I could see yesterday the driver was called Keith (i cant remember the last name).
Cheers, James

[rstaaron]

A garage with 20 Imps in it?! That's just greedy! I want one!

Your trial car looks smart now and good to see it used properly. Good luck with your new one too.

[14james]

Cheers for the kind comment
I have a play day/ testing day coming up this weekend so i will be able to get the green Imp out to stretch it's legs ;D
I have a couple of wheels with lower profile tyres that i am going to try as this will lower the gearing and might make the car a bit more forgiving at very low speeds and revs.
Cheers, James

[gurnersimps1963]

Great thread James,some cracking photo's there mate.

[14james]

Thanks Gurns
The play day went really well last sunday, the Imp was awesome, apart from a starter motor not throwing out and a bit of a misfire due to getting hot, it never missed a beat.








I hit a tree the damage wasnt as bad as i thought it would be though

We are going back to brickhill at the end of this month so i have already taken the sumpguard off and emptied it of all the mud and also the radiator
Cheers, James

[14james]

Hi everyone
Havent updated this in a while.
Me and my dad did another trial in the green Imp on the 4th of november which went well, my dad beat me by one point which was frustrating but I was happy as I gave him a scare ;D
It was also quite good because at lunchtime there was a couple of people driving around the outside of the field so I thought why not.
So everytime I got to a corner of the field I turned and gave it a bootful to get the back end right out. Gave me a bit of an insight as to how a car handles sideways

Any way back to the brown Imp.

This was the rear drivers side arch


And now. Note also the new sill extension (black repair panel)
I have also managed to strip all the underseal off the bottom of the floor pan and it very nearly all solid apart from one small hole.

I was given this front end panel so I could cut the heaterbox out of it to put in the brown Imp as the original one has been cut about for an extra little radiator that was fitted for racing.
More updates when the weather clears up
Cheers, James
P.S.
When i'm 17 and this is on the road i plan on getting it to the retro rides gathering for a thrash up prescot

[14james]

Hi everyone.
Just a small update, yesterday when i got back from school i went outside and started to strip the underseal off the front of the car.

This is the extra heater matrix that was put in for extra cooling back in the 80's when it was racing.

So i started to undo all the screws to try and get the "box" it was sitting in out.
This is it without the top part.

It was a bit of a pain but it came out eventually.

I also took off one of the indicators so i could get the underseal off that was surrounding it.

This is how it looks now.
Cheers, James

[14james]

Hi everyone
A bit more progress.

This is under the battery tray, doesnt look pretty but it is sold as anything which is the main thing.

This is what it was like before

These are the bits left that need doing, they are only small bits and shouldn't take too long to sort out.



Any comments welcome
Cheers, James

[raymondmarble]

If you are 15, that is seriously impressive work!! Top job James, and looking forward to seeing how the brown car turns out. If it was a race car, what is different about it? Suspension, engine etc.
Cheers!

[14james]

Dec 14, 2012 21:27:44 GMT raymondmarble said:

If you are 15, that is seriously impressive work!! Top job James, and looking forward to seeing how the brown car turns out. If it was a race car, what is different about it? Suspension, engine etc.
Cheers!

Hi raymond
I'm actually 16 now ;D , I do most of the work but my dad does the welding and grinding for me.
When we went to get it it still had the race springs on and it was really really low! It also has a nice set of adjustable spax dampers, I'm not sure wether they are still ok but the shafts/pistons still move in and out, I really hope they're ok because they look so retro and i think they look right on the car.
In the pre'65 championship you were only allowed to run the standard engine with an overbore so it had a 915cc engine with the standard solex carb (you had to run a standard carb aswell!?!), I heard they ran a very large drill bit down the solex to open it up as much as possible and get more air down it, and they also drilled the main jet out and it went quite well after that.
I dragged the L4 engine i was given out so i could take the head off and have a look to see how bad it was :roll:


Got the cambox cover off and the camshaft, carrier,shim and bucket all looked nice and clean


Then i took the cam carrier off undo-ing each nut a tiny bit at a time praying i wouldn't hear a snap :lol: :roll: , I made sure all the shims and buckets went back in exactly the same place as they came out.

Then i went inside and grabbed an Imp haynes manual just to remind myself as to which order to undo the cylinder head bolts, undo-ing them again only a tiny bit at a time.

I carefully lifted the head off and made sure i didn't drop the timing chain down into the depths of the engine.

It doesn't look too bad to be honest, looks as though it might have been run a bit rich.

The pistons look as though they're ok but are again covered in carbon.
This is the only bit that worries me a little bit, there is little bits of metal missing in a couple of places on the top of the liners.

I will get the sump off and get the pistons out so i can check the piston rings and the bearings.
Cheers, James

[14james]

Hi everyone
Went outside again and did a bit more on the engine but didn't do too much because the grandparents came round and it started raining again

I sorted out the headbolts and got them all in the right place so they can be cleaned up and put back where they cam from.

I also drained the oil (and some water from where the engine has sat outside in the rain :roll: ) and got the sump off to have a look at the crank and get the pistons and rods out, didn't get time to get the pistons and rods out so that will be tomorrow's job as long as the weather is ok.
Cheers, James

[willowandmikey]

That's impressive stuff at 16 great project nice to see a father and son doing some good work. I'm trying to get my girl into cars but she is only 3 :-)

[14james]

Hi everyone
I haven't updated this in a long time.
I have got quite a bit done over the last month or two.
Pictures!














Cheers, James

[MK2VR6]

Great work with the Imps, and excellent find with the brown ex racer. Love a car with a story. It would be good if you could find out more about it. On an aside, my earliest memories of my mum's cars was her Sunbeam Stiletto. Cool little car - still remember the twisty handles on the engine cover; 2 twists and you're in!
Looking forward to seeing how the collection evolves.

[randywanger_]

Common as muck around here ;-) haha. Good to see more being saved, used and enjoyed!
I really like the look of the brown one, makes me smile! What colour are you doing it next?

[14james]

Feb 18, 2013 16:29:55 GMT MK2VR6 said:

Great work with the Imps, and excellent find with the brown ex racer. Love a car with a story. It would be good if you could find out more about it. On an aside, my earliest memories of my mum's cars was her Sunbeam Stiletto. Cool little car - still remember the twisty handles on the engine cover; 2 twists and you're in!
Looking forward to seeing how the collection evolves.

Thankyou for the kind comments I have been talking to my friend who is in my local motor club and he used to help out with the brown Imp back in the eighties and still knows the bloke who used to own and race it, he thinks he has some photos of it "back in the day" so i need to keep pestering my friend for the bloke's email.
I have 6 litres of "sandalwood gold" which is more metallic bronze than gold
Cheers, James

[14james]

Hi everyone
I haven't updated this in a very long time.
The gold Imp looks alot different now.



It's also got an interior now


That interior came out of this.
I've built a gearbox and I'm in the process of building an engine.
All the brakes and the suspension has been rebuilt.
I still have the trials Imp, since the last post I've knackered some driveshafts, smashed a driveshaft coupling or 2, stripped alot of weight out of it, won a couple of trials overall (making me the youngest ever to do so), replaced the back window with a less leaky one, oh and did a bit of drifting in the fields in between.

Cheers, James

[79cord]

Great to see the transformation, looks great. Still like the bright & obscure colour of the trials car though!

[darrenh]

yowser, great finish

[14james]

Dec 16, 2013 14:12:05 GMT darrenh said:

yowser, great finish

Yeah it's not come out bad for a £30 paint job