1974 Reliant Scimitar X30XE : Scimega

[DWDarkWheels]

Nice of you to say so, bud!

I'm well into my photography, but that was really just a shot to show how the new mount is done. It was dark, and on-camera flash is a bit harsh, but that one was only lit by an LED lamp that came with my cordless drill (powered by the same rechargeable battery.)

[tattoo101]

nice to see some progress buddy. keep it up

[DWDarkWheels]

Happy New Year!

I had to wait for my photobucket account to reset at the start of a new month, as it had gone over bandwidth limit.

Time for the body to come off. All done with an engine hoist, 2 trolley jacks and Heath Robinson

Forget shark-teeth graphics...RAAAARGHH! Scimitar's gonna get you!



Forgive the foggy pictures. It was late at this stage and the camera didn't react well to the moisture in the air.





The chassis will need some work, especially the front outriggers and the the rear trailing arm mounts / roll hoop mounts. To be honest, I forgot to undo the rollbar, but it didn't offer any resistance when I lifted the body.
As you can see, Jenny is unimpressed with the rot.

[DWDarkWheels]

Just time for a quick look around the chassis today. I had a poke at the worst bits, the outside ends of the tubes supporting the rear trailing arm mounts.

The right hand one isn't too bad. The plates for the seat belt mounts and the roll hoop need to be remade.



The left hand side is a different story. Chipping the flaky bits off with a hammer, the tube seemed very easy to dent. Then I spotted that a thin piece of tin had been bodged to the top of the tube.
I bashed it off and eeeeeewwwwww.

[Alpina99]

This is absolutely brilliant !
Love Scimitars (although prefer SE6's),
Better power, better performance but with better economy - excellent,
Will follow this one because I'd love to do something similar on one, very interesting,
Please keep the updates comimg,
:-)

[carmad]

Good to see your still at it looks well

[DWDarkWheels]

What hadn't occurred to me until I lifted the body off, was a tubular brace across the middle of the car and how it was going to foul the prop-shaft.
After much measuring with the rear suspension at full compression and full droop, I've had to lift the gearbox mount by about 14mm. Otherwise the prop-shaft would lie on the brace.

You can see it under the prop-shaft in the pic. At full droop I could probably squeeze my little finger in there.

And before anyone jumps in, the shaft is just a mock-up to check lengths and fitment :-) I will take it to an engineering firm I've used before to make up properly.
Ideally I'd like to include a sliding joint, both to reduce strain as the suspension moves, but to make it easier to get the shaft on in the first place.
Through the rear suspension's range of travel, the length of the shaft only needs to change about 2mm, which I guess the big rubber doughnut should be able to take up



Also, by a bit of luck, the unused part of the Omega shaft is the right diameter to start repairing the chassis.

[callumaspinall]

updates needed pleaseeee i wana see more\!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cianha]

Great to see the progress, glad there weren't too many sur[rise when you lifted off the body !

[DWDarkWheels]

Thanks vdubbin. Yeah, bit of a relief. The bits that need attention are the front outriggers and the outer ends of the tubes ahead of the rear wheels. That's pretty damned good for a 37 year old car. The rest seems sound.

A pair of replacement outriggers and new side rails came from Graham Walker (Scimitar specialists) today.

Also arrived today was a secondhand stainless steel fuel tank bought off eBay. And that's how it was listed! "stainless steel fuel tank ". Not a mention of what car it came from. I recognised it in the picture. A new one is over £300. Other than the smell of petrol from it, I'd swear it has never been in a car. It cost me £55 plus postage. ;D

I'm off to an engineering firm to discuss prop-shaft tomorrow. The mock-up shaft won't do, nor will the idea of using the Omega rubber donut. I have a plan, but need to see if this crowd can do it for me.

callumaspinall : I love your enthusiasm, but the next few weeks are likely to show pics of more rusty bits :-)

[DWDarkWheels]

3 lucky strikes recently.

1. Nice ebay bargain



2. I don't have much steel lying around for repairs, so the Omega propshaft is of the right diameter to repair the rear tube. I've redone this as I didn't cut far enough back to remove the bad section. I cut it inboard of the rear trailing arm bracket, which meant keeping the bracket to refit to the new piece of tube.

3. I found a lovely big piece of sheet steel in the skip at work, complete with folds and welded corners. This has already been used to repair the bad trailing arm bracket, and the corners can be used for the new seat belt mounts.



Replacement side rail and front outrigger from Graham Walker have been fitted on one side too.



All-in-all, a very satisfying weekend's work.

The drive flange from the gearbox and my prop-shaft bits are now with Robert Hoy Engineering in Ahoghill. They're going to convert the drive flange into something that can accept a conventional Universal joint, and make up a custom prop.
I can't wait to see what they make up.

[mrluke]

Keep it up nice to see somebody else with a GRP shell

[DWDarkWheels]

Cheers, fellah. It's all a bit 'love for the underdog', kinda like your G28. I've a mate with a G26, though it's been off the road for years, but there's potential to make something tasty out of those old Ginetta saloons. Your Nissan conversion should fool a few people :-)

[tattoo101]

nice finds buddy. chassis coming along nicley

[DWDarkWheels]

I've been distracted by decorating the hall and landing recently. It's almost finished so I got out to play today. And very enjoyable it was too.

Both sides now have replacement side rails and front outriggers, and have new plates for seatbelt mounts (the large corner plate in the piccie). I hope to use the new plates for a rollbar instead, and mount the seat belts on the rollbar. I'll know better when the body goes back on.

With repairs mostly done, I started with some fillets to strengthen the trailing arm mounts.



Some more fillets in the kicked-up area. I've also added a central plate. I hope this can be used as the mount for bracing to make the rollbar into a half-cage. I know this isn't the best option for strength, but my plan is for the car still to be a road-car, complete with back seats. So instead of 2 tubular braces back to the main rails, my idea is to have tubing pass between the rear seats.

[DWDarkWheels]

I collected the prop-shaft this week.

Here's the nice solution the engineering firm came up with.

The 3-fingered spider on the back of the gearbox has been lightly machined. You can see the shiny face and shoulders of the fingers. That's to true-up the mounting face.



Add a solid adaptor. You can just see the lip that centres it on the spider.



The rear face of the adaptor is tapped for a traditional UJ, and the internal diameter is sized for the spigot on the face of the UJ.



I'm very pleased that my measurements on propshaft length were correct. It doesn't matter how many times you measure it, you're always nervous until you get the shaft back and trial fit it.

[teaboy]

Feb 4, 2012 19:12:10 GMT DWDarkWheels said:

my idea is to have tubing pass between the rear seats.

I like this car.

IMO rear seats and roll cages are not a good combination.
You should decide on one or the other.
In the event of an accident, being flung into a solidly mounted metal tube would not do anyone any good.

[chairchild]

Very nice solution to an annoying problem! Guessing from the sheer size, it's an alloy adaptor?



and has someone made a cheeky modification to the crossmember thingie?

[DWDarkWheels]

Teaboy, I agree with you entirely on the rear seats.
The only reason I might still fit them is to make the car interior look finished. What I have in mind for the half-cage might well make the seats impossible to get into anyway.

Chairchild. Indeedy. Getting the gearbox low enough in the tunnel meant the prop ran close to that crossmember towards full droop. That little repair (ahem!) has gained some clearance.

[callumaspinall]

updates needed