slammed 66
Posted a lot
www.gtturbo.org
Posts: 1,675
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Sept 21, 2006 0:36:05 GMT
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I'm really quite feeling 'impish' this week Please post advice on living with imps, parts prices, ease of working on them, tuning tips, which models are which and general pics that will make me dive for the kleenex. Anyone who knows me will know i have a fetish for turbos (and J birds but thats a different story) so will be interested to hear from mr 'blownimp' and other turbo imp owners Thankyou please
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Last Edit: Sept 21, 2006 0:36:42 GMT by slammed 66
86 Renault 5 GT Turbo 89 Renault extra 91 Skyline GTR 98 Mini 1275 mpi 99 Autech Rider www.gtturbo.org
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Sept 21, 2006 7:45:23 GMT
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you've reall opened a can of worms with this on,so i'll simplify it for you. 3 basic engines,low comp van engine,std car engine and sport engine.starts at 39bhp up to 55bhp for the twin carb sport lump. 3 basic body styles,saloon,coupe and van/estate. and bleedin hundreds (almost) of trim levels and variants,from bogo basic (nothing extra) right up to stiletto (posh and fast) or chamois (just posh usually) saloon coupe estate/van living with an imp,well its pretty easy,keep an eye on the cooling syatem,top up the oil and grease the kingpins will see you go far.parts are realatively easy to get hold of although original panels are scarce and repro ones can be pricey so aim to buy the best shell you can,mechanics are a doddle to find. the engine is a real peach,based on a coventry climax design.light ,you can lift one ok on your own and it loves to rev.bad news is it doesnt really like neglect and overheating and can really throw the teddies out the pram if abused to much starting at 39bhp for a std lump,the twin carb sport lump kicks out 55,a nice tractable tuned one about 80 ,and your looking at 120 ish for a race spec 1 litre.you can go bigger ,up to 1100 but peak power doesnt really increase to much,just a bit more torque. turbos? yeee ha ,i'm not sure what the guys on here ar unning bhp wise but i know of one car in the club that runs an alledged 195bhp turbo 1000cc and he used it daily to commute. boring stuff over now for some imp p*rn
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Sept 21, 2006 10:26:19 GMT
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there was a thread like this a while ago, but as always the search function throws a wobbly if you ask it for anything over 2 hours ago!
I think they are super fun, reliable (if looked after), good handling, and can be made to really hustle. They arnt too expensive at the moment, altough they are going up in price you can still have a minter for under a grand if you look hard.
Ill put some photos up in a bit once photobucket comes back online
J
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slammed 66
Posted a lot
www.gtturbo.org
Posts: 1,675
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Sept 21, 2006 23:14:01 GMT
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Anyone else?
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86 Renault 5 GT Turbo 89 Renault extra 91 Skyline GTR 98 Mini 1275 mpi 99 Autech Rider www.gtturbo.org
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Saru
Part of things
No Brand Loyalty
Posts: 460
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Sept 21, 2006 23:41:48 GMT
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Has a mid-mounted Alfa flat four. And it looks awesome. That's all I know.
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1974 Saab 99 EMSI bought a new car. It's 35 years old. My friends said I was mad. We'll see.
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slammed 66
Posted a lot
www.gtturbo.org
Posts: 1,675
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Sept 21, 2006 23:49:42 GMT
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Pass the kleenex ;D
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86 Renault 5 GT Turbo 89 Renault extra 91 Skyline GTR 98 Mini 1275 mpi 99 Autech Rider www.gtturbo.org
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Sept 21, 2006 23:55:50 GMT
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A few pictures of mine MMMmmm spaceframe Right got photo*uckit working, so pics it is Although the imp is only blessed with four gears, the box is smooth and one of the best stock 'boxes i have ever used. Top isnt exactly and overdrive but motorway crusing can be taken at 70mph easy, as the engine loves to rev. The handling as stock is pretty good but as some of the cars were blessed with positive camber, the front wheels can tuck under when cornering hard, easliy solved with lowering . The funny stock camber was beause the car was designed put into production and then considered from the american market, at this point the lights were too high so they put long springs in it! Early cars had high pivot suspension and this combined with the long springs gave the positive camber, it was sorted on the later cars with a different pivot point. Parts arnt bad, lowering springs are about £100 for a full set new, nearly everything is available new. Even a 930cc engine from a talbot is availble, it needs minor modifications to fit but is stronger and better designed, its what i have in my car. Tuning wise the main thing to concentrate on is head work, to stop the engine producing power from its F1 heratige they closed all the ports up. Bigger valves a monster cam and some head work can see some serious power increases. The bottom end is made from i think EN8 or EN40b steel, forged, so its mega strong and when polished and combined with a block strengthening kit will see the engine past 10krpm (with some proper rod bolts etc). Janspeed do a selection of exhaust manifolds the big bore being 2" final pipe size and large primaries, the small bore with 1.5" final pipe and slightly larger than sport spec primaries. I actually have a medium bore, which i and everyone else didnt know existed untill i recieved it direct from them! Its 1.75" final bore. As for turbocharging, go bannanas! I have kept a high compression ratio (around 10.5:1) as i think that the engine being all aluminium will be able to fend off detonation, i am also going to controll the detonation by altering the timing lowering the dynamic compression significantly. Anything else? Happy to help J
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slammed 66
Posted a lot
www.gtturbo.org
Posts: 1,675
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Sept 22, 2006 0:36:24 GMT
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Anything else? Happy to help ;D think thats just about covered it! Had to read the issue of retro cars with your imp in it last night........... and some vids of it on google........ pure sex p1ss! Thanks for the inspiration. If I'm allowed to squeeze one more car in at my gaff i think it could easily be a blimp. What is a california imp? and the difference between a chamois and imp? Thanks
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Last Edit: Sept 22, 2006 0:36:59 GMT by slammed 66
86 Renault 5 GT Turbo 89 Renault extra 91 Skyline GTR 98 Mini 1275 mpi 99 Autech Rider www.gtturbo.org
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Sept 22, 2006 8:14:51 GMT
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I think the California was just Singer's version of the Coupe Bodyshell. It was just another rebadge for the Rootes group brands. Just like the various Austin/Morris/MG/VandenPlas/Wolseley 1100 and 1300 models. Same family of body shells, different badges or grilles and interior trim.
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Sept 22, 2006 8:23:23 GMT
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hi there if you check out my 1967 imp cali turbo page in the readers rides you can see the california. O by the way to all if you look at the pic blown imp has posted where three of us are looking at his imp I'm the one with the hat on (as always!)
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Sept 22, 2006 9:57:21 GMT
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My mistake the orginal imp crank was E9T which is a carbon steel, the talbot was EN16U which is an alloyed steel with a tensile strength of around 1100Mpa.
J
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Last Edit: Sept 22, 2006 10:05:18 GMT by Blown_Imp
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Sept 22, 2006 12:54:58 GMT
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I think the California was just Singer's version of the Coupe Bodyshell. It was just another rebadge for the Rootes group brands. Just like the various Austin/Morris/MG/VandenPlas/Wolseley 1100 and 1300 models. Same family of body shells, different badges or grilles and interior trim. IIRC the Californian was a Hillman Imp brand that used the same coupe bodyshell as the Sunbeam Stiletto and the Singer Chamois Coupe. As a rule Stilettos have vinyl roofs but I know of at least one Californian with a vinyl roof which is very confusing. But basically there is coupe, saloon, estate or van bodyshell and 3 engine specs, then shed-loads of trim options on top. Also, the estate bodyshell was pretty much a van with the sides cut for windows and rear seats put in. I think the LC engine only went in the estate/van and the sport engine only went in the coupe/saloon body shell - from the factory that is. Oh, and you get two or four headlights depending on spec, on the saloon and coupe that is, all vans and estates left the factory as two lights but some (mine included) now have four light fronts. HTH Graham
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Sept 22, 2006 16:53:38 GMT
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Sept 22, 2006 17:04:12 GMT
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IRC the Californian was a Hillman Imp brand that used the same coupe bodyshell as the Sunbeam Stiletto and the Singer Chamois Coupe. As a rule Stilettos have vinyl roofs but I know of at least one Californian with a vinyl roof which is very confusing. except this stilletto which was relieved of it vinyl roof
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slammed 66
Posted a lot
www.gtturbo.org
Posts: 1,675
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Sept 22, 2006 17:05:44 GMT
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Oooohhh!!!!!!!!! ;D This is getting more and more tempting
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86 Renault 5 GT Turbo 89 Renault extra 91 Skyline GTR 98 Mini 1275 mpi 99 Autech Rider www.gtturbo.org
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Sept 22, 2006 17:13:15 GMT
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WhooooosssshhhhhhhCHOOOOshhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHCHOOOOOssssssssshhhhhhhHHHHHHHH
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ImpManiac
Part of things
Imps... Imps... Imps...
Posts: 868
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Sept 22, 2006 21:09:31 GMT
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1966 Singer Chamois sprint/hillclimb car in white over blue two tone 1975 Triumph Stag long term project (over 20 years so far) in colour TBA 2003 Vauxhall Vectra GSi 3.2 in black sapphire
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Curtis
Part of things
Posts: 622
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Driving: Shitbox Honda S-MX
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That green one is on air ride too
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Curtis
Part of things
Posts: 622
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Is that air ride? I thought it was hydraulics Either way, clean as out, saw it at the gathering last year
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Driving: Shitbox Honda S-MX
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