'74 Droopsnoot (Update pics 06 Nov)

[Davenger]

Where abouts in suffolk is it?
Anywhere near Ipswich?

[BenzBoy]

dexteruk said:

(hope this doesn't offend anyone- I'm 27, three points on my license, single, and this car is costing me £185 a year, fully comp, with all mods declared and no mileage limit.)

Which company is that with?! My circumstances are the same: 27, 3 points.... need to sort some decent insurance out on the Merc when it's ready. I got asked for £1200 last year. I was amused. ;D

[dexteruk]

Insurance is Footman James - special deal for the Viva Owners Club members (well it IS a viva derivative )



live on the coast in suffolk - 25 miles from ipswich - forgive me not giving out too much detail, the car got bricked through the garage window a while back, i'd be homicidal if it got stolen. (can't wait to get it back to work - no-one can steal it there )

[Davenger]

Bricked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The swines, don't these morons know how cool that thing is

[dexteruk]

yeah i was quite annoyed....


couple more pics from a quick play today

one of my sets of wheels came off my other droopsnoot (abandoned in a field for many years)




you might just make out the corrosion on the rim...


so rather than mess around with wet and dry i thought i'd see how quickly a wire brush will get the corrosion off




pretty pleased with the result - you can see there is still some pitting in the alloy - so it will still need a good while with the wet and dry - anyone know if i can use a flap roll or anything on a drill?

[BenzBoy]

dexteruk said:

anyone know if i can use a flap roll or anything on a drill?

When I did my alloys, I stayed away from drill attachments - if you apply just a bit too much pressure or stay in one spot too long it'll eat the alloy amazingly quickly! It's a lot of elbow grease I know, but I'd recommend just going at it with progressively finer wet n dry sheets, then finish off with rubbing compound - better in the long run I could've got my rims much shinier but to be honest I'm too much of a lazy curse word! As soon as they looked somewhere near shiny and smooth I whacked some clear lacquer on and chucked 'em on me car! I'm not really patient when it comes to stuff like that

[racer86]

Stunning i love these cars! What a project, youve got so many rare parts! cant wait to see it come together.

[RupturedDuck]

Its been said already in this thread, but WOW!! Look forward to updates on the Doopsnoot's progress

[Kris]

Do you have any pictures of the "spares" car?

[bortaf]

cool car ;D
i used to have a magnum estate but it was a real bucket been in a garage that flooded for 15 years, no bottom half left when i got it
real nice cars though good luck with tidy up

[dexteruk]

Minion said:

Do you have any pictures of the "spares" car?

the spares car is what you can see on the shelves! when i got it the shell was so rotten as to be totally beyond saving - i kept the nosecone, most of the running gear and lots of interior bits - the rest of it got crushed

[dexteruk]

OOPS!


did that impulse purchase thing...

[mercmad]

Never had those cars in new Zealand but we did have the engines in regualr Viva's and Victors.I was always impressed with them especially the size of the bearing journals in the crank.Has any one here ever put a supercharger on one?
With that GM distributor an HEI set up for a V8 should be adaptable shouldn't it?
The boss of GM in NZ in the 70's had a viva built up for his wife which was repowered with a 3.3 cresta motor......surprisingly good condtion ,your car,what sort of rust proofing did your dad use?
Cheers!

[BenzBoy]

Woooooohoooooooo NITROUS!!! ;D ;D ;D

[dexteruk]

mercmad said:

Never had those cars in new Zealand but we did have the engines in regualr Viva's and Victors.I was always impressed with them especially the size of the bearing journals in the crank.Has any one here ever put a supercharger on one?
With that GM distributor an HEI set up for a V8 should be adaptable shouldn't it?
The boss of GM in NZ in the 70's had a viva built up for his wife which was repowered with a 3.3 cresta motor......surprisingly good condtion ,your car,what sort of rust proofing did your dad use?
Cheers!

yeah the crank is pretty heave duty...


the droopsnoot engine was slighlty hotter than the other 2.3's - 131bhp and 140lbft (at pretty much no revs)

the mags and MIRA tested the std car at 0-60 in 7.5....

the spec i'm running with the Blydenstein 4R head, GT4X cam and 45 Dellortos is proven to give around 170bhp and lbft - so that should sharpen it up a touch

and the laughing gas will only be for a small shot - just something to make me giggle really!

[dexteruk]

BenzBoy said:

Woooooohoooooooo NITROUS!!! ;D ;D ;D

that's funny - most people's reaction when i show them is "oh no."

[Davenger]

dexteruk said:

that's funny - most people's reaction when i show them is "oh no."

The reaction round here is Ooooh yeah

[daverapid]

THIS MIGHT SOUND A BIT ODD,BUT I'VE HEARD THAT THE 2.3 ENGINE IS BASICALLY HALF OF A GM V8. IS THIS TRUE? LOOKING AT YOUR PICS IT LOOKS FEASIBLE,A BIT LIKE THE TRIUMPH STAG V8 BEING A DOUBLE DOLOMITE ENGINE.

[penski]

dexteruk said:

BenzBoy said:

Woooooohoooooooo NITROUS!!! ;D ;D ;D

that's funny - most people's reaction when i show them is "oh no."

As said already....Not on this forum

*n

[dexteruk]

if you look at the way the bock is arranged you'll see that the block face and sump face are at quite an extreme angle (hence it being called a slant four rather than an inline or straight four)


i'm told the engine was developed by lopping one bank off an old GM 4.6 V8 diesel engine - anyone who's seen a firenza crank shaft would easily believe that - the journals are enormous

as you can see in this pic with the carbs and manifold off cylinder bank is well leant over