How bad is my Sprint?

[shaunroche]

Hi chaps - it's been nearly 20 years since I last bare metal rebuilt a Sprint, and having seen the Sprints at Goodwood a few weeks ago, have got the bug again!

I've been out and bought a shell and intend stripping it back to bare metal...I would really appreciate it if you could have a look at the attached slide show and give me your thoughts on where I should go with it.

By that I mean, would you replace the front panel or the wings? - I realise it will need to have new sills as I would like to take them off and have a look at the inner sills.

I wonder whether it has had a new front end as well as it there seems to be quite a big gap at the end of the bonnet and the join between both wings just doesn't look right...

I was wondering whether to bead blast it (£600) or chemically dip it?

What are your thoughts o' wise ones?

Any thoughts or suggestions will be gratefully received!!

http://s1266.photobucket.com/user/Shaun ... how/Sprint

I intend to turn it into this....

[matt of the vivas]

Bonnet gap looks like it just needs adjusting on the O/S. Front end looks original - id be inclined to save it - club / Alun Xvivalve has some very good repair sections for the top end sections. If its worse than it looks then go GRP - again, Aluns your man for this, and having been involved in fitting a complete front end and wings at the NEC a few weeks ago i can vouch for the excellent fit of these - and useful weight saving for a race car?
Personally i would not dip the shell - i would just repair the rusty bits and repaint it - but if your budget extends to it then go for it. Looks a very sound shell!
Matt.

[shaunroche]

Cheers Matt, I appreciate the reply....so, do you think I should locally repair the sills etc. and then just rub it down and paint without taking it back to bare metal?

[matt of the vivas]

Well... thats the way ive always done it.
I think of it this way - if the sound paint is still protecting the body after 30+ years, if you remove it, will whatever you use in place of it last as long? If not leave it alone.
Id do the welding needed, then remove all surface rust, flaking / damaged paint, then feather in the remaining good paint and use that as a base for the new paint.
There are plenty of other views though

[AndyJ]

do you think I should locally repair the sills etc. and then just rub it down and paint without taking it back to bare metal?

I think that when you remove the shot sections of the sills you will reveal enough to see if they're generally sound or not. The inner sills look good so the corrosion could well just be localised and everyone deserves a bit of luck sometime! Buying well in the first place helps too though.
Welcome by the way, I hope your resto comes out well. It looks like you've started on a very sound basis.
Andy.

[Toledo Man]

Here are the photos...

[shaunroche]

Cheers for that Toledo man - I didn't post the pics in one go as I thought they might be too large!

[Jon Tilson]

This car should be kept standard or mildly uprated and used as a road car.
There are plenty of sheds around to turn into track weapons. This could be a really nice Sprint in a rare and good colour.

Its not quite as good as the ebay stuff implied but still could be a really nice example.

My 2 cents. Did you get the interior?

Jonners

[shaunroche]

Hi Jonners, I appreciate your sentiments, but the way I look at it is that if I had not come along to save this car then there is a good chance it would just rot away - it's been left and unloved since 1992!

So, whatever I do to it, it will be done to the highest possible standard and correctly, and it will be a track car.

When I got it there was no interior, no gearbox, propshaft, engine, heater blower, brake master cylinder or clutch master cylinder.

Tonight I've just taken full length sections out of the sills - on the offside, apart from the very back corner of the inner sill seems mostly ok, I'll be able to fashion a repair section; the nearside inner is just dust!

At the front, the nearside lower quarter where the indicator is has all been bashed in and is full of filler....the panel behind this is pretty rotten.

I would like to replace the front panel but I guess they are unavailable?

I'm wondering if I can cut it off around the bumper line, clear up the inner panel and put the lower bit back on?

Anyhoo, here some piccies of the sills.....

OS Sill, rear corner


OS inner sill


NS inner sill

[shaunroche]

Whilst I'm on, are there any Engine Builders someone could recommend who might be able to rebuild me an engine to a spec similar to the one below please?

I know it is going to cost a substantial amount, but I wasn't quite planning on spending nearly £7k on the engine!

1 X DCOE inlet manifold..........£299.50
1 X Pair of 45 DCOE Weber carbs..........£550.00
1 X Throttle linkage for above (twin cable)..........£82.50
1 X Distributor modification …….£250
1 X Machining services – crank, bore, hone, balance etc……..£210
1 X Standard piston set…….£268
1 X Engine set of bolts, bearings, gaskets and sundries…….£350
1 X Cylinder head modifications – (up rated seats and guides)………...£750
1 X Camshaft 300 degree..........£150 – re profiled
1 X Up rated oil pump……..£190
1 X Modified sump……£250
1 X Up rated water pump…….£210
Building and assembly..........£2450 (Donor engine to be supplied)
Dyno run in and calibration…….£750

The donor engine would be stripped, cleaned, bead blasted and de-burred. The block and head are then machined as required. Rotating parts are balanced, bolts changed where necessary. All plugs are replaced and retained, galleries are modified. The engine is re-built to a race tolerance specification. A Power output would be around the 185 BHP mark @ the flywheel, with a flat torque curve @ 150 - 160 lbs/ft.(rpm band 2500 - 7800)

[tamtrucks]

7k just on the engine,,,,think madmart is selling a sprint complete and restored for 7.5k

[Mad Mart]

A couple of things that jump out at me from that list. If you're planning to spend that sort of money I would definitely go for a billet cam, not re-profiled. I also don't see the need for an uprated oil pump. The standard one is fine, unless you want to go remote? If the engine is to be built to tight tolerances then I would expect to see more than 185 BHP at the flywheel. Machining costs are a bit optimistic.

[TahitiSPRINT]

Hi, the above specification is not overly exaggerated and well within reach of a competent engine builder.

My engine has been done to standard, but blueprinted specification by Hans from the company BCCP in the Netherlands. So with standard cam, carbs, airbox and ignition, it now has about 130 bhp at the wheels as measured on the dyno which I’m quite happy with

Hans has prepared several “clubman” race engines, also for British customers, to more or less the same specifications as stated in the above list. These race prepared engines come in at around 175-180 reliable bhp at the wheels and some serious torque figures. This is with the STR91 cam (about 290 degrees duration).

If you just put this or equivalent cam in your engine yourself and put some Webers and a sports exhaust on, expect to see 135-155bhp at the wheels. But as with all serious engine builds, the last few extra bhp’s depend on attention to detail and that costs a lot of time to measure, prepare, re-measure etc. Time is money, so if you decide to out-source the preparation work, I think the £7k quote, including parts is not that much off really. From the BCCP (and other) websites, you may get the picture of what needs doing: click here

If you put this thread in the Motorsport section of this Forum, you’ll find Hans participating in this discussion shortly.

Good luck with your project, I will follow this thread closely

[shaunroche]

Hey Ronald, cheers for the reply, this is very interesting…I will contact BCCP, but I still don’t wish to spend 7k!!

Aye, 7k! I was looking at the thread showing all the Mad Mart restorations and I found it all very inspirational – very impressive, I am in awe!
 
I realise now that my car isn’t anywhere near as bad as I first thought it was looking at some of those Mad Mart pics….feel a bit, well a lot, daft posting that!

I could understand those sorts of costs if I was going for a competition engine, but I want something that will mainly be a track car, but might be used for the odd nice week or two going to work in the summer!

For my engine rebuild, and I’m open to be put right on this, I was planning to go for a rebore, lighten and balance the bottom end, uprated bearing studs, maybe an oil pan spreader plate and an uprated oil pump pressure relief spring?

Top end: gas flowed, uprated valve springs and something like a Kent fast road cam (what’s this STR91 then)? Twin 45’s, remote oil filter and oil cooler...perhaps an electric fan instead of the viscous one, electric fuel pump and a fuel regulator, rocker case oil feed and a crankcase breather tank. Possibly*

I know nothing of opening up galleries or modifying sumps so am now thinking this rebuild would better be trusted to someone else!!

That’s it really…that lot shouldn’t cost 7k should it? Would 3k be enough to achieve all the above do you think?  

I am looking at this rebuild as a way of learning more about petrol engines and I know I am absolutely in the right place with all the very knowledgeable people on here!

I’m sure this is a well trodden path for me to be following – I have no ego about this so please educate me and please keep the recommendations and opinions coming!!

I’m going to have some questions later on about the axle, single and tandem brake systems and the potential lack of a brake servo….keep tuned!! ☺


*In fact, I just spotted this on Mart’s website, and this is pretty much exactly what I want to do!!

Weber DCOE 45s
New Billet Fast Road Cam
Head Ported & Polished
Vernier Cam Pulley
Magnacor Ignition Leads
High Energy Ignition with Programmable Controller 
Davies Craig Electric Water Pump - ?
Kenlowe Electric Fan
Facet Red Top Solid State Electric Fuel Pump
Filter King Fuel Pressure Regulator
Oil Cooler & Stat
Gearbox wired with Overdrive on 2nd as well as 3rd & 4th
AVO Adjustable Seat & Damping Shocks
400lb Springs (Front)
200lb Springs (Rear)
All rubber bushes replace with Polyurethane Bushes
Front brakes replaced with Ford Sierra Vented Disc Conversion
Goodridge Brake Hoses
Solid Bottom Steering Coupling

[Mad Mart]

Magnacor Ignition Leads - Gone
High Energy Ignition with Programmable Controller - Sat in my computer room.

I now have a Megajolt system.

Shaun, you don't need an uprated oil pressure relief spring nor do you need uprated valve springs ( although I've got a set you can purchase. ) They can actually reduce BHP on this setup.

Some cam specs...