Yoeddynzs 1965 Hillman Imp. Almost Dumpys..

[yoeddynz]

Very small update. So whilst I have been making exhausts to create certain noises I have also been chasing other noises I don't want.

First off though is a pic of exhaust version 3.0 with added 0.1 extensions...

Pointing out at roughly 45 degrees and extended further these have so far seemed to have really improved the fumage issue. I'll have to do more driving with the window down to confirm. I still want to spend some time doing more tuning as well, smooth out the map and get rid of the really rich spikes sometimes seen.

So the other noises I mentioned?

Well for roughly the last couple of months I have noticed that after startup whilst in warming up and the idle is high there's a funny whirring sound coming from somewhere in the engine. It was hard to tell where when the car was sat on the ground. I'd look underneath and try my best to pinpoint it but it's tricky with all of the general mechanical sounds bouncing off the ground.  I was thinking the only thing it might be was the chain drives for the oil pump having bedded creating a bit of slack on the free side and somehow whirring.

The release bearing was also occasionally making a tinkling sound, or possibly its actually the 3 bearings I had fitted in my 'thrust bearing 2000' assembly that resides between the back plate and the flywheel. 

Oh and the new exhaust has a tiny rattle on one side. Only noticeable if I smack the box up on that side (a quick lesson was learned not to do this when its searing hot) and I suspect its actually the tube the runs through the flexi joint just touching. Hopefully I can rectify it by adjusting the bobbin height on that side.

But this whirring sound? It goes away somewhat when the idle drops as the engine warms up and I cant hear over the exhaust from then on.  So this morning I started the car up, moved it from its garage and out into the sunshine. I let it warm up. Then moved it inside and onto the hoist. Once up in the air I started the car (using my go go gadget arms) and listened from underneath. Being fairly warm the sound was barely audible until I reached up with my arm to the throttle body and gave the engine a rev. Bingo- there it is! Its in the cambelt cover!  Its a flappy whirr. A rubbing flappy whirr. 

I let the engine cool down, went for a pushbike ride and then this evening it was off with the cover, which luckily is super easy to remove once the alternator pulley is removed from the crank. 

Zoom in..

That bottom belt run on the left was a bit loose. Not terribly but certainly a bit more than the specified 5-7mm Honda advise. When the engine is cold its free to move that amount. I presume as it warms up it gets a touch tighter (boxxer engines 'grow' a little in width as they warm) The manual states that if the belts are too loose they can flap against the cover.  Too tight and they whine. I could see where its been rubbing on the cover..

I have now tightened both belts just a smidge. Its a bit tricky to exactly measure 5-7mm but they seem about right. Cover back on and I'll test it tomorrow. (I'm not keen on filling the workshop up with warm up fumes tonight when our bedroom door is about in line with the roof of the Imp)

Also to note. This morning was an especially cold 'late summer' start to the day of only 2 degrees.

After I started the car later in the morning and moved it out (around 12 degrees then) I opened the engine bay lid for a look while it was warming up.  I soon spotted one of the injector rail hose clips at the front was leaking. I promptly tightened it up and leak be gone.

I can only presume the rubber hoses had shrunk ever so slightly in the cold night and allowed the fuel at 40 psi to weep past. I checked all the other fuel line hose clips in the engine bay and one other was slightly loose. I must check the ones in the frunk too! 

[yoeddynz]

As many on here will know Tasman district has had fair amount of rainy weather recently. Last weekend we had a big atmospheric river and got 320mm over 36 hours. Lots of local flooding and quite a few unlucky souls have lost quite a lot.  For us it was just some of our driveway getting washed downhill and a few trees coming down so mustn't grumble.

Anyway - it was a good excuse to stay indoors, crank the fireplace, music, espresso machine and tinker with the Imp.  

Ages ago I had picked up these Mitsubishi V6 pajaro instruments from the wreckers..

In previous posts I had stripped them down, chopped off all the excess bits not needed (trip meter etc) so they'd fit into some housings I machined out of thick walled alloy tube. I had found a Toyota speed sensor that I adapted to fit my Subaru transmission. Wired them up and checked it worked, which it did well but it was reading a good 10 ~ 15kph out. I then packed the lot away in a box and stashed it away.

It was time to crack on and make something of them. First job was to work out an accurate speedo face to suit the setup. I cut a circle of paper, fit it in place and we went driving. Using a GPS speedo we marked out all the various speed points.

Then I used a program online...

https://www.blocklayer.com/gauge-templates

..however it didn't create what I wanted as most speedos have non linear markings, especially 0-20. I chatted to the fella who was running the website and he added some custom bins into the program to suit and it worked great. We printed off a new face that matched the hand drawn one and went for a drive to check it was good..

Then I spent some time having fun creating some gauge faces. I had a particular style in mind. My current design turned out pretty boring given how far one could go with the variety of fonts, colours, images, text but I wanted a 60s/70s look to suit the car and dash layout I have in mind. Fun thing is I can change it easily now I have a saved accurate template * 

Used the big printer we have that barely gets used. 

Cut them out to suit. Machined up some tiny wad punches to do the holes. 

Into the housings. 

The backside. Later on I'll need to add some led lights to shine through the white font.I'll also re-set the odometer to match the current reading even though it'll be in km from now on. The needles will then go back in place once I have finished all this.

I removed the original Imp dash pads and instrument cluster. Its a heavy bit of kit. Comical wiring layout too.

Sat in the car and eyed up how I'd like the gauges to sit. The idea is to build a pod that will work with the original MK1 Imp dash pads which I really do like the style of.

I had part sheet of 1.2mm alloy which I cut, bent, rolled, twisted and tweaked to shape, welding all the bits together doing my very best to try not to create holes. Not the easiest thickness alloy to tig weld but managed ok. I also welded up a bolt on pod that sits below to take the original Imp indicator stalks.

Checked it was ok.

Covered the outside in medium density foam..

Bought some more cow that local canvas place still had a stash of..

Very carefully cut and glued it in place. 

Painted the other alloy parts in etch primer then satin black. Added some tiny warning lamps. Most important gauge, the oil pressure gauge, resides in the middle..

Really happy with the finish. There's a couple of blemishes (tiny knife nick) but overall considering the awkwardness of this build I'm stoked.

And bolted in place. I can adjust the angles of the gauges quite easily too but its currently good for both of us.

Ties in really nicely with the dash pads..

Next job is to sort out the wiring. I'd already made it far more user friendly compared to stock by having added several multi plugs. I'm going to re-do it though and use some smaller wire where I can along with Deutsch plugs.  There will be a new dash face below the dash pads that will house 3 gauges, some rocker switches and a Triumph eyeball vent at each end.

 

 *  Edit - here's an example..

[yoeddynz]

Big post alert  

Hannah and I have come back from a lovely 6 week holiday, based mainly in Oxford, UK. Mainly cycling and catching up with Hannahs family. We actually got some really good hot, sunny weather too! 

While there I contacted a local to Oxford classic Porsche workshop. I took a train 10 miles north to Bicester and walked from there. What was meant to be a short walk turned into a 20km walk in the sun on a 34 degree day thanks to me following out of date Google maps. Lessons learned that day. But I got there in the end and had a tour around the place. Very friendly staff, very tidy. Some fantastic 911s inc I think at least 3 genuine Carrera RS 2.7s. I took many photos...

So that was nice.

They are looking for some staff including a metal worker/engineer for the restoration side. If I was still living in Oxford I probably be there in a flash for the experience. 

But back to NZ and we were welcomed with a whole load of slip clearing to do. Our place was one of the many local properties to get completely battered by a massive rain event that happened while Hannah and I were on our flight to the UK. Absolute carnage. I'll do a more detailed update on our bushblock thread. 

This is one of our driveway entrances..

The neighbours place got silt through their house..

Fun times. We've got a lot of clearing to do yet including dealing with this huge tree which floated down on a wave of mud and stopped 3 metres shy of our mailbox..

We spent the first week back home fixing our water system which was damaged..

Anyway - that's that. It could have been much worse. Others local to us have lost their houses.  Luckily our workshop was fine. 

Back to the Imp. My last post was the speedo and rev counter instrument pod build. Next on the list was a new dash which was to include revised switch gear, the other gauges, a pair of Triumph 2500 eyeball vents and an actual glove box rather than this shelf layout as on the passenger side...

and drivers side..

But before making a dash top I needed to sort out lights on my new instruments. I had some rolls of ali express multi coloured led strips.

Stuck them on the bench and had a play..

Cool..

I had to work out how to hold them in position and disperse the light. You can see here the thin bit of molded clear plastic backing from behind the gauge faces had been cut down when I built them.

I cut some more acrylic discs..

Made lots of mess in the lathe and mill..

Leds sit in the groove..

Softens and spreads the light and diverts some light to the pickups on the needle centres.

I then printed new faces with a revised, slightly larger, clearer font. I still might change it again in time. Easy and fun to do. Here's the light through the card..

Fitted into the casings..

Really happy with that. 

Now onto the dash build. I got the long folder out and some thin alloy sheet.

Folded up a basic shape..

Cut, bent, hammered, welded it to a shape I fancied..

Flap disc and its now smooth..

Screwed some alloy angle to the lip on the bottom of the dash panel..

Built in bracing and mounts for a bolt in glove box..

Once I was happy with the alloy structure I rolled out the leather. Lucky I'd bought plenty. I glued on one layer first, carefully cut to provide a stepped relief where needed. Then a second layer followed. 

The hardest bit was the lower compound corner. Took some time and needed a cut. 

Very happy with the finished dash. Looks neat.

The reliefs are visible 

Next up was the glove box edge and handle. I machined up this little handle..

Fits like this..

There's a magnet hidden in another alloy strip on the back which clicks against another on a bracket off the dash. 

A fellow Imp nutter from Hamilton kindly sent a load of extra Imp switches and a temp gauge down to me and wouldn't even accept money for the postage! Thanks so much John!!  

The gauge matches the spare imp fuel gauge but neither of them quite have the look I want so I have ordered another Trisco style fuel gauge to suit my Trisco water temp and oil pressure gauges. Hopefully I'll be able to get the new fuel gauge to work suitably with my Imp fuel level sender - which runs off a 5 volt regulator.

But for now I use what I have. All in place with my switches...

With the left hand side sorted I moved onto the drivers side. Same method. Manipulating some thin alloy, welding (tricky) and flap disc it smooth.

I have to allow for the ugly water pump controller. It has plenty of useful information so I dont want it hidden from view when driving. But it is ugly and not in keeping with the style I want.

So I cut a hole, added a bolt in bracket to hold it at a suitable angle behind the hole. I will make some sort of slide down cover at a later date to hide the screen when not needed.

Added an angled face, drilled to suit the ignition key in a suitable usable position. Then covered it all in leather as per the other side. Here are all the bits together, alloy parts painted satin black.

I carefully lined the glove box with leather too because why not..

With it all fitted and bolted into place I was able to finish the wiring. I have added extra mini Molex plugs for all the gauges and switches, carefully designing the loom to allow easy simple removal of the units. There are two switches currently wired up but unused - one might be for extra lighting and the other for a suitable under seat bluetooth amp and active subwoofer. I'll be adding some tiny tweeters under the dash out of immediate view. 

Wiring finished I started the engine. First start in a few months and it fired up beautifully. Rev counter works bang on and reads accurately. Switches all seem to switch as they should. Lights are neat.  I took some photos with my phone. I might try for some better pics one evening with suitable light and the big camera. 

Overall I'm really stoked with the resulting look and style. The leather work looks great. I have a couple of ideas for possible changes to the colour/style of the alloy trims plus a controller screen cover but will think about it for a bit first.

At a later date I will build some partitions along with a built in USB charger into the glovebox..

That little controller screen. I have some ideas for this but for now its usable as is.

The current fuse and loom hidden from view below. I'm not going to tape it up yet until I have finished adding extras.

The main gauge lights. Bit tricky to get a clear shot on the phone. Needles do light up enough in use.

Phew. What a mission but great fun!  Now its back to clearing silt and trees.

[yoeddynz]

Last week this lovely thing here...

..got replaced with this old lump.. (photo taken while bleeding the cooling system)

I wanted to give the flat six a little look over, check some things and sort out a small oil leak that in retrospect I should have just ignored because it turned into a mini ball ache. I should just accept that any engine fitted into a British car is destined to leak oil to some extent.

I started operation leak fix by sliding the engine off the engine stand onto the big table, glad to have made the table, the benches and the stand all the same height, then standing the engine on its end. I popped the sump off and started pulling the oil system pipework apart..

The aim was to stop the oil that was seeping out between the oil filter pedestal and the crankcase. I had previously tried sealing it externally with some gloop but it was too awkward to get in there properly. You can see the residue in this shot..

Oil creeping through between the pedestal pipes and weeping through the card gasket I'd fitted.

But i discovered I couldn't remove the pedestal fully without removing one of the exhaust studs and there was no way that exhaust stud wanted to come out easily. I tried a bit of heat, cooling the stud with spray, two nuts, vice grips. I really didn't want to risk damaging it.  Luckily I was able to pull the pedestal out away from the case enough to squirt sealant into the gap after a thorough cleaning. Smeared the gloop in neatly with my fingers, pulled to pedestal up tight with its bolts. Happy it was now sealed up I reassembled then painted the area..

All the various gubbins back in place..

I like this shot..

While the engine is out I checked the oil pump drive chains. They seem fine and no slacker than when fitted so no need to adjust tensions. 

Whilst checking them and looking over the system I worked out a better (simpler) way I could have made the system that would use just the one chain.  Future tinkering if I ever needed to but for now it works so I'll keep running it and check it every so often.

So while this has been happening the Datsun A12 is back in place.  I had to fix another hole in the old muffler I'd built for the Datsun. Its pretty rotten in places.

The temp gauge reads too high - I suspect the only way its changed is from different wiring in the new dash layout due to larger wiring having less resistance. But there was no change in temps shown with the flat six. Very weird. Anyway, in order to stop the Datsun temp reading 120 C I added a variable resister inline on the sensor wire..

Adjusted that until the temp was where I guessed it should be, measured the resistance and looked through my stash of bits..

Found a resister close enough..

Its now fitted with teminals and covered in heat shrink.  While on the subject of gauges I had the fuel gauge I'd ordered from Ali express ($15 delivered). As a bonus the delivery folks involved squashed the box and added patina to the lovely black bezel. Ho hum. But at least I have a gauge that matches the Trisco temp gauge (poor mans VDO)..

I bought this gauge knowing full well that it most likely wont work accurately with my Imp fuel tank sender. I wired it up on the bench with a spare sender and to my surprise it actually reads bang on ..

Only issue is its not a damped system. The gauge responds instantly so the needle does flutter about on rough roads but one only needs to drive along on a straight smooth surface for a few seconds to get an accurate reading.

I rummaged through my extensive supply of various dash bulbs, many of which are Nissan K11 items. Found some green ones for this both this and the temp gauge for a nicer glow. I'll change the one in the oil pressure gauge to match. I have also had a load more leds with controllers turn up from Ali. I'll be having a play with some under dash floor lighting and some lighting in the engine bay.

When I re-did all the wiring involved with the new dashboard layout I added in a spare plug to suit a spare Toyota speedo hall sensor just like what I'm using on the Subaru transmission. Earlier in the year I had machined up an alloy adaptor with two different threads. One end to suit the sensor, the other to suit the Imp speedo cable. It all tucks away up under the dash. With the Datsun installed I was able to try it..

The speedo cable on Imps is driven off the passenger front wheel so spins at road speed.  I had not bothered to check what the ratio of the speedo output on the Subaru box was relative to road wheel speed. I didn't even have any idea what it could be. I just took the imp for a drive prepared for some completely errant reading, either way too slow or far too fast.

However the gauge gods must really have been in a good mood with me recently because the speedo reads almost bang on.  Wow. This has saved me extra bother because if it was completely inaccurate I was prepared to swap back in the original mechanical strip speedo for Datsun duties.   Now the swap between both engines is even easier. 

I've driven the imp about in the last few days and I'm always really impressed with how well the little Datsun engine goes. Its so neat. Its a torquey little thing. Although not even close to the smoothness of the six, or anywhere as quick, it still makes for a great daily drive.  But I'm really looking forward to going back to the hopefully leak free Honda..  fingers crossed.

[yoeddynz]

Did a road trip to go visit my brother down the west coast, Hannah in convoy to deliver his corolla we'd replaced gearbox bearings in.  Fantastic roads and pretty grand weather. 

Before the trip I did a few wiring jobs. Added an aliexpress usb charging hub with voltmeter (that bit wasn't needed as my water pump controller screen shows voltage but hey ho) into the glove box, next to the phone slots I'd added. No more phones sliding about. 

The main bush on the gear linkage shaft was open to the elements and goes dry. I found some old dust boots from some old rockshox mag 21s (1" stanctions.. ) that fitted perfectly once cut to length. I machined some slots in the bush ends so the boots had something to click into. Filled with silicone grease. The action is so much lighter and smoother now.

I covered the original Imp bush at the other end too. In time I'll sort some cover for the gearstick ball and socket.

I also added one of the remote operated led dimmer controls to the speedo and rev counter leds. I can dim them right down. I also set them to flash in a way that's sure to create issues for any potential thief who happens to have epilepsy.

So the road trip. Fun times. I took some pics. First time driving down the west coast in the Imp - roads I have always wanted to sample in it. Traffic was not too bad but plenty of storm damage road works going on.  Had to get this shot..

Bugs a plenty..

My brothers pad. Shed house on bush block. Great place.

Hannahs building...

Hokitika fire engine needs work..

Greymouth garage needs tlc...

Hokitika know how to paint their buildings..

Brothers Datsun A12 engine needs paint. 

And steel.

And wd40.

On the way back up the coast road the weather started out a bit cloudy..

But cleared up as we got further north. Brilliant roads. For a Sunday it was actually super quiet. Very few motorhomes to get stuck behind. Lots of motorbikes (I would)

Shared the driving with Hannah so I could snap pics out the window. 

We kept a fuel log and I was recording each leg of the trip using Strava on my watch because the odometer on the new speedo reads about 9% to much. Checked and double checked the figures and once again I'm blown away with how economical this engine is. On one 140 km section we got a sub 5L/100km. Over the whole 850km it averaged at around 6l/100km. Cruising with other traffic, lots of passing slower cars and having some good fast blasts on the twisty sections.  Buller gorge road between Murchison and Inangahua is sublime if you get a clear run. Anyway, super happy with the economy. I think the small frontal area, light weight, decent over-driven 5th gear and efficient fuel injection all help. 

It still stinks with the windows down. On the gravel road to my brother's we got plenty of dust drawn in. I think the rear hatch outer seal needs replacing and this must be the culprit for the fumage entry. I'll look into it. Can try to confirm this theory by taping up the hatch.

Got home last night. Engine is a state- covered in dust. VW beetle/Porsche/other rear engined show cars must hate dusty roads. My Mandalorians hate it. Covers their windscreen..

Gave it a clean this morning. Much better 

[yoeddynz]

I got given some door cards in the rare red/black combo which are in much better condition than what's in the car. 

Cool. 

So my new years eve was spent cleaning them up and swapping them over.

Party animal! 

You can see that sorry state of what's on the car. Quite rippled, stained and the black insert on the drivers side has been making a break for it..

I cleaned the new ones up. They are not perfect but much better. A bit warped from the hardboard having been wet at some point. I gave them a tweak here and there, sat a weight on them overnight while damp etc.

Then swapped them over. Much better!!  

While in a tidying mood I masked and applied more glue to some of the vinyl in the footwell that hadn't stuck properly..

Then a job I have been putting off. New leds for the speedo and rev counter. As much as I liked the quirkyness of the rainbow effect led lighting I initially installed I soon grew bored with it and wanted something more in keeping. They were also insanely bright which I had soon discovered was not ideal for night driving.  So a few weeks ago I had fitted the led controller in place. I could now dim them using a remote and this improved matters. I could also set them to flash mode - ideal for drivers with epilepsy 

But the rainbows still had to go. I had searched aliexpress for really thin flexible led strip in green and found something suitable. It was time to pull the two gauges out and swap the leds.

All re-installed. Its hard to get a good clear shot on my phone but they look great and much smarter. I now need to get a green bulb or cover for the oil gauge.

So that's this year over for updates  

Next year I'm planning on machining up a new plastic bush for the top of the steering column as the existing worn one has a touch of slop and rattles on rough surfaces. I also want to make a new gear knob that screws in place rather then the push fit original item that's a bit loose.

 

 

[yoeddynz]

Inspired by the efforts from @Thousand Dollar Supercar with his pursuit for exceptional sound staging and quality from his jags sound system I have decided I to put some serious time and effort into my own setup.

I started with some alloy I cut and bent to shape. Drilled some holes. Welded bits together and sifted through my collection of large O-rings (often saved from customers oil filter changes - very useful strong O-rings)

The alloy was shaped to suit a cylinder which is held tight by an O-ring at each end.

This cylinder was nothing less than a mighty Ultimate Ears UE Boom 3 Bluetooth speaker system !!! 

The mount is bolted via a rivnut to the dash support and tucks away neatly.

Barely visible but within easy reach. 

It actually sounds really good. The bass is better than you might expect and this is a fine stepping stone until I sort out a bigger system in the future. Most of the time I have the window down listening to the exhaust notes anyway.

Finally - this photo makes me giggle. Two classic Honda powered machines.  The Honda Big Red would not even be considered a large quad bike these days.

[yoeddynz]

This little imp has been featured by Hemmings in the states...

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/the-impwing/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAP4Z_JjbGNrA_hYmmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqecY_zrc7T7vvNayAKNmssgqdypad4raaaDGzVjLPbd4hnSMjgQHojO0Ror_aem_Cm6txOniyqi7qWsKK25YTA

[yoeddynz]

The original Imp gear knob is a push fit onto the gearstick and has always been quite easy to twist off.  The loose feeling is a bit off putting when driving spiritedly and I've been wanting to make a threaded knob for ages.  This first one is temporary as I have plans for a different style in the future.

I removed the gearstick which is a 2 minute job from inside the car.  Into the lathe and I threaded it with a die.

Some 50mm stainless bar was then machined as closely to a sphere as I could freehand.

Got it pretty round and polished it smooth. Came up good.

Much weightier than the original plastic item and the shift really does seems to benefit from that bit of mass. So much nicer to handle. 

On Friday night there was a big classic car cruise before a weekend of shows. We met up at a local hall not far from Motueka. A mate had his Impala along. Lovely car. A little bit bigger..

Car cruise was bloody amazing. Huge amount of people lined the roads on the 45km circuit. Families were out with the sofas on the front lawns, on the pavements, farmers sat on their tractors, farm trucks, 4wds on roadsides, a whole retirement home was out on folding chairs, painted signs, school kids cheering, loads of fruit orchard workers with tables out of their various accommodations, chilling out with music, young couples in the evening sun drinking wine etc. It was such a great turnout. I'm amazed. 

I was also blown away at the response from people over the little Imp. I guess it really stood out in a cruise that was predominantly big Aussie or American cars and hot rods. So many older folk jumping with joy and shouting out "its a Hillman Imp!!! "  

I wish I'd got Hannah to take more photos.  These are screen shots from a short video Hannah took...

After the cruise it was off to Coastal town of Mapua for fish and chips. Got this cool shot. The Valiant that parked next to us was once considered a big car but not really any more it seems. 

On the Saturday we went to the Nelson car show. Really good eclectic mix. This shot is an example..

One of my favourite cars at the show was this Corolla. They used to be everywhere when I was a teen. This is the first one I've seen in ages and pretty damn clean too.

[yoeddynz]

I have still been dealing with exhaust fumes entering the Imp when the side windows are down. We were planning a weekend trip to visit mum and go to a car show.  Considering this trip would see us doing over 400km I thought it time to try a new exhaust tip design.  Enter exhaust box version 3.2 

I cut the 45 degree tips off just before the bends, added about 20mm to the remaining tube and then welded the tips back on but this time pointing down towards the ground at around 45 degrees. This I hoped would catch the air stream that runs along the side and under the car better..

Well it was certainly a bit better but still not good enough.

But the trip was great. Brilliant weather for the whole weekend and a really good turnout at the Blenheim Hospice charity car show. The Imp was well received and looked very cute nestled in between two huge cars..

The engine performed really well on the journey both ways. I sat with all the modern traffic at circa 100kph but on the hills I gave it the jandal and had a good laugh on the twisties - surprising many of the other cars I imagine. Filled the tank back up to the brim each way and we got 5.7/l 100km over and 6.3 on the way back (because whilst in Blenheim I took a couple of mates for some hoons up the valley. In old money that's 50mpg and 45mpg. Bloody stoked with that considering the cost of fuel right now.

While at the show we met an old friend of my older brother. He's had Lotus Elan series 4 for well over 30 years. Its a tiny thing. Its narrower than the Imp by 100mm!  Hannah was quite smitten by it and was taken for a drive in it later that evening.

He also has a Lotus Esprit Turbo..

But the star of the lot was is this beauty. In my opinion the last of the good looking fezzas. 

Its a RHD 355 with the very rare Fiorano handling pack model and with only 20k on the clock. Its simply stunning. I'm very much looking forward to being taken for a spin in the near future. That engine at 8500rpm will be something I'll cherish hearing in person. Here's Hannah checking it all out as if we were buying it (dreams)..

Now back to the real world and that exhaust of mine.  If you go back a while when I had made exhaust box version 2.0 - the single side exit buzz box. I wasn't smitten with that design as it had a decidedly tinny exhaust note at certain revs...

https://youtu.be/2b8CUm4J7Jo?si=4vWy-PniGJFa8_Qx

But what it lacked in sound it made up for by pointing the exhaust away from the low pressure zone behind the car. On the long trip south to Christchurch and back never once did we get any fumes in the car. So I will copy it.  Time for exhaust box version 3.3

I cut the 45 degree bends off the tail pipes and luckily had some left over shiny stainless tube the correct diameter. This I welded on, smoothed the welds off, masked and painted..

Bolted back up to the box. These new pipes extend a further 20mm than the single pipe on box 2.0. I figured that worked well but just to be sure I'll go out a bit further. I can always chop them back down but as it is I think it looks fine. I like the black with silver tip look too..

 I only just bolted these back on this evening so I'll wait till tomorrow to see if its a success. I'll report back with my findings. Fingers crossed.

[yoeddynz]

I'll pop this here. Very interesting seeing the various machines in the factory (very advanced in it's day... 😁

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1c4KYLJsLM/

[yoeddynz]

Well the new exhaust didn't work as planned. It was possibly slightly better but that could have just been wishful thinking. It still has fumy smells on over run. Testing it was a nice excuse to go for a drive to the beach though.

Once back home I taped up the rear hatch and through flow vents..

Hannah took it for a drive as I had to drop of customers truck. Then we went for a good trash up and down some hills.  Still no good. Again its pretty much only on the overrun, worse if its just had a decent bit of acceleration just before hand.

I started thinking about my breather circuit.

Those with a good memory will remember the system is similar to as found on a Goldwing.  No pcv valve. Just straight from the breather into the plenum between the air filter and the carb.  

I have mine routed through a catch can and then into a small venturi hidden inside the air filter mount. This is effectively drawing any crankcase fumes out and back into the inlet when the throttle is open. 

But when its shut there's minimal airflow through the venturi to draw those fumes away. I'm wondering if its those fumes we can smell? It could be clutching at straws but worth investigating.

I have removed the tube from the breather on the engine and routed another tube out to air behind the rear wheel. I've cut an angle on the end so hopefully there's a slight draw on it as air passes over it. That's not a big issue for the test though.

I'll report back soon.

[yoeddynz]

Gordon Murray contacted me 😶

In a dream.  

He has been following my imp build with much interest and upon reading about my fumage issues decided to reach out with some ideas he had on how to sort it once and for all. He invited me to his workshop for a brain storming session. We drank some strong coffee and went over his ideas, sketching some lovely technical drawings together. I'm the fella on the left btw- but I guess that's pretty obvious to those who know me well..

In my dream we did several long days of engineering to build what Gordon believed was going to sort out my fume ingress and also help keep the rear end planted. Gordan told me he was not a big believer in dropping sacks of sand in the front an Imp to keep the front down. He said he'd had many boring pub Barries tell him over the years that the F1 would have handled better with a sack or two in the front.   Anyway, in my dream we finally had this beautiful creation sorted. You can tell from my stubble that some long hours went into it...

I woke up after this dream with renewed confidence and full of vigor. I was going to replicate Gordons ideas and it was going to be amazing.

Sadly my engineering skill set, nor funds, allowed me to match what the team at Gordon Murray automotive can build. But its pretty close and I'm excited about the first tests...

The placement might not be bang on but there's room to move it about, unlike Gordons system which has no adjustability. I'm quite proud of my future proofing and look forward to hearing back from Gordon if he does actually indeed follow this build.

Now with regards to my crankcase ventilation system that I had previously mentioned might be the cause of the smell.

I took the car for a quick drive with the outlet mounted outside the car. It was in the evening, light fading and road to Kaiteriteri was empty - mine for the taking.  Its such a giggle giving the Imp some proper jandal up a twisty climb, especially with no passenger to worry about. Its an 800kg car so having 70kg less makes a decent difference. 

A run up the hill and back down with the tube venting outside did make a difference. There was definitely less smell. Possibly still a trace getting pulled in and back under the car as the pipe was mounted very close to the bodywork.

At the bottom of the hill, with the engine still idling I disconnected the pipe from the crankcase outlet. Instantly the engine bay filled with fumes - really highlighting to me how much I'm dealing with. I reconnected the original tube that goes to the air filter venturi and went for a another run up and down the hill. The fumes were back.

So I have two things to look at.. 

Firstly - I need to work out where the fumes are getting into the car on the underside from the filter area.

Under the car I noted the handbrake rubber seal was a bit perished. Fumes could be dragged forwards along the tunnel and into the cabin through the tiny gap. There's no boot over the lever either. I cant even remember if Imps have one? Its a bit unfinished looking. I'll think I'll make a leather boot and seal it up with that.

The coolant pipes that enter the cabin under the rear seat and then exit back out to run forwards under the car both have gaps that allow air through. 

I had actually already sealed the main entry from the engine bay..

But not the exit point out the floor. I'd never thought of this as an issue. 

So I popped out to what is currently the 'Goldwing' garage..

Box of various foam used for packing bicycles when travelling abroad..

Plus foam from the box of foam and rubber (everyone has a box like this don't they?)

I sealed up the gaps from the top and from below. You can see here how fumes could possibly be dragged forwards if the car indeed does have a low pressure zone beneath it (it certainly will now due to the Imp being a much improved GMA designed fan car) ...

 

Secondly - I need to re-route the outlet from the catch can to a point closer to the engine. There's a bit of thought needed here as the Goldwing engines have a pretty basic crankcase ventilation setup as standard.  The fumes are simply pulled out via the breather vent into the air box above the carbs and drawn back into the carbs to be burned. Being so close to the carb mouths means that even with the throttles shut there's enough vacuum to pull the fumes in... 

My current setup is like this.  Be wowed by my very carefully altered technical drawings - no help from AI - I don't need it. My hand drawing using a Samsung S pen is simply flawless...

You can see how simple venturi I'd built into the air filter mount is only going to drag the fumes away when its getting decent airflow. I think with a closed throttle situation after a bout of acceleration the filter fill ups with fumes and rather than getting pulled into the engine they are permeating out of the filter and pulled into the cabin.

So my idea is to do something like this...

I'll change it to pull the fumes into the inlet via a pcv valve into the throttle body. If I use the existing inlet that the idle control valve feeds into it'll be on the engine side of the throttle so a constant vacuum even at closed throttle. You can see that tube here...

Hopefully I can close the throttle down enough via the stop to allow for the extra air at idle.  Some re-tuning will need to take place.

Most crank case venting systems which have an extra vent to allow fresh air to be pulled in. But the original Honda system and my setup do not. This is a something I had asked about on the Goldwing forum years back when putting the engine back together. I'm not sure if this is a big issue though.  The key thing is that the crankcase is never pressurised and whatever blowby fumes are created are pulled out.

I cant imagine the engine intake can pull enough air volume via the fairly small pcv valve or associated tubing to somehow create extra blowby? 

I have some pcv valves and lots of tubes to make something up..

What are your thoughts on all this Gordon? 

[yoeddynz]

Before I start re-directing breather tubes I wanted to make sure there were no air leaks in the Mandalorian spaceship plenum lid. Plus the leds on one side were hanging down in a slightly worryingly way. Off with their roof..

Oh hi there..

This looks a bit iffy though. The double sided has gone gooey. Probably not far from falling an potentially making a mess of a valve..:doubt:

I had always thought of the Mandos being a finite thing. A bit of a laugh but ultimately they would have to get their orders to leave because all soldiers eventually get fatigue. Engine death by a petrol perished abs plastic lego figure wasn't going to be an ideal instagram post no matter how funny.

I made a new lid from some 8mm thick alloy plate. It was way more involved than it looks. I cut the ribs out with the table saw. That was the easy bit. Bending the plate so it curves to match the plenum shape was tricky. Lots of trips back and forth between car and the press. Once the shape was bang on I filed then sanded all the press marks out.

I then masked it and applied wrinkle finish paint.  Apply heat with heat gun to speed the process p and it wrinkled so neatly. I was planning to sand off the paint from the ribs but it looked really neat as it was so for now I'm keeping the centre black. I took no photos during the build as I was immersed in it.

Next up was the throttle body. The gap when closed for idle is adjusted by this screw..

But I cant close it up any more or the butterfly plate gets slightly stuck and makes for awkward jerky opening at the pedal.

So this means that if I introduce a pcv entry onto the engine side of the throttle butterfly I'll potentially suffer a higher idle I cant adjust out.  With this in mind I'll continue with the setup as Honda had designed but move my entry point away from the filter up to throttle body just before the butterfly. 

I drilled a hole..

Glued a 10mm tube in place with JB weld..

Refitted all that lot into the car. The little Mandos said good bye to their spaceship..

 Off they went on their next adventure (most likely the dashboard)

I think the engine looks much better with the new plenum lid. Smarter, less busy, more factory. Happy with that!

Took the car for a hoon. The yucky crankcase fumes are gone when on decel. Most excellent!

But there's still a whiff of exhaust fumes. Whilst at supermarket I was having a look from the back seat the rear window that I thought was pretty well sealed actually has two areas with sizeable gaps!  

Well I'll be damned.  For farksake.  All this time eh?

I decided to pull out the rubber bits I'd used to seal the through flow vents under the rear of the roof. 

With those out and the windows down there were even more fumes.  So my plan is to seal those up properly from the inside and add some foam to the hatch seal to get rid of those gaps.

Fingers crossed this might be it.

[dabuzz]

Im putting this here instead of discussion because- famous

 

[yoeddynz]

Exhaust box version 3.4

When I was building this current exhaust box 3 I machined up some spare flanges for the exhaust outlets just in case I wanted to try alternative designs.  It was now time to try something new for a couple of reasons. While I don't mind the look of the straight out the side 3.3 tips I'm not quite sold on the sound. When the windows are down I feel each occupant is only really getting the sound of one pipe. Although there's an X pipe within the box I still wonder if the majority of the sound is that of a 3 cylinder? 

With both exits pointing straight back then the sound is one of a 6 cylinder. Only one way to figure this out. I decided to make a couple of stubbies and point them down to the road.

The design is not bang on how I wanted them to look because I've run out of stainless bends so I'll order more bends and change the design.  For now I can at least try it out and I'm hoping that maybe directing them down into the flow nearer the centre I might catch the air streaming under and away - plus it sounded pretty cool last time I had some pointing down :)

I had noticed a while back that my steel catch can had a split and was weeping a rusty oily mess, the steel not being ideal for the condensation within. So I made a new one from alloy. Similar design but without stainless pot scourers inside. I painted the outside with black wrinkle finish paint. One can barely see the catch can hidden away in the back of the engine bay but at least if someone does look it'll look neat enough.

I also decided to add a fresh air vent into one cam cover as an experiment. As I had showed with the drawings on a previous post Honda don't do it this way on the Goldwing 1500/1800 engines. I'm sure they know what they are doing and maybe its because on a bike there was no easy way to add a cam cover vent that wasn't either ugly or in harms way? 

However most car engines have vents in and out and I just like the idea that the engine sump can have fresh air pulled in to replace the drawn out blow by.  So I removed the cover on the air filter side of the bay then drilled a hole in the back where it cant be seen...

I then machined up a little vent boss..

Glued in place with my favourite JB weld.

This vent gets fed from the old spare stub on the air filter via a tube that loops upwards first, to avoid oil running down to the filter (This I learned pretty quickly..)

There's also pcv valve in the line now so it cant breathe backwards.

So far so good. I don't think the engine breathes very much anyway as its a low mileage unit. I'll just have to see how much oil vapour might get caught in the new can over time.

The imp is getting used more than our Cube or Hiace van.  Its just proving to be really cheap to run and so enjoyable to use so its the go to daily right now. Here's a couple of pics whilst out and about.

Beach run.

Saab spotting. Cool little car. Ford V4 version. Very tidy.