dmulally’s 1965 Hillman Imp

[dmulally]

So sadly the vibration is still there. It isn't there all the time but I want to get on top of it. Sadly I have been given the wind up at work so it may have to go onto the back burner for a while as it's a money pit. But I'll have a tinker with what I have and see if it gets sorted. I have the engine on a slight tilt and have a feeling that may be it. Righting the engine will mean redoing all the mounts, exhaust, oil fill tube and depending on how much it changes things the half shafts. But I think that will be unlikely as the VW cv's have a lot of travel.

The kingpins are back in and reasonably ok. The passenger side one has a bit of play (ironically before I "fixed" them that was the good side) so if I left it alone it would have no play and Id have a working speedo! Yeah that is still on the fritz. 

The brakes also dont work but I have a feeling it is because when putting the drum covers back on the shoes moved and I need to re-adjust them. Something isnt right in there as there is no air in the lines. 

Into the shed it goes for a while. 

[dmulally]

Been a while since I updated this but there have been a couple of things done. 

The brakes got sorted. Turns out I had to adjust them so there was quite a bit more drag than I would have normally done. I had to swap over some components too but I forget what those were. Probably a slave. 

I had it all booked in for LVV so I could at least get the list of works to do whilst I am not working and after a long and comfortable drive I thought Id check the fluids. 

Blown head gasket. Typical. 

So I cancelled the inspection and parked it in the shed to stop bird shit from landing on the gravel. 

The ea81 I picked up from @cubastreet just got finished being fully reco'd and I have grabbed that. Seems a waste putting such a nice engine in such a cursed car. Anybody have a gen 1 brumby or baja bug floating around they want to offload?

Anyway when I cbf'd Ill drag it into the workshop and switch the engines over. It was diabolically fast with the 1600cc so with the ea81 it should be a lot of fun. 

Because I'm going to forget, the engine builder said I need to run the break in oil and plain water for 500kms then oil/filter change with 20w/50 semi synthetic or mineral oil with fresh water and the additive he gave me. 

 

 

[dmulally]

Back to working on this awful thing. Whilst the flywheel is back at the machine shop to get whittled down so it can fit in the bellhousing, I am doing lots of little jobs before I can put the EA81 in properly and get it started up and run in. 

The ea71 was tilted on a slight angle for clearance on the twin carbs which were in a staggered formation on the manifold and I have a feeling it was responsible for the vibration that I couldn't get rid of at speed. Or perhaps it's wishful thinking I'm not sure. Anyway I have tickled the gearbox mount so both halfshafts are at the same angle. I really hope this fixes the vibrations because the half shafts have been balanced and rebalanced as well as the wheels and it still wouldn't go away. It wasn't major but it was noticeable. 

I kept the top mounting point and just swiveled it back straight and redrilled. To get out of making a new mount I just plug welded the old hole and redrilled. 

Can't even see it!

The other thing I did after reading the LVV book is to weld in the hole I cut out for the gearbox tunnel. I had this bolted in before but it's probably a little too bodgy even for me. So I seam welded it at the front and rear and then stitch welded/tacked it in on the sides. I'll put some silicon over it all for any gaps/pinholes and then it'll get carpeted over anyway. It will hopefully pass LVV. As it was with just 4 bolts I doubt it would have been that rigid. If the cert man wants evidence of welding he only needs to look at all the fires I started around it. That carpet underlay shit is flammable.

I haven't refitted the seat on top of it but it will be lucky to fit as I have raised it a little to give more clearance to the gearbox. I want to sell this thing eventually but if nobody wants it (most likely) I will ditch the rear seat and have a flat floor from the parcel shelf with some storage holes where the seats were. Nobody will ever sit back there as it is and it should at least be mildly practical. 

The next two jobs on the agenda is to sort out engine mounts as well as the throttle cable and return springs for the SU. The new manifold is probably too long but it looks cool. Depending on my care factor I might relocate the rear number plate as there is a big hole behind it where the carb air cleaner will be perched but I'll see how I feel. Doubt I'll care that much. 

Because I'm used to working on V8's and bulldozers, I am adding about 20kgs of steel to the rear to make the mounts. The old one was in the stock location and as the boxer is a lot more wobbly when running than a stock Imp engine, it rocked too much for my liking. So I have cut out 5mm plate with doublers on the inside of what passes for a chassis rail to lock it all together. Not content with this I have then bolted it to where the bumper bar attaches. But it was very soft there and flexed way too much installing it that it ripped out the factory threads. So I drilled it out and put in a thick washer and nut and glued it all together. 

Cleaned out some spatter and good to go. Feels a lot stronger and zero flex now. 

These are the doubler plates. As per the LVV guide I have rounded them on the insides to suit the curve of the chassis rail before they went in. I dare say they'll be coming out a few more times before this nightmare ends. 

 

[dmulally]

Trying to sort the engine mounting this week so I can get around to starting it soon. One of the problems I had before with the ea71 was the sump dangling down too low. Even with it dragging on the ground the half shafts were at a steep angle. So I'm making the angle even worse by raising the engine but it means the sump will be slightly more protected. I also made the engine mount brackets oversized so that if it gets really bad I can put a bash plate down there. 

The things that were stopping me raising the engine before were the downdraft carbs and the oil filler tube. It now has a side draft and I cut down the filler tube to be a fraction of the height. Means filling oil will be a pain in the bum but with a long flexible filler neck shouldn't be too hard. 

Now onto the mounts. 

[dmulally]

Mounts are coming along well but there is a little flex on the bottom of those plates that bolt to the rails. So am going to investigate what I'll need for a dinky little towbar. I already smell a tiny trailer project for the farm in the works. 

For the mounts I ordered some Volvo S40 ones but after two weeks I got a refund saying out of stock. So rather than order again and have to wait I found some land rover ones in the parts bin and they'll have to do. One end has a captured nut and the other has a window to get the nut on. As per usual I had to butcher a spanner to get it on and off. I'm almost up to a full set of spanners that have been cut down. 

[dmulally]

Gimpy spanner got the nut on with no dramas and the mount all fits thankfully. The bolts on the frame aren't long enough but will do for now and new ones an inch longer have been ordered. With it all bolted up including the bumper bar end bolts there is no flex so I can relax my flaps about a towbar. Although I will be eyeing off the space after the exhaust is done which should probably be next on the list. I was going to chop off the old engine mount but it isnt in the way and I could possibly use it for something yet. 
 

For comparison, here is the mount that it replaced which had it far too wobbly at idle. 

 

 

[dmulally]

Managed to get the throttle cable connected. Still need to sort the choke however. Throttle is bits ripped off a nissan diesel in a landrover in the shed. It's upside down and back to front but gets 70% travel which will be fine for now. Especially running in a new engine. 

The next thing I need to take seriously is the exhaust. The old one was two full size mufflers and with the new engine bar in the way, simply won't fit. On order are some small hot dog style ones I've had success with in the past. They are quite small so may need to be packed for LVV but I'll cross that bridge later.

Might look at putting a battery and radiator in tomorrow and trying to get it started. Still need to sort the air filter and breather hoses but a test fire won't harm it.

[dmulally]

So the engine has been test fired and it was pretty good. Haven't plumbed in the radiator yet as it needs a good flushing but it sounded very crisp and the throttle response was instant. Wasn't sure how the throttle would be with about 10 meters of manifold and three corners a side. 

Today's job was to sort the exhaust as the parts came in. Still need some mounting bolts and in fact might tap the threads first as they are pretty average. Hopefully I don't have to put in a helicoil just yet. With the new much smaller mufflers I don't have to snake the bends forwards and then backwards again which should help with heat dissipation. The pipes are on an angle to steal an inch from sticking out too far. In the parts bin I do have a set of late model subie OEM mufflers which if it is too loud for LVV I'll shoehorn in there to get through although to get a Victory Vision through compliance I recall the dealer who sorted it stuffed the muffler with something but will have to check my old notes.

This was the old exhaust:

This is the replacement:

[dmulally]

Today's effort was put into sorting the air filter out. I was just going to order a ramflo one until I saw the price of them so just modified the one in the parts bin to be able to fit. 

After the head gasket from the ea71 I wanted to give this one every chance of surviving. So I did some reading into what the flyboys do (ea81's are popular for light aircraft) I had to take the PCV setup seriously which I didn't mind sorting out. 

 

Next up is either relocate the battery or flush out the front rad if it has any crap from the last engine which when I found it was packed solid with coolant crystals. 

[dmulally]

Tried to take it for a cheeky test run and was having problems with the gears. I don't recall it being so painful last time but with the box at a different angle it seems to have thrown everything out of whack. For starters the gear stick in 1st was pretty much straight up. So pulling back to second it would go in gear but not quite fully seat.

So out it all came which meant cutting a window in the gearbox cover I welded in (was meaning to do that anyway but this is a decent enough reason) so I could undo the uni and line it all up again. I took out an inch of the shaft and it sits a lot better now. Especially with R,2 and 4. I'm still not happy with it however as it's too tricky to find first. Perhaps I just need to get used to it. 

 

[dmulally]

Put some water in over lunch and mild panic when it started leaking out the front of the manifold. There was a water jacket up into the carb that I completely forgot about. Thankfully there is a step in the cast manifold for the water to leak out of and a quick check of the inlet sees no sign of water ingress but have taken the spark plugs out and blew some air in there and nothing doing other than a little fuel residue. 

Lucky I caught it in time as it could have ended in tears. I have a gasket and a small spacer I'll whack on whilst I'm at it. Also I'll glue a little vacuum port plug on and fill in the hard plastic spacer with epoxy so if converting back will need to be drilled out. 

Gary's paw for scale. 

[dmulally]

So after some great advice from this forum, the Imp is now one radiator lighter. I have a few things on today but hope to fill it up with water later to see if it leaks. The water booster is still in the circuit but I'll likely take that out and have it straight through. 

The heater lines are plugged with a cut down hillman kingpin. 

And the header tank is off a Jeep something. 

[dmulally]

One step forward and two steps back. 

Managed to do a couple of things which made it better. I adjusted the carb so that the flat spot off idle was no longer there. On the test drive it doesnt like it at load so I seem to have just moved the flat spot further along. Might have to wind the jet out a little further but I felt like I was already too far if you go by the base settings in common literature. Open to ideas on that one. On looking back I dont recall the vibration being there anymore so that's a positive but with the flat spot I wasnt able to go too fast so maybe it is still there. 

Welded on a stronger return spring so it doesnt rev too high at idle. 

Also managed to sort the issue of the overheating problems. The water just wasnt getting to the front rad. I added a T piece (for the eventual heater matrix) where the booster was and just filled it up from there. 

Was able to idle it for a while and the radiator and fans do a great job. Where the water goes in the radiator is quite hot to the touch but by the other side it is barely even warm. I took off the hose at that end and there is plenty of water so the radiator is doing it's job. 

Now for the shit part. I parked it on the ramp to burp itself and noticed a big oil leak. Im guessing the rear main seal (that came with the bullshit adapter kit) has shat the bed. 

Super frustrating as it means the engine has to come back out. I'm up to my assholes in projects though so sadly it'll have to wait. This project simply will not die. 

 

[dmulally]

So before I sort the oil bullshittery, I want to make sure it's running well and ready to rock for LVV. That means sorting out the flat spot that was previously off idle but is now under load over 2000rpms. The carb is fully rebuilt but I have no idea what needle is in it. Before I crack that back open I'm going to sort the timing out. 

The issue I have with the timing is that the original timing was done from the flywheel (I have a custom one) and through an inspection hole in the bellhousing. Of which I don't have as it is now an adapter plate and VW beetle related.

So any timing was done by setting TDC and then by ear at idle. Starts really well without the choke so I felt comfortable that it was within the ballpark. But the issue I'm having with the bogging down under load is either the carb/fuel or the timing. Seeing as I have rebuilt the carb and being an SU there isn't much to adjust, I'm going to sort the timing first. One thing I can't remember is if this is the same dizzy I used in the EA71 which was fine. If it is then that's a worry. I can't remember however. 

Upon giving the vacuum line a suck, the advance plate thingy moves perhaps a mm and doesn't stay moved. I can move it perhaps 15mm by hand but it is very stiff. I did a whip round to my other shitboxes and the vacuum all worked on them just fine. So that is one problem needing fixing. Yellow arrow pointing to where I have to get to first. 

I'll take it out today and perhaps order so new bushes and spark module thingy for it so I don't have to worry about it for a while. In the meantime I'll figure out how to make some easy to spot marks in the front pulley at TDC and a marker to line it up with so I can use it to adjust the timing. I'm not smart enough to be able to mark it for different degrees but just knowing where TDC is with a timing gun will help me a little more than what I am doing now. I have seen timing tape you can stick on a harmonic balancer but owing to this being a front pulley I can't see how that will work.

Here is a video with a couple runs stitched back to back with the carb at base settings (two full screws out) and the second half of the video is the carb wound out to where technically the choke would be considered "on". If I just use 1/4 throttle it's fine. Anything over and it doesn't like it. That I was even able to get around is due to the light weight of the vehicle and adequate torque this tiny thing puts out. \

 

 

 

[dmulally]

Back to this awful contraption.

So I ended up rebuilding the dizzy so the vacuum advance worked and that didnt fix the problem. So ended up getting a 32/36 weber which is a pretty common swap for the hitachi and put it on. 

Sadly it meant I had to hack away the firewall for it to fit but whatever. The carb was leaky but a quick rebuild with new jets and off she went.

The problem with the hesitation is gone but it doesnt feel as fast as the ea71 with twin carbs. It has more torque at the top end over 50mph but I could be imagining it. 

I am also playing around with making it more quiet. I have only screwed it is so might take a comparison video to see if the exhaust inserts actually work. 

Here is a video of her running leisurely up the road. Where I lay off the throttle is where it hits 60mph and coasts. Hopefully the carb cover quietens it down in the cab. 

 

 

[dmulally]

Just putting these old pics and new here as I'll likely need it soon for LVV man. Nobody is allowed to look at the awful welding. Imp body shells are made from paper so it was a case of plug the blown hole x 1000.