dmulally's pimpin' Imp

[dmulally]

Next item on the agenda. Has anybody ever made a shift gate before? There is about a bee's dick between reverse and 4th. Meaning I can't find first unless I come to a complete stop and find second beforehand. Also from 3rd to 2nd I hit reverse at times. 

Anybody ever made a shift gate that works?

[tortron]

[VitesseEFI]

Are you sure you don’t want to revisit the linkage geometry to widen the gate a little first. Making a gate is easy enough…. Making the gears fit in it probably not so much 🤔

[dmulally]

1 hour ago, VitesseEFI said:

Are you sure you don’t want to revisit the linkage geometry to widen the gate a little first. Making a gate is easy enough…. Making the gears fit in it probably not so much 🤔

I already had a bit of a play with that to get it to sit properly between the seats without fouling anything. 

[dmulally]

Broke down in worse places before. 

A mate must have terrible timing as he drove past me a minute earlier and I asked him to turn back and tow me. He thought I was kidding. 

The press in inlet fitting popped out and fuel went everywhere. Lucky it didn't catch fire. 

I used some JB weld to put it back in after sanding the fitting to rough it up. Does anybody know if this is going to hold? I might wrap it with some wire around the hose and tie it off to hold it in place as a secondary measure.

I have to drive it for LVV 50kms tomorrow so I hope it doesnt burn down. I put two extinguishers in the boot just in case. 

[Alfashark]

Enough meat in that housing to tap a thread and throw a banjo fitting on there?

[dmulally]

9 minutes ago, Alfashark said:

Enough meat in that housing to tap a thread and throw a banjo fitting on there?

Yeah for sure. But I didnt have a fitting that would screw in and need to get it going in a hurry. 

I could have sworn the last 32/36 I had was screw in. 

[VitesseEFI]

On 30/09/2025 at 08:12, dmulally said:

used some JB weld to put it back in after sanding the fitting to rough it up. Does anybody know if this is going to hold?

Reckon it will. Have done similar with regular epoxy on several occasions and seems to work.

[dmulally]

12 minutes ago, VitesseEFI said:

Reckon it will. Have done similar with regular epoxy on several occasions and seems to work.

Ta. I ended up tightening a couple of cable ties around the far side of the clamp and the housing so belts and braces etc. It made the drive no worries so it's up to the cert man to give me a looooooong list. 

[Bearded Baldy]

Just fyi the l200 32/36 has the same fitting.

[Tiger Tamer]

It's great to see you have a short list to do for the cert requirements, BUT how does factory built and fitted seat belts, fail NZ certification ?. That makes every Hillman imp etc in NZ not roadworthy and none should be able to get a WOF. Because the car has been modified and can go faster doesn't matter as the speed limit is the same for both. Just curious.

[dmulally]

.

[VitesseEFI]

12 hours ago, dmulally said:

I trust the cert man to have my best interests in mind

Well….. no lap belt alone will ever be safer than a 3 pointer and if the factory thought it was good enough not sure that the very man should be arguing….. Just my 2 cent worth….

12 hours ago, dmulally said:

roles were reversed I wouldnt even allow an Imp in my premises because they are terrible. 

That made me laugh….. as someone who drives old Triumphs (the meccano ones) too fast I can certainly relate.  They do have 3 point belts though 

[cletus]

yeah thats a bit weird

 

dont want this to come across as 'i know better than the other guy' etc, (obviously i havent seen the car, and he has so he might have a valid reason)

but

anything after 1955 is meant to have lap diag 3 point belts (there are some exceptions to this)

in the early 70s a lot of 50s and 60s cars were fitted with them, and they are usually done with barrel bolts in the pillar, or big washers

they are often outside of the area specified in the rules, but because they were done prior to the standard, are acceptable even if 'wrong'

 

it does get a bit murky around the lower anchs, if it is obviously old and never been touched then its ok, but if the car has new belts or the floor has been replaced, then its hard to prove they havent been messed with post introduction of the standard, then you would need to fit doubler plates, thats usually pretty easy though

 

the power increase thing is the other way around, for old cars with no belts or lap only, with significant power increase and handling upgrades, you have to fit 3 point belts,

ie a model a ford you cant say you dont want to modify the body for belts if its got a LS1 and IFS, big wheels etc

 

id be interested to see if this gets past LVVTA tbh, ive been pulled up on it before and the customer has had to fit 3 point (slightly different situation though)

 

 

[dmulally]

Sorry gents. Comments are appreciated but I don't like where this is heading and it's making me a little nervous so close to the finish line.

I shouldn't have mentioned it and won't be making any more posts on the Imp in future. Cheers.