Part 4, of the Unipower GT blog from Cornwall.
You might remember (you don’t? Then go back to part 3 of this blog!), that this car came to me with a very low mileage Metro Turbo engine fitted. To facilitate this installation, the rear chassis section had been modified somewhat!. It was always my intention to restore these chassis tubes to absolutely original and exactly to the factory dimensions, as the goal was to refit the original 1275 cooper S engine, which amazingly, came with the car, albeit as a sorry rusty lump!. More on that later….
So, having procured accurate rear chassis drawings and dimensions necessary to restore the back end back to original, the car now went to my demon chassis man for cutting out the old tubing and brazing in new, correct gauge, square section tube, brackets and gussets, exactly to factory specifications. This man can weld tissue paper!. Additionally, various sundry and unnecessary holes were plug welded and finished to nice smooth surface.
The rolling chassis returned home to sit on its new factory replica stands awaiting stripping!!!.
Close inspection now showed many, many parts needed renewing or rebuilding….
I removed the Metro engine early on and that was sold. The original Cooper 1275S engine that came with the car was then stripped, measured and assessed. Crank grind to .010”, bore and new pistons to +.020”, new Swiftune Vernier cam gear, camshaft, followers, push rods and oil pump. Then my head…beyond help I hear you say….nothing that new guides, valves, recut seats and complete rocker assembly wouldn’t fix!! My head needed some psychiatric help after that lot!. So, that was the engine, waiting to have the Distributor Doctor’s rebuild dizzy installed and the lovely shiny rebuilt pair of correct SU’s fitted later.
…..now back to my body….. After much chassis prodding, poking and chin scratching and deep discussions it was decided that there was still something just not quite right. This prodding showed some very serious rusty chassis tubes and, hidden under the glass fibre some very poor past repair work. So, body off completely, full new front end and proper extensive chassis repairs.
Simple……more to follow in part 5!