Tom's hillclimb car

by **tomkidd** on Fri 26th Jun 2009, 09:38am

How do

Finally got the shell to the painter (Mick). He is doing final prep after I did all the welding etc.
Its being primered today and then covered in Tweed grey on the weekend.

I'd highly recommend his work and he is really resonable on price too.

His workshop is just off the M65 in Hapton, not far from Mini Sport
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 14&iwloc=A

by **Zippyrude** on Fri 26th Jun 2009, 12:11pm

looks like a thorough job there Tom!

what kinda cost are you looking at for the spray etc?

by **tomkidd** on Fri 26th Jun 2009, 12:16pm

Yeah, its taken me the best part of a year to get it to that stage. Full front end, door skins, A-panels and a few repairs here and there. I did start the prep myself but didn't think it would be up to standard. I did have a journal but it went walkies when the site went down

I was quoted roughly £800 for the full job, underneath, engine bay, boot, interior and exterior.

More than happy to pass Mick's details onto anyone who is interested, he is a mini nut aswell.

by **patlink** on Fri 26th Jun 2009, 04:50pm

tom is that the shell you had blasted ?
must be getting a nice engine :wink:

looking at the cut out in bukhead

by **tomkidd** on Sat 27th Jun 2009, 10:11am

patlink wrote:tom is that the shell you had blasted ?
must be getting a nice engine looking at the cut out in bukhead

Affirmative, the shell I had blasted ages ago!

It'll be getting the 1380 out of my Blue mini I think but with a wilder cam and a weber.
The Blue one will get something else but I am not sure when or what yet.

by **minimadgaz** on Sat 27th Jun 2009, 01:33pm

Looks very tidy Tom, cant wait to see it with a splash of colour on it

by **Brumski** on Sat 27th Jun 2009, 05:00pm

tomkidd wrote:The Blue one will get something else but I am not sure when or what yet.

Go on mate... 'K' it... you know you want to !! :wink:

by **tomkidd** on Sat 27th Jun 2009, 05:33pm

Brumski wrote:
tomkidd wrote:The Blue one will get something else but I am not sure when or what yet.

Go on mate... 'K' it... you know you want to !!

Hmmmm, I'm not sure,bang for buck, I think I'd rather turbo it...

by **tomkidd** on Tue 7th Jul 2009, 04:33pm

Here we go, new photos.

Upon further inspection today, the paint seems a little thin on the footwells and there are a couple of runs (nothing bad) but for the price I am still very happy. Its never going to be a concours car but its not being built for that.

by **mini-geek** on Tue 7th Jul 2009, 05:11pm

That's the thing with paint work you get what ya pay for. Looks good in that colour though, and if the paint work was perfect you wouldn't want to drive how it's ment to be driven.

by **tomkidd** on Tue 12th Jan 2010, 07:14pm

Its been a while and now I have some more photos of earlier work done on the car, so I'll post some more info here now:

The idea from the start was to build a car that I could do track days in and race in the Longton and District Hillclimb and Sprint championship. The recession has slowed things up somewhat last year and I have sinced moved into a bigger workshop to allow me to finish the build.

The car was bought as an unfinished project with a very good shell. The identity of the car is a bit sketchy as it looks like it was reshelled in the early 70's as it has a mixture of mk1 and mk3 parts.

The shell was stripped and then sand blasted before I started the welding etc which I learnt on the classic car restoration course at Bolton College. Until this project I had been scared of welding and had never done any bodywork before. The idea with this project is a test bed for if/when I restore a mk1 shell.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkidd/se ... 190593120/

Back from blasting

Then I painted the entire underside in POR-15

Then a few bits of welding

Theeeeeeen it went for paint

Then it came back

I'm 'pretty' happy with the paint job but I think I would take it somewhere else next time and pay more money. I ended up painting the inside and the engine bay myself as he was too shy with the paint

And now I have started putting it together

by **carl_a** on Tue 12th Jan 2010, 07:26pm

im liking this alot!

by **mini-geek** on Tue 12th Jan 2010, 07:51pm

Will you be ok with the harness mounting? I've been told that you can't use the lower rear belt mouts for motor sport use as they're too low and can cause crushing of the drivers spine?

I have a feeling you will be fitting a cage with harness mounts though?

car looks good though :rock:

by **philster** on Tue 12th Jan 2010, 08:09pm

that looks really good tom, impressive

what engine you going for?

by **tomkidd** on Wed 13th Jan 2010, 10:58am

Cheers Gent's

The angle as which the seat belt is, is within the rules as its not 45 dergrees its slightly less.
But I do have a safety devices cage which I could fit a harness bar too.
Its not a circuit car so there is little chance of anyone running up the back of me so the seat belts crushing the seats is very slim unless I'm doing 100mph backwards into something very solid...

Engine wise it has to be standard castings up to 1400cc so no fancy bike heads or 8-ports.

by **ibrooks** on Wed 13th Jan 2010, 03:49pm

I thought the angle for motorsport was more like 5 degrees. Either way I wouldn't be happy with the mounts so low down. The problem doesn't happen if someone runs into the back of you - it happens when your car comes to a sudden stop. You go forwards and take the belts with you. Imagine a triangle drawn between the side belt mounts, your shoulders and the rear mounts. Now move the shoulders forwards without changing the length of any of the sides - you can't because a triangle is fixed. The belts don't stretch so what happens is that the distance between your shoulders and the side mounts gets less and that extra length allows the distance between the shoulders and the rear mount to increase. Raising that rear mount to as close to or even above the height of the shoulders relative to the direction of travel greatly reduces the amount of compression the spine is subjected to if you hit something.

Many people think that the holes in the seat will prevent the belts from moving downwards at that point - they won't, think cheeswire. Those holes are strictly guides, unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise, a belt trying to stop a human body will cut downwards through the back of a seat without even slowing down.

For a road car the regs state that a block 136x53mm should be placed on the base of the seat against the seat back and centred between the sides of the seat. The front upper edge of that block now provides a reference point for several measurements. "For a harness or three point belt the effective upper anchorage location must be at least 450mm above the reference point" Generally motorsport regs are stricter on things like this but I'd consider this to be a minimum if it was my car.

Iain

by **themaninthesuitcase** on Wed 13th Jan 2010, 04:06pm

Might be worth getting some vinyl in a similar grey to the paint (or clear) to put under those spring catches. Seen this done on a white car to save the paint. Basically you get a circle the same radius as the length of the spring and put this on the car centred to the spring so the spring can only hit vinyl not paint. Was a brilliant idea imo.

Also if you already have the SD cage then a harness bar is a no brainer imo. Especially as the chances of high speed offs in sprinting/hillclimbs are just as good as circuit racing (see will_h's car after that one fell off flat out in 4th!).

by **tomkidd** on Wed 13th Jan 2010, 04:07pm

All I've done so far is copy the layout from another car which has passed scrutineering and competed in the same class as what I will be entering but like I say I may just fit a harness bar.

by **philster** on Wed 13th Jan 2010, 04:58pm

I raced for 2 seasons in the grasser with the belt mounted like that, had a few bad impacts too and never came out with any problems.

I know lots of others who have too and all got out without a problem.

I suspect those who've been injured have been as a result of a belt that isn't tight enough or a poorly fitted seat.

by **tomkidd** on Wed 13th Jan 2010, 05:12pm

Where the belts currently go through the rear bulkhead there are reinforcing plates welded to either side

by **mini-sprite** on Thu 14th Jan 2010, 08:13pm

Tom, i would fit a harness bar or move the position to where you strengthened......As you probably know i race in hillclimb and ive seen 2 bad accidents involving mini's. Properly placed harness and both walked away.

Paul

by **Nozzle** on Thu 14th Jan 2010, 10:49pm

tomkidd wrote:Here we go, new photos.

Upon further inspection today, the paint seems a little thin on the footwells and there are a couple of runs (nothing bad) but for the price I am still very happy. Its never going to be a concours car but its not being built for that.

It's the first time I've stumbled accross your build diary... and I'm loving it!! I'm interested to know what kind of paint you used - cellulose, 2 pack? water based + laquer even?!

Nozzle

by **tomkidd** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 03:57pm

Been working my old man on the car today sorting the pull cord and the battery mains wire. Chris-pilling is helping (i.e. 100% of the work) by doing the headlining at the moment too. Its starting to look like a car again.

by **tomkidd** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 03:58pm

Headlining and rear part of the cage were finished off lastnight, big thanks to Chris-pilling (who took home an injury thanks to the ratchet strap).

As you can see the cage touches the headlining and is very tight.

The headlining is a Newton Commerical one which I was expecting to be the bee's knee's... but it "aint all that". Still I'm happy with the overall look and when the cage is in and the car is at normal height it'll look the part.

And this is an unused Rev counter purchased off fleabay for £42

by **tomkidd** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 03:59pm

[quote="mini-sprite"]Tom, i would fit a harness bar or move the position to where you strengthened......As you probably know i race in hillclimb and ive seen 2 bad accidents involving mini's. Properly placed harness and both walked away.

Paul[/quote]

Yeah good call Paul, I plan to get one of those soon. Did you sell yours?

by **tomkidd** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 04:00pm

Nozzle wrote:
tomkidd wrote:Here we go, new photos.

Upon further inspection today, the paint seems a little thin on the footwells and there are a couple of runs (nothing bad) but for the price I am still very happy. Its never going to be a concours car but its not being built for that.

It's the first time I've stumbled accross your build diary... and I'm loving it!! I'm interested to know what kind of paint you used - cellulose, 2 pack? water based + laquer even?!

Nozzle

Cheers. The car was painted on the outside in 2pack and I used cellulose from paints4u for the inside and engine bay etc.

by **RikWalsh** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 04:57pm

tomkidd wrote:Chris-pilling

Tom, why do I know that name?.. Did/does he live about the New Longton area?...

Rik

by **tomkidd** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 05:02pm

Ha ha, yes he does/did. He is also a mini nut... here's his current project

by **RikWalsh** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 05:09pm

That arouses me :oops:

Rik

by **mini-sprite** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 05:18pm

tomkidd wrote:
mini-sprite wrote:Tom, i would fit a harness bar or move the position to where you strengthened......As you probably know i race in hillclimb and ive seen 2 bad accidents involving mini's. Properly placed harness and both walked away.

Paul

Yeah good call Paul, I plan to get one of those soon. Did you sell yours?

Yeah it sold ages ago Tom...I would ask at Minispares as they might have to order one for you unless you know of another source?

What events are you doing Tom, any this year? We will all be at Olivers Mount on the May day weekend event with Auto66.

Paul

by **mini-geek** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 06:09pm

tomkidd wrote:Ha ha, yes he does/did. He is also a mini nut... here's his current project

Sorry I have just made a huge mess in my pants #-o

Mini is looking good tom, I would be interested to see how well the Cobra Imola fits in the car as I'm thinking of getting one for mine :wink:

What have you got planned for the engine?

by **tomkidd** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 06:38pm

Cheers guys

I'll not be competing this year that is for sure

I'm a long way off and I need to save for the engine and I keep on buying bits for this one (see attached)

I've actually done Harewood Hill climb school in the Tahiti which was good fun and took home a certifcate for best performance

Engine wise it'll be something similar to the 1380 in the Tahiti but with a wilder cam and a weber. If I can get over 110bhp I'll be happy, which I think its doable seeing as though the tahiti has 105bhp

by **mayfair** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 06:58pm

tomkidd wrote:Ha ha, yes he does/did. He is also a mini nut... here's his current project

Ding Dong,thats nice!

by **patlink** on Tue 2nd Mar 2010, 09:42pm

very nice like it

by **miniEq** on Wed 17th Mar 2010, 11:08pm

This is the best journal.. So good to see a proper project :wink:

by **Hassan23** on Thu 18th Mar 2010, 09:24am

Tom by how much is the steering wheel going to be dropped with that bracket, I'm currently looking for one and yours is the best looking I've seen to date(is it a custom jobbie) cracking build as well.

Hassan

by **philster** on Thu 18th Mar 2010, 02:58pm

tomkidd wrote:Been working my old man on the car today sorting the pull cord and the battery mains wire. Chris-pilling is helping (i.e. 100% of the work) by doing the headlining at the moment too.

tom I have to ask if it's a hillclimber why are you fitting a headlining? surely you don't want any unecessary weight

by **patlink** on Fri 9th Jul 2010, 06:23pm

is it up and running yet ?

by **Alex Gibson** on Sat 10th Jul 2010, 08:23pm

Good looking steering drop bracket. Is it home made?

Alex

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