Pilbeam MP62

I bought a Pilbeam MP62 in the beginning of 2013 - an extremely exciting sprint single seater - 318 braked horsepower and a total weight of 455 kilos with wider tyres than an F1 - quick is not the right word... The problem for the Davrian is that the new racer will take up my free time, so there will be even more delays in this project... sadly....

It was a year ago I wrote something here...

It is sad that nothing has happened to the Davrian for almost a year. I have had a lot to do at work, I always do, but the last year has been more than normal.... I always have some projects going at home.
In June I bought a Noble M400 - to have some fun - and so I could be able to race again - I did twice i August and in September - it was so much fun......

In april I got 4 new brake discs, but they did not fit - so now I have to move the calipers 10 mm inwards.
In may 2011 I realized that I have to modify one of the steering arms to be able to adjust the toe in without taking out the track rod end - I bought a steering arm from some half modern car that together with the original arm can modified to what I want. But then nothing happened to the Davrian.....

Now in February 2012 I will start again and hopefully I will have the steering, braking and suspension ready before summer...

New stub axles

I manage to find 2 stubaxles to Hillman imp on Ebay - I looked at the site just for fun and by good fortune I found a pair of stup axles with new king pins - my original had worn out steering arms....

I manage to outbid others and last week I got them - they were absolutely perfect and will solve a lot of problems for me.... Thank you wery much "limjamrace" for a good purchase....

Steering column

 

The steering column was made of a 32 inch long metal tube - I never felt good about it. So I took a bit of a steering column from a Jaguar XJ and integrated is to the Davrian column - Now it is collapsible by almost 4 inch and there is a stop for the column to protrude into the car. After the conversion it is heavier, but only by 380 grams.



but the diff is not under control - this is a Jack Knight diff that I think is worn out. The plan was just to buy a new diff but it was not so easy - I also need to buy new final drive, new output shafts, new drive shafts (The Davrian has Mini pre pot inner joints and no one can supply output shafts for that model) - and the drive shaft is special Mini in one end and Hillman Imp in the other end - so I would need new Mini drive shafts a the inner part of the Imp shafts...... or find spare parts for the original diff........not so easy....

the engine is also under control, just waiting for some parts.....

The gearbox is cleaned and only waiting for some new parts.....

disassembly done - now it is just to get the parts and put it all together....

.....look at the amount of metal particles that comes from the diff from just a couple of races - i had put an oil filter before the oil pump just to save it from being ruined by the metal particles (remember the the Mini engine and gearbox is integrated and uses the same oil) - the diff will be replaced by a more modern construction.

and a Jack Knight pawl diff - it worked very well but.......

An MG1300 gearbox with remote gear linkage and strait cut wheels allt the way from the crankshaft to the half shafts.... should be bulletproof

The gearbox...

It is time to inspect the gearbox.....

The hunt for spare parts....

Now it is time to get the spare parts I need to continue the assembly. Most things in the front suspension is in order except the track rod ends - they are not standard - I am basicly looking for track rod ends to a Mini but with a lagrer conical end - It seems that the Imp steering arms has been modified in the past... Engine and gearbox parts is almost on its way.....

It is not the most high tech with a king-pin but still it works quite well

the other side...

A nice red coil around the spax shock

Front suspension work - picture shows the only frame in the car, stabilising the upper spring consoles to the wishbone support....

All black under the car..

Some black paint....

And now I have a dash top...

Half way there.....

Manufactoring of a new dash top - by using building foam

New phase - THE ASSEMBLY !!!!

Inventory of all suspension parts - they had been painted 10 years ago - now it is just a matter of cleaning them + I need to get some new bushes etc.

January 2011

First part ready from the paint shop

end of 2010

New paint !!

I left the car to the paint shop - we made an agrement that it was not urgent to have it painted - it would take as much time as needed....
I had put at lot of thoughts into what colour to choose  - first I decided to choose a light colour, a darker one would show uneven areas more. A lot of mk7's were white at the time, mine had been white, blue and then red. In the end I choose a colour from Lotus called Burnt Orange. A nice (and expensive) 2 tone orange colour.....