Classic Clubmans - but what is it ??

[Fairthorpe]

Hi,

New member of the forum. Serial purchaser of boxes of junk.

1) Fairthorpe Electron 1983 - £85 - rebuilt and hillclimbed
2) Gilbern Genie - 2006 - £400 - work in progress

However I've always wanted a Classic Clubman and true to my form rather than purchasing a known quantity I have bought this ....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4228566...ol-301708@N25/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42285665@N06/3995349155/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4228566...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4228566...n/photostream/

It is not a Mallock but is "Built in the style"

Estimated build mid 70's

Currently the shell is with Amber Racing who I bought it from and I'm building a 1300 three bearing crank wet sump PreCrossflow with help from Joe at Throbnozzle.

Does Anyone either recognise it or alternatively know who to start asking ??

[Fairthorpe]

Sorry ... always taught my kids Please and Thank You ..

Any help greatfully appreciated ..

Thanks

Chris

[jolibre]

A good source of info re classic clubmans is The Clubmans Register

[Fairthorpe]

John - Thanks for the reply.

I have my membership form to join the Register.

Tim Beardsley from Amber has already posted on the Clubmans Forum and a few people have come and had a look, scratched their heads and drawn a blank.

I'm venturing further afield ...

I guess many of the people likely to have knowledge may be like the Gilbern experts and not use "tinterweb thingy".

I'll print pictures and keep hunting down possible sources of info.

Anyone interested in the build up ??

Car has been stripped - chassis blasted - front is being rebuilt and rear made safe (the roll hoop would have folded in an accident).

Engine is in bits - block being done - head and carbs with Joe.


Thanks

Chris

[Ian Johnson]

keep posting the progress as it unfolds please

[redturner37]

Originally Posted by Fairthorpe

Hi,

New member of the forum. Serial purchaser of boxes of junk.

1) Fairthorpe Electron 1983 - £85 - rebuilt and hillclimbed
2) Gilbern Genie - 2006 - £400 - work in progress

However I've always wanted a Classic Clubman and true to my form rather than purchasing a known quantity I have bought this ....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4228566...ol-301708@N25/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42285665@N06/3995349155/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4228566...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4228566...n/photostream/

It is not a Mallock but is "Built in the style"

Estimated build mid 70's

Currently the shell is with Amber Racing who I bought it from and I'm building a 1300 three bearing crank wet sump PreCrossflow with help from Joe at Throbnozzle.

Does Anyone either recognise it or alternatively know who to start asking ??

Maybe a simple answer, but why oh why are you going for a 3 bearing crank. Very old hat, unless you are putting a steel crank in and not a cast hollow one. Are you using a 5 bearing block. Joe certainly knows his pre x-flows and I would have thought he would have adviced against it. All the 3 bearing motors had rope rear seals.

[Fairthorpe]

Hmmmm lots of tea was drunk discussing this ...

The idea is to build something relatively low budget with reliability over out and out performance at the early stages. I've set a 1300cc limit as I figured it made sense to get the car out with low bhp to work out how it handles - iron out the inevitable bugs etc ...

The whole front end of the car will be new other than the uprights (chassis - wishbones - Triumph/Ford hubs - discs - calipers - steering - springs - shocks)

The chassis appears to be a little on the light side .. I'll try and get some pictures of it after being blasted.

"V1" engine is using an existing 3 bearing engine that came with the car - standard crank - overbore and will put out about 90bhp. I'm putting all of the engine budget into the top end buying the best possible head, new cam (A2) non vacuum distributor, twin 40's inlet and custom exhaust manifold. All can be reused on the next version.

I figure the bottom end needs to last for the first six months or about six to eight events. (V1 gearbox is standard 1600e with 1200 flywheel and 7.5" hydraulic clutch.)

V2 engine will be a "Mongrel" using a 1300 711M bottom end - sleeved with 85mm pre crossflow pistons and decked flush - steel caps and balanced with the pre crossflow top end - again more for the engineering fun. We're also going to run the Vizard "poor mans dry sump" that he owes me the recipie for - baffled sump with a pick up that involves drilling and extra feed into a high pressure xflow oil pump.

I'll also fit an LSD as part of V2 and work out if it needs to be a different ratio back axle . (.. not sure what came in the box of bits)

V3 - proper alloy dry sump maybe better gearbox if there is budget.

Thanks

Chris

[redturner37]

Originally Posted by Fairthorpe

Hmmmm lots of tea was drunk discussing this ...

The idea is to build something relatively low budget with reliability over out and out performance at the early stages. I've set a 1300cc limit as I figured it made sense to get the car out with low bhp to work out how it handles - iron out the inevitable bugs etc ...

The whole front end of the car will be new other than the uprights (chassis - wishbones - Triumph/Ford hubs - discs - calipers - steering - springs - shocks)

The chassis appears to be a little on the light side .. I'll try and get some pictures of it after being blasted.

"V1" engine is using an existing 3 bearing engine that came with the car - standard crank - overbore and will put out about 90bhp. I'm putting all of the engine budget into the top end buying the best possible head, new cam (A2) non vacuum distributor, twin 40's inlet and custom exhaust manifold. All can be reused on the next version.

I figure the bottom end needs to last for the first six months or about six to eight events. (V1 gearbox is standard 1600e with 1200 flywheel and 7.5" hydraulic clutch.)

V2 engine will be a "Mongrel" using a 1300 711M bottom end - sleeved with 85mm pre crossflow pistons and decked flush - steel caps and balanced with the pre crossflow top end - again more for the engineering fun. We're also going to run the Vizard "poor mans dry sump" that he owes me the recipie for - baffled sump with a pick up that involves drilling and extra feed into a high pressure xflow oil pump.

I'll also fit an LSD as part of V2 and work out if it needs to be a different ratio back axle . (.. not sure what came in the box of bits)

V3 - proper alloy dry sump maybe better gearbox if there is budget.

Thanks

Chris

Remember, engineering 'fun' can be very expensive, particularly when messing about with sump sysrems. A standard Ford wet or dry oil pump is more than capable of lubricating your engine without drilling extra holes. Ford x-flows will happily run with a max of 56 psi when cold, 10,000 Formula Fords can't be wrong and Atlantics run the same pump. I have seen some weird and wonderful wet systems with a host of trap doors and they never seem to work, though I do have a t/c sump here with doors and there isn't any scrap in it. Front engined FJrs run a front bowl wet sump and are revving at 10k + and only 55 psi oil pressure. Before spending you money on a cast alloy dry sump system have a word with me and I will save you a lot of money, in fact why not dry sump it straight away and save your budget, without having to rethink the system. The only extra's you will require is a tank and a couple of pipes and I know for a fact that Dermot has one of these.....

[Steve MG]

The rather primitive rollbar suggests to me that it is more likely to be late 1960s. After that date nearly all clubmans style cars had a forward facing rollbar support.

Have you considred the possibilty that the car was built for 750f or for Formula 1300?

It is hard to tell the size of the frame from the pictures. Is there sufficient room for a Ford engine? Could it have been built for the Reliant power unit?

I suspect that the rather unsophisticated nose on the first picture is a later addition.

[redturner37]

Originally Posted by Steve MG

The rather primitive rollbar suggests to me that it is more likely to be late 1960s. After that date nearly all clubmans style cars had a forward facing rollbar support.

Have you considred the possibilty that the car was built for 750f or for Formula 1300?

It is hard to tell the size of the frame from the pictures. Is there sufficient room for a Ford engine? Could it have been built for the Reliant power unit?

I suspect that the rather unsophisticated nose on the first picture is a later addition.

The two main chassis rails on an F750 car have to be 2" square, the ones on this car dont appear to be. I had a 750 car and it was fitted with a 1700 pre x-flow............