Hartwell Imp - Restoration
Discussion
Flying Phil said:
Sitting on Cosmic Mk 1 Alloys! (I still have a set of them on my Mk 1 Frogeye Sprite!) My "in Laws" had a couple of Imps back in the 70's.
I did wonder if the were Cosmic, or possibly Dunlops? Didn't realise there was a MK1 Cosmic which explains my confusion. Always liked Minilite or wide steels.This should be a fun project.
This is my Hartwell Imp back in the 80's i rallied, Ray Payne built the 998cc engine for me, a proper screemer. It cost me a years salary at the time!
I used to rally it on second hand formula 3 tyres. 
I put a vinyl roof on the car because when we were building it we rolled it on its roof to weld the floor up and it put dints in the roof.
I got into Imps before i was old enough to drive, a chap across the road had a rally car he was building so i got interested. We became great mates and still are. He rescued a genuine ex works rally imp with a fuel injected engine, heated screen etc, found in a scrap yard in Manchester. He then moved on to racing a Maguire Stiletto.
This is my Hartwell Imp back in the 80's i rallied, Ray Payne built the 998cc engine for me, a proper screemer. It cost me a years salary at the time!
I used to rally it on second hand formula 3 tyres. I put a vinyl roof on the car because when we were building it we rolled it on its roof to weld the floor up and it put dints in the roof.
I got into Imps before i was old enough to drive, a chap across the road had a rally car he was building so i got interested. We became great mates and still are. He rescued a genuine ex works rally imp with a fuel injected engine, heated screen etc, found in a scrap yard in Manchester. He then moved on to racing a Maguire Stiletto.
Ray was a super nice bloke. I got ripped off by a "specialist" imp tuner in Lutterworth when i bought a rally engine for the car, it was a pile of junk, rusty inside!
I couldn't get any comeback from that scumbag so took the engine to Ray, he stripped it and the only thing he could salvage was the cylinder head casting. When they were changing the liners the block split, so ray found me a genuine ex works 998 block from his stores and gave me that for free, just charged me the cost of what the liner work would have been.
It still crippled me financially to get a Hartwell engine but it was worth it, i just wish i had the money to have kept my Imp and Clan, i would love to own them now.
I couldn't get any comeback from that scumbag so took the engine to Ray, he stripped it and the only thing he could salvage was the cylinder head casting. When they were changing the liners the block split, so ray found me a genuine ex works 998 block from his stores and gave me that for free, just charged me the cost of what the liner work would have been.
It still crippled me financially to get a Hartwell engine but it was worth it, i just wish i had the money to have kept my Imp and Clan, i would love to own them now.
e30m3Mark said:
There was a Clan ahead of me in the Crystal Palace sprint a few years ago. I think it was a turbo'd 998 with anti lag? Made a great noise.
This one? https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...PH owner Turboclan
TISPKJ said:
jsf said:
Are you planning to Historic race the car?
I am going to build the car to be able to do so yes, not sure right now who when and where, I will do a few track days myself just for fun and then see how it goes.jsf said:
TISPKJ said:
jsf said:
Are you planning to Historic race the car?
I am going to build the car to be able to do so yes, not sure right now who when and where, I will do a few track days myself just for fun and then see how it goes.
TISPKJ said:
jsf said:
TISPKJ said:
jsf said:
Are you planning to Historic race the car?
I am going to build the car to be able to do so yes, not sure right now who when and where, I will do a few track days myself just for fun and then see how it goes.
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