Discussion
|https://thumbsnap.com/QaN8pbFm[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/QgW2rRGB[/url]Looks good!
I do love a Clan Crusader - the man who is communicating a lot about them is Paul Woodford:
https://twitter.com/paulwoodford84
https://twitter.com/ClanCrusader
A "works" Clan Crusader won the Tour of Mull Rally in 1972, it was a bit of a surprise. This year, Paul Mankin and Peter Scott are bringing a Clan to the Beatson's Building Supplies Mull Rally to compete - it's been a few years since we've seen one.
I do love a Clan Crusader - the man who is communicating a lot about them is Paul Woodford:
https://twitter.com/paulwoodford84
https://twitter.com/ClanCrusader
A "works" Clan Crusader won the Tour of Mull Rally in 1972, it was a bit of a surprise. This year, Paul Mankin and Peter Scott are bringing a Clan to the Beatson's Building Supplies Mull Rally to compete - it's been a few years since we've seen one.
This reminded me just how good Hillman Imps were.... excellent to drive, with very strong suspension and in Sport form ,quite quick. This may de why Clan adapted them. Yes, they had head gasket problems but were more robust than BL MINIs, and in some ways a better car. Seldom seen now, though.
Lester H said:
This reminded me just how good Hillman Imps were.... excellent to drive, with very strong suspension and in Sport form ,quite quick. This may de why Clan adapted them. Yes, they had head gasket problems but were more robust than BL MINIs, and in some ways a better car. Seldom seen now, though.
The drivetrain was astonishingly light for its day, too: the transaxle weighs 29kg and the engine 76kg, making the whole drivetrain - including clutch, gearbox and diff - lighter than a Crossflow engine (and the Crossflow itself - at 106kg - was regarded as quite light). They also like to rev: I've seen 11K rpm on a (highly) modified Imp engine.As Skyedriver says, it's not an unusual conversion these days to swap the Imp engine for a BMW 'flying brick' K-series motorcycle engine, but it's a shame in some ways, as the engine is one of the best bits.
I absolutely loved my Imp. I built a 998 Sport engine with an R23 cam and a single Stromberg and it was brilliant. De-cambered the front end and ran the thing ragged for about two years. Rust started to eat it, however, so I sold it somewhat regretfully.
*opens a new tab to check on Crusader prices...*
*opens a new tab to check on Crusader prices...*
Equus said:
The drivetrain was astonishingly light for its day, too: the transaxle weighs 29kg and the engine 76kg, making the whole drivetrain - including clutch, gearbox and diff - lighter than a Crossflow engine (and the Crossflow itself - at 106kg - was regarded as quite light). They also like to rev: I've seen 11K rpm on a (highly) modified Imp engine.
I never worked out how much they actually weighed, all I knew was I could lift the long engine transaxle assembly out the back. Given how often it seemed necessary to have the engine out it was a good thing that no special tools were needed, such as a winch or hoist.I can't remember why I had the engine out of my bothers once in the road outside his flat when the BiB came around.
You can't do that there on the side of the road!
Us, all innocence, It's only minor maintenance.
BiB, we'll be back in 20 minutes
20 minutes later engine was back in and my brother had driven it off, I was just finishing tidying tools away.
They were somewhat surprised.
I used to do St John Ambulance cover for the Hydroplane racing at the Welsh Harp, the 1L inboard class pretty much all ran Imp engines. The fuel wasn't road legal but they ran some absurd revs on those things. Even more than the rallying Imps I knew.
a8hex said:
I used to do St John Ambulance cover for the Hydroplane racing at the Welsh Harp, the 1L inboard class pretty much all ran Imp engines. The fuel wasn't road legal but they ran some absurd revs on those things. Even more than the rallying Imps I knew.
Yes, the very-high-revving engine I alluded to above was in a hydroplane. In its ultimate form (which was intended for record-breaking) it wouldn't pull 'over the hump' to get the thing planing, because the pitch of the prop was too long, so my Heath Robinson solution was to take the guts out of a Sodastream fizzy drinks maker and use it to blow CO2 into the prop for the critical few seconds to allow it to spin up into the engine's powerband. The Germans and Eastern Europeans used Wartburg engines in that class - the Imp motor was exclusively English boats, as I recall.My method for taking the engine out of the car was to unbolt the rear crossmember, then sit with my legs extending forward under the engine; unbolt the engine from the transaxle so that it dropped onto your legs, then shuffle out backwards. One man job in, as you say, about 15 minutes!
Clans seem to be still very affordable, and there's a nice-looking yellow Ginetta G15 on sale at the moment for less than £10K that keeps calling to me... I'm just damned if I can work out a use for the thing, at the moment:
Skyedriver said:
So tempted to get another but prices are high now and price for upgrade bits high too.
I guess it depends on your perception of 'high prices', but compared the rest of the thoroughly overheated classic car market, I reckon that Clans, Davrians and Ginetta G15's are still a bit of a bargain (especially the G15, which whilst not as sophisticated in chassis terms as the other two, is a really pretty little car, IMO).I've got an Imp transaxle and a BMW 'flying brick' K1000 engine sitting in my shed (actually, the transaxle's in my office at the moment) waiting for a project I've got on the go. The transaxle cost me a tenner, the BMW engine (including gearbox, ancillaries and all electrics - I'll be selling the gearbox on) cost me £65.
Equus said:
Skyedriver said:
So tempted to get another but prices are high now and price for upgrade bits high too.
I guess it depends on your perception of 'high prices', but compared the rest of the thoroughly overheated classic car market, I reckon that Clans, Davrians and Ginetta G15's are still a bit of a bargain (especially the G15, which whilst not as sophisticated in chassis terms as the other two, is a really pretty little car, IMO).I've got an Imp transaxle and a BMW 'flying brick' K1000 engine sitting in my shed (actually, the transaxle's in my office at the moment) waiting for a project I've got on the go. The transaxle cost me a tenner, the BMW engine (including gearbox, ancillaries and all electrics - I'll be selling the gearbox on) cost me £65.
And a decent standard(ish) Imp is about the same price as a TVR 350i/S3/Chimaera etc and more than a Lotus Excel.
Skyedriver said:
You're right about prices really, it's just when you think back to what you paid for them back then I suppose.
And a decent standard(ish) Imp is about the same price as a TVR 350i/S3/Chimaera etc and more than a Lotus Excel.
A decent standard(ish) Imp is currently about £5K-£8K, so about half the cost of a decent Chimp, and even good Excels are going for well north of £10K, these days (I've just checked the classifieds here on PistonHeads and the only one available is asking just shy of £17K).And a decent standard(ish) Imp is about the same price as a TVR 350i/S3/Chimaera etc and more than a Lotus Excel.
Yes, it's pretty horrendous if you remember (as I do) picking up a decent example for a £few hundred back in the 1980's, but times change... that was 40 years worth of inflation ago, even ignoring the currently strong market for classics.
Perhaps more surprising is that Ginetta G15's and Davrians are only a couple of thousand more than an Imp, and Crusaders are often a bit cheaper - perhaps because they're all tarnished by the 'kit car' image.
I owned Clan OPT 440J , the fourth chassis made , having bought it in 1978 after several earlier owners . Fitted with a new Hartwell Rallye Imp engine, which we collected from Bournemouth in my friend's 2.5 PI Estate in a 500 mile round trip , the car was quick , economical and cornered beautifully . Best not to lift off mid corner though, as I once had to ....
thepawbroon said:
Looks good!
I do love a Clan Crusader - the man who is communicating a lot about them is Paul Woodford:
https://twitter.com/paulwoodford84
https://twitter.com/ClanCrusader
A "works" Clan Crusader won the Tour of Mull Rally in 1972, it was a bit of a surprise. This year, Paul Mankin and Peter Scott are bringing a Clan to the Beatson's Building Supplies Mull Rally to compete - it's been a few years since we've seen one.
Very sadly, the Mankin/ Scott Clan didnt survive Mull and they are currently looking for a new shell after quite a big off (both ok). They have to be specific lightweight rally shells apparently, designed to accept a roll cage.I do love a Clan Crusader - the man who is communicating a lot about them is Paul Woodford:
https://twitter.com/paulwoodford84
https://twitter.com/ClanCrusader
A "works" Clan Crusader won the Tour of Mull Rally in 1972, it was a bit of a surprise. This year, Paul Mankin and Peter Scott are bringing a Clan to the Beatson's Building Supplies Mull Rally to compete - it's been a few years since we've seen one.
I think.
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