So a new engine will be sourced out of a Vitara. This will have my SU carb put onto it along with the manifold and the electric fuel pump with a boat tank positioned in the back. This will be mated to the Sammy gear box as before. The gear box will be steam cleaned, and painted prior to fitment and so will the engine. The bulkhead will also be painted as will all the inside of the wings and the underside either stone chipped or under sealed. On top of this i hope to get some 31” rubber under her with some 15” Weller wheels painted black and gun metal grey! The axle will be painted after a thorough steam clean and wire brush with some rover 600/400 callipers on the rear so i have a handbrake. The local garage offered to set up my carb on their emissions tester, so it is running just right. After all this work, it will be put in for an MOT and fingers crossed, it might just pass!
DAY 1
Today was spent mostly taking the front end off the SJ ready for washing and painting and should also make life easier when fitting the replacement engine. The front end came off without a hitch, luckily the door hinges had already been taken off when i cut the hinges to make the removable doors. So all went well and the front end came off well, and luckily its in great condition with no welding needed, just a good rub down and paint. The surface rust will be treated before painting.
It was then pushed back into the shed for the next stage.
DAY 2
Went to pick up the donor Vit today. Found a nice example with low mileage and mint condition. So went to pick that up today. It is fitted with the 8V Injection engine. I will strip my old engine of its manifolds and transfer these over. The Donor Vit also came with some nice 8 spoke Wellers. These are going to be shot blasted and then painted up.
I also took the manifolds off the sj. Its pooring oil out of the exhaust manifold and the water chambers look corroded.
So I popped down to the local garage and ordered some new Gaskets and filters. These will be fitted on the new engine after I have painted it up with the old gaskets in there. This also came the other day, the new rear fuel tank.
Spoke to the guy in the garage. No fire wall is needed, but it has to be securely bolted down. So im going to knock together some sort of glorified battery clamp. I also plan to fit the original fuel sender into this tank so I still have a fuel gage.
I will update more as more happens. Henry
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