The basic concept was to take the drive train (gearbox, props, diffs and
hubs) off a Sierra XR4x4, take a Rover V8 3.5 with a good road tune, add
in the MG Midget and blend with a home made chassis and subtle body mods.
The
result is a beautiful looking car that is easy to drive and blisteringly
quick, particularly off the line where the extra traction from the four
wheel drive gives it one hell of an edge.
Stuart learned his craft over the years with a number of projects, which
all started off a couple of decades ago as a yoof with a Morris Oxford
with a jacked up rear, a flip front and side exhaust pipes. By trade Stuart
is a panel beater, which shows in the skill with which the steel wheel
arches are seamlessly blended in to the MG body.
The build started with his mildly tuned Midget that he had driven round
for a year or two. He then measured everything up and made suitable jigs
for the wishbones and chassis out of steel box, so that the final result
would be spot on and match on both sides.
The chassis uses the best bits of the original MG tub, added to a box
section lower chassis and tubular upper rails which hold the top wishbones
and coil over dampers on.
The 4x4 system uses the Sierra front diff and so Stuart created his own
unique front cross member with the diff mounting on the right hand side
(on the Sierra it mounts onto the sump).
Wishbone jigs hold the bush carriers in the correct place, then steel
tube is cut and welded in place to join them together, that way Stuart
knows the geometry is as predicted and both sides match.
The suspension uprights have the struts removed and a ball joint fitted
in place, these parts came from the kit car manufacturer, MK Engineering.
Being a tad narrower than a Sierra, the drive shafts had to be shortened,
but not by too much, only 70mm.
Springing comes from coil over AVOs all round, with adjustable spring
seats and damping. The first iteration saw 150lb springs on the rear but
these ended up coil bound, now it has 225s which are spot on. Damping
was adjusted to give good ride quality and handeling, but also to stops
the mud flaps dragging when going over speed bumps.
Stopping the car is taken care of by Sierra based disk brakes with EBC
Green stuff pads. As yet there is no servo, this is one possible mod for
the future, but for now the braking is still excellent as long as you
press the pedal firmly.
When it came to fiddling with the engine, Stuart had a chat with Dave
Ellis of DJE fame. Stuart is working on a tight budget and isn’t
after stupid horse power figures so a package was assembled to give the
3.5 litre about 200bhp and great drivability. It has a pair of 4.6 heads
which have bigger ports and valves than the old 3.5 units and are not
too expensive, a DJE 210 cam for good road manners, a Webber 500 4 barrel
carb and Rover electronic ignition coupled to an Accel Super Coil. The
carb breathes through a filter with a cleaver mod, because of the lack
of space the top of the filter housing is the bonnet, flexible mounting
lets the filter seat even when the engine twists under acceleration. Though
fuel injection is on the cards for a future mod.
Stuart made his own exhaust manifolds from tube and then Custom Chrome
Racing very kindly chromed them and made the rest of the system. Stuart
has known CCR for many years and so was allowed to use their workshop
to do the fiddly bits. In fact CCR even provided the steel for the chassis
and wishbones as well as making the oil catch tank. The resulting exhaust
has that wonderful V8 burble but is not intrusively loud, quite subtle
in fact, in keeping with the theme of the car. And all with just one small
CCR muffler on each side.
Various wheel arches were tried by Stuart, including ones off a Transit
double axle, but in the end he again made his own which complement the
understated look perfectly. To make these he took a piece of small steel
tube and bent it round the tyre, then he flattened the tube and braced
it to the body with more bits of tube. This made a perfectly formed skeleton
which he could then make up some cardboard arch templates and offer them
up until he got the look that he wanted. Once satisfied with the templates
he made steel arches and welded them on to the skeleton. The result is
well made and has a factory quality feel to it as well as looking the
dogs danglies.
The body was finished off by removing the bumpers, fitting a natty small
bumper at the rear, adding a boot wing, a small bonnet bulge and smothering
the thing an a gorgeous Rover Caribbean Blue paint job.
When designing the car Stuart wanted it to be usable every day, and on
a short trip round town the car proved that this goal has been well and
truly achieved. The suspension soaks up the bumps well and copes with
speed bumps effortlessly. Once out on the open road the thrust from the
engine is never ending, pushing you into the seat and putting a grin on
your face. The Toyo Proxes tyres grip well and corners are dealt with
easily.
At low speeds the steering is a little heavy, using a power steering rack
to get the 2.8 turns lock to lock, but as yet without the power steering
bit fitted due to the lack of space in the engine bay. Electric PAS is
a possibility. But as the speed builds it becomes lighter and very communicative.
All in all, this is a simply splendid car, well thought out and professionally
built. Stuart has plenty of ideas for future tweaks but the basics are
very well sorted out. The car would be marvellous at hillclimbes and sprints
and Stuart is toying with the idea of doing a few competitions in the
coming year, I for one would love to see it out there.
As a footnote, how different would history be if BL had put something
like this into production back in 1972….
Stuart
would like to thank the following:
Graham and Nigel at Custom Chrome.
Dave Ellis at DJE
Many friends, family and Midget And Sprite Club members for their support
and encouragement.
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