Mini Muscle Car

[smallfoot]

Nice job Bob!

 

[Old Iron]

Was the shifter rubbing your leg raw or your leg keeping you from shifting???

 

[Skip]

Was the shifter rubbing your leg raw or your leg keeping you from shifting???

Thanks for giving my brain a jumpstart, OI.

How about, the vibration from the shifter against his leg was annoying?

 

[BlueNorther]

is it to keep you from falling out of the seat on sharp left turns?

 

[smallfoot]

It's to keep them trophy girls off the horse's corn...

 

[bob w]

You guys are almost correct. These little cars provide precious little foot room. The gas pedal is where the brake should be and the brake pedal is way left where a clutch pedal would reside. I have to bend my right leg around in such a way that my knee feels like it will dislocate. So, the plate is knee rest. Had the same problem with some of my other builds and usually just stuffed a cushion of some kind to give the knee some relief.

Today I adjusted the TV cable a bit. Went for a faster drive, which went well. 65MPH, no problems. Went for a night drive and found the headlights were grossly out of adjustment. No landing aircraft were blinded, but it was sketchy. Got to bleed the brakes again. The fitting arrived and I can install the temp gauge.

 

[joedoh]

No landing aircraft were blinded, but it was sketchy.

ah yes, we call that "hunting raccoons" here

 

[falconvan]

Sounds like you're wrapping up the details, Bob. Very cool build!

 

[smallfoot]

What was top speed of one of those from the factory?

 

[05snopro440]

What was top speed of one of those from the factory?

I think it depended on what you had for lunch and how fast you could pedal. [ddd

 

[dutch]

What was top speed of one of those from the factory?

factory specs say about 68 mph

 

[Old Iron]

It also depended on if it were a Dauphine 68 mph or a Gordini 85 mph

 

[dutch]

It also depended on if it were a Dauphine 68 mph or a Gordini 85 mph

oh yea... the tire rippin Gordini...!! terror on the French roads

All kidding aside.. I love old european cars. Small, light weight some handling awesome. You really dont need a 500hp V8 to have fun. Smallest car I`ve owned was a mini... body was toast and it looked like it would fall apart in the very next corner, but I put a slightly warmed over 1300 deTomaso engine in it and it turned into the most fun car I ever had.
The Gordinis are pretty rare these days. I wouldnt mind owning one either

 

[bob w]

I had a MG 1100 which is like a oversize Mini. Still small though. Had hydro-elastic suspension and cornered like it was on rails. Had to lap the valves once a year though.

Oh, and a 400 hp V8 sure wakes up a Renault.

 

[bob w]

Still have the Renault.

Last fall an upper control arm broke. It was just tack welded, not completed. I should have caught it. At the time I was feeling quite bad so a young friend came over, took it apart, welded it and put it back together. I recently took it out of storage and drove it around the block.

Wanting to make it more driver friendly, I cut the roll cage out of it. Just the part that is in front of the rear hoop. It is now much easier to get in and there is more interior room. I put extra cushions on the seat to make it more chair-like, now that there is more head room with the roll cage out of there. That relieves the lack of leg room, not having the legs straight out in front.

Those changes required the steering wheel to be move up off my lap. Not an easy task.
Next I need to find a more comfortable location for the gas pedal.

Unfortunately I am having gall bladder surgery this Friday which will take me out of the game for a little while.

 

[Torchie]

Good luck on the surgery, bob.
I had that one done in about 98, I think. Middle of the night. Emergency surgery...blah. blah.blah.
Now it looks like I have 3 bullet holes in my ample belly.... [ddd
Torchie

 

[Skip]

Unfortunately I am having gall bladder surgery this Friday which will take me out of the game for a little while.

Good luck on the surgery, bob.
I had that one done in about 98, I think. Middle of the night. Emergency surgery...blah. blah.blah.
Now it looks like I have 3 bullet holes in my ample belly.... [ddd
Torchie

It is a really non invasive procedure these days. I was back at it the next day, albeit they wanted me to take it easy. I got 4 or 5 bullet holes, as I recall. Not to worry. The biggest issue I have had is that I had to give up the hot foods I loved. They just don't get along with me any more. And you may want to buy a big bottle of Tums.

 

[bob w]

Bye Bye Gall Bladder

Last I saw of it it was running down the hall, a nurse and orderly were trying to catch it. Still kinda sore where the Doc stuck the barbeque tools in me. At almost 78 I'll probably take a couple days longer to recover than some of you younger guys. All in all, not bad.
No driving and no whiskey for 24 hours.

Next on the to do list is to replace the engine in my Anglia.

 

[forbigpicture]

Glad to hear the surgery went well bobw, no whiskey [S[P

ok we'll give you a couple or three days then we expect you to start changing
that engine....

 

[soltz]

Glad your doing well. [cl