Restoration of Car 100033

Starting with the strip down

When I bought the car, it was basically stripped of paint. The reason was Neal wanted to check the colour under the red was Ivory which it was, also we found lots of details that matched the race pictures. It was amazing the body and chassis were rough, but in good order for restore.

The following set of pictures show the car before restoration, it was decided that a full body off was required. Every part of the details would be recorded and each part would be restored, rather than replace. Except certain areas the pieces needed replacing with new.

So the next picture shows the original dash, only the oil pressure gauage was not original. We kept every the same, except with the car was the race doors and bonnett which would be going back onto the car.

The engine was in a mess, but we found some unique features which shows the racing background. Also talking to Duncan's race mechanic (Paul Hoagg engine builder of Maryland) gave a lot of information which confirmed the Cyclinder Head and Inlet Manifold was original. The engine block was raced as the sump had the damaged the Paul had fixed.

Restoration of Chassis and Body

The body and chassis were in great condition, some photo's of the car during the restoration. See below the boot, with the holes for the rollbar, we also found the race tank and old Fuel tank. The pump and battery were not standard, both uprated. 

The following the body removed from the chassis showing the condition, both pictures have been taken during the rebuild

The engine bay below shows the body number in the original location.

Racing features on Body

Removing paint around the drivers door we found the hold for the wing mirror again matching racing photo's, also under the body the hole had not been filled.

Removing more paint we found the aero screen holes in the body. Matching the screen in the original picture

Chassis had the rollbar mounts cut off when restored for road in the 70's.

Engine Rebuild

Russ Carpenter rebuilt the engine and a number of interesting changes had been made to the standard engine as follows:

• 1) The cam profile is not one that is known to any SP250, we are going to try it. This is very strange for SP250.
  
• 2) The heads have been ported and polished, but the inlet and exhaust manifolds did not fit smoothly. This is being resolved; the headwork is quite advanced. We are keeping the heads but resolving some of the issues.
  
• 3) The Inlet manifold had been cut through to allow polishing of the ports, we will not be using this manifold as some of the welds are weak and they may fail. The inlet manifold will be kept with the car.

• 
  4) The engine back in the 60’s dropped a valve that punctured the block, this agrees with what Duncan’s engine builder has said. The Block is damaged and pressure testing has shown a leak. We have chosen to replace the block due to this damage. This is not the original block for the car, but one that was put into the car in its
  final development under Black.
  
• 5) The other changes are more about polishing and porting various parts. They, where possible will be retained and cleaned up. 

Rear Axle

The SP250 rear axle was replaced in 1960 and 1962 to that of a standard MG axle due to the failure at two events of the rear brakes. This replacement (MG) rear axle will be retained but a disc conversion will be fitted to make it comply with the MSA’s specification of discs on the rear. Also a LSD had been fitted and has been renewed, but using period parts. This was one of the key reasons the SP250 was successful other than Duncan brilliant driving of the car. The rest of the original conversion will be restored & retained including the uprated dampers. The springs have been modified and are stiffer than the originals.

Restoration

The following set of pictures shows the car coming back to life, two key teams that were used are experts (http://www.fhellis.com/) and GB Engineering. The paint work was impressive and the quality of the metal work was brilliant.

The rollbar was re-built and we added side impact bars to support the body more. B Spec seals were used to strength the body (e.g. stopping the doors flying open)

The following picture shows the body prep complete for painting. We converted the bishop cam to a normal rack. The peg drive steering is still with the car as this will be required for FIA historic papers. Everything else is as standard.  

In the next picture shows the rollbar being re-built ready for welding, also side impact bars in place. All of the rollbar can go in and come out as required. So if anyone every wanted to put back as a road car this would be possible.

 See below the chassis painted and restored, also the B spec out riggers in place and painted. This shows the detail tha Fintan and his team put into restoring cars.