My other expensive hobby - 1963 Sunbeam Alpine - Adventures in Cars

[RevolverRob]

What a grueling week of trials and tribulation.

The last few days have been largely unphotographed, because there wasn't much to photograph. First came clutch-issues. Where the adapters I ordered simply did not work properly. I ended up remake the clutch hydraulic line from scratch and spent about 4 hours doing it. Finally, we got that finished. Now onto the brakes...

First a leak at the new master cylinder. Then a leak on one of the new brake lines, where the flare fitting was lightly damaged. A repair there found the next squirting brake-fluid leak at the block where the stoplight switch is. Where the plug I purchased (converted the car to dual MC bowls) was leaking. I removed the plug and went to install a larger one...and discovered that my threads were cross threaded. Holy Jesus...If you've never tried to tap a hole in an aluminum block with metric threads to standard threads and it's 112-degrees in the garage...After two full days I finally got a plug made and inserted. Brakes pump up! I have brakes! Now it's time to crank it up!

I go to crank it up...No gas. Hmm...check the fuel pump. Check the fuel line...no gas through the line. We get it loose, insert an air hose and blow it out...BLOOP...now it starts pouring gasoline...all over us and the garage floor. After some nice chemical burns courtesy of gas, we get everything hooked up and reinstalled into the fuel pump...Which requires repairing the fuel-pump banjo bolt. FINALLY...I prime the fuel pump and...The fuel pump is dead. Doesn't work...doesn't pump fuel....

At this point the spilled gas on the garage floor, and a nearby torch are starting to look like a viable option...

Finding an original mechanical fuel pump for a Sunbeam Alpine at 2pm on a Saturday, two days before a Route 66 road trip? Puh-lease. Off to the autoparts store and the acquisition of a universal fuel pump...But wait...All universal fuel pumps sold here are...negative ground only. And my little British car is...positive ground.

Can you say F-U-C-K? So, I installed the fuel pump, while my dad converted the car to negative ground. After installing a nice brass tap to shut the fuel off (I was getting tired of leaking gas) and running the pump, we got everything turned on, powered the pump up and...









The car RAN. So...I drove it.

[RevolverRob]

I realized I hadn't updated this thread with pictures from my Route 66 road trip. There is a reason for that...

I got the car running and driving. My buddy showed up from Austin. We hopped in the car and drove over to the tax office to register the car. Get the car registered and plated, we pack it down...and get ready to take off.

About 8-miles from my folks house, still well within the city limit of Dallas, the car starts overheating. Fair enough, it is a 103-degree day. I pull the car over and shut it off, letting the electric fan run to cool the car down. Forty five minutes later the car has cooled and I crank it up. I make it a half-mile before the temp gauge shoots up dramatically, I move to shut it off and then it just dies...and hear the radiator cap go, blowing off steam. F-U-C-K.

I call my dad he shows up with a tow strap and the truck and we pull it home. I stick a compression tester on it, #3 cylinder is down on compression. I try to crank the engine over by hand and it's not happening. The bottom line...the engine got so hot it stuck a ring on the #3 cylinder. At that point, knowing there was nothing we could do and my friend was blowing his hard-earned vacation time, we hopped a flight back to Chicago. Since then, my dad has torn the head off...sure enough the rings on the #3 cylinder are ruined. I'll need at minimum new rings and a valve job.

And that's how 3-weeks of wrench thrashing and attempts to get things working...didn't. Now I have to decide if I'm rebuilding the engine in the car or ripping the drivetrain out and stuffing the spare Ford 302, T5 5-speed, and 8" Ford rear end I have underneath it...

[will_1400]

Ouch. That's a hard hit to take on getting a car up to snuff.

[mmc45414]

And that's how 3-weeks of wrench thrashing and attempts to get things working...didn't. Now I have to decide if I'm rebuilding the engine in the car or ripping the drivetrain out and stuffing the spare Ford 302, T5 5-speed, and 8" Ford rear end I have underneath it...

Crap...

[RevolverRob]

Update: While home for the holidays I did some maintenance on our daily driver and then worked on the Alpine.

The good news: After filling the cylinders full of ATF, I waited awhile and then slowly spun the engine over, by hand, with a 2-foot breaker bar. It took all of my 198-pounds on the breaker bar to turn the engine. But after plenty of effort, it spun. And then freed up...and spun and spun and spun! So, I grabbed the powerpack and hooked up the car, gave the carbs a squirt of starting fluid and tried to start it. And it ran. So - the great news is, the #3 cylinder is no longer stuck. However, I'm still reasonably sure I'm going to have to put rings in it and hone the cylinders down. Both my dad and I suspect that since the car has gotten hot a few times, it has likely caused a ring on the #3 cylinder to expand out.

Because the car needs a clutch and a rebuilt gearbox, the decision has been made to yank the drivetrain. We'll tear it down for an overhaul and send the head out for machining and hardened valve seats. In the meantime, I've got a clutch assembly on order. AND...I brought a spare gearbox back with me from Texas to Chicago. After acquiring a workbench (thanks Harbor Freight). I cleaned about 60-years worth of road grime and leaking gearbox oil off of this spare...Next up is disassembly and rebuilding.

[Poconnor]

My heart says make it a tiger but my brain says do the Miata conversion.

[RevolverRob]

Well, it's been more than 3-years since I updated this thread. But I have been sort of running an update here and there in a couple of threads here. So let's just jump in with a rough chronological order of things:

March/April of 2017 not long after my last update on this project my dad was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. The car sat in a state of hiatus as I went back and forth between Texas and Chicago while spending as much time with my dad as possible.

November of 2019 my dad passed away; our last real conversation was about what color to paint the car.

Between then and now there has been a flurry of activity.

In June, I leased a single-car garage here in Chicago, not far from my apartment (about 200 feet).

http://instagram.com/p/CA_SjZop7hF/


I put up some lights and then hauled the car up from Texas in August.

http://instagram.com/p/CDtrLWiJCPm/


Meanwhile, I had my tools and spare parts shipped up which arrived in September

http://instagram.com/p/CFDQk5Cpo8q/


And enjoyed a beer or two while working...

http://instagram.com/p/CEPiDYyp59E/


Dog likes to come out and supervise...

http://instagram.com/p/CFvecjIpL0v/


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So what's the plan here? The first plan is to remove the old British drivetrain. Let the disassembly begin...(early Oct)

http://instagram.com/p/CGVp5_GpjBd/


The motto of my rebuilding: Simplify and Add Lightness - To add lightness, I need to know what things weigh. So I bought a gigantic hoist to use to hold a tiny hanging scale...

http://instagram.com/p/CGswCp9Jc3S/


But it turns out it isn't all roses...because somewhere along the line someone covered up sheet metal with a bunch of

http://instagram.com/p/CHT9LJvp7Yw/


Bondo

http://instagram.com/p/CHWtxnVpb2z/


Yet the metal underneath is easily fixed with a little patience and hammer and dolly work (last pic here, shows a section I already worked over and cleaned up fairly easily in less than an hour).

http://instagram.com/p/CHdqnjyJk8l/


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So after removing the drivetrain - the next stage is to fix the sheet metal (body damage and rust areas).

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After that fabrication for the new drivetrain begins. The new drivetrain will be a Honda K-series engine (likely K24A2, though I would like a K20A2 they are hard to get here), this will be mated to a BMW/ZF 5-speed manual, using KPower (nee KMiata) parts, and controlled with a Hondata ECU. At the rear end, I'll be doing a Winter's Quick-Change rear end. Why a quick-change? Frankly, it's not much more expensive than a custom width 8.8 or 9" rear end and its lighter overall.

As part of all of this, I'll be rewiring the car from stem-stern, re-running all my fuel and brake lines with stainless lines, converting to a dual-bowl master cylinder setup (from single jar original), and of course dealing with other bits and pieces of things as they come up.

I'm doing this work, by myself, in my one car (10x20') garage in an alley in Chicago. My wife is helping me with bigger things from time to time, but for the most part it's just me and sometimes the dog. There isn't a rush to get anything done, but it's a nice thing to work on. I'm teaching myself things as I go along, along with using skills taught to me by my father and grandfather.

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And of course - the color - https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-ye...age-paint.html - Dad picked this one from the color sample chart and it was one of the two I had narrowed it down to, anyways.

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And that is bringing us up to date in November of 2020. Long way to go, but there is a plan and way to get there.

[NH Shooter]

Time to drop in a 289 and make it a Tiger.

[RevolverRob]

Time to drop in a 289 and make it a Tiger.

Honda K24A2 w/Hondata. Lighter than a 289, less surgery than a 289, lets me retain the superior Alpine steering and suspension geometry, without worrying about a cracked front cross member (a lot of Tigers need cross member repair/strengthening because of the weight). The the K24A2/ZF 5-speed combo I'm planning should come in around 60-pounds less than the original Sunbeam cast-iron I4/4-speed combo. So, my weight distribution gets better...not too mention ~200-220 rear wheel horsepower in basically stock form.

When I decide that isn't enough, a K24A2 NA build will get me 325 rwhp...and if that's not enough...I mean 4-Piston Racing cranked 1000hp out of a stock K-series block...http://blog.wiseco.com/how-to-build-...sepower-engine - Obviously that's not 'normal' - but if I wanted to pay to play...I'm not getting 1000 horsepower out of a stock Ford small block V8...no matter how much I want it to be true...the number of broken 5.0 HO blocks that broke at ~500hp is enough to tell me the truth...the K-series (K24 in particular) is a better engine. Lighter, revs higher, tons of horsepower potential...slap a turbo on it and sky is the limit.

I'll never get enough tire under a stock-bodied Sunbeam to put 1000hp to the ground...so you know a 600 rwhp single-turbo build will be enough.

[HeavyDuty]

Outstanding, I never saw this thread before.

When I went through my mid-life crisis in the annus horribilis that was 2015, after I cashiered my ankle and ruled out the used bike I had just bought but never had a chance to ride I looked at many different options for a drop top toy. I really wanted a last version Thunderbird, but none were in my self-imposed price range. I briefly considered several classic British cars before I chose a Miata. An Alpine was on the list, but I prefer driving to walking and don’t have the mechanical skills that you have.

This will be sweet when you’re done.