In recent years I got seduced by the americanised side of the hobby and drifted from the roots of UK hot rodding , so when the chance came up to buy the remains of an old POP I gave a friend a hand with over 40 years ago I jumped in with both feet .
The car was chopped and channeled and built on a Jago chassis . When we did it it was fitted with a 2 litre OHC, Vitesse front and Anglia rear . It never got finished was sold on a number of times and ended up 3 miles from me .
With it planted in the shed for a year or so I decided to give it a closer look. Long story short , it was pretty clear I had my super rose tinted fantasy goggles on that day . Itdid remind me though that we all had to start somewhereI was still a bit smitten with it but after a good hard look it was obvious that what I had would be a big ask to get to where I wanted it to be .
As luck would have it an Anglia rolling shell appeared on Ebay that was fairly local and for ?200 it was a bargain, even though it was missing its doors and front sheet metal , glass and anything else that might have been bolted or screwed to it . Shell was solid though .
The Jago chassis was given a good looking at . Through time the 2 litre had been ditched and Rover V8 had been fitted , although it didn't come with the purchase just a big hole where it had been . The rear axle was also changed from Anglia to Jag and realy badly fitted .. but in there .
A few other mods had been made to the frame over time and it was decided that it would be easier to start from scratch and build a new frams to suit the parts choice and more modern stance , So the chassis was sold , the original chopped shell was chopped up , the jag rear was stripped for storage
For the last year Ive been busy off and on working away on the project . The focus is to build the car based on the stuff we had available easily when we were nippers , looking up to the fellas that were customising all sorts of Brittish tin, but without the nose bleed stance of the stuff built back then..and do it all is cheap as possible .
The latter involved a fairly tight budget that might not be realistic but its the aim. Lots of the stuff that was available back then is now harder to find so the occasional spend has been necessary . Budget is flexible but 5k is the target. Im not there yet but here is where I have got to so far .
To add to the mix, I decided to build it to IVA spec . and see if I can get it through the test . Its one of those things I always dug my heels in with but always accepted that it was the future and suddenly here we are . Its an interesting challenge but to be honest, so far its not been any different to a standard build just a bit of head scratching. but plenty info out there .
Unfortunately after a computer meltdown I lost some of the early pics of the car so the pic dump starts a little into the project .
I used the Jago chassis as a sort of base / jig to set up the new frame , its all pretty basic . The front suspension is based around the Vitesse parts that were on the Jago, the subframe was scratch build on a narrowed footprint .
the central part of the front X member was made from flat steel . I doubled up leaving a gap between the front and rear section to allow the Rover oil punp a place to live without setting the engine either to far back or to far forward . The double X member also adds a fair bit of strength .
It might look a bit wierd but it serves a purpose .
lets the engine sit in a decent position nice and low and no issues with the pump location
Vitesse steering rack narrowed to suit , most expensive part of this operation was the die nut , Bought a decent one as the chinese stuff seems to rip threads .
Fabricated a new rear crossmember for the Jag rear
Jag rear in the pics isnt the one that came with the chassis . I was in the process of narrowing the original when in conversation I was offered this one for ?165 . It would have been nuts to knock it back and being a budget build it was a great find and a very generous price .
It turned out that it had originally been fitted to a POP and was in the ball park width I was looking for . Its not quite as narrow as I intended but for the price and the time saved I can live with it .
Thats stage one , stick around for stage 2 .. it doesnt get any more technical
cheers for now .
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even if I am a grumpy very Ol git.
Originally Posted by mygasser
