Hi all, just though i would share some pictures of my newly acquired coupe, its a number 203 A, year 1985


I'm new to gtms but I do have a mini, which the coupe will be replacing. I have been searching the forums and learning a lot, but i'm still learning so expect a lot of questions from me!






As you can see from the photos its very faded and the gel coat has some crazing marks, however the body hasn't been hacked about or drilled.. apart from the roof aerial of course.

There are various jobs that need doing so its complete, however I think its going to be a case of putting it together... to take it apart again, i've had a good poke around and the tub/chassis is very solid but also covered in surface so i want to stop that getting any worse, there are 2 small patches that need doing on the sill which i'm told one of the previous owner cut out to look inside for some reason

Still trying to decide which route to go with it, keep it standard or modify, not too sure at the moment.



So here goes my first set of questions:

Is the bonnet supposed to sit on some rubber mounts as mine is just resting on the scuttle when closed?
What does everyone use to seal the engine compartment and front compartment from rain getting in?
How do the windows open as I've tried pressing the white button on the sliders but they don't want to move?
Passenger side door lock, the key doesn't turn the lock so i have to lock/unlock from the inside, any ideas?

Also, a lot of your are very experienced with the coupe and you must've found some design flaws, is there any worthwhile improvements I can do, common mods,? known issues that need addressing?

Thank you in advance.
James

The bonnet rests on two "rubber" cylinders on top of the scuttle, or mounted under the bonnet. I must admit that both my cars have them missing, must get around to fitting something.

The engine/front compartments are not sealed. Theres not a lot of rain finding it's way into the rear "boot" area anyway.

Just what you've tried. Maybe a little duck oil to free them up.

Again maybe stuck from lack of use or wrong key for that door. But check all the rods are in place inside the door.

I made some ducts for the engine cover vents so that the water would be deflected away from the power unit.






I also fitted a couple of drain tubes into the rain channel of the engine cover so that it didn't fill up and overflow into the engine compartment.

As Ken says the bonnet on mine sits on two round pads - not sure what they are from but a couple of stacks of closed cell foam will do the trick (cut circles from a cheap camping mat and glue them together to get the right thickness).

The white button/lever should lift the pin out of the hole in the runner and allow the glass to slide. If they are seized then it's probably just best to replace them. The plastic ones are fairly cheap but watch as they are handed left and right and also different depths for the inner and outer glass. The all metal ones are far better but like rocking horse droppings.

If the key won't even turn then it's not the rods inside the door - maybe as Ken says seized or the wrong key. The handles were Marina/Allegro but they were carried on to Range Rovers and Discoveries so a matching pair shouldn't be too hard to come by.

I don't have anything to keep the rain off the engine and never had a problem with the A-Series. I'm going to assess and maybe add ducts/deflectors as shown depending on what sensitive electronics are under the vents with the Micra lump. I may just make covers for the items I want to protect though as my experience has been that you want to allow as much heat to escape the engine compartment as possible so I don't want anything to get in the way of that. I've no seal on the boot cover but do have drain tubes in the rear corners and never had water in there (and I was never precious about taking it out in the rain) - but do make sure the drain tubes stay clear. There is a rubber seal on the top of the divider between the engine and boot but I'm not sure it actually reaches the cover.

Under the front clam is "outside" as far as anything stored under there goes. Again you don't want to be sealing it as you need to allow air out or it will build up pressure and prevent air from flowing through the radiator.

Design flaws - well not so much but the cooling system needs to be thought out and allowed to work. The A-Series water pump isn't really made to get coolant from one end of the car to the other. It will all work and it'll keep it under control on a hot day in traffic but it's on it's limit so anything iffy will push it over the edge. Those convoluted hoses are a prime candidate for being replaced with something with a smooth bore as they do not flow liquid well.

Being a kit-car a lot of the "design" work was done by the original builder and the owners since. Some of those solutions and parts used can be...... not the best. That's going to be individual to your car so you'll find them as you build it or when you start using it. Plenty of photos on here as you are putting it together may allow someone to spot things that they know don't work or may allow those of us that have them (or have had them) on the road for a while to suggest better solutions.

Iain

My Coupe has a lot of the front to rear plumbing in domestic copper pipe and soldered bends and fittings, and thought it would all have to go. However I got an opinion from some rally boys who did some work on my car. They reckoned it was fine provided that you had something flexible where the copper pipe connected to anything that might move…like the engine or rad maybe. Copper pipe is very smooth inside

Martin

My thoughts on the bonnet issue which may or not be helpful.
It looks like your car has a two piece bonnet, wheras mine is one piece. A self adhesive foam strip has been run around the recess on the body in the bonnet opening. The bonnet has four latches and a bit of hose on the post for the pin sets the bonnet mounting height.

Martin

Is that the coupe which was on ebay recently + car and classic? Looks like a decent base for a project. Theres no such thing as standard for a kit car have fun modifying it

Thank you all for the replies, very helpful.

Iain - i don't suppose you have any pictures of the underneath of your bonnet? so i can see what the bonnet rests look like and a suitable place to position them?
I've read a lot about the cooling issues, i think theres a blue coupe with a swiss cheese subframe which has air ducted to the rad and ducted the hot air out through a vent in the bonnet which i like the look of.

Ken - I will try some duck oil or wd40 to free up the windows, if not it'll be a good excuse to get some light weight alternatives.. perspex/poly windows do we know of anywhere that makes them or is it a case of making your own?
I will have a fiddle around with the locks, one key locks the drivers door i assume it should do the passenger one too, but its good to hear that they were fitted to other cars so should be readily available.

gtmdriver - Drain tubes in the engine compartment sounds like a good idea, any pictures anyone? mine just has small white adhesive foam used for sealing drafts in doors etc and its all gone brittle so not the best, instead of the vents on the engine cover mine just has mesh so that's not gonna do much with stopping the rain coming in either.

Martin - My brothers a plumber so i'll have no problem getting some pipe, alloy could work well to keep it cool?

Octance - Yes its the same one, but it wasn't on ebay, just need to get it in the garage so i can make a start


The vents on the engine compartment, am i correct in saying that these are to get rid of the hot air? i had an idea of making another so that the vents are in the opposite direction to hopefully draw cool in to an airbox on an intercooler, does that sound like something that would work? Not sure if it will in terms of aerodynamics? It would be nice and subtle though
Alternatively, to those have turbo'd their coupe, what have you done to get in cool air?

Thank you

Hi Starmag, I used to have Cox GTM using a 1430 engine with 45 Webber in a pretty warm state of tune, I had a front mounted radiator ducted out through the top of the bonnet which worked well, I'm now building a coupe which will be fitted with a 1400 engine semi race engine again on 45 Webber, with the front rad to be ducted out of the bonnet, I will have the added problem of keeping both the engine and driver cool as we can have 44c temperatures in this neck of the woods, I suspect keeping the driver cool will be a little more difficult??
Using a water substitute like 'Water Wetter' should help
If your car is already registered and not needing SVA approval save money and buy Lexan polycarbonate sheet from an industrial supplier and cut your own windows, if needing SVA approval it must have the approval markings, so has to come from a company who can put their stamp on the same but more expensive Lexan
John

http://www.sheetplastics.co.uk/Polycarbonate_Sheet/Clear_Polycarbonate/4mm_Clear_Polycarbonate?product_id=1268

This is the stuff you need for side windows.

i think you'll have more of a challenge than me John! Luckily mine has already been registered so i can make my own, and thanks to the link from Ken it won't cost the earth either what a result.
Printed out my build manual which i got from Ken too, and also my cheque is in the post for my membership!

Not that I can put my hands on and unfortunately the body is off the car at the moment (and I think the pads are in a box somewhere - probably not going to be re-used anyway). Basically my suggestion is to draw an imaginary line across the back end of the clam between the catches. Your pads want to sit pretty much on that line so that they are compressed by the cathes and allow their over-centre action to work properly. Some sort of cushioning between the bottom edges of the clam and the tops of the sills is a good idea too as it'll prevent rattles if they touch.

I always liked the idea of forming "nostrils" in the top of the clam to allow air that has passed through the rad to flow straight out and over the outside of the bonnet. Very similar to the Elise and the RS200 (and no doubt others). Problem is I think that would mean the spare wheel would no longer fit under there which bothers me (yes I know lots of cars run with no spare and a can of goop). I haven't ruled it out yet as I'm probably going to get the drive flanges re-drilled at 4x100 PCD which means I can probably find a space-saver spare wheel that will still fit (or might fit behind the passenger seat). I did also look at Austin A30 wheels (I think) as they have the same 4x4" PCD as the Mini but are quite narrow and so might give an equivalent to a space saver. Of course you need to allow for where the full-size wheel goes if you do have a puncture as a mate found out in his 911- his wife was not impressed to have to do the rest of the journey with one of the rear wheels sat on her lap.

Iain

Hi starmag if you look on the early Cox with Mini tank posting a couple of slots below this post you will see my old cox tank and it had a duct fabricated into the bonnet which alowed the spare wheel to stand infront of the tank
John

Rover 75 door vents were all I needed, lets a lot of hot air out.

Problem is that unless it's an early Cox with the dip in the front bulkhead or you are prepared to modify it as much as yours then most of that space isn't available to put a fuel tank in.