Matt, can you

[neon14]

Matt, can you make a set of plans for something like this? Stitch and glue. Its got lots of hard chine lines

[jem]

Question is can you afford the design fee?

[neon14]

LOL probably cant afford it! Its always been a dream of mine to build a car some day. I have built a few race cars but nothing from scratch. I have always thought it would be cool to build a rear engine, light weight kit car. I just get stumped on the body every time I think of it. Building the Sabalo made me think of building a car body for some reason

[OnkaBob]

Building it wouldn't be too hard but where would you put the rod holders?

While we are off topic Neon what is the car in the background of the second pic on page 3 of your Sabalo build log?

From what is shown it looks a bit like an old British sports but I don't recognise it.

[neon14]

That car is a triumph tr6. Its been sitting for about 10 years and dads been working on it every once in a while. Just about got the carbs rebuilt.
I have had my share of those British sports cars myself. In high school I had an austin healy sprite with an arkely body kit. Thing looked like a fat pregnant lotus 7. That was a neat little car. After that got wrecked I got a mg midget and drove it until I graduated. Then years later a triumph spitfire caught my eye, had to have it. Man that thing was a hunk of junk. So slow it was dangerous. One thing I learned about those old British car is you have to work on them about as much as you drive them.

[OnkaBob]

Very fond of the Triumphs, and the TR6 is probably my favourite.

I had a Spitfire as well, MkIII with the 1300cc engine. It was slow but I wouldn't say dangerously so. Had a lot of good times in that thing - even drove it to the snow country to go skiing, driving for 10 hours at 5,000 rpm because of the low gearing. Nearly had industrial deafness when we arrived .

The basic design and layout was good but it was let down by engineering weaknesses - replaced the dif twice; had the gearbox out twice; new generator, water pump, pressure plate, ring gear etc. At least it was mostly easy to work on so the cost was for parts only.

Must say it was driven hard though - redlined in every gear almost every time and the internals of the engine stayed sound.

[neon14]

My spitfire was the American version with a 1500. It had 50 something hp. That was a poor motor. It eventually failed catastrophically.

That tr6 has had its share of problems also. The ring gear on the flywheel worked its way back until the starter could no longer reach it. Both front upper a-arm mounts tore out of the frame. And the right rear axle broke off at the hub. So the wheel basically fell off lol! Other than that its been a good car, has a 6 cylinder with dual carbs. Its fun to drive. As long as all the wheels stay on it

[cjbfisher]

Note to self:
Don't ever buy a triumph.