Monday, September 19, 2005

Top Tip Three-Measure Twice, cut once...

I wanna tell you a story....
When the build began, I understood that Mini's and Metro's had a 4"PCD (diagonal distance between wheel studs). When I was offered the Rover, I measured the PCD - 4" - great, I'll use Metro front hubs.
I duly sourced front hubs from a low mileage Rover Metro, put them in the corner of the workshop and forgot about them....
Big Mistake!!!!
A chance conversation with a 'Font of automotive knowledge' (whose Mastermind specialist subject is 'PCD's from 1872 to the present day') set me on edge. To the workshop.....

What we found:

1. The 'Rover' Metro uses a PCD of 95.6mm, unlike its A series predecessor.
2. the Rover 200/400 uses a PCD of 100mm, not 4" (101.6mm).

So nothing fits anything. B****x.

After long deliberation of the options, the difficult decision to ditch the Rover was made. Using a Rover Metro front subframe at the back was briefly considered but with the future supply of Rover parts in the balance, Uncle Henry's parts bin called.

The local tame scrappy is very keen to use my engine in his Banger racing car, so has offered me a deal on a Zetec-s engined Fiesta 1.25. This is a light, revvy engine that will fit in the chassis with no modifications. It also allows the use of standard 'Locost' suspension with Cortina Hubs at the front.

Stay tuned for 'Stripping the Donor part deux'...........

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