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Doc giving final instructions to the demon Reg Patten engine destined for our Bevan-replica Imp.
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Workshop visit

By: Birger Knutsen - 22.11.2009
George the Imp is coming together nicely, the other cars are in various states of preparation I've simply not had any time whatsoever to do anything but dream of spending time in the shop, and barely that. Family matters have to come first, at least until my own garage is done, which isn't too far away...

I sped down to the Tistedal HQ for a quick inspection and some coffee with Doc & Vegar, and as usual, Doc has been busy.

The Patten-powerplant is bolted to the box, and Doc was in the process of sneaking it into the blue Imp. 998ccs of fun! The suspension is also all done, with some smaller master cylinders to hopefully give the brakes more feel. When the plant is in, it's a matter of completing the Dellortos, the exhaust and some detailing in the electrics & plumbing.

Pumpkin, the orange Imp, has already had it's engine shipped off to Reg Patten for a complete rebuild. Doc took it apart for a quick inspection, and it all looked gleaming & perfectly - hardly run-in after two seasons.

The Alfa is still gathering parts - a pair of original doors and bonnet have been sourced, and a local aluminium guru is coming by this week to see if he can hammer up some proper lightweight ones. The fibreglass parts have been sold off to a fellow Alfa-racer, as they are not HTP-legal.
The bootlid, side windows and a host of other parts are waiting to be collected at Alfaholics. Even though the car looks ok, we've decided to strip it down and give it an acid-dip to get rid of some rust, lots of epoxy body-schutz, and of course that horrible Porsche-color. It will be a proper GTA!

And what of the Mini? Well, I sweet-talked it, and did a compression test as a final thing to do before pulling the motor. Cylinders 2-4 were excellent, but #1 was off by about 4 BAR, so it does need a rebuild. I'm considering the options - either I'll ship it off to the UK for the job, or I might get it done locally. I'd love to have done it myself, but there just isn't time - at least not for one or two years more until the kids grow up a bit!