1965 Hillman Imp soon with flat six from a Honda
Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 10:53 pm
Hiya,
I've joined up here to hopefully gain more information, ideas and a smidge of mojo for my hillman Imp project. The project will probably give you all a little giggle and will hopefully be of interest to those who like a bit of machining and tinkering.
Here's a pic worth a thousand words to what my project consists of...
The car is a 1965 Hillman Imp that I rescued from a field where it was sitting, rusting away. After restoring it back onto the road and along the way fitting a datsun 1200 engine out back I found myself yearning to make something more of it. Early on in the restoration I had been having thoughts about the beautiful little 1500 cc flat six found in the Honda Goldwing bikes. This idea never left me and after after a mate had suggested a way around the main stumbling block, which was the fact the Honda engine has backwards rotation, I ended up buying a Goldwing engine and a Subaru Leone gearbox to adapt it to.
The engine arrived on a pallet 1 day before New Zealand went into full lockdown. A perfect way to spend enforced workshop stay at home
I have written a full blog/thread on the car restoration from the very beginning until it was on the road and I have continued that thread as the Goldwing engine project took over. For those of you interested you can read that thread on the main forum I frequent, oldschool.co.nz. Here's a link to the very beginning ....
https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topi ... -8-months/
Back into the Baby 911 build now so if its of interest here I'll post up my updates as I go. I'm super excited about this build. The little Imp is already so fun to drive, even just with its little 60bhp Datsun engine. I can't wait till I have a sonorous, torquey, smooth and free revving flat six out back. There is no way I can afford a real 911 but I can build stuff so I'll do my best to make my own take on a classic 911
Here's some other more recent pics..
Alex
I've joined up here to hopefully gain more information, ideas and a smidge of mojo for my hillman Imp project. The project will probably give you all a little giggle and will hopefully be of interest to those who like a bit of machining and tinkering.
Here's a pic worth a thousand words to what my project consists of...
The car is a 1965 Hillman Imp that I rescued from a field where it was sitting, rusting away. After restoring it back onto the road and along the way fitting a datsun 1200 engine out back I found myself yearning to make something more of it. Early on in the restoration I had been having thoughts about the beautiful little 1500 cc flat six found in the Honda Goldwing bikes. This idea never left me and after after a mate had suggested a way around the main stumbling block, which was the fact the Honda engine has backwards rotation, I ended up buying a Goldwing engine and a Subaru Leone gearbox to adapt it to.
The engine arrived on a pallet 1 day before New Zealand went into full lockdown. A perfect way to spend enforced workshop stay at home
I have written a full blog/thread on the car restoration from the very beginning until it was on the road and I have continued that thread as the Goldwing engine project took over. For those of you interested you can read that thread on the main forum I frequent, oldschool.co.nz. Here's a link to the very beginning ....
https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topi ... -8-months/
Back into the Baby 911 build now so if its of interest here I'll post up my updates as I go. I'm super excited about this build. The little Imp is already so fun to drive, even just with its little 60bhp Datsun engine. I can't wait till I have a sonorous, torquey, smooth and free revving flat six out back. There is no way I can afford a real 911 but I can build stuff so I'll do my best to make my own take on a classic 911
Here's some other more recent pics..
Alex