:cornut: VERY NICE CAR!!!!!!!!! Jealousy isn't quite the word but I guess that it will have to do. Jason
The Roadster is pretty cool but it cannot haul as much crap around town when necessary. I have filled the back of my R-56 up with top soil(all tarped off), I put a 50 gallon water heater inside it, and I tow a Sea Kayak with it.
Thanks! It was fun to build. If I ever did it again I would make some changes, like high performance aluminum heads and intake mainfold. Maybe something different with the steering, like beefier components. It was a real Porsche killer and I surprised a few AC Bristol bodied Cobras of the day.
Thanks Dave! A hot MINI, like one of Jan's special builds, would have left it in the weeds, but it was still fun to drive. I suppose if I had built the motor and not left it stock it would have screamed! I used to drive Carmel to San Simeon down Hwy 1 frequently since I lived in Carmel and eventually ended up selling it in Monterey to the Triumph Dealership (salesman could not believe the acceleration).
Very nice. Do you still have it & how did you keep the rear end from exploding with V8 power & torque going through it? I've seen a few big Healey's with V8s, but that is the first TR4 V8 I've seen.
Because it was a stock 289 w/holley 4brl the hp was low enough to keep the stock rear end. The factory racing TR's of the day kept the stock rear diff and they produced more hp than that V8, so I kept it. If I had boosted the HP to Boss 302 spec's I would have needed the corvette independent setup. No, I sold it when I realized that I could end up in a hospital, again, and did not want to go that route:biggrin5: A couple of weeks after I sold it I saw it sitting in a body shop, near that Triumph dealership, and it appeared to have been wrapped around a power pole on the passenger side. I started doing stuff like this with a Bugeye Sprite w/260 V8. It required a chopped rear end and serious body/frame strengthening. And then there was the suspension! It was sold when I was in Vietnam and got hospitalized for 7 months.
Sorry you sold it, but glad you survived it along with your tour in Vietnam. Have had a Bugeye & a number of Spridgets I can't imagine putting a V8 in one. Wow!
The drive shaft was 8" long and your feet were under the headers... A warm ride but at 1620lb wet, on the road, it was 0-60 quick. A 427 Bristol Bodied Cobra left me at the line like I was parked. I knew it would win but I was not aware by how much. A 289 AC Bristol Cobra was a dead heat up to about a hundred.