Having registered on this site some time ago and then being convinced at Newark earlier this year of the essential need to build a Viento (thanks guys) I have now taken delivery of the chassis and associated bits. I have also aquired (for nothing) a 3.5l EFI Range Rover engine and gearbox, which I have not seen running, but for nothing, what can go wrong???

After a day playing around and putting break pipes in etc, I already have my first question... I think that I am ready to rivet the floor on and have cut the aluminium to size. However, the gearbox mount is not currently welded to the chassis. I guess that I could measure everthing up and get it welded on, but if I subsequently go for a different engine + gearbox, will it be in the wrong place (i.e how universal a position is the mount)?

On an "I don't really know what I'm doing basis" I thought that I might defer the gearbox mount welding decision to later, but would I reasonably be able to do this without having to drill all the floor rivets back out again just to be able to get the mount welded? I do have one of those high frequency vibrating saw gizmos, so I can cut ali without the blade needing to go all the way through...

Steve

I don't have an answer for you re the gearbox mount and welding question.

But, since the worst bit (IMO) of attaching the floor, is the drilling, why don't you buy yourself a cleco tool and some cleco's and drill it all out, but don't rivet it in place for now?

you could always cut the floor to expose the prop form underneath? then maybe hatch a panel over if need to cover from grime.

i cant help you as my viento hase a huge plate welded in the trans tunnel when i picked up my chassis 5 years ago so i had no choice on where it would go.

Where bouts in the country are you?

Have a look in my archive on the Viento build. There are pics of the Luego Demonstrator. I took plenty of pics to help me do my build, and so I knew where to locate things and run the cables and pipes etc. Worth a look.
There are some pics of the gearbox mounting. I cut back the plate that was part of the chassis by about 1" to get the gearbox just that little bit further back.
IMHO the positioning is important.
Like the reverse switch position is very very close to the chassis rails.
The the gear lever positioning.
The dont forget to make holes in the side walls so you can get at the filler / level plug on the gearbox.
Only lightly fit the tunnel side panels, and dont permanantly fit until you have the gearbox properly located and mounted.
There is very little room in the tunnel when the box is in there and you cant get spanners in there easily. Hence the bit about the sides!

As for the RV8.
Remove one rockerbox cover and take a good look at the colours!

Bright clean metal. ALmost new, low mileage, and well serviced.
Light Brown, Still plenty of life left well serviced.
Dark Brown, some wear and tear, perhaps high mileage or poor servicing.
Black and gungy means a rebuild.
Look in my archive for the pre-rebuild pics (picture titled dark secrets)

Mine cost me a £2k rebuild. So be warned!
They are not cheap to rebuild. However, they are easy to work on. Its late 1950's design work on the Rover V8 (Buick 215 really)
Have a look in my archive at the engine section / pics.
After 80K miles the camshaft, followers, rockers and rocker shafts are usually worn out.

What is the engine number?
Look up on:
Linky

Apart from that enjoy the build. Ask plenty of questions on here, as its all been done before. Make good use of the search facility on here as most things has been done to death before!.

Finally add your rough location to your profile so people have an idea of roughly where you are in the country. It helps when people are offering help, and also you will get to know your local builders etc. It all helps.
Make sure you take plenty of pictures and post them in your archive. A picture paints 1000 words so they say.

Have you got all your welding, wiring, fuel lines and interior panel fitted already?

If not then I would hold off on fitting the floor as all of the above are much easier to do without the floor, especially the fitting of the interior panels if there is any drilling/riveting to be done on the lower chassis rails.

The floor was the last thing I put in except for the side panels which I folded underneath the car after the floor was fitted and then drilled/rivetted through both.

Cheers
Davie

On the Indy....

My floor stops at the tunnel on both sides leaving the prop exposed. also I didn;t fit the sides of the tunnel until I was nearly done. I also left access to the gear box by using self tapping screws to hold part of the tunnel metal in place.

Mine was black and gungy when I opened her up I was only going to change gaskets top and bottom but after stripping her I was shocked to see the wear after 140000km. So now its a rebore to 0.020", new pistons, camshaft, hydraulic lifters and timing chain set. Rocker assembly not too badly worn yet. Costing me an arm and a leg due to our exchange rate!

I also had to cut and move the gearbox mounting plate backwards right up to the cross bar in the tunnel as I am using a Toyota Cressida gearbox with matching Rover bellhousing.

Gerrie

quote:

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Originally posted by Jackaroo
Mine was black and gungy when I opened her up I was only going to change gaskets top and bottom Rocker assembly not too badly worn yet.
Gerrie

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when i oredered my chassie i told the chaps at luego what engine and gearbox i was going to put in and it turned up with the engine mounting plats and geargox mounting plate all welded in
wear abouts are you if you want to pop round and take some pick and mesuerments

Hi Steve , are you the chap that was at Stoneleigh taking a loads of photo's And at Newark ? Glad you got your kit at last . Might be worth fitting the drivers side front tunnel panel before fitting the pedals and also before fitting the suspension, do a search on here for crush tubes as some if not all are too short and will cause a hard ride and loads of noises.
If you decide to use the Rover lump check out the price of an exchange engine rather than rebuilding the one you have , it may be cheaper?
Enjoy the build and look forward to seeing you at next years shows. Mel

Are you telling me you've not finished it yet? - first day I started on mine the wife had to come and drag me out at 11:00pm after starting at 6:00am

quote:

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Originally posted by NeilP
Are you telling me you've not finished it yet? - first day I started on mine the wife had to come and drag me out at 11:00pm after starting at 6:00am

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Finished it once, taken it to bits and started again (or not). I had an aborted start a week ago when I discovered that my rivet gun was not man enough for the job. This has been sorted by a quick visit to e-bay so I'm planning on spending some serious time on it this weekend.

Geoff - thanks for pointing me at your photo archive and the advice on the V8, it makes things a lot clearer. I'm going to keep a photo log of my own and will post it when it looks worth while.

I'll take the engine to bits and take a view on whether it needs a big rebuild or not. If it does, I might well go for something else - I could get a lot for £2k