Mike Wood
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| posted on 18/10/21 at 09:16 AM |
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What has to happen to donor?
Hi
Daft question.
I am looking to transplant my engine and gearbox from my 1961 Austin Healey Sprite into my Locost project. I can therefore demonstrate age of engine
with V5c and pictures - I have a replacement engine and box I wish to build up for my Sprite.
I am used to hearing of donor cars being scrapped, anyone kept the donor as a car and registered? The donor is not donating its registration and
identity to the Locost, which would not be legally possible anyway, so can it still exist with it original identity and registration?
This question is also valid if someone wanted to pull a Ford Zephyr 6 engine and gearbox out of a car and transplant it into an AC Ace replica (Hawk)
without scrapping a classic, even though from an IVA point of view (if I have understood that properly!?) the Hawk is a ‘Kit Converted Vehicle’
compared to a DIY Locost.
Apologies if I have confused many things and covered old ground.
Cheers
Mike
[Edited on 18/10/21 by Mike Wood]
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russbost
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| posted on 18/10/21 at 09:49 AM |
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Simple answer to the above is that in neither of the above scenarios is the car the engine is coming from a donor as such as the rest of the car is
remaining as was, you are simply using that engine.
However, you will need to prove engine age by engine no. or being able to show original purchase documents for the car it's from giving original
date of purchase & having evidence of the engine no. on the document, an exception to this would be if the engine no. matches chassis no. as I
believe in that case they will accept V5 as proof, providing the engine no. clearly hasn't been tampered with
The reason for not accepting V5 is that some smartasses were putting a new engine into old vehicle (say a Duratec into a Cortina or Sierra), or at
least were informing DVLA that they'd done that, so the old V5 then had the new engine no. & were then "proving" engine age at
IVA from the V5 for the old vehicle, it didn't take long for an IVA inspector to suss the fact that engines like Duratec, Zetec etc were not in
existence at the V5 age & hence the proof became much more onerous
I assume the Sprite has an A series lump, which unfortunately were still in production around 2000 & hence you would need something official to
confirm that engine number ********* was produced b4 1995 (IIRC 1995 is cut off date for non CAT stuff?), I'm not sure if BL ever issued any
info to this effect on engine no.'s?
The Zephyr, I wouldn't have thought would be a problem, pretty sure Ford's have issued engine no. year ID, I think Burton's used to
have this, but that may only be for stuff like Kent & Pinto, but you should be able to produce info showing that the last Ford straight 6 was
produced in **** & as such, is indisputably pre'95
HTH
I no longer run Furore Products or Furore Cars Ltd, but would still highly recommend them for Acewell dashes, projector headlights, dominator
headlights, indicators, mirrors etc, best prices in the UK! Take a look at http://www.furoreproducts.co.uk/ or find more parts on Ebay, user names
furoreltd & furoreproducts, discounts available for LCB users.
Don't forget Stainless Steel Braided brake hoses, made to your exact requirements in any of around 16 colours.
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/furoreproducts/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1
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NOTE:This user is registered as a LocostBuilders trader and may offer commercial services to other users
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James
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| posted on 18/10/21 at 10:08 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mike Wood
Hi
Daft question.
I am looking to transplant my engine and gearbox from my 1961 Austin Healey Sprite into my Locost project. I can therefore demonstrate age of engine
with V5c and pictures - I have a replacement engine and box I wish to build up for my Sprite.
I am used to hearing of donor cars being scrapped, anyone kept the donor as a car and registered? The donor is not donating its registration and
identity to the Locost, which would not be legally possible anyway, so can it still exist with it original identity and registration?
This question is also valid if someone wanted to pull a Ford Zephyr 6 engine and gearbox out of a car and transplant it into an AC Ace replica (Hawk)
without scrapping a classic, even though from an IVA point of view (if I have understood that properly!?) the Hawk is a ‘Kit Converted Vehicle’
compared to a DIY Locost.
Apologies if I have confused many things and covered old ground.
Cheers
Mike
[Edited on 18/10/21 by Mike Wood]
If I may pose an off-topic question, why would you want to use an Austin Healey Sprite engine? Are there advantages over the usual
ford/K-series/motorbike options?
Cheers,
James
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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nick205
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| posted on 18/10/21 at 12:43 PM |
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Undersstand the question as most kit / Locost builders use lots from the donor car and scrap what's left.
In your case are you not just performing an engine swap on the sprite?
In which case it seems pretty straightforward to keep it registered.
You'll also have the benefit of being able to verify where your Locost engine has come from.
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Mike Wood
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| posted on 25/10/21 at 06:24 PM |
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Thanks all for the helpful replies.
In answer to the question why use an A series engine - good point; I may have a 948cc MkII Sprite engine and gearbox available which would be an
interesting option as Lotus put this in the Series II Seven (and a some late Series I cars) and a budget option for me. I would try to get skinny
steel wheels and have flared front wings. Would also give me a 1961 year engine for emissions (the advice above is handy on cut off years) as well as
an under 1,100cc engine option if I wanted to sprint/hillclimb the car with limited mods under Sports Libre if not initially road-going if I wanted to
get it running before getting an IVA. Would be very slow for Sports Libre!
The K Series engine option however does appeal, particularly in 1400cc twin-cam form. Weirdly there was a single SU carb K Series, not a twin cam form
but no ECU to bother with. However the number of Rover 200 series donors has dropped marketedly.
Cheers
Mike
[Edited on 25/10/21 by Mike Wood]
[Edited on 25/10/21 by Mike Wood]
[Edited on 26/10/21 by Mike Wood]
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