Bonjour,
If you think this is starting to sound familiar, you should check Hamwich and his postings back in May because the VVT bug has bitten again.
In the Spring, I read the account of the two road tests on the Tudor website and it set my antennae twitching. I have a 1987 4/4, 4-seater powered by a CVH engine which has 64000 miles on the clock. It has been tweaked. I knew this when I bought it. The 4-branch exhaust manifold gave it away, along with the straight through exhaust and the roll cage. Funny how it’s the little things etc. Anyway after 7 years of raucous living, the article on the VVT conversion rang a bell. The car wasn’t underpowered but I had to work to get the performance to ‘emerge’, as it were. She was lovely to drive but frankly a bit of a pain on long motorway trips, such as this summer when we had to go right across Germany.
I’ve known Tim and Paul, the authors of the road test article, for a few years and respect their judgment in this kind of question, the more so that Paul would be unlikely to go for such a conversion and was therefore objectivity personified, while Tim, on the other hand, was all enthusiasm, which didn’t blunt his critical edge a bit. That being said, I think he was already ‘sold’ on the idea and who can blame him for that.
When Tim and I met up in early May, he was already driving a converted Hamwich and was kind enough to let me stall it twice in the first hundred yards – a wise tactic on his part as it had me walking eggs for the rest of the time I was driving the car. The power was obviously there but I couldn’t garner much more information than that because the only real comparison was in a car I knew – my Whizzer, before and after. That being said his enthusiasm was irresistible, it convinced me and impressed the Finance Committee.
And when I finally wangled the deal past the Finance Committee (20 years old, green engine, good for another 20 years, etc.) and contacted Kevin Vernon, he slowed me down. I live in France, albeit up North, and he considered he hadn’t yet built up enough of a track record with the conversions, he said he would rather wait for a while before converting The Whizzer. I admit to be impressed by people who refuse work, as it were. Anyway, in truth, that gave me more time to get the funds together, but once the summer holidays had come and gone and the necessary was in the bank, we made contact again and I made a booking.
There then followed a period during which while driving the Whizzer I couldn’t stop myself imagining what it would be like after the conversion.
Anyway, ten days ago, I delivered The Whizzer to Market Drayton and am now counting the days until I can pick her up next weekend.
We’ve been in contact since Kevin started in on her. He sends revealing photos, of the state on the engine bay when all the furniture has been removed – embarrassing! He also sends encouraging photos of what’s going to go into the car and what has gone into the car.
The conversion itself involves replacing the engine, clutch and gearbox, radiator, fan and expansion bottle, the front brakes’ calipers by 2-pot model, mounting an electric fuel pump in the fuel tank.
While waiting for the time to pass, I had asked around and listened and that led me to ask for extras. The gearbox will be replaced because I had asked Kevin if he could fit a longer first gear. The box will be new and ‘tougher’ than the original one. Unfortunately it is the model which is used in the Transit van, which has led some comrades on other, rougher forums to make inappropriate comments. I don’t mind, they won’t get close enough to make them when I’m back on the road!
Kevin’s also going to fit a Panhard rod in order to make the whole lot easier to keep on the road. The roadholding is pretty phenomenal now, but that’s at CVH level… and things are going to get much more serious very soon.
I admit that I’m writing this to kill the time, because next Friday is still a long way away.
I’ll now go back to counting the days. After the weekend, I’ll start counting the hours!
Christopher.
