Edd's Talbot Samba Thread

[garbaldy]

I started of by undoing one bottom balljoint and poping the driveshaft then the other would come out when raising the engine.

after years of the engine jumping in and out like a jack in the box i found that i could lift the engine up a few inches at a time and the shafts would pull out without undoing the bottom arms,

my worst job was removeing the four branch manifold everytime as the whole zaust was solid with no joints.

Keep up the good work i love sambas cracking wee motors

[SambaS]

Would love to see the Samba you had a 4 branch manifold fitted to! Where did all the Samba Sports go?

[scaryoldcortina]

taking into account all the clutch changes i've ever had to get involved with, on a scale of 1-10 difficulty, i would place the samba clutch at about an 8.5 where 1 is one of those fwd vauxhalls where you just pop the shaft out and 'post' the new clutch in through the letterbox in the bellhousing, and 10 is something like an Alfa 75, where you have no idea even where the fuggin clutch is never mind changing it.

 

I agree entirely with this statement. I once had a month where I had to change the clutches on a MG midget, a Talbot Samba and a Vauxhall vectra. The samba was by far the worst one, and ranks in my all time top ten of jobs I'm never doing again.

[SambaS]

So glad to hear it's not just me, I've been getting quite disheartened with my (lack of) progress.

 

When I was 15 I nearly bought a Samba from one of the scrapyards near me. I asked at my local garage what their thoughs were and they advised me to stay well away, as the engine tilts backwards making it an absolute bugger to work on. That was his professional advice.

 

I think that purchase falling through and seeing the car scrapped led to today's near obsession with the things.

 

Anyway, maybe I should have listened to the man in the know!!

 

Also I'm no mechanic, I've worked in Admin (IBM ) and Management (McDonalds ) never in the Auto-industry.

[SambaS]

Original UK Talbot Samba television advert:

 

[garbaldy]

dont give up with the car they are not that bad once you get used to them, just a little odd compared with other run of the mill cars

 

i will have to fire up the old dinosaur for pics of mine but instead have a google search pic of it with its new owner its changed a bit but pretty much as i sold her

 

[SambaS]

Cool what model did it start off it's life as? It is my hope one day I'll find a Sport that's been made into a race/rally car then rebuild it into a road car YAY. I think that's my only option with regards to the S, short of finding a Spanish one!

[SambaS]

This must be the luckiest Talbot Samba in the world you know, the MOT station told me it could not be repaired in Spring 2010, which annyoyed me a bit!



I took it straight to a different garage for a second opinion and was told to knock all the filler out and see what's what, but he said looks like a can of worms.

 

Which inevitably it turned out to be.




Anyway I couldn't see it go to the scrapyard, so after a professional quoted me 15+ hours of welding at £40 per hour I started to think about buying a welder and doing it myself. In the mean time a neighbour said he'd "do it one weekend" and true to his word he started to weld it up, and after 4 weeks it was done. It's not pretty but I can't complain can I considering it cost me a few McDonalds!!

I've since learned to weld myself and am keen to crack on with the Opel Monza, but the little Samba will be seen right first so I can get to my Vehicle Refinishing college course cheaply in September it's a 180 mile round trip 2 days a week!! .

[SambaS]

Clutch Kit £67

2x Bottom Arms £60

2x Track Rod Ends £12

 

I'll still need to find an exhaust manifold gasket.

8x exhaust manifold studs and 8x nuts

may as well replace them all.

 

Oh and I intend using a million tonnes of copper grease so next time everything comes apart properly. Just not on the exhaust parts!

[ashmicro]

Good work Sir. As a former Samba owner, I can testify that getting the engine out of one of these is a CUNT of a job.

[SambaS]

I have bought punches and knocked out the roll pin. But no matter how much I hammer it the rod wont come out. I've taken the inside of the car apart to disconnect it from the gear lever and hit that with a hammer. It wont budge :evil: :evil:

ETA I might just cut it off and buy a replacement from some other poor sod who's had to do this.

 

I am loosing the will to live let alone the will to mend this car.

[garbaldy]

Cool what model did it start off it's life as? It is my hope one day I'll find a Sport that's been made into a race/rally car then rebuild it into a road car YAY. I think that's my only option with regards to the S, short of finding a Spanish one!

 

 

 

It was a rally car all its life and had zero rust it was a group B Samba Rallye sport with a 1285cc engine, ( later changed to the 1360cc ) i sold the twin carbs and manifold for big bucks as the regs wouldnt allow them in the class i entered, bit foolish that really i am pretty sure the engine is still sitting in the back of whats left of the barn that fell over with the weight of snow

 

have you spotted whats odd with the one i had

[SambaS]

Plastic wings, doors and... 4 stud hub conversion! oh and it has eyes!

[M'coli]

Cool what model did it start off it's life as? It is my hope one day I'll find a Sport that's been made into a race/rally car then rebuild it into a road car YAY. I think that's my only option with regards to the S, short of finding a Spanish one!

 

 

 

It was a rally car all its life and had zero rust it was a group B Samba Rallye sport with a 1285cc engine, ( later changed to the 1360cc ) i sold the twin carbs and manifold for big bucks as the regs wouldnt allow them in the class i entered, bit foolish that really i am pretty sure the engine is still sitting in the back of whats left of the barn that fell over with the weight of snow

 

have you spotted whats odd with the one i had

You've owned a Group B car...

[garbaldy]

Ha ha funny you should pick that picture as just today i took this for MOT

 

and the tester came out laughing saying fookin hell its the Mirth Mobile

[SambaS]

Colt Mirage??!

[SambaS]

With my enthusiam topped up from Cholmondeley and a little bit of patience I went out to the Samba this morning. I turns out the rod I was trying to break free from it's ball joint wasn't needing to come off...

I undid the three engine mounts and was quite sure that was enough, so supported the engine on some wood and a 3rd axel stand and slowly lowered the car down around the engine.

Success! It was at this point I needed some man power as I don't posess an engine crane. After drawing a blank on that front I went up the scrapyard intent on borrowing his hiab.

I was assured it wasn't neccessary, so I borrowed John instead and a seatbelt.



We hooked the belt around the engine and stood on the strut tops to raise it onto the slam panel, then lowered it down onto a tyre. I'm glad it's out and I wish I hadn't stressed over it so much last week!!

That was enough for today, in the coming few days I'm going to give everything a good clean, wire brush the rusty bits and see what's what. I would like to have it done by the end of May so I can put the XR3 in the garage as it's tax runs out.

[Burnside]

Glad to see you got the engine out ok. Looking forward to seeing more progress too. An i hope you can get it back togther in time for the end of the month.

[SambaS]

Had a look at the exhaust manifold this evening. The top four nuts and studs were present. Three of four were missing from the bottom. I've removed the top four, one snapped. The sole one to undo on the bottom was a allan head bolt, as opposed to stud and nut like the others, and rounded off, so I've left it soaking in WD40 and tomorrow it will either budge with mole grips or be cut off.

 

 

The bit of welding I have been wanting to get done was here. This is a weird one. The bulkhead has split, no rot or rust, just a tear in the metal

 

 

Other areas that need a little attention are the inner wings where the front panel joins:

 

 

The battery tray area and inner wing on near side:

 

 

I'm a bit worried the bulkhead will end up being worse than it looks:

 

 

Then I've to give the engine a good clean and do the clutch.

 

[SambaS]

New car!

 

 

 

[SambaS]

1986 Talbot Samba Style, 39,000 miles and it is solid. I'm over the moon! Just needs rear bumper and Tax and MOT. Had it trailored up in the end.

[ashmicro]

Sweet! That's a late one, looks good. Such as smart looking design even after all this time.

Good save.

[e287yba]

Jeez...

 

In the nicest possible way .

[KruJoe]

Nice work Edd, keep it up!

[SambaS]

[SambaS]

[SambaS]

[SambaS]

Today I swapped the broken front bumper for the spare that came with it.. I bloody love Auto Glym! Just have to buy/borrow a drill to fit the number plate. In Cabriolet news, I've been having tremendous difficulty removing the exhaust manifold studs. I got one out by welding a nut on (which quickly broke off) however the heat must have done the trick and eventually with mole grips, out it came. The final one I gave up on! But while working on the new car a friend came, filed two flat surfaces in the stud and had it out with little effort with grips. Win win today =)

[SambaS]

[SambaS]