Double divorce, happy marriage, happy end - Warning: Tagora content - November 2017 update

[pshome]

The Dinin Tagora definitely needs more power. A 2.2 carb steel lump under the hood of this is just plain embarrasing.

 

 

After buying an engine, buying another one, burning it, then buying yet another one it was about time to make decisions.

505 Turbo disappointed (sold), Danielson engine still lacks parts (now for sale).  So we decided that "la Dinin" will get the PRV V6 engine from the SX collected recently. The Tagora PRV its the hottest beast we ever had and 100% pure fun, best choice!

 

Now this is Germany, and you can't simply swap a 2.2L 4 pot against a hot V6, at the next round of TÃœV, they will impound the car right away. So we went to see them first and ended up with an "OK". They will even let us keep the historic registration (much less tax and insurance and access to the "pollution" zones ) but we will have to change the brakes to match the higher power and speed. Tagora GLS has rear drums and single front discs, SX comes with rear discs and larger ventilated front brakes.

 

That looked like a lot of work... or maybe not. Why not simply divorce the cars and swap the whole drivetrain?

Why discuss, we have the right tools,

 

 

so lets do it, today: double divorce.

 

Ready to rumble!

 

 

Cables, brake pipes, a few screws and hop...

 

 

after 34 years of mariage its time to divorce.

 

 

Same procedure with the neighbour on the other side.

 

 

and ... swap!

 

good we did it that way, we found out that not only the brakes are better, also the rear axle is reinforced.

 

GLS (4 pot) rear axle:

 

SX version with additional support arms.

no mention of this in the workshop manual!

 

Tomorrow will be marriage day, i hope bride and groom will like each other.

[Pillock]

Oh yeah, just casually swap the entire drivetrain from one car to another. Nice style

[For Fiats Sake]

Oh to have a garage set up like that!

[The Moog]

After a day working on gravel, I can only express my jealousy through the medium of dance.

[hairnet]

OMFG WTAF????

 

ausgezeichnet!

[Faker]

Awesome!

[Junkman]

What's that blue CPC?

[320touring]

This is exceptional - top work!

[Junkman]

Not that I usually am for such shenanigans, but one could have cut the coils a tad, no?

[forddeliveryboy]

I like pictures like these a lot, so much better than those exploded diagrams and even cars in bits in brochures. Good stuff!

[Vin]

A QUALITY GOAL BY A QUALITY PLAYER.

[pshome]

What's that blue CPC?

100% cotton

[pshome]

Today was wedding day. Things re-assembled with surprising ease, lower the body, fiddle a bit around to fit the screws and done.

Dinin is now V6 powered, and seems to be quite happy with the new relationship.

 

Remains to rewire the electrics, aparently the SX was designed by a cackhander, everyting is on the opposite side than on the GLS, battery, starter, alternator, even the radiator tubes are upside down.

 

 

The fun started when we tried to get the remains of the SX out of the garage. The initial plan was to simply lower it on a trailer, but we met resistance, maybe the SX sensed it's doomed.

 

 

We did the same procedure before, but on the elevator now used by the Dinin, it has manual security latches to prevent the arms from rotating that can be released in any position. This one is different, it blocks automatically once you lift it up about 50 cm. We were stuck: After lowering the car we couldn't turn the arms away to pull the trailer out.

 

First idea: lets lower it on axle stands,,,,

 

 

and then what? Stupid idea, didn't work.

 

Next idea: keep the lift arms straight, find some bars to support the car and then lower it on the trailer. That almost worked, except that we ignored the trailer's wheel boxes in the calculation. Impossible the lower it all the way onto the trailer this way.

 

Solution: Lower it onto the axles stands, pull out the bars, pull out the trailer.

 

 

This worked, even though the result is not 100% within the expectations.

 

 

There it stands... obviously needs a bit more thinking to sort it out.

[pshome]

Good progress made today, radiator and all water pipes fitted. New exhaust. Clutch, power steering tubes fitted, ignition back in place.

Todo: Brakes, various electric bits, install choke (yes V6 has a manual choke and fitting it means taking half the dashboard out)

 

 

 

 

[Parky]

This has got to be one of the most insane things I have seen. Keep it up!

[billyboy406v6]

There has to be a calendar picture about this ? Fabulous work !!!!!!

[pshome]

forgot to mention, we made some progress sorting the "minor problem".

 

 

Better, but still not perfect, now waiting for the wheel to be invented so we can push it around...

[beko1987]

Weld supermarket trolley wheels to the jacking points?

[pshome]

A few posts lost in the big forum update disaster, filling the gaps:

 

Dinin Tagora got the V6 engine, all the bits have been put together and its back on the road. Engine roars as expected, big grin on the first local road trip.

This car now truly rocks!

 

Plenty parts saved to keep the remainig fleet on the road for years to come.

 

 

[pshome]

Final job to be done: get rid of the remains.

What a miserable rainy day for a sad job.

Here we go... hangman does his job..

 

Poor Tagora, an outcast till the very end...

... not allowed to share the space with other wrecks but goes right on the household trash pile instead.

 

Last duty: pose for some nice calendar shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John F]

"Ich hatt' einen Kameraden..."

 

I'm surprised you didn't keep the bonnet & doors - were they rotten? They don't look it in the pictures.

[pshome]

Can't hoard everything, there just not enough storage space. I have a complete set of good doors and panels in the garage. It was known that we break the car among Tagora drivers, nobody wanted the glas, wings or bonnets...so there it goes.

[pshome]

Considering that Paul's "new" engine has not been alive for 24 years, it runs amazingly well. Some test drives have been made and no bad surprises or bits falling apart so far. Still, there is plenty of work remaining and the engine is not what you would call a beauty: dirt, filth and rust all over.
 

 

The choke is not yet installed, carbs need overhaulung and adjustment, the 4-pot rev counter displays nonsense, the SX 'ordinateur du bord' awaits installation and some quick and dirty wiring needs tidyng up. Summer holidays are over, time to start getting things done.

 

Taking off the air box and carbs reveals how filthy that engine really is.
 

 

Some smart guy killed the allen screws of the rocket cover screws and filed slots into them, so far the first bodge found on the engine, hopefully also the last one.

 

 

As expected, the rubber seals of the intake manifolds are all in bad shape, but surprisingly, the spacer plate is only broken on one side.
 

 

Loose parts join a dishwasher tab in the pool,
 

 

while everthing else is soaked in engine cleaner and then gets a serious jet wash.

 

 

Looks already a lot better!

[pshome]

All missing parts arrived by now and some progress made today.

 

Fresh belts, sparks plugs, distributor cab and finger, nice new ignition cables, and a few water hoses, all put in place.

 

New rubber seals and spacer plates for the inlet manifolds, but what is this:

Some shiter idiot has hammered a M6 nut onto the M7 bold.

Tinkering with a lot of french shite, a i have a big box with everything M7.

Sorted!

 

Now everything comes together quickly.

New carb spacers, seals, nuts and washers and voila:

we are almost ready to go.

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Great to hear the Dinin rep with a healthy six pot growl, but shame the SX had to die. Was it really that rough, or was it a case of too many cars, and spares opportunity not to be missed? Lovely looking fleet, regardless.

[pshome]

Front was rusty, especially around the strut mounts and down the inner wings with large holes you can look through. Struts and springs would have flown through the bonnet at the the first pothole being hit. An absolut nogo for TÃœV. It' s two layers of steel, nobody wanting to weld this or quoted an insane price (we talk x times car value) and still claiming that TÃœV will not accept any welding in that area and likely car won't drive straight after anyway..

Having way too may projects did of course help making the decision... at one point you simply have to say stop!

That's by the way the reason why we will not collect the 505 Turbo we looked at two weeks ago. If anybody wants a fine 505 Turbo (LHD) at a very correct price, drop me a pm and i will make the contact.

[pshome]

everything in place ...

https://youtu.be/Nm165jgYQaU

 

...and it still runs, but only on 5 pots when idling, one or two cylinder run to lean.

 

Next stop: adjust the Webers, always fun, especially because they sit so deep that the mixture screws are almost inaccesible.

 

 

 

 

[tooSavvy]

Carbs? Who'd have emm??

 

Errr, OOpss

 

TS

[doubleyeller]

has anybody seen Practical Classics for November yet? It has a feature on the last Tagora GL on UK roads. 

[pshome]

yep,i got a copy. Article is about Tony Owen and his Smca Talbot collection including the white Tagora GL VGA800W.