Pictures of my projects ('67 Sunbeam, ecomodified '65 Mustang, hot rods)

[Charlie Cheap]

I tried a different way with 3 pix. One of my 65 Mustang I sold to build my 67 Sunbeam, one of the Sunbeam new motor (Ford 2.3), and one of my spare Sunbeam parts car. The info shows I attached them...but I am probably detached from reality after trying all this.

[Charlie Cheap]

The pictures I hope I have attached are of my 67 Sunbeam body with removable hardtop and I think the 6-cylinder in the mustang. I have messed up so many I am not sure. The 6 was built for MPG with a slight gain in HP. MPG was 25 running the AC with me and the wife cruising the highway. Not great but for an 65 block that got 5 MPG more than stock and made 20 more HP, it was better than most Hot Rodded Mustangs...with no overdrive. I am still dismantling the Sunbeam and have the wood to build a TILT so I can put it on its side to do undercarriage work. MAN, I hope this goes through.

[M_a_t_t]

They are working.

[Charlie Cheap]

This is the car I am building and the motor I built to power it.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Is is some sort of European sportscar from late-'60s or early-'70s?

[Charlie Cheap]

Rooster, it is a 1967 Sunbeam Alpine. It came with a 1725cc 4-cylinder while the Tiger version came with a Ford 260 V8 and 4-speed, then later with a 289. I built a 1985 Ford Mustang 2.3 4-cylinder with a few mods to gain torque and horsepower. With an A4LD overdrive and 14" wheels (OEM were 13"), plus I built the engine for economy WITH ZERO COMPUTERS. I am an ASE certified mechanic who was a city shop superintendent working on emergency vehicles, and a licensed gunsmith working on officers firearms. My degree is in electronics, so I understand today's computer-controlled vehicles. For a daily driven vehicle without Fuel Injection, electronic timing, computer shifted transmissions, and multiple sensors, POINTS WORK GREAT. By design points make a longer spark than electronic ignitions, and if modified for a hotter spark, they improve combustion. The 2.3 I built has an improved points dizzy with copper wires and platinum sparkplugs. My thinking is simplicity, and having driven Street Rods all over the US with points ignition, I never had a points problem, but if it happened, they can be fixed in a few minutes beside the road...electronics can't. I'll try to attach pix of my work.

[Charlie Cheap]

The 200 ci six was in my 65 mustang and the pic was to show the HEI electronic ignition I installed but never used because the estimated gain was about .4% overall...but mostly in the higher RPM range. The 4-cylinder is a 1985 Ford 2.3 out of a Mustang I built for the Sunbeam. It is built for simplicity and economy. Mid 30's MPG under normal driving on trips with high 30's if I really try for economy. My pics and comments do not always go together when I post, so that is why I am posting now.

[freebeard]

I dropped $$$ in a billet housing with Ford OEM parts for my flat four, and eventually went back to a PerTronics Ignitor drop-in Hall effect replacement for the points and condensor. I've had one fail over the years, but they hold adjustment better than points.

That's a nice donor chassis. Is it still in that shape? Plans?

What would fly well here is lift off the top and build a [stitch-and-glue] aerocap.

[Charlie Cheap]

Freebeard, actually I have two of these I bought 30 years ago, and both are nice cars. Back then I was a big-time Street Rodder building those and driving them all over the US. I love sportscars but never found time to build both so I just kept them hoping I could build one when I retired, and now I am retired. In my mid 40's a very wealthy hot rodder built me a 4-bay heated and air conditioned shop in my backyard so I could build cars just for him. To say I was lucky is an understatement. I come from the Dallas housing projects and my wife is an orphan, so we were never rich, but we managed to live well. Because I was poor my machinist Dad told me I needed to learn how to build a Rod, because I could not afford to buy one. As I build the car I will post pictures here and ask questions. At 77 this is my last build due to a mild stroke, arthritis, and lack of strength...which hits us all eventually. My mind still wants to build, but my body argues with my mind every day.

[Charlie Cheap]

Freebeard, I like points due to simplicity and on-the-road serviceability. Most do not know, points also make a longer spark than electronics. As the fuel-air mix floats around the chamber points have a better chance to ignite the mix. MSD had to invent Multiple Spark Discharge to simulate the longer spark at lower RPM's. Even their own graph starts at 3,500 RPM because at lower revs, points do fine. Even at higher revs, points swap first place with electronics up to 6,000 RPM. The REAL reason for electronic spark is to time it with computers...NOT because it is so bad in a car motor. YES, YES, YES, electronics is better when used with Fuel Injection, computer controlled transmission shifting, working with smog devices and a computer. My 65 mustang 6-cylinder had a Pertronix sometimes and points sometimes, and I never noticed any gain/loss either way.