Urba Centurion #4

[GreenHornet]

Yesterday I got my second Volvo overdrive unit. This one was pulled from a running car and is completely put together and operational. The plan is to use the first one I purchased as spare parts. These will become harder to find in the future so I wanted to make sure I have spare parts on hand when I need to do a full rebuild. I will get it cleaned up this week and most likely get a gasket set for it. It also appears the end cap on the solenoid is torn so I will inspect that further. I will post some pics once I have it all cleaned up.

The Triumph D-type transmission to overdrive aluminum adapter will be installed in place of the Volvo part. Next I will modify the output shaft so that I can bolt it up to the Triumph driveshaft. Once this is done I will then get the unit bolted up to my new rebuilt D-type transmission.

Moving along

[changzuki]

Originally Posted by GreenHornet

I decided to go out into the garage this morning and peak around a little at the splendid mess of parts I have going on currently. I wanted to post some picks of a few of the parts so you can get an idea of the gold mine I stumbled onto by dumb luck.

One of the parts that immediately stuck out at me was the transmission and bell housing. It was pretty darn shiny as a unit and I thought no it could not be an Aluminum bell housing but I figured why not I might as well pull out my magnet and just check it anyways. Sure enough it was Aluminum and I about fell over in complete utter disbelief I new I had hit the jackpot with this haul but this just keeps getting better and better by the box. Even the front disc brakes are shiny without even wiping off the dust. I will up date more pics later after I sit down and rest my head for a little bit I am still in shock.

Added some new pics. The engine is very clean and has quite a few new parts already installed on it. The valve cover could use a new paint job. The block has been recently painted. I found a new aluminum intake manifold, what appears to be dual rebuilt Stromberg carbs with new tune kits. new front disc brake calipers, new donuts for the rear rotoflex suspension, and some aluminum wheel adapters which will not work with the Centurion.

All of these misc parts came out of the first box I went through this morning. In that box there were also a bunch of new gaskets and poly bushings for mounting various parts like the rear differential which will work for the Centurion. Not bad for the first of many boxes to pick through.

Nice score indeed, especially on that aluminum bellhousing!! Looking forward to your continued Centurion innovative ideas and the actual build. If you still have any available garage space, then you have room for more inventory - lol!!!
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~CrazyJerry

[ME_Andy]

I'm glad you found some motivation for the project! Let's see what you can do with it!

[GreenHornet]

I have been playing with the looks of the Centurion a bit. In this new rendition I have lengthened the rear of the Centurion 18" to accommodate a single rear swingarm. I have also trimmed the front bumper in the view which gives me an estimated total length for the Aero modded Centurion at around 168". I also reworked the door to include the window lines and have included a space off the window for side vents which will help aid airflow in the cabin. I still need to draw in the air vents but I think you can see where I am going with this. I left the original track length dimension for reference so that you can see the difference with this 3 wheeled version.

Overall I think lengthening the back actually helps balance out the Centurion and will help its overall Aero profile. The front corner of the window that is blacked out is a small wide angle mirror and wide view camera pod. these will be fiberglass into the door on both sides of the car. Access to the pod will be from the interior corner of the car like on most cars. The cameras will be hooked up to an interior video screen. There will also be a rearview camera installed and hooked up to this system.

I am pretty happy with the sideview and feel that it not only balances the Centurions long front end out but also helps modernize the look of the car a bit. I still have more to do but I think finally I have something to work with that is practical and looks good as well.

More to come,

GH

[GreenHornet]

"I'm glad you found some motivation for the project! Let's see what you can do with it!"

I have always had the motivation for the project just lacked the dinero to really jump on the project right away I have made some pretty good purchase decisions this year that has helped me to gain some solid ground mechanically. These purchases while cost me a good amount of money up front should help reduce the cost in the long term. I am very close to being in the green on my recent GT6+ Purchase which is quicker than I had expected. The GT6+ purchase gave me all the front end parts new which in itself is huge. Also with that purchase I got a complete set of GT6+ gauges that are in near perfect condition. Another big cost saver was the chassis which was already rust proofed and painted white. There are some other good parts that I think I will be able to use such as side body vents and interior air vents with ducting. The car came with a nice heater but it is heavy and will be replaced with the new and improved version which is smaller and much lighter. The output of the smaller unit is actually more than the GT6+ heater at 3.5kw. So the cabin hopefully will get pretty toasty if the tiny Kubota ever heats up

I still have a ton of parts to sell off which should give me a good amount of operating capital to take this project from a pile of parts to something that better resembles a car.

My focus for the coming year will be the mechanicals I want to get the car rolling under its own power. The front end will get a few upgrades such as the adjustable upper wishbones and probably an alloy hub set. I want to lighten the unsprung weight as much as I can. I will also be getting the carbon fiber driveshaft which will help reduce rotating mass and overall weight. The rear end is still in the planning stages and nothing finalized as of yet. Once I get something figured out I will post updates on this.

My recent aero drawings have really sparked a renewed interest in converting the Centurion to 3 wheels. There are a lot of advantages to a 3 wheel conversion especially when using a Triumph Spitfire/GT6 platform. These advantages will be explored in depth in later posts.

With all that said I'm still putting along in true ecomodder fashion

GH

[iveyjh]

3-wheeled design is "good".

Originally Posted by GreenHornet

I have been playing with the looks of the Centurion a bit. In this new rendition I have lengthened the rear of the Centurion 18" to accommodate a single rear swingarm. I have also trimmed the front bumper in the view which gives me an estimated total length for the Aero modded Centurion at around 168". I also reworked the door to include the window lines and have included a space off the window for side vents which will help aid airflow in the cabin. I still need to draw in the air vents but I think you can see where I am going with this. I left the original track length dimension for reference so that you can see the difference with this 3 wheeled version.

Overall I think lengthening the back actually helps balance out the Centurion and will help its overall Aero profile. The front corner of the window that is blacked out is a small wide angle mirror and wide view camera pod. these will be fiberglass into the door on both sides of the car. Access to the pod will be from the interior corner of the car like on most cars. The cameras will be hooked up to an interior video screen. There will also be a rearview camera installed and hooked up to this system.

I am pretty happy with the sideview and feel that it not only balances the Centurions long front end out but also helps modernize the look of the car a bit. I still have more to do but I think finally I have something to work with that is practical and looks good as well.

More to come,

GH

[GreenHornet]

A recent part purchase was a Honda CBR 250 radiator with electric fan. I decided to go with this unit for its small size and good aftermarket support. While I could have gone with an even smaller unit I thought this was a good compromise and should give me better cooling ability for longer trips than the tiny 85cc motorcycle/ATV radiators. This radiator will be hooked up to the EWP80 digital thermometer and water pump system that I have. I think this combination along with Evans high performance waterless coolant = High Performance Coolant | Evans Cooling Systems, Inc should give the Centurion a nice advantage getting the small engine up to operating temperature quicker and more efficiently. I should also be able to run the Kubota a bit warmer with the waterless coolant which should help efficiency as well.

Here is a link that talks about Evans High performance Coolant = Waterless Coolant Improves Engine Life, Boosts MPG 10 Percent

GH

[skyking]

I totally missed this thread. Is that the centurion I posted about in Grand Rapids MI?

[GreenHornet]

Originally Posted by skyking

I totally missed this thread. Is that the centurion I posted about in Grand Rapids MI?

Yes this is the one I had it shipped out last June from Michigan.

[changzuki]

Nice job on the visual of your future build GreenHornet.
You've mentioned it elsewhere, but the sky is the limit when working with fiberglass over foam. And it is, wonderfully, light-weight!
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~CrazyJerry