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Post Info TOPIC: Restoration of Irish Peerless?Warwick


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Restoration of Irish Peerless?Warwick


After getting the car home from Detroit in September it taken a little time to document details for starting the restoration.  The car has now been blown apart except for the front & rear suspension and steering column.  Chassis is various states of disrepair primarily from the firewall back.  This winter will be spend finishing a couple other projects so don't expect much progress until Spring.

 

Attached are a few photos

frame overall.jpg

The next photo shows a close up of the inner rocker panel showing how they widened the frame in the rocker area to get more seat room.

Widened frame.JPG

The last photo shows what appears to be a modified fiberglass floor pan which was riveted/screwed to frame and then the body set over top of this and was attached to the frame with sheet steel brackets.

Floor pan.JPG



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wow thanks for sharing those with us Jim, they really did go for the widening section there...still it did need it (IMHO)



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Ah, but everyone was thinner in the 1950's Nigel. Like our cars, we've all bloated.

If you think the Peerless is tight for space, you should have tried my old Rochdale GT. Supposedly a 4 seat family car.

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Thanks for putting up these pictures Jim!

Strange to see these changes compared to a standard chassis.

Would it be possible to put up some pics of the front cradle structure and engine mountings?

Very curious to see.



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Yes, I'd love to see some shots of the front end and engine mounts as well!

Eric: you have PM.

Frank


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Here's a few more shots of front frame area for Erik

frame 1.JPGframe 2.JPGframe 3.JPG

 

Because the widened the passenger area the rocker panel gas tanks were relocated. They installed a single tank behind the rear seat with a filler below the left rear corner of the rear window. Here is a photo of the tank. It appears to be from another vehicle as shown by the relocation of the neck.  Anyone have any idea from what?

fuel tank 1.JPG

fuel tank 1.JPG



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Thanks for posting these. Apart from the extra diagonal braces this is the same as the V8 chassis
That I have seen. I love the way the engine mount is a 9/16 bolt in shear mode.

If you compare this with a Peerless or Warwick front end of is difficult to believe that a 2 litre could
somehow be "converted" to V8 or vice versa.

Frank?

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I'm intrigued by the positioning of the chassis cross rails. In the first picture, both sides of the chassis cabin area have 3 cross rails. The driver (US) side has 3 equidistant to each other but the passenger side has 2 opposite 2 of the rails on the driver side (the middle one is missing) and the third further towards the passenger footwell. In the head on view of the front of the chassis there appears to be a shorter, extra cross rail on the passenger side.

Any particular reason for this layout or has the chassis just been messed about with?

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Excellent Jim!

Some more differences there.

What puzzles me is the very ridgid cradle construction, while the engine mounts are separate from it.

I always used to think that the engine mounting was integrated into the cradle.

The mounts themselves aren't over dimensioned, are they?

You can almost call them flimsy.

How many hp did the Buick make in these days? 

Frank, you've been trying to put a Buick V8 into your Warwick a long time ago.

The Warwick chassis doesn't have a cradle structure like this, am i right?



-- Edited by Erik V on Tuesday 11th of December 2018 08:50:09 PM

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OK, here's a 2 Litre Warwick front end for comparison.

Discuss......

Frank

35.jpg



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Yes, that's what i remember.

Pretty much identical to my Phase 1 chassis, including the horizontal reinforcement tubes at the top of the turrets.

I put these in because you recommended that Frank.

The major difference is that i built in rack and pinion steering.



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Here's a bit more.

A "standard" Warwick does have a cradle, but it's a lot smaller than the one on a V8

32.JPG

 

And here's a couple of other V8's for comparison

Scanxx.jpg

 

V8 War JN.jpg



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That's clear Frank.

The Buick V8 is a 90° block which makes it very wide.

If they had chosen a 60° V engine it would have probably fitted into the std chassis, still tight though.



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Eric,

The low compression 2 Bbl Buick motor was 135 hp. The high compression 4 Bbl was 180 and the Oldsmobile JetFire (turbocharged) was 215. It appears from the looking at the 2 surviving cars I've seen that the motors used appear to be the high compression versions.

I've done a similar engine conversion on my MGB GT and the cross member is the key to everything. There are a lot of critical components (oil pan, dampener, oil pump/filter) the share the lower front of the engine. These interfere with the crossmember. I haven't directly compared the two but my guess is that the top of the cross member is lower to the ground in the V8 car compared to the 4 cylinder. It doesn't appear to me the width at the cylinder heads came into play except in the rear firewall area at the top of the footboxes. It appears these were cut back at a 45 degree angle to clear the back corners of the cylinder heads. I also think they moved the steering shaft for the same reason.

I had not noticed the different in cross bracing under the floor until Mike pointed it out. I'll look more closely this weekend when I'm back in the garage to see it there is any sign of modification.

Thanks all, Jim



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The plot thickens....

Yes, the oil filter and pressure relief valve are a clearance problem.   The GT350 photos I've seen
seem to have just a blanking plate.  This probably works just fine if the lump never gets over
2000 RPM, but hydraulic lifters and no filter or PRV will inevitably end in tears.

The cylinder heads also were a bit of a mystery to me.  I tried to fit Buick 215 manifolds on
to RV8 heads, and they are bolt-compatible, but too wide for the chassis.  A casual look at
an alleged GT350 block has too many head studs to be a Buick, so were these engines a
Buick/Oldsmobile hybrid?

The more you look at these cars, the more questions you have...

(Good luck Jim!)

Frank



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Olds motors had an extra head stud but from what I understand from a Buick 215 specialist in the US many of the blocked were machined for this extra stud by GM that way they could assemble with either Olds or Buick heads as needed by the assembly plants. Not sure what they did on RV8 as they were not imported to US.

On the former Virginia Beach car (#3) and, Motor mag photos of chassis #4 clearly show a remote oil filter mounted to the right side of the chassis behind the front wheel arch. My engine also has a block off plate in place of the filter but no remote head or filter was there. There does appear to by holes/bracket near where the other cars have the remote unit.

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OddBrit wrote:

I also think they moved the steering shaft for the same reason.


 This must be the reason for widening the chassis and putting the seats further apart.

Otherwise the seating position would be to much off-set regarding the steering wheel.

The 350 GT surely is a very interesting subject!!



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The chassis was only widened front the door hinge pillar to the cross member in front of the rear tires. This gave more interior space but did nothing in the engine bay. It appears from measurements I got off of Chassis #3 that the fiberglass seat buckets were widened 2 inches also.

I believe the steering was moved to make room for the exhaust manifolds/pipes. Is can be clearly seen in the photos Frank posted the of the 4 cylinder car that the shaft runs inside of the shock tower. If you look at the front end engine shot of the red V8 you will see the exhaust occupies the same area. The steering was moved outward by locating it in the frame rail. Thinking about it though this would push the steering wheel towards the outside of the car a little.

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Fascinating read and pics, many thanks for sharing them, Jim.

Best of fortune with it.

Gary


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I have been following this discussion with great interest. Especially like the pictures. I have been planning to convert my Warwick 4 cylinder to a V8 for some time. I raced mine for about 10 years here in the US with the TR3 engine in it. It was a very well handling car and did not hang out the back end as easy as my TR3 did. I have now reached the age that I am going to stop racing the Warwick and plan to change it to a V8 and use it for Vintage tours. That being said, I have now moved the Warwick into the heated part of the garage and have started to remove the TR3 engine. I already have a Rover V8 rebuilt with a 5 speed gear box and ready to go in. Should know before too long if it will fit or not. Should answer a lot of the questions that have been raised. John Todd converted his 4 cylinder to a V8 back in 1962 and ran it in a lot of SCCA races. I have seen pictures of it and also was able to see the V8 that was in Va Beach before it went to Germany. Mine might not end up like the factory one but I will get it in and running.

Deanfullsizeoutput_3b2.jpeg

 



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Very nice Dean!

Really curious to see the result!

That car is in really nice condition, I love the grey chassis.



-- Edited by Erik V on Thursday 20th of December 2018 12:37:10 PM

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I've been fortunate in the past to drive Ian & Celia's V8 a couple of times and have never noticed the off-set of the steering....to concerned looking out the big window at the front!

Dean, Looking at the 4 cylinder installed it looks like a large dia pulley on the alternator? was this standard (came with alternator) or something you went for?

And do you remember which rack you used for the steering conversion and I assume you managed to eliminate bump steer??



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Nigel

        I used the large pulley on the alternator because as a race car it spends most of it's time from 4000 to 6000 RPM. I didn't need it to turn real fast to charge the battery. The large pulley slows it down a little.

The long story on the steering is I had to build a total new frame as the original had a lot of tubes totally rusted out. As I planned to use it as a race car, I decided to build it with TR6 front suspension to get some caster and to be able to adjust the camber. As the original had the frame running at an angle from the firewall forward to get some caster, I built my frame flat and let the trunnion of the TR6 suspension set the caster. The lower A arms of the TR6 suspension has brackets that let you shim them for camber. I used the TR6 steering rack and positioned it so it was flat with the tie rod ends. This got it close and I could add or remove shims to the height of the rack to get rid of bump steer. If you notice in the picture, there is a very large antiroll bar on the front. The car had very little lean in the turns. The rear suspension worked really well and I had installed a Nisson 300ZX differential with limited slip. With no inside wheel spin, it really drove out of the corners well. I also had the engine mounted 4 inches to the rear so the front pulley did not get in the way of the rack. 

You might ask how I got away with racing it with that many changes? Well over here they didn't know what a Warwick was let alone know what they came with. We are only racing for fun, no trophies or money, so if you behave yourself and have fun they leave you alone. I only say this now as I have hung up my racing helmet and am changing it back to a street car. That's why I am putting in the V8. 

A really fun car to drive.

Dean



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Ha haa, they don't really know what they are over here either!

Great set up by the sounds of it, hope the V8 clears all your mods too.



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As a update, the engine & tranny are bolted to the motor mounts and the steering rack is mounted in a new location & fastened to the wheels. The alternator was relocated to lower it and everything will fit under the bonnet. The Buick stock exhaust manifolds are in place and exit to the front just like the original one's did. The radiator that was used for the 4 cylinder is in the same location and will fit under the bonnet. I have also fitted a Tremec TKO600 5 speed transmission to the engine. I am now working to put in a tilt steering column to attach to the rack & pinion. 

I will be moving this to the other bay as I have to get the race TR4 ready for the race season that starts April 5-7. I hope there is nothing that needs to be fixed. 

Deanfullsizeoutput_3e6.jpeg

 



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I'm lovin that Dean, nice looking install. It looks o me that its sitting a bit lower in the frame than the original set up, is tat right?

If so, did you cut into the sump/oil pan?



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I will say you have a sharp eye for detail. When I got this car the frame was a total rust out. I made a total new frame and only used the original cross member from the old one. As you know the front suspension had no caster or camber built in them and was not adjustable. Just like the TR2-3. When Peerless/Warwick built them, they angled the frame up at an angle from the firewall to the front. This I thinks was to give them some caster. I wanted to be able to adjust the camber so I built mine with TR6 front suspension parts which have 3 degrees of caster built in and adjustable lower A-arms. I didn't want to have too much caster, so I built the frame flat with a kick up after the front suspension to mount the bonnet mounting brackets. That makes the frame and engine a little lower. The oil pan is 1/2 inch above the bottom of the frame. You can just see the kick up in the picture. It does help with the bonnet clearance. I am hopping it will all fit with out raising the center of the hood. I like the look of the V8 cars raised section but have not found a good fiberglass person that will attempt changing mine. If you know of one available, let me know.

I am by no means trying to pass mine off as an original V8 car. John Todd did the first one as a change over and I am following after him. I think we know which one's are the real deal. 

 

Dean



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This is a good photo of the frame.fullsizeoutput_3e8.jpeg

You can see the kickup in the front to mount the bonnet pivot. I also did not put in the side gas tanks and widened the frame like the Irish car was done. I did this before ever seeing the Irish car, it just made sense to do it that way.

As I planned to race the car , it was built with a full roll cage. The body drops down over it and the floor was plated with steel. 

Dean



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Very impressive stuff, nice!



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Just wondering, how much horsepower would the rubber doughnut coupling at the diff take?

Was the Warwick V8 still using this, or had it been replaced by a normal UJ?

Thinking of this, the rubber coupling is also compensating for driveshaft/drivetrain length differences? 



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