16 replies to this topic

[The-evil-GT]

Hi guys , I’ve been working on my little 1275gt for the last 3 years on and off and it’s almost done , I’ve been looking at another project and even went so far as to buy a couple of parts for a hillman imp , but I’m interested to know the groups opinion on mini vs imp. Everything from parts availability to the community itself. I mean that mini community is really helpful and overall welcoming with a rare few exceptions and obviously most parts are really easy to get, The mini handles amazingly when set up correctly and they are sooo good to look at but what do we all think of imps? Very interested to see your opinions

[nicklouse]

I almost bought a Stiletto. But bought Minis.

[cal844]

Imps are good too, just need the correct colour and engine combination

[Gaz66]

I actually looked at imps before getting into minis.
The pain in the arse rotoflex couplings put me off.
When I got into grassing the class 4 imps were amazing things revving to over 10k some of them. They had the edge on minis on grass.

[Aly-g]

I had a Imp when I was in my late teens, I started to prep it for rallying and found with a nice bit of negative camber on the front and a set of Vauxhall 5 1/2 j wheels the handling was very much on par with the Mini if not better...!, what put me off the imp was having all that petrol just the other side of the front bulkhead and constantly blowing head gaskets, I changed the head gasket so many times that could do it in about 30 minutes just before giving  up with it and selling it.

 

Allan

[mini13]

I love an imp, really cool cars, growing up my dad had loads of them, stilettos chamois and a 998 rallye

Really great engine design, and if you get on with rear engine stuff the can be fantastic fun,and damn quick

The things that let the I'm down are, brakes, they never came with discs like the mini

Engine size, if the had gone on to a 1200 the would have been a stormer

Cooling, that rear rad blowing forward can cause issues, you can fit better rads in, but for somthing hot you need to go to a front rad imo

[The-evil-GT]

What modifications would people make to turn them into a more viable, reliable car ?

[Cheeser]

To improve on the original under developed (by the factory) design

Install front mounted radiator, wills rings to the head, disc brakes to front ( there are several kits that are available with modern components, Monte Carlo road springs all round with better dampers ( for road use).

875 can be good but 998 obviously better.

[Steam]

What modifications would people make to turn them into a more viable, reliable car ?

Sell it and buy a Mini

[bpirie1000]

Where do you buy bits for an imp these days? Just seam to be mini bits readily available.

[whistler]

You have to look back to the late 60's and see the success Colin Malkin had winning major rallies with his Imp. Magical watching him go round Llandow on the final stage of the Castrol or Fram Welsh. Corners taken on 3 wheels, similar to Roger Clark in the Escort. Screaming at over 10k rpm. 

If only Coventry Climax or Routes developed a larger engine than 998!

[Ethel]

It's an interesting comparison of two different approaches to the same challenge.

 

I reckon the Mini won because BMC better put their effort in to the task. The Mini's more space efficient, has more adaptive suspension for its intended operating parameters & paid better attention to development & production constraints.

 

The Imp had a great engine & gearbox, but how much did that really have to do with making a small economical car for a fuel crisis? BMC cobbled together what they already had & hit the market years earlier.

[weef]

Round our way you were either in the Mini camp or the Imp camp. There was always great, but good spirited, rivalry as to which camp had the best looking, fastest, noisiest etc. I was in the Mini camp but the Imp was impressive in terms of the engine capabilities, the Coventry Climax unit was quite a screamer. As with all the vehicles of that time you had to keep on top of the maintenance to get the best out of your car, but what put me off the Imp in the early days was the weakness of their cooling system and their transmission transaxle. Most of the Imps we recovered into the workshop suffered from either problem, mainly on ones that were covering a long journey at the time, so it could have been that the systems could no sustain long "high speed" trips. On the track there did not appear to be much that separated them and we always enjoyed going to Croft circuit to watch them in action, Alex Clacker I think was one of the faster Imp drivers with Andy Barton the main Mini rival. 

I seem to remember one cheap tuning tip to improve the handling was to put a bag of cement in the boot !!! . 

[Maccmike8]

I love Imps

[whistler]

Round our way you were either in the Mini camp or the Imp camp. There was always great, but good spirited, rivalry as to which camp had the best looking, fastest, noisiest etc. I was in the Mini camp but the Imp was impressive in terms of the engine capabilities, the Coventry Climax unit was quite a screamer. As with all the vehicles of that time you had to keep on top of the maintenance to get the best out of your car, but what put me off the Imp in the early days was the weakness of their cooling system and their transmission transaxle. Most of the Imps we recovered into the workshop suffered from either problem, mainly on ones that were covering a long journey at the time, so it could have been that the systems could no sustain long "high speed" trips. On the track there did not appear to be much that separated them and we always enjoyed going to Croft circuit to watch them in action, Alex Clacker I think was one of the faster Imp drivers with Andy Barton the main Mini rival. 

I seem to remember one cheap tuning tip to improve the handling was to put a bag of cement in the boot !!! . 

The bag of cement was also used in the old Skoda Rapides to keep the front down.