Anyone around San Fran & like looking at cars?

I'm watching an auction.. that might just go at the price I can afford.. but I'm having trouble making sense of it. The car is located just outside of san fran, but it's only listed on german ebay.. Sure it's an NSU.. but weird.

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Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

what's 'NSU?'

I'm in SF...let me know how the auction goes.

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Jon Burke - KI6LSW
Blog: http://psgrallywrx.blogspot.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSU_Motorenwerke_AG

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www.performanceoptions.net

My brother is watching that same car. But neither of us thinks it will go very cheaply. He lives in the Bay Area and, I think, is planning to go see it.

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Christian Edstrom
New York, NY
Age: 30

bjorn240 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My brother is watching that same car. But neither
> of us thinks it will go very cheaply. He lives in
> the Bay Area and, I think, is planning to go see
> it.
>
> Christian Edstrom
> New York, NY
> Age: 30


It would have to go for a lark for me to be able to justify the bull shit that will be required to get it across the boarder

I'm picking up another one closer by with paper work.. it's just rustier and doesn't have any speed parts at all.

I don't get to have much choice in a car project.

I used to think I had only 170" of length in my garage.. but turns out when i put in the insulated door I'm going to lose around 8". I guess that's the price for warmth.

Cheers,



Which great

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Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

Hey Andrew

How do these compare with Hillman Imps?

There seems to be a fairly decent following and support for the Imp, and it came with a Climax engine so they're very tunable.

Not sure if they were ever officially sold here but I imagine the boys over at BSCCOC could help you, They used to have a monthly gathering in Milton. They have (or had, my membership lapsed a couple of years ago) a great newsletter with tons of cars and parts for sale.

http://www.bsccoc.ca/

Cheers, Ted

---

Pure mathematics is the enemy of every truly creative man -- Sir Alec

Ted Andkilde Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey Andrew
>
> How do these compare with Hillman Imps?
>
> There seems to be a fairly decent following and
> support for the Imp, and it came with a Climax
> engine so they're very tunable.
>
> Not sure if they were ever officially sold here
> but I imagine the boys over at BSCCOC could help
> you, They used to have a monthly gathering in
> Milton. They have (or had, my membership lapsed a
> couple of years ago) a great newsletter with tons
> of cars and parts for sale.

Ted, Thanks for the note. But I already know Imps quite well. The NSU appears to be the better performance car and still fits in my garage.

Imps were sold in Canada and the I believe the US.. as Sunbeam Imps.

I know of 2 for sale in Canada right now (Imps) both basically rust free, but untuned (except one has a pretty good road suspension job).. they however are both out of my price range.

Imp:

Engine(s) 874 cc Straight-4 Overhead camshaft
Transmission(s) 4 speed manual
Wheelbase 2082 mm (82"
Length 3581 mm (141"
Width 1524 mm (60"
Kerb weight 725 kg (1600 lb)
Related Hillman Californian
Singer Chamois
Sunbeam Sport

NSU 1000/TT/TTS:

Wheelbase 2250 mm 88.6 in
Track front 1255 mm 49.4 in
rear 1248 mm 49.1 in
Length 3793 mm 149.3 in
Width 1490 mm 58.7 in
Height 1364 mm 53.7 in
Length:wheelbase ratio 1.69
Ground clearance
Kerb weight 650 kg 1433 lb

As you can see the NSU has a slightly longer wheelbase and is almost 200 lbs lighter stock. They've also got a larger engine (both are alloy, and OHC, but the NSU is air cooled).

Also it appears that the NSU has a much better selection of sheetmetal and at reasonable prices.. I'd say on par with 60s Volvo sheet metal and basically the same availability (essentially everything).

As for suspension both have independent front and rear.. I'd say they're even on that one.

So with my space limitations the car I get has to be no more than 160" and any smaller gives me valuable room (like ability to make a rotiserie and get the damn thing in the garage and close the door).

Unfortunately, all I can really afford is a project car hell as I'm on the East Coast and can't get a wack of scratch together at once for something as 'trivial' as a car project. But hey, I like projects and want to get better at welding

Cheers,

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Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

I'd consider a Mini, but when I looked at one to buy 8 yaers or so in Guelph I couldn't get into it.. literally.. I'm ~6'2", I'm sure I could make it so I fit.

The biggest problem with Minis for me is the price. Before the new Mini came out they were hard to come by except for that Mini shop.

Once the new Mini came out you could easily find one for sale, but they seemed to be made out of gold

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Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

Mini's are cool, I am a Mini freak, it's an addiction, not a rational choice -- the "normal" maintenance parts are cheap and easily available, speed parts are available and there are a lot of them, four or five diff options, three dogbox choices, four or five close ratio synchro sets, stock block, power up to around 180hp with aftermarket 4 valve options, lot's of rally history.

But...

In general, the trannies are made of glass, the stock head is Fred Flintstone level archaic, there is not really enough room inside and the suspension options suck unless you're willing to cut the car up.

Better rational choice, IMO, would have to be an air-cooled Beetle -- tons of aftermarket suppliers, 50 years of off-road technology far tougher than anything we'll ever throw at it, ability to build strong, powerful n/a motors for cheap, tons of transmission ratios available, off the shelf cheap Bilstein (rally ready out of the box) buggy suspension components, simple, easy to work on, reliable, cheap fiberglass and steel replacement panels, lots of room inside, light, cute and cool. Go on Craigslist or Kijiji in any decent sized city in North America and you'll find cars and parts galore for way less than half the price of an equivalent condition Mini. And, if you want to throw money at it, you can fit a Porsche 6 cylinder and tranny, legally.

t

---

Pure mathematics is the enemy of every truly creative man -- Sir Alec

What ever happened to the Beetle that Dennis Chizma built and ran around 2001?

---

Christian Edstrom
New York, NY
Age: 30

Ted Andkilde Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mini's are cool, I am a Mini freak, it's an
> addiction, not a rational choice -- the "normal"
> maintenance parts are cheap and easily available,
> speed parts are available and there are a lot of
> them, four or five diff options, three dogbox
> choices, four or five close ratio synchro sets,
> stock block, power up to around 180hp with
> aftermarket 4 valve options, lot's of rally
> history.
>
> But...
>
> In general, the trannies are made of glass, the
> stock head is Fred Flintstone level archaic, there
> is not really enough room inside and the
> suspension options suck unless you're willing to
> cut the car up.
>
> Better rational choice, IMO, would have to be an
> air-cooled Beetle -- tons of aftermarket
> suppliers, 50 years of off-road technology far
> tougher than anything we'll ever throw at it,
> ability to build strong, powerful n/a motors for
> cheap, tons of transmission ratios available, off
> the shelf cheap Bilstein (rally ready out of the
> box) buggy suspension components, simple, easy to
> work on, reliable, cheap fiberglass and steel
> replacement panels, lots of room inside, light,
> cute and cool. Go on Craigslist or Kijiji in any
> decent sized city in North America and you'll find
> cars and parts galore for way less than half the
> price of an equivalent condition Mini. And, if you
> want to throw money at it, you can fit a Porsche 6
> cylinder and tranny, legally.
>
> t


Thanks for the info.

For some reason I've always had a hard time getting 'into' the beatle.. maybe it's because I never heard a healthy one.. but the exhaust sound was always ugh to me.

Maybe, I should try to get over it

Cheers,

---

Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

hudson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Thanks for the info.
>
> For some reason I've always had a hard time
> getting 'into' the beatle.. maybe it's because I
> never heard a healthy one.. but the exhaust sound
> was always ugh to me.
>
> Maybe, I should try to get over it
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> Andrew McNally
> Hamilton, ON
> 29

Hell, 10 second Beetles still sound like Herby, ticked off Herby but...

Screw getting over it, come to the darkside with me to search for new old stock 10" rally tyres from defunct manufacturers and wonder if "grasstrack" tyres might do in a pinch -- figure out where the best place to source straight cut drop gears is and how to shim them once they arrive -- go to the vintage races and check out the GT5 cars to see how they put real suspenders on the front and help me figure out if I can press the old rear stubshafts (who the f$ck came up with 3/8" shock pins?!?) out of the cast iron rear trailing arms and replace them with beefier one's for 1/2" shock pins, or whether I should just pop for a $1000 set of cast alloy trailing arms that already have the 1/2" pins. And come down to Windsor and help me weld this rusty heap of scrap into a racecar, I'll buy the beer and we can shoot the sh$t about offset boring the block to 73.5mm and debate the merits of BMW 4 valve motorcycle head conversions -- maybe figure out which gearset I'm going to go with and see if there will be room for any humans inside once I get the FIA spec cage into this sucker.



While we're at it, I've been playing a lot of GT4 and I'm lusting for one of those 350hp rwd middy Renault 5's.

I think we should make one, it's the only chance I have to find a car less reliable than a Mini...

t

Or failing all that, shoot me your number -- I'm through Toronto/Hamilton every few weeks, I'll drag you out for a beer sometime and we can benchrace our rusty old dreams til the cows come home

---

Pure mathematics is the enemy of every truly creative man -- Sir Alec



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2009 04:21PM by Ted Andkilde.

Ted,

Just a quick reply.. if you're ever blasting through Hamilton past 6 there's a fairly good chance I'm here. 905 928 9550.

This is some of what I did today in my tiny ass garage.

---

Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

Ted Andkilde Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Screw getting over it, come to the darkside with
> me to search for new old stock 10" rally tyres
> from defunct manufacturers and wonder if
> "grasstrack" tyres might do in a pinch -- figure
> out where the best place to source straight cut
> drop gears is and how to shim them once they
> arrive -- go to the vintage races and check out
> the GT5 cars to see how they put real suspenders
> on the front and help me figure out if I can press
> the old rear stubshafts (who the f$ck came up with
> 3/8" shock pins?!?) out of the cast iron rear
> trailing arms and replace them with beefier one's
> for 1/2" shock pins, or whether I should just pop
> for a $1000 set of cast alloy trailing arms that
> already have the 1/2" pins. And come down to
> Windsor and help me weld this rusty heap of scrap
> into a racecar, I'll buy the beer and we can shoot
> the sh$t about offset boring the block to 73.5mm
> and debate the merits of BMW 4 valve motorcycle
> head conversions -- maybe figure out which gearset
> I'm going to go with and see if there will be room
> for any humans inside once I get the FIA spec cage
> into this sucker.
>
>
>
> While we're at it, I've been playing a lot of GT4
> and I'm lusting for one of those 350hp rwd middy
> Renault 5's.
>
> I think we should make one, it's the only chance I
> have to find a car less reliable than a Mini...

Ted,

Love the sarcasm in that

Have you seen what the kids in britain are doing with these cars?

http://www.zcars.org.uk/mini/index.htm

That being said, the R5 Turbo conversion sounds fun as well

I sent you a PM about a mini that looks to be in good shape for a realistic price (for a mini).

Cheers,

Andrew

---

Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

hudson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Love the sarcasm in that
>
> Have you seen what the kids in britain are doing
> with these cars?
>
> That being said, the R5 Turbo conversion sounds
> fun as well
> Cheers,
>
> Andrew

Yeah those Zcars boys are building some sweet little conversions -- it's a shame they're not legal for anything but hooning around on track days.

I keep trying to con my CARS scrutineer into letting me run a Honda B16 or 18 engine in the Mini -- I figure since Rover built the Triumph Acclaim (rebadged Accord) in the 80's and the Rover Stirling through the 90's (some reskinned Acura something or other) at the same time Rover owned Mini it should squeeze in under group 2 regs. Since you can pick up an engine and tranny for $1500 or so it would be a bargain compared to rebuilding the stock stuff into something useful. I guess I could get a NASA logbook, but the tows are pretty gnarly compared to CARS stuff from here.

My ten year old has been trying sarcasm out on me lately, it's kinda cute. Tragically it's all one sided -- when you use it back he gets kinda bent, apparently the ability to craft comes before the ability to decipher...

Cheers, Ted

---

Pure mathematics is the enemy of every truly creative man -- Sir Alec