Seriously Considering a Scim
Discussion
Further to a thread in the Classic Cars section I am seriously considering a Scimitar. Ideally SE5/a manual with Overdrive.
I'm not in a rush, so can afford to be picky but would be interested in hearing from owners about what they're like to live with.
This will be predominantly a "high-days and holidays" car. Blasts at the weekend and the occasional long runs to see family, possible touring holidays with a tent, etc.
How do they stack-up in the long term?
I'm not in a rush, so can afford to be picky but would be interested in hearing from owners about what they're like to live with.
This will be predominantly a "high-days and holidays" car. Blasts at the weekend and the occasional long runs to see family, possible touring holidays with a tent, etc.
How do they stack-up in the long term?
Very well. In terms of what to look out for, plenty of advice on the Scimitar website. Good on a long distance run. Lots of space. Very undervalued cars. They all leak a little in very heavy rain. Dont see to many about these days & that one of the reasons I purchased a scim. Essex engine pulls very well. Its not about the top end speed its the sound power delivery etc. Spare parts a cheep. You can get plenty of second had, or brand new from the main scimitar dealers. Simple engine to work on, no black boxes etc. If the chassis is sound & well protected it will make a good daily driver if you dont have a long drive to work. You may have been thinking of MG's Capris etc. For the money you cannot beat a Scimitar.
Excellent - thank you!
I have just joined the ScimitarWeb thingy and will be spending endless hours trawling the info no doubt.
To be honest, top-end speed is largely irrelevant as unless you are a Track Warrior, you're never going to get anywhere near it! This will be about fun blasts in the countryside and the occasional family tour with a tent.
Are there any worthwhile suspension / wheel upgrades that improve the handling noticeably? I see that some like to fit 15-inch wheels with corresponding lower-profile rubber and Gaz suspension parts but do they noticeably improve the handling? Is it worth going down the PolyBush route, or would that make the car too "crashy" on bad roads?
So many questions...
I have just joined the ScimitarWeb thingy and will be spending endless hours trawling the info no doubt.
To be honest, top-end speed is largely irrelevant as unless you are a Track Warrior, you're never going to get anywhere near it! This will be about fun blasts in the countryside and the occasional family tour with a tent.
Are there any worthwhile suspension / wheel upgrades that improve the handling noticeably? I see that some like to fit 15-inch wheels with corresponding lower-profile rubber and Gaz suspension parts but do they noticeably improve the handling? Is it worth going down the PolyBush route, or would that make the car too "crashy" on bad roads?
So many questions...
Poly bushes are worthwhile - rubber ones tend to be of iffy quality and the TR6 front suspension is operating close to its limits as it is.
Similarly it's worthwhile fitting the best shocks you can afford - the front coilovers have a lot of preload and work hard, so cheap ones don't cope well.
7x15 wheels and 205/60 tyres are a good bet as decent 14" tyres get harder to find: the steering doesn't get heavy if the geometry is right.
Your bugbears will be:
Manifold to downpipe joints: the standard arrangement is rubbish - best solution is SS tubular manifolds and a full SS exhaust.
Front suspension trunions: they need to be fitted correctly and looked after.
Overheating: ideally you need to have -
a sound radiator cap
a silt-free radiator
a silt-free block
a sound water pump of OE design with a cast impellor
a decent quality electric fan, properly mounted to the radiator.
Electrics: everything must have its own earth and previous owners will have accumulated bodges: chase them out and use bullet connectors and a soldering iron, not DIY crimpers. The original (15ACR?) alternator is pathetic - you need 50A, a good quality battery and time spent on the major wiring - battery leads, alternator leads and earth straps - will be repaid in spades.
Leaks: steel tailgate drain fittings rot away, but non-corroding replacements are available or can be fabricated. All the major seals are available.
Scimitars are fun to drive, civilised to live with if looked after, and just as far ahead of Escorts, Capris and other mass-market cars as their relative prices when they were new would suggest.
Similarly it's worthwhile fitting the best shocks you can afford - the front coilovers have a lot of preload and work hard, so cheap ones don't cope well.
7x15 wheels and 205/60 tyres are a good bet as decent 14" tyres get harder to find: the steering doesn't get heavy if the geometry is right.
Your bugbears will be:
Manifold to downpipe joints: the standard arrangement is rubbish - best solution is SS tubular manifolds and a full SS exhaust.
Front suspension trunions: they need to be fitted correctly and looked after.
Overheating: ideally you need to have -
a sound radiator cap
a silt-free radiator
a silt-free block
a sound water pump of OE design with a cast impellor
a decent quality electric fan, properly mounted to the radiator.
Electrics: everything must have its own earth and previous owners will have accumulated bodges: chase them out and use bullet connectors and a soldering iron, not DIY crimpers. The original (15ACR?) alternator is pathetic - you need 50A, a good quality battery and time spent on the major wiring - battery leads, alternator leads and earth straps - will be repaid in spades.
Leaks: steel tailgate drain fittings rot away, but non-corroding replacements are available or can be fabricated. All the major seals are available.
Scimitars are fun to drive, civilised to live with if looked after, and just as far ahead of Escorts, Capris and other mass-market cars as their relative prices when they were new would suggest.
Cheers Stevie, that's a deceptively flattering photo - it's not so good up close!
Interior, bumpers, gutters and all the extraneous steelwork have gone, polycarbonate rear and side windows and a six-point cage from 'Caged'. The weight's currently 1,040kg and I'm trying to get another 50kg out of it.
Engine is a John Wade build, with a bored-out 38DGAS and standard sized valves - actually oversize ones turned-down - because that was what the regs I was competing to required: just shy of 200bhp at the flywheel.
Gearbox is a straight 4-spd, modded by Brian Hill, rear axle is a 3.54:1 PowrLok. Poly bushes throughout, Avo dampers, thicker ARB from Iain Daniels, drilled & grooved discs on the front and the ride height dropped as much as I can get away with. 15" Compomotive ML wheels, 7" on the front and 8" on the back with 205/50 and 225/45 Kumho V70A tyres.
I use it for hillclimbs and the odd hoon - but it's overdue a birthday and I could really use another hundred horsepower.
(Photos not my own.)
Interior, bumpers, gutters and all the extraneous steelwork have gone, polycarbonate rear and side windows and a six-point cage from 'Caged'. The weight's currently 1,040kg and I'm trying to get another 50kg out of it.
Engine is a John Wade build, with a bored-out 38DGAS and standard sized valves - actually oversize ones turned-down - because that was what the regs I was competing to required: just shy of 200bhp at the flywheel.
Gearbox is a straight 4-spd, modded by Brian Hill, rear axle is a 3.54:1 PowrLok. Poly bushes throughout, Avo dampers, thicker ARB from Iain Daniels, drilled & grooved discs on the front and the ride height dropped as much as I can get away with. 15" Compomotive ML wheels, 7" on the front and 8" on the back with 205/50 and 225/45 Kumho V70A tyres.
I use it for hillclimbs and the odd hoon - but it's overdue a birthday and I could really use another hundred horsepower.
(Photos not my own.)
Well done that man! Looks fab in orange. This is helping inspire me to pay some attention to my forgotten SE5A in the barn. It's been up on axle stands for many years (18 of them - wow!). I well remember it as an everyday car and the most reliable motor I'd owned to that piont. Pleased for you.
frodo_monkey said:
IroningMan, I'm going to track prep my SE5a soon and I was wondering how much Caged charged for the cage? Any other tips on prepping a Scim in particular would be gratefully appreciated - have built a few cars but never a fibreglass FHC! Ta 
I paid them the thick end of £1,500, four years ago. There may well be more cost-effective solutions - it's well worth getting in touch with Ian Daniels for a chat.In terms of prep, you need to decide what you want the car for, and work backwards: otherwise you can get quite a long way before you realize that your first step should really have been to move the engine and box 6" back in the chassis...
There are a few car preparation threads on the RSSOC forum, and there have been dozens of different approaches, but the successful cars generally have the following in common:
Non-OD Capri-spec gearbox
3.54 rear axle with LSD
Front suspension pick-up points altered to give lower ride height but horizontal lower wishbones and rising rate.
Rear roll centre lowered
It's worth bearing in mind that Scimitars are quite heavy - 1,150kg for the SE5a: there's a fair bit that you can sling out, but unless you want to spent a lot of time thinning-down the bodywork you will struggle to get below a ton, and fully 300kg of that is Essex engine and gearbox, so there's some benefit to be had in shifting the whole lot backwards if you can. Another 100kg or so is to be found in the live rear axle, so money invested in decent rear shocks is seldom wasted.
On safety the standard brakes aren't up to much - there's a Willwood kit - and it's vital that you arrange things so that your seat is mounted solidly to the chassis: as standard they're bolted through small steel strips moulded in to the floor and will tear out if you have a nasty thump.
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