1968 Wolseley Hornet project.
Turbo Mini Forums

Ended up stumbling onto this car sat in the corner of a local garage. It had been sat for 8 years with the bodywork slowly being repaired over that time. Theres not a spec of rot or rust anywhere on the car really as it's been dry stored for that period of time! I was amazed to find yesterday that the brakes still worked and were'nt siezed, the tyres look to be original and have no cracking and don't leak air.
It's a project me and a friend have undertaken with the intention of restoring it to as much of factory standard as possible, and selling it on for another project.
It has a maroon roof and wheels with old english white body paint. The white will obviously need repainting, but i reckon i can save the roof with a few hours of mopping :)
We need a few bits and pieces, but most of it is there, The original 998cc engine with all it's badging (which runs but has no oil pressure so i'll be investigating that) The original clocks, wheels (and tyres i think!) Fuel tank, a few random interior parts too. We're not sure on the exact milage, as we can't find any info on previous MOT's or anything on DVLA, but we do have a new V5C so its not been scrapped.
Anyway, here's a few pictures! It had a wash today too, looks miles better than it does here.







The plan is to get it serviced, and MOT'd as soon as possible, then concentrate on the aesthetics. At least then using the car we can fault find and iron out the creases :)

Edited by Carlzilla on 25th Jan, 2012.

I like that

me too

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

Good find

Lovely, was it a bargin?

one day boost will be mine!

Looks like a great project, but dont sell it as theres more space under the bonnet to hide things

Darren

always fancied getting one of these or an elf and giving it some turbo treatment!

““A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.”” - Jeremy Clarkson

looks cool, maybe slam it, splits, turbo and keep bodywork tatty

internationally known as "big" swede

Yeah it was a bargain, too good for anybody to say no. But theres still a good amount to be spent on it yet i think.
It will be a project to sell unfortunately, as its going to help me fund my own and James's projects seeing as i'm out of work, It was either take a chance and at the very worst break even but it gives me something to do, or sit on my arse and do nothing whilst doing other bits and pieces here and there which isnt really any sort of income.

TURBO it,

cool - what did it set you back?

I like it a lot.

Be warned that if you paint it matt black or otherwise wreck it I will track you down and punch you in the face.

No turbo on this one lads, as much as me and Jay would like to, it'd ruin the originality and probably the profit we make.
It cost us enough to say we both havent got a lot, i need to get rid of things soon so i can put some money into this to get it up for sale. It only cost us a 3 digit number, but by the time it's finished we reckon easily get back a 4 figure sum for it. If the milage is as it reads and it hasnt gone around the clock (Highly unlikely, but isnt off the cards yet) It could make us a tidy sum each :)

No Tom, you'll be pleased to know this is going as original as we possibly can. Even down to having to make the shelf that was originally in the boot. Somebody has painted the boot in black stonechip so that's coming off and being repainted body colour. If anybody has any pictures of original spec hornet's they would be greatly appreciated.

ok.. i guess no more than £200 then?? the chap next door to my wife's parents had one that he wanted to give away!

Didn't have the space or time to take it on.

have a look at this though - maybe asking about 5k too much but it looks mint.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WOLSELEY-HORNET-...e#ht_771wt_1270

More than £200 unfortunately, but it was definately worth it.
Yeah, that's pretty much what we're aiming to achieve mark, but obviously not concours, just tidy and original. But yeah if ours has the lower milage, i reckon it'll fetch £3000 or a bit less, if not then i reckon £2000 is a more realistic figure. We shall have to see and do some digging, but i reckon is most likely 101,000 miles. Don't want to get my hopes up too much.

Good luck buddy, im interested to see how you get on, keep us updated :) - looks like a cool project.

Concentrated on the running of the engine and MOT checks today. Havent really found much wrong MOT wise, except 1 ball joint, tyres are all cracked (not badly but still a fail and i wouldnt want to drive on those tyres anyway) And lighting.
Its positive earth too which makes things a bit odd for me haha. Good job i have my head screwed on when it comes to electrics. We found the reason for 'no oil pressure' The rubber hose that goes from the solid pipe on the block to the pipe on the clocks had split, and was pissing oil everywhere, so lopped half inch off either end and refitted it. 45 - 60 on the oil pressure gauge, not bad!
The oil pressure light doesnt extinguish though, and im not sure where the sender is for that as i havent looked properly, but am i safe in thinking thats knackered?
The car warms up but we haven't the water temp gauge working.
Done a quick service of air filter and ignition parts today, and found the no1 piston dish full of fuel, so it hunts at idle, but runs smoothly with a bit more rpm. So something i'll have to clean out when we change the head gasket and oil/filter change. The suspension fluid needs pumping up too but we need to borrow a pump from somebody. Then its onto the aesthetics really! If Jay gets his quick running vid uploaded i'll post it up here.

Edited by Carlzilla on 26th Jan, 2012.

Few pics! Also forgot to mention the clutch needs looking at, the slave is knackered but it doesnt return properly. So i'll check the clutch arm first incase that's snapped. Then go from there.



Annnnd, a quick vid.

i have a decent badge somewhere if you want it, if not il throw it at someone....

would be nice slammed in grey, with wicker seats and laminate floor.....lol

A grille badge or boot badge, either way, if you do mate that would be awesome, i never realised the grille one illuminates!

thats a good find.

how long has it been off the road? i'd be concerned with the rubber components in the braking system as well

Im not sure as to how long its been off the road for, the garage has had it for 8 years and it had been dry stored. They did say they had used it as a runabout for a little while, but im guessing that was at least 4 years ago. We've already decided to change the shoes all around, and I'll check over everything else whilst i'm at it. Most of the rubber looks in good condition strangely, Found out today its got a remote change box on hardy spicers.
It's all strangely too good for a car of this age, but if theres anything i wouldn't trust myself if it were my own car it is being changed, like the tyres. Anything that keeps you attached to the floor and stops you moving is of high importance personally. I spent ages on my own car trying to get the braking sorted, it was a nightmare. But if anybody knows anything specific about these it would probably of great help, i have'nt messed with anything of this age before, mostly early 80's onwards cars.

Nowt much done today, pretty much moved Jays project out of the garage to get the Hornet in under a roof, so we can carry on with stripping it out. And had a good assessment at what needs to be bought at bingley sunday.

After a bit of a clean, the car sits proper on the piss, n/s has no hydrolastic fluid in, so it's on the deck!


New living space


New home after a few bits removed

Please tell me your going to turbo this.