Pilgrim Bulldog  Mk 4

My Latest Project (the one in the picture is NOT my one)

I spend many hours on eBay properly to many for my own good one day when looking for cars to buy I notices this little red convertible as I have never owned one thought I might like to the car was advertised with a starting price of 300 pounds and a reserve of 750 pounds which as it "needed" work I thought was a bit high.

The auction finished and no one had bid on the little red car so I call the bloke went over had a look and made him an offer of 450 which after some persuading he accepted I collected her and took her home the following week end I started stripping her down the body although OK had a small crack and the gel coat was dull.

 

The body will be removed and taken to him on a trailer and whilst it is away I will be painting the space frame and sorting the engine out ready for its return.

The main car is made by Pilgrim which still make kit cars today but no longer the Bulldog I have managed to get hold of a build manual which will help me rebuild her. The donor car is a ford Cortina mark 3/4 I spoke to my dad and he had a Cortina when I was young and still has the manuals these I have now inherited.

 

Pilgrim build manual

 

            

 

Latest update 17th March 2006

Some pictures !!!!!

How nice does that engine look??????

I have spent this last month buying lots of goodies so have not done much work on the car but have spent loads the exhaust is away being welded, the seats are on there way, i have found the dials and gauges just got to justify the expense to my self

Above shows the new rear brake line and fuel line, the new coil mounting bracket  and the newly painted brake caliper and new braided hoses.

 

Updated 20th February 2006

OK into 2006 we go and we have been making lots of progress although not many pictures.

The engine is back together with all new belts and gaskets and looks great!

The new ultra light plastic coated fuel line have been purchased from Tofiso kit car supplies complete with 'p' clips to fix it on this has been run down from the tank across the front of the engine and through a big fuel filter to the carburetors.

New brake lines have been installed to the rear and I have started to flare some ends (with some success)

Front calipers have been re - fitter complete with the new braided hoses.

Have been discussing the exhaust this is something I know nothing about (the legalities) so have had to make a lot of calls i have found a guy who can supply me with as many angles and bends as I want these then slip together and I just have to find some one to weld it up so I have sent him a number of pictures and drawings to try to get exactly what I want in stainless steel.

I have been promise the body will be complete and ready for collection by the end of February. 

 

Updated 4th December 2005

Ok the cylinder head has been in the workshop for a couple of weeks and i have given it a good clean the valves look good there is no sign of any oil leaking from the oil seals. I have given the the cylinder head a bit of a clean up and spray as most of the paint came off when i cleaned it.

I have had a good look at the pistons and the bores which are fine these have also had a good clean.

I hope to reassemble the engine before Christmas if work and the xmas parties allows!!!!! 

 

Update 15th November 2005

The cylinder head & pistons:-  Although i have heard the car running i am not sure what condition the engine is in and as the body is off and most of the engine parts have been removed this is an ideal time to have a good look inside.

The rocker cover is off and has been re sprayed, the Webber carburetors are off and have been serviced and cleaned, the inlet manifold has been removed, cleaned up then given a couple of coats of high temp aluminum paint. The exhaust manifold has been removed as i have a nice new one to put on.

The cylinder head bolts there are 10 of these little blighters and they are "spline" bolts M12 in size so you will need a special tool from local car shop, undo these and they will be very tight (i broke an old ratchet trying to undo some of these).

Once these have been removed comes the hard bit i took a small flat blade screw driver and put the blade between the faces and gave it a couple of taps the move to another place and repeated the procedure it took about 15 minutes to free the head but with time and care it will come off.

I am no expert so i don't really know what i should see but there was no leaking from the head gasket, the cylinder look fine no scoring the pistons look good with only a small amount of carbon on them. As for the head the valves all look ok but i do need to check the operation on the valves which i will do at a later date.

Now that the head is off i have to clean off the old gasket and make sure the faces are flat then once i am happy that all is well i can reassemble the engine!?!?!?!?

 

Updated 4th November 2005

OK keeping you up to date the Webbers have been removed and stripped down there was a lot of gunk in the carbs so had to buy a service kit this has been sourced,

The carburetors have been re-assembled and cleaned up i hope to give the carburetors and the inlet manifold a good polish. (pictures to follow)

The rocker cover has been removed and all looks good in the cam department the rocker cover has been sand blasted and resprayed in red to match the body work so it looks the bollocks (forgot to take pictures)

 

Updated 17th October 2005

The chassis has been painted by hand and look great i am extremely pleased with the results this coach paint has given me the rear coil springs have been removed and painted bright red this was a very easy job to remove and will feature in the How to section of this web site.

The new track rod end and anti roll bar bushes have have all been replaced and torque up to the recommended settings.

The engine has been jet washed and the complete exhaust has been removed, a good condition Ashley manifold and gaskets have been brought (thank you eBay) and need painting as they are currently black and i intend to attach a stainless steel system to the manifold 

The gear box this had a problem when i picked the car up there was no stop between forward gears and reverse gear problem being when you stop at the lights and look over to see the sexy lady sat in the pub garden and smile, Then rev the engine to pull away and shoot backwards it don't look too cool. This was a easy fix there is a big rubber lump which slides over the gear stick and sits on top of the gearbox, there is a small grove that runs around the gear stick shaft and there is supposed to be a  circlip in there this pushes the rubber down which in turn holds the gear stick up so to engage reverse you have to "push down " and then across. Very easy to fix but very hard to find the correct circlip.

 

Update 5th October 2005

The body has been removed and has gone to Autoease ltd  This is a small company consisting of two guys Deane the bodywork and paint specialist and Chris the mechanic, They are in a small garage located in the Wokingham area. The body was dropped of on Sunday 2nd October for a complete rub down there were a lot of unfinished edges and then a complete re-spray which should take a couple of weeks.

The cars chassis has been rubbed down and coated in "Krust" which is a rust remover and then was painted in coach paint enamel and is looking good. The rear springs have been removed and painted up and the exhaust has been removed (as it is very rusty) unfortunately i was outbidded three times on a the stainless steal one on eBay so at the moment no exhaust.

Seats:- I can not decide weather to buy nice new ones or to re-upholster the old ones????

Dashboard:- The new walnut dash has arrived but i have not decided on the gauges, i like the smiths range but at £300+ for a set i need to be sure before i buy.