Hi all and a little Mk2 advice please

Hi all. Great site although the 'sporting' side of things is not my cup of tea this is a great place for info and inspiration.
I recently bought a Mk2 first seen on Fleabay in a rather hasty moment of madness and have been doubting my sanity ever since.
AXD 355B (My wife calls it Teabag due to the ease with which water flows through all the little perforations necessitating two large holes drilled in the floor to keep the tide from rising too high) is pictured on here. Although when I took posession it was supplied with four steel wheels with bald, split (or both) tyres and nothing else. Engine was completely knackered but a spare, untested replacement came with it.
So far I have:- Changed the engine and managed to get it running pretty well. Changed completely shot front single leading shoe brakes for twin leading shoe with new wheel cylinders and drums plus a flexible which was completely blocked. New driveshaft rubber joints. New headlights and various blown bulbs together with a tangled mess of wiring. New rear drums. New roof which is large enough to have 'gutters' to keep a bit of the rain out. Sorted wipers so they actually wipe the screen. etc.etc.etc. The foregoing will be no surprise to most on here and I'm well aware the struggle will continue but despite this and continual ridicule from the 'guv' I love the little beast.
Enough waffle.
Two quick questions. Could anyone give me an idea of when she was actually built. Vin no. 20372. Does the '72 refer to the date the kit was supplied?
The two rear tyres are drastically worn on their inner edges. Suggests rear 'tracking' is off do you think? Does anyone know of this problem and what can be done about it?
Cheers
John

Not sure about the exact age although it will probably have been built in the early 80's.
The problem with the rear wheels might be due to the trailing arm mounts bending over time a bit like mine have.

Hi Steve,
Thanks for the info. Haven't taken any pics yet but there are a couple in the 'scamp photo's' section on the site. White-ish van styled jobby with odd rounded rear wheel arches. Not a pretty girl in profile I'm afraid.
Looks nowhere near as clean now with quite a bit of missing paint and rust starting in lots of places.
I'm about to start putting up a carport in front of my garage (I use the term garage loosely) to keep the rain off as much as possible cos she still lets an awful lot in.
Had a few weeks of decent weather to get some of the work done but seems the cold and wet has pretty much arrived. Hoping to get her through an MOT in the next few weeks as I want to start using her to flag up other problems.
Good to have a car I can actually work on again. Not quite so good to have a car I want to use daily that still needs so much doing to it. Ah well I'll get there.

As SteveG has already said - the rear cross member that the trailing arm mounts are fixed to was never designed particularly well and age, off-road abuse and corrosion can induce some odd rear geometry.

While you are in that area, the top shock mounts have a habit of bending.

The front tower mounts on earlier MK2 chassis's are worth checking a bracing too.

I'm going to have to strengthen mine a bit as well, any suggestions as to the best way to do it ?

Weld another 40x40 on top of existing main chassis member, weld additional strut on each suspension cone support and add 45 degree braces for shocks, all these ideas come from the Mods & Off Road booklet Colin Edmundson produced a few years ago (might still be available if you PM him).

That's a great help thanks to you all.
Went out and crawled around a bit and can't see anything amiss with the chassis tubes 'by eye'. The tubes look and feel nice and solid and shocker angles are also nice and straight at the moment. I can see exactly what you are saying about beefing things up and may well have a go. I'd like to rig up the hoist again and lift the rear as high as possible so I can maybe sit underneath. May have to wait for spring now.
Sighting down from above the wheels they do both look very slightly towed out compared to the chassis rail. There's a bit of room to move the outer ends forward so I may try that first. May make up new angle brackets with the holes as far forward as the arm will allow and if that's too much I can shim them out from the chassis.

Thanks again for the help and I'll post some pics as things progress with 'the golf cart' or 'postman Pats van' as wifey delights in calling her. Must get some rear side windows sorted so the van looks more 'normal' otherwise she's threatened she won't be seen in..........come to think of it!!!!

Hi John

I've just been through Kings Lynn twice.
Sunday afternoon doing a removal job up to Scotland, just north of Dundee. Then again this morning, 7am, on the way back down.

My mk3 is also wearing the tyres on the inside. I have just got to get around to sorting it out.
A lot of Scamps have their wheels at funny angles.
Some have probs with tyre wear others don't.
Mind you mine is getting worse. Towing the folding caravan prob doesn't help.

Hi Rob, I'm about 7 miles west of Lynn near Sutton Bridge. I lived in Scotland for a year while I did up a croft. Place called New Deer in Aberdeenshire. Beautiful country and lovely people but so bloomin cold! Had the worst winter for twenty years while I was there. During the worst of the winter weeks a local farmer used his tractor to plough a track through the 4 feet of snow surrounding my place so I could walk the two miles into the village for supplies.
Just bought 4 steel wheels with used tyres to put on teabag. Will keep the least worst one of the others as a spare and some left over for a trailer.
Car booked in for MOT Monday. Really have no idea of it's chances as I haven't been able to get it on the road for a decent try out. Fingers crossed.

If you have rear "tracking" iisues can I suggest adjustable rear radius arm brackets which are used to give negative camber on more race Mini's but it might give enough rear adjustment to correct your problem.

Welcome to the forum Jon.

I love the name Teabag for a Scamp, it seems to be sticking to yours.

Well she passed the dreaded MOT. Mechanic smiled sympathetically saying it was a real blast from the past driving a Mini engined car again. Took her for a 5 mile run in celebration. Jeez she's the noisiest, bumpiest, bangiest, rattliest thing I've ever driven- and I've driven a lot of Kitcars. Found myself with gritted teeth and white knuckles looking all the while for the best place to pull off the road if something went bang. Guess it takes a while to a) get used to a more 'primitive' chariot and b) get to trust that she won't fall apart around me.

Unfortunately I really don't have the income to be able to justify a 'toy' to play with so I need to make Teabag my daily runabout. I also need to load her to the gunwales with tools and spares for my job.
For now she'll be used alongside my Kia while I get the other work done to bring her up to scratch. The list includes:-

Try to stop the leaks. Water seems to come in everywhere from the doors forward including the screen and side windows. Am thinking of removing the door window runners and turning them top to bottom as the bottoms are well worn and frayed and water just flows in despite the drain holes.
Have a Metro rad and fan and will put an extension on the front to house them. I've noticed the temp guage rises rapidly when I stop for a few mins and also when doing over about 50mph.
Replace seats, fit rear side windows, finish sorting wiring, fit another engine steady as she judders especially in reverse, fit towbar for my trailer, make full length roofrack etc. etc.

Next job is a carport and hope the winter is mild.

I haven't driven a Scamp before but did get a ride in the demonstrator back in the early 80's when I was about ten.

A lot of MOT testers shy away from kit cars, at least you won't have to go through it again until next year