A Robin Hood Tale

I don't really know a lot about the history, Only what I have been told by the chap I bought it off and the documents that cane with it.

The original builder bought the car on 05th March 1993. The kit was supplied in mild steel to suit a Ford Cortin Mark 4 1600. There was an optional back braced roll bar fitted and a "replacement parts package" whatever that was.

From the info I have it seems tha car was taxed and insured on the 01st November of that year, so I would say a rapid build unsued after purchase.

The chap I purchased it from said he bought it in approx 2001 basically as a big box of bits. It appears to have been well used up to then and he set about a winter project to put it back on the road. The good thing was the engine was shot and he acquired a Ford Sierra XR4i 2.8 and set about transplanting the engine from this into the Robin Hood. He said he really enjoyed doing this, and after much movement of steering shafts and the like manged to get engine and 5 speed box in. He arranged a repspray in mettalic BRG, fitted some carpets and managed to silence it by slinging two cherry bomb silencers on the side joined up with a piece of flexible exhaust tubing.

He advised me that he got it MOT'd and did 38 miles in the car! The MOT and speedo bears this out and when I went to look at car in March 2004 car had sat for 2 years in a garage. Seller advised could never get it to run "properly" always hesitated and had flat spot, which he assumed was due to something with the home made airbox that he had fabricated.

Anyway car was not running went I went to view it, and seller said it was extremely unlikely to start. I wnted to hear engine turn over and after a shot of easy start car fired but never ran. At this point I thought this was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for, something to tinker with, so a quick negotiation ensued and I arranged to pick up car that week.

Anyway collected car that week, thanks to a mate with a trailer (thanks Chris) and set about finding out what was wrong.

Much head scratching and tinkering got the engine running albeit roughly. Anyway to cut a long story short most of the problems were caused by fuel delivery. Original fuel pump was on it's last legs so a replacement improved matters, but most of the problem was down to the fuel tank. The tank was a home fabricated steel box with no internal baffles and the injection system from the XR lump needed a constant supply of high pressure fuel. Therefore under acceleration or cornering fuel starvation ensued and car spluttered and coughed (a lot). Theory proven by filling tank to brim and all problems go away - Car goes like stink.

Muck tinkering with Electrics, new master cylinder, freed off calipers and a few more things saw the car earn its 1st MOT. This was about three weeks after purchase and much sooner than I thought I'd have car on road.