Hi All,
So as you may know, I have recently bought a Purvis Eureka kit car.
I thought I should start a new thread on it.
I don't know the year as it is not stamped on the body, and I haven't had a chance to check the floor-pan for a year on that. It is white and in ok condition, but needs a fair bit of work.
Some of the main issues are, the motor is very strange (Details Below), the interior looks like a nuclear war has happened inside, the roof isn't working, and over-all it is in bad condition.
It was last registered in 1987 and hasn't run since 1980something, the motor is really bad, but the crank has absolutely no end play or float, it turns freely, but the issues are:
It needs a distributor,
It has a strange engine number, V********P so I don't actually know what it is. I believe it to be a type 4 motor that has been converted to an upright motor.
It leaks fuel into the oil and the oil smells and tastes burnt.
The distributor doesn't hold vacuum pressure at all.
And finally the generator sounds like a bag of nails in a blender.
So, the Eureka needs a fair bit, but any help is greatly appreciated.'
Thanks
Michael.

PS I have joined the Eureka Club and Facebook page.

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The engine number looks like a police number. When you buy a new case, there are no numbers so you take it to them and they stamp a new number. Starting with V I expect that it was done in Victoria and the P at the end would stand for Police.

Good luck with the project.

Yogie

Oh ok thanks.

I don't think that's a type 4 either. They never came with a SP head as an option. Could be a SP1600 or smaller... which will make your life easier. Type 4 stuff is getting expensive and difficult to find.

Edit; doghouse cooler on the back probably means it's a 1600.
Your fuel pump is junk. That's why there's fuel in the oil.
Convert over to a alternator. Simple and much better for electrics.

P.s. seems to be a lot of room around the motor at the back. Perfect for a turbo.

Definite type 1

Cool score though

Hi,
Thanks for that info,
My cousin is doing a twin turbo Subaru swap in his PL-30 but hop-ups on the flat four I have will be the best I can do for a while, until I get a full license no turbos' for me
Thanks,
Michael

Hi,
I have finally resurfaced from the cave that is the study, year 10 exams are the worst, I have now though got a direction to head with my car, which has sat untouched but not unloved for over 12 months.
So here it is:
Kombi Engine and transmission.
Ford 5 lug front and rear hubs and brakes.
No re-gel coating, just a good clean and polish.
Re-Stickering everything.
Black with white trim interior.
Projector Style lights from a Jeep
New wheels and tyres.
New Windows and Windscreen
Re wire
Then rego.
I would love to have it done by March, so I can get my L's with it, not my Mum's kid-hauler van, But at the latest it will hopefully be this time next year for the Eureka car club meet in Port Macquarie.

Feel free to chime in and let me know what you thing may not work or what I need to add or change to make it safe, because safety is my main priority with this car, any and all comments are always welcome.

Thanks M

Sounds good. Give me a holler if you need anything when you are in Port Macquarie

Ok will do Jeff, you probably know who is storing the car for me Graheme Kirkman, He and Nathan both have eureka's and are going to give me a hand
M

I figured you would be catching up with them. Both real good blokes.

We are making progress. The engine now runs for the first time since 1980something. With a new dizzy and coil, some new fuel and about 3 hours of work she burped coughed and farted her way back to life. I am no longer going to build a big engine but instead keep what is possibly the strongest, most torquey and all round best 1500 single's I have ever seen or heard.

I then went on to run a complete lot of new brake lines and bled them, and found out that the front and rear brakes have been completely rebuilt prior to my purchase. I dodged a major bullet there, from what I heard, redoing rear drums are incredibly difficult when you have no experience with drum brakes.

I hand polished the old gelcoat as it was an unknown, I didn't want to burn through it with a machine polisher, so I polished it with a restorer and then a buffing/polishing compound, and won't be repainting the car as it is too good as is.

I have found that the seats don't fit right so replacement correct seats will be purchased. The "Stock" gauge pod obscured too much of my view out the windscreen, so I will be removing that and putting the gauges into the dash board. The floor pan is 100% perfect so it will be getting a coat of stone-guard underneath and POR15 on top. The front beam as we discovered was also completely rebuilt before I purchased the car, but the tie-rods were disconnected for an unknown reason but were fine nonetheless.
I have arranged a set of Globe wheels to go on the car, and now I am saving up for the rest of the bits to go on the car. My completion date of rego by October is looking slightly more achievable now.

Pics and videos will be uploaded late today, but for now I think a sleep is in order.
Thanks
M

Great work :-)

Great to hear it is coming along

That will be one kool car!

Well, better late then never i guess, here are some pics.

I have also found that the suspension is too high, so I will be lowering the car about 2 inches in the rear, which will level the car out a bit more and get rid of the "Stink-Bug" stance.

M

Purvis Eurekas suffered badly from engine overheating, like lots of kit cars.
It's critical that the hot air coming out under the engine doesn't swirl around and get sucked back into the fan intake, or it just goes round and round until the engine overheats. VW went to great lengths to prevent this happening, tin plates and rubber seals in type 1 & 2 and the rubber bellows and side vents in type 3.
You need to include this in your planning. Perhaps a type 3 style bellows to a duct, either under the car pointing forward or to the vents above the engine. It's tricky but necessary.
Wish I had one, good luck.
Cheers
Tony

I agree, they do overheat without the side air-ducts. I am ordering them new, as my car didn't have them, and that forces airflow even at low speeds similar to the lamborghini countach air grabbers do. They also have side air intakes that force air around the engine and out the back, so far with these added I think one two people have cooked engines, but that was also not helped by low oil and stop start traffic around town.

M

In the top picture above .........did you get a second body?

Finished?
Well nearly, I have had it on club plates, for a weekend but it is now having a full remote set up for the roof done, as we got tired of the toggle switch after three days.
Not a whole lot of my initial plan actually came to fruition, but it is 99% done otherwise and I am more than happy with the car.
I really should have done more updates in the middle of the work, there is so much that has been done now, from a rolling shell to driving in 10 months is pretty good if you ask me. So, it has had a 3 inch drop in the pan so I can fit, being 6'6 doesn't help, It has a full hidden roll bar and side intrusion bars fitted, all new wiring harness from scratch, I paid for that to be done because I can't do it and trust it won't melt. The seats were cleaned and made to fit, we had to trim the centre console a bit, the dash fully wired in with a full GPS speedo and all new gauges, New carpet and sound-deadener, any extra cushioning is helpful for when I bottom out on everything. It now has a new windscreen fitted as we quickly discovered the old one looked like a cat used it as a runway and scratching post at the same time and gauged it.
So in short we replaced everything that we could with new or better condition used parts but no expense was spared, it ended up costing three maybe four times what I expected, but it is all worth it to me because I have a car I love and I am not afraid to drive.
It's first adventure has been completed semi-successfully with only a few minor breakdowns due to the fuel tank being full of dust, dirt and debris from storage, we didn't think to re-clean it after the rust was removed from inside, the mechanical fuel pump died so an electric one was fitted temporarily in the engine bay area, but swiftly relocated once we weren't on the side of the Oxley Highway. Overall, it has been exciting, but the journey has really just begun.

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Great job.

I meant to catch up with Graeme and see if he wanted a hand when you were all in Port Macquarie, but I got busy and forgot. I would have loved to have had a look at it while you were here

Great stuff.

Can we have some more picks.?

Yes, I will get some more ASAP, it is still down in Port Macquarie getting the wiring tweaked a bit to fit up a full remote system for the roof.

Well, I am sure most of you might have heard or seen the flooding in Port Macquarie. The eureka got very very wet to say the least. There are a few images out there of it floating with the rising flood waters, it ended up sinking to around 4 metres deep. The only thing I regret now is the complete lack of flood cover in my insurance so I am not covered and will have to start again and completely rebuild it. I am one of the lucky ones though, considering I only lost the car and there are people there that lost their houses, tooling, animals and more. The damage there is uncomprehensible, and I am stuck in Queensland so I can't even get there to help family, friends or the community as a whole. My heart goes out to everyone there and I will rebuild the Eureka and it will live to see another drive.

Oh no. Was it at Graham's place at Telegraph Point?

that sucks mate.

I think that's the worst flood picture I've seen yet. At least the body won't rust eh? Good luck with it.
Cheers
Tony