JPSC Forum

Hi,
I have recently purchased my second kit car, a Sylva Leader. It is incomplete requiring amongst other things front brakes and most of the exhaust system. I believe it was used for sprinting or hill climbing and has not been road registered for some time. It is fitted with a two litre pinto engine and a nasty down draught carb and K and N filter which pokes out of a large hole hacked in the bonnet. I plan at some stage to change to sidedraught carbs and to try to repair or at least disguise the hole somehow.
My first question is how do I identify what front axle is fitted to the car so that I can purchase some new calipers. The axle is a sort of box section with round holes in the top surface and the discs are drilled. I have been told it is a Viva but which exact model if this is correct?
The chassis has been repainted and I am unable to locate the chassis number, would this have been on a separate plate or engraved somewhere as it is on my Robin Hood. If somebody could tell me where to look I would be grateful. I need to find the number as it has no documents or number plates.
Is there anybody else near me who has a Leader? I live in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire. I know they are not common but you never know. I suppose it is possible that somebody may be familiar with the car, which was purchased in Cornwall, judging from the stickers one owner was a member of Torbay motor club.

Regards
Kevin.

HI Kevin,

we love photos so lets see the bits you want to identify

Hi Kevin
To get the ball rolling in readiness of those in the know who may post later.
What follows is based on the experience of my brother and I who have two Sylva Stars, which will be ballpark similar for an early Leader.
As the previous post, pics would be best, as seeing the discs are modified so might the calipers and hubs.
If you have a Vauxhall Viva/Magnum front beam axle (similar to pic below) then measure the discs they will be 9 or 10inch. I guess they will be the 9inch which were on the 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 engined Vivas
Check the PCD too as you may have modified hubs, the period Vauxhall one's will be 4inch (101.6mm), Yet you only have to trawl the Vauxhall owners club forums to see that there have been many modifications to enable fitting of other makes components most commonly Ford which are 100mm PCD. FYI Vauxhall Chevette is also 100mm PCD
Regards the ID, you are chasing the proverbial needle, and I wish you good luck, and at the risk of you never speaking to me . . .
I have kept a log of many Leaders as they pop up online, and the list includes some where their ID's have mysteriously disappeared.
From your description it sounds like you have the blue one that was on eBay earlier in the year. I have come across that car once before, but even then it had no ID.
Regards VIN plates, on both our Sylva's they are riveted onto the chassis rail in the engine bay and easily visible.
It sounds like to me that the ID has been removed, it may not have had it's own ID in the first place, it was not unknown for sprint kitcars to 'borrow' an ID and participate in an event with that.
Assuming that the engine isn't the original either (In the earlier pics I have there is no hole in the bonnet) even if the DVLA can search using the engine number (I've never tried) the chances of it coming up trumps are . . .
The other option is an IVA. I came across one chap who tried to SVA (a few years back) a Leader and gave up after the 5th fail.
Having said all that if you do find it then in our experience where one of our Stars had no V5 or plates when we got it, we applied for the docs based on a pic I had from some years previously with the reg no. after 6 months and one DVLA inspection later we got the paperwork resolved.
Anyway, you're probably dying for a coffee . . . good luck and keep us posted
Mark



Note pic copied from eBay and the steering and hub assemblies are missing

You are right it is the blue one from e-bay. It has been listed on there 3 times as well as a couple other places I've come across, on one of them it was 2,250 quid! I figured a quarter of that was about right for something without a VIN plate as I know it can be a problem as I have had similar difficulties with vintage tractors. I only got the car as the original winner of the car dropped out and the owner was fed up with listing it.
Having had another look at the car I noticed four little holes on the top nearside chassis rail which I presume is where the VIN plate once was. If everything else fails it can go back to sprinting but I will have a good go at getting it registered.
Photos as requested

Hi Kevin
A bit quieter on here than normal, everyone must be at the beach or something

Another kick of the proverbial ball to keep it rolling with the risk of you being led by the blind . . .

If you haven't already, sign up to the Sylva Chat group too, Niall Johnson (a real helpful, top bloke) posts on there and he is the man behind Swindon Sportscars (SS) who took on the manufacture of the Leader from Sylva Autokits. So if your car is in fact an SS leader rather than Sylva Leader he may have built your very car. Even if it's not an SS he's still one well worth asking.
here's a link to the group https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en# ... Sylva-Chat
It'll be a slight palaver to join a side-effect of social media and everyone wanting a piece of your information
You'll need a Google account first, if you have one sign in, if not create one.
You'll then need to ask to join, and upon joining you'll be able to post.
Worth the hassle though.

When you get there a post that will be worth reading is this one by Niall that explains the developments while they had the Leader which will help confirm whether you have an SS Leader
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searc ... se5K6VyrYJ
What the heck I might as well post it, so . . . In it he says . . .

The main differences when the Leader took over from the Star were a different pedal box arrangement which gave quite a lot more legroom for the driver and sheet steel chassis sides in place of a diagonal tube.
When we took the cars to Swindon, we soon found that the rear inner suspension pick-ups were a weakness so we beefed them up by tying them into the seat pans (very obvious if you look underneath the car) then we introduced the 'race chassis' as an option - this is easily recognised by the front subframe mounts which use the original Vauxhall rubber bushes on a road chassis but is solidly mounted on a race chassis. The advantage of a race chassis is that it lowers the car by about 20mm without changing suspension geometry and the disadvantage is that you can no longer run an exhaust system under the car.
The following year we introduced the '400' chassis in response to ever increasing power outputs in kit-car racing. This was based on Chevette parts and used some ideas from the Opel Manta 400 tarmac rally car to improve traction and reduce wheelspin.
Perhaps I should also point out that the Leader body moulds were of much higher quality than the Star with returns on the wheelarches and a better surface finish.
Leaders (and Stars) were constant race winners throughout the Eighties and even into the nineties, some time after production finally petered out. A good Leader will still show a clean pair of heels to most other '7' type cars!

Who knows, could Niall have known the car in the past, worth a long shot?

Regards the calipers, from your pics I don't recognise your subframe, it's not like the Viva/Magnum/Jensen Healey/Chevette versions I own/have seen so again Niall is your man.

Mark

Hi,
That's interesting, I had a look under the car today and it has a rod which is parallel to the axle which I think is called a panhard rod to reduce lateral movement but it also has two rods each side to stop the axle twisting and these are connected to the chassis below the seat area. What is the arrangement on a non SS car? I have taken a couple more photos which do give an idea of what I am talking about but it is a bit tricky as there isn't much room to manouvre about. I'm sure that you will have a better idea if this is what is meant in the quote by the suspension being beefed up.
It is pleasing to see that the car is not only well made but nicely made too, not like the Robin Hood which has a few rough edges, literally sometimes. Even the work carried out by the previous owner is of a good standard. With the Robin Hood I had to go through nearly everything, mostly only little jobs but very time consuming. This car looks to be a lot easier.
I will try to join in the chat room/forum thingy, I usually avoid these things like the plague but as its for a car I'll make an exception. Here's the link for the new photos.

Regards
Kevin

Front hubs are vauxhall viva, it took me ages to figure out where they were from on my striker. Wheel pcd should be 4x4" if not redrilled as had mine done recently to 4x108 (ford) pcd.

These are mine:

Thanks thats helpfull. I measured the discs and they are 10 inch. If I get time tomorrow I'll whip a wheel off and check the PCD. Then I will be armed with as much information as possible when I try to source some calipers. Once they are on then I will be able to move the car around under its own power. The next thing after that will be a side exhaust so If anybody has a suitable second hand one they want to sell let me know.
Regards
Kevin

Hi Kevin
FYI I got a set of new, non exchange calipers for the 10inch discs from PowerTrack Ltd IIRC £60 +VAT each. The only source of discs I have found so far is the Viva Owners Club
You certainly have modified axles, your front beam axle has Viva/Magnum parts such as the wishbones and the steering control arms, I reckon the front beam itself must have been drilled and dressed to lighten it, the rose joints have also been added. Your rear axle again if it is viva/magnum has been modified from standard, e.g. the addition of the panhardrod, the rear trailing arms from the Vauxhall viva/magnum would have been more box section rather than tubular, a mate had a similar set-up to yours on his Sylva Star when he fitted a ford rear axle, working out the diff ratio even a pic of the diff rear cover/nose may shed light on this. The PCD will be interesting to see.
Mark

I've taken a couple of pictures of the diff, they are not the best I've ever taken but they do give a view of the front and the rear.