My rebuild updates..

ricola · #1 5th April 2006, 07:48

If you have been to my website you will know the background, but here's a quick summary...

I bought the 'green' car from Chris Greville-Smith (GTR designer) after it had been stolen and crashed. It has a few developments on it and I plan to enhance it further.

Plan is to have it in a BMW silver with black leather interior, fit a decent sound system in it (Ed's influence!), electric power steering and a new centre console.

A few pics so far:

As it arrived

Broken suspension parts will be remade

Electric assisted steering column with Rover switchgear fitted

Cosworth radiator in case of future engine upgrades

New engine, been sitting around a test rig for years, never been in a car!

Beginning of the sound system, it will all be hidden

Honda S2000 leather seats fit perfectly!

My website will be kept fully up to date wiht more pics, but I thought a quick summary might be handy..

Rich

Ex-Biker · #2 5th April 2006, 12:33

Very nice car.

Looks like it will be a much improved car when it's rebuild.

ricola · #3 12th April 2006, 15:34

Starting to fine tune the position of the corsa electric assisted steering column, the mounting points are a fair bit further back than the Rover column ones

Dash moulding will need tweaking to fit more neatly with the corsa shroud

Rich

Patrick · #4 12th April 2006, 21:21

Nice choice of speakers! Are you going to need a lot of new bits to repair it?

Which silver you going for, I really like titanium silver - it looks so good in the sun after a good clean and wax.

ricola · #5 13th April 2006, 08:14

Ed is leading me down a pricey path for the stereo! Should be a nice quality system when it's all done tho'. The mids will get custom sculpted centre sections in the doors, tweeters in the A pillars and a sub in the back, not sure whether to make it removable or not yet. I'm also going to have to hide 2 amps, crossover and the DAB tuner box somewhere!

I know which silver, but don't know the name. I'll have to get over to a BMW dealership and ask them.

I'm getting a new front section of the body, bonnet and front luggage tray. I want to guarantee no crazing in the future so am being careful about where I make the cuts. Chris has lent me the wishbone jigs for this car so they will be easy to reproduce, I will use the later style bushings which are slightly narrower to give me some caster adjustment in the top wishbones in case I need more self centring with the power steering.

Rich

ricola · #6 22nd April 2006, 12:29

body repair will commence shortly! I also have a new bonnet and front luggage tray..

GJGB · #7 18th June 2006, 17:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricola

If you have been to my website you will know the background, but here's a quick summary...

Honda S2000 leather seats fit perfectly!

Seats look nice! How accessible are the adjustments on the Honda seats? I've got some aftermarket electric Recaro's but am not totally convinced I'll go with them! How about the reclines - wheels or levers on the Honda seats?

Another options I'm looking at are Impreza - my other half had a "classic" WRX (before the current bug-eye one) and the seats in it were very nice! The bug eye has inferior ones.

Cheers
Greg

ricola · #8 18th June 2006, 19:47

Hi Greg,
They are quite easy to access, there is a lever at the side of the squab which you lift, this releases the seat forwards but is also used to set the recline position, slide adjustment is by usual lever at front.
One thing I have noticed recently is that the rails have two different brackets at the back, which effectively changed the length between holes, I'll just cut off the longer one and make a duplicate short one..
Hope that helps,
Rich

EddyP · #9 19th June 2006, 09:42

Greg, reacros are ok, ive got sportline ones in mine, and you can just get to the adjusters etc.. the only really tricky one to get to is the lumbar pump on the side.
Be weary of the WRX seats, most of them dont tilt forward, IMO you really do need them to if you wish to use the area behind the seats. Its a real pain if they dont tilt.

ricola · #10 25th June 2006, 17:18

Finally made up some mouldings for the headlights and started modifying them for the bi-xenon projectors from a 2002-2004 BMW M3 plus angel eye sidelight

One with the BMW shroud:

I plan to make up some custom shrouds to accomodate the angel eyes, possibly in carbon fibre...

Rich

ricola · #11 2nd July 2006, 17:22

Tweaked version of phantom's centre console with recessed switch section, I think I will still make some modifications to the rear section instead of just putting a padded top on it:

Light isn't finished, but quick mock-up gives a pretty good idea of the final result:

Patrick · #12 4th July 2006, 08:50

Those headlights look great

ricola · #13 25th September 2006, 09:05

Body is now off the old chassis

'just' have to transfer the engine etc etc to the new one and then I'll be on the home straight..

Was fun lifting the body up so high to get over the engine!

Rich

GJGB · #14 26th September 2006, 13:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricola

Body is now off the old chassis

'just' have to transfer the engine etc etc to the new one and then I'll be on the home straight..

Was fun lifting the body up so high to get over the engine!

Rich

I put a length of 6x4 timber through the door apertures (with blocks so it lifts on the built-in steel cage) and used a couple of strops and an engine crane to lift my bodyshell off the chassis I didn't have four strong bodies handy

Greg

ricola · #15 31st July 2006, 10:54

Some more progress this weekend:

The electric assisted corsa column needs the dash reshaping to suit.

So, some polyfiller expanding foam

then fibreglass

finally filled to shape

Then I wanted to have an extra opening cubby hole in the rear section of the centre console. Hinges/clips from the local scrappy and lots of reshaping ended up with this:

Rich

JG · #16 31st July 2006, 19:07

Thats a nice neat job you've done there on the steering column shroud.

John

Patrick · #17 31st July 2006, 19:48

As I said on TA, very nice FG work

ricola · #18 25th August 2006, 07:50

I guess most people didn't know, but I have decided to change my chassis for a straight one rather than repair and make new wishbones myself, just don't have the time! It was the one made after mine with the 'production' geometry but slightly beefier top rail. It uses production front suspension and uprights instead of the current steel uprights with spherical bearings (not ideal for road use and future replacements).
All I need to do is notch the top rail for increased steering lock and modify the steering rack mounts for a sierra rack (which I will convert to quick ratio).

Fun getting it home, it was wider than the trailer!

Rich

EddyP · #19 25th August 2006, 10:42

bet you're popular with the missus at the mo

they are suprisingly wide arent they, mine only just fit in the trailer i used to pick it up as well.
when you get the sierra rack dont forget its an LHD one you need, not an RHD.

ricola · #20 27th August 2006, 07:51

Got a sierra rack from Norman, so I'm assuming it is correct!
To get it on the trailer we had to put a load of planks on one side so it rolled over the mudguards and then back down, then lots of ratchets and a slow drive home..