You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, at no cost, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, so please join our community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
Finally some months after having a large accident on the Somerset stages we have made some progress with the re-build. I sourced the shell, quite quickly, but when the cage arrived none of it fitted so that knocked things back a month or so. But this weekend we are all set to have a big push with the re-build now it's painted. Thought I would post some pics.
After a weekend of working on the car some good prgress was made. First the yellow Scoob was stipped out....
If you look carefully, beyond the mounting on the gearbox tunnel towards the bulkhead you can see how it compressed in the accident...
The did some work on the rebuild....
When we took the engine out of the yellow one we looked for damage.... and found some
Having removed the cracked cam cover the valves on the face of it appear ok, so we'll replace the cracked cam wheels and cam belt, hand turn the engine and see if we get an compression, we can but hope....
Finally the we finished the weekend witha rolling shell....
Project continues with end of Oct target looking a little optimistic, we'll see.
Looks good guys, i'm assuming the engine sustained no internal damage?
That's what we're hoping. The cam pulleys are shattered, as is the cam cover in the pics, but inital impressions are that the valves appear to be ok. I have the bits now to hand turn the engine and see if we are getting compression, so I should know this week hopefully.
It's a good engine, so really hope there is no damage......
Is it me or the picture but it looks as tho the bar behind the dash isnt welded on the passenger side?
Spot on, that was well noticed. The bar was left free so that the wiring loom and most importantly the steering column could be fitted. With the steering in place the bar has now been welded in making sure it is in the correct place.
where did you get the sill stands from, i've been after some like that for ages.
The new shell is looking great, bad news on the engine, but you have to be thankful for the cage in the yellow scooby for certain!!
keep it up
Chris.
Hi Chris, the sill stands were made for us by Peter Lloyd Rallying. They are fantastic as the car sits very high on them so working on it is easier and the gearbox can be dropped out of it when needed.
Cage did a great job, the new one is a custom cages weld in, so we are making sure the rebuild is done properly, especially the shell prep.
How do the sill stands attach id like them for working on my hillclimb car Greig
The sill stands insert into a tube which is welded into the sill. So the stands have a smaller diameter tube that goes into a large diameter tube. HOWEVER..
When the tube is inserted into the sill, it needs to be done from the inside of the car out and welded normally under the cage feet, so that when the car is on the sill stands it is the cage spreading the load.
If you look at the final picture of the white shell, you can see some damage on the sill, the tubes were not fitted correctly, they were welded to the outer sill only , and the car fell off the stands, so both sills are damaged , these is currently being fixed at the moment!
gutted.... i'm so glad you mentioned this, i have a set of tubes that i was going to try and fit, but the cage is already welded in.
i was going to considder fittign them to my other car too but there is no cage hmmm.
If the cage is already in then that is fine, make sure the sill stands line up under the feet of the cage, and are welded to the inner and outer sill, so the whole car is taking the load. In our case they only welded them to the outer sill which is like paper so it fell over! The inner sill, i.e the part you can see inside the car is the key bit.
The tube should be welded to a plate that is then welded against the inner sill, I think that's right. Anyway ours is being sorted now.
You need to weld a spreader plate on the outside of the sill to spread the load, usually 2mm thick welded all around, then the tube is welded around the outside to the plate. It's worth putting a similar plate around the inside too unless you can incorpororate it into the cage leg base plates. You will have to make a special mandrell to take a hole saw of the correct diameter for the tube so as you can drill all the way through, make sure you keep the drill absolutely level and double check when welding up the tube that it stays level (a long bar of correct diameter through the tube is a good way, make sure it's horizontal) Sometimes there are up to 2 extra skins inside the sill which the tube has to pass through. All quite time consuming but well worth the effort in the end.
Things progressing slowly at the moment, but well. We should have the shell back over the next week with all the sills rewelded and sprayed. In the meantime -
Got the dash back today had it flocked, so have spent the evening putting it back together. Please with the result, the photo's don't really do it justice...
Engine is now re-built. Work done includes:
Complete strip, check and clean. It has then been put back together with, new gaskets and seals. New throttle position sensor, all new cam covers, new plastic front covers, new cam belt, new exhaust heat shield, new sump. The manifold has been stripped, cleaned and re-sprayed. The last bit to go on is going to be the power steering pump which is courced I'm collecting it this week.
So engine is finally sorted ready to go into the car....
Final issue at the moment, is around the wishbone, one was damaged in the accident. The spares on the car aren't as chuncky, especially the bush attaching it to the car, I have been told they may be white line bushes, so next time I'm near API think I will go and see Dave to sort this out and get the correct one sorted.
Location: @Junc 12, M40 Warwicksh; 01926 614522 CV33 9PL -Use 9GX for Satnav. South Midlands Simtek ECu dealer
Posts: 4,981
That's not a Whiteline one Dennis It is a strange looking thing. But Whiteline will do for you.
Bring it [ them ] along when you come down, so I can see and be sure that you get an equivalent.
Looking good so far though.
David APi
Agents for: Simtek, the most exciting new Ecu for years Buddy Club exhausts Scoobysportexhausts Eibach suspension Hybrid front mount intercooler kits AP Racing brakes and clutches And of course; the well known APi Performance Exedy organic clutch
Still been quite slow over the past year - between the recession and moving house the re-build has been somewhat laboured.
However - all the engine, box and mechanicals are now in the car. The new steering rack was fitted, new front whiteline bushes & mounts, group N engine mount kit, all new sensors, air box, braided fuel lines and brake lines are in the car.
The engine was fitted and the wiring is all rigged up. The car is turning over slowly but not firing up yet. Last couple of bits for the engine are the power steering cooling element, battery tray (new competition battery purchased) and a couple of brake olives and fittings. Otherwise the engine is fully in.
We have a small budget for this year and are hoping to debut the new car at a local single venue event on April, so it's now a case of getting the inside of the car sorted. Completing the wiring and fitting the dash. The car is likely to be sent away to be finished so should have it back MOT's by the middle of March
As far as I can tell only parts we need are a wiper motor (the 4 door has a different set up to the 2 door), the door rubbers and a sump guard bar.
I'll aim to get some photo's up of the complete car by late March - however with this project anything could happen!!
GC8 Rally Car Re-build
Glad to see the cage did it's job! Looks like quite a big "off" there!!
, and the car fell off the stands, so both sills are damaged 
, these is currently being fixed at the moment!
