
Hi all, i've been on here a while so thought i might as well put up a thread of my car as its coming along nicely, and as a few of you have seen is almost finished. I must insist, that this is not a drift car. I havent put a single bit on the car with the intention of "oh, this will get the back end out nicely" etc.

About june july ish time last year i started working at F1Moto (driftmoto) with Nev. At the time i had a 1983 mk1 fiesta 957cc, i hadnt even started lessons yet but i'd been tuning it. Like so:

It was sitting on capri rs 7 spokes, koni adjustables all round, rally design escort springs (direct fit the fiestas and also an inch lower), polybushed lower arms, moto-lita steering wheel and a few other little bits and bobs. I thought it was a really nice car, looked nice, interior was good (for its age) However, working for nev, the inevitable happened. The problem with the mk1's is that they tend to sit lower on one side, and everyone sorts this by using coilovers, and winding the driverside one up slightly, for me this wasnt on and i didnt want what was essentially a bent chassis for which to start with. Along with nevs constant abuse about it being front wheel drive, the fiesta was eventually sold, and a volvo acquired. £430 off the bay, 850 mile round trip (10mile short of scotland) and we ended up with this



Its a 1984 340 DL, with compulsory reverse lense missing and also a rather noisy gearbox.
We towed it home from penrith on an A-Frame like so

Once we got it home, it was parked on the drive for a week before being booked in for its MOT. Passed the MOT with only advisories on things like the rear dampers and brake lines, however it was driving it to the MOT that we realised the extent of the gearbox problem, even after a test drive when we picked it up. I got hold of a spare 5 speed box off nev, up went the car and the box was swapped

The noise:




errrr



It would appear reverse gear was trying to engage the whole time, slightly worrying to say the least!
All while this was going on, a 'tramp drift' project came up for sale in essex. It was a black 3dr shell with all sorts of doobrys, oil cooler, facet pump, bike carbs, megane engine, clio head, 1.7 conversion parts, rx7 big brake conversion, DIY coilover kit etc etc the list goes on.

This was simply to be used for parts and the shell to be sold on. So anyway back to the red one. I noticed it had a fuel leak, straight on to the exhaust manifold in fact


My dad was using the Fiesta as his daily car as his own car, a lancia thema 2litre 16v turbo decided it would split and oil hose while in the outside lane of a busy motorway. Basically the engine didnt come apart easily, and its less than 5k old brand new crankshaft... well, lets just say we have a very big door stop now. But as the fiesta was gone he started using the volvo. Now the 5 speed box i'd just put in was actually welded





All the while this was going on, i'd been collecting parts for it:

Got given these for free, bloke just walked in at work and gave them to me - WIN!






This came all the way from Ireland, i believe his username is dubweiser? Decent bloke, sent it to me and all i had to do was pay the postage! Thanks again!

Here are some of the parts from the black shell:






Got given these by a mate, didnt think i'd find a place to put them, but i have found a use!


I followed the guide on here, and managed to get my rev counter gauges all wired in, makes even a 1.4 a fun car


Now, as i wanted to give this car all i could, i could only get the best. And lowering springs and adjustable dampers just arent for me (based on my experiances with the fiesta


Of course with S13 adjustable top mounts



So now i had the suspension, i needed wheeeeeeeeeeeels! I'm not one of these "volvos must use 13 inch wheels" people, as i think 15s have everything going for them. However 15's are now 'boy racer boi!' wheels, so all the styles, offsets, widths etc are for the average corsa. A decent set are going to cost me lots of money, and i intend to get 15s in 9 and 10x15 for when its got lots of power, so were talking split rims, and on an apprentice wage, not doable haha. So, the hunt was on for a nice set of 13's, i didnt want the average minilights - BORING! i wanted something completley different, something not available anymore so it was unlikely to see another 300 on them, and then some popped up on ebay. Luckily enough it was basically my 18th birthday, so i got them as a present.
There compomotive CX's in 8x13 ET +6mm. They were originally on an opel kadett rally car



Got enough dish


So more parts started to come in,









Now these, these are without a doubt my favourite part of the whole car! As i intend to use it as my daily driver, and with 400lbs springs its not going to be that softer ride, now the standard seats are really nice, but dont give you any side support at all. So a few days trawling the bay, and one empty bank account later i had a nice set of Cobra Imola S bucket seats, on side mounts. Out of Homologation, but they were made in the late 90's, and are mint! God only knows how....

They are unbelievably comfy! Fibreglass backed aswell they just look sexy






All stuff from rally design. Now one thing i'd like to mention now is that the rally design stuff is cheap for a reason! The quick release is nice and clunky yes, however the horn push design is completley rubbish. Along with the steering wheel, which is extremely flimsy, my karts got a stiffer steering wheel! I wont be buying any "RMD" stuff again. However, at the time i couldnt afford anything else so that it had to be.
I decided to go 'race style' on the interior so a push button start was essential, for extra pimp points. Just so happened to fit perfectly in the cig. light hole:

Also, i decided i wanted to have some kind of immobiliser on the car, so what better than an FIA kill switch! Half an hour in the workshop with the ashtray and i had this:



Oh, because it was a boggo spec 340, no radio was supplied, nor was there an aerial for that matter, so a nice electronic amplified one off the bay did nicely:

Another reason not to buy rally design stuff, none of there supplied parts are even designed to work together! The amount of faffing i had to do to get it all together was un real, including several purchases of different length bolts (i admit, one set was myself being a tit >.<)

No one wants to see the RMD logo, that has to go



Moving on, another purchase im also proud of


Then my rear end lowering kit plus more bushes from DAI arrived




All the while this was going on, i had been trying to source myself some tyres for the wheels. Now as there 8j i didnt want to go stretching tiny litle tyres onto them, i wanted rubber, as much as i could get under the arch! So the ever so rare 195/45/13's had to tracked down, after several purchases and refunds "im sorry sir, our system hasn't been updated and it would appear we have only 1 tyre in stock"


Everyones got/had a stack of tyres in their bedroom before right?


Reverse lenses! Why do they always fall off? A nice member of this here forum managed to source me a spare lense, that had actually fallen off the cluster he had stored






Now this is the important bit, i decided i wanted to raise the strut towers on the car up by 2 inches to allow for more damper travel. With these particular coilovers, running the car down low on 13's the coilover is almost wound all the way down. So i made the decision to raise the turrets, this would lower the car, without me having to wind the coilovers down so much, so i would have more travel on the dampers. Therefore on that one particular day/night tearing through the countryside, round the corner with the big bush on the inside, out the other side of the corner - BRIDGE! If the car for whatever reason takes a heavy impact on the suspension, or gets airbourne etc, i want it so that when the car lands, the foot valve in the damper doesnt go crashing into the bottom of the damper. So giving me more damper travel should protect against any 'accidents' like this. I'm a 'what if' person, i always like to, if i can, protect against the major eventualities, and this was one that needed doing, bearing in mind there bloody expensive these coilover things!




Old school tape deck in the car, with clock now


I then decided i wanted more parts, using more money i didnt have at the time




With panel of course



Linseed oil! I love this stuff, after being threatened by a few of you here members after talking about painting the louvre, i oiled it, to my liking and it came out perfectly!

Along with a new fitting kit from auto-plas to make sure it doesnt go anywhere once its on the car


Had to try it on, just to laugh lol

I then decided i wanted some more choons going on in the car, bearing in mind the cars being used daily while im collecting all this stuff.



Time to get the coilovers put together properly, as they didnt come to me properly assembled, so had to get a few things done:



Then they could all be bolted together after i had a little fettle on the top mount, top spacer under the nut - does that even make sense?



I then set about sorting out these extra gauges, i had a pod with 2 holes, and 3 gauges, so following the great mr Adam himself, fitted the third gauge in the switches hole:





Check they still fit


A new doobry-ferkin for the sender majig




Although this is in, the gauges are still wrapped up in there box

These things were the vain of my life for about a week trying to source the little buggers and the bulbs to go with them!

With all the new parts i bought for the front end of the car, it would be criminal to use the old bolts when mr mac was supplying nice shiney new ones!

After buying a set, paying, not getting them, being refunded, then buying another set, a pair of track rod ends!

Also decided i didnt like my phone silver, so decided i was going to paint it black, what better way than to cover it in oil! Doh! I left in under the sump as i attempted a quick swap of the sump plug for the temp sender...

The brick still lives on however! So i was undecided right from the start with the wheels whether to sandblast them and paint them myself, or get them powder coated... in the end i went with the powder coat, no refurbed just a new lick of paint:


Time to fit the rubber bands!




There was a little bit too much stretch for my liking with regards to hard cornering, however it shall do and we shall see...

Moving on! Wheel hubs. With the black shell i got a spare set already drilled for some scooby studs, so i got all those together





New bearings



Time to get the landrover rear shocks sorted aswell. There uprated for a landrover, so should be nice and stiff. The polybushes i ordered are for 300 shocks so needed some attention:




Painted



Stickers, to make them look 'OEM'



Painted the lowering blocks as well, only roughly and quickly with some hammerite, incognito blocks ftw


3inches xD

Now the turret extensions. I bought a 500mm square 3mm thick plate, and a 2inch wide 3mm thick 2m long metal strip.

First roughly cut 2 sqaures out of the metal sheet

file the inner edges sqaure

File the edges to allow for the the spherical bearing in the top mount plate, and drill the 3 mounting holes

Now i had the 2inch strip cut up, and had two sections roughly rolled into circles, here you can see one on the right. This is beside a top mount thats already been made up. Using a plasma cutter to roughly cut out a circle around it. then the plate was ground down till it was all flush. Measurements were taken before doing this, thats why the plates were rolled into bigger circles so we could close it up as we wanted







Next to a standard top mount

Then fitting them to the car






(My dad) The welder... lol










There also welded and sealed inside the turret for strength and protection


Decided to copy the rear dampers, didnt come out as expected, but oh well


Bought some battery relocation wire, expensive stuff


By this time, the car was now off the road and being dismantled:






Time to sort out these rear lights...






Windscreen change...



Aerial on



Stripping it all out...





Just having a play to see what it'l look like

Started to prepare the rear bumper and towbar







Sender change, finally! New ones from a mk1


While it was in the air, decided to try a wheel on for a laugh


I work at all hours, 11pm i decided it was time to get the driveshafts out.... and the blocks in....






This was just on for the pic, theres now extra washers top and bottom both ends to stop the bushes err expanding.... bloody nightmare getting those bushes on!

Thats better!!!


Front mk3 bumper, with blacked out bowl headlights and mk2 grille fitted

Rear mk3 bumper fitted,

Time to do the lower arms...



















And with the lower arm fitted with a coilover on, hub and brake disc (havent put the new track rod ends at this point)



Now thats what i like to see


Just playing at the back...

Then, the time had come... we put it on the floor....











I love the look from the back!







The car was sitting millimetres off the front tyres, and when on full lock the tyres were touching, so the car has been raised up a further 40mm. Now that all the suspension is on the car, moving back into the interior, time to do the bucket seats. This is where were up to now, so only have one picture but were almost done


I will update this later on with the turret pictures and a few other bits and pieces i've missed. Its coming together now rather nicely, im well chuffed given all the effort its taken

I hope you guys like it, now you can see why i didnt make the VOC BKV

Thanks! Thomas...............................