Let's bring this up to speed. All copied across from another forum. Some of this is a couple of months old.

I braved the cold last night. It was the same temp in the garage as outside (-2) lol.

I think it's broken. Look what the rust has done.


Or maybe it was me with the spot weld drill.

A good mate gave me this. Cheers Steve. :thumb:

as I always intended running one (before FMIC) for a few reasons, but I'm not ashamed to say the main one was looks. lol Since the front now looks pretty mean (for a V300) I have turned my attentions to the rear.

There's reasons other than weight saving for why I have removed the wheel well.

Following on from plans to make the car look a bit tougher and more purposeful I wanted to mount the cooler in the rear valance (thermo sandwich plate/lines will run to engine) and expose the running gear when viewed from behind. Due to the saddlebag type fuel tank being in front of the axle/over the gearbox this means that the diff/gbox are now visible without the spare wheel well in the way and my back box can be tucked much higher up. The valance has been cut level with the bottom of the bumper. This would be more noticeable in it's absence on another car, but mine was painted in black underseal instead of being body coloured.

Previously



Now



Cooler cut into bumper and valance with (currently rusty oily bits visible) . Should look pretty trick with a couple of nice shiny elbow fittings lol



Still yet to decide on the oil cooler angle. It's cable tied up in those pics. It will get plenty of cool air there and as my mate suggested, fit a guard over the inside face to protect it and all should be well.

I don't know yet whether to rivet ali sheet in to replace the wheel well or just use steel.

My phone is crap at taking pics in anything other than perfect light. and it's too slippery to push the car outside. :/

Opinions? A lot of people don't care for the open grille or unorthadox FMIC placement so I can't see this being too pouplar with some. lol

Can't remember where I'm up to as I haven't done much what with it being Xmas and all.
I fitted the oil cooler properly the other day and not content with ruining the rear bumper I have been hacking my front bumper about too, lol

It used to look like this:

Note the blanked off grilles that cool the gearbox on autotragics. I cut the reinforcer out and opened them up. Can't hurt right? Looks a bit more agressive too IMO.

Leaving this:


As the grille I made is open, just the frame TBH, and the oil cooler being cut into the rear bumper is of the same style I thought I would cut those grilles out completely. As well as the area behind the number plate. I had to grind the reinforcer in situ as removing it would mean destroying the bumper. It's a bit close for my liking in some places! lol


Check last years fail for the reason I couldn't have the usual big ass holes in the plate recess:

Whoops! lol It was central from the back! :/

Here is a less than flattering pic to show what it looks like now:

The flash is a harsh misstress lol. Where the rust can be seen inside the chassis rails is a bolt on part, so luckily I can remove that and paint it up all nice. lol
My radiator has seen better days so it will be replaced with an alloy one with a slim line electric fan, so that should look pretty cool from the bottom, I hope. lol I guarantee it will be better in every area than the current knackered P.O.S.
It needs a bit of tidying up, but I got cold so left it for tonight lol. There is only a couple more things to do to the front and I will be pretty happy.
You may have noticed this little fella in the above pic:


Fnally, a random 'just cos I like it' crappy pic. lol
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I stuck rusty on the wheel dollies earlier and 'modified' it when it slipped off the jack. lol


Notice the missing part of the wing. lol. I can't even get my low entry jack under the subframe without having someone lift the car by the arches. The other side is simple, open bonnet and position jack, but the turbo and boost pipes are on the way on this side. I thought I had it on the bracket enough. Clearly not, as It slipped off...;

Fcuk it. They all go there, and thankfully mine isn't so bad. Nothing a bit of patching won't fix. It was on my list anyway. Kurust and a touch up thing can only help for so long. Or better yet, if I can get some pattern wings.

It was only cos I was moving the damn thing to get at my cabinet of goodies that's destined for the bay! lol

This car has been sitting in the garage since the tax ran out in November, and due to the cold etc. I haven't really been getting much done. With that in mind, and the fact I want to be using this car in the summer, it was time to get crackin.

Given that the car is ancient, every bearing and bush (poly where available) are being replaced. I'm making the front struts into coilovers, lowering it more, upgrading the front brakes, rebuilding the rears and obviously painting it all up so it's nice and clean. lol Most importantly though, I will be replacing the fuel tank for an injection version, as I think the current one has sediment in it and is at the heart of my intermittent

Time to strip the running gear and stuff off. The car is in pretty good shape so far, but some of the stuff that's been removed is pretty grim!


Damn saddle design tank requires the gearbox/diff/shafts/exhaust all removed before it.

Tank straps - lovely.

Filler neck. Getting a plastic one from a later car.

Box, diff and shfts

Gearbox crossmember

Hmmm

Anti-tramp bar. The chassis side bush had disintegrated.

As was the trend with the leaf spring bushes, the bolts were rusted to the bush. Fun. Changing the leaves for stiffer and inch lower variants, this will also correct the sag I had on the O/S/R.

Torque tube

O/S/F leg

O/S/F tie bar

Nice bush.

GEar linkage - gonna make a short shift version.

More removed, well everything really. You get the idea.



N/S/R inner arch

O/S/R inner arch.




A quick pass with the grinder... These are just blanking plates to cover where a 340 gearbox would mount. Easy to remake.


Cleaned all of the rear box section up and a section of the rear floor but didn't have any red oxide primer at the time and it surface rusted again in no time lol.

Love it, if you ever consider selling it contact me first please

Thick underseal



Front end. After wrestling with the wing, it was off. Time to assess the situation.



Not bad. Seen pics of much much worse!

Wings are for the scrap pile.





How I left it. You may able to tell I CBA to write much out.

theo2468 wrote:Love it, if you ever consider selling it contact me first please

Cheers mate! No plans for any of that yet. Just wanna get it A1 then have some fun!

L14MNP wrote:Fnally, a random 'just cos I like it' crappy pic. lol

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Love this shot. looks awsome. Its scary how much yours reminds me of mine! Oil cooler placements different. Kinda like it though. A lot of piping needed though.

keep the pics coming.

Cheers John. I think the same when I see ics of yours mate.

Yeah, random OC placement, but I am happy with the front end. Just wanted the rear to be a bit more interesting. more pipe needed true, but I get that Group B diff cooler look.

I was planning on opening the vents on my bumper, how hard was it to do as I havnt even looked yet

Easy enough mate. You need to cut into the bumper bar/reinforcer as you have no doubt noticed that is what blanks them off.

I never attempted removing the bumper from it as it would just destroy the clips. They are mated for life!

Search my old username on here OAPem (I think) and I took a few pics at the time.

Duuuude.
Someones been busy!

Lookig awesome.

very good work! and as you said, about 90% of all the mk2's are in a worse state when you get the car to this state

are you going to protect the cooler under there? would be a shame if loose gravell destroys it when it's tossed up by the rear wheels

Good work, will it be ready for the summer car shows? Would love to see it in the flesh.