having owned this car for 10 years or so now, and having competed in it, i decided last year that for it to be anywhere near competetive more wheels driving was required.

this car has undergone so many differant guises over the years, having been happy with the car and haveing gone as far as possible with a 2wd setup, i decided it was going to happen at some time this year.

during an even in march we had an engine expiry, so that was the perfect time to make the chamges required, it started at the end of march.

out came the engine, gearbox front crossmember, front hubs, brakes, rear diff. propshaft.

the body was cut and modified to accept the 4wd running gear, transmission tunnel cut and opened up, front chassis hoops for the shafts. the rear diff ratio was also to be changed from a 4.27:1 to a 4.55:1, having spent 3months trying to have a combination of drop gear made to match the rear diff to the front it looks as though we may have actually got them coming - nice and cheap at £300 each

a dummy box ( no internals) was used to measure up and make sure access was as easy as possible if we need to remove the box or fron diff.

heres some pics..













so more new bits for this year.....

car interior has been rewired,
engine ( slight spec change as last one was so good)
rear diff,
quaife gearbox,
ultra light flywheel,
ap twin plate clutch
concentric release
front diff ( std to test case strength with mods, pump, plate)
adjustable tca's
front hubs
front prop
rear prop
oil coolers for diffs and gearbox
front arb mount ( if we decided to use one )
front brakes
rear brakes
new engine mounts
steel front crossmember

im sure theres so much


and last as its pretty much a new car .................................................. ................................. a colour change

fresh from the psint shop , went in at dinner time sat , cam out at dinner time sunday













why red ????????????? because ive never owned a red car - owned practically all other colours

newer exhaust system for this year, gone for a larger bore, with twin side exit instead of one sid exit to enable the fitment of bigger and more silencing boxes to keep the noise down , gone from a 2.25" downpipe and 2.25" system with 2 boxes to a 3" downpipe into 2 2.5" side exits with three boxes , only time will tell if the noise meter is any lower






all quick release of course, just finishing the two part downpipe, all in all makes the exhaust system 4 sections.

gearbox is finally ready to be fitted, after spending months trying to sort out someone to cut me the required drop gear set to enable me to still use my rear diff set up but to get me to a 4.55:1 final drive to the front diff , here is the required gear



made by DOME motorsport, dennis osbourne is the only person in th ecountry who can cut the tooth profile on these gears from a billet hardened material, not cheap believe me

gears fitted to the transfer and box built up

made my own concentric release system for the MT75







gearbox is set up for temp measurments for front and rear oils, and for oil cooling and pumps. fingers crossed this box may last ok even if its not the ideal ratios for a rally car.

 

Cracking read up there Mark

Looking forward to seeing this again mate, keep up the good work

 

 

Bet you can't wait for some testing....

 

Mark,

Car looks excellent pal, glad you sorted the clutch issues....

The paint job has really tidied her up......

Ian

 

Looks great, hope you get the rewards from it all when you race it again!

 

yep , cant wait for testing, hopefully end of july

ian, cheers pal , got a bit of inspiration from a mate with one of my fav cars

 

 

 

Red is for Ferraris my boy !! I have to say im only a few steps behind you with the 4wd thing , wont do it to my 500 tho , thats still quick enough for a Rwd car .
Best of luck , may tackle you for that box you have for sale too .

 

love it in red esp. with the white interior

 

new pics added !!

 

 

Looks mint mark, lovin that cheap cog thingi!!!

 

looks quality in red!!

 

How are you getting on with this old knacker then Mark?

 

today she took her first steps for over 6 months
and now in 4wd mode
got a few jobs to do as yet, car drives sort of ok for a thrown together suspension setup, need to get the geometry all reset now,
ratios all feel good through the box, im sure its noisier now than it was with the 2wd setup tho

will keep the updates coming with some more pics soon

 

spanking!

 

well i have come to the conclusion, like the toyota supra 3-doors only look good in red

 

Good work Mark You cut a bigger hole than i did when i converted mine Did you cut a panel out of a 4x4 tunnel ?

 

Good to hear everything is going to plan Mark

 

good luck..m8

 

Brian

 

Just read this through, good update Markk I like it, red is different, not seen another 3dr in that colour and the Gearbox clutch mods look V.neat nice one

 

no pal i made my own tunnel parts, i needed to be able to remove the gearbox relativly quickley if needed

 

Very Nice

its not just rally 3drs that benefit from conversion to 4x4 -not that difficult to do, and generally the parts you remove are worth more than the 4x4 parts you install (road spec anyway) A fair bit can be sourced from a 2 litre standard 4x4 Sierra.

A bit of info if anyone wants to go down this route for a 3dr road car -
If you use the gearbox crossmember from the Mk1 T9 4x4 box it fits a treat to the MT75, so the only fettling you need to do to the tunnel is a small cut out where the transfer chain case touches the narrower 2wd tunnel.

Saves having to cut out and fabricate back in the tunnel from a 4x4 which most people usually do when carrying out this conversion.