Thought it about time i shared 'our' little project with you all - I say 'our as its my brother in laws car and i'm providing the guidance and man-power...

It all started off back in June when said brother law calls me on a friday night saying he's just bought this RS (no tax, mot or history/receipts!) and that he's off to Hull in the morning to get it... I asked if he's looked at it, he says some pictures of it and with that off he went...

...and thats where the fun starts... after a 4.30am start he gets back home (gloucestershire) about 5.00pm on the saturday with the RS in tow. I go over in the evening and point out all the rust, rot, filler and generally bodged bits on it and ruin his image of having just bought a minter..(sooner it came from me than someone at a show or something...) I must admit on 1st glance it looked a really nice car, when you look closer you find the horrors... ok, its not as bad as some but its worse than he thought...

Now faced with the dilema of bodging up worst bits, smacking an MOT on it and flogging it on or building himself a car he can keep and have pride in for years to come i left him to sleep on it and said i'd sort out some prices for repair panels etc as he didn't know what was required...

After having a word with a mate of ours (Doug from DNA Autospray - he'll appear a bit more later in the build) we decided to go for it - full blown rebuild replacing with new where we need to and repairing/restoring/upgrading everything else...

The car when purchased looked like this:





and by the end of the following weekend looked somewhat like this:





I think that'll do for now as i'm running out of lunchtime - i'll udpdate with some more pics soon...

Cheers,

Col.

 

Dont look to bad mate

Good luck with the restro

Keep us updated and the picture's coming


Brian

 

yeah its not too bad - just not what he expected really! I'll post some pics up, prob tomorrow of the rot we did find...

 

Good luck with the project

 

...we continue with another thrilling installment...

Here's some pics of what we found once we'd started taking bits off...

Battery area bodged up with sealer in attempt to stop the passenger getting wet feet:



Scabby front panel:



Slightly scabby inner sills but not too bad really!



Fuse box area thats already been plated (badly) with new plate rusted to $hit :



With the rad and intercooler gone we found this under the slam panel - wouldn't want to slam the bonnet too hard!:



Front panel previously plated on both sides and undersealed over...:



Initial hole cut in o/s sill to see whats actually left...:



Inner f/panel, cross member area, right:



Inner f/panel, cross member area, left:



'Battery Tray'.... nice!! :



Nsf sill:



OSR arch - well, whats left of it...:



Notice plate in osr sill thats been riveted on and arch glued back on...



Col.

 

 

seems most shells are like that these days, but looks easily saveable
any more updates for us

 

Christ. I bet your brother in law was gutted when you showed him all this stuff

 

Well to be honest, he doesn't really know what to look for and when he saw all the shiney bits and 17's etc he was kinda blinded by it - literally! Still, onwards and upwards!

...Update coming soon....

 

Good luck with the resto..should be worth it in the end..

 

Cheers for all the comments chaps

Just a small update this time...

Here's some of the replacement panels to be fitted:

Complete sills for both sides:


Front panel:



We've also got a new battery tray and arch repair panels for both sides but didn't get time to take a piccie of these before it was off to the bodyshop...

Also before it went gave under the front arches a clean up to make the job a bit cleaner and easier for Doug - suprisingly hardly any rust! Arch liners must work!

NSF:



OSF:



Think thats about it for now - i'll update again soon....

 

Coming on well - its scarey what some really tidy looking cars can have lurking below them!

 

Found another pic of underneath befor it was shipped off to the body shop - suprisingly its got rear spring mounts and chassis legs!



Started painting up various bits n pieces too - using spray, smooth finish Black hammerite as can't be arsed with powder coating and this looks almost the same...

Steering rack:



Brake bar brackets etc:



Drive shafts: (these will get new boots when we're putting it back together...



Also had a quick shufty at the engine mounts... erm, its not supposed to be that shape is it?....



...and the otehr two will be fucked as well then...



Rear arms - someone's been here with the silver Hammerite before and the tie rod is being a complete bastard and refusing to play ball...



Other side came off alright but the tie rod has had the end of the thread cross-threaded and beaten to shit at some time in its life so if anyone has or know's of a couple of tie bars they'd like to throw in my general direction?....




And last but not least, the old rear Koni's that are currently on ebay...



Cheers for looking!

 

well youv got quite alot of work but its gonna get there in the end

 

will be all worth it mate keep going

 

we've got no intentions on giving up yet! (although the bro in law is a bit daunted about being able to put it back together [may call in a few favours from you guys on here for that..])

Debut show is to be Castle Coombe '07.

 

They put RS Turbo engines in all sorts nowadays but i doubt you've seen anything like this...

...ladies and gentlemen, i introduce you to, the worlds first *drumroll* RS Turbo powered wheel barrow!!!!! *fanfare*

 

Popped up the 'shop Sat avo to get some done on the car. Here's the results of an afternoon's work...

Removed: Bonnet + hinges, Passenger door, battery tray, front panel, fuel and brake lines from under car. Modded front bumper, plated passenger door lock and tailgate wiper hole. Lifted car off of the dolley and onto the ramp ready to have its sills done. Not bad for 4 hours work.

Car, as we got there:



Existing battery tray:



After removing the eleven rivets and sealer that was holding it in, we found this:



Then, i kinda slipped and fell with the grinder, and this happened....



Existing front bumper:



After 15 mins with a grinder and an air saw:



Innocent looking door:



Plated:



Wiper hole:



Gone:



How the car looked at 5pm:



Oh, and if anyone is doing an underbody resto and wants to remove the original sealer, i can't recommend one of these enough:



Bought off the Mac tools van it rips thru even really thick sealer to bare metal in no time. much better than a wire brush on a drill or grinder!

Note to all: Updates may be less regular as the missus is about to have our 1st baby so i'll be concentrating on this for a while...

Cheers for looking.
Col.

 

Good stuff

 

Looking good mate

Congratulations on the baby


Brian

 

Comimg along a treat ,good luck with the baby









oh and loving the name on the strap holding the engine in the barrow

 

Quote: "oh and loving the name on the strap holding the engine in the barrow "

Yeah, made me do a double take when i picked it up - strangley enough that strap was thrown in by the previous owner when we picked it up - could be an omen eh?

Cheers - for the congrats peeps.

 

The wife hasn't dropped yet so I thought i'd pop to the 'shop on the weekend and see what doug's been upto...

Seam welding on the front end has started... (silver is Zinc spray)



And a couple of pics of the plates on the end of the front chassis legs that'll re-fabbing:





and the clean-up underneath has started...

 

looking good col mate!!!!


really want to get into my s2 , but going to give it a cpl more month till financesget in better shape ,

good luck with the project

 

 

good luck with it..will def be worth it in the end...

 

 

*** VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE!!***

My wife gave birth to our daughter at 7.05pm Saturday night

 

Congratulations mate!!


Going out for a few to wet the baby's head?

 

Congratulations

 

Congratulations mate


Brian

 

Right then, as you are aware haven't really done much over the past 3 or 4 weeks cuz of the baby so just a small update to liven up the thread...

thought i'd show you some of the new bits that are being obtained, ready to fit to the motor when we (eventually) get it back...

New Front lower arms and Deflex bushed for front and rear suspension:


New Starter Motor:


Collins -31 Actuator:


Swirl Pot:


Auto Gauge Water Temp, Oil Pressure and Boost Gauges. Turbo Timer and ACT Gauge:


New bits from Ford. Clutch cable, Throttle cable, Bonnet cable. New bonnet catch. Engine Mounts (all 3). Front suspension bolts, Oil Filter, Splashsuard fixings:


New 9" Fan to accompany the one that the car came with:


New suspension and Sparco alloy strut brace:


RS Turbo Workshop manual:


That'll do for now but hopefully we'll be doing some more this weekend and i'll also pop up the 'shop to see whats been happening there in my absence so another update should be here on Monday...

Ta.

 

I've just noticed he's bought the wrong workshop manual....

Anyone need an RS1600i workshop manual?....

 

 

i bought some of the same guages there well good

 

Brian

 

Love how the car is going m8 Where did you buy your starter motor from? Want to get a new one while evertnings off the car.

 

Ok, popped up the 'shop Friday evening (forgot to take camera... ) and progress has been made, albeit slowly... seam welding on front end is done and battery tray is in...

Sat avo decided to whip a few bits off the engine for a check over as we're getting the Turbo freshened up anyway (Anyone suggest a good place for it to go to? ). To our delight when i removed the rocker cover, dizzy and inlet manifold found the car has a 285t cam kit in it (says BP285T on the dizzy end and has double valve springs - take it its a Piper???) and has had some mild head work done too. Pics:

(Sorry about the image size - had to take this with a different camera...)
Cam number:


Valve springs:


Overal view of head:


Inlet port:


Now all it needs is a vernier pulley....

Also, timing belt - Ford or Piper? Probably go for Ford but just wondered what you guys thought?

Now previous owner said the car was fitted with a paddle clutch, so off came the gearbox only to find a standard type clutch... ... the big question now is, is it worth us fitting an uprated clutch (not sure how much power the standard one is good for?) and which should i go for? Any advise you guys have would be great! Also, anyone know where and how much it'd cost to get the flywheel lightened and balanced and if its worth doing?

Cheers for now.

 

My car have the same problem as your with the rust good rebulid

 

hammer rite all the way