wattie

bought this pulsar mid last year for a track toy after sellin my astra gte track car but around a week after was told that i was gonna be a dad and with my 3 door nearing competion i needed to prioratize so promplty sold it to my little bro, who a week later got banned for a year for various motoring offences in his evo 6 tommie makanin haha oops, so with his evo sold he set about a cheapo rebuild on the pulsar

when bought









not too bad for 800 quid, still had mot and some pretty impressive bits and bobs on it tbh, had a mines ecu upgrade, jap writing all over it lol, cams exhaust, decent suspension kit polly bushed cheap e-bay intercooler jobbie, lot better than original id presume

clutch was slipping like mad and a wheel bearing was fooked and the brakes were all shagged but for 800 u cant really complain caus it fookin shiffted

Twins

iTrader: (18)

Nice ,do like these cars ,cheap aswell

jonny s2

iTrader: (12)

got a soft spot for these in black,needs abit of work but look forward to the progress, heard these are real bad for wheel bearings and to upgrade the brakes are a must

Red16

The ebay intercoolers aren't bad for the money, my mate had one on his Pulsar GTiR which had a daughterboard fitted to the ECU allowing it to be remapped easily (by Matt @ The Racing Line), he was running 389bhp @ 1.4bar from a GT3071R turbo.

His clutch started slipping and was changed for an RPS Streetmax with heavy duty cover, it held the torque no problem and would launch without slipping but it was bloody heavy, very reasonably priced though.

Brakes are shite as standard, but plenty of options available, Wilwood do a very nicely priced upgrade.

Looks a hell of a car for 800 quid, it'll tidy up very nicely with a bit TLC.

wattie

to be honest the cars more or less finished just been lazy on puttin this up but ill run through the progress as it happened

after a bit of a check over to see what was needed it was engine out to paint the engine bay and fit clutch but found the input shaft of the box to be flappin around and gear oil has pissed all over the clutch hence the slippage!
whilst gear box was out found the chassis legs were cracked, both of lol bout a foot behind the bulkhead





nothing a little clean up with a flappy wheel and a couple of plates and a few feet of weld didnt sort tho!

also dont have a ramp so next best thing lol used engine crane, was fine and light as no engine!

wattie

so next job was sorting out the rotten nsr arch, never had and experiance of body work but seen overhaulin a few times, doesnt look that hard if u put some time in to it

got a repair panel from local motor suppliers but they only stocked one for a 4 door sunny so was carefull not to cut too much away
then put panel up to quarter then tacked it on




then some filler




job jobbed!! id like to say again me and my bro arent body workers were mechanics lol but i think i turned out nae too bad, if it looks shit with paint on it ill put a sticker over it!

also hacked out the middle of the doors, mad how much weight came out as also remover any unneeded brackets and also remover air conditioning system, the brackets for the pump was a few kilos at least!

wattie

one fucked gearbox (not the last before this story is finished)


one new clutch


so with new brakes ordered, just uprated discs and pads, the body work was order of the day, concidering how cheap the car was and the minor problems we did come across there was little wrong with it tbh!
we painted the inside of the car first then we started looking for a roll cage then i said why dont we fit the spare astra gte roll cage i had...well after a few "tweeks" to the inside, some plates made to support the feet of the cage and a few mods to the dash board she was in, then back out again for a fresh coat of kwaki green! nice and subtle!




and a pic with it all fitted up in side, looking quite tidy for a DIY bodge job!

wattie

so, back to body work, i now know why people say prep is key to a good paint job! even tho it was a fairly nice straight car its still an h reg motor thats been thrashed about for years so there was little pin dents all over it but very little rust, bonus! so after what seemed like weeks of prep, and loosing my fingerprints, seriously my fingers tips were smooth as fuck! she was ready for a lick of paint, first ever paint job we've ever undertaken, our theary was put it on quite thick and cut it back smooth then polish the shit out of it!

car in prep



after paint

had to throw the bumpers on just to see what it will look like!

wattie

actually really enjoyed the whole painting prosses, was a few bits that reacted but a rub down clean paint cut back and polish and its all good, u have to remember this is just a track car so finish wasnt a priority it was just to tidy it up but we take real pride in sayin we did it our selves!

COLEYST200

iTrader: (3)

keep it up mate looking good

wattie

cheers mate

cosworth_cab

looking good mate, keep it up

Matt carter

Do like a pulsar. Good fun car.

wattie

few more pics of it gettin painted, moved it over to my dads garage to put the top coat on, wasnt happy bout the mess afterwards lol he knew what we were doin so fuk him!!



not to shabby for a first attempt, this is after a wet and dry and a polish!




and now for something a bit differant, please remember this is a track thrasher and not intended to be a mint restoration or such like, u need to stand out lol!


so we decided to paint the side moaldings and number plate surround to match the cage (we has a shit load of spare paint!) doesnt look to bad once fitted

wattie

so engine back in , starting to look like a car again!



my bro took it for a drive round the place the cars kept to take some pics and once it was turned off it wouldnt start again! so was pushed back round to the garage and this is the result
wattie-1 immobaliser-0 !!!!!
car now runs, also this shit weighd a ton!!

Zetecfiesta

thats cool!!

wattie

its first wash!



so up next were the wheels, got a cheap set of hardly worn callway cut slicks for cheap so these tires went in the bin!

before-


after-


amazing what a bit of tlc can do!

wattie

and with them fitted

c20tbo

iTrader: (1)

I'll keep my eye open for this fella.

wattie

its finished now has been goin about a bit before the gearbox shat its self, got 1 made out of the 2 fooked ones we had from a guy in forfar,

u'll see it in the scot ads soon lol

wattie

car all finished on the day of mot, mot tester was pretty impressed it was home built!

wattie

will get some vids up as soon as i can fin them, the car really shifts it just grips and goes it really did surprise me how fast this is and ive got a 380 brake 3 door!

Steve the Plumber

iTrader: (11)

Looks good mate, like the colour combo too!


Any pics of the old blue yank pick up truck.

wattie

its a love hate thing lol some people dont get it!

Shilly

love it one thing i would do is paint the spoiler green it looks a bit to plane at the rear

Red16

I agree, I also think the bumpers would be nice with the upper recesses made green t match. I've done a quick Photoshop to show you what I mean, sorry but I'm crap at Photoshop

Nash

iTrader: (3)

Cool project!

woolford

i relly like it well done Mr

bigboot5

are those clio turbines on the car. looking good mate im in sam pos with my bodywork this winter on the pulsar

wattie

yeah i see what u mean, to be honest nowts been done on the car since its been finished just the ocasional track day, car is away to be put up for sale (but not this now caus im not a goldmember but i will be!) as my bro has bought an integra and my 3 door is oh so near being finished and we just went halfs on a serious caged up nova shell so expect another loud track car project thread lol!

wattie

yeah there reno turbines, i bought them with track tires on them for my astra gte(same stud pattern) they were only on the pulsar caus we were sorting the wheels out for it and needed to keep it rolling so it wasnt taking up the garage for ages!

wattie

ill start a thread in the pics forum of all the projects my dads done as he restores a lot of random vehicles from harley davidsons to armoured cars to american trucks!
been trying for years to get him to buy a mk1-2 escort but hes having none of it!

Red16

Good stuff, I know they're not to everyones tastes but I still like the look of a tidy Nova Looking forward to the new build thread already