Mk1 Daily >> Trackcar

terryc101 · Mar 25, 2014

Hi all

Haven't had a project thread on here for any of my cars so thought I'd do one for the car that's been around longest.

I bought the car just after passing my test and it was used as my everyday car up until last year when I got a 172. I found it listed on ebay as a 1.6 rsi but as we all know there was no such car in mk1 form and it was quite clearly a 1.8 16v, drove to Essex and picked it up that night for £400.

When I got it home

After fitting some pro race 1.2's and tidying a few things up

Carbon remould of the oe spoiler bought and fitted

Side exit exhaust fitted

Some pics as it was at this point

Fogs removed and an air feed fitted, plus a bit of colour in the engine bay.

Redline old vs new photo shoot. Headgasket went on the way home from there and was 'fixed' with some K-seal, which surprisingly lasted around 2 years lol.

Stud and nut conversion fitted

I then finally decided to do something about the leaky sunroof and replaced it with a sheet of carbon fibre instead of messing about sealing the old one up. Never got a wet lap again!

Was always gonna rain as soon as it was out wasn't it lol.

Next up was a flocked dash to stop the annoying glare you get off the standard one in nice weather. Also got the centre console done as it was marked and scratched pretty bad and had some fibreglass rear panels made up then sent over to be flocked too.

Lots more to update including the engine change and many breakdowns but my brother would like his pc back now so that'll have to wait till tomorrow.

terryc101 · Mar 27, 2014

After driving the car for a fair few months with the headgasket gone and various other engine related problems (crank sensor, rad fan breaking etc), I decided to start looking around for a Williams engine to replace it. At the same time I also started buying up the parts to fit the wider front track from a Williams too, it would all be done at the same time as the engine would be coming out the bottom.

It didn't take long to find an engine and a drive up to Felixstowe and back and I had this in the garage, for the grand some of £300.

I'd also bought another valver subframe which I cleaned up and painted ready to assemble the widetrack stuff to go straight on. Genuine Williams wishbones, willy steering rack, ARB, New Shocks, Powerflex bushes were all bought straight after.

A 13 row mocal oil cooler was also purchased as it came up at a good price.

All put together

The engine after a bit of a clean up and paint

All the while this was going on I actually had no driving license, be careful not to rack up too many points in the first 2 years kids! Passed my test, got the car through its mot and sorted a weekend to swap the engines over.

With a huge help from Luke (from clio16valver) and his mate, the engine and widetrack were all swapped over one Saturday. It even started first time that evening!

Ready to drop!

Empty and awaiting the new engine

The next day was spent tidying up the looms and fixing things back in place in the bay. Also working out where to mount the oil cooler, and I decided it would go in place of the drivers fog light as that side was bare now there was an air duct in the other one.
So this it how the car looked the next day

Bumper trimmed (read hacked) and back in place.

Then it was time to take it round the block and see if everything was good...It wasn't!

Drivers side shaft completely collapsing as soon as I went to pull away, so had to wait a few days to finally get to experience Williams power. Once that was swapped out it was a dream to drive, completely different to how the 1.8 felt but still as fun when revving hard.
Just after this I also completed making some 'plastic' rear quarter windows to fit as the standard pop out ones were leaking pretty bad. Bought some pov spec rubbers and some sheets of polycarb from B&Q and set to cutting and fitting.

A few pics after it was back on the road.

More updates to come...

sonny172cup · Mar 27, 2014

Good project...like the poly window idea too

S_E_A_N · Mar 27, 2014

Nice, keep updates coming, how much did it cost you to do the windows?

terryc101 · Mar 28, 2014

S_E_A_N said:
Nice, keep updates coming, how much did it cost you to do the windows?

I think it was roughly £30 for the 2 sheet. I could of got them both out of one bigger sheet but the ones in stock were battered.

terryc101 · Mar 28, 2014

More stuff to get it up to date...

After fitting the new engine and widetrack I was far from impressed with the new handling. There was a kinda lag when turning in as if the steering wheel weren't connected and going around tight bends became scary when trying to straighten up again! After a few trips to a local garage and head scratching I found the problem, well my dad did laying under the car while I turned the wheel. When bolting the rack to the subframe I had missed out one of the rubber sleeves that goes inside the clamp, this was allowing the rack to actually slide side to side when going lock to lock....which would explain the terrifying delay in turn in!
Found the rubber sleeve in the garage bin and got it back on, the handling was then just how I imagined it would be.

Then went to have the tracking checked and make sure it was right.

Before

After

I then got fed up of looking at that horrible standard cast iron manifold in the bay and opted for a mild steel supersprint style one from k-tec. Couldn't believe just how bit the weight difference was between the two, lifting the old one out the bay was a shock! I was also shocked at the noise difference it made...loud!

[video=youtube_share;8gP9ru1uTjQ]http://youtu.be/8gP9ru1uTjQ[/video]

At the same time I also got an uprated top mount as mine had worn pretty badly. With running a solid gearbox one already this made the engine nice and solid and none of that standard sloppy gear movement.

Then I got a major problem...no 5th gear! Then...no 4th gear! Then...some horrible sounds in all other gears, box was diagnosed as dead lol. At this point I'd also got an itch for a bit more power and had sourced another engine that had cams (kent rn2002's) and headwork done.
So I bought a new box and the car was packed off to have the following work done:

Fit new gearbox
New clutch
Swap the new head onto the engine
New cambelt/headgasket/lifters
Time the new cams in

New head and painted inlet ready to go

Pics from the work carried out

While there it was discovered that the Williams lump I'd bought previously was in fact only a 2.0 bottom end with a 1.8 head on, thankfully the new head was a Williams one so I finally had an actual complete 2.0. The gearbox also drained a mixture of oil and metal so that was definitely dead! Got the car back home and it felt a lot nippier than before and had one hell of a lumpy tickover now. Bought and fitted a new rad a few days later as it was the one thing I hadn't changed when swapping engines etc.

A pic from a few days after just because I like it

With the new engine in and having RR'd it at every stage so far, I popped along to a CS Surrey rolling road day to see what difference if any the new head had made. I'll put a summary of the changes in power below.

[video=youtube_share;rEG-oQyAoMs]http://youtu.be/rEG-oQyAoMs[/video]

1.8 (k-seal'd headgasket lol) - Silenced de-cat - Side exit - 130bhp/112lbs

2.0 bottom end/1.8 head - Silenced de-cat - side exit - 137.4bhp/121lbs

Full 2.0 - Kent rn2002's - Supersprint - Silenced de-cat - Side exit - 168.0bhp/141lbs

All RR'd at SRR so a pretty good idea of the difference the upgrades have made over time, the jump from fitting the correct head and cams was more than I imagined but its now at a number that I'm happy with and with the car last weighing in at 900kgs it certainly nips along.

This is the car pretty much up to date now, missing out a few breakdowns here and there lol. Now with the trackcar sold and a 172 for daily use this will be getting a cage/buckets etc and getting put to good use and hopefully i'll have some updates very shortly.

sonny172cup · Mar 28, 2014

Great results there

George@RTR_Parts · Mar 29, 2014

Nice work so far, looks great

Ph1 Tom · Mar 29, 2014

Nice work, good to see the back to back results of all the mods.

terryc101 · Mar 29, 2014

Thanks!

Yeah its nice to have been able to go to the same RR when mods have changed and get a pretty accurate idea of how its changed the car.

Inequality Street · Mar 29, 2014

Love it

underdog · Mar 29, 2014

really like this car. great work and that sound in the vid is awesome. flames too

Bluebeard · Mar 29, 2014

Great work! (But those wheels do it no favours)

Fantastic to see another mk1 on the forum.

terryc101 · Apr 1, 2014

underdog said:
really like this car. great work and that sound in the vid is awesome. flames too

Thanks! They certainly caught peoples attention at night.

Daniel said:
Great work! (But those wheels do it no favours)

Fantastic to see another mk1 on the forum.

Thanks! The wheels were cheap and weigh half what the standard lead ones do lol.

Got the track car home a month or so ago to get it ready to put up for sale, which mainly meant taking the cage, seats and exhaust off as they will be needed for this car. We bought the car with the cage already in the car loose so once it was unbolted it took a fair amount of time trying to figure out how it came out! In the end it came out through the passenger door with a bit of persuasion, it was then put in the garage to be rubbed down and sprayed black.

All 3 cars together for the first and last time

Cage removal. Front was a lot easier than the back to get out!

Getting painted

All ready to go

Full stainless exhaust removed and cleaned ready to go onto this car, don't think the side exit will pass any noise tests sadly

I then set about removing bits from the interior of the car that wouldn't be needed. Standard seats, door cards, carpet, roof lining etc all had to go.

This underlay foam stuff under the carpet was soaked through! No wonder I was having a bit of a mould problem.

Still finding glass from when someone put the rear window through

It was a fond farewell to what are one of the comfiest seats ever made. I'll be keeping the drivers to sit on in the garage and the passenger one is going to be made into a computer chair hopefully.

I then loosely bolted in a subframe and bucket so I could move the car around still.

This week I'll be doing a final few like tidy wiring, removing trim clips etc bits and then the cage can be put back in and bolted in place. Should have some more updates soon.

jagy · Apr 2, 2014

Very nice progress. Love it.

terryc101 · Apr 6, 2014

Bit more progress...

Cage is now in ready to be bolted in place. It seemed a lot easier to put in than it was to remove, think we got our angles wrong when taking it out. Gave the gear surround a quick paint and then replaced the top dash and centre console, window switches will be going where the stereo goes as the standard door cards clashed with the door bards on the cage.

Things to do:

- Bolt cage in place
- Fit passenger seat
- New pads and fluid all round
- Fit a normal exhaust
- Get the sills welded up/replaced

Shouldn't take too long to get it ready, most time consuming part will be having the sills patched up and painted etc.

terryc101 · Apr 15, 2014

Finally had to say goodbye to the side exit today

been on the car since I've had it and i will miss the sound but it just wont pass noise tests on track. Had to cut the cat to exhuast bolts as i hadnt had them off for years but other than that all came off easy.

Sidey is off!

Bought an assortment of new rubbers as i cant remember what keeps a standard one in place

The replacement catback system on (think its a magnex)

Seems very weird to look at the back of the car and see an exhaust now but I'm happy with the size and how it sits. Will get a video for comparison purposes this week sometime.

More updates when parts arrive

underdog · Apr 15, 2014

will it still flame?? love the car though and great work

Matt@codered · Apr 16, 2014

Was it the SS exhaust I left on the red car Terry?

Coops Mk1 · Apr 16, 2014

love this car so much and top work on flying the xerus flag, there's like just me, you and one chap over Mansfield who has my old F4R'd one that I know of with them

be great to see it out and about on track this year, are you booked to Bedford on the 19th of next month?

terryc101 · Apr 18, 2014

underdog said:
will it still flame?? love the car though and great work

Thanks! Not sure on the flaming but it wont be as fun as it coming out the side!

Matt@codered said:
Was it the SS exhaust I left on the red car Terry?

Yeah that's the one mate

Coops Turbo said:
love this car so much and top work on flying the xerus flag, there's like just me, you and one chap over Mansfield who has my old F4R'd one that I know of with them

be great to see it out and about on track this year, are you booked to Bedford on the 19th of next month?

Thanks! It is a superb colour and your turbo was the reason for me wanting one. Not booked anything up yet as I have to arrange days off with my old man as he tows it. Will hopefully get something arranged for May/June to start us off this year.

rctempire · Apr 18, 2014

Just seen this. This looks fantastic.

Great work.

So many bits thrown out, send them to me

terryc101 · Apr 18, 2014

Sadly everything removed went straight to the dump lol got enough bits in the garage already.

terryc101 · Jun 2, 2014

Few little updates.

Bought a stereo blank for a few quid from ebay, should house the window switches quite neatly. Looks like moving the wiring could be a fun job tho!

Finished scraping the last of the tar from the footwells and started laying down some grip tape in its place.

Nice weight saving!

Ripped the old alarm siren out as it was driving me mad! Every time the battery was connected it would go nuts and drain it, none of the various keys turned it off despite it never working the previous years ive had the car, plus its more weight saved i suppose lol.

Got the cage all bolted in place at the weekend, all except some bolts at the front which must have gone through the sills on the original cup cars but these will be bolted when the old sills are chopped off in a few weeks.

Never got around to fitting a sunstrip on the previous car but wont be making that mistake again. Tow arrows and a few other stickers fitted too.

As it stands at the moment

Going to the bodyshop in a few weeks time to have new sills fitted plus some work on the drivers rear arch, once its back it'll be fitting new discs/pads/fluid, bolting in the passenger seat and then time to get to some track days! Really cant wait to drive it again now!

terryc101 · Jun 30, 2014

Still waiting on a date for the work to be carried out at the bodyshop so thought its best we tackle the bonnet catches this weekend, quite a time consuming job in the end trying to get it all lined up properly but got there in the end. Will make working in the bay so much easier.

No going back now...

Masked and cut out

Pins in (had to hack the back of the headlight off to get them far enough over)

Done!

Also gave the rear interior a quick re spray to cover all the chips and scratches and refitted the flocked rear panels, much neater.

Before

After

Brakes should arrive early next week as will a mount for the passenger seat, then bodyshop and its done. Thinking about putting it through an MOT once the work is done so I can give it an airing out every so often and attend any local meets etc in something a bit more fun.

terryc101 · Jul 10, 2014

Day off...parts arrive... Weather is grim!

rctempire · Jul 10, 2014

Great pads and discs.
Really held up well when I was around Knockhill recently.

Hope all goes well.

terryc101 · Jul 10, 2014

rctempire said:
Great pads and discs.
Really held up well when I was around Knockhill recently.

Hope all goes well.

Thanks.

Yeah we had the same combo on the last car and it felt really good under braking.

rctempire · Jul 10, 2014

Out of interest, what did you do with the old engine?

terryc101 · Jul 10, 2014

rctempire said:
Out of interest, what did you do with the old engine?

Sold it to some guy down the road to put in his Volvo 340, not sure if he ever finished it tho.

terryc101 · Jul 17, 2014

New brakes fitted this week. Got slowed down by the weather and one rear caliper being held on by 5 sided bolts..wtf!? Managed to smash and old spanned over them tho and replace with some normal bolts. Car is insured now so not long until its on the road and hopefully in time for a Brands evening on 6th august.
The old front pads had plenty left on them but were only Ferodos 'fast road' ones so replaced with DS2500, rear brakes were knackered all round lol.

Old fronts

Rear pads

Shelter from the rain

New brakes

Some randoms I took while working

Just need to fit the braided rear lines and bleed the system with new fluid now, far too hot outside for that now tho!

w33 brl · Jul 17, 2014

Just read this, great work looks so clean now

Chip-mk1 · Jul 17, 2014

Cool little car

terryc101 · Oct 6, 2014

Bought some new (used) tyres a few weeks back, a set of still road legal R88s for a real good price, got them fitted ready for our first trackday with this car.

Our first outing with the car would be Snetterton booked with Opentrack. Had never driven snetterton before so was looking forward to it, up until a few days before when i caught the flu! So drove up the night before and got no sleep as I couldn't breathe, woke up early and drove to the track in dense fog!
We were meant to be out on track at 8:30 for sighting laps but I think it was around 11 by the time we actually got out due to the near zero visiibilty. Managed to still get in a decent amount of track time and some tuition while consuming box upon box of strepsils and really enjoyed the day.

Car performed perfect all day until the last session when the thermostat to the oil cooler must have opened, highlighting the fact one of the hoses had split. So we loaded up and set off home, a bonus being the tow van has a bed which i slept in most of the journey from Norwich to Kent.

Loading up at the trailer storage