mk1 valver rally car

[HarriBanjo]

Just read through this thread - I'm loving what you're doing!!

How did you first get into road rallying???

 

[wookie]

I had a head start into rallying, my dad has been rallying since before i was born, the midwife of the hospital i was born in had to 'feed' me through the roll cage in dads mk1 escort mexico on the day i went home, i was 4 days old i think lol, so i was doomed from the start!

Best way to get into it is to join your local motor club and go from there really, road rallying can be at a very basic level, grass-roots motorsport if you like, and the levels and expence go up from there. My navigator 'Raa' and myself are planning on contesting the ASWMC road rally championship next year, which is one of the higher levels of road rallying, but at the same time doing stage rallys ( poor clio is going to be hard worked next year!!) hoping to get over to Jersey and Epynt for events too, providing money allows of course.

And pics of the civic looking extremly stupid on valver wheels....(1.6 with 170bhp so dont mind it looking stupid for a couple of days lol)

Certainly shows up how badly it needs lowering lol, and a wash!! But fill the arches nicely...

Just wondering what 40mm drop on some anthracite williams wheels would look like hmmmm

 

[AdamAnderton]

Ha Ha lol dont think they go to well
Didnt know they fitted honda

 

[wookie]

Nither do i mate, they look awful lol, standard wheels going back on tomorrow.

They do indeed fit, im really after a set of 17's off an mg zr 160 or a zs 180, as they are a direct fit also, but will have to wait.

 

[powey]

OOoo give me a shout when your doing epynt il pop up

 

[wookie]

Will do, any supports welcomed

 

[Whiteley]

Loving the civic!

 

[wookie]

Getting a mixed responce to the civic lol, but after last night it looks much better covered in mud!

The civic has now completed a road rally, and won it.....,which is nice, not a patch on the clio in the lanes but god i wish the clio went like it does in a straight line!! It also showed up just how bad the tyres on the civic were, which would howl at the slightest hint of a corner, and were a complete joke around the Nurburgring in july, but with the clio's Toyo's on its fantastic....,so 4 T1-R's on order already lol.

Hopefully i can update the clio;s progress soon, im getting fed up waiting for bits now

 

[wookie]

Right a little update at last....,samco's have arrived, 172 clutch arrived and then found out the flywheel uses m7 bolts so got some of them today, and its all together and ready to drop in at long last!!

Renault wanted £178 for a new heat exchanger, so i washed it out in work and painted it, if it goes wrong ill fit an oil cooler and bin it!

And 2 distractions....,i needed a sunstrip, and saw something in b&q i thought would be amusing.....

Smarties!!!!

But as looking like a coont and 'cool' usualy rides pretty close together, this failed to make the latter and looks ridiculas! But my navigator wants it left on for the 1st event, so if anyone wants to donate a brown paper bag....

And one addition i do like, but wont be to many peoples tastes, but is certainly mine

Not expecting that to be liked, thats very much a 'me' thing:rasp:

Next step, dropping it in over the weekend and start wiring it up

 

[f0xy]

Engine looks tidy!

LOL at the sunstrip!!

 

[wookie]

Just incase anybody thought id given up, thought id do abit of an update.

Got the engine and box in when i had 5 mins to spare

Got as far as taping up the sensor loom so all that fits neatly (ish) and clutch cable, gear linkage etc, then the dark and cold got the better of me.
Then i left it as the weathers been rubbish lately, and as always busy with other things etc, but spent some time on it today, getting the inlet manifold on, which is a pain is the arse with big paws! Getting the samco's on, bit of electrics sorted and got the coil mount all made up...,i have mounted it off the strut brace as it seamed the most sensible place to put it, and used ht leads off the last of the cvh:dead: engined escorts, which all goes together a treat though excuse the missing paint on the sides of the mount, i couldnt be bothered to wait for it to dry!!

Still looks abit messy but not finished putting everything where it needs to go yet, and the next big job is to sort out the engine mounts...,the group a cars apparantly used a mount off the front of the box which i 'think' the 172 uses anyway, altho not 100% on that as seen the same mount on a renault 19 rebuild thread, either way not hard to make...,the other is to modify the top mount, which is rubbish! going to fit a pair of 'buffers' in like on a 205, which should stop it fron moving around like it does.

Had a parcel arrive with my new front brakes in it...

K-tec big disc kit, cant say im very impressed with K-tec racing, altho at least they managed to get my order correct of plain discs and no pads..., as i have these to go in

Ds3000's as i killed 2500's in a year of road rallys, this should hopefully do me for the time being...,hopefully!

Also had a nice parcel arrive last week for my escort, a Tong Law exhaust manifold

Very happy with that!

And got to my dads one night to find 4 large boxes which contained these

Proper 6.75x15 group a speedlines...,unfortunatly for a 205 and not a clio lol to be used as wets as we use 8x15's in the dry, now just need to find out if they go over the brakes!!

Anyway, hope the pics are liked by all.

 

[wookie]

Thought id bring this back from the dead.....,had a break in the weather today so i could do alittle more.

Decided to make up a front gearbox mount as per what i think 172's have, using a 205 rear subframe mount bush, this is what i came up with...

Then a quick lick of paint

Then fitted in its new home

Then set about 'fixing' the top mount, decided to do this by making 'buffers' like a 205 has as standard, and found that some exhaust mounts off a Merc minibus were perfect

Everything else is back together on the car so waiting on a 48 pin bulkhead connector plug to arrive on Tuesday, then can make up the engine loom for the Emerald ecu, and if it runs on a base map i have, its off to be mapped...,hopefully by the 27th as thats the last road rally of the year and would be used to show up any problems before next years championship starts....,well thats the plan anyway!!

Cheers.

 

[f0xy]

Good work on the mount!! looks better than the proper '4th mount' item!

 

[Bluebeard]

AWESOME!!!

Loving the mount mods, should sort out Renaults cheese efforts no problem!

 

[wookie]

Cheers

I honestly couldnt believe how badly the engine moves around even on all new mounts, it was awfull! Now the engine is mounted nice and firmly so hopefully will feel better than before, but i still have the option of making a mount on the drivers side like foxy has done if i need to.

 

[16v_paddy]

Good work on the mount!! looks better than the proper '4th mount' item!

Couldn't agree more :approve:

How exactly did you do that top engine mount? I want to do that to mine as I refuse to pay the stupid money K-tec want for the uprated mount

 

[Mark One]

really top work with the subframe mount, really impressed with that.

 

[Sargara]

Just read the whole of this from the start. Awesome write up and much respect for the amount of work you have put into doing this properly.

I just wish i had the know how and the tools to be able to do the same.

 

[Luker1990]

This is looking awesome! I wish i had the money to build one car...let alone 2! Fair play to you tho!

 

[k16v]

man that clio is sweet. fair play best off luck man

 

[wookie]

Couldn't agree more :approve:

How exactly did you do that top engine mount? I want to do that to mine as I refuse to pay the stupid money K-tec want for the uprated mount

I looked at the K-tec mounts and thought 'ideal' untill i saw the price, sod that for a bag of chips!!

The top mount was easy, i get some bobbin types exhaust mounts from work, basicaly round rubber mounts with an m10 stud sticking out of each side, i hacked one stud off each one, drilled a hole in each side of the bracket which the power steering bottle (dont know how to spell resiviour lol) sits on, levered the mount back and dropped them in each side, then a nut on each and bobs your uncle, couldnt be simpler and looks and feels like it should work a treat, and if you want it alittle tighter can pack the 'buffers' out with washers, so technically an adjustable engine mount...,if you want to be a geek:clown:

I have been trying to find where i can get nylon over braid to run my engine loom inside of, and had no luck at all, then today was talking to my navigator Raa and it suddenly dawned on me that he makes wiring looms for a living, and uses the stuff every day, so hopefully i will be using it after all i really can be quite slow sometimes!!

Cheers for all the comments on the mount, came out really nicely and was very easy to make, tho managed to set my workmate on fire, i love welding hehe.

 

[16v_paddy]

The top mount was easy, i get some bobbin types exhaust mounts from work, basicaly round rubber mounts with an m10 stud sticking out of each side

Any chance you can grab a couple more & stick them in the post? or point me in the right direction to get some?

 

[wookie]

I should be able to put my hands on another couple, ill see what i can do

Got a couple more pics of where i have routed the fuel lines, not very excieting i must admit lol

As said im hoping the bulkhead plug arrives tomorrow, then the joy of wiring can start...,im working on the fact that my dad made a complete new car loom for his red 205 which works perfectly...,and he is colour blind!! so fingers crossed i can manage it lol.

Got alittle more done to the escort making sure everything fits and is mocked up before the inside and engine bay is painted etc...,so some pics for the sake of it....

Chopped out another section on the front panel and moved it 15mm over and then blanked it off again so the rad i sourced fits, which is now does a treat...

Got rather a nice amount of room between the rad and the engine now

And sat my 45's on again just for measuring up etc, i want to work out where everything goes exactly before its painted but sods law id have forgotten something...,still got lots to neaten up and finish off the details but its coming together nicely

With some more of my sexy manifold thrown in for good measure

As always hope the pics are enjoyed by all.

 

[f0xy]

Looks great. What loom plug are you going to be using?

 

[wookie]

I cant remember the name of it, its basicaly like a militery style bulkhead plug. If it arrives tomorrow ill post up some pics as my descriptions arnt wonderfull. It cost £59 for both sides of the plug and all the pins etc, which is prob alot for what it is, but i want it to be as reliable as possible so think its worth it...,can you tell i hate wiring??

 

[f0xy]

Heh. Ive been looking at those style, drill large hole then you have two sides that can be removed if need be for when I rewire over winter.... £59 sounds like an OK price to be honest!

How many pins does it have? Pics would be good whenever it shows up

 

[wookie]

I bought the 48 pin version, as that should give me all the pins i need, i will only be running injectors,tps.cps,coil inlet temp sensor and maybe the lambda through it so should be fine...,tho if i have enough left over i will be running the spot lamp wiring through it also to neaten it up from what it is now, which would be good as bigger spots are on their way very soon also.

Will indeed get the pics up as soon as it lands.

 

[f0xy]

Ah awesome, so they do smaller ones with less pins too im guessing? Im going standalone over winter, so want to run my ECU internally on a plug like this just for the engine/sensor functions..

 

[wookie]

They do...,theres a 30 pin plug im sure, i havent taken the time to work out exactly how many pins i will need, so bought the biggest one lol. All the sensors for the dash i un-picked from the original engine loom which is what i assume you have done, and just put it back in rather smaller than it was.

 

[Whiteley]

That front gearbox mount looks spot on, good work. Self taught at welding? I really want to get myself a mig welder of some description and get stuck in. Practice x lots.

 

[Mark One]

Escort is so so cool. Nice work

That front gearbox mount looks spot on, good work. Self taught at welding? I really want to get myself a mig welder of some description and get stuck in. Practice x lots.

clarke 151TE mate, that's what I'm after next. With gas conversion, the mini-mig bottles are as good as useless.

 

[wookie]

I have a little clarke welder, with a nozzle that welds itself to anything it wants to if your too close to it, and the little bottles that last 5 mins lol, a good welder would be nice but untill this one gives up im not going to worry about it.

Yes self taught, its all about practice, the more you do the better.

 

[stew_punk]

looks like a great project mate.

wish i had a mig at home, altho i use a murex 260-1 at work for all my fabrication work.

was wondering the idea behind the stop-start technique u have been using, will the welder not go to a low enough power setting to allow a continuall weld pool to be formed?

looks very tidy anyway, and will cut down on heat distortion i guess.

lookin forward to seein more updates.

 

[16v_paddy]

I should be able to put my hands on another couple, ill see what i can do

cheers

Much better where you've routed the fuel lines, oh and the manifold on the esky is a bit shexy to say the least

 

[wookie]

I use the stop start technique as its the one that works best for me, and you dont get so much heat distortion as you say, nothing i have ever welded has failed so i will just assume my welding is good enough lol.

Recieved the bulkhead connector today so will post up some pics in a sec....

 

[wookie]

Pictures of my sexy bulkhead plug, certainly neater than using a gromet i reakon.

Sorry about the quality of pics yet again, using my phone as always.

Sorted out all the plugs and wiring for the engine bay this evening till i got too cold, so can start wiring up this weekend

 

[f0xy]

Looks spot on! Cheers for the pics

 

[wookie]

If i can remember where i found them, ill post up the link...,but thats a job for tomorrow, now its bedtime lol.

 

[f0xy]

Did you remember where the connector was from?

 

[wookie]

I did sorry, my memory is pathetic!

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=273-5360

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=273-5382

those are the 2 halves of the plug, and the sockets and pins arnt far away on the site either...,i have since found out we use RS in work so could have got them trade lol, nevermind.

Not wired mine yet as i have been stupid busy and need to make a new centre console with everything in a better arranged place so i can mount the ecu there also.