Nath's RB track car build

[nath&alex]

Time for another quick update

I've been busy refurbishing brake components, so you saw the front caliper carriers above. They went from that to this

And then to this

Next up was the front calipers themselves, they went from this

To this

Then to finally this (well needs some more paint!!)

I have the bigg red kits have come for front and rear now, so it'll be a matter of building them up once painted.

Dropped off my gearbox with Mark for a refresh, got to see the fresh built cup in the flesh again!! No passenger ride yet though 🙈

I dropped my spare rear beam of at my mates the other day to install the PMS strengthening kit. Got some pictures through today, its not quite finished as there is still the bearing kit and damper strengthening to fit. Then it's off for blasting and powder coating

I have aquablasted a few more of the aluminium bits ready for powder coating. Just need to think about a colour scheme!!

Thanks for looking :up:

 

[partybish]

Just read your thread, good work so far. I couldn't quite figure out why you scrapped the sunflower shell though, if it was a cat C/D was it bent out of shape?

 

[nath&alex]

Just read your thread, good work so far. I couldn't quite figure out why you scrapped the sunflower shell though, if it was a cat C/D was it bent out of shape?

Hi @partybish

To be honest the more and more I took off the sunflower the worse it looked so I cut my losses. ?

To be honest this thread is well overdue for an update, plans have changed somewhat from my last update

But thanks for looking ?

I’m sure @NorthloopCup wopl have something to say

 

[NorthloopCup]

Hi @partybish

To be honest the more and more I took off the sunflower the worse it looked so I cut my losses. ?

To be honest this thread is well overdue for an update, plans have changed somewhat from my last update

But thanks for looking ?

I’m sure @NorthloopCup wopl have something to say

There’s nothing to update?! Flol!!

 

[nath&alex]

Well there is plenty has happened and plans have changed in two years. I have changed jobs at work and I have been catching up on 11 years worth of diy jobs!!

Anyway to bring things up to date...

Had my gearbox rebuilt with a Quaife diff by a certain someone ?

Got some seats

Changed my plans on suspension... So I had to get the extra PMS plates added to the rear beam

Played around with some looms

 

[nath&alex]

Got a new dog bone made to put my series black bushes in

Bought some more stuff

 

[NorthloopCup]

I recognise that gearbox, the seats and the Ast’s!! ?

 

[NorthloopCup]

f**k me I recognise that radiator as well!! Flol

 

[nath&alex]

Started my strip of the RB in anger, did the customary tar patch removal. Removed the dash, steering rack and pedal box

It’s certainly changed a lot since this photo

 

[nath&alex]

The more I strip the more I see YK54VFC has secrets from its past.

It would seem at some point its had a rear end bump. Thanks a F**king bunch the previous owner who got this repaired poorly ?

Anyway nothing that can’t be sorted with some genuine Renault parts and a good bodyshop!!

 

[nath&alex]

I dropped off the rear beam off the RB to allow removal of the fuel tank. I plan to remove the rear beam brackets to get the powder coated.

I then made a start on removing some of the bracketry that was surplus to requirements

I also removed the bootlid to install my CM composites bootlid and placed the spoiler on to see what it looked like

That brings us up to date, not too much more to do and it’s off to the bodyshop for some new panels to sort out the bodged rear end repair. Then it’s of for the roll cage and seat rails to the current FIA/MSA standards ?

 

[nath&alex]

Had a spare hour last night so I got my trusty heat gun out to remove the tar patch on the boot floor

All the tar patches I’ve collected so far

All gone!!

And cleaned off

Had a look at the last two in the rear quarter where the seat belt reels were. These seem a little tight and awkward, has anybody got any advice?

 

[nath&alex]

So since @NorthloopCup took me for some hilarious laps round Donnington with a view to spurring me on to finish my project.

I thought I better have a go getting some bits done on the RB today....

However it wasn’t the best day to be working as even though the RB is empty and now has no quarter windows or a rear screen it was like a greenhouse ?

So I made a start removing some of the redundant bracketry, I started with the passenger seat rails

Got the first one off and managed to drill through the floor ? We’ll have to fix that later ?

Then the other one came off fairly easily with a little extra help from my dremel

I then got a bit giddy and removed the footrest and the bracket that comes off it for the dash support

All gone ?

Then I removed the remaining rear seat bottom brackets fuelled by Carling at this point!!

I then had a go at the rear seat back lower bracket on the drivers side, but by this time I’d been messing about for about 5/6 hours and got a bit bored. So I’ll have to finish that later!!

All tidied up

 

[nath&alex]

I’ve made a list of what brackets are left to remove from the interior

 

[nath&alex]

Well progress was hampered somewhat last week by me being away from home on a course.

So had an hour on it on Saturday evening before the noise police ?‍♀️ came out and told me it was too late to be making this much noise ?

On the Sunday I managed to get another 3/4 hour on it before the noise police ?‍♀️ came out again ? As can be seen good progress being made with front and rear drivers seat rails

Got chance to sneak another hour tonight and managed to finish removing the drivers seat rails. Then made a start on the plate in the drivers footwell, it’s certainly a thicker plate than the others!!

It a small amount of progress, but progress is progress ? Another Job ticked off the list

 

[NorthloopCup]

That plate in the drivers footwell is there to save your ankles from being snapped in a crash. My advice is don’t crash. Lol!!

 

[nath&alex]

A quick sneak in the garage this evening. Rather than working on the shell, as plans have change due to many discussions with @NorthloopCup I thought I’d do a bit of block dismantling.

The head was already off so I stripped off the remaining sensors

I then set about removing the unrequired pistons and rods. But kept my ARP rods bolts which I had fitted previously

I then set about loosening all the main bearing cap bolts ready for removal

Not much left to remove/dismantle and the block is ready for its long journey for a serious fettling ?? More on that later....

 

[scullyg40]

Do you know the weight saving of the brackets removed? And the weigth of the original boot lid, and the fibreglas one?

 

[nath&alex]

Do you know the weight saving of the brackets removed? And the weigth of the original boot lid, and the fibreglas one?

Tbh mate I think these figures are well documented on the site. However once I have removed all the brackets I am taking off I will weigh them. If I get chance I’ll weigh the old bootlid.

The GRP bootlid on its own with no screen or spoiler is ~4kgs

 

[haimsey]

What size spinner is the oil pressure switch? Not sure if mine a copy part or I’m just being a spaz but I’m sure nothing in my tool box fits lol

 

[nath&alex]

What size spinner is the oil pressure switch? Not sure if mine a copy part or I’m just being a spaz but I’m sure nothing in my tool box fits lol

@haimsey mine is genuine Renault item and the spanner or deep socket size required is 22mm