And now for something completely different, Rover Sd1 Stage rally car

[Wicked]

Nice outdoor projeckt And I was whining about that I dont have a good garage

[Sunbmw]

Well, on Monday, we were super slack at work, so I opted to have a couple of days off, to get some more done, and my god, what a good couple of days it was, super productive again.................

Actually, it started on Sunday when I went to an SD1 club event called "Spares day", where you take your old crap and see if it is of any use to fellow owners, and managed to sell some bits, but more importantly, I "happened" upon a dry sump pan and front cover for the V8, something that I hadn't envisaged buying yet, but boy has it dome me a favour, with that, I could now sort out the engine mounts, I am chassis mounting the motor, so I had bought an XE kit from Motorsport tools, and adapted that..................

Dry sump pan..........





Engine in place, measured up as to where she needs to be.........



Chassis brackets tacked in place...........





Tubes tacked to the original mountings, which I have modified and cut down.........







Tried the heads and covers on to check for clutch cylider clearance, by the way, this has moved the engine back 3 inches, and down 2 inches............







Then take her all out and weld em up properly!



A bit of a gap to fill on this un............



This one was better though.........



Chassis mounts..........Done!



So, after breaakfast I did the pedal box...............

Bias adjuster on original pedal...........





Plate for cylinders on pedal box, to match the one I had already done in the shell ages ago..........




So then, the shell is just about ready now, few little jobs but for all intents and purpose, ready to dip and paint.

I am Soooooooooooo glad that I went on to "Evo 2" with the shell, I would have been dissapointed with myself had I left it as it was when I first painted it with the standard axle etc.

Watch this space.........................

[MK1_Oz]

i am really enjoying this thread!!!! Great work.

[northeee]

looking great its going to be a beast. back in the day must have been round 1988 went to a rally day in my mates mexico to donington park and was driven round a rally stage by russell brookes in an SD1 great times.

[MK1_Oz]

...driven round a rally stage by russell brookes in an SD1 great times.

<<<<<<<jeleous!!!!! I used to like watching that little fella.

[cuttsy224]

love to see something different being done, i know where a rover Van Plas is sat on a ex council estate drive rotting slightly if someones interested PM me.

[Sunbmw]

I might be interested Cuttsy, if she's cheap!

Quick update fellas, made a start on getting all the bits prepped ready to bolt back on the shell, when I eventually get her painted. Firstly, last bit of shell work, the tstrut tops needed a bit of strength and adjustability.................









Then, painted all my suspension components ready......................


Nice thick coat of super etch..........





Then some two pack black.............







And some yellow for the struts.............



Also, bought a pair of TVR manifolds as I may go down the route of bringing the manifolds forward then down as they do in the Griffith/Chimera................





Nice thick coat of super etch..........

[MK1_Oz]

Keep it up. Looking fantastic.

[MK1_Oz]

So what's happening???? You have gone a little quiet......have been enjoying this build!!

[Rich_309]

Have you seen this?

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/...p/carno/141599

Oh and what colour grey did you use to paint the wishbones please?

[Sunbmw]

Hi all, yep, I am still alive!

Sorry for the distinct lack of updates, but time and money are in very short supply at the minute, so progress is slow. Add to that, the final building of the Zakspeed Escort we are taking to Lituania next week and you can see that the Rover has been playing second fiddle........................

However, I have got some bits done, I decided that dipping was too costly, so went back to basics and bare metalled the inside and engine bay by and, no mean task, but now I have some primer back on her, I can go away in the knowledge that she won't be a big pile of ferrous oxide when I get back!

Some pics as ever..............

Bare metal..........







Then some "Super etch"............









I also managed to get the bonnet and tailgate painted, fiat Azzuro blue thankyou very much, really pleased too!





The fibreglass tailgate is moulded from an S1 tailgate, but it has a Vitesse spoiler attached, I was concerened that it would look daft, but I think it looks fine............



I al;so managed to source from the US, two sets of proper "NAS" quad lamps that were fitted to all the cars that were exported to America, and the works rally cars used these too,











A nice thick coat of my favorite product, Super etch..........



Then an equally thick coat of Grey hi-build.............





Then a damn good flatting with some fine W&D, then some lovely white 2-pack.........







The pics don't really do em justice, really pleased with the finish.

So I then got looking at buyng some lamp units, as the ones that came with the lamps were LHD, "Dip to the right" type, thhen in a flash of inspiration, I remembered buying some lamps, and hey presto, they are nice Hella units in very nice nick, result. Just need to clean all the rings and paint the adjuster plates up and we will be nearly there.............

I say nearly as I have a small problem. The NAS lamps have a plastic cover over them, which is Chromed, and this has peeled off in a few places. Does anyone know if it is possible, and if anyone does such a process to get plastic re-chromed? We have a place that literally backs onto our work that does this process, but to new plastic, and I have yet to go and see them, but I will be interested to see if it is possible to have them re-chromed or not. If not, they will just have to be painted white I guess, but I would have liked them to look original.

I'll keep you up to date.................[]

[Sunbmw]

Have you seen this?

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/...p/carno/141599

Oh and what colour grey did you use to paint the wishbones please?

Hi Rich, the wishbones are jet black, but the flash on me camera makes them look grey. I have seen that yellow car, and for a rolling shell I reckon it's too much money, unfortunately, no matter what folks spend on them , the SD1 just cannot seem to demand strong money.

[MK1_Oz]

I was being followed to work a few days ago by an SD1 and thought of this project. I also thought how cool it would be to prep a full noise tarmac rally version here in Oz.....then I nearly hit another car and thought I had better start concentrating again

Nice work. The fibreglass tailgate makes a big difference weight wise IIRC.

[exboyracer]

Glad to see work continuing on this

[Stringpants]

Its coming on.....dont leave us too long before more pics...you know how we love pics...

Russ.

[RS2KPETE]

wow !!

[Sunbmw]

Howdy.............

Well, it must be a bordom thing, well, actually it isn't, it's about doing the job right first time.............

I'll explain, there is no easy way to put it, I have been chopping the shell about again, thing is, when rallying any car, ground clearance is always an issue, so it is always prudent to get everything up out of the way, none moreso than the exhaust, and with the larger axle and things, there isn't many places for a good sized silencer box, so............

The concave bit where the rear seat squab would normally sit (which I had already been modified for my 4 link suspension), I have now removed altogether and that is where the silencer will sit. Onto the silencer, I have sourced, very cheaply off ebay, a TVR T350 rear box which is very sexy, but will need some modification, but I reckon it'll work a treat. Also while I had the welder out I revisited some repairs that I wasn't altogether happy with.

Pics as ever........

How it was.............



removed and half the strengthener I have made...



Full x-brace made to return the strength, I will probably panel this off in aliminium to save weight.......



Here is the silencer offered up, like I say, lots of modifying will be needed...............





I also scalloped out the floor to allow for the left hand pipe to enter.........







Maybe now I can get some paint on the inside!!!!!!!!!!!

[MK1_Oz]

im not seeing these last pics??????????? and I WANNA!!!!!

[rwd2ltrfiesta]

cant c the pixs mate

[Sunbmw]

Right, I am gonna have another go at them pics, seeing as something was acting the goat last time, so...........

Started with the floor looking like this where I had added 4 link boxes...............



Then chopped all that out, and added some strength with an "X" brace...........





That will now be panelled out with alloy sheet for lightness and so I can access the exhaust, which is here...........



Ultimately, this will have to be modified, but not a bad starting point..............



So then, I just had to modify the floor to accomodate the pipes...........







And so, in the meantime, erm, I went and bought another! Rolling shell, but some bits on it I need, and I have sold some bits on and got me money back.............



Really good shell again, so this may be the spare shell/car..............



And I am hoping that this weekend, I am collecting some quad IDF's for her.....

[Sunbmw]

It seems that the picture issue is still active......................sorry guys but I have no clue what I am doing wrong?

[RS2KPETE]

pics are ok to me

[Sonus]

Does this work?

EDIT: No, can only see the pics of exhaust and parts car

[exboyracer]

There is an issue with linking photos from external sites on here at the moment, better to use turbosport's own uploader.

[RS2KPETE]

now they have gone????? the TS uploader makes things slow when viewing for me

[POO SLINGER]

i got a set of quad drla's in the garage, i wonder what they are like to drive with?

[Stringpants]

I wanna hear this roar

Russ

[Sunbmw]

Hi all, been hard at doing the axle this week, so, started with a 4HA from a Jag Mk2, which is still not wide enough for the Rover, I need an axle at 60" wide, so removed the tubes and cleaned the pigs head up (no pics of this, sorry), then, buy some proper tubing, this is 63.5mm CDS with a 7.94mm wall......................



THen cut it and machine the ends, one end 62.8 to sweat fit into the pigs head..............



the other end 60mm to sweat fit again, some Atlas stub axles I have had for a while..............



And two spares for anopther casing I am intending to build.................



Stub axle sweated on..............



Gently heating the pigs head.............



All assembled...........





Then plug weld the holes to hold the tubes tight............





Then plug, and weld the edges of the stubs.............



Where we are at so far, brackets this week, then price the hardware up from Tom at Fostek, i.e, hubs bearings etc..........

[caprimentle]

i really really love your work

[exboyracer]

Cool work re-tubing that axle

[Sunbmw]

In a moment of extremely silly laziness, I had contemplated using hard earned cash to buy some 4 link axle brackets, then the reality fairy had a word in my ear, and told me that the budget is sooooo tight, so I did the decent thing, as I should have done all along and made some...........

Just got to make the front and back plates, but the brackets are made.........










I should get the actual casing all finished, then blasted and painted in the next week or so, then I need to save my pennies to buy the rest of the gear....................

[boddx]

Nice!
Last time I saw one of these it was being driven by Tony Pond.
Top work fella
p.s any chance of a pic of the Zakspeed?

[MK1_Oz]

Any issues with the tubes bending when you welded the brackets on???? I know mine had to be re-straightened afterwards.

[caprimentle]

thats very nice welding, you do that on the bench or did you slowly rotate the axle over a couple of trestles?

[Sunbmw]

Caprimentle, just done on the bench buddy, I guess I have just got a steady hand!

Mk1OZ, I would like to hope that the tubes haven't bent, they are mightily thick!

Boddx, Thanks. I like to be different.

Here are a couple of pics of the Escort we built, 2.4 Duratec, Tractive, Atlas at the rear, proper Bilstien from the guy who originall designed the suspension for the original Zakspeed Escorts. Unfortunately, the car hasn't had the impact we thought, the pics are from Kaunas where we did a days testing, and at the race in Palanga, we only did half a practice session and the new engine let go in a monumental style.

Next race in Riga, Latvia, my best mate, and the quicker driver of the three (One Dad and two sons), he stuffed it into a concrete block in practice!

[Sunbmw]

Axle brackets finished today, and I have made the shock mounts but not had chance to finish them. Hopefully stay at work an hour tomorrow night and get them done, then I can blast, paint and store the axle safely away until I can get the hubs etc sorted........................







Yesterday afternoon, had a 250mile round trip to fetch these beauties.......................



Hell yeah!

[Roadsport]

Really like the way you re tubed that axle!!! Brilliant! Absolutely well done!!!!

[Sunbmw]

Well I hope I am not boring you guys with this axle business, but it's just about the only thig happening at the min, so, anyway, the casing is now finished, so, as before, I now need to get some cash together to get some hubs and shafts etc.

Pics as ever................

Shock mounts done, to remind you, I am using twin rear shockers, so hence the shape of the brackets.........



Completed item.............





So, I had a spare 5 minutes, so I decided to knock up an axle brace.................

Start with a slab of 8mm duralumin..............



Attack with the Plasma...................





Then draw around the gasket and freehand the hole out................







Axle brace.............done! (well, not quite, I need to get some clamps made as Atlas ones won't be suitable).

So with the other spare three minutes, I mad a start on the spare axle casing, same as before, cut out the plug welds with the Plasma, press out the tubes and in with the new 'un's, Simples.............

And then there was two!



Just fitted the brace up to have a look-see.............



Thats it for now folks, but there should be some major developement this week, watch this space!

[Paul C]

Not at all boring keep the updates coming. Its nice to see something different.

The father & sons team, have they got a pair of rally mk1's with BDA's/ BDG's in them?

[caprimentle]

loving this, not boring what so ever, keep it coming