GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

So I finished fully stripping Fly - it hasn't been this far back to a shell since 1993!



Just before Fly went down to James, I got on with welding the kick panels, bulkhead (inside and out), screen pillars, transmission tunnel (cracks around the gearstick hole).
In the engine bay, I welded up some obsolete holes and cut out the wiring hole, turned it upside down and welded it back on. This should lower the wiring loom and make it come through the bulkhead underneath the air box - it was a bit tight before.





Quite a bit of welding on the rear panel, around the rear screen and where the quarter panel joins the bottom of the rear screen on one side.
I've modified the new inner front panel to match the old one - cut out for the rad, holes for the oil cooler and air flow to the air box.



The driver's door also needed work on the front and rear corners, and there were cracks where the frame joins the door skin at the front.
On both doors, the hinge pins were loose - after 3 days of soaking in oil, I knocked the pins out with a variety of punches and a large hammer! Not sure how to fix the loose hinges, I found some 3/8" x 16swg stainless tube on eBay, which works out to 8.1mm ID and 9.5mm OD. I drilled out the worn hinge parts on the doors to 9.5mm, knocked a small piece of tube in and bolted them up with M8 x 75mm Allen Bolts and nylocs. This has eliminated the play in the hinges, and I readjusted the doors to line up with the rear quarters. It should make it easier for James to line up the front wings when that part is completed, and will make the doors easier to remove in the future
It is also repeatable - when the tube wears, I can just fit another bit

[onecamohv]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

wow she has seen some work Gavin! dare i say is it not time for a reshell?
Fair play for sticking with it though, you've alot of fabrication ahead looking forward to the updates

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

I've had a spare standard shell for years, but would rather keep that as a spare until I really need it!

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

I collected Fly from James yesterday - here are pics of the work he did

Loading onto the jig


Front end is a bit twisted


Driver's side was 15mm up and passenger side 10mm


Cut everything off


A bit of a mess where the bonnet hinges meet the inner wings and other panels - one of the resons I knew it needed doing was trouble welding to rust here!


New chassis rail clamped into position. These came from Motorsport tools and are folded and welded instead of being pressed. All the bolt holes are in the right place, but the holes for the jig mounts were too low, so James had to pack his brackets up to make everything level. The tubes for the cross member are threaded to take the standard 3/8" UNF bolts.
And they supplied me Mk1 legs instead of Mk2, the only difference being the bumper iron reinforcements so I didn't bother getting them changed.




Removing the old rails showed how much the floor had been patched before. James took the sensible decision to cut it out and replace with thick steel plates so there was something solid to weld the new rails to.




Although the new inner wings came built up, they were just spot welded as a standard car would be, so James stitch and seam welded them for extra strength




The chassis rail and inner wing didn't quite meet, but another plate and all was well


One side done


And the other - a standard front panel used to align everything. My inner front panel had twisted when I'd modified it for the radiator.


Nearly there


All back together and ready to come home. James added some primer over the welds before I collected her.


So back to me for some quick welding on the rear chassis, then hopefully she's being painted in August
Many thanks to James for his hard work over the last 2 weeks

[Graham]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

triggers broom but i love it

[headbolt]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

good to see the old girl getting another lease of life should be good for a few years now

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Onto the back end...

Dan Stone lent me a spit so I mounted Fly on it, after reinforcing the bumper mounts



It seemed very top heavy and I wasn't convinced there was enough clearance to go upside down, so I made some 5" drop plates and now it's a lot better balanced and will turn a complete 360 without too much effort





Chopped out a large section of rear chassis and floor, from in front of the spring hanger up to the turret, and also for the silencer tunnel



"New" floor, chassis section, skid plates and silencer tunnel welded in, and also another small section behind the axle



Inside needs a bit of finishing off - original red paint gives a clue that the chassis section came from a 4 door I chopped up in 2007 !



Next week I've just got to do the same to the other side

[mexicotait]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Good progress gavin
Are you aiming for any event or not set a deadline?



Im staying with friends in Carno this weekend and going to sample my first bit of proper Welsh Road rallying

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Hope you enjoyed watching the Barcud

I've entered a Targa in Suffolk on 24th Sept and also need her ready for the Exmoor Targa Rally on 7th October - I'm Clerk of the Course for the 3rd year and always go round as Car Zero to "wake up the marshals" and "check the bogey times" I have a back up plan for both events if I don't get her finished in time!

Onto the other side - cut away the floor and chassis section



Replacement section in place - not quite long enough!



Next 18" needed replacing as well due to big cracks and past repairs - when I removed it I found it was full of mud contributing to it going rusty!



Section finished with skids



And more repairs around the panhard rod and added a notch above the axle to match the other side



After refitting the suspension, etc, she went to the paint shop this morning - there's a chap who has a unit with a paint booth in the same complex as mine so I thought I'd give him a go, and he says he'll get her done in a week

[mexicotait]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Good new making good progress



The barcud was unreal
Couldn't believe the pace of the top boys and the amount of people out spectating


And the amount of mk2s out as well!!!

[onecamohv]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

looking good Gavin! making some great progress

what would be the best event to pop over to wales and spectate on, from an escort point of view chaps?

[stone4dr]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

looking good Gavin! making some great progress

what would be the best event to pop over to wales and spectate on, from an escort point of view chaps?

Cilwendeg.

[mexicotait]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

https://youtu.be/0vfS11YSY2Y

Watch this onecam

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

The paint was done in a week and a day, but as I was out on the Mewla in DVY, it was a few weeks until I could start putting her back together.
Firstly, I finished welding inside, patching the floors above the chassis rails and also the A pillars on the inside.
Once done, I painted the footwells in a good coat of Chassis Black before running out of paint when I went to do the rest of the floor!



Then I collected the engine from HT a couple of weeks ago, complete with a skeleton flywheel, a fresh head as Ron found a crack between the valves on No 2 cylinder (he showed me the old head and even I could see the crack!!!), steel rods and forged pistons to raise the compression, their usual bike plug conversion, but still the same HT1 cam, valves, block and crank. He also tuned it on the dyno so it saved me time having to run her in. Got a bit more power now and plenty of torque





I booked a week off this week to finish her off and she went through the MOT this afternoon. A few jobs left to do then a shakedown on a Targa Rally on Sunday...





Had a quick test drive tonight and she's going well

[mexicotait]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Looks great


The engine looks smart too