My MK2 Rally car

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

It was around this time that i knew who to call about fitting a new weld in cage. As a sponsor of Turbosport i thought he must be a good guy so i booked it in, and now i just had to wait.

Eventually the time came and i towed it up to Gary at Retro Motorsport in Harlow (01279 452799 http://www.retromotorsport.co.uk/ ) Once i was there we disscussed what work needed to be done, and i left it with Gary in his capable hands.

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

So before Gary started prepping and cutting and grinding, it looked like this:-

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car





















Theres some thick old welds on there, and under the plate holes for the captive nuts.. and some rot... nothing for it really but to cut out the rot ..repair the missing chassis edge and let a new pice of floor in ..












I tried resizing the pics but i had no luck, so sorry about that!

In a nut shell, it had some rust, lots of weld on weld, and manky black paint.

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car





Where the bolt in cage had been in the car, underneath the captive bolts water had sat and consequently it needed cutting out and some fresh metal welding in.

Part of the disscussions i had with Gary was to replace the tunnels through the car. I always intended to replace the gearbox tunnel, as i think the car has has several types of boxes in its life, so it had been modified several times and had lots of plates on it.

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car



A new diff tunnel

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Next up was some swages




Then the start of the cage installation



In this pic above you can see where the old bolt in cage was fitted to the rear tub. Gary has cut out the original cage mount plate, and welded in so new fresh metal.




Some gussets were installed next





After the rear "we" moved onto the front end of the car, the dash bar, and the gearbox tunnel.

Out with the old



and in with the new



In the above picture you can make out the front cage mount feet which, for some reason i quite like

So as "we" had replaced the diff tunnel and the gearbox tunnel, it made sense to replace the prop tunnel. Theres no point doing half a job

I always wanted to have an exhaust tunnel as my exhaust had hit the floor pan so many times, that it was starting to rip through it.

I think this is my favourite photo of the fabrication work that Gary has created for me.

In the bottom left hand corner you can see a 3" ish hole which was needed so that the bars in the footwell can be welded all the way round.



I think thats enough for tonight. Not very good with words but lets face it pictures are much better

[PaulAlex]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Paul - that looks soooooo much better!!

I want to know how you all persuade Gary to do stuff like that to your cars, and when I mention anything I get "sell that one and we'll do a proper shell from scratch"

Quality work again Gary - looks like you've bought another one back from the brink....

[Gravel Mad]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

quality job !!

[Dan]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

lovely stuff another one to watch

[jonboy]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Another outstanding job from Gary !

Can he supply and fabricated parts like the tunnels etc ..

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Paul - that looks soooooo much better!!

I want to know how you all persuade Gary to do stuff like that to your cars, and when I mention anything I get "sell that one and we'll do a proper shell from scratch"

Thanks Paul. Oh we did have that conversation but i think as we had a mahoosive hole in the floor it was all a little too late to "sell it and build a proper shell"!!

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

A few more pictures tonight of Garys expertise








I picked it up from Gary on ssaturday, and i managed to drop it into the paint shop on Sunday.

I popped in on the way home to see how it was all going, but i was too late. I've heard that the shell is in primer and tomorrow they are painting the inside

Any guess's on what colour though

Paul

[PERKY]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Some nice work there, good to see another mk2 rally car given a new lease of life.
Keep the updates coming.

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

On saturday i dropped into the body shop to see how it was progressing









Not the best of the pics but i should be picking it up this saturday.

[alladdin]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

white ? looks pepermint on my screen

loverly job by retro as usual