My Projects thread

[staggy_gsi]

Nick, whats your idea of 'soon'? Lol you have everyone in suspense here!!

[LEWI007]

^ +1

[Nick J]

Sorry guys I've been very busy of late.......... When I get chance I will take a few pics and update a little further.

Nick.

[Spudly]

And can i just add, i know from personal experience, that twenty people saying 'bump' or 'any updates' or just needling the OP for LOLs and rofls, isnt particularly amusing after the first few have done it, you come back to your thread to find two more pages of people asking the same thing, just with a a few different smileys on their post each time!

So can we calm down guys, i removed my wip thread at one point because of this as it makes you not want to update it!

Im sure Nick has some new enthusiasm after last weekend when i took him and Joe for a little squirt in my xe, so be patient peeps

[Benn]

Nick, send me the pics and i'll update for you..

[matthew172]

im getting angry now

[Rickyb]

ive just (well friday to now) read the whole of this thread and i must say you are absolutly awsome at what you do these cars are an utter credit to you and i hope you dont sell this mk1 its awsome.
rick

[matthew172]

think he must have already sold it as no updates, he probs bought a rover

[Nick J]

Hi guys,

My apologies Its been a while but Ive either been really busy or the weathers been too poor to take photos of what little I had achieved! I started a new job a while back which has kept me busy 7 days some weeks so nova time has been little to none for months! The purchase of a new daily also severely zapped project funds too but I am a little further on with the project so I'll update with what I have. After trial fitting the last Gaz suspension kit I bought we realised the kit wouldnt run as low as Id like without practically running on the bump stops. So after speaking with a few who run the Gaz short bodied ultra low kit with higher poundage 9" springs and hearing how much nicer they ride I made the decision to speak to Gaz direct and order the said kit with 300lb springs throughout. Once that arrived It was fitted with compbrake roller bearing top mounts. The inside rear arches had already been modified from when the first kit was fitted so It was pretty straight forward but once back on the floor I noticed the 195/40 dunlops were incredibly close to the already folded rear arches this was due to the side walls of the dunlops having a large rim protector that sticks right out! Although they didnt rub I think If I had a car full of passengers then their would of been a possibility of It so I changed back to the old faithful combo of Toyo 195/40 which now gives a few extra mil clearance. Here's how it now sits........


Front.........





And the rear.......






Nice topmount kit shot.......





I'm happy with the front staying as they are however I may go for just a little more of a drop on the rear yet. Once the edge of the tyre rim protector is up and under the edge of the wheel arch due to my rear arches being single skinned/folded it looks like their will actually be even more clearance between the tyre and arch If we lower the rear a little more etc.

Also a little while back I decided Id like an interior change. I wanted something that sort of represented the cars age/eira however Im really not a fan of the burberry or sport trims so thought a gte interior would suit rather well? After putting a wanted advert up Edd got in touch to offer a mint interior he had stashed away a deal was later done and up North it came. I had a valeter from work give it a real good going over with fantastic results and later trial fitted it........


"Mint" and I mean "Mint" rainbow sr trim and genuine rubber mat set from the 2k mk2 I sold on sometime back........





Now I didnt actually realise until it turned up that this trim used a 60/40 rear split bench so I wasnt ready for it but got it in for mocking up purposes.....





I later sourced the rear seat brackets from a gsi project of Phil lofthouses who wouldnt be needing them. Big thanks to Phil who relieved his shell of the needed parts of floor section that the brackets were on! I had one of the panel guys from work very neatly seperate the brackets from the floor section so they could easily be re used. I then cleaned them up and painted them in carmine red. Now as many of you know the rear bracket can be easily bolted in but the front one needs to be fitted via weld/rivets or run completely without the front bracket as Ive seen some do in the past. However I wanted it to be done neatly and properly so thought out my options and one of the guys from work came up with idea of using a proper 2k adhesive bonder to effectively glue it down. Now I know this may sound dodgy but the product we used is the same gear we've been using to fit Bmw roofskins/quarter panels for years and it sets like concrete and is the official repair method/product so Im sure it would suit a bracket that doeant really take any load. So with the rear seats in position I could mock up exactly were the front bracket needed to be marked it out and rubbed this area back to bare metal. The rear of the bracket was treated to the same and the next time we had a car in for a quarter I used a little left over product to glue the front and rear brackets into position and left a heavy weight on the front one overnight so it didnt move. With the brackets succesfully in place the only last thing to sort was a smaller bracket that sits in the centre/left of the rear bench area. This sticks up and prevents the rear bench sitting down fully as you can see in the picture above on the left side. To fix this I cut the top off it then ground/sanded the remainder until it was flush with the floor and finished by re painting it. Below you can see how they look........


Front bracket.......





And the rear which was glued as well as bolted. The smaller bracket is the one which I mentioned I trimmed flush so the seats sit down perfect etc.....





With the above sorted I could then re install the rear seats properly for the final time.......




I also found their was no need to trim the carpet around the bracket as It will neatly sit under it without sticking out so didnt bother. All thats needed now is another bracket cover which is on the way as I already have one (cheers to Rich for that!) Then I can pop the screws in and clip the covers on to finish the job!


Whilst on with the above I also had this F28 6 speed with quaife/2wd arrive.......





Id also spoke with Shaun last year who cut me out the basic shape of a scuttle cover from his template. I wanted another of these due to their great fit so once it arrived we measured up/cut the hinge slots. I then added a thick sound deadening pad on the underside over were the battery sits and painted it. Heres how the engine bay looks with that added.......





Lastly for today then..... I always like how some subtle or small touches can make a car unique or even ledgendary in some cases. With that in mind I came across something a while back and decided even though Its early project days I didnt want It to be unavailable at a later date so had an impulse buy! ............





With It having a 'D' prefix which I wanted to retain for its original age to show and then obviously 20 TBO for 2.0 Turbo which one day it will have I thought It would look great. I would have rather bought it at a later day once the project was complete but their was no guarantee It would still be available. Its also cheaper to put the plate on the car as oppose to retention so Its now legally changed over. D20TBO is born chaps! Heres how Its looking on the whole........







Then tucked back up for now......





Hope you've enjoyed the brief update! Next up is an engine purchase which no doubt will be a c20let. However people keep trying to tempt me with the Vxr's z20leh idea! Im just unsure if I want to have the additional cost of a custom Loom and aftermarket management to run one. But we'll see what happens! Oh and big thanks to those who have helped with parts so far!

Nick.

[gte-87]

Looking very good them seats are so mint I bet your pleased with how whole car looks c20 let would be best as I think it would suit car so well