A little something to keep me busy
- Thread starter Liam
- Start date
Previously photo'd bubbly bits have been rubbed down. All will require welding. Upon further inspection the spare wheel well and rear panel need a bit of revuilding too. Ive got a feeling the further i go with this the more rust im hoing to uncover.
I need to decide if its going to be a keeper, so the repairs are done properly and will last. Or if its a drift/track toy so i can just 'fix' things quickly to get it up and running and battered about sidewayz n
shiz.
I need to decide if its going to be a keeper, so the repairs are done properly and will last. Or if its a drift/track toy so i can just 'fix' things quickly to get it up and running and battered about sidewayz n
shiz.
I prefer the disc shaped wire wheels in a grinder over flappy discs personally for seeing what your dealing with,blending discs are just that,and are dear and lose about 80% of their efficiency in about five minutes.as for the welding bit-gasless ain't great in fact the only thing it does better than gassed is handle windy weather....even then a stick welder will beat it.tip for you...the pic with the return/earth clamp in it,run a cutting disc gently down the seam to be welded,makes it easier to follow when you weld and ends up stronger and if you weld it right better to flat afterwards.I'm with Ed though,not many left-do it right and keep it.Good work.
It can be used as a gas welder, just need the bottle but id want to be welding with Argon/CO2 mix for better results. Bottle deposit and gas comes in at around £100 but i just dont think the welder has enough adjustment for welding thin sheet, it has a series of switches as opposed to a dial to control the amps. Even on the lowest setting the cheap 80's steel seems to just blow through.
an rx7 going very cheap mate and a lovely exhuast system on it etc, just thought you might take a fancy to it
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1991-MAZD...4612625?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3a854e6d11
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1991-MAZD...4612625?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3a854e6d11
Well keep an eye on it incase no one bids on it, at least you could have a canny engine sitting there, and exhaust, but spare body parts too
Right then. I had a good old bash with a hammer a couple of weeks ago and found lots of soft/rotten areas that the screw driver didnt detect. I considered weighing it in but i decided to carry on.
Soooo, if repaired all the back panel, welded up the lock and spoiler holes, removed exhaust (eell, it removed itself after i took the hangers off), rubbed back and primered the back panel and inside the rear arches.
Im going to leave the undersealing until all the welding repairs are done.
This coming week im hoping to get the back end on the sills repaired and have it back on its wheels.
Soooo, if repaired all the back panel, welded up the lock and spoiler holes, removed exhaust (eell, it removed itself after i took the hangers off), rubbed back and primered the back panel and inside the rear arches.
Im going to leave the undersealing until all the welding repairs are done.
This coming week im hoping to get the back end on the sills repaired and have it back on its wheels.
Coming along nicely, you will get better as you go along.
Ive been doing a bit of thinking about what Im using the power this old shed when ive done all the welding. I initially wanted to use an SR20DE from a serena but they dont come up very often and when they do they're around £600-1000. Now that would leave me with a decent engine that I know will last, but im only at 130hp. Thus would require a decent amount of tuning (cams, 4-1, mapping ect) costing probably in excess of £1000. Im now in for almost £2000 to be standing at hopefully 180-190hp.
Off I went to search for RWD engines that aren't too modern but have good reliability, decent power and are readily available. 200SX (DET) just carry too much scene tax and you're looking at over £2k for a total shed with many miles and abuse so I opted out of that.
Then I thought Lexus LS400, but they, like so many other 'luxury cars' are hard to find in manual. I went through all the big saloon cars with V8s ect but had the same problems. Finding a manual holds as much hope as finding hens teeth.
So onto the BMW 6cyl. Good rep, decent money for the 90s models and almost 200hp with the 2.8. Nom. A little research into these finds that the intake manifold is very restrictive (something to do with emissions at the time) so the 325i manifold is a common mod. Then the M3 exhaust manifolds are a tubular, almost equal length design, which fit. Nom again. Also the M3 cams can be fitted. You might think that BMW, especially M3 parts go for mega money, but they are actually quite reasonable. Intake £150, exhaust £200 and cams £100-150. All that thrown onto the 328i gives reported figures of around the 240hp mark before mapping (which isn't a necessity as they are mild bolt ons, unlike massive cams in an SR20 which will need mapping). So coupled with being able to buy a donar car for £500 stands me in at 240hp for around £1000. Decision made.
So this morning I thought id investigate gear ratios seeing as ill be using the RX diff (4.30FD). If I couple the BMW gearbox to the RX diff Im left with a top speed of 107mph @6500rpm. DOH. To get a decent speed out of it I need a FD of around 3.5. So now im back to work with seeing what it would take to get another diff fitted and Im guessing the whole rear end. Now the 328i FD is 2.93 which would leave me with 158mph @6500rpm. I feel that it too high, so the M3 diff with a 3.23FD came up trumps. That leaves me at 143mph @6500rpm which should give me a decent amount of traction breaking drive to help me on my merry sideways way.
This is all turning into one big project considering it started with me just wanting to get it driving. Jeeez.
Off I went to search for RWD engines that aren't too modern but have good reliability, decent power and are readily available. 200SX (DET) just carry too much scene tax and you're looking at over £2k for a total shed with many miles and abuse so I opted out of that.
Then I thought Lexus LS400, but they, like so many other 'luxury cars' are hard to find in manual. I went through all the big saloon cars with V8s ect but had the same problems. Finding a manual holds as much hope as finding hens teeth.
So onto the BMW 6cyl. Good rep, decent money for the 90s models and almost 200hp with the 2.8. Nom. A little research into these finds that the intake manifold is very restrictive (something to do with emissions at the time) so the 325i manifold is a common mod. Then the M3 exhaust manifolds are a tubular, almost equal length design, which fit. Nom again. Also the M3 cams can be fitted. You might think that BMW, especially M3 parts go for mega money, but they are actually quite reasonable. Intake £150, exhaust £200 and cams £100-150. All that thrown onto the 328i gives reported figures of around the 240hp mark before mapping (which isn't a necessity as they are mild bolt ons, unlike massive cams in an SR20 which will need mapping). So coupled with being able to buy a donar car for £500 stands me in at 240hp for around £1000. Decision made.
So this morning I thought id investigate gear ratios seeing as ill be using the RX diff (4.30FD). If I couple the BMW gearbox to the RX diff Im left with a top speed of 107mph @6500rpm. DOH. To get a decent speed out of it I need a FD of around 3.5. So now im back to work with seeing what it would take to get another diff fitted and Im guessing the whole rear end. Now the 328i FD is 2.93 which would leave me with 158mph @6500rpm. I feel that it too high, so the M3 diff with a 3.23FD came up trumps. That leaves me at 143mph @6500rpm which should give me a decent amount of traction breaking drive to help me on my merry sideways way.
This is all turning into one big project considering it started with me just wanting to get it driving. Jeeez.
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I opened a box today and found a small amount of enthusiasm.
That lead to me removing the rotten fuel tank and draining the 30L of piss yellow fuel. Then I cut out all the rust down the passenger side.
Tomorrow will see the removal of the cat (need to weight it in for cash monies) and the cutting out of rust on the driver side.
That lead to me removing the rotten fuel tank and draining the 30L of piss yellow fuel. Then I cut out all the rust down the passenger side.
Tomorrow will see the removal of the cat (need to weight it in for cash monies) and the cutting out of rust on the driver side.
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