74 Firenza Coupe (31 Mar 10 - Lucky Escape!)

***I'll put the date of latest update in the title for anyone who wants to keep track***


well here it is - the reason i sold up my modern cars and got back to the old school....


will try and update the thread as and when anything happens..

car as she stands







thought i'd have a look through some of the parts on the car and what they'll be replaced with...


Std steering wheel (pretty cool)


Mota Lita replacement wheel (even cooler)


Original Stereo (still will be in car for show)


Sony MP3 CD Player (will be hidden in glovebox)


My spare front subframe (below) is being stripped and cleaned up


then my spare front suspension (when refurbed)


will get treated to these...


and fitted back to the car along with the brand new steering rack and rod ends




also the std engine...(2.3 single cam)






more updates to come as and when i do anything worth taking pics of!
Edited by: dexteruk

 

very nice MR





EDIT - Had to add pics from the post above into this post due to new pic limit... Dex
will get a few little treats too, as well as the blydenstein big valve head and race cam, i'll also be removing these (1.75" Strombergs)


and fitting one of these (Coburn Inlet Manifold)



With a pair of these (Twin 45 DHLAs)



with 40mm chokes!


i'll need some wheels and tyres of course, so my 12 of these

will get refurbed.

Road Rubber


Track Rubber


and a few other nice bits for the car...

Janspeed Equal length 4 branch


Solid Brake pipes (pre-made), Harnesses, New Jets for the 45s...


Works High Level Alt Bracket


Spare Genuine Nosecone


Is it obvious my garage is all Droopsnoot parts?

 

thats is pretty

 

Thanks for sharing the early before pics. This is going to be a very worthwhile project keep the pics coming. Cool.

 

the bodywork is solid but a little tatty round the edges - at the moment i'm looking at getting it on the road and running properly before i get too carried away with prettying it up.

Basically where there are bits on the car that will work fine as they are i am leaving them, but where i need to do some work to things (like the front suspension and subframe) i am stripping and refurbing them properly


forgot to mention a few other parts that i don't have pics of yet

Cobra bucket seats
Aldon Modified dizzy with custom advance curve and lumenition optronic
Colder Plugs
the Blydenstein BVH will have lead-free exhaust valve seats

I've also modified the front brakes from 257mm x 13mm solid discs to fit 257x20 vented, will be fitting braided hoses and hotter pads

(257mm discs with std calipers behind 13" wheels - be nice to see that on a VW!)

car should be producing in the region of 170bhp and 170lbft after the engine mods, give or take a little, total weight is roughly 1000kg

 

My Dad had a Gold VX490 (earlier model) when I was a kid, amongst my first motoring memories.

 

fantastic project dex

look forward to more pics and details,good luck with it!

neil.

 

She's a beauty!

As you may have guessed from my PMs I'm looking forward to watching
your progress on this.

May as well get the inevitable out of the way and post you a classic
picture as inspiration...


Edited by: greg s

 

loving it dex

 

very cool car you have there dex, always nice to see something different.

 

I will look forward to many oversteer moments on completion,Dex

Good luck with it all mate, I know that car means a lot to you, you sentimental old fool
Edited by: GVK

 

Proper Job! I have to admit I have a thing for Vivas, kinda prefered
the HB but its ages and ages since I saw a proper Firenza and they are
really growing on me now. Incedentally I had original factory workshop
manuals for the HA and HB, I gave them to the first bidder on a Viva
website, theres a lot of viva fans out there.... I'll see if I have
anything firenza-wize but I doubt it, probably just a haynes.

 

That's gorgeous! Looking forward to seeing more pics... Plenty of people over on Retro-rides would love to see them too, I'm sure!

So, ready in time for the Retro Car Show at the Pod then?

 

looks very impressive dex, can't wait to see it all together. as gary said should lead to many oversteer moments

 

What performance are you expecting Dex?

 

looks great! that's going to be an animal when it's done.

that's a huge garage as well.

 

I love the Firenza - that is going to be a cracking car when finished - post plenty of progress pics.

 

What's the size of that garage Dex & any storage tips?

 

well the std car (131bhp) does 0-60 in 7.5 (magazine test figures) so it should be sub 7 to 60 with the mods - the engine will be basically the same spec as dad's old HS chevette (he had the first single cam HS) and that did sub 7 to 60 on the loose....

i would expect it to be as quick round the track as my 1.8 golf was (173bhp) The main weakness on the car is likely to be brakes, it should have far more midrange than any of the 2 litre 16v golfs so i'd expect great drive out of the corners. The std brakes have decent bite but do fade, with the vented discs, braided hoses and hot pads i should be able to sort a lot of the fade but only time will tell.



Would have liked it to be ready to drive to the retro cars show, but obviously everything takes far longer than you'd hope, and i'm refusing to cut corners where possible.

 

indeed