Ibiza Cupra Sport rally project....CODENAME PROJECT: CHAV

I am impressed.

 

Ha ha .....

 

Chav mobile. Sorry, but I laughed.

 

'Chav mobile'

Mmmmmm.......chav's like bling a bit like Magpie's don't they?

Must mean my car is a magpie too....................

 

Cracking work!

Love the lots of mini pictures to discribe a process. Great idea

 

Cheers.

Lots left to do and it will be a work in progress as i hope to get it back out competing before the end of the year and add bits here and there, as and when I can. But as so often with projects, things take 5 times longer than you intended or they spiral out of control and before you know it you've taken 10 years and created something well over specced for what you actually need. One thing that you can be assured, I like doing things properly (even if they end up chavy bright orange!!) and I couldn't bring myself to allow any pigeon 5h1t welds or anything that would make a scrutineer question me on.

Sometimes the picture montages work as they should, i.e. like a storyboard, but some are more collections of related images collated together to save Photobucket space and give the reader more to look at.....sometimes one photo of a weld or a set of bolts is a bit boring.

 

Progress!!!! If by progress you mean splitting the car into more parts that will need the 'chav' tart up treatment.....then yes, progress has happened!!!!!!

I removed the servo and pedal box, and whilst I was upside down with my noggin under the dash, I thought that the wiring loom looked like it could be trimmed and tidied up a bit, so I decided to remove the dash.....as you do!!!!!



Actually easier than I was expecting to be honest. 4 nuts and 4 screws hold it in and yes I know it isn't really that simple (things never are), but I was amazed just how rigid the dash is considering its minimal mounting points. Obviously it weighs a fair amount and maybe needs to go on a bit of a diet, but for the time being, my focus is on tidying the loom, deleting any sign of the ABS wiring and removing anything that isn't being used...plus a few other bits . My plan isn't to go all track day race style when the dash goes back in, but I might see if I can make a few modifications with a nod to the F2 Ibizas....we shall see.

Whilst removing the dash, it was very clear that something was in the way - the cage!!! This was a job I had been putting off doing for a while as I really wanted the engine in and running before anything happened inside the car, but my hand was forced.


Let me get one thing straight.......the cage, it's mounting plates and platforms were all in the car when I bought it.....THIS IS NOT MY HANDYWORK!!!!!!!!



The cage itself is a Sparco bolt in type and is actually a very nicely fitting cage. The mounts on the other hand are not very nice. These will be redone by myself using a welder rather than a pigeons anus. I'm not even going to go into how shocked I was when I got close up and personal with this welding....on the plus side, it should be easy to remove


I thought i'd finish this update with some images of the engine that I have been eluding to for the past 'however long'.......let me introduce you all to engine block 'chav'........

 

It's amazing what some people call welding! Definitely won't be to much trouble redoing those cage mounts and will set you mind at rest that it's done properly, something you don't want to be in the back of your mind flat out!!

Keep the updates coming I need to crack on myself!!

 

Yeh I hadn't really had a close look at it before and figured it was one of those jobs I would get round to in the future!!!! The threads inside the 'platform' where not captive either so I had to cut the bolt heads off!!!!!! I'm not slating anyone, but this is definitely not up to my standard of fabrication and welding and I wouldn't even dream of running the car in this condition now I have had a close look......the kicker with it is, this car, with this welding, has passed scrutineering at events in the past and I know the scrutes had a good look at the cage and mountings as the class it ran in in hillclimbs warranted a cage fitted. In fact the local scrute insisted on the boxing in of the cage 'platforms' hence the none captive nuts and he checked all this area!!!!!!!!!

Either way, I will be removing these plates and welding in my own for (as you put it) peace of mind.

Plenty more updates on the way.....I want the car back out competing ASAP as I have been forced to buy a substitute for the meantime.....a Ford!!!!!!

 

PROJECT CHAV has started to move in the right direction (if a car can even move on axel stands!) and I've been busy doing 'stuff'.


The servo was doing my nut in and I couldn't leave it there in the condition it was in.....OCD maybe, but more likely is the fact I want it to be right, and although trusty, the crusty and rusty servo needed a tickle of the Chav magic stick over it.....don't worry, I spared it the Jaffa hue.





No word of a lie, removing the servo is the single most frustrating and PITA thing I have had to do on a car.....and this is coming from a person who works on British Leyland rust buckets. The white clip ended up getting smashed out and will be replaced. It didn't matter how many alterations I made to by DIY tool, the ball from the servo shaft did not want to come free.....fuse severely shortened, my temper took over.....hey presto, servo out.

Paint stripped with a wire wheel in a drill and then a visit to the blast cabinet to removed any rot left. Primed and covered in satin black......looks like new and will at least not continue to rot through.





Above, first photo is of the master cylinder. Stupidly I wasn't paying attention to what was going on when I dismantled the reservoir from the business end.....does this slotted disc just float about or is it supposed to sit on that pin thing that is underneath it?? Answers on a postcard to......me

One of the jobs on the ever growing 'to do' list is a gear selection linkage thingy........these are the bits, just need to fab up some sort of adaptor....watch this space.

Next along are some Billies I picked up super cheap from Facebook land. Think they came off a mk3 Vento, but offering them up to my ones, they are certainly the same length bodies so at the very least I will have a play with them and maybe chop them about a bit? Not 100% sure yet, but for 40, I figure even if the springs get flogged on and the inserts are garbage, I can have an experiment and see what happens. Or....if on my first event back I rip a corner off, at least I have a pair of struts to go on as a quick and cheap fix.


So, the interesting stuff........

Engine stuff is very satisfying......almost therapeutic......when things are going right at least.

Wanting as best a job as I can achieve with minimal equipment, I set up a DIY measuring station to get the con rods as similar as possible using a scales borrowed from work that is used to measure out powders to the nearest tenth of a gram. From memory, I got them all fairly close (within a gram) and was satisfied i'd actually achieved what I wanted. Yes they are not polished or some fancy forged I beam super snazzy race bred rod.....but the way I drive doesn't really warrant that. I want a reliable and torquey motor rather than a high rev, rebuild every five minutes unit....hopefully what I have done will add something.








Block stuff next - It's so nice dealing with a cleaned block with no stinking old oil covering everything. Galleries all cleaned/blown through to ensure nothing causes an issue in the future and the new main shells went in so I could check that tolerances are as they should be using some plastigauge. I know there are more accurate ways of doing this, but this was just done to check that what I paid for and what was done at the machine shop marries up to the components then assembled.....funnily enough it does (no harm in just making sure eh?)

Everything assembled using suitable lubrication on all the bearing faces to make sure the initial start up doesn't fry any surfaces. It's been a while since I was at this stage so I must remind myself to just double check the mains and rods are all torqued up correctly.....99% sure they are, but for the sake of 5 minutes work, I should at the very least check.





More info on the head to come. Just temporarily in place with a couple of used head bolts for those with eagle eyes. Other bits have all been blasted ready for install.







The colour may not be to everyone's taste, but the car isn't for everyone........PROJECT CHAV moves on......

 

keep it coming!
Jon

 

Holy thread revival batman!!!!!

Been a good 16 months since I've been on here.....the place looks different!!!!!

Anyhoo........engine is finally in....for now!








I've had a good excuse for my lack of progress and uploading anything....we've had more kids....twins in fact (!!!!!!) so cars are very low on the priority list.

 

Life moves quick blink and you might miss it

Getting time to mess on here is a lot easier than working on cars

Thanks for the update it keeps things ticking over

 

With you on the stupid plastic servo clip thing............
Jon

 

Cheers. Life most certainly does speed on by and having 3 kids certainly leaves little (if any) free time for my toys. But one thing that having kids does make you realise is that there are more important things in life and you need to pay attention to those instead of on inanimate objects.

I'm slightly on a bit of a timeframe with this engine install though - because of the expansion of our family we no longer have a big enough house, so an extension on top of the garage is required (moving altogether would be a huge task!) so the garage needs emptying!!!!!! Imagine a slightly larger than double garage with 2 cars in, both of which don't have functioning engines, plus all the other rubbish that comes with car ownership and working on them, so as you can imagine I have a mammoth task ahead! I don't want to put the other shell out in the wet over winter so that option is out and because of our stupidly steep driveway I can't easily roll them out and onto a trailer to be stored elsewhere......I do like a challenge though!!!!!!

Fingers crossed we'll have a kiwi coloured car working by the time the builders arrive!!!!!!