Wheel's been here for a wee while already, but the plates I got today. Before the engine swop was going down the Isaac Agnew plates / Zender wheel route, but in for a penny and all that, plus nothings irreversible if I ever fancy a change... Genuine one's are pretty plain, so not difficult to replicate.
Block's not back so hope I'm not going to regret my impatience... did look at images of the one that's away and the block it's replacing in person plus the MK2's as well and they all appear to be the same spacing / dimensions. Piccie is of it on the outgoing MK1 DX block...
Just seen this on my GFs Facebook and thought of you I can always get it and post it for you if you wanted it..
That's a very generous thing to offer to do and genuinely appreciated, thank you. If they'd been selling it a few months ago I'd have broken your arm for it, specially with that other one going for so much on eBay since. Hoarder in me says I want it but (my head at any rate) can't justify this and also the ones I'd made up as well, even if it is the real deal by the looks of it. Bet you it's gone already anyhow?
I'm going to guess it's the same seller, though that's not always a given I suppose as things seem to be bought and resold quickly nowadays using the original adverts details / images? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204383012249 If it is, shines a spotlight on eBays seller fees that they've increased the price by that margin to cover them. Apart from a lone sale a few months ago (max. £1 sellers fee promo. day) I haven't flogged anything on eBay for years, so well out of touch. Unfortunately it seems to have triggered their algorithms to inundate me with messages to sell more stuff. Briefly tempted and did have a casual look, but is it something like 12.5% of the sale price they normally take, plus insertion fees and probably other things too?
Been concentrating on the mechanical side of things lately, at the expense of the shell, which has sat untouched for months now. Not pretty, but it's just grime, beneath is 100% solid. With the MK2 and 205 I was tiptoeing around the bodywork and paint while doing most of the jobs on them so as not to damage anything. With this one having to be resprayed because of the colour change to Helios blue it's a relief to be able to just get stuck in without those worries Plus side of all that wax and gunk is it did its job, down side is it's soooo slow to come off. Pics are after a few hours at it, so while it may not look like it, there's a big difference already. Keep the grille handy, just to remind me why I'm doing this!
What made you want to go down the Helios blue route? It is a great colour and I changed a silver 81 GTi I had to have that colour. I just think now the values are in originality. But i am also a big believer in having what you want
It was probably this actual car pictured (maybe even this photo too, which is from a for sale advert of the time) that sowed the seed in the beginning, been looking at it for so long now that no other colour'll do! I'll be buried in it, plus I'm with you... unless you're a dealer, do it for yourself and not the next person.
Well, unexpectedly got the head back today, which is good. The block's close to being done too... crank ground, cylinders re-sleeved with just the original pistons / new rings to do apparently, so looking like next week all being well. A few more GTiE marks have surfaced on the head, now that it's been cleaned. Asked them to take care with the ones we already knew about, which meant some areas were left untouched so as to preserve them. You maybe read else where I was debating whether or not to get the flywheel lightened, but the more I looked into it I wasn't sure it would've been what I was after. I believe the 276 cam'll already make idle lumpy (which I'm fine with), but it'll potentially be that much worse also doing the flywheel? Tried over and over to get a few decent images of the porting but nothing came out any way usable.
Posted elsewhere recently about taking the 5th gear end casing off to investigate if the ratios had been changed (they hadn't) as it wasn't the original type that it should've been with the lower down fill hole. Was putting it all back together again today... and just kept going, cleaning the whole thing. Ever watch one of those old films were the squaddie's sent out with a toothbrush to clean the parade square? Know how he feels now. The end casing bolts went into the phosphoric acid bath to take off any surface rust and get that black passivation. It can be painted neat (a bit like thin runny honey before dilution) onto the remaining casing bolt heads, means I don't have to take them out and risk cracking the seal, does the same job in the end.
Doesn't get any easier second time around, even with there being much less to take off because of the Neuspeed adapter that does away with the need to widen the main intake. Having said that it still needed some fettling, plus there was a distict casting bump just inside the mouth that wasn't there on the first one, guessing they're probably all slightly different if you were to compare them. This is the intake from the cars original DX engine, so the runner openings have never been touched before, unlike the (now black) one whose I'm convinced somebody had already started, but not finished. Used a new gasket as a template, not unexpectedly the GTiE head had presumably already been matched as it was a perfect fit. Same couldn't be said for the manifold however, really surprising at just how much 'off' all the openings are, sort of pushed slightly to one side almost. Main culprit was casting 'flash', there was a noticible sharp ridge / lip towards the bottom of each that you could cut yourself on running a finger around the inside. Hard to make out in the images, but maybe you can see the blue Sharpie marks to show the amount that needed removed. Getting rid of that had the effect of centering them again. Hard too, to give an idea of the amount of metal removed as your constantly blowing it away as you go, if I could've collected it instead would maybe be half an egg cup full.
1983 magazine scan - the car featured has the round arch Z2 kit fitted, though the front / rear aprons and side skirts are shared with the Z20.
Block and head have been back for a while now, have loosely mocked the main items up so as to account for everything, however there's one or two small bits that're holding us up 'till we can get them. Car'll not be on the road this year, but plan is to at least get the engine / running gear sorted before even thinking about paint. He turned 40 years old last week-end, so no more MOT worries / deadlines to contend with, plus he'll be road tax exempt come next April... means I'll just have to insure him and can go out as and when I please, in theory should make everything soooo much easier during the last leg.
That is looking fantastic, great attentionto detail, finishing and longevity. A huge amount of time and effort has gone into just sourcing the nuts and bolts. Is that an aluminium sump you have? Did you ever consider the oettinger rocker cover, as they do look good. IMO
Yes it is... there's nothing wrong with your peepers! Got it along with a rocker cover, since the conversion has a Schrick cam. Have always liked them (plus the Oettinger one and others that are very similar in design). Seems they started producing this latter day version of the 1970/80's original a few years back, which the conversion could possibly have had. It's quite a bit different though, when you see the old beside the new, I think they're now aiming at the MK2 market more so than the MK1 with it. Unfortunately in the process they've done away with the originals domed breather pipe / throttle cable bracket plus the MK1's metal cam belt cover isn't a direct fit (don't want to cut it), so will have to use the MK2's plastic one instead... lifes hard! Did track down an original in Germany, but unfortunately the seller would no longer post to the UK.
Had a stab at engraving the conversion plate. Used an amalgamation of images found on the inter-web for reference, though those of plates on MK1's / RE1900's 8v's you could count on two or three fingers. With seeing them predominately on MK2's, where they're on the slam panel, made me initially think that it'd be the same for MK1's, but I'm not convinced now. There's much less space and even jiggling around the VIN plates position still means the conversion plate in almost sticking over the edge, just looks odd to my eye. Probably unique to me too is that the Z20's front grill / head light cone wraps up over the top of the same panel, and if in that postion it would also be partially obscured. One MK1 image showed it on the ignition amplifier bracket, may or may not be correct, but solves all my problems. If you see original plates, GTiE's engraving seems to have been a bit suspect, which is good as mine is too! Does annoy the perfectionist in me, but at the same time you could argue it's at least authentic looking. And as mentioned before, the date has been put on as a few weeks ago (when the block came back) and not the 1986 date of the original conversion so as to hopefully avoid any future misrepresentation.
