My Mars Red Mk1 - Thread REBOOT- P82

A lot of different things need to be done but I'm trying to focus on getting paintwork out the way for now. The kit was next up for paint but I wanted to change some detail on it. The arches effectively act like parachutes and also don't do brake cooling any favors so I added some vents.

The arches were carefully marked out and pilot drilled ready for cutting.



Then with the use of a hole saw and the angle grinder, I cut out the required slots. Any imperfections were sorted using the power file.





The kit was rubbed down and given a coat of primer.







And the subsequently painted. They still need another coat but I ran out of time that day.





While paint was drying, I got the BBQ out.



Doesn't look too bad.





A few days later, my new radiator and serviced intercooler arrived! The old rad, as good as it was, might start limiting cooling in the future so I decided to upgrade now. New rad is 3 pass and wider too. The old rad has also been cleaned and pressure tested. That will be up for sale.





I had custom mount points added so I can hang them where want.



The Evo Intercooler was full of crud so this had the fins straightened out and was subjected to a cleaning regime offered by the rad company. Again, some custom mounts were added for my convenience.







Gurds

 

Nice work on the vented arches!

 

Summer is passing by and I would really like to drive the car this year so I put some annual leave to good use.

The remaining kit was painted in my makeshift booth and left to dry.



All seems to have come out pretty good. The paint job isn't concours standard but meh, it's going to get abused!



The car watches in anticipation of it's new plastic surgery.



The arches were given a quick prime and my chosen method of assembly begins. All the holes were drilled out and m5 ally rivnuts added.





The stub axle spacers came back from the machine shop too. Think they are thick enough?



Rambow and his brother Sahib gave me a helping hand in putting it all together. Really makes short work of it all. Thanks guys!

Rambow set about fitting the stub axle spacers while Sahib and I tackled the kit.



Correction shims were added to give a little extra camber at the rear as I have always worn the outer edges too much and could benefit from this I feel. Especially since fitting a front splitter made the back end loose.



Bodywork came out as well as I could hope. The rivnuts need to be aligned just right otherwise they don't screw in.



This picture shows how much wider it sits before and after.



The right has a 7x15 et37 running a 195-50-15 and no spacer.



The left has a stub axle spacer, an 8x15 et30 and a 225-45-15 tyre. Don't worry, the patch of rust in the bottom corner is getting sorted too.



And back on the floor with both sides done.



We also fitting my wheel studs too, something that should make life much easier for swapping wheels over. While we were there, the brake setup went on too.





Now where did I leave that engine....

Gurds

 

Great work Gurds, some transformation!!

 

Awesome stuff!

 

This makes me happy.

 

Automotive porn.

 

strong looks

 

it was fun that day. We got a fair bit done... Now.... Where's that engine hiding....

 

Great work. Wheels full of brakes make me drool

 

The steering system needed one last part to complete the VW-Toyota marriage. The steering Knuckle. Various methods have been used by others but I wanted to maintain the original joints where required and splice them together.

1x VW UJ




1x Toyota UJ



I cut the two UJs and lined them up as required. These were later pinned and welded by my local machine shop.



With the steering stuff sorted, the engine could finally be eased into position.



Cams and other parts found their way back in too.



Plenty of turbo clearance.







With the seat and pedals being further back, I did the same to the gearstick and raised it at the same time.

I mocked the position using a 6 pack of baked beans. Hehe.



And then made a tube frame.



This meant the handbrake lever was now too long and interfered with the frame. So I cut that down too!







Next I mounted the Rad and IC. I used rubber bobbins to sit them on to absorb vibration.





And then made brackets where required. These still need a little finishing.





The front panel needed a little clearance work to squeeze it all in. Some rubber strips will be put along the sharp edge.



For the top brackets I used some rubber rivnut type things like you find on bike farings.






And then made some bracketry to suit.







All these jobs seem small but take a silly amount of time to complete.

 

It's looking awesome

 

Propper !!

 

Great project you got going on. Like that this car is your input. Know you are going to enjoy yourself when she/he is up and running. Also thanks for the idea of rubber support for your intercooler as that is where i'm at right now

 

Cant put a price on them being done properly/to spec though! Well worth the effort, looking reallllly slick.

 

Better a week delay finishing, than something falling off after 5 mins on Track. Fantastic attention to detail Gurds.

 

Updates are overdue and I have had my head down getting WAM back on the road. This is what has happened since July.

The Audi S2 inlet's port sizes are a lot smaller than whats on the head so I opened them out with the die grinder.

Before:






After:






Took the lump out of the throttle body while I was there too:

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I've opted to go with a hydraulic clutch line this time. I wasn't too fond of how the clutch cable sat in the bay and neatened things up a bit. I made good use of my CGTi Think Automotive club discount a fair few times during the project.






The boost pipes and water hoses were put into place.




Brake reservoirs fitted.






The car was towed back over to Style Dynamics to have the downpipe redone as the turbo position has moved significantly.



They added significant bracing too in order to help take strain off the turbo during engine movement.



This meant oil and water lines could also go back in.




I continued to bolt up all the gubbins till everything was in place. I eventually ended up like this!





.......

 

The PAS pump got tucked away by the oil cooler and allowed a neat pipe run to the rack. Think Automotive provided high pressure braided lines that could be used to make up the lines to fit at home which saved no end of hassle with routing.








Wiring refit was neatened too with new relay holders and a panel to mount them on.






Plenty of late nights were spent making little brackets, routing parts and testing new components before the car was ready to be started.




The time had come and the car was finally ready to be fired up. Eveything was primed before hand and the engine was turned over without fuel and spark plugs to bring up the oil pressure first.





......

 

That's lovely,its gone all scene!

Sent from my E2303 using Tapatalk

 

I hope you're proud of it Gurds.