So let’s get this updated, quick fast and in a hurry.. I’m not going to go over the obvious in depth as the photos speak for themselves, I’ll be updating this in sections so here we go..
I was after a pretty solid shell, I had some prerequisites.. no rusted out rear turrets, 3 door, no previous welding work and I’d only accept rust if it was on panels which I could replace..
So shell was stripped, and put up on the jig (which I had modified to be on casters so I could move it around - something I didn’t realise I needed to have when working on the old shell
It was only after I started to take out windows, take off trims and really get into it when I realised the shell wasn’t as good as I thought it was.. but when you buy a Mk2 for £500, you aren’t going to get one which is a minter
So I got to work stripping the underseal.. again
Spare wheel well cut out, this time I’m not replacing the whole floor, just playing over the wheel well
The actual floor pans aren’t that bad, but if I’ve learnt anything, it’s that panel gaps, seams and cavities are usually rotten out or hiding something nasty, so everything is coming off..
I’m Priming everything as I’m going using either UPOL zinc weld through primer or UPOL zinc182
The floorpan was an absolute pig to remove, it was removed using 1x dormer 8mm spot weld drill bit, a two speed drill on the slowest setting, and some cutting/drilling fluid, I don’t even want to count how many spot welds I had drilled out..
The problem I faced was getting pattern parts, which are poorly stamped, oversized and in some places.. undersized, to fit as OEM as possible, anyone who’s used klokk panels will tell you, they’re appalling.. couple that with the fact everything you want to use as a reference point is slightly distorted or out of shape from splitting the panels.. its a challenge, but I promised myself I wouldn’t rush this build, I’d do it properly this time
The inner channel was removed from the chassis rail, I’ve got no use for this as I’m not having any fuel lines run through it, notice what I said about things being a rust trap…
Another little surprise for me was that the subframe captive nut was cross threaded, I attempted to run a tap up into it but it appears someone had got the thread started and then decided to smack it with a hammer so as I tapped it, the tap just cut a new thread through the whole nut.. got onto a company to make me up some new open top hats and this was welded in
As all of the panels are interlaced, the front chassis leg panels were drilled out ready for the replacements, when I said I’m replacing everything, I literally mean it..
More proof of panels hiding rot.. front tow bracket and inner wing bracket
Exhaust hangers removed.. not needed
Fuel pump bracket threads.. not needed
The floorpan and jacking point panel was prepared and 8mm holes along the seams to plug weld them in, coated with weld through primer to stop them rusting between the seams
The sill was then cut out and repairs made to the rear of the sill and chassis leg, as there aren’t any replacement panels, this all had to be made from 1.2mm sheet metal
A sill strengthener was made up, with 38mm dimple dies pressed into it to get some strength into the panel, the same will be made for the other side
Sill offered up and original bodywork trimmed to get it to fit, need to be as careful as possible as I don’t want to put more heat into the panel that I need to do I can avoid distortion
And currently, the front subframe mounts are being replaced with new OEM mounts
Not what I wanted to do at all but I pretty much had no choice.. after splitting the rear end apart I found that I had to literally take out the whole boot floor again and start again with next to no reference points as where I had welded the boot floor, on the inside and out, there was a lot of rust, as I had completely welded the panels together, it was a nightmare to try and remake the panels..
The chassis was twisted, the sills wernt welded properly (small tacks ground back every 5” or so, the rear arches had been lap welded in and behind the panel rust had started to form, this would mean I’d need to cut the panels out perfectly, try and repair the original metalwork then weld in replacements
The floor pans which I made were also butt welded to unprepared metal, welded inside and out which would cause more headaches down the road as they rot..
All in all it was going to be easier and cheaper to get a new shell..
8 years down the drain? Maybe… I’m more annoyed because of the connection I’ve had with the car, but it was too far gone too save it.. but it’s not gone to waste.. the skills and knowledge I gained on the shell will mean that I can learn from my mistakes and the next shell will be better.. alot better
*insert generic excuse of not keeping forum thread up to date*
Soo..
I have a real bad tendency of finishing things 90% of the way.. for instance, my dashboard..
The flocked corrado dash needed to go, it didn’t line up correctly as it was twisted, none of the plastics sat correctly and I had cut too much out of it to fit my cage properly..
So after a few weeks of trawling eBay and Facebook groups, I managed to get hold of a black dash which hadn’t had the whole interior hacked out of it or wasn’t crumbling away..
So same steps as before, but less of a measure by eye and cut three times attitude..
Lip removed and brackets moved back about an inch..
Holes cut for the Door bars..
And for the A pillars..
And she’s in!
The shifter doesn’t rear against the bottom of the dash anymore
I also had a mate redesign the air vent gauge holder from LHD (sticking out about 738373 mm) to flush with the dash
You can see how close the shifter was to the bottom of the old dash in the picture above
A few little jobs here and there also checked off..
Filler funnel for the fuel cell in the window
Prop shaft bearing brackets made up but didn’t get a photo of them mounted..
Due to spending money on the daily to get it up to scratch to sell, it’s been a dangerous time for the MK2 as boredom, and an angle grinder isn’t the best combination and hindsight is a beautiful thing..
Ever since I owned the car, the panel lines on the rear (where the rear 1/4’s meet the rear valance) had been filled over, the filler had cracked and rust had been appearing through the crack after washing the car.. so when I had built the car the first time, I wanted it sorted.. I didn’t mind if the lines were filled in, just that the rust was gone.. so I managed to get hold of a NOS passenger side light cluster off of eBay.de, I gave this to the guys who were meant to be doing the bodywork and paint but I was handed it back as they had “sorted it” so I sold the panel a few months after.. big mistake as “sorted it” wasn’t the case as I had found out when I span the golf around to work on the drivers side.. unfortunately I knocked the rear quarter and off came a good chunk of filler followed by rust.. again
The following pictures show what I found
So a pattern rear valance was ordered and a repair cut for the passenger light cluster was bought as there was no saving the surround without the rust returning again..
Due to the wait time on the valance I got even more bored and it became far more dangerous
This is where things started to get a bit silly..
I have had a thing for tubbed arches for a while now.. I genuinely don’t know why.. and with the potential of maybe running wide 17’s, I thought to myself.. “Might as well just send it now before it’s too late and realise the wheels will scrub the inner arches” and that’s exactly what I did.. que the angle grinder spinning up
I don’t really know what the thought process was to start with was.. I just started cutting out the plates on top of the chassis legs then followed the chassis leg line and started marking it out and started cutting..
I cut out the shape of the arch tub from 1.5mm steel.. I can’t even remember the measurements.. maybe 300mm? It rings a bell..
Then it was the case of tacking it in place, measuring how much I would need for the filler plate on top, contouring the turret to the filler plate and cutting the inner arch out..
Bending the filler plate and tacking as I went
And then trying to weld it to the inner arch, blowing more holes than I was filling in
Followed by making a jigsaw out of the chassis leg plates
And the finished product
It went a lot smoother than I thought it would.. that was a red flag as when I went to start on the other side.. it wasn’t as smooth because I uncovered something I’m not exactly proud of..
Rewind a few pages back, when I was painting the underside (what a waste that was🥲) I had discovered my drivers side suspension turret had rotten where the turret and inner wheel arch met.
I should of got a repair panel and replaced the whole thing but I didn’t know how to weld then.. so I wire brushed it back and filled it full of POR15.. (IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND ARE IN THE SAME POSITION I WAS, GET SOMEONE TO WELD IT FOR YOU, DO NOT HIDE IT WITH PAINT)
It was all uncovered again when I chopped into the turret for the tub.. it was really really bad and I couldn’t leave it.. so another chassis cut bought and I went into it with the grinder again..
The chassis cut
It wasn’t easy or enjoyable to say the least
I still wouldn’t say im proud of it either, but it’s rust free metal and a lot better than it ever was..
So onwards with the drivers side tub, same process as before!
As I’ve been focusing on the suspension turrets, I also wanted to have adjustable camber and caster via the top mounts.. in come these OBP E36 adjustable top mounts..
I could of just cut the top of the turret out with a hole saw but I wanted to raise my front turrets to increase suspension travel even with the car lowered.. so, after measuring the amount of adjustment the top mounts needed.. I spent about a month trying to find steel tube with a thickness of 3-4mm and a minimum internal diameter of 155mm and a maximum of 178mm.. I cannot tell you how many hours I had put into searching, messaging or calling up places only to have no luck..
I was left with either- buying some 177mm billet and having it hollowed out using a lathe.. = ££££
Raising the whole turret up by cutting the whole top off = bonnet fitment issues
Or using some 4mm steel plate, a 177mm hole saw and some 40mm x 3mm flat bar.. making my own.. which is exactly what I did
I had some 4mm steel plate sitting around so that was the top sorted
£17.59 later I had myself a 177mm hole saw
A phone call to the local metal suppliers to enquire about 2 x 1m lengths of 40mm x 3mm only to be told “it’s 3-5 working days to have it cut, or you can come and buy 6.1m today” 6.1m won’t fit in my car so the battery grinder rode shotgun and it was cut up off just outside of their car park to fit in my car
Took a 76mm hole saw to some steel to make a centre to tack to the suspension turret
Then cut the 177mm hole out of the top of the turret
I genuinely had alot of sympathy for the beater drill after cutting 2 lots of 7” holes out of 4mm steel and the suspension turrets.. it definitely earned its money today..
The flat bar was bent and tacked as I went around, making sure it wasn’t spiralling as i went..
Welder turned up to “full send”
And the “finished product” if I didn’t run out of mig wire…. at 17:10 on a Friday night…..
Top mount fitted and put into position!
Trip to tool station the next day to pick up 5kg of wire.. only place that was open on a Saturday which sold wire, next time round I’ll be more prepared and order 17kg before it runs out.. but wire is wire and it meant I could finish welding and start on the other turret riser
I do need the cut out some of the top plate so I can fully adjust the camber screws but that can wait until my next run of days off
So really it’s been parts hoarding since the last update, fitting things that I can as I go..
I managed to get hold of a set of 3 tilton 76 master cylinders, two 0.75 and one 0.70, I have done the basic maths of what Bore size I need for the estimated weight, piston size and pad contact area and with a bias valve for the rear brakes, the sizes should work, if they don’t and the brakes have too much travel I’ll have to swap them around or replace them, but 0.75 is a good place to start..
As there is minimal room under the false floor, I fitted some APS inlet and outlet fittings which had already been worked out to fit under the APS false floor with tilton master cylinders so I wasn’t going to spend loads of money on different fittings until I worked out what fit with the least amount of trouble.. meaning the brake lines from the reservoir bulkhead fittings to the master cylinders could be made up
I pulled the trigger on a wilwood hydraulic handbrake as I really wasn’t fond of the one I had, I need to stop buying things which are cheaper and not what I want just because I feel it’ll get the build done faster..
Alongside is the tilton bias valve I also snapped up cheap with two M10-AN3 fittings
I also got hold of an AEM V3 meth kit off of eBay for a steal, although I don’t need it yet, it was too cheap to pass up on and had minimal use.. I also need to find out where and how I’m mounting everything before I start to paint it, if I need to do some welds for a bracket or drill holes, I want to do that before I paint it..
As I want to get all of the welding and fabrication out of the way, I bought the heater/demister for the inside. I did want to try and stay away from a water based heater to prevent more things going through the bulkhead, but after a trawl of reviews it seemed that the small 3.5kw electric ones wouldn’t be sufficient, so I went for the 5KW midi heater from T7 designs, weighing in at 2.8kg with a 3 speed fan..
Mounting it so it would take up the least amount of room was crucial, I didn’t want to mount it to the bulkhead and then later on down the line I find that I need to mount something like the fuse box or ECU there..
box section and riv nuts came to the rescue again.. 15x15mm with a 1.5mm wall so it would be strong enough but not adding the weight I’ve saved from ditching the OEM system
It sits perfectly upside down on the dash brackets with the water outlets pointing down close to the bulkhead which will fit to a bulkhead pass through once I sort out the engine bay coolant system
As the dash was out, i started on the aluminium passenger foot plate as the floor isn’t completely flat and at an angle, I needed a mount for it to level it out and to raise it as in planing on having the fuse boxes underneath so they aren’t in the way..
Some 12mm tube and some small steel brackets were used as the bottom of the foot plate is folded so there is a lip which prevented me using anything else
Good stuff. Take extra care with your eyes. About 8 years ago I had a macular hemorrhage in my left eye whilst surfing ebay (you know it's bad for you!). I lost my central vision for about 10 weeks. Doc said I should be able to drive but I was walking into things so stopped. Luckily my eyesight returned but now have an annoying "floatie".
That sounds pretty rough, I’ll take care in the future when on eBay!
I did actually have a pair of safety glasses on both times, but they weren't wide enough I suppose.. got some wrap arounds now so hopefully that’s the end of that
So following on from the last post I had the last bull buy of AN fittings arrive, this was mostly for the gearbox oil cooler and the brake lines
So starting from the top..
I took the time to start building the Brake reservoir lines, I must admit that AN4 is a lot harder to work with than AN6 just due to how fiddly it is, not looking forward to doing the whole pressurised side of the brake system in AN3
Onto the pedal box, so it turns out my wilwood master cylinders are too long for the false floor to go on top of them, meaning I’m having to buy tilton 75 master cylinders instead, more money thrown at things I already have..
I also opted to buy this mounting plate for it, after cocking it up twice before and how much effort it took me each time to make and replace, I’d rather just save my time (and added weight on the car) and buy a CNC’d aluminium bracket with all of the holes pre drilled and tapped for adjusting it forward and back..
the only problem is that my floorpan isn’t completely flat so I had to create yet another little platform for it to sit on, this time I made sure I did everything in the correct order this time..
Started off with some 2mm steel sheet, cut so that it was slightly bigger than the pedal box
Next was to mark out a grid which was 25mm squared as im using a 25mm hole saw and dimple die, I wanted to make sure it was all evenly spaced
Into the press to press the dimples
Then as my floor isn’t flat, I used a profile gauge to get the correct shape
Welded together with M8 weld nuts on the back
Test fit
And welded in..
And the finished product
Moving away from the brakes and because I had all of the AN fittings for it, I made a start on the gearbox oil system
Starting with the pump, I’ve picked a mocal diaphragm pump due to it being self priming above the fluid, which really helps when it comes to finding a place to stash it on a compact engine bay, the draw back of the diaphragm pump is it’s more delicate than a gear driven pump.. the fluid needs to be over 72 degrees before it can pump, otherwise it risks tearing the diaphragm, secondly contamination or shrapnel from the unfiltered gearbox can cause havoc with the pump so there took a fair amount of thought on what I needed to add and in what order..
I decided to use the existing fill and drain holes for the pick up and return of the cooler, knowing that clearance was vital on the drain, I bought 2 M24x1.5 sump plugs and threw them at a lathe. One was turned down to 5.5mm while the other was left at its normal height. Both were then drilled out to 10.5mm and an M12x1.5 tap was ran through them so I could fit a banjo bolt to keep it as tight as possible to the bottom of the gearbox.
So the order I decided was
-banjo -1/8npt sensor adapter (closest to the gearbox so it would read the correct temp to begin pumping) -AN8 240 micron filter with a magnetic ring to pick up any shrapnel -pump -oil cooler -check valve (minimum operating pressure of 2PSI to keep the oil cooler full to prevent drain back and over filling of the gearbox) -return
I also made up a bracket for the pump to be welded onto the chassis leg
Starting with some 1.5mm
Marked to size
Cut, drilled and dimple died
Legs made up and welded together
And finally in situ, not the prettiest welds but it was difficult to try and get the 1.5mm to weld to the chassis leg without blowing a**holes out of it
During this process I decided to get some metal in my eyeball, I forgot to apply my safety squint when cutting metal for the bracket. After having rust in my eye before and having to have it flicked out with a needle and then the rust ring burred out.. I thought I would try and remove it myself by placing the magnet out of a fishing magnet in a small bag, covering it in saline and press it close up to my eye, almost touching..
After a few passes my eye felt instantly relieved and it was out
Improvise, adapt and overcome
I also finished off the sill stands for the front, using some 3mm plate for the spreader plate inside..
I ran a hole saw through it and cracked up the amps on the welder and went at it
Buuut I forgot to take photos..
Another small job I hacked away at was making a centre bracket for the dash, because I haven’t got the factory heater box or most of the interior, I had a lot of flex in the dash where the heater box would fix to the dash and then fix to the bulkhead..
Drilling holes in either side of the dash where the metal shell is, i then cut down to sections of 15mmx15mm box section and drilled and sent in an M6 rivnut, tightening the brackets to the dash, i braced them together with some more box section, then it was a case of notching the top of the tube which would be welded to the dash bar and then tacking it in place to the bracket I had already made.. some more bracing and it was finished
Bit of 15x15mm box section and some riv nuts
And that’s it! All together and no trip to the eye hospital for me
Getting back into my old habits and forgetting to update the thread regularly...
Few things happened over the past 4 months, it hits home saying 4 months and then realising how much I’ve done.. or haven’t done, really need to pull my finger out
So, following on from my last post..
I noticed my rear 3/4 lexan windows had welding splatter on them, most likely from when it was on the jig so I decided to mock up the rear NACA ducts for the ventilation
Using a template from cardboard, I marked it on the window and cut it using a jig saw on low speed, the tight corners came out a bit rough but the long edges were smooth, nothing that can’t be sorted out by using a buffing wheel on a dremel or drill
The inline fans were then mounted to the C pillar’s, higher than the duct itself so when it rains I don’t have it pooling inside the car
Following on from my adventures of using fibreglass, I cut up my carbon old door cards and made a backing for the dash2 pro and fibre glassed it to the speedo surround
With some extra carbon left, I also made an “insert” for the centre of the dash, blanking off the lower pocket, ash tray and heater slot and mounted my bias valve adjuster and switches for the ignition
I also ordered some gauge holders for the vents and a single din radio gauge blank, unfortunately I bought a LHD centre dash vent and was told it can be flipped around to fit a RHD.. it can, but it will fall out if you knock it forward and it sits out about 30mm so I’m having one made up by a mate who 3D prints which will be RHD
Fuel system fun..
By now you’ve probably realised I can’t do anything the easy way and if you’ve followed this build from the start, you’ve probably winced at some of the ideas, methods or plans and this is no different.. consistency is key
I wanted to consolidate as much as I could of the fuel system into the boot, I didn’t want to run filters and check valves half way down the car, trying to change things out while a climbing frame is in the way isn’t fun in the slightest..
I’m running dual Bosch 044’s which have a check valve incorporated Into the banjo stub at the end, these are M12x1.5, so the outlet manifold caps are also M12x1.5, something I couldn’t swap out but I wanted to do away with the standard check valves as they make the pumps noisy on full chat..
I also needed to find an adapter which went from 1/4npt to xxx as my filters are 1/4npt
so I managed to find a walbro outlet banjo stub which was M10x1.25 and m12x1.5 on the other side
So now my fuel pump system could be condensed into:
For Christmas I also got hold of a T3 SPA exhaust manifold to move my turbo over to the centre of the engine bay for more downpipe room and so I’m not melting steering column boots
I also spent a fortune on AN fittings and Teflon lines as I needed to start routing stuff
I’m thankful I bought the correct tools for them as the steel braid is an absolute nightmare, not a fan of being stabbed by it more than once, so the core separator was well worth the money
AN8 on the supply, AN6 on the return with a check valve to keep fuel in the return for a better response when cranking after the engine being shut off
I ordered the pump for the gearbox oil cooler, mocal diaphragm pump, I was planning on running AN10 fittings but have downscaled to AN8 but I’ll come to that in more depth once I get it fitted and plumbed in...
One thing which has bugged me is my pedal box position, I’m 5ft 8 and seem to have a long upper body and short legs and I was struggling after sitting inside for 30 mins, not even driving.. just sat there
So I made the decision to rip it all out.. again as I’d rather do it now than do it once it’s all together and I’ve driven it..
It took a full day to remove but I’m glad I did, I still have some grinding to do to remove all the welds fully, but it was worth it once it was all out
The problem with the whole thing is due to the main hoop X, I can’t move or tilt my seat back any more than it is, along with the bolster of the bucket seat Goulding against the door bar and being a MK2, it hasn’t got the biggest footwell, after trying multiple positions of the pedal box in the car, I came to the conclusion that it’s the wrong pedal box for the car.. you can’t mount a forward facing floor mounted pedal box with a full rollcage unless you’re a midget, so with that in mind..
I spent another fortune on a tilton 600 series reverse mounted pedal box..
but it is in a different league in terms of quality and adjustability, but I don’t think my bank account will agree.. third time lucky ay
And finally, whilst I had made the jump to sort out the floor pan, I noticed whilst turning the car around that my steering column flexed like crazy, the mount I made for it just wasn’t up for the job even with 6J wheels and ditch finders, nevermind some wide wheels with sticky tyres so I ripped it all out and started again..
It needed to be removable to be able to pull the dash out, I toyed with the idea of a corsa C EPAS system but after hearing some views on the feedback, especially some posts from the residential nige (pinderwagen) on some Facebook pages, I opted to ditch that idea and will keep the standard column.. I’d love to be able to Make my own steering column, but I don’t have access to a lathe to be able to mill down the tubes and bearing cups.
What I done was remove the OEM bracket, from the steering column then use some 38.1mm roll cage joiners and some 38.1mm CDS, cutting them down with the new toy and notching them with the tube notcher
And this is the result, removable, absolutely solid with no flex...
I’ll make a lower bracket soon once I get another joiner
Interested in how you've cut and shut your glove box. I took the easy route and made straight enough cut so I could epoxy a cut down piece of A4 modelling plastic at the back. There is a serious amount of time gone into this, assume it will be more than just a track car?
Yeah in hindsight I should of just done that.. would of been far easier and cleaner
Literally just took a dremel to it, think I took out about 30mm from the middle, and joined them back up again, used some gorilla glue to hold them together while I fibreglassed around the outside to strengthen it.
As for being solely a track car..
It’s going to be more of an all rounder really.. something to bring out in summer, “performance orientated” shows and sending it across to Germany and around the ring
My ideas and plans for the car change every other month so it’s never straight forward and if I had just planned it out to start with, it would of probably been done by now!
Small few updates as I need my AN fittings and manifolds for the dual Bosch 044 pumps but instead of buying them to continue making progress.. I’ve been sniping some dirt cheap parts on eBay which I need later in the build such as a wastegate, BOV, gearbox oil pump and new exhaust manifold..
So as I haven’t got anything new to put on at this moment in time, I’ve been ticking off a few jobs which I have been putting off for a while
First off is the glovebox
The corrado glovebox is too long to fit in the dash so needs shortening, stupidly I haven’t got any photos of be butchering it, but what i do have is of it being rebuilt.
Simply all I did was cut the middle section of the glove box out and married both sides up and fixed them together with woven roven fibreglass
I also removed everything from the front and painted the floor in the same zinc paint I painted the back end with, again to prevent rusting especially going into winter with the condensation of running a 9kw fan
And what I’m part through doing at the moment..
The whole saw came back out for the sill stands
I really have been putting this off for ages and said to myself I would do it when it goes back on the jig but as I have a lot of time sat around and not doing anything.. I thought now would be the best time to do them
Using 30.5mm tube with an internal diameter of 25.5mm I went to work cutting through the sills which wasn’t fun to say the least, would be fine if the hole saw was long enough to send it through all at once but that just isn’t the case
I had to cut an “access” flap for the back hole as the void is just far to big to get the hole saw through to the other side
This also allowed me to weld the tube to the inner support
I went to work on making the tubes and spreader plates, bending the plates to shape and cutting them at the correct angle so that the tube would fit through the plate and the sill
Then the tubes
The welds were ground down as the tolerance was quite a tight fit as the hole saw was 31mm
And then welded in.. not an enjoyable experience as I needed enough heat to penetrate the 3mm but not too much so that it blew through the sill
I still need to do the passenger side, finish welding any gaps or holes around the spreader, make up the inner spreader plates and also bend the bottom of the plate up and weld it to the bottom but this will wait until it’s on the jig to prevent welding upside down
I will also be trimming them down so they don’t stick out so far once i have the stands
One of the things which was really bugging me was the accumulation of metal filings, dust and just general crap which had built up on the rear seat bases and in all the hard to reach areas. After finally installing the rear section of the tunnel I knew I would be coating it in primer to prevent rust creeping I decided to crawl through the rollcage and sat inside with all sorts of wire brushes and twist knot attachments for grinders and drills to remove it all, typical of me not to get a “before and during” photo.. buy I got a finish photo when the etch was put down
Seeing as I was in that area and I had a fuel tank sat around, I started on the mounting for the fuel tank, taking the idea from battery tie down brackets, I made the mounting from 4mm flat bar and equal angle
The design still allows the fuel tank to be removed but is held firmly in place when the top bars are tightened down
Meanwhile everything was roughed and coated with zinc 182 to assist with the humidity creeping through the porous etch primer
And finally, she’s in place
Moving on from the fuel tank, I managed to get hold of a 16 row 235mm mocal oil cooler for next to nothing a few months back and has been collecting dust ever since, so it was time to mount my existing oil cooler and the new one..
15mm box section with some plates from the flat bar.. I need to get some nylon washers to mount between the brackets and the coolers but apart from that, it was easy enough!
The plan is for the 235mm wide one to cool the engine (with a thermostatic valve to prevent the problems I was having before) and the 115mm heavy duty one to be for the gearbox with a mocal gear driven oil pump to supply the oil.
I'm envious of your welding skills. Not that I'd be embarking on such a project. Just the ability to do my own welding and not pay for someone to make a mess of it!
Honestly, I thought the exact same thing 3-4 years ago. I really envied people who could weld, but I picked up the torch and started practicing, I wouldn’t say I’m good, I’d say I’m average and confident in what I’m doing and what I know I can/can’t do.
The best thing you can do is just grab one from tool station or eBay and give it a shot. Apart from some pointers from some friends at the unit, I’ve taught myself with a few google searches to assist.
So after a delivery of my 40mm hole saw bit, I finished the spreader plates for the boot floor which allowed me to weld the plate i cut out and weld the tubes onto the turrets
And more holes in the floor had to be cut, felt like I was going backwards but once finished, I really felt like I had overcome a huge hurdle
As the rear donut for the prop was very very close to the floor of where the rear seats go, I had to raise it. So as I used a mk1/2 escort front and mid tunnel, I bought a rear tunnel as that should fit right?
Yeah kinda
I didn’t foresee this when I was installing the tunnel so I chopped off the end of the tunnel to make it fit the MK2, really I should of kept that bit I chopped out as it would of mated up perfectly, but I threw it so I had a bit of a gap between the centre tunnel and the rear extension
So I had to bridge the gap..
And sent it with the welder
Then wire brushed it all, getting in all of the corners and removing the 4-5 layers of paint which didn’t exactly stick well..
Another issue I had with the prop was the centre bearing being too wide for the tunnel to go high enough so the prop was straight
After finding the part number and dimensions of the TT bearing, I found a BMW X5 bearing fit with a smaller bracket.. this is next on the list to weld in
And also mount the fuel tank and route the fuel system as I’ve got my shiney new fuel cell container
Managed to get a battery for my mask so it was full steam ahead to finish off this diff hanger.
First was to finish welding the mounting tubes
Then it was onto notching the tubes which mount to the turrets, making sure they were both even and both at a 40 degree angle
(My notcher is out by 5 degrees due to the clamp pulling it when tightened)
Then tacking in place and welding
And then finally the horizontal bar to tie it all together
I was planning on doing cutting the holes in the floor pan which I had cut out but I’ve managed to lose my 40mm hole saw so with another one on order, that’ll have to do for today. Just needs to be welded to the turrets once I have that bit of boot floor back in
