Winter projects?

[JustHatched 12,123]

SO what's your auto winter project?

 

I have a few I am wanting to get taken care of

Currently have our HHR apart-ish, since the shop is closed we no longer need a panel (2 seat) HHR, so I did install a back seat in it, right now I am working out the dents from hitting a dear a few years ago and it getting hit by a garage truck. Nothing major but those dents and a few other dings are in process of being pulled out and filled, only those areas are being painted. Plus new brakes, shocks, timing chain and windshield and it should be good for several years. Hoping to have this done mid Decembr.

After that gotta get back on Project Dakota, it's just got a little cab work left then its ready for paint. Mid January is the goal for this.

Then get the 2000 S10 in the garage and fix the very few body issues and couple interior issues. Buff the sh*t out of it and sell it.

Then tke the money from the S10 and get the 1500 4x4 in for a total restoration.

 

Need to have the first 3 done by spring cuz thats when I will be building my paint booth onto my garage to start painting hot rods for a living.

[zmurko 7,622]

Fix a starter on the walk behind lawnmower (cord all tangled up).

Change oil on the BCS.

Replace tires on the BCS.

Sharpen the scythe blades for the BCS with an angle grinder.

That pretty much maxes out my mechanical skills. 😁

 

[Schumi6581 839]

5 hours ago, JustHatched said:

SO what's your auto winter project?

 

I have a few I am wanting to get taken care of

Currently have our HHR apart-ish, since the shop is closed we no longer need a panel (2 seat) HHR, so I did install a back seat in it, right now I am working out the dents from hitting a dear a few years ago and it getting hit by a garage truck. Nothing major but those dents and a few other dings are in process of being pulled out and filled, only those areas are being painted. Plus new brakes, shocks, timing chain and windshield and it should be good for several years. Hoping to have this done mid Decembr.

After that gotta get back on Project Dakota, it's just got a little cab work left then its ready for paint. Mid January is the goal for this.

Then get the 2000 S10 in the garage and fix the very few body issues and couple interior issues. Buff the sh*t out of it and sell it.

Then tke the money from the S10 and get the 1500 4x4 in for a total restoration.

 

Need to have the first 3 done by spring cuz thats when I will be building my paint booth onto my garage to start painting hot rods for a living.

I wish I could have (the room for) projects like that. Of course its also a necessity for you and the shop but still fun.  Too bad I can't help 😉 

[Schumi6581 839]

23 minutes ago, zmurko said:

Fix a starter on the walk behind lawnmower (cord all tangled up).

Change oil on the BCS.

Replace tires on the BCS.

Sharpen the scythe blades for the BCS with an angle grinder.

That pretty much maxes out my mechanical skills. 😁

 

You go girl...

[zmurko 7,622]

1 hour ago, Schumi6581 said:

You go girl...

[doubleg213 746]

Way too many, not sure what progress I'll actually make. 

 

1: Want to make some progress on the Mk2 Escort and try to get it mobile for next summer, then decide on whether it stays or not. Prices keep rising on the buggers still though, so as I don't NEED the money I might be best off keeping it for a while yet. On the other hand, if I finished it off and sold it the other projects would see a major shot in the arm.

 

2: Need to start on the Puma as well, working from the rear forward. The design work on the remodelling of the Ford works kit car hubs is getting nearer to being finished but then we need to look at the rear axle/trailing arm setup to be able to make some of those. Realistically all I will probably get done in the next couple of months is stripping it down to metal and figuring out where I'm going to cut the bodywork for the switch over to the WRC bodywork. 

 

3: Likewise with the two BMW's. I think I'll get the best shell stripped down and then I can at least start with some daft stuff like sorting out any strengthening brackets and doing my dash and switch panels so at least it's progressing even if it's not big strides forward. I have my one off fully adjustable mono tubes to go onto it, but we need to finish off getting the design/analysis done for the bottom arms etc. I want to make for it as the standard type ones twist with heavy usage. 

The other one I'm hoping to at least get some new calipers on it, sort out the sensors (it's running mega rich and probably just wants and O2 sensor on it), run the brake lines inside and get the hydraulic handbrake into it and then it should really just need a sump guard and the diff to be welded so I can at least hopefully get out and do some auto tests (auto solos for our American cousins) and some targa rallies (multi venue auto solos with tests set up like mini rally stages on gravel and through forests). 

 

4: This is a long shot as I need some funds to be able to acquire it, but at the time of the Puma being brought into the S1600/Kit Car regulations Ford built two Puma WRC's, the intention was to homologate it as a clubmans spec World Rally Car. Ford would run the Focus themselves but the Escort Cosworth Group A and Escort WRC would have fitted the Puma WRC so club competitors could upgrade and still do WRC. 

Ford built two of them and they are the only two genuine Puma WRC cars ever built by Ford Motorsport and one of them is in France, the other is about an hour away from me. If I can offload a lot of my stock at the farm I could possibly acquire it. It's just a rolling shell so a massive project, but it's something that is about as rare as you can possibly get. It's chassis number will be either 0001 or 0002.

I'd love to acquire it if possible, I'd never get it to full WRC spec as the boxes are too rare/expensive. But a decent YB in it and then a Sadev 6 speed sequential would have it looking like the real deal and I'd be at least able to get it to the state where it looks right and has the right engine in it, just with the wrong box.

The other plus point with it is that it would be a mint car for invites to events like Goodwood. Things like Subaru WRC's and Group B cars are great but there are lots of them about so they don't stand out as much as you would think. 

Earlier this year I very nearly got an old Mazda 323 GT which was the car Mazda used in the early group A days. It was a proper ex Mazda UK car and would have been a good Goodwood type car as well. With my mate having the Group B RX-7's it would have been pretty cool taking the pair of them to events like that together. 

Edited November 3, 2020 by doubleg213

[Schumi6581 839]

1 hour ago, doubleg213 said:

Way too many, not sure what progress I'll actually make. 

 

1: Want to make some progress on the Mk2 Escort and try to get it mobile for next summer, then decide on whether it stays or not. Prices keep rising on the buggers still though, so as I don't NEED the money I might be best off keeping it for a while yet. On the other hand, if I finished it off and sold it the other projects would see a major shot in the arm.

 

2: Need to start on the Puma as well, working from the rear forward. The design work on the remodelling of the Ford works kit car hubs is getting nearer to being finished but then we need to look at the rear axle/trailing arm setup to be able to make some of those. Realistically all I will probably get done in the next couple of months is stripping it down to metal and figuring out where I'm going to cut the bodywork for the switch over to the WRC bodywork. 

 

3: Likewise with the two BMW's. I think I'll get the best shell stripped down and then I can at least start with some daft stuff like sorting out any strengthening brackets and doing my dash and switch panels so at least it's progressing even if it's not big strides forward. I have my one off fully adjustable mono tubes to go onto it, but we need to finish off getting the design/analysis done for the bottom arms etc. I want to make for it as the standard type ones twist with heavy usage. 

The other one I'm hoping to at least get some new calipers on it, sort out the sensors (it's running mega rich and probably just wants and O2 sensor on it), run the brake lines inside and get the hydraulic handbrake into it and then it should really just need a sump guard and the diff to be welded so I can at least hopefully get out and do some auto tests (auto solos for our American cousins) and some targa rallies (multi venue auto solos with tests set up like mini rally stages on gravel and through forests). 

 

4: This is a long shot as I need some funds to be able to acquire it, but at the time of the Puma being brought into the S1600/Kit Car regulations Ford built two Puma WRC's, the intention was to homologate it as a clubmans spec World Rally Car. Ford would run the Focus themselves but the Escort Cosworth Group A and Escort WRC would have fitted the Puma WRC so club competitors could upgrade and still do WRC. 

Ford built two of them and they are the only two genuine Puma WRC cars ever built by Ford Motorsport and one of them is in France, the other is about an hour away from me. If I can offload a lot of my stock at the farm I could possibly acquire it. It's just a rolling shell so a massive project, but it's something that is about as rare as you can possibly get. It's chassis number will be either 0001 or 0002.

I'd love to acquire it if possible, I'd never get it to full WRC spec as the boxes are too rare/expensive. But a decent YB in it and then a Sadev 6 speed sequential would have it looking like the real deal and I'd be at least able to get it to the state where it looks right and has the right engine in it, just with the wrong box.

The other plus point with it is that it would be a mint car for invites to events like Goodwood. Things like Subaru WRC's and Group B cars are great but there are lots of them about so they don't stand out as much as you would think. 

Earlier this year I very nearly got an old Mazda 323 GT which was the car Mazda used in the early group A days. It was a proper ex Mazda UK car and would have been a good Goodwood type car as well. With my mate having the Group B RX-7's it would have been pretty cool taking the pair of them to events like that together. 

wow, nice collection!

When I grew up the Mk2 Escorts were pretty common in local/national rally's (just like the Opel/Vauxhall Ascona's and Manta's) but they are probably getting rarer and rarer. 
About the Puma WRC... In 2018 I experienced my first Goodwood FOS. It was superb. I can imagine getting a car there is even better.

Is there a thread with some pictures of your projects?

[doubleg213 746]

The Escort is still pretty much king over here. For all you have a lot of modern cars out, there are still Escorts at every rally, ranging from old historic spec cars right up to some what I would call modern Escorts which are sequential boxes, 2.5 litre all out competition engines and fully independent rears. 

Not so many Manta's or Ascona's over here these days although there were a lot through the 80's and 90's. Suffered the same as a lot of cars over here, the Escort is just so easy to get bits for and all of the knowledge is out there so everything else is just that little bit harder to start with in comparison to the Escort. My friend has an Ascona 400 which is an ex Opel Team Greece semi-works car and did quite a bit of work on trying to get the Kadett as an active car but it never really took off, it was the car he built which was ultimately used to model the Kadett for the Dirt games. Unfortunately it never really got used enough often enough and early enough for it to beat the Escorts. I think if he'd driven the car himself more or built another one for someone who could get the most out of it he would have picked up some really good results and given the model a bit more of a shot.

Another company had a go with the Fiat 131 Abarth as well, but had the same issue. I think they do a decent amount of business into Europe but Britain is just Escort territory for the most part.

 

I think the only pictures I have on here might be in the Your Garage IRL of the Mk2 when it was getting the new roof skin and was painted. but that is all there is likely to be on so far.

Will be doing some pictures and such like for the BMW's and the Puma Kit/S1600 build and probably some pictures of the developed parts and analysis as I'll be using that to try and get the business kicked off on that side of things.

Edited November 3, 2020 by doubleg213

[Sinister 2,583]

I wish I had the motivation for projects.

I don't though, so unless the wagon breaks down I won't do anything outside of regular maintenance to it. The other car is a 2019 and still under warranty and a dealer service agreement.

If by some miracle I find a box of motivation, I will finish the body work needed after taking the roof rack assembly off of it and getting the top 1/3 painted black to complete the Tan and Black theme on the car.

 

Of course being a mechanic I will have hundreds of tasks to do throughout the season, hence the lack of motivation.

[BryannosaurusRex 1,173]

There’s always something that needs doing on my camper. 
 

The engine is leaking a lot of oil from the pushrod tubes so I’ll need to pull the engine, heads off and fit new seals and tubes. 
I’ve got a complete new engine in bits under my bed that I need to get built up.

I’ve got electric hook up kit to install. 
 

plus various things I may get round to doing. 

[SkyeDave 956]

My Cheburek, VW T3, Mercedes W123 and Peugeot 205 are all either off the road and out of MOT or just about to be so there should be no shortage of Winter projects for me to do.  In fact I can barely sleep at night for the sound of rusting outside.  However the most I've managed on any given weekend so far was this morning when I put lip spoiler option 1 on my Schafter Classic.  Has it given me more downforce?  Possibly not.  Has it made me faster in a straight line?  Definitely not because I don't trust myself to have stuck it down properly so I'm scared to go over 40mph in case it flaps off and decapitates a passing cyclist.  Was it therefore a complete waste go time and money?  We may never know.....

[doubleg213 746]

Got nothing done on any of the cars over winter, then summer came and I also got nothing done as I've still not been well enough most of the time.

 

Over the last month or so I've had a massive clearout and sold/scrapped/stripped most of what I had lying around.

The Puma shell is going but I'm keeping a large proportion of it as spares for if/when I actually get around to building a rally one, if i don't the bits are unique to the Puma and it was a quite small production run, so they will sell down the line anyway and be quite valuable I think. 

I'm now down to 1 BMW, which is partially stripped, the body shell will be off to be scrapped and the bits sold off. I've offloaded a sizeable chunk of the spares and fancy suspension etc. I had for the BMW's already as well.

 

Generally just trying to clear the decks, offload a load of the spares I have which is basically 10's of thousands of old Cortina, Escort and Capri parts. Will be keeping a lot of the Escort stuff and most likely keeping my Escorts, although I may sell one of them. 

Been looking into building a 1 Series as a track day car to hire out and will probably ultimately go with one of them as a rally car, but that's probably some time down the line.

 

Short term I am looking to basically go back to my roots, I started out in Vauxhall Astra Mk2's and Nova's (nothing even remotely related to what you think of as a Nova ** @JustHatched). They are eligible for historic events now, which means they are basically eligible for rallies in pretty much every country in the world if they are built to the original homologation papers. Whether I get where I want to be with them is debateable, but I'm hoping to be close to having one built by next summer to do some local events and get the car fettled, I'll need to do some national events to upgrade to an international licence and then look at doing the European Historic Championship and also maybe playing on some Belgian events.

A friend of one of my customers has two Nova GTE road cars which have been standing for a long time, both completely standard but one has been rolled. Hopefully that would let me restore one as a pretty nice GTE road car and then have a full set of spare interior etc. for it. Sort out the shell which was rolled and make that into a Group A GTE rally car, plus try and find a couple of other shells to try and build a spare and/or maybe build one for retro rallycross as well.  ***

Been starting to acquire bits already, some of which are currently stored at Casa Catman because they were located near to him, I probably have about 30% of a car already. I just need a bodyshell to put that into!

 

Still want to do the Puma kit car and would still love to acquire the Puma WRC shell if I can get the funds together, but as a concept they are shelved for now. I reckon I can build a complete Nova for less than half of what it would cost me for a S1600 engine build and gearbox. 

Over the winter I'm semi hopeful that I can acquire a Nova and get it stripped, seam welded, get the body strengthening plates etc. and get the cage sorted so it's ready to go to my mates and be painted and that I can get my Mk2 Escort finished. Anything beyond that would be a bonus. 

 

 

Current priority list is more or less:

1. Prep a Nova shell - plausible and easy, interchangeable with 2
2. Finish Mk2 Escort - plausible and easy, interchangeable with 1
3. Build 1 Series track day hire car so I don't have to do anything crazy like get an actual job.
4. Dig out the Mk1 shell and give it a going over to work out what I need to get it done, thinking of a BMW 120D engine into it, lots of power and torque and fuel efficient. But kind of want a noisy 4 pot petrol with noisy carbs that just shovel fuel into it whether it's needed or not.
5. Start on engine, gearbox and diff for Nova.
6. BMW 1 Series rally car for me - very long way off low probability right now.
7. Puma S1600 - very long way off
8. Puma WRC - Probably just fantasy at this point unless I sell a LOT of stuff.

6,7,8 are essentially at the just dreaming stage at the moment. 1 to 5 are very reasonable right now.

 

 

** Disclaimer 1 : I'm assuming our American friends have googled Vauxhall Nova and been very surprised at how unlike their version of a Nova it is. It's a GM product though, so should please Hatched for that alone.

*** Disclaimer 2 : Like all projects these ideas may either not happen, get started then abandoned or be acquired and never touched.

Edited September 15, 2021 by doubleg213