euro dave - mk2 track car project

[jv]

[euro dave]

The Mk2 budget track car thread



The specifications, as bought:

• Mk2 1.6 Ryder (Registered Dec 1991)
• 2E 2.0 8v engine conversion
• Mk3 running gear conversion
• Shrick cam
• FK coilovers

The car is a project between for myself and a mate (joe), we're aiming to have a lot of fun on the track for not too much money.  The car's got no MOT or tax, and the conversion has been botched or just thrown together so there's a lot of tidying to do.

A list of things to do before the MOT:

• Fix horn
• Fix lights
• Fix fog light
• Dashboard fitment
• Wobbly driver's seat
• Mount PAS reservoir
• Mount water pipes properly
• Surge tank mounting
• Wiring mystery solving
• Brake pipe brackets

More pics:

[euro dave]

So, as a novice / amateur mechanic I've been spending a few hours on the car here and there to try and get some bits resolved.  There are several "easter eggs" we've found so far, and a fair bit of botching involved in it's past to try and get the mk3 running gear slotted in.  We've also noticed a worrying dent in the offside chassis leg that's clearly been done by one of the pulleys....

The mk3 power steering set up took a day to tidy up - it wasn't just a case of mounting the reservoir as the pipework was messy.  The reservoir was mounted by drilling a 6mm hole on the lip of the chassis leg and securing it there.  I had to shorten the rubber pipe on the pump side to make everything else fit, and managed to utilise some of the existing brackets to mount the metal pipes onto the starter motor bolt.  It's very secure now and no longer sits 6" below the sump.

Today we made the makeshift clocks / lights bracket.  Just something to get it through the MOT.  I also fabricated the brake pipe brackets needed to keep the rubber hoses secure when driving.

We've also come across an intermittent not starting issue.  It's only started twice since we got the car, and refuses to fire up most of the time.  I'm thinking this could be a fuel pressure issue as there is a spark and the car has run today but stopped with the application of hard throttle.  If anyone has any advice it would be appreciated, but for now I think a new fuel filter is in order.  I think it's a mk3 filter.....

The current list of things to do before the MOT:

• Fix horn
• Fix lights
• Fix fog light
• Dashboard fitment
• Wobbly driver's seat
• Mount PAS reservoir + pipes
• Mount water pipes properly
• Sort the heater matrix bypass water pipe
• Surge tank mounting
• Wiring mystery solving
• Not starting issue
• Fuel filter
• Brake pipe brackets

pics of the budget dash, needs spraying in fetching matt black:



and the kinked heater matrix bypass pipe, pah

[euro dave]

Another full day with the car today and it was a bit of a handful.  First job was to replace the fuel filter and sort out its mounting and a couple of pipes.  This was potentially one of the starting issues as the car hasn't been starting recently.  The job was fairly straightforward once I'd stopped panicking that all the fuel was about to empty on the drive.....  it started first time and even idled well!

Time for a spot of food, went back to the car and...... no starting.  Too good to be true.  I set about mounting various ancillaries to make myself feel better, then set to the distributor cap and rotor arm with emery cloth.....  and lo and behold the thing now starts.  I'll get brand new ones tomorrow on my day off.

The kinked water pipe sucked up about 2-3 hours of my evening.  I cut the rubber pipe to make way for a 22mm copper elbow with lips to remove the kink.  Could I make it fit?  Could I hell.  Boiled water, heating it under a flame when stretched over a socket did nothing.  In the end a friend brought round a 22mm elbow without the lips and I managed to get it to fit.  Not sure this will work as it seemed too easy to pop it off.  We'll see how the jubilee clips hold out.

So now we have a car that will start (fingers crossed) and a shorter list of things to do before the MOT. 

Also just watched Top Gear and cursed them for saying money won't help make a car go faster!  How about no money?  That's the spirit!

Current list of things as it stands:

• Fix fog light
• Surge tank
• Mystery wiring
• Wobbly driver's seat
• New rotor and distributor
• Bleed brakes
• Fix horn
• Fix lights
• Dashboard fitment
• Mount PAS reservoir + pipes
• Mount water pipes properly
• Sort the heater matrix bypass water pipe
• Not starting issue
• Fuel filter
• Brake pipe brackets
• Mount ECU / Coil etc etc

[euro dave]

Another day bites the dust, we spent an age trying to sort out new distributor and rotor arm as they had fused to the metal shaft.  Pah.  Interior is almost done bar the wobbly seat, then it's a quick bleed of the brakes and it should be roadworthy!

Current list of things as it stands:

• Mystery wiring
• Wobbly driver's seat
• Bleed brakes
• Fix fog light
• Surge tank
• New rotor and distributor
• Fix horn
• Fix lights
• Dashboard fitment
• Mount PAS reservoir + pipes
• Mount water pipes properly
• Sort the heater matrix bypass water pipe
• Not starting issue
• Fuel filter
• Brake pipe brackets
• Mount ECU / Coil etc etc

and the engine bay as it stands:

[euro dave]

Did a quick few hours on the car today with Joe, got the brakes bled and was shocked to look at the old fluid which was filthy and had air in it.  Spent a few hours tidying all the wiring and fabricating various brackets in the interior and exterior to get the wires neat and tidy and out of the way of the pedals and feet, plus a lot of degreasing in the engine bay.  The car is now running well (a bit noisy but can't figure out if it's a tappet or the injectors) and I think it's ready for an MOT.

Current list of things as it stands:

• Tidy mystery wiring
• Wobbly driver's seat
• Bleed brakes
• Fix fog light
• Surge tank
• New rotor and distributor
• Fix horn
• Fix lights
• Dashboard fitment
• Mount PAS reservoir + pipes
• Mount water pipes properly
• Sort the heater matrix bypass water pipe
• Not starting issue
• Fuel filter
• Brake pipe brackets
• Mount ECU / Coil etc etc

latest pics, not very interesting mind you:

[euro dave]

A quick update: got the car MOT-ed today.  Only advisories were tyres and a brake pipe bracket missing on the rear beam.

Had a problem with the gear linkage, but this turned out to be the linkage bracket coming loose so once that was tightened up it was good to go!

Next jobs are:

2 x bucket seats mounted
Half cage sourced and installed
Either seats lowered or sunroof cut out or both (no space for our heads!)

[euro dave]

So, it's been a while since the last update.  The car has been taxed and insured and Joe is using it every now and then for work.  It's running well, starts first time and so on.

We've got 2 Corbeau Forza seats for it, with subframes.  A guy we know said he'd fit them for cash, or we could swap with his Cobra Monaco S seats and he'd do it for free.  So we've done this!  The Cobra's are less comfy but have more lateral support.

The seats were mounted by bolting them onto two box section tubes running across the original sliders.  The Corbeau runners were used, and we welded these onto the base plate for the Cobra seats.  This took a couple of days to do.

This afternoon we decided to paint the bare metal exposed by the welding, and stripped all of the sound deadening from passenger and driver footwells.  What a mission!  A quick clean with turps and a couple of coats of "No Nonsense" hammer finish paint and we're good to go.  Seats will be re-mounted later in the week.

Box section tubes welded in:




Joe does a bit of tidying:




The boring bit, stripping the deadening off:




Much better:

[euro dave]

Seats back in, and now I need to find a better way of mounting the harnesses:

[euro dave]

So on to the engine bay....

I bought a remote sender kit for the oil sender as I just wasn't comfortable with mounting the sender off a T-Piece directly on the top of the filter housing.  Used PTFE tape on the taper threads - no oil leaks so far.  I needed to earth the sender properly as it didn't self earth.

I directed the braided line over to the alternator bracket and mounted it here on a rubberized clamp:



The car is showing above 50PSI when being driven on the road at 2k-3k rpm, this goes up to 90PSI when being redlined.  At tickover the PSI is very low, around 15PSI.

Next thing to do was the air filter - this had been gaffer taped onto the original housing and then ziptied onto the wing.  I hated it!  The cone was removed and properly glued onto the plastic intake on the MK3 airbox - this was cut out of the original box before I got the car.  A hot glue gun did the trick.  This allowed the cone to be bolted onto the metal AFM housing securely.

I fabricated a bracket for the housing that comes off the bolts on the suspension turret and then down the side of the housing.  With the housing upside down it bolts straight onto the bracket - no more zip ties.



That's it for now.