The Motor Forum

Blarno · Last edited by Blarno on Thu May 15, 2008 9:32 pm; edited 2 times in total

Check these babies out. Cobra Clubman seats, fixed backs on Nova subframes: £72. They are really light, too. Couple of fag burns but otherwise mint:

Also got a brand new pair of Sparco 3 point harnesses for £75 delivered. Considering they're over £40 each at Demon Tweeks, I've got a bargain there! Here they are, almost fully fitted into the car. Just wants a few bits of plating and welding to allow them to be bolted in:

.

So far, this project has cost no more than the £300 I originally shelled out for the car. All these bits have been bought on the back of bits I've sold. This stripping out and modding lark is highly addictive, I only need a new steering wheel and the major modification work is done!

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. · Dieselhead My Car: . Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 7595

Bumper and headlights gone aswell?

Blarno · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:04 pm Post subject:

No, I took them off to remove the aircon radiator. I haven't put them back in because I've still got to remove the aircon pump, which is right at the front of the engine and requires removal of the main radiator.

I'd make a fair bit of money for the bumper, though. It's a genuine Irmscher GSi jobby. About £400 new.
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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

. · Dieselhead My Car: . Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 7595

Oooh. I quite like the Irmscher stuff. Not bad for a Vauxhall realy!

How much does all the air con gubbins actually weight then?

Are you weighing any of this stuff that comes out of Graham?

PR · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:12 pm Post subject:

Are you keeping him road legal, or will he have to be trailered to and from tracks?
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Blarno · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:13 pm Post subject:

The main weight in the aircon is the pump and the radiator, both of which are aluminium. The rad was only a couple of kilos. I won't save a huge amount by binning it, but I don't need it on a track car.

I haven't actually weighed all the bits, but I can safely say it's close to 200 kilos. The back seat alone was 50kg, easily. There's loads of shit you don't see, such as soundproofing foam, and that adds a fair chunk of lard.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get it on the weighbridge in the paddock at Oulton and I'll know how much it's lost. It did weigh 1430kg as standard.
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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

ALF · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:21 pm Post subject:

Bookatrack's 205 GTi hire cars got down to a ridiculous weight simply through stripping out the interiors and other non-essential kit. Well worth it for track use...

Blarno · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:24 pm Post subject:

Stuntman · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:10 pm Post subject:

Keeping him road legal will mean that you get much more use out of him, too.

Excellent to see how it's all coming together. You'll have to let us know when Graham's track debut will be (assuming it'll be Oulton) so that we can come along and watch. I'll see if I can book my car on the same trackday and find out whether the Blarno/Graham combo can spank its Germanic behind. I'm hoping it's a dry day!
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Drifting through life

Blarno · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:15 pm Post subject:

I would guess that whatever the weather, the Porsche would tear me a new arsehole!

If I can, I'll try and sort one before Christmas.
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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

gonnabuildabuggy · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 6:07 pm Post subject:

Looks good - we'll need a forum meet to see his first outing.

do you think Mrs. Alf might like to try the seats?

Blarno · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 6:40 pm Post subject:

Mrs ALF? I can't answer that one!

Jo (Mrs Blarno) might like them, however!

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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

Blarno · Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:44 pm Post subject:

The new, smaller, steering wheel is now fitted. The cost? A princely £24 off fleabay, plus £40 for the boss adapter. It no longer has the horn in the centre push, and I will have to cancel the indicators myself, but that's no big deal. Looks quite good if I do say so myself:

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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

Turbonutter · Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 11:17 am Post subject:

Are you doing much work to the suspension/brakes? Looks like it will be a fun car - presume you are keeping the V6 relatively stock?

Blarno · Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 2:23 pm Post subject:

Suspension and brakes are as they were when I bought the car. Brakes are standard, suspension is lowered and stiffened. I may fit some strut braces, but I'm doing it on the cheap. So far, my only outlay over the original purchase price has been £40 for the wheel boss and £10 for a new aux belt. Everything else has been bought with money made from selling bits of the interior, and there's still loads to sell.

Engine is standard apart from the cheapo cone filter that I had left over from the Escort and the full stainless, sounds awesome.
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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:53 pm Post subject:

There's a lot more to come out of their yet!

Couple of kilos of wiring too.
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Homo erectus · Guest

I think Audi will probably miss the option to review Blarno's track-day slag as the direction of interior design in the upcoming A4.

Very impressive - I wonder what a stripped-out A2 would weigh in at...

Blarno · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:58 pm Post subject:

GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:25 pm Post subject:

Start the engine and cut wires until it goes off, then fix that one and keep going ;)
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"him" · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:28 pm Post subject:

Blarno · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:36 pm Post subject:

It may happen that way yet, Autodata is proving to be somewhat hard to get hold of. (At least an un-corrupt copy is).

I don't need that much wiring there: Only the fuel pump and lights at the back, fusebox, ECU and lights at the front. Trouble is, there's loads of wires, all intertwined and a fair chunk of them are the same colour!

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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

Li'ldude · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject:

GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:55 pm Post subject:

Ah, I intend to do it to an old bus, you can pick up up for a few hundred these days.
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Li'ldude · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:56 pm Post subject:

Yeah. I'm gonna have the ultimate van...

"Wonder if I can get a bed in a Transit Connect..."

Blarno should've put this in Graham:

Shame it's a diesel.
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. · Dieselhead My Car: . Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 7595

GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:03 pm Post subject:

Li'ldude · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:06 pm Post subject:

...

Should I be worried?

I very nice bloke called 'Serge' (Same name as one of the Le Mans engineers) did our car when it was on the wrong end of 2 tonnes of American steel. Didn't find anything wrong...

...Or was that anything?
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Blarno · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:31 pm Post subject:

Li'ldude · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:33 pm Post subject:

Well, a low-revving V6 kinda suits the cars character.

I asume in the front? What happened to the 'rear-engined Vectra' idea?
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Blarno · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:36 pm Post subject:

Rear engine would be a nightmare. Not that trying to shoehorn a V8 in won't be without it's troubles.

I'm talking at least 5 years until any conversion takes place, when the little un is bigger and some pressure is taken off my bank account.

That's assuming I don't destroy it in the meantime.

It's not that low revving, by the way. 24 valve jobby, loves revs.
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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

Li'ldude · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:38 pm Post subject:

Oh...

Sounds like a decent engine.

Sorry about the questions, my last one, but what was the donor car?
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GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:48 pm Post subject:

Well, if you want any headwork doing on it, you've only to drop it off...
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Blarno · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:57 pm Post subject:

GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:08 pm Post subject:

Blarno · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:07 am Post subject:

Charming!

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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

Li'ldude · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:26 pm Post subject:

Oh buggery, sorry, I forgot your Vectra already had the V6...
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Blarno · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:38 pm Post subject:

Finally finished removing the aircon today, replaced the auxillary belt and fitted the bonnet pins. This was not without it's problems: The bonnet decided to drop whilst I was drilling, luckily my head stopped it.

EDIT: Note the abscence of the most useless artifact on any car - the front fogs. Genuine GSi foggies go for £50 each new.......
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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

LittleSwill · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:07 pm Post subject:

A man after my own heart, no windsrceen wipers. ;-)
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Blarno · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:56 pm Post subject:

Only for the moment, I'm searching for a Citroen ZX to pilfer the wiper motor off: Cheap and effective single wiper conversion, slightly lighter too...
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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

D. · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:22 pm Post subject:

Maybe a CX or even Merc as an option.

Blarno · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:30 pm Post subject:

Don't Mercs have a ridiculously complicated cam to increase the sweep? I think the chances of finding a CX are pretty slim, too.
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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

D. · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:35 pm Post subject:

You're right about the Merc, how about XM then? A few specialists around. Come to think, ZX is sounding like the best option, but just in case.

"him" · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:36 pm Post subject:

Blarno · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:38 pm Post subject:

I would have thought so, I used an AX motor and arm on my 205 and it was only just big enough for that.

Then again, I'm going to be using a Pug 405 wiper arm, as they have the screen washer built onto the arm.
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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.

"him" · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:44 pm Post subject:

D. · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:45 pm Post subject:

Fiat Panda was another, though I am just listing cars with single wiper blades, we should start this in another thead really! My wine really is very good!

"him" · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:46 pm Post subject:

LittleSwill · Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:55 am Post subject:

Set up like this little feller -

It looks fast even if it going to make feck all difference.
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"him" · Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:02 am Post subject:

Isn't it illegal for a wiper to park like that on a road car?
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Blarno · Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:26 am Post subject:

As far as I'm aware, it must clear the entire screen, so it's gonna be a ZX wiper motor with a 405 wiper arm.

I thought it was illegal to have it parked central, too..
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Arms held out, in the Jesus Christ Pose.