Wow that is an awesome job! Good to see management also firmly in place!

From my understanding, the car was a work horse, and I didn't exactly give it an easy life considering what it has pulled to Unit 18 (well your old unit at the time, but still )

Loads of stuff gone

Just done a deal on some trim so i can retrim your front seats until you get leather done as and when. At least it will look as it should,

Ah yes - my old car. Been looking through with interest to see what's being done to it.

From my understanding, the car was a work horse, and I didn't exactly give it an easy life considering what it has pulled to Unit 18 (well your old unit at the time, but still )

Well I spent lots of time in it, and you can see from Lummox's photo of the driver seat that I used to eat in the car, especially chocolate. :sorry:

I did keep it serviced though, and it spent a lot of time on motorways so it's not as stressed as it could have been with those miles. (WW - is it still on the original clutch!?)

I remember being in the front passenger seat of that, this past summer....

Lemme just say that I named WW "The Flying Dutchman" at the time.

It was totally standard when I handed it over to WW - but it was always quite perky. I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of those engines that got manufactured with a few more horses than the claimed 100.

Hehe - I think it was the way I went round a few 'obstacles' that gave me that name You don't hang about either though, which to be fair is probably why the turbo still work(ed) just fine

The clutch had a very hard time with me, as I pulled a certain white 4x4 Octy from mr Bengie himself, when that car was filled with extra bits (drive shafts IIRC, and possibly 2nd engine? cannot remember now). The car had moved forward on the trailer which really put WAAAAY too much weight on the rear of the estate. Also pulled the vRS behind it, and an Escort, plus a shell of another one

Stuff done to it by me pre-handover to Mr Ross were mainly fitting the Koni FSDs at the front, plus the Eibachs. The rear of the car needs the Konis & Eibachs fitting. Also I fitted the Jabba rear ARB, and a Forge rear strut, plus Forge front strut, and put my 17" wheels back on at some stage. Dropped the sound dampening stuff back in where I could, and fitted Jason's bonnet lifter, plus a briskoda sticker :P

No power enhancing was done on this one.as I knew it was going for the swap

The clutch is deffo on the way out now - but the engine still behaved nicely

Forgot to add - also refitted the Blueflame exhaust. Unlike Alex' vRS estate project, I specifically did NOT go for exposing the exhaust, as I found the rear of the car stayed much cleaner on the estate like this, and I did not fancy the cleaning :P

Thanks Ross for an ace job as always

my car loads in it mate, engine, gearbox, prop, drive shafts, clutch, flywheel etc etc etc

All I remember was that when we arrived, the front grille of the Octy was firmly connected with the 'dropdown wheel (?)' pole at the front, and that there was zero suspension travel

I think the hillstart in whatever the name of that village was, was pretty 'interesting' - drop the clutch to get wheelspin to take off with 2.5 tonnes (about 2.5x max towing weight ) worked for a bit, then the tyres gripped and the clutch let go, it was a tad smelly

The estate did me well, she didn't like it much when not driven regularly due to the (known when bought from David) sensor fault, but beyond using a little oil when I was making progress at high speeds for sustained periods of time, she's been good as gold. Serviced, new front brakes were needed at some stage (pretty much on the metal), booked in as virtually emergency at Ross' dealership ages ago now.

Didnt quite get her up to the quarter of a million miles, but pretty darn close

That exhaust is going to have to be sorted out a bit even if it stays hidden as the soot it collecting under the car and you can smell it inside at times.

The downpipe etc thats on it, is that he one to be reused mate? I see its all wrapped up.

Yep, the exhaust is the Blueflame, probably need to get a new gasket but it is heatwrapped down as much as I could. It wouldnt surprise me if there was a bit of smoke leakage at the engine side as well though, had a little puff of smoke at some stage there so perhaps I didnt tighten it properly or something.

IIRC there is the original tail piece from Blueflame in the collection of various items, I used a pipe-to-pipe piece to join the cut pieces back up again, was a bl*dy nightmare to get hold off, and had to smooth the pipe both sides and help it along a lot (prebending etc) but it could be used to join the rear pipe on I guess if needed.

I dont know what you'd recommend, perhaps a metal shielding plate to ensure the smog goes down rather than collect, or would it be better to go for a cutout & vRS rear bumper (thinking this may not be possible as different, but I can't remember TBH )

The fumes probably hit against the inside of the rear bumper from what you're saying?

I am hoping to be on MSN again at more sensible times in the near future, I am in Spanish classes during the 'morning'.

Update from this morning..

Found the cause of the intermittant PAS failure issue me thinks, pump is very corroded and the12v supply terminal has gone rather green.

Hopefully starting to rebuild tomorrow.

been busy there Mr.Clarke, looking good

Are you chucking the steering pump from the vRS on? I have one spare here if you're not.

Do those pics of dirty engine bits count as automotive porn?

Strong work there Ross.....

Noticed the good advertising for the bonnet lifter kit too! Still works even when there's no engine or subframe in the car.

That bonnet lifter is a double edged sword.

One one hand its a pain in the **** as for a 6ft2ins chap it doesnt open high enough for me to get under and work on when the car is on the floor.

On the other the bonnet stays up with no slam panel on.

I have the pump from the vRS, it looks to be in good shape as does the wiring.

how long do you reckon ross till its back on the road?

Not sure, with xmas very close now finding time to get on with it is getting tough, plus got to get some bits soon and my personal funds are low and some of the bits i sold for Wiebo didnt go for as much as I hoped.

Drop me a line Mr Ross regarding finances, hopefully can try to figure out a way to get credit card details to you

Good progress. How DO you find the time Ross? I'd go under taking a project like this on I think!

I like that full width bonnet light - is it any good and if so who makes it/model?

Greg.

Good progress. How DO you find the time Ross? I'd go under taking a project like this on I think!

I like that full width bonnet light - is it any good and if so who makes it/model?

Greg.

This plus two jobs it does get busy.

m

I got the light from my Mac Tools dealer, cost £50 but is brilliant, works really well inside also if hung across the headlining kinda thing.

Little more done today, was hoping to get a bit more done but pretty pleased with the results from a few hours spent up there (my god it was cold with no heating).

First thing to get done was try and clean off the 260,000 miles worth of grime and dirt out of the engine bay, no way was I putting the engine back in with it looking like it did.

Starts off like this...

Then the magic ingredient..

Quick rinse...

Then start the rebuild. Wiring loom goes in and the ABS pump and control unit, then realise the brake lines are all different for the ESP so swap them all over for the vRS ones (luckily I saved them). Also fitted the bulkhead panel, wiper motor and scuttle trim.

Just the heater matrix pipes and ac pipes to connect when I have secured the vRS heater box inside to connect up (found the Comfort spec heater box quite different to the vRS one oddly enough so swapped it over). Also fitted the vRS gear change mech and cables, only the ends are different but seeing as everything is out and they are alot newer I thought i'd swap them over. Once thats finished the engine can go back in.

Nice days work then Ross, must try and pop over for a look sometime...will have to ask Ben to pop in on the way over, lol.

Your mrs must be so understanding...

Phil

Edited 27 December, 200817 yr by piv34uk

Very clean. What was the magic ingredient?

Very clean. What was the magic ingredient?

Works like a charm on dirty engine bays.

Merci - The white one is gonna need two of those pots when I get around to cleaning up the engine bay.