Hi great work just wondered wear you got your arches from I have a set for mine but don't fit half as good as yours

Thanks

Hi great work just wondered wear you got your arches from I have a set for mine but don't fit half as good as yours

Thanks

Thanks for the comment. They came with the car, however they are the same kit that you can source through PhilJ.

I believe that you can get a set from German eBay from a firm called GFK, who coincidentally made my front spoiler.

Had a bit of a head scratch to come up with a solution to make sure that they were parallel in all axes.

Here's what I came up with. It slides into the slots, using a piece of 2mm steel, I can slide it underneath and use a feeler gauge to check for gaps before I commit to welding it. Perhaps not an exciting update, but it may prove useful to someone else in the future.

Edited 9 September, 201411 yr by runforrestrun

Looking good Jim, I'm liking the care and attention to doing things properly

Thanks Nick. It's fun to take your time getting things right!

Here's an update from today.

I've welded in the back plates, and cut a section out so I will be able to get some seal sealer in behind them in the top of the turret.

Painted with Zinc weld through primer

Now ready to weld in, once I've had plenty of practice doing plug welds.

Todays update, after racing a 10k this morning (living up to my username!)

I've now taken receipt of some bearing shells and piston rings for the engine (thanks Fatman)

Also got me some new wheels instead of the Weller's (no photos yet but I love them!) I decided that I wanted wheels a bit narrower than 10", but they are still 13" diameter, that's all I'm saying for now..

I've started stripping the AVY block so I can wrap it all in clingfilm and hide it in my wardrobe out of the way, and get the complete AFH off the floor and on the stand to make some room.

Got some plug welding practice in, opened up the holes on the car to 8mm, and got the turrets clamped in and ready to weld, after painting the contact surface with zinc weld through primer.

Rigged up another method to triple check alignment prior to and during welding

Taking a step back with a brew to admire my handywork

First few welds done, and the turrets are solid now.

Just need to finish the plug welds, tidy them up, run a seam weld around the top, wire wheel off all the slag, and splash on some primer, and this job is done.

The turrets are done.. finally.

Annoyingly, checking my work after finishing the welding, I've discovered that the inside edge of the nearside turret is 2mm below level, meaning it's on the piss slightly. I don't think +-2mm tolerance will make much difference as everything is fully adjustable anyway, but it is annoying as I'm a perfectionist! It must have sunk due to the heat of welding, as it all sat perfectly after I'd put the first few plug welds in.

I've made up some temporary top mount plates out of 2mm steel, with some captive nuts underneath, and some greased up penny washers. This means it will be able to stand on its own weight when I stitch weld the seams in the engine bay.

Mocked up the brakes to make sure they clear under the barrels of my new wheels.

And a photo of the front of one of the wheels. They are Compomotive CX three piece splits. Annoyingly they are 4x101.6 PCD, so I will be having some spigot rings made, and I'll be redrilling the drive flanges so I can run studs and nuts instead of wobble bolts. I think I'll need to run 5mm spacers on the front so the back of the wheel doesn't catch on the outside edge of the carrier.

Edited 30 September, 201411 yr by runforrestrun

So it's been slow progress but here's the next update.

I cleaned all of the seam sealer from the seams on the bottom of the front turrets, and the same inside (behind the intended welding area)

And cracked on stitch welding them.

It was a bit difficult as some remnants of the seam sealer were melting and bleeding into the weld but overall I'm happy enough with the strength of them - lots of wire brushing mid weld as the seam sealer bubbled out.

I also cleaned the sticky bitumen off of the back of the engine bay using a wire wheel and then brake cleaner, nothing else would shift it.

All now painted with a dusting of zinc primer. Next step - stitch welding and strengthening the engine bay with gussets.

So another update for you all.

I've made some gussets for the bottom of the chassis legs. These are made from 3mm plate with a bend in for extra strength, and closed off with a 2mm plate on the front. The nearside gusset looks larger, and it is, as the chassis leg is taller.

I've also stitch welded the top seam of the chassis legs were they join the inner wings.

Showing the penetration through the panel.

And lastly I have added plates of 2mm steel inside the inner wings to add strength - I have been told that this is a known failure point. Was tricky to get the plate to the right profile, however some work with the hammer and a few different anvils got it close. I then clamped it for the first tack, working around the plate with the clamp to weld it stage by stage. I then gave it a good beating with a hammer to relieve the tension in the plate created by welding it in.

I now wonder whether to add more gussets to the bottom of the chassis legs, as both Yoof did on his mk1, and Hywel did on his mk2 rally car.

This is Hywels (heg123)

This is Yoofs mk1

Any input is appreciated.

Lovely work jim, i think I'm gonna have to start a thread again!

So I've now stitch welded the seam where the bulkhead tray meets the inner wing on both sides

And where the bulkhead panel meets the floor panel at both seams

Taken more underseal off from the inner wing so I can start strengthening another known weak point (thanks Kiz for the heads up) I plan on using a section of 25mm box section cut diagonally to make it into angle section (you can see it in the photo)

I've got some patchwork to make first though. Looking forward to it.

Only just found this build. Great work I enjoy reading indepth threads like this

Jim......... your highlighted weak points................. Weak in terms of flex in chassis under dynamic loading such as driving etc, or just functionally weak in terms of a stress concentration regardless of input.

Are you strengthening for driving performance? Are you fitting a pull cage? If so will you come through to the turrets?

A friend of mine (RyanC) has a G40 that had cracked at the bottom of the chassis leg, and Vic also reported a crack in the same place on one of his mk2's. Kiz had problems with flex in the inner wings when he modified his bulkhead so added in plates on the top.

I'm strengthening the chassis as I want it to be future proof before I get it painted, I expect to get perhaps 200bhp from my engine so I want the 33 year old chassis to be able to stand it.

I will have a full cage, yes, welded in, and it will also come through to the front turrets.

All advice and feedback welcome.

higgo, when i smoothed my engine bay i made a startling discovery (verified by guy) if you cut the inner wing on the top (where the wing screws attach- its 0.8mm steel x 35mm wide) i did this between the 2 wing bolt holes behind the turret. if you then jack the car up you will see the cut you made go from the width of the saw to about 5mm, the up and down movement of the chassis leg is frightening! which is why i reinforced it! VW did the same on there racing golfs from the 1980s, that part of the chassis is a point to strenthen if you are going to track it. i believe it is this movement which cracks the chassis leg at the base.

This is the photo that Kiz sent me from his old build thread, (I hope he doesn't mind!). It helps demonstrate his words above. He used 4mm steel plate.

reason it was full of question marks is because at that stage in my build nobody knew i had fully smoothed my bay. and i wanted it kept quiet at the time. theres no special new additions lol - bay is still the same as it was in my current build thread albeit its painted white

So I cut the passenger side section out after drilling the spot welds and prising up the tip of the scuttle panel

I made a new panel from 1mm steel, reusing the original captive threaded washer to save sourcing a new one

Here's a photo of the repair tacked in place. I'm really pleased with how well it figs. I decided against making a panel that had pepped edges as I wanted it to look as if it's never been repaired from in the engine bay, and it will be strong enough when the roll cage and strengthening gussets are in place.

Here's what I ended up with. I haven't got a photo from behind it yet.

I've got another similar task on the drivers side of the car.

Thanks for reading.

Loving that Jim. Looks very professional.

Your skills have come a long way since your last build!

Your attention to detail, fabrication and welding skills are amazing.

I'm in the process of rebuilding my mk1 at the moment and will be running close to 170bhp, It's pretty worrying to here of all the weak spots these mk1 have and I now regret not stitch welding and strengthening the chassis legs and seams in and around the engine bay.

Your mk1 will be well worthy, and capable of handling 200bhp I'm sure!!

Awesome work Jim

Thanks guys, that means a lot. I want to do this car justice and make sure it is safe.

In other news, I don't think I ever shared a photo of my rear wing that came with the car

How it should sit

And courtesy of Matt, the next suggestion of how to gusset my engine bay

Edited 18 December, 201411 yr by runforrestrun

That rear wing is going to look so good man! Hopefully be able to pop down and see this soon :)

Thanks, I hope so, once I find a way of making it fit.

Anyway, I have decided on a fuelling design, which was a fundamental decision to be made.

My considerations were as follows..

• I want a central exit exhaust without bends
• I want the fuel tank to be in the stock location for a low COG
• I don't want the fuel tank to be in the cabin as I don't want the car to smell of fuel or be dangerous
• I want to delete the filler flap on the side of the car

I've decided on a pattern aluminium fuel tank which will be foam filled to reduce surge. I will cut and weld in a saddle under the tank so that the exhaust does not foul it (and add a heat shield if required). I will have two gravity feeds from either side of the tank running to a y-piece and into a low pressure pump, then into a high pressure injection pump for the throttle bodies. This y-piece will balance the level in either side of the tank giving a true reading for the fuel level sender unit to report. I will buy one of those sandwich filler cap units (like the Audi TT style) and once I have my rear lexan windows I will mount the filler neck in the window and down to the fuel tank through the floor.

Now I've made that decision, I can also commit to getting the exhaust made, then get the tank sorted around it to make sure it doesn't foul.

Here's a few photos of my repair on the offside inner wing. I've left more of the weld in place as it will be hidden anyway (in hindsight I wish i'd done that on the other side too)

I've now borrowed a powerful which is making things a lot easier. I've also invested in a shot blaster which will help a lot removing the surface rust from difficult areas.

Courtesy of Liz, I have also now acquired a MOCAL oil cooler too.

Oh, and I've got a few more rim sections for my wheels, meaning I've currently got various widths to choose from 7.75", 8.25", 9.75" and 10.25". I'm still hoarding the rims sections to give me more choice in the future. Ideally I don't want to be wider than 8".

More to come soon.

You going to be racing this then jim?

Of course I will do the RWYB up at Santa Pod, I'm also thinking of the Time Attack series. Otherwise it'll just be a toy.