So, I found this car on ebay in april with a starting bid of £1000. I looked into the car, and it's MOT history. In the last 18 MOTs held on record it has passed 17 of them first time, with the last failure being in the mid 2010s. 

 

The car came with a few modifications. In the ebay description, it said that it had a stainless exhaust from the downpipe, G40 brakes, and Ronal alloy wheels, along with the car being serviced regularly. However the car had a small bump on the front resulting in some visible panel damage.

 

 

I decided to bid on the car at £1000, and then I watched the bidding very carefully, and to my surprise I won! When I got to the house to collect the car, I was then told the car had also been fitted with coilovers all round, but we're wound up so it wasn't low. I was chuffed with the car, even with the front end damage, and I jumped in and drove the 70 miles home with no problem!

 

I'll upload the photos on the ebay ad when I bought the car.

 

Driving home was surreal, id wanted an old car of my own for some time after spending the last 4 years looking after my partners MK2 Breadvan. When I got home, I got my chance to have a real good look around the car, and take in what I had bought.

 

I gave it a thorough clean, treated the bumpers and trim, fitted a couple of stickers for my own photography company, and a friends also. And then I headed down to Thruxton Race Circuit as its very close to where I live, to get some pictures of my new found gold!

 

Little clip of how the stainless system sounds, I was super excited when I got this, but after driving it for a couple months, I feel like sometimes it's a bit too tame, unless you're using the gearbox and on power, it's very tame. I'm thinking a 4-2-1 manifold and decat will do this a world of good

 

 

 

 

Edited 9 June, 20224 yr by Rhys Durham

So now it's the end of April. My car had just been accepted for a display paddock in the centre of Goodwood Race Circuit for Retro Rides Weekender. I had decided to start playing about with the front end to see the extent of damage and to try and make the car a bit more show worthy. One evening after work I set about removing my grill and light too see the damage and to see if I could fix it.

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the headlight bracketry, and front slam panel were all twisted up pretty bad. I set about straightening and pulling the damaged metal out. And below is the finished product, to which I really was not happy with. The headlight sat way too high, and the front was just still not right. 

 

So now we're at the beginning of May, show day is only a few weekends away, and I'm really not happy with the car. The mad rush begins, I had spent the last week or so of April trying to find a second hand slam panel for sale, or a new one. Volkswagen Heritage had none in stock, no luck via Autodoc, and a promising private sale fell through. A good friend of mine offered me free reign of a donor car he had for its engine, though it was located in Barnstaple in Devon, a good 3 hours away from me. So, I filled the car up with tools, and set off for Devon, 3 hours passed and we arrived. The car was located on a farm, in the pissing rain, so I donned my coat and Wellies, and got to work! 

 

 

After a couple hours of drilling spot welds and removing parts, I filled the car up and set off for home! 

 

On arrival home, I got straight on with stripping my car, and continued into the late evening.

 

 

The next morning, I continued. I fitted the crash bar from the donor car. The slam panel I took home was corroded which was a shame, however, the front piece was solid, and in perfect shape compared to mine. I removed the lower piece carefully from my car, and was then able to straighten out the headlight bracketry. I jad a friend helping me, who removed the front piece from the donor slam panel, and then we amalgamated the two pieces together, making one good slam panel. I fitted the wing from the donor car and threw it all back together for a test fit, which went swimmingly!

 

 

And finally, I was satisfied with the front end. Sadly the bonnet is bent, and I hadn't been able to salvage the bonnet from the donor car to go on this. However, this was looking much better. I pulled the wing off the car and refitted my old one so the car was still usable, and set about painting the donor wing up. We painted it in my friend's garage, and then sent it to our paint guy for lacquer, as thats normally when I screw paint up 😂

 

A couple weeks passed and I had my wing back, the weekend before the show! In the lead up to this, I had purchased a set of smoked taillights, which I had fitted. And our good friend Lee, who runs OhSoRetro kindly gave me a set of smoked side repeaters for the car. I also bought some red pinstripe tape, and added the red pinstripe round the bumpers 

 

I went and washed the car before fitting my new wing. I also, with the help of my partner and some patience, fitted some stickers that I had purchased from Grafshed, which I think really compliment the look of the car, matching the white wheels etc. 

 

I then spent the entire week after work cutting and polishing the car to get it ready for the show, and this is the end result. A straight front end (minus the bonnet) new taillights and side repeaters and my stickers fitted!

 

 

Then the big weekend arrived. Which was great, I enjoyed it very much. Was great to see some of my hard work sat in the paddock at Goodwood. Here's some pictures!

 

Edited 9 June, 20224 yr by Rhys Durham

Now, to the present day. Nothings changed since RRW, at the end of May, as I've been trying to let some money recuperate, and I'm currently on holiday in Cornwall with my partner. I've simply just been enjoying driving the car. I have had some running issues where the car was hesitating below 3K revs, but this was quickly resolved with an ignition system service, and a new set of HT leads. I have racked up almost 2000 miles on the car since I bought it in april, and I have really enjoyed driving it. I have also obtained a straight bonnet, which will be going on the car once its painted.

 

The car will be at Players Classics at Goodwood on the Sunday 18th June. And I have come up with some plans for the future of this car, hence the reason for starting my build thread. Stay tuned to see the progress of this car throughout my ownership, and if youve read any of this so far, thanks for reading!

 

Edited 9 June, 20224 yr by Rhys Durham

Fast forward to June 2023. 

 

A lot has happened, bit unfortunately, she's still off the road after the carb conversion not going half as smoothly as I anticipated. This is how it currently sits 😕

However, we have also just taken delivery of this 1987 Ranger, which I'll be getting on the road quick smartish for myself to use until the coupe is back in action, at which point it will become a shared one 🤝🏻

 

Now this is a special car, the list is endless with this thing, and it'll probably end up with a build thread of its own!

So, let's rewind a little and fill the gap now I have some time. 

 

So, November came, and with it, the winter weather set in. My year so far had been faultless. The car jade performed valiantly, and it was fully in its new look after gaining itself a fresh years ticket. 

 

Me being me, on a quest for going faster, decided that over the winter, I'd be fitting a Piper 268 high lift camshaft, and gutting my fuel system for CBR600 F3 motorbike carbs. 

 

Was my decision wise? At the time, yes. Now I look back, I'm kind of wishing I hadn't started. I haven't driven my car since it was parked in November. 

The cars gone through lots of changes. The entire engine bay wiring loom and ECU were stripped, and were replaced by mostly MK2 ignition components. The wiring loom is home made, and I was elated that it ran so quickly, I think all in all it was a three day turnaround from running on the injection to running with the carbs. 

 

Since then however, things have not been so great. I've been chasing issue, after issue, and resolving each issue I've come across. The fuel supply system has been revised three times, I've had the cambelt on and off god knows how many times, I've tried almost every ignition part I can, and it still doesn't want to run properly. 

 

I have now whittled it down to rhe fact that cylinders two and three are not firing properly, the plugs are wet, and pulling each lead makes little to no difference on the running whatsoever. 

 

And that's pretty much where I'm at now. Almost 8 months of teething problems and issues, and my cars still sat in the garage. I've missed every show I had booked for the car this year so far, and it's been rough I'll be honest. I think more than anything I just miss driving something old with some character. Hopefully, driving this Ranger about till this is back to life will help give me some love back for my hobby.