SALOON CAR RACER FOR UNDER £2000.00

[CAR 42]

Well
Its about time someone thought about trying to help anyone who wants to do some circuit racing for the least money as possible I race my little 205 GTI, well its little to me being over 6-4in at castle combe in their saloon car cup.
If anyone would like to know how drop me a note and if their is enough intrest I will do a full run down from start to finish over the next couple of days or may be week

RICK (CAR 42)

[Lee Purnell]

Great stuff Rick,
I'm intereted, and I am sure many others are yoo!

[CAR 42]

Hi LEE
Hows it going has the web site been updated as yet with some new pics !!!!

Well lets start.

PART 1
Looking for a suitable car to go racing can take a while but I was looking for a 205 gti so that makes things easy, after looking at the small adds in the papers for a while a mate from work told me of a 205 for sale so had to have a look well this motor had 3 months tax and two months MOT and the asking price for £400.00 due to rear end damage & a sliping clutch after a little haggling cash works wonders the car was brought home.
Now the easy part strip down this took me one weekend all the parts where put to one side and labelled thats a must other wise bolts tend to go missing or the important clip that you need later which you cant find!!!
The wiring harness is taken out without cutting any wires this is quite inportant later,after everything has been removed the hard work starts first remove all the sound deadning felt thats usually found on the floor pan and sometime inside the doors
then remove all the joint sealer from inside the car this is where you find the dreaded rust holes if you cant see them first time .With 205s the joint between the bulk head and floor pan is the most likely place for rot this shell was no exception it had a 4mm gapwright across the bulkhead More work!
After all the inside has been sorted start on the out side seams e.g under wheel arch/engine bay after 5 or 6 days you might end up with a shell thats ready to be welded

PART 2 TO FOLLOW

If anyone has any questions during my build just ask

[Peter Mallett]

I hope Graham's reading this!!!

OTOH if it ain't a bad handling TVR it ain't a race csr to him

[Dan Friel]

This is just what I need, good stuff!!

I shall ask questions once I have time to properly read it - slightly busy at present.

Looking forward to the new season, I trust you shall be present on Aprils Fools Day??

[Lee Purnell]

Wow Rick,
this is just what we need
It is really good stuff. I think that it very intersting yet informative at the same time, can't
wait for Part 2!!!

[Peter Mallett]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lee Purnell:
Wow Rick,
this is just what we need
It is really good stuff. I think that it very intersting yet informative at the same time, can't
wait for Part 2!!! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You sichophant

[Peter Mallett]

Ignoring my above post.

It sounds good to me. What I really want to know though is the regs. What can U do to the engine brakes gearbox etc. Can you run multi-point cages?

Can you stroke the engine?

[CAR 42]

PART 2
This is where you start getting dirty.
Well at this time you have a shell all ready to be welded you have found all the holes cracks or whatever that need to be repaired so of you go get welding I myself use a mig welder but the chiose is yours.
After the holes etc have been filled the next step is to stitch weld all the seams (PLEASE NOTE SOME CHAMPIONSHIPS DONT ALLOW SEAM WELDING AT ALL ) what this means is you run a weld for about 1" long then leave a gap of say 4" and then do another 1" weld this is done on all the seams on the car e.g engine/bay bulk/head anywhere that theres a panel joint, this job usaly takes 2 to 3 days after this has been done cover all the welds with primer because welds start rusting very quickly .Next is the roll cage
mind was a 6 point bolt in cage (second hand only cost £40.00 )After checking the cage and parting with the cash I fitted It In the car except the mounting points these needed to be marked out and the cage removed again.The reason for this is all the mounting points need to have plates welded either side of the floor pan which are about 2" wider than the mounting plates on the cage this stops the cage ripping out in case of a spill .after all this has been done back in with cage and bolt it down. Well its taking shape.

PART 3 to follow

As to the regs I will do a full break down soon.

[Peter Mallett]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by CAR 42:
PART 2
the next step is to stitch weld all the seams (PLEASE NOTE SOME CHAMPIONSHIPS DONT ALLOW SEAM WELDING AT ALL ) what this means is you run a weld for about 1" long then leave a gap of say 4" and then do another 1" weld this is done on all the seams on the car e.g engine/bay bulk/head anywhere that theres a panel joint, <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Don't forget around the door openings and between the roof and dor frames. Also above the windscreen

[CAR 42]

Some people are very are very fussy isn't that so Peter
I am trying my best here so I am bound to miss something but still all helpfull comments are welcome .

RICK

[CAR 42]

PART 3

Time to leave the shell for a while and work on the front and rear suspension units the rear unit from a 1600 205 have drum brakes so these were junked and replaced with the disc units from a 1900,the calipers where stripped and cleaned and the disc's where replaced with new + new pads.
The other bits of the suspension were also cleaned and painted.The front suspension was also stripped the only things that needed replacing were both track rod ends which were U/S (knackered).At this time the standard suspension units are being fitted so I can get the shell mobile,now back to the shell
all the inside of the car is primed so a quick look underneath the car at this time should be done to make sure the welds underneath have been primed, also give the wheel arches a dab of primer & paint after that I fitted the front and rear suspension units + the steering colume.The front brakes were also cleaned and refitted but yet again new disc's were put on + pads.
So far I have paid out approx £500 so its time to sell some of the spare bits luckly a mate needed some bits of trim so he had the lot for £50.00 inc the seats so that got somthing back.Anyway back to the car the shell was now mobile, next thing paint inside of the shell some nice colour then fit the dash except the instrument pod this can be fitted once the wiring loom has been made.
Most of the wiring loom is not needed so spend a few minutes stripping off the old tape on the loom and only use what you need once this is done fit the loom neatly in the car extra wires can be fitted later if required so don't tape it up just yet,all the other bit's like the ignition cutout etc can also fitted as and where you want to fit them its up to you next job fit the seat where it suits and fix permantly to the floor
using very big washers under the floor this stops it pulling though the floor in shunts etc

So to up date we have a welded shell / cage & seat / fuel lines /brake lines / dash /new brakes/wiring loom /front & rear suspension/

PART 4 TO FOLLOW

[Lee Purnell]

I am no "sichophant", I had to look the word up in the dictionarie first mind , but I am just pleased to see someone trying to help out racers on a budget with some detailed instructions, like we have thanks to Car42

[Peter Mallett]

Whilst I think the topic would be better served in the Racer's Forum I'll let you keep it here Lee.

Can the suspension be modified to adjustable struts? What about geometry?

Come on come on we're all holding our breath.

[Lee Purnell]

Oooooppppssss,
you do have a point, But we'll leave it here any way

[CAR 42]

Now boys
lets be fair its the first time I have done anything thing like this next time I will but it in the write section ok.

[CAR 42]

PART 3 CONT
Forgot to mention I fitted braided brake and fuel line which run inside the car also I used the standard fuel tank and pump the only problem here the pump runs at a high pressure so a regulator was fitted to reduce the pressure.

PART 4

Next item to be fitted was the fire extingisher system these come in all sorts of sizes and types mine is a cable operated sytem which has to be able to be set off by the driver aswell as anyone for outside the car this is done by cable & a small T handle
mounted on the front of the car , the electrical system also needs a cut off so this also has a T handle for this purpose

Lets talk engine and gear box.
The gearbox is 100% standard the engine has a few mods.I welded in some baffles in the sump to stop oil surge also a uprated cam from kent was fitted to suit the carbs that are to be fitted. After fitting the engine and gearbox which only takes 10 mins its only 3 bolts you can locate the wiring through the bulk head for the lights etc also refit the drive shafts to the gearbox there lots of other bits like wipers ign coil etc that need to be fitted but this would take a lot of time so i will skip some of the finer stuff but don't forget I will answer any questions.
after most of this has been done you can refit things like door tailgates bonnet etc making sure you fit clips to both the bonnet and tailgate to stop them opening the standard exhaust is used just make sure it up to the job after all this you have a nearly ready to race car some of the improvements I have done I will list in PART 5
Then it was down to painting the car which was done in my garage.Yes I can spray as well as weld and most other things to do with cars thats possibly why I can keep my costs down
I hope this gives people some ideas on how to build a car