Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

There is an AWD one, which also gets an IRS. Hens teeth now I imagine, and the angle-gear was made of glass so they’re almost all FWD now (but still with better suspension at the back than a meant-to-be-FWD one).

Problem is that running a drive shaft and a 3”(+) exhaust is, erm, challenging, but if someone wasn’t afraid to look at (say) Lancer transmissions and could handle some fabrication then you’d potentially have something quite interesting.

Every FWD shell has the space for the AWD gubbins, but not the mounts.

That looks ace. Wish I had friends with fields ha.

Passed her MOT today, still got to replace a weeping heater valve but she moves and stops under her own steam :D

Sound clip video :D
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fixedwheelnut/52633326368/in/dateposted/

That is glorious well done.

That sound is amazing. The whole thing is mind blowing.

love it. can see the future of my e46 right there.

have got a date in the diary to get over to Mildenhall in March to watch some, what I hope is, something a rung or two above this. Ipswich dates to follow.

that is just superb. absolutlely beautiful. great stuff dude

It’s kind of amazing how indestructible some cars are considering their reputation for unreliability, yet simultaneously depressing thinking about how many cars have inevitably been scrapped due to relatively minor problems. My e39 for example was completely faultless, until it got that fucking immobiliser fault.

@ Citron @Nef @jonny Thanks, almost a year to the day I got it back from the paint shop, 650 hours approx of my days off working on it.
Apart from inner/outer sills, jacking points and full respray colour change to San Marino Blue done by Intensive Car Unit in Southend,
I refurbed and fitted a leather interior I obtained back in 2018,
sand blasted and powder coated all the subframes and suspension components,
Removed all rust and treated the under floor, new brake and fuel lines.
Treated the fuel tank and gave it a coat of Por15.
Uprated anti roll bars.
I already had Mazda four pot calipers I put on the front but added an E90 servo and master cylinder.
Designed a custom radiator and had it made by Aarron Radiators in Croydon.
Full engine strip, I had the cylinder head ported and a fast road cam fitted by Hack Engineering, rebuilt the engine myself with uprated pistons to increase the compression ratio and painted all the ancillaries before refitting.
loads of plastic clips break on a 34 year old car, every time I walked out with replacements my wallet got raped, for those clips no longer available I made drawings and had my son in law 3D print some :D
My mate Andy Harrison at Harrison Trimming re trimmed my headlining in black and I dyed the carpet to match.
The interior plastic trims I refreshed with Vinyl Dye paint.
I also made quite a few brackets for mounting things like the coolant header tank, cooling fan, relocating Power steering reservoir, all designed in CAD or Cardboard Aided Design as I call it :D

Just epic work Steve. Including the CAD. Heehee. Now go get 650 hours driving it without a worry and a massive smile on your face dude

Amazing work.

Love this. I hope you gein ear to ear every time you drive it.

Top work. I don't think people really appreciate how much work goes into a project like this, so props.

Ace Steve nice work! Hope you're well!!

Top DEI heat wrapping too :)

Lovely work, looks and sounds great.

Now to chuck a bike in the back and drive off to the Alps :)

Amazing work, looks incredible.

Your list of work is a good reminder of why i haven't stumped up the cash/committed to respray my 900. Once the body is done i'd still have the bodykit, glass, alloys and all the trim to deal with!

And then there's the interior, engine bay, undercarriage...

Todays spot (in the US) a very nice 1960 Impala. Nice being out with my dad who had that model and year recall that you only get from that time in your life when such details were easily grasped. His grasp 0f 50s and 60s US models is phenomenal.

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A friend's father had the same basic engine in a 7 series. It didn't sound like that!

Thanks Jonny and @Aroogah, "Smiles per miles" :D
@TGR @TRA @jono84 @user75204 thanks and @midlife I did that with the manifold off, get a paper overall or the fibres will have you itching for days. :)

@skinny thanks all good here but more of a Fatwheelnut at the moment :D

@hurricane_run The head porting, higher compression ratio and fast cam have made a massive difference to performance, the sound is mostly down to the Custom stainless steel exhaust from the highly skilled Kevin at Zero Exhausts in Bethersden I had that made in 2019
https://zeroexhausts.co.uk/

Have you had it on the dyno?

No not yet, I only drove it home tonight and it still has some teething problems, still some interior to refit once I source some no longer available clips. but that is on the cards once it has run in for a while.

Standard they are 218bhp / 300nm torque so I am hoping around 230bhp

source some no longer available clips.

If there’s an stl file available of them, I’d be happy to 3D print some for you…

Anyone travelled with a non-UK car into ULEZ zone? My sister is coming and I hadn't thought that a car needs to be registered prior to entering the zone, which might take 10 days.

Well, it's always nice to spot a unique project car. Especially in progress.

It's s Marathon Checker Aerobus with a chopped roof. There is no interior, and not much of a roof either. Absolutely bonkers.

I would love to see where this ends up.

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