hovis16s rallye (pic heavy)

[hovis16]

while the world is coming to an end the best thing to do is attack the car.

As the spoiler was suffering with paint fade and swirls I thought i'd redo it.




MUCH BETTER


First thing since I repainted the spoiler was to wash the car and pop it back on.


That looking nice a clean I decided to take the seats out to clean everything and prepare the exhaust channel area to fit some eyelet plates


Once all the interior was out I could see that the sound deadening tar had cracked and lifted slightly. As I had removed it all from the front the plan was to do the same on the rear

Out came the blowtorch B) B) B)

the problem now is the person who fitted the cage before didn't do the greatest job. as you can see from the photo it have the Cowboy yeeha drill the holes and bang it in. Problem with this is the feet are not mounted to a flat surface...…….safety issue secondly this allows water in which rusts and weakens the floor.

So after removing the tar and cleaning sanding the floor plus tapping down the floor plan that was slighted dented due to p**s poor fitting I'm left with a void between the cage feet and the floor. As I have cage plates I drilled the holes and shaped the edges and tapped them under the feet.

For now much safer until I can get them welded in place and the void under the plate built up, according to my engineering/ welder mate shouldn't be a problem. Next bit more prep then add some paint.


And because it a semi race car.... weight saved

and besides is looks a hell of a lot cleaner now

[hovis16]

So once again thanks to the Covid scare while I was off for a coupe months I continued with the odds and sods jobs with the Rallye.

After removing all the tar and surface rust from the floor it was time to paint



Blit hamber zinc primer, gloss black and plenty clearcoat should keep it looking fresh for years.

Next on the agenda was surface rust. After doing some rust prep a few years back most of it had lasted well but due to not using the correct paint some areas had chipped and also the chassie parts had been crushed so this area suffered with water ingress.


After using all the tools you could think of I managed to get both looking fairly decent and then repainted them.



After finishing this in typical Hovis fashion in got carried away.....




While at it I noticed my coolant pipe was fecked so that was binned








Finally found the leak that I had for a while

That was quickly fitted thanks to Darkgti

Also repainted the rad fan


With that completed I then made the Rallye an offical race car:lol :lol

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With the front of the Rallye now looking good and rust free I turned my attention towards the back of the car. Most of the middle was looking ok but the central rails looked a tad tacky so wire brush and paint came out


The front wasnt bad at all but i ripped the paint off and redone it with WAR and Upol Raptor.




Next attention was the Rear beam. Having noticed some free play from the driver side rear I decided to have a look into it. As I have bronze bushes instead of bearings i wasn't very worried


The fuel tank strap was a scary thing to look at and take off :o

few hours hard work


While sorting the rear beam I also gave the arch a good clean


So upon putting the beam back togther I found the play to be movement of the torsion bar on the trailing arms.........Great. This results in the Freeplay and the car being slightly off in height on the rear. The plan was to source another set of Xsara arms at and later date and then redo the beam..........................................



Distractions always cause epic cock ups, this is what happens when your wife is on the case, your phone is ringing nonstop and the inlaw wants access to the garage. Simple removal of the offset washer would of solved the issue :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Lucky for me I managed to source something on the Bay although it wasn't all plain sailing to fit. I was only planning in having to press my trailing arm pins out to swap on the new arms............
But when the arrived the arb bolt was snapped and stuck in. f**k MY LIFE ITS BEEN HEILCOILED, resulting in a wonky hole which had to be enlarged as well as the Arb plate to match. All sorted and bits pressed in thanks to Blackmamba.



With that complete I checked the boot floor which still looked great so I fully degreased it and added some more gloss black then clear coat.

I then added some paint above the beam but got a tad hand fisted with the amount added.

Ended up flattening this back in the end as it was annoying me.

With the beam tube painted and refitted I popped on some new Brembo disc and pads


Then I cleaned up the back boxed and repainted with Hi temp paint.



Checked, double checked and adjusted the ride height and with everything feeling nice tight it looks spot on:love :love :love


I also managed to get hold of a genuine air snorkle of which Mr Wells was unhappy about as I beat him to it mwhaha:lol :lol


Plan to try and find a Pipercross viper again as this is smaller than my Ebay special so the fit will be nicer.

I then managed thanks to Damien to get hold of a Heated windscreen B) :love B)

SO out came the old one,


Bad but good thing about removing the window................................... I found more work to do,


I will assume it has happened due to being over tightened. So thats another thing to added to the welding list once the Lockdown eases.

I then fitted sunstrip before fitting and god what a HATEFULL JOB :thumbsdown :thumbsdown


All fitted looking fresh and clean:love



And for now thats it....... apart from some more Carbon:love :love :love

This time I beat Pete to it :lol :lol

[Mighty306]

Wow, you've made huge amounts of progress, & nicely finished. As ever with cars this age I see you had a few issues along the way but didn't let them stop you. Well done fella!

[eiei0]

Anyone do them carbon bits for the petrol caps inserts apart from Spooks??

[hovis16]

Only spoox or ebay

[rocker8742]

Looks incredible hovis, would love to have time to put into mine like this!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hovis16]

Looks incredible hovis, would love to have time to put into mine like this!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cheers mate.
The joy of this covid shite is that I had alot of spare time

[hovis16]

Not much to add recently.

purchased a 25mm wheel spacer as I always felt a little stretched while driving.



This has made a massive difference to the overall feeling and steering of the car :thumbsup

Part from that went for a good ole drive with LOTEK


And got an MOT that passed with flying colours

[Eeyore]

Fantastic work! Great to see someone still putting lots of effort into their car.

[hovis16]

So been at it again with the Rallye, This time its more of a comfort update.



Went for a set of Corbeau RRB Reclining seats.:love :love Reason for this is per the market s**te by Corbeau themselves :hahah

"Closest you can get to a true fixed back seat, whilst retaining a reclining function for long journeys. With the unique seat bolster design offering the maximum lateral support possible in a road seat".

As the car is a daily weekend hack that goes on track when I can I thought these would be the best option,Also the other reason for these is as always to keep the wife happy.



As she suffers with a bad back this little luxury should help her on our longer journeys.

In terms of fitment they weren't direct fit so I had to do some modifications to the OMP Subframe to get the perfect fit. The result is a bang on dead central seat but.....................



A VERY snug fit to the central console. The only issue with this is the mounting of the Lap belt, As you can see in the first pic the angle and overall length are right so the mount point will have to be adjusted.

Easy on the door side but a bit of a pain on the inner side, so after some searching I managed to find two options of which one was very easy to source.



Essentially it is an extension mount so the eyelet seatbelts can fit. Alot of the CLIO boys use them and so do Porsche so until I can get the over option I saw purchased or made these should do for now. Also purchased another gearknob as mine was rather f**ked.



New cage padding some sensors and some welding to the cage plates is next on the agenda.

[hovis16]

So as the passenger seat finally arrived I managed to get in in along with my new seat belts 


After a lot of checking measurement I managed to also get the lap belts mount point in the correct and a comfortable position, both mounted with spreader plates and popped and extra nylon nut on the inner one time bend hooks.




Still need to get some padding to pop between the seatbelt cross section so they don't move in the case of and impact.

And with that all done all I needed was to fit the new carbon refurbed knob,


driving position is soooooooooooooooooo much better a lot more comfortable and looks way cooler, so with that I decided to take her with me on a couple days off to Cornwall...…………………..Epic roads ended in epic issues popping up. first one was the fuel pump decided on several occasion not to prime what so ever when we stopped a few times, this resulted in the car not starting correctly on several occasions. When the pump did prime it almost sounded like my belly when hug over after drinking far to Much rum so I binned it.


the second thing was a odd high pitch squeal and a banging from the back end passenger side every now and then, sometimes this also happened under heavy breaking...….checked everything you can think of and still no idea what the banging is, As for the squealing managed to find that the centre section can hit the headshield due to being a pattern part cat so...……….bought one off Thugpugging.

Then turned attention to the front as I was getting a clicking and knocking under load up the very steep Cornish roads. As the clutch had never been amazing on the Rallye since the leaking crankseal  I was sure that this was one of the issues which sure enough it seems to be the case but to add insult to injury is seem she has shat herself again 

:angry s**t repair results in a second failure of the cup section


Hopefully should get this resolved as soon as, part from that I ordered some B Pillar vinyls with a twist a new bearing for my quickshift and new clutch and cable.

the struggle continues

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Seems some of the bits turned up quicker than expected.


Bye bye wobbly 8 yeah old bearing

Refitted and adjusted to stop it tapping the heatshield in 3rd and 5th.

Also after seeing Tom fit some standard B Pillar vinyl's I decided to fit some non standard looking ones :o the car is far from standard now to be fair





Hopefully the weather holds up or I can get hold of the easy up to tackle the clutch next:thumbsup

[Mighty306]

Trying to keep these things on the road definitely requires patience & commitment. At least you shouldn't now have to worry about the pump for years. Really frustrating about the top mount cradle cracking again. A satisfactory repair isn't easy with the engine in the car either

[hovis16]

So after taking the car to Corwall she seemed to acquire a few issues :no

1) Squeeking under revs not all the time but only in the lower gears.
2) Creaking from the front under load on on off power (engine cradle :thumbsdown )
3) Juddering in low revs under 2700rpm and it would kangaroo like made:unsure
4) Struggling up hill...….. these were Cornish roads
5 Bang/ knock from back end. Sometimes braking and sometimes pulling always.

So all in pretty much not a very happy girl, So in typical Hovis fashion I can carried away and attacked the car for the 3rd time this year :lol removing the Gearbox was on this occasion nice and easy and thankfully no gearbox issues.


Clutch removed the Flywheel seemed ok Even after the Inlaw tried to move it when I was away resulting in burnt clutch smell everywhere.

Thrust bearing on the other hand was shoot. (1) squeak noise found so replaced this along which the clutch.

Noted the Red spring was a completely different length on the new one but after checking several time I can confirm this is correct, I assume a newer one.

Next was a check of all the bolts around the engine area. Removal of the Lower mount point resulted in finding the BM Lower mount was sliding out of it metal sleeve :o so replaced it for a Vibratechnics one instead (2) Juddering solved


Next was double checking the drive shafts...….and you guessed it shot Intermediate bearing so binned that and all (4)



I then found a genuine cat so got that Purchase asap. Found small hairline crack so double checked it all and got It welded up.


With that all done popped it all back together checked it and tad most noises gone. Still getting and knock from the back which I assume may be due to engine movement but I removed the rear passenger brake to double check put it back together and the noise has gone...…………………………...:dunno for now. In the process I did thread a wheel nut slightly :whistle so that need a replacement hub heilcoil or stud nut conversion.

withthat all done the next thing was a bit more tarting up :lol



:love

With that all done I finally wired the wife's heated seat in and now getting ready to finish off wiring the window in.

Thats:thumbsup all for now
Another small update.

After managing to strip a wheel nut I thought id take the plunge and buy a stud nut conversion, as the wheels are always being taken off I thought may as well.

I purchased 68mm length Satchell studs of which im very happy with the length fitment and quality.





and as you can see with the Trunnies fitted lenght is spot on,


I then got rather excited about an upcoming Trackday so I went on the hunt for "SOME" tyres and got a tad carried away:lol :lol

The yokos where brand new so that purchase was for more of a summer driving tyre but, in the process I found a nicer set of wheels than my old 5 spoke LR-01R so I got another set of Speedlines :love

These came fitted with some Dunlops as an extra added bonus..........hope its not a wet trackday:whistle

Thats all for now.:lol

[Mighty306]

Well done for finding the motivation to crack on & sort all the issues ....not always easy!

[hovis16]

managed to get some work done on the car,

First up was fitting the Thermostat housing as mine was worn and had been leaking for a while.

To my disappointment after purchasing a new thermostat and seals it still was weeping between the housing and body :no
After further investigation I found the main body had a couple of grooves allowing fluid to bypass so a tiny bit of sealent resolved that.:thumbsup

Next thing on the agenda was to wire up the window and fit a new switch which I must say looks rather nice :love



Only thing is we did manged to switch the wire by mistake so that will be finished off tomorrow :thumbsup

Finally manged to hit the 190 thousand mile mark, so that's 80 thousand miles since the rebuild. Engine wise going on strong...………………………...everything else no so :lol :lol

As I finally have found someone close by to weld and finally have the car booked in I turned my attention to removing the interior.

Upon removal I decided to remove the front sound deadening :o which was a good idea.


Luckily all it was is surface rust so I attacked it and the coated it in Hydrate80 then zinc primed and topped off with black hammerite.





With that complete for now I turned my attention to preparing all of the metal work for welding. The engine mount :no pretty much gave in on the way for a quote which was great timing :thumbsdown :thumbsdown

:thumbsdown
The front cage brace bar was also attacked as I noticed it had cracked when fitting the new window.

With that sorted I then decided to sort out all of the required plates I will need and drilled another 4 holes in the foot base as they were all only mounted with two bolts:angry




I also decided to nick an idea from Dennis (Russianguy) that I have been meaning to do now for a while


So for now finger crossed the welding will all go well on the 29th then its off to Brands on the 2nd B)

[hovis16]

So Managed to get the cage plates and engine mounts welded in.

not the greatest job as they are awkward spot and thin metal but all in feeling solid for now




Didn't manage to get any of the mount and also didn't end up doing the side plates in the end.

With that I popped the interior back in and purchased something for those early mornings :lol
.

All done and good for brands hatch :thumbsup

A very wet day to start with which then resulted in it being very dry and very fun with a load of us on the track :love This also ment the Semi slick came out and oooooooooo my what a difference they make once warm :lol I did only manage three slides which were all great fun and controlled rather when what can only be due to my set up and noting to do with my driving :lol :lol :lol :lol









:love :love :love

Over all a great day that has warranted so more upgrades:lol

[hovis16]

So following the Brands trip I decided to do some upgrades:lol

First was a 28.5mm arb



Should make for epic turn in and twitchy bum moment on bumpy B roads:lol :lol

I then managed to get hold of the last set of these bad boys :love




To help with this I purchased a new set of adjustable rose jointed Droplinks and new Arb bushes to fit well :rolleyes

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So finally managed to get the new arb and wishbones on,

Also got some adjustable droplinks that I need to play with.


Had a bit of a mishap while fitted which resulted in a damaged set of bearing due to the shims not being located correctly:no  that was not fun at all. But after resolving this I can confirm the cars a different beast. The turn in and grip is ridiculous but...……… as my part worns are past it in the damp it is VERY twitchy so In typical hovis fashion


I got another set of PS3S :love
that's all for now:thumbsup

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[Eeyore]

Lots of fun stuff here! Whats the ride like with the rollerbearings? I remember bates got them in his astor 6 and the ride became super crashy. Ive got the adjustable drop links and the dust boots are always perishing on them.

[hovis16]

Lots of fun stuff here! Whats the ride like with the rollerbearings? I remember bates got them in his astor 6 and the ride became super crashy. Ive got the adjustable drop links and the dust boots are always perishing on them.

The ride has been ok to me to be honest, the setup it pretty stiff so the only time it can feel a little lairy is on super uneven wet ground.

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after the last trackday the 306 track lot planned another, this time an afternoon with Opentrack :no  Lets just say is wasn't the best track day resulting in 3 broken cars all of which were ours :lol Before this happened is was an ok day but Opentrack  is not a company I would try again.

As for the car the new arb and roller bearing upgrade made the first few laps interesting along with the semis





Had one good session with a Clio which was great fun chasing, As soon as I overtook him which filled me which great  pleasure the car decided to try and kill me :lol






Facing very expensive BMW's on paddock hill was a shooty bum moment :lol


I seemed to have lost all power as soon as I entered the hill which then resulted  in lift off over steer taking over. After limping back to the paddock after an hour of swapping sensor and carrying out test woody :love came to my rescue and diagnosed a back fire which I had completely missed.

The result of this was due to the inlet bung flying out:o  lucky for me once again Woody to the rescue as I had missed placed the bung.

With the engineered solution in place I limped it back to Reading and with the help of my assistant found the  bung:lol




With that back in place I gave the car a good look other and noted some noise along with lumpy running which seem to be cambelt slap lucky for me no damage was done apart from a water leak.

this was replaced along with the belt

:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

That sorted I took it easy fora few thousand miles until Pufgest was due :love  I did have a mishap two week prior which resluted in my powersteering pipe dumping all it guts done my street :thumbsdown  was great trying to fix but I did and had lot of fun up presscot:love





So before Pugfest I managed to get hold of another set of Hispecs and this time the stayed :lol


Over all condition was great but first thing I did was take them apart :lol


With those sorted I ordered new pads and disc all round

[hovis16]

With all that done winter was on the way:thumbsdown

What to do.......................

:dunno

I know what I will rebuild my spared head that I have in the garage :yes :yes First thing was to strip it



As I had robbed some valves from this head before to fix a cock up some new supersprints were ordered.

Lapped in the old skool way and a gap was noted



:no

So off to Pug1off it went for a skim and seat recut. the result :thumbsup




That all done attention was set to tarting :rolleyes :rolleyes :love :love








I then got carried away in typical Hovis fashion :lol


This was then made worse when I saw a cheap bottom end up for grabs, Cheap for a reason:thumbsdown

The state of this should of given my warning signs:lol

I then found worse damage so by then as I ordered new pistons :whistle I had to source another block and crank:thumbsdown





Weighed that all in £50 quid :lol  then spent more money:no



Block number two much better


Cleaned derusted and painted



More Painting

[hovis16]

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More cleaning




Looking fresh


Got hold of another crank with rocking horse s**t :o







Thats all at the moment, currently waiting on the pistons to come back from Bridgecraft as i'm having the cutouts enlarged , then off to Pug1off for rebore and Hone.

Watch this space.

[Mighty306]

Wow, what a series of updates. The attention to detail is incredible. You look like you have a workshop with cleanliness rivalling a clinical lab. I can only dream of something similar but have to make do with a filthy garage & the garden patio!  Definitely not good for rebuilding parts of the car requiring tight tolerances. 

[Eeyore]

great work. Loving the amount of pics on this thread!

[hovis16]

finally received the piston back from Bridgecraft :love very happy with the work and I have to say the work was second to none as all the machined that had been done the piston still came in at the same weight.



As these were done I then set about looking for new Rod bolts, As I don't no the history of the rods I thought I'd change the bolts. Funny thing is standard replacements are as much as these

I know alot of people will say OTT but as this engine is going to get more abuse than my current one it better to be safe than sorry.

I then had another good look over then journals as I also got a set of new genuine bearings with them, most of the surfaces looked tarnished but not scored so I thought I'd do a hillbilly polish:lol don't shoot me.

Personally I think it came out pretty spot on.









:thumbsup

I also managed to find an updated oil pulley sprocket


Those looking all good. So I dropped the Block,Piston,Rod, Bolts as well as the sump and Cam ladder as the surfaces weren't to my liking.

So as I now have nothing else to do till those turn up I just did MORE cleaning :lol

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Wow, what a series of updates. The attention to detail is incredible. You look like you have a workshop with cleanliness rivalling a clinical lab. I can only dream of something similar but have to make do with a filthy garage & the garden patio!  Definitely not good for rebuilding parts of the car requiring tight tolerances. 

Yeah the spare workshop at work is very handy.

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url=https://flic.kr/p/2mSGVAT][/url]
Before

After

ladder and cover bolts

Sump bolts

And the sealing exhaust surface.

Thats all for nowB)