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Restoration/Modification of my road legal Circuit racing R32 GTR

39K views 167 replies 21 participants last post by  alexcrosse 
#1 · (Edited)
This project started last year when I picked up a project rolling shell from Mark at MGT.

This is where the project starts
 

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#3 ·
Before I got stuck into the car I first had to clear some garage space as although I have a tripple garage it was full with cars. So after toying with the idea of selling my mk1 Mini Cooper s. I made the just as hard decision to sell my Autograss car I had built from scratch and give up racing to spend more time at home with the family.

This is the car if anyone is interested with 162bhp 1400cc 8v engine and 2 speed dog box an awesome machine.
 

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#4 · (Edited)
I then shipped my s15 off to the body shop and had space to get the r32 in.

The picture below is the image I have currently in my head as to how the car will look when finished. I am now thinking slightly wilder but more on that later.

Now my aim for the car is to be able to compete in it on the circuit possibly in one of the ccsc classes but this would limit me to h pattern and I really want to go sequential and have a go at TOTB

The car came with some nice bits, at the moment basic spec will be (*= I already have the parts)

2.6 basic forged engine for 700ish *
Dry sump
Efr 8374 on sinco manifold *
Syvecs *
Tarox 10 pots *
Sequential gearbox or Getrag *
Nitrous for TOTB

Other bits I already have

cs2 shocks with remote canisters
cusco 1.5 rear diff

The main aim at the moment is trying get as much weight as possible out of the car. Get it running with a fairly simple engine while I debug everything then step up to a stroker or rb30 based engine (as I also have one of them)

I am still undecided and I***8217;ll show in pictures later if I will cut the front and back off the car from the strut tops forwards and backwards to really minise weight.

The first job was to start stripping and find out how bad the rust was. That will be tomorrow***8217;s update.
 

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#7 · (Edited)
So onto the fun bit, car in for full strip although it’s complete it all looks rusty and uncared for.

Engine bay first
 

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#10 ·
Then came removing the sound deadening and although easy to chip off with a chisel and hammer it did cause my neighbors to come arround and complain about the noise at 10.45pm
 

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#11 · (Edited)
I could then really inspect the car to see how bad the rust was this was when I started to realise this shell needs a significant amount of work.

Front bulkhead needs work and the heel board and inner sills have holes in them without even picking

Next step is to get the shell upside down
 

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#12 ·
Hi David,

Your pictures have already convinced me I definitely need to do some more on Project B, I miss this bit so much.

In the first picture of the last five you posted, it looks like someone drilled the hole for the nearside turret stay in the wrong place, but instead of correcting there mistake, just pushed down on the tube to make it fit, forcing the inner wing to bulkhead seam apart, must have run out of either mig wire or gas at this point as well, keep the pics coming, I already feel like I'm missing out, makes me want to jump in the car and come for a look.

Kev.
 
#14 ·
So next task was to make a roll over jig, I borrowed the orange main stands from a friend and then shamelessly copied Kev32’s mounting brackets.

My frame is a bit lower are I think Kev’s roof is higher.

I also really didn’t enjoy using an engine crane to lift the car up to this height
 

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#16 ·
Onto the rear I welded some nuts into the tube to slide into the rear chassis legs and built the bits below
 

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#17 ·
So how bad was it underneath ...........

Drivers side sill first
 

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#18 ·
This is the point I wondering if it I had taken in too much fabrication. But no going back now the sill needed to come off to see how deep the corrosion had spread......
 

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#19 · (Edited)
So It's bad the rear of the sill is worst with basically none of the inner sill left at the end.
The front was also just as bad.

This is the point I started looking at new shells, before finding many fabrication videos to inspire me.

So I got the spot weld drill and grinder out and kept cutting until the rust was gone

Many holes but looks much better without the rusty bits
 

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#22 · (Edited)
So having previously tried welding thin steel with my old mig I decided to first upgrade to a Portamig also set up with 0.6mm wire. It's still not easy to butt weld 0.8mm steel (as I have done on all my repairs to make them invisible) but it's much better than my old mig.

New setup



The other good point is it has many less buttons to fiddle with so it***8217;s very easy to set up right
 
#25 · (Edited)
So after remembering how to add code to image as I cannot get on with the forums lack of a rotate image button

Off to the shot blasters



Then when it was back no time for pictures straight into welding

Sill edge replaced


Bottom of the bulkhead replaced, building the skins back up later by layer



From the inside



Then cut a big section of the floor out to get all the remaining rot out



Make a repair panel




Simply weld in and it's looking a bit more like a car
You can also just see the panel I added to the inner sill here before it was blasted, the section with the swaged hole next to the roll cage foot is new




Then weld the roll cage foot back on and spot weld all the layers back together

 
#28 ·
Hi David,

First chance I've had to check in since the other night, I wanted to send you some info regarding image hosting, but I'm on the wrong computer at the moment, (my better half's, not mine) so can't, try imgur, I think that's what it's called, they have been spot on for me since the last lot f**ked me over, once you get your head round how they work, the uploading of images is far easier than any I've used before, especially image size selecting, which you have to do BEFORE uploading your photos to there site.

Image size aside, it's nice to see the progress, there's not many of us left that have the hands on approach, something I miss on here, hopefully I'll get some time next year to spend on mine, till then, keep the pics coming if you can, help me remember what I'm missing.

All the best mate and Merry Christmas to you and yours,

Kev.
 
#29 ·
Thanks Kev, I am using IGMUR but trying to do all this from my phone using the app that’s doesn’t have the resizing option.

Merry Christmas to you to and thanks for your tips, I’ll now get more pictures up but I have been really impressed learning from your thread and others how metal can be formed quite easily with very simple tools. (I have a new favourite hammer :&). )

For anyone else struggling with image sizes you can add an “l” in the image link and it auto resizes, smaller use m larger h.

Kev how do the above images now look?

I want to get on with the welding so I can get onto making carbon fibre
 
#30 · (Edited)
Fist I cut out the rust revealing a chassis leg that was also suffering. The top plate in the chassis leg was replaced.



The top edge of the chassis leg also needed replacing so I made this panel by feeding a piece of metal with a 90 degree bend in it through a cheap shinker I bought from the us



This was welded in

The bottom of the floor where it joins to the inner sill was also replaced as per the other side



So next I used my bead roller to add the features of the original panel onto the replacement and welded it in.

I also made another panel to fill in the remaining section of floor and it started looking like this

 
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