Corsa 1.4 Rally Build.

[cshrally]

Hopefully get some motivation to get out in the garage to prepare the Corsa i bought in January this year.
Bought the car with the view of using it this year but have decided to strip it down for a bare shell rebuild. Car has lay around all year with very little getting done.

Engine is a 1.4 on Taper throttle bodies, Shell is 28500 miles as car has been lying around for many years.. Good enough basis for a build, though my first time in preparing a Corsa. Previous owner prepared the car and managed to put the car off on the first stage of its first rally then locked it away in the garage.

[cshrally]

Have made a start to tidying up the inside and removing sealer etc.



The seats will have to go as no longer in date for rallying, the belts were also sold on as out of date. Pity they have to go especially when they have only been sat in for a few miles.









Hopefully make a start to the seam welding around the turrets and get the drainage holes plated up.

Not too sure whats needed in the way of beefing up the front end. Whats the weak spots on these shells?

[novarallycar]

the front ends on these are pretty decent standard to be honest, in my experience where the front chassis legs meet the lower x member could do with being beefed up a bit but thats really it. Have a look at my build if you want, i went to town a bit seam welding but it's not really that important with that comprihensive a cage!! If you were ever interested i have a competition bottom end for a 1400 16v engine for sale, John Reed parts, steel rods Aria pistons new pumps and seals etc. give me a pm if you want to know any more or if you have any questions about the build.

[rc]

looks a good bit of kit there!

[forestfighter]

Brilliant base to start from - you have the hard work with shell prep done!! Look forward to this thread

[robertkassner]

Nice shell mate. Good basis for a build. I recon if you only have enough money to do a budget build, you are still at a good starting point with a good spec shell. (not saying yours will turn out to be a budget build) I bought my shell to re-shell my nova now the corsa has nothing form the nova............................

You dont have to sell the seat as seat dont have to be in date (not yet anyway) just belt have to in date. Although, if you are getting the car log booked they need to have at some point been FIA approved - but still 'not in date'.

Cheers

Rob

[Rallycorsa]

This brings back memories good luck and make sure you stay friendly with the bank managerlmao

[tom_spanner]

im guessing it was a fairly light front end bump?

just buy a front end plating kit (£25 ish) & look over the x member as these rot sometimes. ive stitched my engine bay but alot dont bother.

looks like a great base to refinish, im jelous. that cage looks expensive.

at least its in good company in the garage, with the caged 'scort mk1/2.

with some effort it could be ready for next season, avoid all the xmas repeats and build a race car, much more satisfying. thats what ill be doing (if the wife lets me)

[cshrally]

The cage was supplied and fitted by Custom cages. Quality and fitting is excellent so hopefully withstand any major mishaps.
The car was not running that great but appears that the fuel pressure is not high enough. I changed the injectors to the blue injectors and idles better now but needs a better pump.
Is it better to get a remote pump or run an in tank pump?
Will change the copper fuel line for high pressure braided hose when the inside gets refettled. Want to keep the heater in this car as my forest car doesnt have that luxury.
The idea is to use the Corsa for Tarmac rallies and not go too crazy budget wise hence the reason for sticking to the 1400 class.



The forest car has a bit more poke than the 1400 though.

[robertkassner]

Fse do a high pressure 'in tank' replacment for the corsa. Ive got one on its way to me as recommended by Martin Bowyer.

Rob

[cshrally]

Bit more work done this week.

Made a start to taking out the original seat crossmembers though the drivers side a bit of a pain as the new mount doesnt allow access with the spot weld drill. A bit more cutting and grinding and it should be out this week along with the front tunnel cover.

Set about taking the dash out this afternoon and removed some more sealant.

[mattyd81]

is it easy to get the tunnel cover out with the grinder?? can you get all of it off?? looks like you did!! was it a pain to get the bottom attaching bits off so it was all smooth?

[philip2]

i want the scort

mates just sold his mk2 with trailer, gboxe,s the works, won the anwcc and rallycorss....gutting it went.

is that mk2 scort yours?


as for the corsa...definately good base to start from

[cshrally]

Matty, I used the spot weld drill as much as i could. Any bits that i have been over enthusiastic with will be neatened up with a touch of the Mig to build up before given a blast with the grinder.
The tunnel is not fully out at the moment as i cut it in front of the gearstick and will hopefully finish it off this weekend.
One of these jobs that you need to make sure you have a good spot weld drill as grinding off all the welds would be a real pain and take forever to do correctly.

Dont really know too much about preparing the Corsa but surely will be a lot less work than preparing a Group4 Escort which i am more used too. Trying to pick up as much info. as possible from other builds shown on here.

[cshrally]

Not much happening with this build over the past six months so have made a start again this week in the hope of getting the engine out soon so i can have the shell totally stripped ready for seam welding etc.
Made a start to taking out the lip on the bulkhead and neatening things up but car is in a fair state as it stands at the moment.
Need to build up some enthusiasm and get on with the car.
Here is the current state.

[Rallycorsa]

Keep at it at least the prep work doesnt cost to much apart from time

[mattyd81]

did this ever get finished?

[cshrally]

Havent looked in on this thread for a long time. Kind of lost interest in the build as spent a busy year rallying the Mk2 escort.
Think its a case of "did this ever get started"
However, preparation has started again with the engine bay being seam welded during the past couple of weekends.

[cshrally]

Neatened up the inside a bit this week where i had removed the floor crossmembers and cover for the gear select rod.
Still carrying on with the seam welding and completed the top bulkhead brace after removing the front screen.
Hoping to get the car on its side next week to get the welding underneath started. At least there is now progress which has to be a step forward.

[robertkassner]

Starting to come on. Glad to see its not sat rusting! lol

[cshrally]

Still progressing this forward. Have most of the seam welding done on the passenger side. Welded up most of the drain holes on the shell. Have been keeping an eye on some of the other rally car threads to see what needs done strengthening wise and still at the stage where i am enjoying doing this car.



To be honest i wasnt going to stitch along both the back panel seams until i noticed it having been done on another build thread.





Not planning on doing along the roof section or window seams as cant see that making too much difference to the shell stiffness.

[cshrally]

Managed to progress a bit further this weekend.
Passenger door, rear hatch and rear qtr window removed before tipping the car on its side.
Made a start to the underside seam welding and scraping underseal etc.
Drivers side chassis rail needs a bit work as showing signs of damage but happy enough with the general condition taking into account the age of the shell.

[cshrally]

Car back on its feet to prepare panels etc.
Looking to prepare and spray underneath this weekend and start spraying the rest of the car the weekend after.
Changing the colour of the car to Toyota Superwhite.

[cshrally]

Been a while since i updated this thread but i am now a bit nearer to bolting parts on. The underside is now all in paint however the rest of the car has been a bit of a pain.
All the car was taken back to bare metal apart from the cage and part of the engine bay. The cage was found to have previously not been cleaned and primered before seeing my paint gun and took exception to a new coat of paint.
So after painting the cage i ended up having to strip it back to the metal, soul destroying job that was to the extent that i didnt touch the car for six weeks.
Also, having painted the inner wings i then bought Hockley adjustables for the front which required taking a grinder to the new paint to allow fitting of the alloy top mounts.
Looking forward to getting the final coat of paint on before the end of the month.



So after the primer i got the paint on.



Only to find it all needed to come off again !!



Engine bay first coat now on along with the new coat on the cage.

[Rallycorsa]

About bloody time :-)

Never mind that old MK2 get the Corsa sorted, Bill Falconer is doing a cracking clubby engine now.