Corsa Rally Car

[am2050]

Thought I'd post my project up here with the other corsa rally cars that are being built at the moment.
It's nothing revolutionary and not as exotic as some of the others but it may be of interest to some, as the other projects are to me.

I've fully seam welded the shell and plated where required, and welded in a Harry Hockley cage. The plan is to build the car up prior to blasting and painting it, using some stuff of the present car and some new.


Present car:




New car:




Stripped and seam welding started:




Seam welding complete and cage started:








Cage complete and non sunroof fitted back on with Sikaflex and a few spotwelds:




Dashboard fitted re-fitted after notching out around cage:

[am2050]

Plated around the rear rear suspension pick up points and the chasis rail at the front pick up points. The rears take quite a battering in the forests and the fronts seem to be a week point.





Also fitted the cill stand tubes. put a hole all the way through the cill with a hole saw, pushed the tube through then welded a plate to both sides. We used axle stands at aervice for a couple of seasons, then when we got the present car it came with the cill stands which make it much easier.





Started stripping the old car:




Took off the rear beam and suspension, front suspension, guards, radiator, pedal box, exhaust, tank, seats ready for fitting to the new car. Dropped the F13 diff out ready for ebay. Going to be using an F20 diff with grp a shafts and hubs in the new car as hopefully will have some more power out of the new engine.

[kennybarbour]

only just seen this! looking good, get more pics of your chassis strengthening up please, im about to do this to mine, ive got it all worked out in my head but some extra inspiration wont go amiss.

what diff are you going to be selling? i may be interested if its a decent one for decent money

and also good work with the welding, all looks pretty neat and tidy!

[gsigav]

looks spot on that mate some good work there

[rad_brad]

love seeing rally cars being built so will look forward to seeing this come together

[big e]

Great work mate, cage looks ace..

[am2050]

The strengthening is pretty much as per the GM nova manual. I bought a plating kit off Protec and used it on the corsa. Most of it can be used/fits, with a little tweeking.



I also plated over the rear beam mount and took a tube to it from the cage on the inside of the car:






The diff is a F13/15 TranX with 45deg ramps. It came with the old car when we got it and it's been fine. Before the last event it was stripped and checked, then fitted with a new plate kit and spring plate. Were changing to an F20 due to the increase in power. Let me know if you're interested.


Been busy with work this week so not progressed much. Stripping old car and started putting stuff into new shell before it gets painted and the components we're re-using get stripped/serviced. Want to make sure everything fits and I've not missed anything first.

[Rallycorsa]

Nice work so far, takes an age prepping a shell. One thing to consider is a harness bar in between the rear suspension mounts as i found the ones supplied in the kit sit slighty to high for the belts. Pretty sure its in the blue book but the belts are to be level or angled down over.

Kee pup the good work and nice to see another rally car on Migweb

[Rallycorsa]

How have you got the rear bearing dust cap fitted?

[am2050]

You think the weldings complete then you find another 6 jobs...


I shortened the 2 harness bars so they would sit lower. I'm hoping it's enough but will see when the seats go in. You can have the shoulder straps sloping up by 10deg (according to blue book) but would prefer them to slope down.

The dust caps are just pushed in but the VW are really tight in comparrison to the Vauxhall ones. They stayed put all last season on gravel.

[GregGsi]

hi pal can i just ask wot you will de doing with the old shell and cage and do you wont to sell the cage

loveing the car lots of good work up to now

[Deeky]

Nice work where you rally it about?

[Rallycorsa]

VW caps it is then ive got mine bolted through the middle which does the job but its a pain.

Im sure the problem i had was the racer stuck out to much so there was nothing for it to tighten into, did you use Vaux rear bearing or VW?

[am2050]

Rallycorsa

Im sure the problem i had was the racer stuck out to much so there was nothing for it to tighten into, did you use Vaux rear bearing or VW?

It's a Volkswagon bearing on the rear and the cap fits nice and tight. Can't remember how far in it pushes in, I'll have a look.

Deeky

Re: Corsa Rally Car
Nice work where you rally it about?

Thanks.
We've been competeing in the BTRDA forest rally championship for the last 3 years. The events are mainly in wales, with one in the lake district and one near nottingham. We've been quite succesful over that time (2 championship wins, and a 2nd place in the championship) and are hoping to contest the BRC challenge this year but with only 4 weeks to go we are likely to miss the 1st event.
Probably end up doing a few events from each championship this year and have a go at a full championship next year.

[am2050]

hi pal can i just ask wot you will de doing with the old shell and cage and do you wont to sell the cage

loveing the car lots of good work up to now

Cheers.
The cage in the old shell is a weld in cage so will have to go with the shell. That will get sold or used as a scrap bin in the workshop. Depends what it's like once stripped.

[GregGsi]

well will you let me no about it pal just looking for a cage will get the shell and chop it out thanks

[am2050]

Got the car lifted off the spit and onto some wheels.








Fitted the seat rails now that the car is sat level, and plated the tunnel to reinforce and level up where the hydraulic handbrake will mount. Harness eyes fitted too.




Cut and welded in place a mounting ring with captive nuts for the filler cap.





Reinforced where the bonnet pins and tailgat pins will be




The layout/position of things are going to be slightly different in the new car so fitted the drivers seat and my seat fitted so we can see where the upright hydraulic handbrake wants to be, and also other things like footbrace, extinguishers, line/wiring routes etc.




I'm enjoying building the car but having missed 2 rallies we would normally do, finally sitting in the car in the seat provided some welcome motivation, even in the condition the car's presently at!

[Rallycorsa]

Looking good keep the pics coming

[MSG]

Brilliant bit of strengthening and cage work and your welding is the best I have seen anywhere, I like the stands you are using to tip the car on its sides to get to underside hassle free and do a proper welding without gravity effecting the flow, and easy access, that is how I see my Manta being restored properly rather than welding from underneath, I have been looking to get a garage where I can tip the car on its side or use special stands to do the underside properly without leaving any metal work uncovered.

Good luck on your ambitious project and I hope you win many rallies against some of the best out there.

[dearing5]

nice

[am2050]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone.

We've made a bit more progress getting the car put together.
Got the batttery mounted behind my seat. Had to weld a small fin in place to form a flat surface for the battery tray to mount to.



Got the washer bottle mounted, the cage triangulation stops it going back in exactly the original position. Mounted the expansion tank, the original mounting was on the scuttle which was removed to give room and clearance for theTBs. Fitted a mount for the isolator and extinguisher T handles. Also got part of the revised heater air intake pipe fitted.






Set abaout lightening the doors. We weighed a standard door which was over 36kg, the lightened one is 13.5kg.




Started fitting aluminium panels to the dashboard ready for the instruments, switches, fuses etc to mount to (they won't be staying silver!).








Getting to the point we need the engine back so we can start routing wiring and fuel lines etc.

[F124nny]

Looking like good progress

[Rallycorsa]

Cracking work, it takes so much time setting the dash out but having recently finished mine its definately worth the effort.

[big e]

Coming along nicely mate..

[Joe-2LT]

Epic work mate keep it up