Cavalier Trackcar Project

[TurboDan]

Started to prep it for paint. Sprayed a black guide coat over the primer and just used a red scotch pad to sand it down abit, i didnt go mad with it.




Once sanded down i blew the dust off and put some bonding sealer back in all the gaps/welds to replace all the sealer i pulled out.



Will try and get it painted tommorow.

[TurboDan]

Got some paint on it today, first i sprayed abit of primer over the seam sealer :



First coat:


And done:





Not bad considering it was done with spray cans.

[Ads]

looks an exellant job Dan. well done mate, Ads

[btcctroy]

So what's ur colour scheme

[planetc]

So what's ur colour scheme

Looks white to me?

[TurboDan]

Dont know yet. White was cheap lol.

[Lowrider Dave]

Good job. White is easier in an engine bay against which to spot problems or leaks.

[TurboDan]

Little bit more tonight. Cleaned up the wheel arch and primerd/undersealed it all:



Also put some across the common rust area at the bottom of the bulkhead, its all been welded and so dont want anything coming back through:



And the lower crossmember too:



I also fitted the backing plate for the servo/pedals etc.. i cleaned it up abit and put some sealer around it all so it doesnt leak (as much lol):

[btcctroy]

Looks very tidy

[TurboDan]

It doesnt look too bad. The paint had dryed abit dull though but its not bad.

[joe cavalier sri]

What rust proofing did you use ? I've got z5 litres of wax oil but I've heard it's a bad idea to use wax oil near anything hot ? Cheers

[TurboDan]

Who tells you this stuff! You can put wax oil where ever you like.

[TurboDan]

Bit more done:

Fitted the brake servo mount then bolted the servo on:





It is very close to the tube but not touching:


The cav was an automatic so i had to fit the clutch pedal and differant brake pedal:






Stripped out the last of the wiring that wasnt needed so all the ABS wiring has gone and all the heater wiring has now gone too, the loom is now very small compared to how it is standard, the pile that came out today:



And the whole loom thats left:


Taped up the wiring again and aimed it all in the right direction:



Fitted a gsi radiator in place:


Also fitted a wing and headlight:



Got loads of bolts/brackets/fixings missing so gonna have to find them, could do with finding one for brakeing round here.

[humbucker]

Great job Dan, kinda comes to life when you chuck a headlight on!

[Deeksin]

Yeah good work mate must have a good memory as ad be scratching my head with them wires

[TurboDan]

Started making some diy coilovers, didnt take long to do this bit only about hour and half i was thinking it was gonna take allot longer.

Cut the spring seat off as thats not needed:


Then nicely cut around the welds and removed the steering arm:


Was left with this:



Then welded the steering arm back on but lower down, you can see the differance here:





Just need to do the other side and then buy some coilover threaded tube and the bits needed.

[Greig Sri]

Good work on the strut.

Greig

[planetc]

Query? As standard the steering arms from the rack are roughly parallel with the ground. Are you going to run it low enough to keep the same geometry? I think I asked this when Troy did his, but if they are too far from being parallel with the floor then surely it will suffer from increased bump steer?

[TurboDan]

Yeah it is going to be run pretty low so the arms should be near enough parallel when sat on the ground.

[btcctroy]

As I've said before the steering arms were at an adverse angle because the car was very low. So the angle needed to be improved by bringing the arms to the correct geometry

[planetc]

Fair enough, it just looks like it's a really long way down the strut. I know you guys aren't stupid though so I'll shut up about it, lol

[btcctroy]

It does. But if your aiming to lower the front by at least 80mm from standard then the arms also require dropping 80mm.
I worked it out on this basis.

[planetc]

Yes..... I think there's an optical illusion of it being more because of the missing spring seat.

[Ads]

there a guy on CTOC, username sunbeam who had made his coilovers and actually tried them on his cav, and they work ok, by the looks of it Dan has made them the same way, good work Dan, Ads

[TurboDan]

After ordering the wrong size coilover thread and haveing to send it back and wait for refund etc... I finally got the right one. For future referance the 2.25" spring sized coilover thread WILL NOT FIT you need the 2.5" spring size thread. I got mine from "Compbrake" in wigan, great service too they were here the next day.

So here is what i got(after cleaning the tops of the threads up for weld):


No inbetween pics but this is them after i welded them on:


I then took them down to the old bodyshop where i used to work to use his press, it is a big old school one that you have to wind down rather than a modern hydraulic one. Did the job just fine though.
And so ended up with this:


After stripping the remains of the bearing off the hubs i cleaned them up with the grinder and painted the back of them just so they look abit nicer:


The struts and a few other bits are going to be powder coated.