Xmas present for myself. How about yours?

[mnpctech]

first off, Merry Xmas to all of you..

I couldn't pass this one up while shopping... 1:18 scale die-cast

Jesse James Chopper (http://prudhoe.codeword.com/mnpctech/HD100/JJCFL.jpg)

I don't know how many are in series, but I found this one for only $5.99 on clearance. More to be found on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3575105277#ebayphotohosting)


btw, the new forum is working lickity split!! good job Adam ;)

[Knipex]

I was hopeing to have the westfield on the road today but the F*sking upolsterer :angry: let me down so no seats and no Harnesses.

Ah well it will be a new year present to myself so....

Oh and happy Christmas and congrats on new forum....

[mnpctech]

Bummer Knipex...


My Uncle Tim does upholstery. Friggin talented man too. Bitch shipping costs would nail you if he did them..

[Knipex]

Well to be honest the upolsterer wasnt the only problem. I had hoped to have the car ready in realy November but my bodyshop got busy and it got put on the long finger. Then I started ripping and the jobs just grew and grew. Rewired dash, rebuild front suspension, fit shallow sump, new lights all round, complete colour change, fit quick rack. Once I started I could not stop, (bit like modding really :D )

It was looking good for mid December when I sheared the threads off the lower ball joint due to lack of torque wrence and my firm belief that you can never get a nut on too tight (especially when it is connected to front suspension). This set me back a week and it when I started to refit the old interior the nice new paint job made it look tatty so I ordered new carpets and got dashboard, side panels and seats reupolstered. All arrived bar the seats but I should get those early next week.

[mnpctech]

Sounds like youre having fun Knipex. I should have sent you cheap Torque wrench for Xmas :D What a great car for Driver's Skills events. Do you guys organize these sorts of events?
Autocrossing (also called Gymkhana and Solo II) (http://www.mnautox.com/Scrapbook/99m1pics.htm)

My current project car isn't as cool, but how many cars can you enter in club events and haul family around too? `88 VW Quantum (Passat) Syncro wagon AWD (http://prudhoe.codeword.com/mnpctech/QSW/wbB4driverside.jpg)

We do Time Trials events on frozen lakes here..

Last year's event (10 degrees below 0!!) (http://www.glacierlakesqclub.org/IceTrials2003Gallery.htm)


My buddy's VW Syncro Wagon on Ice (http://prudhoe.codeword.com/mnpctech/DOG/MVann.jpg)

Drifting on Ice (http://prudhoe.codeword.com/mnpctech/DOG/MVann3.jpg)

[Knipex]

Ya we do have auto cross here but to be honest outside of rallying most motor sport in Ireland is very amaturish unless you have big money to spend.

I have so much time sweat and tears put into the car now (not to mention money I can ill afoard :rolleyes: ) that I dread putting it in a wall. Also it is not as light weight as it could be. 7 coats of top quality glazerit 55 line black paint and 5 coats of high solid laquer will add almost 4kg to the weight of the car. Add in the padded dashboard, reupolstered interior panels and carpets and the weight to power ratio is suffering slightly. She must weigh all of 460kg now with only 135bhp :p before I add my fat ass into the equation.

I will take her on a track day or two though and see how I get on, after that you never know what will happen. She was built as a cruiser to be used on sunny weekends and to have a bit of fun on the road.

I lost most of the inprogress pics so all you will see is the before and after shots.

I remember driving one of those VW's but what you really want is a Audi Quatro. I drove the A6 quatro last week on a very wet, very narrow, very twisty country road :D I couldnt decide if I wanted to go faster or shit myself.

My main car is a Seat Toledo 1.9TDI. Uses most of the VW oily bits from the golf but in a slightly larger better equiped saloon car that looks better and cost less. B)

[mnpctech]

I remember driving one of those VW's but what you really want is a Audi Quatro.

It is a Audi 4000 Quattro w/ VW wagon body

Besides, its more fun beating an Audi in modded VW. The look on their face is priceless. If we had Seats here, I'd beat those too ;)

[Pug]

Wow, love the chop Bill. Reminds me... - I need to watch those Jesse James DVDs you sent me again so I can get them back to you. (I'll probably do it when the CustomPC issue with my rig in comes out, so I can send you a package of them together).
On a similar note, I managed to snag a handful of 2003 Ltd Ed. HotWheels for one of my nephews but I had a really hard time wrapping them all, 'cos there was at least one I wanted to keep for myself....


Personally, the best present I got, as far as material things go, was a shiny new Sony VCT-D680RM (http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/-/-/-/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=VCTD680RM&CategoryName=dcc_DIAccessories_DITripods) to go with my DSC F707. :)

There'll be a few photo-frenzies from me to follow, I'm sure... :h34r:

Additional kudos from me to Adam on the forum construction too... I love the wub smiley - it really suits my mood right now. :D

Speaking of cars, I need a new one (again) - I lost custody of the Audi. :(

Still, hope you all had a Merry Xmas and a stonking New Year to you all.

[mnpctech]

There'll be a few photo-frenzies from me to follow, I'm sure...

I took the liberty to start this thread (http://wizdforums.slackworth.co.uk/index.php?act=ST&f=14&t=9) so you can try that baby out ;)

[Knipex]

My baby is home. Finished it last night but decided to wait untill today to drive it. It started to rain right after I left the body shop (big props to Martin who let me use his workshop as if it was my own) and I refuse to drive with the wet weather gear on. Was very surprised at how dry I stayed in the car.

Also a nice surprise when all the neighbours cam out for a look. (I was expecting complaints about the loud engine noise).

Only problem now is temperature guage not working, which I suspect is a result on my rewiring. I would say she is finished but I dont think I will ever stop working on her.

Pics to follow.

[mnpctech]

Thats great!

Yes, show us pics whenyou can!

[Knipex]

Ok here they are.

Remember I didnt have a chance to clean her after bringing her home (its raining)

First new interior (I had to take the carpet out of driver footwell as it keeps moving, will use carpet rivets to hold it down.)

http://www.phyrric.com/pics/westy/in%20progress/westy%20interior.jpg


The long sleek bonet

http://www.phyrric.com/pics/westy/in%20progress/westy%20bonnet.jpg

Front Picture

http://www.phyrric.com/pics/westy/in%20progress/westyfront.jpg

Note the wall is about 4' high

Sorry for crappy pic quality but my main camera is on loan at the moment.

edit pic size

[mnpctech]

Ohhhh very nice.... The tan interior really accents the paint nicely

Gorgeous job on the paint Kev.. What type of paint did you use?

btw: How much hp does that engine produce?... I'm guessing the car weighs around 1300pds?

[Knipex]

Paint job was done by a local(ish) body shop using glazerit 55 line paint. (I can get the tinter number if you wish its a straight tinter) He is actually a customer of mine (I work for a company that wholesales into motorfactors but in this particular area we deal direct with bodyshops so I supply Martin with Paints, Laquers panels etc.)

I supplied the paint, primers, laquers he did 95% of the prep work on the body and all the painitng (put in about 50 hours) and charged me the sum total of €460 (thats about £325 to you brits). It pays to have friends in the trade. He also let me store the car in his workshop for the last 4 months do all the stripping and reassembly, strip and rebuild the front suspenion, electronically tracked all 4 wheels, focused the lights and let me use all his equipment for that price.

Car produced a little over 135Bhp before the engine was rebuilt. The cylinders were honed out and lighter racing pistons fitted so that should bring up the power a bit. The compression was also slightly dropped (previous owner had been using a high octane racing fuel not available in Ireland) so I would guess somewhere in the region of 140 bhp.

Weight before rebuild was 468Kg ( 52.7% / 46.3% driver passenger and 51% / 49% front rear) but I removed flared wings and replaced them with cycle wings (much lighter), old carpet was a heavy wool mix (hence the rot) and new carpet is a lightweight synthetic, I removed the cabin heater (about 3kg) as it is never used so it should be about 450kg now. (must get corner weights checked and put her on a rolling road)

For some fun have a look at these drag races (http://www.westfield-sw.co.uk/video/video.htm)

Or to see more cars and specs try Westfield home page (http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk)

[mnpctech]

Martin sounds like a great friend and asset to have.

so youre about 1000 pds? thats nuts :lol: I imagine its a little bit unnerving to hit a bump while cornering.. but with low weight the steering response would be very good.

No wonder that 175bhp westie beat the shite out of the 911 turbo. Its all about the power to weight ratio. What I noticed most is how quickly the westie launchs from the start line.

[Knipex]

You should see some of the bike engine jobs. Fully stripped no windscreen, no carpents, no interior paneling, carbon fibre body and 400bhp. :D

On the bumps you would be surprised how well they handle on any surface.

Edit first two page thread on the boards.... :D

[Pug]

Wow Kev.
That's the first time I've seen pics since the paintjob.
Veeeery nice. B)
No disappointment on that score.

Did you suss out those splits you were getting in the body before?

[Knipex]

Yes the crackes in the gell coat did cause a problem.

The origional paln was to grind away the gell coat in these areas and replace it with a stopper. its more flexible than gelcoat so it shouldnt crack again. We played with the option of adding support where the bonnet was flexing but our attempts ended up putting more stress on other areas (appears it was left flexibe for a reason)

When we went grinding we discovered that in some areas the cracks actually were more cosmetic than anything else but in other areas it was more serious than we thaught. Ended up removing too sections of the bonnet and rebuilding it with matting (with a flex additive) stopper and paint. Hopefully it will work longterm.

[mashie]

Originally posted by Knipex@Jan 1 2004, 10:01 PM
You should see some of the bike engine jobs. Fully stripped no windscreen, no carpents, no interior paneling, carbon fibre body and 400bhp. :D

On the bumps you would be surprised how well they handle on any surface.

Edit first two page thread on the boards....  :D
Yeah they are known to go like rockets, especially in the corners during trackdays ;)

Personally i prefer the sound of a V8 and still have a good power to weight ratio 1100kg (2750lbs) / 420bhp not to mention a roof in England:

http://www.mashie.org/hardforum/cerbera_01.jpg

http://www.mashie.org/hardforum/cerbera_03.jpg

http://www.mashie.org/hardforum/cerbera_04.jpg

Oh, it is my TVR Cerbera 4.5 LW btw :D

[Pug]

Your second plan seems much sounder - stopper would crack on the first humpback bridge you launched from (as you do).
Fingers crossed for you bud, anyway. I reckon you'll be alright.

Fibreglass repair is pretty bad but I had it compounded once when I slid a metalflake beach buggy into the back of my old mini cooper S (wet leaves and getting my foot stuck behind the brake pedal for a second).
Metalflake is impossible to blend in (let alone gel coated flake) and it was a one piece shell, so I couldn't even just do a panel alone or anything.

[Edit] Whoa! Hiya mashie. Way to sneak up on a guy. :D
I knew I hadn't posted any TVR pics....

[mashie]

Originally posted by Pug@Jan 6 2004, 05:53 AM
Whoa! Hiya mashie. Way to sneak up on a guy. :D
I knew I hadn't posted any TVR pics....
Hiya Pug *Waves*

[scopEDog]

Oh Mashie you big show off :p :)

[mnpctech]

Nice car, but can you drive it like you stole it?! ;)

Welcome Mashie!

Longtime admirer of both your originality and ingenuity in moddng :)


btw: Your TVR's paint color is almost like nemisis (http://www.mnpctech.com/nemisis9.html)

[mashie]

Originally posted by mnpctech@Jan 6 2004, 12:49 PM
Nice car, but can you drive it like you stole it?! ;)
I'm still surprised I have not lost the license yet if that what you mean... ;)

[Knipex]

Now im just jealous :(