Rallye Project

Other projects around the house and workshop keeping me busy but did manage a bit of progress…

Painted up the catch tank and the coil pack brackets.

Fitted those and then put in an insulated bulkhead fitting for the battery cable.

In doing this came to the conclusion that the stainless rivnuts I pressed in for the steering column were not the way forwards. As they’re not flush fitting the column was wobbling even with a third bolt added in for stability. So I cut the rivnuts out and welded in some captive nuts. Those combined with the third fixing means it’s solid now.

Wanted to find a way to get the oil catch tank in. Spoke with Sandy Brown to confirm positioning. Didn’t want to do something conventional above the gearbox mount so made this instead.

Just needs a lick of paint…

Passenger door has always had check strap issues so decided to do something about that and treated the car to a brand new part.

Comparison of old vs new and there are a few subtle differences…

The result…

Engine’s swapped over time to cut the scuttle…

Chopped the scuttle to create a letterbox for the bodies:

The bulkhead face of the scuttle is shaped and for what I want to do I needed to smooth it so a bit of chopping and welding needed. With the trumpets in I need to chop another 10mm out of the side nearest the middle and it’ll be spot on.

Footrest is in. It was a mission, but second time lucky on the welded in captive nut mountings. Should make it nice and easy if I decide to run carpet and gives me more confidence than the threaded rivet inserts.

Powder coat is going to need to be re-done. It cracked and peeled off as it was bent to shape to fit the footwell. I’ll get it blasted to key it in and then either epoxy it or get it powder coated again.

The plan had been to mount a dry cell battery to the rear of the footrest. I did that on my white S2 previously but wanted a more secure mounting this time around. The s1 and s2 floor pans are different shapes too.

However the MSA are clamping down on putting the battery behind the footrest in cars where there is a passenger seat fitted. If it’s not in the rules yet it will be soon that the battery will need to be behind any occupants in the front. So it’ll be going behind the seats…