My Rally Project
- Thread starter Lopéz
- Start date
Unfortunately Im 20 with 0 ncb, I wouldnt be able to put it on limited mileage as I can only afford to run one car and only have space on the drive for one anyway 
I plan for my next car to be a bit of a hot hatch though, so maybe a 205 gti, clio 16v or something similair.. mmm.. roll on next year 
I plan for my next car to be a bit of a hot hatch though, so maybe a 205 gti, clio 16v or something similair.. mmm.. roll on next year 
Okay, started with the whole battery in the boot business.
Firstly, here is the standard 205 GTi engine bay:
What I want is to move the battery into the boot to free up some space and help a touch with the weight distribution.
With the battery gone, you can move the airflow meter and fit an induction kit where it won't just suck warm air from the manifold (which is at the back on 205's)
So first things first - get rid of the piping and airbox.
Nice pile of useless bits:
After this was sorted, I removed the battery, then the airflow meter (which will later be repositioned. I also removed all the now pointless bracketry for the meter, it all helps neaten things up.
205 GTi's have two main live points to the battery - fuel pump relay and starter. As on nearly every one I've seen, the fuel pump relay terminal was knackered and fell off in my hand. So, new terminal, new wire (the thick red cable on the left)
I've had a relay connector fail during a rally once and it's not even remotely funny. I then got out the cable ties and sticky pads and ran the cable up the inner wing. Alongside it, I ran a second cable which will be connected to the starter itself
You can see the old battery tray here on the left which has a coating of rust. I'll grind that off with a flapwheel and give it a dose of red hammerite to protect it.
So, here's the bay as it stands - no battery, and for now no airflow meter (need to do some jiggery pokery with the old induction pipes to get it back on)
I was about to connect it all up to the starter (hence the wire draped over the engine) when it started to **** it down with rain, so that's it for now....
Firstly, here is the standard 205 GTi engine bay:
What I want is to move the battery into the boot to free up some space and help a touch with the weight distribution.
With the battery gone, you can move the airflow meter and fit an induction kit where it won't just suck warm air from the manifold (which is at the back on 205's)
So first things first - get rid of the piping and airbox.
Nice pile of useless bits:
After this was sorted, I removed the battery, then the airflow meter (which will later be repositioned. I also removed all the now pointless bracketry for the meter, it all helps neaten things up.
205 GTi's have two main live points to the battery - fuel pump relay and starter. As on nearly every one I've seen, the fuel pump relay terminal was knackered and fell off in my hand. So, new terminal, new wire (the thick red cable on the left)
I've had a relay connector fail during a rally once and it's not even remotely funny. I then got out the cable ties and sticky pads and ran the cable up the inner wing. Alongside it, I ran a second cable which will be connected to the starter itself
You can see the old battery tray here on the left which has a coating of rust. I'll grind that off with a flapwheel and give it a dose of red hammerite to protect it.
So, here's the bay as it stands - no battery, and for now no airflow meter (need to do some jiggery pokery with the old induction pipes to get it back on)
I was about to connect it all up to the starter (hence the wire draped over the engine) when it started to **** it down with rain, so that's it for now....
Last edited:
Right. Sump and tank guards.
Now I think I have the tank guard in order, but the car will need a sump guard as the canted angle of the XU engine means the sump is very exposed on rocky roads.
Heavy duty forestry spec guards retail at over £200, though Demon Tweeks have started to produce their own range at about £120. What I need to work out is whether it's cheaper and more satisfying to make my own.
Does anyone know where I can buy 6mm thick sheet aluminium? Doesn't matter if it's chequer treadplate or plain, as long as it's cheap and available in large enough sheets. There are some sheets on eBay but all of them are too small to use.
Now I think I have the tank guard in order, but the car will need a sump guard as the canted angle of the XU engine means the sump is very exposed on rocky roads.
Heavy duty forestry spec guards retail at over £200, though Demon Tweeks have started to produce their own range at about £120. What I need to work out is whether it's cheaper and more satisfying to make my own.
Does anyone know where I can buy 6mm thick sheet aluminium? Doesn't matter if it's chequer treadplate or plain, as long as it's cheap and available in large enough sheets. There are some sheets on eBay but all of them are too small to use.
Soldato
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2003
- Posts
- 2,872
- Location
- Manchester
Easy to make your own mate, just get some metal sheet from a builders suppliers or B&Q there's a local place near us so it aint a chain. shouldnt be a lot of cash i wouldnt of thought, 6mm is about £20 for a 6 foot by 4 foot sheet i would have thought.
Just cut it to shape and either mount it to some pre made brackets or just weld it inplace, personally id knock up some brackets with a bit of square section or something.
Just cut it to shape and either mount it to some pre made brackets or just weld it inplace, personally id knock up some brackets with a bit of square section or something.
You may have one already, but I've a .pdf of the build manual which includes a couple of (very) basic diagrams for forest and gravel sump guards, as well as other stuff for Grp A/N/ Challenge cars.
Let me know if you want a copy.
Let me know if you want a copy.
Would be appreciated thanks - I have it on one of my old hard drives on a shelf....somewhere. I really should back up and organise more often instead of just piling up corrupt/old drives in a cupboard.paintguy said:
Email in sig.Nathan, let me know about the ally when you can - in the meantime I will price it up in town. Reckon B&Q Warehouse will stock it?
No news on sheet aluminium yet, but some more bits turned up.
Battery box, extinguisher (one of three, lol) safety stickers, mudflaps, a bit more battery cable.
Solved my wiring distribution problem with a battery-through-bulkhead connector. This is basically a huge insulated bolt that will allow me to take as many positive feeds as I want to from the engine bay or inside the car. Perfect. Just got to remember to mount it somewhere sensible!
Photos give the finish on this battery box more credit than it's due. It's awful!
No days off until the weekend, hopefully it will stay dry-ish so I can get a bit done.
Battery box, extinguisher (one of three, lol) safety stickers, mudflaps, a bit more battery cable.
Solved my wiring distribution problem with a battery-through-bulkhead connector. This is basically a huge insulated bolt that will allow me to take as many positive feeds as I want to from the engine bay or inside the car. Perfect. Just got to remember to mount it somewhere sensible!
Photos give the finish on this battery box more credit than it's due. It's awful!
No days off until the weekend, hopefully it will stay dry-ish so I can get a bit done.
Last edited:
Okay, finally a couple hours of dryness so I did a bit more on the car today.
When I took off the airflow meter and battery I noticed that the battery tray (as is usual on any 80's car) was starting to rust. Not critical by any means, but worth stopping before it gets ugly.
So some wire brush attachments for the trusty drill and it was starting to look healthier
After a bit more sanding and a coat of rustproof primer, it's now like this:
Of course, it will have a few more coats of primer then a couple of topcoats of cherry red but that can wait until I have more patience to mask the surrounding area properly.
So, I moved on to the battery. As I've already said, this is going in the boot. So I got some decent sized bolts and washers, and carefully drilled the mountings for the box.
All fitted up, and I have to say I'm quite happy with it. It needs to come out again at a later stage to replace the boot lining so I didn't bother bolting everything up tightly.
When I took off the airflow meter and battery I noticed that the battery tray (as is usual on any 80's car) was starting to rust. Not critical by any means, but worth stopping before it gets ugly.
So some wire brush attachments for the trusty drill and it was starting to look healthier
After a bit more sanding and a coat of rustproof primer, it's now like this:
Of course, it will have a few more coats of primer then a couple of topcoats of cherry red but that can wait until I have more patience to mask the surrounding area properly.
So, I moved on to the battery. As I've already said, this is going in the boot. So I got some decent sized bolts and washers, and carefully drilled the mountings for the box.
All fitted up, and I have to say I'm quite happy with it. It needs to come out again at a later stage to replace the boot lining so I didn't bother bolting everything up tightly.
Last edited:
You lot moaned that I never did any updates on my old Peugeot, and now I update every week nobody replies 
Typical!
Another dry morning (it's just started pouring down) so I cracked on with the wiring. As you know, the battery is now mounted in the boot, and there are new cables coming from both the starter and fuel pump relay.
What I now needed to do is run the battery cable through the car and up to my cut off switch, so out came the seats first:
Horrid nasty things can go in the tip, or maybe i'll get a fiver on eBay for them if I'm lucky!
With the seats out and seatbelts unbolted, I removed the centre console and then the carpet:
To reveal a nice rust-free floorpan with no cracks or splits, all hiding under about 300 tons of sound deadening. So, starting at the back, I ripped it all up
And ended up with a nice refuse sack full of minging, heavy material. Now the floor was nice and clean to work with I began laying the cable through the car - under the seats and down the exhaust tunnel, all cable tied in place:
Typical!Another dry morning (it's just started pouring down) so I cracked on with the wiring. As you know, the battery is now mounted in the boot, and there are new cables coming from both the starter and fuel pump relay.
What I now needed to do is run the battery cable through the car and up to my cut off switch, so out came the seats first:
Horrid nasty things can go in the tip, or maybe i'll get a fiver on eBay for them if I'm lucky!
With the seats out and seatbelts unbolted, I removed the centre console and then the carpet:
To reveal a nice rust-free floorpan with no cracks or splits, all hiding under about 300 tons of sound deadening. So, starting at the back, I ripped it all up
And ended up with a nice refuse sack full of minging, heavy material. Now the floor was nice and clean to work with I began laying the cable through the car - under the seats and down the exhaust tunnel, all cable tied in place:
Last edited:
I then drilled a big hole in the bulkhead for my battery-through-bulkhead connector. Not the ideal location to be honest, but it's nice and out of the way and won't get disturbed.
With this in place, I ran the cables from the starter and fuel pump relay down to it, bolted them up and insulated the terminals. So now I have cable going from the bay into the cabin, and from the battery into the cabin. Just need to join it all up at the centre console now using the battery cut off switch.
As a test I taped the cables together to see if my new wiring worked before I went any further. On the first attempt the starter chugged slowly and smoke came off the small earth terminals on the strut tops.
Oops! Which plank forgot to earth the engine/gearbox strap after taking it off the battery
With this all done, I tried again, and to my amazement it actually started.
Here's the new look engine bay - note the new power cables running down the passenger side inner wing, airflow meter relocated running parallel to the radiator and slam panel, OMP strut brace and er, the fact that none of the engine breather hoses are connected up yet
I then drilled a big hole in the bulkhead for my battery-through-bulkhead connector. Not the ideal location to be honest, but it's nice and out of the way and won't get disturbed.
No more updates today unless it stops ******* it down.
With this in place, I ran the cables from the starter and fuel pump relay down to it, bolted them up and insulated the terminals. So now I have cable going from the bay into the cabin, and from the battery into the cabin. Just need to join it all up at the centre console now using the battery cut off switch.
As a test I taped the cables together to see if my new wiring worked before I went any further. On the first attempt the starter chugged slowly and smoke came off the small earth terminals on the strut tops.
Oops! Which plank forgot to earth the engine/gearbox strap after taking it off the battery
With this all done, I tried again, and to my amazement it actually started.
Here's the new look engine bay - note the new power cables running down the passenger side inner wing, airflow meter relocated running parallel to the radiator and slam panel, OMP strut brace and er, the fact that none of the engine breather hoses are connected up yet
I then drilled a big hole in the bulkhead for my battery-through-bulkhead connector. Not the ideal location to be honest, but it's nice and out of the way and won't get disturbed.
No more updates today unless it stops ******* it down.
Last edited:
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 5 Jun 2003
- Posts
- 91,784
- Location
- Falling...
That drive bay looks really empty now!
Nice progress Leon looks like it's all going well - weather permitting.
Nice progress Leon looks like it's all going well - weather permitting.
If you are still looking for the aluminium give the corus website a look, they might be able to help you. My local corus depot is happy to deal with members of the public and not just businesses.
http://www.corusgroup.com/en/
http://www.asdmetalservices.co.uk/
http://www.corusgroup.com/en/
http://www.asdmetalservices.co.uk/
Last edited: