Sil80 Drift Project II - Rising Out of a Mountain of Ashes !

[Magicmat]

Hello

This thread aims to document my journey with my new shell. While my journey into S13 modification hasn't ended...my previous cars journey did in a rather abrupt way !

So new car...new Thread !

I started drifting in about Jan 2009 ish with a BMW e36 325 nice and cheap



I then decided I fancied some JDM goodnees and bought a damaged Sil80 which use to belong to 'TheChin' on here

Previous project thread here:

http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=462898

what it use to look like



This is what it looked like when i got it.



And after some bloody hard work i got it looking like this



I used the car for three events and was very very.. happy with it. However, sadly when at Mallory on outing number 3 i ran out of Talent














Both I and the passenger were fine, but the car was a total right off, while I could have got it jigged, the labour alone was quoted at £600

So this resulted me going on the hunt for a new shell..which ended up being a 26 hour round trip to Montrose in Scotland !!

And saturday just gone.. i sold the carcuss

Ah well out of the ashes will come something more epic !

[Magicmat]

Soo.

in typical Mat fashion i tried to do everything in one weekend !!

I wanted to go and buy Fudi's sil80 but also needed to be back by 7:18pm on saturday to pick up the buyer for the BMW E46 330ci (for sale on here) from the train station. I've been selling it for my uncle because he's never sold a car before ...and i really wanted to finish the deal.

So..plan was:
- set off friday night
- drive 5 hours to perth
- Stay at a travelodge and at about 06:30am head through to Montrose to land with Fudi by 8am.
- Final part of the plan was to leave Fudi by 11am, and land in yorkshire by 6pm, with enough time to get the buyer... well that was the plan

So, got home from work at about 4:30...was ringing people like mad to try and borrow my dads landrover, pick up the trailer, check with fudi that i could land at 8 tomorrow... pack a bag and all that jazz.

Ended up setting off with the trailer at 7pm

It was a long drive, only stopped the once at Gretna green services where my lass asked...do you think you can get married at Gretna green services? lol (there is a tradition of people eloping to greta green to get married)

Anyway ! onto the journey... well its was windy, wet and a bit shit lol



Landed at Perth around 12:15pm..bed by 12:45 ...back up at at 6:15am ..£45 for 5.5hours sleep

Anyway, after a dirty McDonalds breakfast, we headed up to Montrose... (thinking god its a long way) But we finally made it and was greeted by a friendly Scots man named Fudi.

So the car !







And apparently a very rare Jimmy up sticker ... i was told never to bin this hatch



had a look at the car, looked at the rust spots and to be honest it seems alright, theres a couple of previous welds that i'll check. The bits that need welding are the chassis rail near the engine bay and a small patch near the rear subframe, but from what i could see, she looks pretty solid ... oh especially in the rear sills, archs and turret tops





Fudi also had a treat instore, A trip to Garage LSD to see some sexy S bodies and pick up a dash for the drift car

I didnt get any pics but met duncan and took a peak at a PS13 with a 14a front end. Duncan's metal conversion wings were a piece of art

Anyway, Got back to Fudi's, had a look through all the random stuff he wanted rid off, agreed a price and set about loading the car up



The car really didnt want to move off the drive ! one of the calipers were seized but soon freed off with a hammer

As we started to load up the car, Fudi told me not to look at the time.... and we still had to sercure the car and load up all the parts !

Got the car loaded up, i think Fudi found it a little difficult to see it go, which is understandable cos he's owned if for 4 years !





Notice broom handle for the rear hatch.. im too lazy for that so rear struts will be going on.

Anyway, got the car and landy loaded up with all the spares, skipped the offer of a cuppa (thanks tho) and set off at 12, an hour late

Started to rock on ...however i soon found out i couldnt go too fast... as i touched 65/70 the trailer started to snake...and i mean properly snake ! .. I may have had one moment where i thought i'd have to slam on the brakes into the hard shoulder. But apart from that I sat at 60mph for 7 hours !! .....7 hours !!!!

The drive was rather uneventful except for emergency loo stops, playing ISpy via text with the lass's dad ...and me coming out with the most stupid statement

"the biggest cities in scotland are Glasgow and Scotland" .. i meant edinburugh but the lass wouldnt let it drop...sorry Fudi.

So after a quick loo stop and burger king, our eta had moved from 06:30 to 7:30

we were cutting pretty fine in picking up the bmw buyer.. but in the end we picked him up from the train station in the Landy with the trailer ! ....not ideal but the buyer took it in good spirits.

So after closing the deal with the bmw..dropping the trailer and car off at my mums..finally arrived home at 10pm to some pissed off cats that wanted feeding !

..Sorry for the large essay of a story.

Plan now is:

- Strip old car down ....
- Weld up new car and get it ready with engine out
- Build up new drift car !! ... and dont write it off

Timescales,

I dont want to follow my normal habbit and do it in a week, ... but i've got my eyes on Mallory park in Feb. BUT i'd like to drift at a few events before hand.

Overall though, im happy with the car I've just got a marathon of bits to sort..duplicates of parts to sell...as i Need to raise cash as there is nothing left in the drift pot

[Magicmat]

So one weekedn i was meant to be welding my dads van up, however he decided that he didnt want it doing , ...yada yada and other excuses. So i thought fcuk it ! I'll weld the new shell instead

Took a trip up to SlideMotorsport based in Featherstone (near leeds) to enlist their services, help and best of all.. the bitchin ramp !



So i dropped the car off on friday night and then returned on saturday morning to start working



The old man decided he wanted a piece of the action and was helping me investigate the cars rot.



I knew the passenger rail had a hole in the bottom however after a poke around the chassis rail started to become more cheese like and holey this is the other side of the rail after some tapping with a hammer



My old man also decided that the previous patches on the other side werent up to scratch so we took them off, patched side of the rail wasnt up to scratch so i took the old patches off, leaving this



Using a wire wheel on some other areas also highlighted some more problems

sill with poor welding, couldnt believe i found long stretchs with no bloody welds !



Its a shame that the sill repair uses plate which is thinner than the original metal ! so its obvioulsy gunna rust through quickly. But for now, it stays

A rust bubble that turned out to be more....



inspection of the drivers side chassis rail, showed that it has also been patched previously, but that repair was much better



However the crease in the middle wanted some weld across it to seal ..rather than seam sealer plus i also wanted to weld up the hole that was mounts the Clutch cooler. I dont need it as i'll be using a DW Clutch line...plus a hole is another point for the water to get in

So had a look around the rest of the car..and its ok,

Some cool bits tho, under the bonnet its glittler purple and the subframe is also purple ... think im just a magpie !



Further investigations showed that the drivers side sill has also been repaired but i couldnt find any dodgy welding on that side

there is some pretty brown places near the rear subframe...think these will be patched in the not too distant future, heres one but both looks just as brown



floor repair was also abit shit, so we rewelded that. this is before the reweld



My dad is a fabricator and makes some bloody amazing stuff, but was convinced whoever had done the previous welding hadnt used a mask as it was poo sorry fudi.

So we set about repairing the rail, straightened out the bottom with a G clamp



I stuck some Kurust (turns rust to metal apparenty) into the chassis rail and we started welding it up, we used some beefy Glav'd steel, my old own man wasnt keen at first, due to the toxins released when you weld with it...but i convinced him to be careful, didnt want it rusting through anytime soon !





you've got to agree that its a sexy repair..the welding is mint... of course (im super happy with it)

other patch



forgot to take a picture of the bottom but you get the idea,

Also touched up the other plate



We also found another patch near the back wheels that ideally wanted patching, while its doulble skinned it seems to have started rotting the first layer, we didnt want this to be an MOT failure in the future..

so cleaned it up



and then...ran out of GAS for the welder !!! bollocks

The majority of the welding is done tho, just some small bits to finish off, but at least i can crack on with putting the engine in, it would have been much harder to weld the rail with the engine in situ

So as a result of no gas, I carried on with the painting, but before i did that I asked whether I should seam seal over the new welds, My dad seemed to take a little offense about this. he clamed his welds weren't shit and had no holes in them. Therefore the weld was a proper seal, he claimed that poor welders would seal the welds cos they cant guarentee no holes ... plus nissan dont fully weld their edges, they just spot weld and seal inbetween....ok dad. As a result I sealed the 'alright' welds on the old patchs

Then started with Red oxide primer (anti corrosion paint..supposidly)



over a patch on the rear part of the rail which was also repaired



I covered this with a few coats of hammerite just to protect it...i'll be going over it with some underseal later



I am really grateful to Matt @ Slidemotorsport for helping with the build, top bloke

But also my old man for the bitchin welding

[Magicmat]

currently the car is now at my house and on the drive



I've started stripping the engine bay of the loom etc as im going to paint it and get it sorted

totally not decided what colour im going tho ..thinking Electric blue on the outside and ?? on the inside and engine bay? ..Orange? Blue? Black?

[SX_BIG]

top work mate,

good to see your just crackinng on and gettin gon with it despite the huge backwards setback - subscribed

[Magicmat]

Cheers fella,

It may be two steps back but im trying to jump forwards ! Plan is to stop mucking about, get it looking nice and use it ! however I may go a little easier on Gerrards next time

Also thinking Rx8 'winning blue' for the colour ! What do we think for the interior?

i've got a shed load of bits to fit too

SR20 conversion from the old car, gauges and other bits, suspension, 5 stud conversion bucket seat, roll cage etc etc, think i'll be quite busy !

[Waveydavey]

Nice one mate, will be keeping a close eye on this, could even maybe offer a helping hand one day if you need it.

[Jaymo_sx]

I want that friggin bonnet!!!!


Nice work though mate

[mantachris]

Nice work

We used some beefy Glav'd steel, my old own man wasnt keen at first, due to the toxins released when you weld with it...but i convinced him to be careful, didnt want it rusting through anytime soon !

having spent last night with zinc poisoning after spending the day welding galv I can vouch for the toxins

RE the seam sealer - apparently all mig welds become porous eventually so seam sealer's not a bad idea, can also see your dads point though, I hate hiding nice welds

[skinz180189]

Nice to see a dedicated thread for the new one now. Keep it up Mat

[Magicmat]

Nice one mate, will be keeping a close eye on this, could even maybe offer a helping hand one day if you need it.

Always up for a hand fella, can find anyone a job plus I'll convince the lass to make the brews

I want that friggin bonnet!!!!


Nice work though mate

Not happening can't decide whether to run a vertex body kit? I only need the front bumper, but not sure how it would look

Nice work



having spent last night with zinc poisoning after spending the day welding galv I can vouch for the toxins

RE the seam sealer - apparently all mig welds become porous eventually so seam sealer's not a bad idea, can also see your dads point though, I hate hiding nice welds

I'm sure the car will be rotten before the welds and plate go but yeah think I'll put sealer on the welds... On the sly

Nice to see a dedicated thread for the new one now. Keep it up Mat

Cheers fella

Did another 1.5 hours tonight before getting dragged to the cinema for a girly film ! Just trying to keep momentum on the car

[Waveydavey]

Well just let me know when your working on the car and if Iam over at my lasses house I could pop through, Its only 40mins.

[lex.]

Read your last thread, good to see you're not pased by smashing one up, good man!

[Magicmat]

Well just let me know when your working on the car and if Iam over at my lasses house I could pop through, Its only 40mins.

Alright buddy I'll be working on it this weekend and next, if your around and free, send me a text. You don't have to help out of guilt or owt 'just pay it forward' lol

Read your last thread, good to see you're not pased by smashing one up, good man!

Nicely done ! I think if I was injured in the crash I might feel different about it.... But well see how I go on the track

[schumi84]

Pretty hardcore adventure you have had so far mate, you certainly did a proper job of it at Mallory .

Fantastic to see the work being done on the car, and the quality looks great.

Keep up the good work

[Magicmat]

I know im not reinventing the wheel or anything, but i try not to pay someone to do the work, or just buy bolt on parts... I try to do it myself, which enthusiast ownership is all about?

I'll try to keep up the good work

[Magicmat]

Been thinking about Colours, Really liked a Metallic Blue Rx8 I saw..so fancy that for the colour

And was starting to wonder whether an Oranage Interior, (cos its getting stripped out) would be too much ?

Heres a mini that i painted a few years ago..again in said orage. 'Tiel Orange' which looked like a non metallic Ford St Orange

[Jaymo_sx]

i think you'll soon start to hate an orange interior...why not go for a slightly different shade of blue if the exterior is going blue? Perhaps a nice dark blue....which would get too marked either...and a lighter blue...

[Ashleyyy]

Purplein/Blueeout?

[Magicmat]

i think you'll soon start to hate an orange interior...why not go for a slightly different shade of blue if the exterior is going blue? Perhaps a nice dark blue....which would get too marked either...and a lighter blue...

Think you could be right.. but its not going to be my daily so i wont have it all the time.

I have thought about the dark/light blue.. do it in a solid two pack colour so i can touch it up easily enough

Purplein/Blueeout?

Again tempted but also thought about doing it glitter purple lol..like the bonnet..altho the lass seems to think thats rather