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oldcarnut

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 17 Sep 2016 :  14:46:51  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Bought this car earlier this year as a box of assorted parts. The previous owner(s) had put a lot of effort in welding the bits required, so no welding to do. The car is very sound. Loads of parts are missing as we keep finding out while rebuilding the car. Engine runs sweet enough, just needs new hoses and an oil change. Have made up sump and tank shields as the rallies seem to have got rougher these days? New exhaust system manufactured and fitted and sorted the brakes. No master cylinders so will have to get them somewhere. Steering wheel was past it's sell by date so a new one was fitted. Seats are MX5 and the rally belts fitted to these fine. Got it carpeted with removable front parts for after the inevitable river crossings. Carpets are unfortunately mandatory as are the rear seats. Got a new roll cage made, as the old one was a bit 'thin', new one is bang up to date sizes and proper ROPT materials. Waiting for my mate to get motivated to wire the car up as we are fitting an alternator and changing to negative earth for the nav. gear. Got the side trims fitted. We seem to have a load of strange looking bits left, probably from a different car? Interior is about there apart from wiring and the battery cut off switch. Got most of the bits sorted but still short of some side grilles for the front. May end up making something to fill the holes in. Minilite type wheels and new tyres fitted and look mint. Still a long way to go. will update as we progress.


























Edited by - oldcarnut on 01 Jun 2017 20:09:24

bigt80

United Kingdom
1051 Posts

Posted - 19 Sep 2016 :  19:55:53  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hey, looking good .
What colour blue did you use for the flash?
Like what you've done to the interior - excellent; well done! G
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oldcarnut

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 20 Sep 2016 :  16:09:14  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi thanks for your positive comments. They are two std. RAL colours, a blue and grey for ease of future repairs (hope not) when used in rallies. The V5 says grey so the main colour is a very light almost white grey. The roof and flash look good in the supermarine blue. Think it should look good when we're done and have fitted all of the mouldings back on with new clips.
More pics as we progress.

Edited by - oldcarnut on 01 Jun 2017 20:14:10
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oldcarnut

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 25 Sep 2016 :  15:10:22  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Update, nearly got the wiring done!!What a chew on. Alternator fitted, system now negative earth for the new navigation gear. Got given what's left of an old Wolseley 1500, using the door handles, wiper rack, washers and maybe the heater fan if we can get it working. Sorted the windows. Manufacturing some side grilles this week. More pics when we get a bit further on.

Edited by - oldcarnut on 01 Jun 2017 20:15:27
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bigt80

United Kingdom
1051 Posts

Posted - 10 Oct 2016 :  20:50:26  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Great progress: keep at it! ,. G
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andyb

United Kingdom
367 Posts

Posted - 18 Oct 2016 :  08:54:19  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Cars coming along nicely and looking good

What rallies are you aiming to do ?

sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand
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oldcarnut

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 19 Oct 2016 :  13:44:43  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Got the interior finished now, all navigation gear in, cut out plus extra switches etc. Pics soon. Thankfully the wiring is now done!! Got the engine running on the starter switch, fuel gauge US so fitted Mini one for now. Swapped the ammeter cables round for the negative earth. Alternator works great. Temp sender is not working. Looks a similar thread to most other classic cars? Renewed all the coolant hoses and changed oil/filter. Flushed the cooling system. Sounds fit enough. Brakes are sorted and working. Just have the clutch master to recon and fit and it will be drivable!!
Pleased with how things have come together all at once. Got some door cards to make yet and the window runners to renew.

Regards rallies? We currently run a Porsche 924 in the classic rally class. This is regularity road sections with special tests or stages off the roads. Good fun and cheap. It's basically how the stage rallies were in the 1960's and 70's when we used a Mini Cooper S. We will run the Rapier in the same kind of event, but in the pre 1960 class.
More as it happens............

Edited by - oldcarnut on 01 Jun 2017 20:17:40
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oldcarnut

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 29 Oct 2016 :  15:04:45  Show Profile  Reply with Quote


















Still a lot of bits in the boot despite a dry build of some parts.
Had my first drive round the car park to try clutch and brakes, good morale boost!!

Edited by - oldcarnut on 01 Jun 2017 20:20:54
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oldcarnut

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 07 Dec 2016 :  19:21:26  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Almost there now, not taken that long really? Got it insured for the weekend so will be out for a short test run to see if anything drops off! Hoping for a dry road.











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Sunbeam-mike

United Kingdom
164 Posts

Posted - 08 Dec 2016 :  10:24:53  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Very impressed. The car looks very sharp.

Can I ask what the large diameter pipes are for (started off silver then changed to white)?

Mike

Mike Hooper
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andyb

United Kingdom
367 Posts

Posted - 08 Dec 2016 :  16:34:57  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Looks superb :)



sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand
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oldcarnut

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 08 Dec 2016 :  18:53:18  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
The pipes are for the heater fan, luxury eh!! Car had fan missing so we grafted in one from Wolseley we had sat in the yard.
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oldcarnut

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 04 Jan 2017 :  21:15:14  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Had a bit of a run in the car. Push it a bit and it overheats. Took the rad out and it weighs a ton! Thought about getting it re-cored but they are all talking rubbish prices. Going to get our racing rad. man to make up an alloy one for us, half the price of a core in the old one and will be better cooling. Other than that goes fine,sometimes pops out of second gear so may have a look in if it gets annoying.
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oldcarnut

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 19 Mar 2017 :  09:17:07  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Got a good four syncro box in the car now. Better for rally use and no more gear change problems. Will keep the old one and sell with the car as a spare. Clutch release replaced, rear engine core plugs done while the box was out.

Edited by - oldcarnut on 01 Jun 2017 20:20:04
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jimlagos

United Kingdom
205 Posts

Posted - 13 Jun 2017 :  09:22:36  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
That was quick!

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C871235

jim
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oldcarnut

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 17 Sep 2017 :  22:44:20  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
It is a bit sad that despite advertising the Rapier on numerous platforms, there was not a buyer for the car. The car has ended up in Hong Kong, which is good for me because I got what I wanted for the car, but a bit sad it has left the country. Never mind, on to the next one...




From this.....




To this...all in all a good result.
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