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The lovely job of scraping off underseal from the wheel arches, luckily it was blooming cold, which made it easier to chip away the sealer.





Once I had seam welded just about everywhere, it was time for some fabrication.

First up, some reinforcing plates for the harness fixing points. these have to be 75cm2 both sides of the floor.



I also need to cut out a section of the transmission tunnel to be able to fit the drivers seat, otherwise the seat would be too high for me to fit !

Floor cut out:





Reinforcing plates need to be fitted for the seat mounting points



All done :



And it all fits ! Just need to lower the seat for more clearance.



Next up a tray to fit the battery:

I bought the fitting bracket to allow me to make the the tray, of course checking that the battery will be man enough for the job !



Making the plate:



And fitted in position, low down as possible.



Next, some brackets to take the bonnet pins for the rear hatch:

Now I needed to plate the strut top mounts. I had a friend plasma cut the circle on the 3mm plate, which i then filed round to fit the strut top circumference, easily said but took me whole afternoon to get each plate the right shape.



Rosette welds help the strength of the plate.



All done !



Once I had completed the seam welding and preparation fabrication, it was time to get the shell blasted ready for painting. The car was taken to Cleaning Consultants Ltd, near Billingshurst who did a great job of blasting the shell then applying a zinc phospate treatment to prevent any rust forming in the future.











Finally the car went to the paint shop run by my Good mate Carl Hicks of P H Motors for some final prep and painting.

Carl fabricated an infill panel to get rid of the sunroof aperture.



Then started the process of getting some paint on the bare metal.

So then we get to work on procurement of the parts needed to build the car.

Some new toys:

Gaz Gold Professional coilover suspension, with adjustable camber plates.





Pip persuaded me (without too much effort on his part!) to buy this Ford Type 9 Gearbox from him, fitted with Quaife straight cut close ratio gearset which is virtually identical to the Mazda Factory competition ratios.



The LSD is built from all new parts with a helical LSD, new 4.7 CWP and beautifully put together by an F1 mechanic of Pip's acquaintance.





Mazda Rotary Parts supplied a number of Racing Beat parts for the suspension. AP 4 Pot brakes are planned for the front braking set up, a hydraulic fly off handbrake will be fitted, with a split braking set up with bias adjust using the Astra pedalbox. Plus the usual twin facet fuel pumps, full mechanical fire extinguishers etc, etc,.

So, now the car is back home and ready to start the main build, I need to get the rear axle in first, then the engine and box. Before I do this, the engine crossmember needs a bit of strengthening:



A few seam welds:





Then back of to the powdercoaters to finish off:



And finally the first bit of kit fitted to the car. I cut out the old studs as the threads were badly worn and fitted new bolts, with the head on the underside, to prevent damage





Time to get the rear axle built and fitted.

Looks the goods like I said the other day Derek!! Alls I can say is don't use facet pumps they are crap!!!
Get a Mallory pump and return style reg or even the carter black or gold best na pumps around..

My mates got a Mallory pump and 4309 rego and his makes 220 rwhp !

The half shafts have been stripped, cleaned, painted and fitted with new bearings and spacers.



Cleaned axle and sealant ready for the diff.



and in she goes:



New bushes fitted to watts link bars



and watts link strengthening plate ready to fit



New standard top links, these are recommended rather than uprated polybushed or rosejointed items as the upper links have a tendency to bind if they are not flexible.



Braided brake hoses



Axle finally in, after fitting Racing Beat rear anti roll bar, just waiting for new discs to be delivered.





Re Speed bottom arms, nice but hard work getting what I paid for !



Now have the engine home, ready for test fitting with the Type 9 gearbox so that I can fabricate new gearbox mounts. Clean up needed after 18 months in store.

BO0557 wrote:Looks the goods like I said the other day Derek!! Alls I can say is don't use facet pumps they are crap!!!
Get a Mallory pump and return style reg or even the carter black or gold best na pumps around..

My mates got a Mallory pump and 4309 rego and his makes 220 rwhp !

Damon, I have been thinking about that, also considering twin holley pumps, anyone used them ?

Nothing constructive to offer, but I just wanted to say "Awesome build" Inspirational

Lucky wrote:Nothing constructive to offer, but I just wanted to say "Awesome build" Inspirational

Yep, me too. Fabulous work.

DB RX63 wrote:

BO0557 wrote:Looks the goods like I said the other day Derek!! Alls I can say is don't use facet pumps they are crap!!!
Get a Mallory pump and return style reg or even the carter black or gold best na pumps around..

My mates got a Mallory pump and 4309 rego and his makes 220 rwhp !

Damon, I have been thinking about that, also considering twin holley pumps, anyone used them ?

Holleys are noisy but work - carters are quieter..

But why the need for twin pumps a single pump would be more than sufficient for your setup..