Cazerooadoo's R5 C2 GTT Project

[cazerooadoo]

Hi I have been having a lot of work done to my R5 GTT over the past few months, so I thought I would start up a restoration thread. It is still in the body shop now just getting some more work finished off. But should hopefully be back on the road soon.

The car wasn't in bad condition but the usual sills needed doing and the wings and bonnet were full of dents so wanted those replacing. Then was going to get it re-sprayed red as all the body panels had faded and were different shades.

This is how it looked before it went in with a few odd coloured panels, dings and the hanging off bodykit : )







The outer sills were not too bad but when they were cut off the inner sills turned out to need a little work.





Thanks to Mike (Phase I 16v turbo) for some inner sill panels and with some amazing luck at a local parts supplier who happened to have 2 outer sills left at £25 each The guys at Bodytech Blackpool started on the sills. New jacking points were also fitted which we got from Renault:





new outer sills going on:



Outer sills primed and ready and with an extra arch cut in the sill and seem welded so I can raise the side exit up into the skirt:



In reality the car was only meant to be going in for the sills but I got carried away away and decided to go a little further! So then the work started on stripping the rest of the car, and as per usual 5 standards we found the rear bumper mounts needed some work.





After some cutting out and grinding there was not much left of it!



No problem for the lads to sort out though and after a bit of TLC it looks a little healthier



The boot required a little more work than expected though after they found a few holes on the top of the boot:



A little more investigation proved this was just a little rusty in-between the panels



So the decision was taken to replace the cut it out and start a fresh – the only real way to sort this out:



And after the new metal was welded with some nice metal work:



Will update some more soon

[gtmatt]

Wow Mikes old car , and now its in good hands up north , cant believe shes still alive ,good to see her getting restored amazing work there , if you need anything give us a shout , we have a good set of members up here ,

keep us posted

[Brigsy]

Im shocked to see how much rust is on this, i always thought it was still in mint condition!

Good work with the restore though chopping all the rot out is definitely the best approach

[Trevhib]

Nice work. While you're at it, what is the windscreen surround like and the lower rail under the rear windows?

[cazerooadoo]

Thanks for the comments. Yes, it was Mikes old car, I bought it from Rob who was a member on here. I've owned it for 2 years now so thought it was time to get some work done!

We thought the windscreen looked ok from the outside but when the glass was taken out we found that around the bottom corners of the frame were pretty rough:



So again we had the sections of metal cut /replaced and smoothed.





There was quite a lot of rust on the front pillars on both sides so it was ground off and replaced where needed:



Even the rear quarter window frames got a little tlc with some careful metal work:





Will add some more pics soon

[dangerous dave]

looks like some good work there, money well spent

[michael tierney]

on the bottom/underneath bits u might try some por-15 or equivalent....i'm sorry now i did'nt as theres little specs starting to appear!!

[cazerooadoo]

Its all been primed and treated just not got a good picture of it done. Hopefully should last a while now.

[dave j gtt]

Cant believe it.
I followed you thru lancaster near a year ago car looked mint

Like has been said nice work and yes the car is in good hands who is doing the bodywork ?

[cazerooadoo]

Ah yes, I think you put up a spotted post when you saw it?

The car looked ok when it was polished up but I knew the sills needed doing underneath and some panels did not match in colour. The car has been done at BodyTech in Blackpool. The guys there are straight up, honest and good to deal with. Would recommend them to anyone!

[kiwicolour]

As a qualified painter myself i can tell there doing a good job.
i do accedent work and i know within an hour or 2 how long a job will take but ive never really known how they can price up a job like this, whats it costing if you dont mind me asking? or is it ongoing?

[cazerooadoo]

They quoted after taking a good look around and stuck to their original quote even after more work was found. Can't knock them for price given what they took on!

Car will be an on-going project but the body work jobs are pretty much sorted now.

Thought I would update a little more:

I wanted the clutch changed as it was slipping a little on boost so thought I would have the engine out and bay done. Here it is covered in a light dust



Engine Out:



Some more work was needed on the backend. Boot stop was a little bent and rusty:





Rust ground off, primed, stop cleaned up, straightened and re-welded:



I don't have a wiper so the holes in the tailgate got welded up and some minor rust removed:





Boot soundproofing was removed:



Rear bumper had to be filled in because I have a side exit:





The car sits really low so the bumper has to sit back slightly. I decided to have the rear kit arches filled out a little to shorten the gap between the bumper and the arch as it was too big a gap. The tape marks the new position:



Primed and extended:



Starting to look like scrapheap challenge



Car gets put in booth:



That's it for tonight, will update more over the weekend when I get time.

[Chris Beer]

I really wish I had somewhere like that to do my 5

Fantastic work mate

[raj]

i love these type of threads its really good seeing a car having a proper refurb

[cazerooadoo]

Thanks for the comments, I thought I would do another update:

So after a touch of paint the car looks have a nice fresh colour:









I had brand new wings and new bonnet to be sprayed along with all outside parts. Parts look nice and fresh in booth:







I decided to have the interior parts painted satin black as well to suit the headlining which I re-trimmed. Before re-trim:



After Trim:



interior bits in Booth:



While the car was in, the subframe and ARB went off for blasting and powder coating. I also had new ARB bushes and bottom arms fitted:





Subframe and arms go for trial fit:






That's it again for now

[Markey Mark (BD)]

Really nice job there, well done!

Good to see this car is still going strong, remember seeing it alot round here when Rob owned it.

[V Man]

That looks like top quality, thorough Job. Should see the car last a few more years!

[cazerooadoo]

Just a quick update -

The engine went back in quite nicely without any major issues but still very dirty:



With the new wings and bonnet fitted he is starting to look like a car once more



Windscreen gets fitted by the pros for a proper fit without leaks!



Body kit goes back on but car still looks pretty messy:



But thanks to a bit of polishing the lads at Bodytech get it looking as it was intended to





I will hope to get some more images soon of the new door cards and interior as I get chance! Still got plenty more to do

[devilish dave]

Stevo, Dave and the rest of the boys have done another nice job on your bodywork

[Trevhib]

This is absolutely lush. Thanks for sharing

When people say their car is mint they are most often mistaken because THIS car is what mint actually refers to.

New headlights (a regular tip of mine, lol) will be really beneficial to the front end.

[raj]

Looking sweet as
i wish i had the time/patients and money to do this

[dangerous dave]

that looks sh1t hot

[Ashy]

awesome mate, well done

I wish mine went back together so quickly....

[R5TURBORON]

Amazing work mate stunning

[5alldaway]

love it!

wants to buy a gtt shell to play with

[cazerooadoo]

Thanks for all the positive comments. So glad to have it back now as it took nearly 6 months. Hopefully will be getting the wheels refurbished in a couple of weeks too

[finsta]

keep the pics coming caz!

[Brizza]

Often wondered what happened to that car, nice to see its still in one piece... Mike48... now he was a character

[T.K]

Great to see this excellent car being tidied up so nicely.

Some good memories of this car fromw hen 48 owned it, including blowing it to bits on the A13 and him nearly killing my brother going sideways between the kerb and a traffic island at 60mph!

5 tuning scene was pretty stagnant before this came along (I don't think anyone had improved on Dr Glen T's B3AST time for a good couple of years until Mike did), so credit where it is due!

48 really was a quality, quality driver. I read somewhere recently that he is reckoned to be the best go-kart racer in the UK, if he'd got the breaks he would be in Formula 1, no doubt about it.

[Alan]

Like it alot, Any more pic??

[gtmatt]

amazing work well done looks beauitful

[Chunk]

Very nice!

I'd like to do this to both of my old Renaults.... what was the approximate cost for the bodywork?

[cazerooadoo]

Not updated this thread in a long time but since my last post I have been working on a few things -
I have had both driveshafts replaced and fuel tank leak fixed. Have put the back seats back in and removed the harnesses, so I can now use it as a proper "family car".
I managed to get the heater plumbed back in even with the relocated header tank, it took quite a few pipe mods but is proving to be a god send with the cold weather we're having.
I had the wheels re-furbed nearlly a year ago and up until now I still haven't kerbed them (touch wood!)
Last weekend we took the sunroof out as it was leaking but have now put it back in and re-sealed it. So far so good there hasn't been anymore dripping on my head while going round corners.
Next on my list is to replace the steering rack (as soon as I can find a decent one), replace the front seats (back to original) and to modify my door cards by making them higher, as they are catching when opening/closing the doors.

Will post some progress pictures when I get chance

[TopCat]

Great looking car

[James5]

Cazerooadoo always liked this car even back in the day when Mike48 owned it, have to say you have done a fantastic job. Out of interest what did you trim your headlining with as I need to do mine black aswell.

[cazerooadoo]

I just used some stretchy jersey material from the local haberdashery. Nothing special just easier if its stretchy to glue without creases or bubbles.

[westy94]

I just used some stretchy jersey material from the local haberdashery. Nothing special just easier if its stretchy to glue without creases or bubbles.

Love them wheels what are they?

[dangerous dave]

azevs.. you can have flat caps like hers or these ones.. i like hers more tho

[Trevhib]

Flat caps make a big difference!

no references to flat cap and whippet tuning here, lol.

[cazerooadoo]

Yes as Daves already put they are Azev A's in a size 15" and you can get a few different styles of centre caps.

They are getting quite rare nowadays, so I'm told.... but I would still get rid of them for some Ronal Turbos or deep dish Borbet A's.

[chris]

Just read all of this what an amazeing job and the car looks stunning