Raider to the Ring!

[UnstableCable]

Been a member on here for a good few years now and always enjoyed looking in the project sections to see other peoples cars so thought it was about time I started a thread for my self.
So me baby is a 1990 Raider which I picked up from the middle of Leicester around 18 months ago. In Hindsight probably wasn’t the wisest of purchases and could have got a lot better for the money but foolishly got a one way ticket to go and view with the intent to buy as looked really good in photos. Unfortunately viewed at night and the guy I bought it off had gone out of his way to cover up problems with the car. For example siliconed a metal plate over the front jacking point to cover up the bad rust! Looked like they had gone to quite a lot of trouble and done a good job to be honest!
It made the 3 hour journey home with out any problems but was very drafty once we got on the motorway, far more drafty than it should have been! On inspection in the daylight the next day found out the wind screen rubber was missing and the windscreen wasn’t held in by much and was cracked! First job, new windscreen which cost £120 for someone to come to our house and fit. Also changed the bonnet to a spare standard one as the current had vents and wanted the car looking as standrad as possible.



More to follow.

[Chris Beer]

That's looking good mate

Shame the owner before made a few mistakes and lied about it but from those pictures looks a nice example!

[UnstableCable]

Soon found another problem when I opened the boot fully and a heap of rust fell on the parcel shelf! So turns out the whole bottom around the window rubber had rusted away and the glass was actually protruding from the boot in the middle.
Fortuneatly I had a spare rust free boot at the old house so sprayed it up the right colour and swapped the window over!
So that got the car watertight, so took up all the carpet to see how it was inside. What I found was a very wet carpetbut thankfully not to many signs of rust.

[UnstableCable]

Next job was the drivers seat was quite torn up on one side on the upright and bolster. The bolster was quite easyily fixed as took one from a standard seat but couldn’t for the life of me find a replacement to half for the back of the chair so got hold of a phase 2 standard seat cover with red fleck, unstitched the centre parts with the flecks on and swapped it for the blue with the old sowing machine, and then recovered the chair, not a easy job as there are so many taks and wires etc that tension the material but turned out ok!

[jesus in the seat of a 5]

good going matty, any help i can be at any time , you know i allways love your tea..., keep it up buddy..well done you...

[UnstableCable]

good going matty, any help i can be at any time , you know i allways love your tea..., keep it up buddy..well done you...

Cheers Matty got a stash of tea bags just for yourself if your ever in the area! Might even be able to russle up a biscuit if your lucky!

[UnstableCable]

Over the next few weeks of the car getting used regularly it slowly began use to small amounts of water and noticed the white gunk building up in the breather system so to pre-empt the engine dieing I decided to begin building a fresh engine to swap over asap. Probs could have just changed the head gasket but I’d never rebuilt a engine and wanted to have a go, and at the same time tidy up the engine bay. I had a decent block in the garage which I got cleaned and painted up and rebuilt with new bits. Then on a long weekend dragged the front of the car into the garage and swapped the engines over, the old one had developed a slight knocking by now so couldn’t have waited much longer!!
This was engine bay before





Big Valve Head

[UnstableCable]

So below is the results, took a good few weeks of tidying but really happy with the result, and of course a much better drive!

[Chris Beer]

Top work right there

[UnstableCable]

Ok so for the first Mot got pulled up on some rusty jacking points and sills, so took of the side skirts of to see the full damage!

The rust was as bad the other side and both jacking points were completely knackered! So managed to get hold of 2 new jacking points but only one new sill, so one was completely replaced and the other has been patched for now and is on the to do list when I find a passenger side sill!
Bit of help from the old man respraying the sills and blending back into the paintwork.

[UnstableCable]

So that brings me upto date and what Im working on right now is just a general tidy up of the body work as its all a little tatty. Started with the front bumper, as a part of the underneath dropped of on the driveway!







Unfortuneatly currently going for a seperation so living in a rented house with no garage so have put a shed in the garden and this is doubling up as spray booth with the help from a giant tarp!



Also had a major change of plan in the last few weeks, up to now the car has been a weekend car for me, and a second car either me or the missus depending on who had further to drive, the one staying local would take the 5 and whoever was going further would take the diesel! So plan has always been keep the car standard and reliable but a friend soon changed that!

So a good friend of mine has decided to do a trip to the Nuremberg ring for his 30th birthday in 2012 May june time and wants to get a convoy of cars going over!
So will be 6 cars in total so not the biggest convoy but other cars going our Mk5 golf R32, TVR, Honda s2000, Bi turbo A4 estate another unconfirmed car and me in the R5

New plan is now to make the car a little more track friendly, new wheels suspension etc etc!

[djinuk]

cracking project dude..

one thing.. and please listen to me on this... bin that metal filler spatula. buy disposable plastic ones, metal ones are two harsh and you will leave lines .

Just a tip as you will find it far easier.

[UnstableCable]

cracking project dude..

one thing.. and please listen to me on this... screwm that metal filler spatula. buy disposable plastic ones, metal ones are two harsh and you will leave lines .

Just a tip as you will find it far easier.

thanks for the tip mate, will get me some plastic ones! Learning as im going, so any tips welcome!

[Renault 5 GT Turbo]

Loving the no nonsense approach here. I think I would have cried if I had found that sill and boot lid!

Keep us updated as you go.

[UnstableCable]

Been mainly gathering bit to replace knackered bits recently so havent done that much work on the car it self but building up to a big swap over where I will strip the front of the car out and swap the following bits.

As you can see from the below pictures that someone has welded the subframe to make some bumper brackets, but all they have managed to do is set rust free into the subrame so this will be getting replaced with a very good one I picked up. The new one had a couple little patchs of rust that I treat with hammerite rust killer, rubbed down and resprayed in gloss black.





Gearbox has always been quite crunchy, especially when selecting reverse and always been difficult to get into second so picked up a gearbox along with the subframe. Gearbox has been stood for a while, looks like it has been buried tbh! But the oil inside looks good and selects gears fine. So gave its a going over with a few wire attachments and some degreaser.
Decided I liked the look of them painted silver so thought I would give it a go. Started with a special alloy primer made by Hammerite, its water based and brushes on so gave it 2 coats.



Was a little dubious with the primer being water based but it seemed grip on fairly well so next was 2 coats of silver alloy wheel paint, and the cap got the same treatment as the subframe, a nice coat of gloss black!

[TNT ANDY]

Looking awesome!

[jesus in the seat of a 5]

good going matty , get stuck in lad..., remember if ya want a hand one eve, im a stone throw away bud......, keep it up buddy...

[UnstableCable]

I had also decided that I wanted to lower the comp. ratio in my engine and also was looking to get a vernier pully as altough I have a piper 285 cam it is set to std timing.

Was amazed how difficult it is to find either of these, is it just me or did these things used to come up quite regularly?

Any way as a stroke of luck a complete engine came up with piper 285 cam, vernier pulley, flat top pistons, big valve head, knife edge crank and balanced etc that would work out cheaper and easier than doing all that to my engine! Its only done about 4k since a rebuild so will be fit to drop straight in.

Have also picked up some nearly new gaz coilovers and a tubular manifold.

Did some work this weekend on the car, had noticed the rear bumper was a little wobbly so bought some replacement panels from the group buy and went to see the old man with his welder, was a little shocked with what we found!!




The panels from the group but are easily fitted! A little seam sealer and a good coating of waxoyl!

[Ashy]

Good work mate, nice to see another set of rear bumper brackets being fitted

Also I'm sure thats one of my old VNT's on there, I recognise the home made elbow! Can't believe its still going stong, I sold it (new) about 5 years back!

[UnstableCable]

Good work mate, nice to see another set of rear bumper brackets being fitted

Also I'm sure thats one of my old VNT's on there, I recognise the home made elbow! Can't believe its still going stong, I sold it (new) about 5 years back!

bumper brackets are life savers! Not sure where i would have started without them cheers mate!

Lol did you created that elbow? Fine piece of work right there!
Turbo is going strong still! Do you know anything about its spec? Trying to find out how it compares to my old vnt!

[UnstableCable]

Had a really busy weekend cracking on with getting the car ready for Nuremberg trip. Only about 5 weeks to go so thought I better pull my finger out!

Right pictures speak for them selves really!

Unsuspecting car ready to be pulled apart! Had to wait for it to cool down after the 20mile drive to me parents!


A previous owner had welded close to the rear subframe mount and managed to weld the subframe to the car!



Last bolt then the manky old subframe will be out!


Out!


Old Lump Out!


Old engine and gearbox split to get to me slotted flywheel and the clutch!



Fresh Subframe and gearbox!

[UnstableCable]

Wish bones with poly bushes, new ball joints and Scoff rear engine mount!



New engine and gearbox mated!


New Turbo, external wastegate, Tubular manifold going on! Holy crap are some of the bolts difficult to get at on the head, had to take the starter motor off again to tightnen them up!


Tight fit for the heat sheild on the starter motor!



A little bit of support to hold that turbo and waste gate up!



All back together, time to wedge it back in the motor!



Quite liked the subrame out way, if I had to change the engine again think I would just drop the subrame again!



All in, screamer pipe on!



So just some messing about with fitting new intercooler etc



Think its going to be tight!

So not bad for 2 days work 9 till 5 for me and the old man! Got a way to go yet but a massive chunk smashed out! few busy weeks to come yet!

[g10far]

A lot of work done there chap, keep the pics coming!

[chris]

Really enjoyed reading your thread its guna be a really tidy car when u finish

[UnstableCable]

Thanks for the kind words peeps!

Right after a few set backs, the main one being the vnt turbos seals where shot and pissed oil out when the car was started! Strangly enough the I had a spare VNT so couple of hours later and some swearing we where back on track!


She started up lovely and tick over a dream! Oil pressure around 45 psi! Gearbox also felt great, no crunches and feels really smoooth!

So finished plumbing in the intercooler, really nice short and direct pipework and belive it or not fits behind the grill!


So once she was all plumbed up was time for a quick spin, boosted up really well and made the 20 miles journey home no problems! Will leave me some general tinkering under the bonnet tidying everthing up and making sure its all tight and secure! Will also have to look at rejetting the carb a bit to get the fueling right!

[Steevo]

Looks awesome, great work

[adscan]

Where did you get your dizzy cap and what did you use to repair your cracks in the front bumper?

[UnstableCable]

Just been doing some general tidying in the engine and making everthings tight as it all settles in. Had a small problem with the heatermatrix to degassing chamber hose rubbing on the alt. belt and I didn't notice until it had worn through!

Also made a boost holder for some gauges I though I'd best put it. Always had a AFR but thought a boost and oil would be a good idea.
Didnt want to cut the dash up so have made one to replace the cigarette lighter and ash tray and the boost gauge replaces the clock.
Quite happy with it, looks home made which it is but will do the job!

[UnstableCable]

Where did you get your dizzy cap and what did you use to repair your cracks in the front bumper?

Sorry dizzy cap came with the engine so know idea where its from! Repaired bumper with fibre glass and body fillar!

[UnstableCable]

Had a major set back in the last week! I was out taking it for a spin and came upto a junction, when i put my foot on the clutch I could feel a vibrating throught the pedal and it was hard getting into gear. So I nursed it home and opened the bonnet to see what if I could see the problem. When I looked in at the clutch fork it was jiggling in and out about a cm at a 90 degree angle to the engine!

After much head scratching and examining a dead gearbox I had in the garden I discovered that the clutch bearing sleeve (pictured below) was missing from my gearbox.


This sleeve basically keeps the clutch release bearing centred! The sleeve must have snapped of when a previous ower used it and then somewhere down the line I purchased the gearbox and didn't notice it missing!

I looked at buying a new clutch sleeve bearing but came to the conclusion that I wouldn't be able to get the bloomin thing out!

So I needed a new gearbox and also needed to take the engine back out to swap it over!

So with the help of a local member I got new gearbox and after a good degreasing we swapped it over on sat. morning!


We started at 9am and the old man and me had it all back in by 3pm. Worked out ok as it gave us a chance to rectify a few little issues from the first install. Got the exhaust lined up a little better so it no longer blows.

Also added a strut brace I picked up for £23 delivered from ebay and put some gaz coilovers on the front. And also a new header tank as the old one wasnt sealing properly and the plastic had crazed and looked like it could give out at any time!




Put some green stuff pads in the front as well to help with the stopping, next is rear shocks and change the rear calipers as the bleed nipples have been snapped of and the someone has attacked them with a welder and completely runied them!

Also have got the external waste gate set up to work at 12psi. At the moment the fueling on the afr is reading and 12-13's and a little rich on wot at around 11.5.
So going to put a bleed valve on the external wastegate to take it upto 14psi for now which is the boost that the vnt is limited at the moment. The aim is if all well at 14psi to eventually change the fueling to run 16psi for the trip to the ring.

[UnstableCable]

So with a week to go now till I have to drive it to Germany Im starting to feel like its all coming together. Turbo arrived thursday and some bits from Mike (16V). Ive been busy fiiting it today and 95% there, just got sort the oil feed!


Running a external waste gate so didnt get a actuator and need to stop the penny flap in the turbo moving! Thought about just welding it shut but this would probably have been better done prebuild of the Turbo!
So Instead the old man produced the below which hold the flap shut from from one of the elbow bolts!

Bumper and grill have been finished and put back on, new bumper strips!

And some new wheels to get some grip, stitting a little high at the mo and will drop the front a little but back will have to stay put!


If I had more time I think I would move the water bottle into the schuttle area and put the air filter at 90 degrees but apart from that over the moon. Spent a couple of evenings tidying wires and hoses!

[g10far]

Great read, such a big improvement from when you started!

Enjoy the Ring, I'm sure you'll have a blast!

[UnstableCable]

So got back from Germany yesterday, had a great time but didnt end up taking the 5
Had some breather problems which was causing the sump to pressurise making it smoke like mad! as well as a few other issues that meant it was just to risky to take!
So I went as a passenger and rented a little suzuki swift which was all stripped out and roll caged up and did a couple of laps in it!

So going to get the 5 finished and do a track day somewhere local or maybe if I can blag it go back to the ring in summer

So after much help from our knowledgable members on the boards Ive managed to put the problems with my breathers system down to the swirl pot I was using, or the fact I might have it up side down! I had it so the ports where at the bottom of the catch tank so as soon as a bit of crap started building up in the pot it would block and start building pressure in the system! So replaced it with the nearest pot I could find (Thanks Asda)



Done about 20 miles with it like this and no smoke so seems to have sorted the problems!

[allanr5gtt]

have you blocked the sump breather near the water pump?

[Chunk]

The oil breather pot can only go one way up as there's a little nipple on the bottom for the crank case breather?