My GTT project

[Steven Leece]

Right well I've been a member here since I bought my project renault 5 GT turbo back in February 2008! The club has helped a lot over the years and I've sat and read a lot of information and learnt an awful lot! In light of recent posts I agree that we all need to share our projects with the club and help develop more posts on the site!! Been meaning to post a thread since I started the project, but because of the state the car when I started I wanted to get to a certain point before I posted, but I hadn't got round to it till now! Sorry for the amount of pics!

How it was when I bought it! You can't see how bad the rust was in the picture:


I knew it was pretty rusty but a lot easier to buy that getting one from off the island and I like a project!!

The main areas of rust were the sills, especially drivers side, and the drivers side rear window! Also found some rust in the rear inner arch and replaced the rotten jacking points!







So I set about cutting welding and buying parts, for which Mike at GT turbo spares, Bob at CGB and eBay have been very helpful for! I have noticed that eBay has gone a bit quiet now though and CGB appear to be shrinking their range of parts down!?!?

Bit of welding and filling later and I have a solid shell and it doesn't look too bad for a first attempt in my opinion!!
The sills and bottom door shuts on both sides needed doing like this:








I have now got a place with the bodywork where I need to do all my prep work before applying primer. The idea at the moment is to spray myself using Upol 1k clear coat as I guess I want to do as much as I can myself! That's the plan anyway!

I have also rebuilt the engine which was probably one of the parts I enjoyed the most! The engine is standard but with a stainless manifold and stage 1 turbo as I'm not after power just maybe a little more than standard!













So that's where I'm up to! The engine has been run up and nobody was more surprised than me that it started first time!!

Sorry again about all the pics!!

[Matty]

Engine bay is looking really good, just what I'm going for...OE looking but not (if that makes sense?).

What IC did you go for? I've seen loads on eBay around the same price, but some look better quality than others. Any chance of a picture from the back/top of the IC? I'm looking for something that's as close to OE as possible as I'll be painting the top black.

Body looks like it's coming along well.

[Steven Leece]

Thanks Matty, I got the intercooler from eBay, China special! Seems good quality though!

Not sure i have a pic from the top at the moment it's covered by the cold air feed!! Will see if I can find one though as I might have taken one!?

Cheers

Steve

[Steven Leece]

Not the best view but only one I have showing the top of the intercooler but as we the previous post you don't see it with the standard cold air feed!

Here's my turbo

[Trevhib]

Engine bay is looking really good, just what I'm going for...OE looking but not (if that makes sense?).

More commonly called OE+ on RTOC

[Matty]

OE+ it is then.

Cheers Steve, I couldn't remember how much of the top of the cooler is showing with the duct in place on a double capacity IC. Looks quite hidden from the pics, which will make life easier.

[Steven Leece]

Yeah oe+ was the idea with the engine bay, wanting the exterior and interior to be as close to oe as possible though I think.

Gone for Gaz coilovers too

[Matt Cole]

That's looking very special!

[Tutuur]

Looking very good! Make sure the oil inlet on the turbo is straight up, better for the seals!

[Steven Leece]

Thanks for the comments.

Tutuur can you expand/explain the turbo oil inlet comment please.

Thanks
Steve

[Matty]

I think he means that it needs to be right at the top, it looks pretty good where it is tbh.

[Steven Leece]

Cheers Matty! I thought that might be it so I popped into the garage to look and it's right at the top. Might just be the angle of the pic I posted!?

[B18ftMOJO5]

Nice project thread. Been meaning to update mine for a while too i wish i was half as capable as you.

[Steven Leece]

Cheers Mojo

Guess I'm just lucky enough to have the space and time to try and learn these things and done a lot of reading on here over the years it's been well worth the membership fees paid that's for sure! It's taken me a long time to get this far, but I can pick it up and put it down as and when I'm interested and when I lose interest, which does happen from time to time!

Be good to see your project thread updated as well, always good to see what people have been up to and a few pics of the work done!!

Cheers

Steve

[Mr Raider]

Good work mate, - its all well worth it in the end with a solid shell and reliable well built engine. Some tricky cutting and welding there nicely done, love the fast forward to engine building/painting to fully installed and ready for some boost!

Looking forward to further updates

[Steven Leece]

Thanks Mr Raider!

Hoping to get the brakes bled over this next weekend and then I should have a car that goes and stops with just body work to sort! All new lines as well so I'm sure I'll find a few leaks to keep me busy!!

[Junglist]

Top work m8

[Steven Leece]

Thanks Junglist!!

[Steven Leece]

Not updated for a while as I haven't had much time on the car, but the dash is now back in properly, spent an hour yesterday wiring in my AFR gauge and lights for my new boost gauge and mechanical oil pressure gauge, which I'm running as well as the dash dials. To add these in I have a brand new double din console I bought on eBay a while back, I assume this slots straight in as it's standard renault?



Looks a bit like a floating dash! New club shop dials looking very good in the pic!


I have also bled the brakes and been round with my torque wrench and green pen checking everything is tight enough and then put the wheels on and lowered it back on the ground for the first time in 4 years or more? Also the green wing was my old wing I was just practicing painting on, car will be black again!



Plan is to move it round to my parents house to do the bodywork as they have a big area which is flat and easier to roll the car out for sanding down etc, and I live on a slope!!

And please excuse my messy garage! Need a good tidy up when the car goes!

[Mr Raider]

Coming along nicely mate, bet you cant wait to get her back on the road!

[Steven Leece]

Thanks Mr Raider, can't wait but I think I'm making some solid progress now.

Spent an hour tonight just finishing off a little repair work on the inside by spraying a bit of gloss black over the boot floor before i put the sound deadening back in!



Thanks

Steve

[Steven Leece]

Spent an hour this evening fitting new seat bolsters, not a bad job to do and makes a big difference I think!









Thanks for looking

Steve

[LiamR]

Coming along nicely. Very impressive.

Where did u buy the seat bolsters from mate? I want to invest but keep hearing stories about how some don't fit and need trimming.

[Steven Leece]

Thanks for the comments Liam, starting to make some progress I think now.

Seat bolsters are from CGB, I bought some that needed trimming so I just bought more off CGB and they fit straight in. Buy from his website as he charges lots more for them on eBay for some reason!?

I've drawn round the ones I bought that need trimming so I'll trim them down and try get some money back on them I guess!

[Matt_S]

Thanks for the comments Liam, starting to make some progress I think now.

Seat bolsters are from CGB, I bought some that needed trimming so I just bought more off CGB and they fit straight in. Buy from his website as he charges lots more for them on eBay for some reason!?

I've drawn round the ones I bought that need trimming so I'll trim them down and try get some money back on them I guess!

I've got some off a guy through Facebook that sells on ebay. I'm going to get the seats trimmed professionally, so I'll let him trim them if need be.

CGB prices on ebay are richer, but remember he charges VAT on all his prices on the site, which you do t realise til checkout!

[Steven Leece]

Yeah he adds VAT and a delivery charge, but his website price with VAT and delivery for 4 bolsters was £107 but if you buy them on eBay it's £116, not a big difference but if you buy more and justify postage it's worth comparing.

What re trimming are you having done Matt?

[Matt Cole]

Getting there Steven. Really good project thread.

[Steven Leece]

Thanks Matt

[Matt_S]

I've spoken to him today.
I wanted him to fit bolsters and just tidy them up a bit. Maybe fit new base foam, depending if that's attributing to the foam fairy dust you get from old seats every time you look at them...

I also wanted him to have a go at the door cards for me, but he says there's a right PITA and take up a lot of time. He says he can point me to someone who can sort it.

It will be Monday or Wednesday before I get to him now, so I'll see

Fwiw I paid about £57 for all 4 of the bolsters. The trimmer is £40/hr and he can do a lot in an hour. A bit if trimming has to be quicker than him making up foams, plus materials and then trimming again himself. It was always the plan to get them done by someone else.