ek4 rally car

[wooks]

Hi all, not been on here all that long, but thought id start a build thread for my new rally car.

My dad and i have built a 205 which i used to navigate in for him, but was deemed too heavy at 21 stone a while back, plus i wanted to step up to driving when i got the car and funds together, or so i thought....

Basically been building a group 4 mk2 escort for a number of years, but recently came to the conclusion that it is just far too expensive to build, and would bankrupt me if i ever bent it, so that is being sold in the new year, but about 3 years ago i picked up a 1.8 16v clio off a guy in work for £200 as he didnt want it, so i went road rallying in it, and have won the Plymouth road rally championship for the past 3 years, but in 2009 put all the nessasary to get it log booked, and did my 1st stage rally as a driver, the Azimghur stages, where i finished 38th overall, happy for a £200 car...,but the engine was dead, so put a williams motor in it, did a couple more, but basically it wasnt quick enough, and the parts for it are like rocking horse poo, so decided on building up a civic, as i have an ek4 saloon as a road car which is brilliant.

Dads 205 (he has a road rally white 205 aswell)

My little clio

And a very old one of my mk2

But anyway, enough of the history lesson, October 2010, i decided i wanted an ek4 as a base, all the nessasary for a log book, good brakes and suspension, a move to the 1600 class from the 2 litre class i was in, and have some fun, but we all know plans can spiral!

I found a car, was 30 miles away which considering im all the way down in Plymouth finding a local vti is rare, but this one was mechanicaly perfect, with 130k motorway miles, owned by a retired gentleman from new, with full honda history, every mot, the original sale reciept and mot and tax till August 2011...,a bargin at £1100 so i had the car...,please ignore the colour and paint condition, as this mattered not to me at all!

Now i had paid for the gearbox before id even bougt the car, got an lsd s4c with a 4.9 final drive off elclunk (aswell as the whale c**k), with a 4.4kg flywheel and clutch, and fitted that the day i got the car home, aswell as doing a cam belt and tentioner just to be on the safe side, altho the old belt 'looked' fine, and painted the cam cover while it was off with some paint i found in the spray shop in work lol.

How the car came to me

Filthy engine bay

Shiney ish with garish cam cover

Looks alittle cleaner if nothing else!

I then took a trip up to Livvy one sunday with the red bonnet on the 4 door in order to bring a fibreglass bonnet home

Then i knackered my back, put a disc out which has rendered me useless since the start of december and i still cant drive etc, so i have been collecting bits ready to assemble once im fixed, the main one being...

A huge thanks to my dad and his gf for doing a 600 mile round trip for me the monday after christmas to pick it up for me, not only a better shell to start with, but saves me having to strip the ek4 before i seam weld and fit the custom cages weld in cage thats sitting in the garage

But it does mean that the ASR brace i got off neilvtec is no longer needed, so got to either sell that, or get another dc2 rear antiroll bar and put it on the 4 door

Those are the main parts for the moment, as all the other things i need like seats, harness's, extingishers, intercom, wheels and tyres etc etc i have ready and waiting to be removed from the clio, as all the parts are only a year old, but untill my back is sorted im just going to be collecting bits, so apart from the rest of the pics of what i have bought over christmas, progress will be slow for maybe a month till i can crack on with it, then it will be done asap as i will be missing events!!

Picked up a 3 point brace and ek9 steering rack...,yes im using my mk2 as a table at present!!

An extra tall hydraulic handbrake which dads been sizing up for the red 205

D2 rear arms

A carbon navigators footrest as my old alloy one got bent

I got the exhaust manifold that Tegiwa had on offer, but running it all depends on ground clearance once fitted...

My mum got me a set of braided brake hoses for christmas

And dad got me a full set of polycarbonate windows for christmas

I have a set of standard ek9 springs and dampers to use to start with, but once the mk2 is sold i will be getting a Selholm irish tarmac set up so the ek9 bits can go on the 4 door.

Brakes wise i have front and rear discs and calipers from an mg zs 180, and will be running Ferodo ds3000's on the front, and ds2500's on the rear (only due to them not doing 3000's for the rear for some reason)

I have 4 sets of wheels and tyres from the clio which just so happen to fit the civic also, so im sorted tyre wise, with some additional full wets

And more slicks

And personaly think that the wheels might look ok....

So apart from our garage looking like a card board box factory at the moment...

thats all i can put for the minute, will update as soon as i either buy more bits or im in a state of health to start working on it, once that starts it will be full steam ahead to get it done before the end of May.

Hope if anyone has got this far they havent been bored to tears, not wonderful at doing these things!!

Comments welcome, good or bad

Ben (wookie)

 

[Shift]

hope u get better soon...looking forward to the updates but u need to fully recover first

 

[jordan101]

some awesome rally cars there mate especially the 205

loved reading through and looking at ur build progress cant wait to see the final result

 

[wooks]

Cheers mate, your not the only one lol.

The 205 is fantastic, 280bhp with a 6 speed sequencial sadev box, just been having some 'niggles' with it, but it has shown awsome potencial, so it will come

Seeing another back doctor on saturday, so fingers crossed i improve!

 

[LiamEk4]

hope you back gets better soon mate

looking forward to seeing this build going to be amazing

 

[wishy]

Hope you get better soon bud ,

Love to see more progress on this car

 

[elchunk]

Hope you get better soon bud ,

Love to see more progress on this car

x2, about time you got a project thread up! only joking, looks like its going to be lots of fun when your finished! loving the old school mk2 aswell!

 

[Topher-EK9]

hey wookie,
I love that escort man that is cooler than cool.
haven't seen an ek9 rally car or a civic for that matter, show em how its done man then soon everyone will be rocking the ek chassis for rallying lol.

 

[wooks]

Cheers for comments guys!

I love the escort, was always my dream car, but just far too expensive for me unfortunatly, and theres a few rally civic's on here, stuart bliss and josh male to name but two of them, who ill be competing against...,well chasing more to the point if anything at all, and hundreds of them in ireland, just gota do my best, its all about having fun, as long as your enjoying it, the results are a bonus, on the last event in the clio at the Wugging stages last year, i was running 22th overall, and my 150bhp clio had standard brakes and suspension, so it will be down to me pedaling it quickly enough (i was really chuffed with running 22nd overall, till i saw dad was 3rd, kinda took the edge off lol)

 

[gtikurt]

Always good to see builds like this, the level of detail is always superb.

 

[wooks]

Well i thought id update this at last.....,main point is my back is fixed and im back to full health, and getting better as in the process of loosing weight, better for my back and makes the car faster hehe, down to 19 stone from 21.5, so doing well, unfortunatly never going to be a light bloke!!

Updates with the car (far more important!) picked up a new engine so got that fitted, and as id fitted it with the exhaust manifold i bought before christmas, i made up a full 2.5 inch exhaust from scratch to match it, altho it sits alittle too low for the sump guard, so it will be sold and replaced with a standard b16b manifold.

Made 189bhp and 125lb ft still running my original ek4 ecu, so next step is to try a pre-facelift ek9 ecu and see how that goes.

I also picked up another set of wheels so got 4 sets now, so had my new tyres fitted, but not got pics of that lol

Then the main development, got my cage fitted to my ek9 shell, and fulled seam welded, i had this done at stage1 motorsport in Hayle instead of doing it myself as with all the time i lost over christmas with my back, this moves the whole project along a big step, ill let the pics do the talking....

Over the moon with it, now to get the seat mounts and steering column mounted, weld up un wanted holes in the bulkhead,then its off to be painted.

After that it will just be a case of swapping over all the mechanicals from the 'ginger' ek4, cant wait!!

 

[Topher-EK9]

nice updates mate, glad to hear you can move again now
project is looking good. keep us updated..

that 189hp and 125ft lbs is that on a B16A2 engine from your Vti EK4 or do you have a B16B that made that power..
if its a b16a2 its bloody good power that is... although its not bad power from a B16B at all either.

 

[NeilVtec]

That cage is incredible mate, Top work! Through onto the front strut towers FTW, seem welded everything aswell. Good work! really cant wait to see more progress on this going on your past builds, Ill keep an eye out for a stock b16b manifold and if i see one ill drop you a PM!

Good luck with the rest of the build! Got my eye on it!

 

[Championship White]

They did a great job on the welding Is that a Custom Cage's rollcage?

 

[hondafan]

nice work gunna be mint when done!

 

[wooks]

Cheers for the replies

Yes its a custom cages cage, guy did an awsome job of both the cage and the seam welding, at an unbelievable price and did it in 3 days!!!!

Yes still a b16a2, at some point ill either get hold of a b16b bottom end, or some high comp pistons for this one, but an ecu upgrade is the next step i think, still 30-40bhp down on the class leaders but i cant afford a proper engine.

Cheers neil, but theres one on here ive found, just waiting on payment on some bits i have sold then ill have it...,anyone want a mint 98 spec stainless manifold? lol

 

[Championship White]

Tbh Wooks no normal rally-car will ever be able to keep up with the likes of the Darrians or Escorts, they have a seperate rule system which means they can be lighter and run far superior engines to other cars so an extra 30-40 bhp won't mean anything sadly.

 

[wooks]

Your not wrong, im far more interested in enjoying it, and putting up the best times i can with what i have.

 

[wooks]

Well update time again, been working on my shell for the past 2 weeks, been trying to do all the welding and fabrication etc done before paint so it can act like a big jigsaw and just bolt together, at last thats the plan!

Anyway some pics of the bits and pieces i have been up to

 

[wooks]

Then yesturday morning we loaded it onto the trailor again, and took it into my work....

Was alittle 'lost' in the booth.....

Then alittle primer....