Grahams81-Leon 4wd, Big Turbo - Back in the saddle :-)

[ShizTheBiz]

it sounds a good comprokise. i personally would have left the cagw as it is. end of the day as someone said it may not be 100% as it should be but at least you have something there should you ever roll it. its not like seats and vws are made of ceral boxes anyway.

looking forward to what comes next!!

 

[grahams81]

I think that'll be a much nicer fast road car - good choice

Yeh thanks M0rk, i think it'll be much nicer to use on the road too, thinking of even sticking AC back in
Kinda wish i listened to you months ago when you questioned the jointed roll cage.... oh well hindsights a wonderful thing

Nice to hear this Graham, so relieved you're not giving up this is an epic thread/build!

A 'fast road' track car will give you a lot of enjoyment.

Looking forward to seeing more

Thanks Bud

it sounds a good comprokise. i personally would have left the cagw as it is. end of the day as someone said it may not be 100% as it should be but at least you have something there should you ever roll it. its not like seats and vws are made of ceral boxes anyway.

looking forward to what comes next!!

Thanks for the comments - i know it "probably" would have been fine but it was burning away in the back of my mind.... and like i said earlier, if something happened to myself or worse a passenger then i couldn't live with myself.

I'll try and get some pics up later today or tomorrow.
I've already sorted out all the parts for the interior - RGM-Racer has been a star

Got some Manjobs to do first before i'm allowed in the garage, best get cracking

 

[richybigman]

Glad to hear you're still going ahead with this, it'll be awesome when finished

 

[grahams81]

Glad to hear you're still going ahead with this, it'll be awesome when finished

Thanks Mate

I think it'll be a nicer car to drive on the road, lets face it totally stopped out without a radio / Aircon etc looks good and would be better on track but if you think about driving to shows etc then it would be torture....

I cut out the front part of the cage and with me using heavy wall tubing for the cage it weighed a ton (didn't realise at the time as it was added in sections).... ok not quite a ton but easily 50-60kg

With the lack of cage in the front i can run a full interior (except rear seats) i can run a nice stereo, i'm gonna put the Aircon back in and lets face it with 600-700bhp it's not going to suffer much carrying the weight around.

Now just trying to sort out a replacement dash out as i butchered mine to go round the roll cage.

I never got in the garage yesterday but our lass is off out today so I'm off in the garage to finish off inside.

I'm gonna try and get done today as i go away on wednesday for a week in Ireland... when i get back i can start prepping the bodywork for paint YEY !!!!

 

[Lewis6989]

mate im impressed u truly do have some serious tallent there its been a very enjoyable read so far keep up with the cracking work and look forward to seeing the end result.

 

[James23Parkin]

I'm subscribed to this thread and enjoy reading about your progress, but somehow I've missed most recent updates regarding your thoughts about a change. I think I was still on holiday...

Just to say, as I have many times before Graham, you're achieving what many of us could only dream of. Hearing that you're going to continue with it is only a good thing. I think it'll look really nice with the rear cage in and a nice complete interior. You've got an eye for detail so i look forward to seeing how you choose to move forward. It'd look nice at the shows too!

An amazing project!

James

 

[8bit]

Just to add my support, I know it's easy for us all to say cos its' not us going through all the work but I'm glad to see this project will continue and can't wait to see it finished

 

[tufftybloke]

Would be worth pressure testing the SEM mate... have seen a couple of these leak due to porous castings... from what I understand they have sorted the issue (maybe why yours took so long to arrive) but worth a check for sanity...

<tuffty/>

 

[grahams81]

mate im impressed u truly do have some serious tallent there its been a very enjoyable read so far keep up with the cracking work and look forward to seeing the end result.

Thanks for the kind words mate, really appreciate them all

I'm subscribed to this thread and enjoy reading about your progress, but somehow I've missed most recent updates regarding your thoughts about a change. I think I was still on holiday...

Just to say, as I have many times before Graham, you're achieving what many of us could only dream of. Hearing that you're going to continue with it is only a good thing. I think it'll look really nice with the rear cage in and a nice complete interior. You've got an eye for detail so i look forward to seeing how you choose to move forward. It'd look nice at the shows too!

An amazing project!

James

Thanks Again for the support James, it's nice to have good support of people on the forums, makes it all worth while... oh and i'm back in love with the project now, really happy i made the decision about the interior

Just to add my support, I know it's easy for us all to say cos its' not us going through all the work but I'm glad to see this project will continue and can't wait to see it finished

Thanks Mate, i can't wait myself to see it in paint, once i see it painted it'll really spur me on

Would be worth pressure testing the SEM mate... have seen a couple of these leak due to porous castings... from what I understand they have sorted the issue (maybe why yours took so long to arrive) but worth a check for sanity...

<tuffty/>

Thanks Tufty, i know they had lots of probs with them, and yeh your right thats what the hold up was with my manifold. I'm still gonna test it eventually.... like you say for my sanity but mostly for my ocd

So smallish update -

I managed to get the cage roughly cut out last week, just went mad with the plasma cutter and cut it out in lumps -

This week i busted out the angle grinder to dress it up -

After more dressing up i gave it a lick of etch primer then stuck some filler on, sanded it all down and its now good as new, finished of with a coat of white primer -

Not too sure whether to paint it gloss white or matt black, so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

Going to look at a 2004 BAM LCR with 40k on the clock tomorrow - don't worry it's not to replace this project (gonna need a 5 door car shortly as the wife is giving her company car back as she's not returning to work after maternity leave)
So may be a 2 leon household come tomoro

So i'm off to Germany on Sunday for a couple of weeks, when i get back i'll be down south so i'l be able to pick up my interior bits off RGM-Racer

Anyhow thanks for reading and hopefully i'll get painting the outside shortly

 

[grahams81]

My mate Jim brought a lad round on Saturday (Jamie) to give me a quote for painting the car.

He advised against using the paint i bought already as if it gets scratched it'll require a panel to be painted. Also it can't be flattened after painting so its quite hard to use.

He recommended if i want the Matt or Satin paint to paint the car using regular base coat and then clear coat with a matting agent in - that way the paint can be flattened after paint and cut back whenever required due to scratches etc.
He said it's easy enough to do just like a normal paint job.

He also asked me what i wanted to do with the rear arches - we had a chat and we both decided the best thing would be to make the rear arches a little more defined and to match the angle of the fronts so the car looks more balanced (rather than the really wide front arches and small standard arches)
So the plan is to cut the top of the arch and pull the top of the arch out to get the correct angle to match the fronts then make an infill piece and re-weld it all once happy.

After talking with Jamie he's seems to have excellent idea's / enthusiasm towards the project, so I'm really happy to have him paint the car

Just got to decide on what to do colour / finish now
He can paint the car about September, as he's busy and painting my mates pontiac which is as big as a ferry... once he's finished his then he'll start on mine.
Gonna pull the motor so he can also do the bay.


Jim had an excellent suggestion after seeing an R8 in work - a deep Matt red with gloss black roof / mirrors / wheels........ i think that would look awesome.

Also like a matt blue -

Matt grey 911 -

Matt White...... MMMmmmmmm

By far my favourite and not that far off the original colour -

what you reckon chaps.....

 

[t0m]

Got to be the finish on that R32, I think that would look sweet as mate

 

[grahams81]

Got to be the finish on that R32, I think that would look sweet as mate

It is pretty damn sexy...... think it'll look awesome with gloss black rims

 

[t0m]

It is pretty damn sexy...... think it'll look awesome with gloss black rims

Oh yeah, that will look rather nice...

 

[ibizacupra]

are all those cars pictured painted or wrapped?

 

[poliq]

good to hear! liking white more and more, both matte and gloss. Oh, and I felt like I needed to mention matte green!!

 

[grahams81]

are all those cars pictured painted or wrapped?

Not too sure Bill, i was just looking for colours really.

good to hear! liking white more and more, both matte and gloss. Oh, and I felt like I needed to mention matte green!!

Ooooh not green, its not a Military car

 

[paul-murphys]

loving this graham them colors are amazing i want matt white that looks so nice im slowly ordering my parts for engine rebuild and turbo is back to borgwarner to be repaired, hope all is good

 

[James23Parkin]

I personally love the colour red, so I'd go for deep matt red and gloss black finishings. With what ever colour you do choose, I look forward to seeing how the rear arches are flared out/defined. Will look epic!!

James

 

[Seal_LCR]

That Matt blue golf is awesome! Blue all the way

 

[gazcuprablk]

glad to see some enthusiasm back for this project mate i have been through similar with my own car and i have done nowhere near as much work as you have done with this, i did fit the cage and stripped the inside out fitted a cage and painted the interior land rover grey and painted the outside matt black (for a laugh) as you may have seen but i will be ripping it apart again in a week or so to paint the whole car but the same as you i am leaning more towards a matt paint i was going to paint it the same grey as the bay but now i may get some matting base in there and go down the matte route and not just for a laugh this time with the batman stickers haha

dont give up you'll only end up buying another project although you have the engine etc but you have to start again and that i don't think i could do that's why i keep plugging on with it i could have an evo with the time and money ive put into it but mine easily passes them so that's my excuse you get much more smiles per gallon out of it than an evo and that wins every time