Project GTX 16v X1

[Birdy]

Thought it was about time i made a thread about my valver

Originally the car was a standard '85 GTX champagne coloured tho when i picked the car up it had been painted black (badly!) Managed to pick it up for the pricey sum of £200 which included nearly a full years tax and test plus the past 10 years worth of service history - pretty hard to say no to really!

As it looked the day i picked it up (August '05)


The paint was bad, brush strokes up and down the 'C' posts and on the tailgate, originally i tried spraying over the black but it was pointless - the black would have to come off! Tried rubbing it down but whatever the paint was kept clogging wet/dry paper even when it was wet so as a last resort (and discovered by accident!) we managed to scrape the paint off with sharp chisels



Strangely enough underneath the black stuff we found the panels to be perfect and you could still see your face in them

[Birdy]

With the paintwork well and truly underway i had decided to fit remote central locking (had it on my old car and i got lazy using it all the time ) To make it easier to wire up i took the dash out and was faced with a hell of a mess - i hate wiring

Before

After

Much better!

While i was at it i also managed to find an early electric window kit, very easy to fit but had to put the switches in the lower console instead of the doors


I like being lazy

By now winter had set in so work had stopped - don't do working in the cold as paint doesn't really like it!

By the following spring i had sourced a Kamei X1 body kit, the front valence needed some work as it had been smashed


Luckily i was able to have it repaired and the kit was looking like new again :)

[Birdy]

With the repaired kit in hand i set about getting it fitted to the car - i had already gotten the car into red primer (in the long run it wasn't the best of decisions.....)

Removing the original kit was pretty easy

Surprisingly the arches were in great condition - no nasty surprises!

Got the kit fitted

and the car sprayed up again


I did think the red kinda looked good on the car

By now the car had had a few more, smaller, mods done

De-badged rear hatch


New steering wheel


Bonnet struts


Upper and lower strut braces

[Funky Diver]

I love that look on the Rocco. Something about hte angle of attack of hte front spoiler, for me just that blended in would be a perfect front end.... might have to whittle one up out of GRP I reckon :)

And £200... even back then you'd have got a good deal. Never understood why folks brush stroke a car body. It makes no sense!



I love the mixed look of disgust and determination on thisa pic!! lol

[Birdy]

By now my short term project had changed completely!

I had found some early Audi brake calipers/carriers that just so happen to be of the 256mm variety Thought i'd do the job properly and found the bigger servo/master cylinder with the rear disc conversion - loads of parts!


Looked great fitted


While i was fitting the breaks i also had another, erm, slight mod to carry out....

Meant taking the old engine out

then dropping the new one in and building it up



Now it just needed spraying!

[Birdy]

I'd been putting off having the re-spray done for around 2 years by this point - finally thought sod it and got on with it!

Got the car prepped/primed


Then took the plunge and sprayed it


A few days after i'd got the car back together it wasn't looking too bad


The highlight of doing the work had to be getting myself featured in Skyrocket

[Birdy]

Now that the outside was sorted i had spotted another mod i wanted - electric sunroof!

Promptly sourced the parts and got it fitted


Fit an internal aerial (i had filled the original hole on the wing during the re-spray!)


a triple gauge panel


Coilovers


and some nice new wheels - complete with flush fit valves

[Birdy]

The only thing i'd regretted so far was opting for the KR engine over the bigger ABF lump. With that in mind i managed to get an ABF bottom end for a decent price and a KR head to go on it - spent a couple of months stripping it down and rebuilding it (never want to have to lap 16 valves in again!!!)

So once again out came the old engine


and in went the new 2.0 16v lump


So much faster than the 1.8 16v!!

That just about brigs the car up to date

As it looks now


As for future plans - Ive never really been happy with the finish of the paintwork and now there is some slight rust showing through in both rear arches i'm using it as an excuse to re-spray the car again! Complete with new rear arches

[markh]

Excellent work Dan, and the thread was WELL overdue mate !!!!

[Birdy]

Cheers Mark!

I've been meaning to do it for months but kept putting it off

Probably missed loads that i've done too but the basics are all there

[83mars]

brilliant outcome for a car that cost 200 notes, thought the spraying outside in a tent is a bit weird, but credit where credit is due.
does a abf bottom end bolt straight to a kr head tho? no fiddling with fuel or timing or anything??
great job i must say, love it

[Birdy]

Thought i'd give this a quick update :)

I somehow managed to drive the car over a bump in a field (went camping) and smashed the front of the Kamei kit

Finally got round to taking it off to see how bad the damage was



Not as bad as i thought but still not good

Got the back filled (about 6 layers!) with fiberglass stuff



and after that had dried overnight got the front filled



Took a couple of hours of sanding to get it looking good and smoothed out! Now its back in grey primer and on the car



Not a bad job if i do say so myself

Plus i'd picked up a very nice exhaust (jetex??) off Mark - its bloody huge but sounds great! Actually quieter than the one its replaced and looks good

[Birdy]

Oh, and ive also fitted myself a tow bar......

[Risocco]

Think thats my old back-box dude. Wish I could have gotten the bleeder to fit! It is Jetex mate

Alex