Retro rally car

[Jason79]

This car some of u might know, as it was previously owned and built by nick o carrol from carlow. I bought it about 4 weeks ago, and in my true fashion i ve a load of work done with zero photos, however heres a start. It came with practically all the bits and is a very solid shell. It already has a full safty devices cage fitted and is more or less ready to race. However nick sprayed another mini beside it, so unfortunatly it has to be repainted. So far i ve completly stripped the car, repainted and cleaned both subframes, and have cleaned and painted all the running gear, now ready for rebuilding. The shell is being looked after by one of the lads whos navigating for me and is nearly ready for repainting. heres some photos

[macker]

This is a beauty of a car!
saw this first when it was nearly finished by Nick and even back then before all the serious mods for racing took place this was an animal,

good luck with it

[D.M.G.T]

any more story with this jason?

[joebe1]

Its been a while since i ve posted, because i hav nt seen the car since i bought it, however i finished the car transporter today and rumour has it it ll be painted by next week, which is nice because i m goin bac to college next week

[D.M.G.T]

Any photos joe??

[StanO'Toole]

Jason and Joe,

Any more on this or has it been away for the winter months?

[joebe1]

Well, if u want anythin done u really do have to do it urself, was let down by the painter, so i ve decided to paint it myself, however i have it on its side at the mo to prep the underside for stone chip, so hopefully i ll have that finished tonight, but it has to be said it should have done its first event by now, so am lackin on interest at the mo

[StanO'Toole]

Just think how great it will be leaving service and heading for your first stage in a rally though! I done sat nav before and its some feeling! Just keep that thought in the back of your head.

[joebe1]

Over the last few months i have been tippin away at the car, the car is painted, cage is in and painted all the running gear is in place but without a deadline or somethin to aim for it takin ages, however, the trackday thats hopefully in March is the date, and theres been a little rocket of a development,

What has 16valves, 5 gears, weighs less than an A series and has double the horsepower????

[geoffrey conboy]

i no what that means joe cant waet to see it on the road

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Just a few pics of what's been done so far.

Firstly Joe built a jig for the subframe, to ensure the whole thing would remain straight throughout the construction.



The sides were removed,





Donkey engine fitted for size, CG10, 998cc, Twincam, 5 speed gearbox.



Engine removed and then the frame was built up, first tacked in place and then welded.







Cross member added and here is what we had.



Tidied up the cross member weld



Electric hoists are very handy.





Snug fit.





We are waiting on Land Rover engine mounts to arrive so we can make up the mounting brackets, we also need to get a Micra CV joint to see where we are space wise between the CV and the subframe tower.





Also tight on the water pump side too.



Can't do too much now until the post man get's here with the mount.

Here is what it looks like so far.

[kerryminigringo]

Great to see another home grown 16v conversion going on.Hardy men to be out in the garage this weather.

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Ah it's not too bad as long as you're working. But at -5 deg you do have to make some slight adjustments when measuring to allow for thermal expansion.

[DaveC]

Is that a Nissan Micra engine?

[Billy]

It's so light that it can be suspended with baler twine.

[joebe1]

Well spotted dave

In the photo is a 998cc nissan micra engine, but were puttin in a 1275cc twin cam engine.

[DaveC]

Is the 1275 engine the one used in the Micra rally cars?

[The Marcos Graveyard]

That's the baby.



This is the 1275 in my Rotbox, running on motorbike carbs.

[joebe1]

And the rally car is not slow

[wzd345]

I am very impressed with this.

Cant help thinking that engine would be quite useful in a Mini Marcos.

[woody]

Don't get him started ,it took long enough to fire up the first engine in the Marcos. The new paint on the Estate will be fading by the time he gets the Micra engine in it.

[The Marcos Graveyard]

The beauty of this conversion is that there are no modifications needed on the bodyshell, so it's just a matter of swapping subframes.

The lighter engine would be interesting in a Marcos.


Hmmmm ..... I think I have a spare Marcos shell round here somewhere.

[kerryminigringo]

Learn to walk before you can run grasshopper.

[DaveC]

Very interesting alright!
Having worked on a few family members Micras, I did wonder would the engine fit in a Mini, and the 1300 version sounded like the one to go for, except for there not being too many around.

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Loads of 1300s in the UK though :)_