670 replies to this topic

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

So its about time I put up a project thread to let you guys know what Ive been up to for the last few months!!

Ill get straight to the good stuff.

Although not nearly finished here is a quick before and after

Before, A CAT C Wreck with a knackered engine







After, painted it a real Lightning Yellow (some new pics, some old)



















Current Spec of the car


[color=#0000ff;]Suspension/wheels

Nitron Race 46 Coilovers, 500/650lb Eibach Springs, Race Spec valving
Nitron Toe Link Kit
Nitron Rose Jointed Wishbone bushes
Plans Motorsport Anti-Roll Bar
Upgraded Steering Rack
Machined hubs (extra camber)
Maximum Castor
ATS DTC Lightweight Wheels
Pirelli P-Zero Wet Tyres (215F 245R)
Kumho V70 Semi slick Dry Tyres (215F 245R)




Engine/Transmission

Courtenay Sport custom remap
Eaton M62 Supercharger with 2,9" pulley[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Wiseco 86.5mm 8:9:1 Pistons[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Eagle Forged Con Rods[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Blower Comp Cams[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Supertech 78lb double valve springs[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Saab valves[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]VXR Injectors
Ported Saab B207 Head[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Lightweight Rocker Cover
Deleted Balancer Shafts
Dual Pass Inlet Manifold
Pro Alloy Charge Cooler[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Pro Alloy Radiator[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Davies Craig Electric water pump[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Bosch 044 Integrated Swirl Pot fuel system[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Full Aeroquip fuel line conversion (AN-6)
LSJ Throttle body
Piper Air Filter
Courtenay Sport Lightweight Flywheel
Courtenay Sport uprated clutch
Plans Motorsport Gearbox Breather



Exhaust

Full Chris Tullet 3 exhaust system (wrapped)
Secondary Silencer


Interior

Tillett B5 Race Seat
Safety Devices FIA/MSA Approved 6 Point Roll Cage.
Willans 4 point harnesses
OMP Snap Off steering wheel
Shift-i Shift light
Racelogic Vbox with OLED display


Exterior

EP Motorsport Carbon Fibre Wing
Race Splitter
MMG Performance Diffuser
Lightweight raised bootlid
Vented rear clam to reduce engine bay temps
Light weight roll bar cover (headrest delete)
Steinmetz Grill


Brakes

AP 4 Pot Front Calipers with 308mm discs
AP 2 Pot Rear Calipers[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]AP Brake Bias Valve (adjustable)
Braided lines[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]Performance Friction 01 Front Brake pads front and rear.[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]ABS Delete[/color]
[color=#0000ff;]ATE SuperBlue Brake Fluid [/color]

[color=#0000ff;]Custom brake cooling kit[/color]

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

So the boring stuff.......

First a bit of background for those unaware.

Bought an NA a few years back but sold it a few weeks before my first trackday for summit a bit more pokey (VXR). Owned the VXR for 2 and a bit years in which I did a good few trackdays.

The VXR is a pretty raw car to most, but to me if was a little too ‘tame’. I wanted a more track specific car, ie strip it out, butcher panels, add a huge wing etc.. Couldn’t do that to the VXR as it was just too nice! This nagged away in the back of my mind until the ‘Euro’ trip to Le Mans where Cliffie was good enough to let me take his car out for a session around the Bugatti circuit. I knew right away that the SC car is a more capable track mobile (sorry Tubsters) and my cunning mind went into overdrive!

The VXR is an exceptionally valuable car (both financially speaking and sentimentally) so it was with a sorry heart that I sold her (luckily to an enthusiast so I know she’s safe). I’m rubbish with money so the sale enabled me to pay off some debts, clear Lisa and my honeymoon next year with enough left over to buy a CAT C wreck.

Here she was as I found her



















Wish I took more early pics, but hey you get the idea, it was smashed to bits, and every single panel was damaged!

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

This is/was Lightening Yellow #17 and was in a pretty rubbish state. I went up to Birmingham to inspect her and found absolutely NO chassis damage at all. In fact the only damage was cosmetic (other than the steering rack end). Sourced some new lightweight panels (roll bar cover and bootlid) and set about putting it all back together!

Started at the wishbones. Rebushed the car with Super-Pro bushes from Mushroom Racing. Then new drop links, track rod ends, toe links, and ball joints.

Once this lot was clean I dropped in a set of Hofmann’s Spec Nitrons 450/600, a Plans Motorsport ARB. Lovely job!





While I set about he mechanical work, my good friend and ally Alan Dixon (of Alan Dixon Auto Repair) set about repairing the fibreglass.

Front clam needed a new bottom section as it was smashed to bits so I bought a lower section from MVS Racing as well as a new Rad Surround.



primed


Both sills were removed and replaced. New ones were tatty so we fixed them up too



The rear clam wasn’t too bad so we repaired this eventually.



Rear bootlid was removed and replaced with a raised lightweight version, and the rollbar cover was replaced with one of Munchers lightweight versions. The ariel was removed and the hole filled in.





Now I am conscious of some of the (what I believe to be) temperature related failures on SC’d VX’s .so I decided to try to keep temps down throughout my project. This in mind I fitted some Tubby ears and a raised bootlid. Then after some deliberation I also took the plunge and cut out some cooling vents in the rear of the clam (just marked out below.

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

In the meantime I grew concerned that my timing chain was ready to snap as the engine had started to make a nasty rattle so I made sure I didn't run the engine till the timing chain got done.

Anyway, while all the bits were off I was lucky enough to welcome Joe589 and LeeVX2.2 to sunny South Wales to help me with the Supercharger conversion.

Together we fitted the following….

Full 3” Chris Tullet Exhaust
M62 Supercharger.
Pro-Alloy Radiator
Pro-Alloy Charge Cooler.
Inlet Manifold (dual pass).
LSJ Throttle Body.
Z20LET Injectors.
Piper air filter.


At the start of the day



Lee giggling at summit



Joe getting stuck in!



we found a lovely air filter fitted by previous owner (HogMan)



Organised chaos



bits going in




My Tullet Manifold was a shame to wrap it!!!



Spot the wrapped header



All done within a day thank you guys!!!!! People take note! If the boys are coming round to do a conversion make sure you get the clams off in advance as it REALLY makes a massive difference!!



I treated my guests to a cracking night out down Cardiff Bay that eve, and we all woke up feeling worse for wear! Can't remember what time Joe and me got done sitting up drinking, but I know we ran out of Vodka!

Once this lot was in I sent my ECU off to Courtenays for a base map so I could fire the car up (not that I wanted to though due to the rattle).

Started stripping out the interior too at this point. Much of it went including the seats which were replaced with JK Composites lightweight seats and harnesses.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So at this point I had a shell of a car that had now been Supercharged, but I did not have an ECU to run it, and even if I did with my timing chain set to snap I daren't run it.

Jobs left to do...

Rebuild the engine on new rods, a fresh timing chain, balancer delete and lightweight flywheel (job for Vocky)
Get the Car to Courtenays for a final map
Get the car to Hofmann's for a full geo setup

This was all planned within the same weekend and was one of the biggest road trips of my life. As it's late, and it'll take a load of extra pics I'll leave that as part II of the saga.

Goodnight

[techieboy]

P.S. I spotted the colour coded helmet. You fecking tart.

[ianrm]

[southpaw]

P.S. I spotted the colour coded helmet. You fecking tart.

Thought the same as I read through

Have to say Jimmy that is some progress you have made I was looking at each panel thinking all smashed bar the.... no all panels had taken a beating

Will hope to see LY17 on track sometime soon

[The Batman]

That bloody knock sensor I was one with the car that day

[Tony VXR 56]

P.S. I spotted the colour coded helmet. You fecking tart.

I did exactly the same! Agree with you Matt!

That VX looks amazing Jimmy - fantastic job.

[Mike (Cliffie)]

Properly that Jimmy, I look forward to meeting you on track at Silverstone for a proper spanking.

[siztenboots]

anymore cat c kicking about

[Whiteboy]

I thought you said it was not going to be pretty - it looks fantastic. Steve

[Darcini]

Truly inspirational How much of a pain is the rear spoiler restricting access to the engine bay day to day?

[lego_man]

Cracking project you have there, best of luck with it and I shall await more updates..! I'm planning a similar engine set up with mine..!

[MAXR]

Nice account of the build Jimmy! Looking forward to seeing her on track!

[siztenboots]

Now I am conscious of some of the (what I believe to be) temperature related failures on SC’d VX’s .so I decided to try to keep temps down throughout my project. This in mind I fitted some Tubby ears and a raised bootlid. Then after some deliberation I also took the plunge and cut out some cooling vents in the rear of the clam (just marked out below.

did you keep the boot?

[VIX]

Great write up Jimmy. Look forward to seeing the car at Silverstone.

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

Truly inspirational

How much of a pain is the rear spoiler restricting access to the engine bay day to day?

I don't use the car day to day so will tell you after my first Euro trip! Will probably get quite tedious but I'll get used to it same as I did with the noisse, the rubbish heaters, the discomfort etc...

did you keep the boot?

Yeah I kept the boot. There is great weight saving potential there and it would offer better cooling but there are a few little compramises like this I had to make

Properly that Jimmy, I look forward to meeting you on track at Silverstone for a proper spanking.

Nice account of the build Jimmy! Looking forward to seeing her on track!

Great write up Jimmy. Look forward to seeing the car at Silverstone.

Looking forward to it gents!! Hopefully it'll be a quick day!!!!!!!!!!!

[haggi961]

Nice work there Jimmy. its good to see a vx come from being used as parts, to looking like an awesome track beast. Looking forward to seeing part 2.

[Zoobeef]

Haha, Joe and lees part placement seem as erratic as mine. Very organised caos. Looks good Jimmy, makes me want to talk the mrs into letting me get one for her