GTI-R round nose

[miniphile]

i have had this car in the shed for 11 years (since i was 14) well school the girlfriend and an apprenticeship got in the way of the build but i have finally made it back into the shed for a while but over that time i had decided to go the engine transplant route, oh and it had to be awd with a lot of potential for upgrades in power. well i had worked out that a 4a corolla from an ae95 wagon was a potential and the gti-r was the other after 8 months searching i brought a corolla on E-bay because i wasn't going to get the gti-r cheep enough. the next day a damaged gti-r appeared on E-bay well ill find somthing else to do with the corolla later cos im building me a GTI-R mini...

a couple of specs for the GTI-R
length - 3975mm
width - 1690mm
height - 1410mm
wheelbase - 2430mm
weight - 1220kg
engine - SR20DET
turbocharged inline four, dohc, 16 valves (the important bit in this place)
max power output - 227hp @ 6400rpm (or 171.5 kw)
max torque - approx. 290 nm
compression ratio - 8.3:1
turbo - Garret TB2804 (T3/T25 combination)
5 spd manual ATTESSA with viscous coupling centre diff and viscous LSD
my donor car had a dyno sheet showing that it had a bit more go than standard with 176kw at the wheels and i was also told that it was a close ratio gearbox with some flash clutch setup (ill have to pull it apart to check that out) but for the pictures


sorry about the quality of this image the camera didn't want to play the game


well the engines are the same height its a start


original estimates indicate an 8 inch stretch on the front.. not if i can help it


belive it or not i could of fitted the engine with the original bulkhead i have pictures to show how close it is but i wanted a very clean engine bay


a couple of chassis rails i threw together to take the pulsars lower suspension arms (i am using all standard items wherever possible to make it easier to get engineered and registered)


aligning the chassis rails ready to go in




the scrap metal that is all tacked together was actually a precise jig taken from the donor car for aligning all the suspension components in the chassis


the frame in the middle is the opening for the tunnel the mount for the steering rack the rear engine mount and will also support the torsion bar when i get around to fitting it important bracket now that i think about it


the start of the strut towers and firewall


stainless pipe for transferring fresh air to the heater box


most of this is just bracing that will be removed when the front end is welded up properly and the shell is rigid again


the strut tower from the donor car being fitted to the new strut tower


i welded this from the other side of the panel so if there was anywhere that didn't get weld it is easier to grind out and fix


strut tower and firewall finished and painted


making room for the gear selector as its a solid pipe in the nissan


the new floor pan and transmission tunnel also note the chassis rails that are going to be hiding in the sills


with parts removed and relocated the front will only have to be extended between 0 and 80 mm depending on the radiator and intercooler i use. much better

well that was about 15 days of work on the mini (not consecutive) i am at the point with the front where i need to build the new extractors for the side mount turbo before i can go any further with the front so i have removed the rear seat parcel shelf boot floor and wheel tubs so i can start fitting the GTI-R's irs setup then put most of the rear seat back in its place again

[mininut]

[kcchan]

Wow. Ill be keeping a close eye on this one!

[miniphile]

thanks for the photo help mininut. it was the linking tool on Picasso that was causing my problems but i got it right in the end

[miniphile]

ok so a bit of work on the rear end first to come out was the rear seat and boot floor


i drilled the spot welds because i will possibly be refitting this panel. but i got sick of the spot weld drill i had so i just put a 6 mm bit through all the welds and ill fill the holes later the rest of the panels where just cut free in one piece


this is the complete rear end from the pulsar im hoping that the strut tops fit inside the body line


took some measurements then made a plan for the rear chassis rails so that both sides are identical when tacked up then it just takes some care when welding so that they don't bend out of shape

[IMG]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ZOZ7yK4s5Go/SyBGtghe56I/AAAAAAAAAFA
/JLc0GaMpZOE/rear%20chassis%20rail%20test.JPG[/IMG]
the chassis rail test fit with the suspension right up the drive shaft will just miss and there is just enough room above the diff and under the floor to fit a three inch exhaust


this is how i am thinking about fitting the mounting bolts for the rear end but i am also looking at getting the pins out of the pulsar because they would be a better fit to the diff mountings


the rear diff in location it sits below the original seat and just above the boot floor hight the chassis rails are going to be above the seat inside the car but that will all be hidden with the padding so im not stressed about it


the diff in place and the chassis rails sitting in just need to square the diff frame in then start welding it there


there is plenty of room behind the diff for the torsion bar rear muffler and possibly a battery to hide it


running a string line to make sure the diff frame is perfectly centered

i have over 1500 pictures of everything that i have done on this car so if there is anything that anyone whats to see in more detail then just ask and ill post some images but here is a couple that i found that i thought might be interesting


the engine is only 15mm forward of where its ment to be so i could of just notched the bulkhead to make the sr20 fit so it could be fitted to a mostly standard shell but there is not much room for the towers on the subframe either but it could be done


this is how much clearance i have with the 195/45 16 wheels and tyres that came with the donor car when i can find some 18 inch minilite wheels ill be trying to fit them with some super low profile rubber now that will look huge


this is a better picture of the stainless tube that runs through the left strut tower just so i can get some fresh air to the heater system

well that's it for another day, i think ill be chopping the rear out of the pulsar next to make another jig to line up the strut towers in the boot.

its all fun and games with 16v mini's

[bodgeit]

Bloody hell, some work has gone into that! well done! look forward to watching your progress

[evolotion]

awesome build, please keep the pics coming love the fabrication

[pippy]

:Really like the build WOW! major work keep it up!

[Mintegra]

Respect to you mate - this looks like one hell of a build!!!...

[bhphunter]

Brilliant!

Id be happy to wade through your 1500 photos


David.

[Richspec]

good work I'm liking this a lot

[fatlad]

Originally Posted by Richspec

good work I'm liking this a lot

x2!!!!!!!

[tinxy]

x3 i love the custom fab going into this

[miniphile]

wow thanks for the support
i have been in the shed working away for a few days. But as i am unemployed at the moment and want to go back to the uk when it defrosts for a bit of a working holiday next year and to see a bit of the world well i need money so i have taken on a few odd jobs.

first one is modifying a 50 foot fishing boat into a cruiser/ house boat for my dad well he needed an anchor for it so i threw one together

there is going to be a lot more to that job so that will be a new year job to save a coupla grand.

and the other job is a bit more mini orientated... if you squint.
a mate is playing around with mk1 civics and needed a new exhaust for it so i decided that it would be a good practice run for when i make a set for the sr20. but id does not matter what the engine is because the job will be the same for any of our cars so I'm posting it anyway because we all love fabrication pictures

well i told him what i would need for the job and 4 days later he turned up with a box full of stuff so i was away

the contents of the box


make all the pipes fit where they need to go. the lump of rhs/shs/box tubing or whatever you call it is just to locate all the pipes where i want them


chop them off the manifold again and weld all the joints


the start of the collector. i heard somwhere that it is best to form the pipes into a point so that it reduces turbulance... well it cant hurt


the finished spike


the pipe on the left is getting formed into the outer half of the collector


then i welded the header flange to a solid block of steel so that when the pipes are welded to it the plate will not bend and therefore will not need to be machined to fit up to the block


a day or so later my mate brought his engine around (in the back seat of his civic) so we could test fit the exhaust and make minor adjustments all it needed was a small dent in the back of the collector and the bend under that to be rotated a couple of degrees to the right and then the pipe after that down and to the left.

then i started back on the real mini because it was late i decided to go from the grinder to the sockets because they are a bit more neighbor friendly.
well its a good time to tackle the alternator problem that we all face and tackle in different ways well this is my way
i have removed everything off the front of the engine previously so that i can bring the front of the car in as far as i can the air-con went in the scrap bin because it had kissed a cement wall that wrote off the pulsar otherwise it would of gone in the e-bay bin well i also pulled the power steering pump off the back of the engine because i have never liked the feeling of power steering so that's where the alternator can go as it lines up with the belts and there is just enough room


where the p/s pump was


everything that can be removed is


cardboard templates are the most useful fabrication tool's i use next to the grinder and welder... oh and i was able to refit the sandwich plate on the oil filter to point in a different direction ill be using this to my advantage later on in the build


mark where the holes are and add some curves so that it will fit on the only piece of steel that i could find the right thickness


then attack it with the grinder and hey presto a curvy bit of steel.

"TO BE CONTINUED"... very soon

well that is about as far as i got because looking in the scrap out the back and right through the shed i couldn't find the pipe i needed for the rest of the job and the fella at the local steel yard wouldn't sell me anything less than a meter so ill go for a drive tomorrow an hour down the road to pickup a bit more steel for the boat and some off cuts of rod for the mini and some other odd jobs that i have lined up. but for now back to the shed

[Dazzler]

Monster Build, i totally love it!!!!!