Shellby - 83 gti ABF on carbs

smudger1980 said

£20 for RS Recaros……..Bargain !!!  

Was actually £17.68, I bid £70 in the last few seconds, expecting to get trumped, but obviously no one was interested! One needs work on the bolster, but want to retrim them in leather, so all good!

pazwaa said

Going to strip down the mk1 seats and use the bases to mount the recaros. Time to get my creative head on!

I made my own bases for my recaros…

Used some old mk1 frames and cut off the bits that fit into the runners in the car etc.
Welded up a simple steel box section frame and attached the bits from the mk1 frame to them.

Nee to be careful with angles so that the seats can still slide smoothly. Mine get tighter as you push them forward, so no short people allowed!
I'm 6'4", so mounted them quite low and quite far back compared to a normal Mk1 seat.

Few pics of mine:


Sub frame 2 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr


Sub frame 1 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

Final product:

IMG_1267 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

Cheers Al, photos are really helpful. You're seats look spot on. Think ill end up going down the same route, I've tried cutting out what I need from the mk1 bases, whilst retaining some of the structure, but the recaro mounting positions won't align with the frame any way that's easy,and are currently far to high. So I can either cut loads more out of the mk1 frames, or copy your method, think your way will be best.  

No probs - Glad they were useful!

The square section tubing I used was stuff I picked up in B&Q of all places…
The right angle brackets you can see were used to bolt the frames together originally to allow a trial fitment in the car to ensure everything was alright. Once happy, all the joints were welded up (The brackets were steel too, which made this quite easy) and the bolts removed.

After spending many hours today staring at al's photos whilst at work, I figured out how to do the brackets still using the mk1 bases, in theory! So time for the practical:-

Armed with a cutting disc and grinder, I chopped out what wasn't needed





Made a mounting frame up



Ground the welds flush on the side that bolts to the seat and drilled the mounting holes



Tacked the mounting frame to the base



Made sure it fit in the car before welding up



Checked the seat could be mounted on to the frame



Added a front plate, welded between the sub-base and the mounting frame, add some strength.



Finally, after about 8 hours of tinkering, the fitted article





Need to repeat the process for the passenger side, which should be easier as I can use the drivers side as a template. Then at some point will add a bit more strength and some side plates, make them look a bit more appealing. Another job done!

Nice work, they're going to look right at home in there

smudger1980 said

Nice work, they're going to look right at home in there

Cheers smudger!  Started on the second seat today. First thing I did was snap one of the bolts holding the sub frame to the recaro. FFS, how tight does a seat bolt need to be   

Managed to get it out tapping it round with a chisel and hammer.

Then onto the frame, much easier and quicker second time round. Soon had twins.





And the seats fitted, looking nice.



That's the seats done for now. Back on with the engine.

Told you they'd look right at home mate

Nice fabrication skills too

smudger1980 said

Told you they'd look right at home mate

Nice fabrication skills too

You were correct sir! Sat behind the wheel making brum brum noises, very comfy seats  

Nice one - You got on to them pretty quick!

 

AL_Mk1 said

Nice one - You got on to them pretty quick!

 

Cheers Al    Spent a few hours whilst at work just staring at a photo of the base, figuring it out, but once I'd worked what I needed to do, it went well. They lack a bit of finesse at the minute, but will make them look nicer a bit further down the line.

Very little progress that I can show with photos, mainly been cleaning engine parts up ready for painting. Hopefully have them painted and mounted soon.

Some progress though. Firstly got my cylinder head back from the machinists. Head skim, and new valves





All shiny and nice!

Also cleaned up the drive shafts, ready for primer



Managed to come to an arrangement with a fixings company my work uses who let me buy stainless fixings in exact quantities at trade price and pay cash.



Ones above replace all the gearbox bolts, the studs on the cylinder head to mount the exhaust and carb manifolds and the rocker cover and sump fixings. £15 for the lot. If anyone needs any stainless fixings, drop me a pm and ill get you a price, hopefully save you some pennies. 

Shiny new head looks lovely Matt It's going to be sweet mate!!

Melteddrummer said

Shiny new head looks lovely Matt It's going to be sweet mate!!

Cheers Andy. Hopefully some more progress tomorrow night, getting to spend a few hours on her.

Mate ur car.is.gonna be sweet.wen.its.done keep up the good work!!

chipster2407 said

Mate ur car.is.gonna be sweet.wen.its.done keep up the good work!!

Thanks Chipster. Hoping to get my engine looking like yours soon. Got it primered, just needs a couple of coats of black. Hopefully photos soon.

Great looking shiny engine mate. Now all you gotta do is put it all back together again

Good luck

smudger1980 said

Great looking shiny engine mate. Now all you gotta do is put it all back together again

Good luck

Cheers smudger. Possibly start rebuilding the engine tonight, if I can find a torque wrench.

New parts and progress tonight!

Firstly a new clutch and flywheel from meltdrummer, cheers Andy



Also got the final gasket I needed to re-assemble the engine.

Sump bolted on



New head gasket



New head bolts



Rocker cover back on



Need to finish the painting, gonna be all black, not as it is now. Then refurb the bolt on parts and attach with stainless steel fixings.

Fiesta Rainbow recaro's, good find! When you're getting them re-trimmed if you take care removing the old seat material i'd be interested