8-ball, the $200 S40 T4.

Spac

Bought for $200, sight unseen because it is a manual. The previous owner had driven it over something large and solid, bending the bottom of the radiator support up, and cracking the sump.

Whole bunch of Knead It fixed the sump. I'm just going to ignore the radiator support... It runs pretty well. Crunches into 4th gear, but otherwise drives pretty well.

Clearly a badly neglected car, as you can see by the paint...

...and the revolting interior...

First step was to fiddle with the horrible paint. I wasn't expecting to make it awesome, I just wanted to see what I could do with the faded/peeling clear coat.

Quick rub back with 1200 grit wet and dry:

After a quick squirt with aerosol clear, it's a long way from perfect, but it does look heaps better than it did:

Spac

Next step was to strip out the interior. Found some real delights in there...

Because this car has a bloody sunroof, I don't have room for my noggin in a helmet in the standard seats.
Solution: race seat!
I'm not a fan of mounting race seats on rails, but the mounting points are all over the joint (different heights and angles and stuff), plus The Wife will drive the car.

With some drilling out of rivets, I separated the seat & the height adjuster mech from the rails.

Then, after some head scratching, I made some alloy brackets to mount the race seat onto the rails.

I stole the semi-OK looking 16" wheels for the white car, and fitted the old Honda Accord 15s I bought a while back. The white wheels on the black car remind me of an 8-ball in pool, hence the name.

Spac

Tomorrow (maybe), I'll mount the safety harness and the non-airbag steering wheel. And hopefully remove the stupid and temperamental aftermarket immobiliser/alarm.

Spac

And here's a non-sequitur photo of the seat installed:

Spac

Oh, and yeah: the point of this is to be a very low stress Khanacross and maybe occasional hillclimb/Supersprint car.

Back when I first started in motorsport, we had a lot of fun in $100 dog-box cars. Somewhere along the lines, I started taking myself more seriously, and it drained a lot of the fun out of it. The Frikken Laser reminded me that the fun bit is way more about driving as hard as you can, and that the fun:stress ratio is the best in dirt-cheap cars.

So this car is about getting back into something that can be thrown away if it hits the trees, without wanting to cry about it. I'm up to about $300 in total now, including the car, the seat, an oil & filter change and all of the loose change I dragged out of the interior... :)

nickm

Could be a nuts little club comp car.

pauljloz

these came from the factory with a bio-degradable paint job - but OMG!

nickm

Yep 200 hp factory....

Spac

pauljloz;72510 wrotethese came from the factory with a bio-degradable paint job - but OMG!

Yeah, combination of Canberra sun and black has made this one worse than the other neglected examples...

Spac

Progress this weekend. Pretty much finished, really.

Got the rest of the interior stripped out, and cleaned. Even under the carpet, it really was revolting.

Also swapped bootlids with the NA one (no stupid wing) I got from Philia Bear. Better paint and no stupid wing make me happy, and saved about 1.5kg... :P

Replaced one collapsed engine mount, with another used one that I'd filled with urethane. Need to do the other three, but they can wait.

Second immobiliser & alarm removed. I really, really hate aftermarket immobilisers. Apart from anything else, they're really not that hate to bypass... Lots of inconvenience for minimal real security improvement.

Killed the ABS & DSA by pulling the 50A fuse in the engine bay. With the airbags & airbag controller all deleted, the dash now lights up like a Christmas tree.

Put a sports steering wheel on it.

I made the handbrake "fly off" so you don't have to remember to release it after using it for handbrake turns. It doesn't sound like an important thing, but in the heat

of the moment, everyone f$&ks it up some of the time.

Funny, I've spent all day on it and about half of yesterday, but it sounds like a couple of hours' work...

Remaining jobs:
Harness mounting bar for the shoulder straps. The parcel shelf is too high, the floor is too low. I'm going to make a bar that will sit just above the top of the rear wheel arches.

Sort some decent battery hold-down method.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to delete the rear muffler too.

Spac

I reckon the car has lost about 100kg, maybe even a bit more. It sounds like a lot, but the Frikken Laser lost about 65kg with similar mods - the Volvo seats are about 8kg heavier (each), the front seat belts are way heavier, and there's more stuff like central locking solenoids, the power antenna and all the plastic in the engine bay...

Spac

Harness bar done.
Ugly but functional welding is just one of the services I provide... Without making excuses, I do too little of it, on too many different things, using too many different welders to ever convert my modicum of welding skill into more than a modicum of skill...

perko

The best welds are the ones that don't fall off.

Also this thread makes me extremely keen to get a cheap shitter and rally the wheels off it.

Vee_Que

Welds look good from here, as long as they hold!

I'm already over my $200 gasless mig unit, can't weld for too long before it overheats the line.

So this will weigh in at about 1200kg?

nickm

I would say lower. If you could get it down to 1000kg you are in s2000 territory
It will be a very quick club car even on standard boost.
The chassis are quite stiff.
Biggest issue will be getting power down. Mine without the (DSC) traction on will stand still and light up the tyres easily.

nickm

Noted Bunnings selling swap bottles of Argon the other day

Spac

If the quoted figure of ~1250kg* is accurate, I reckon it's about 1160kg now (remembering that I've put weight back in with seat, harness, harness bar and fire extinguisher).

I reckon there's another 100kg to come out cheaply/easily, while staying within the IPRA rules**.
Again, it sounds like a lot, but air con, heater, cruise control, power windows & mirrors, central locking, head lining, sunroof mech, ABS, floor tar, cat converter, rear muffler, bonnet latch, etc...

I haven't confirmed, but it appears that CC Lancer window winders will go in without drama.

Beyond that, it starts getting more difficult/expensive. Stuff like fitting a non-sunroof roof skin, cutting off excess body brackets, etc - all getting into the law of diminishing returns.

*Volvo doesn't seem to quote a figure. The owner's manual says 'ask the rego authorities'... Haynes workshop manual says "typically 1250kg". Various NSW/ACT rego papers seem to be in the 1220-1300kg range, but without much rhyme or reason (spec vs weight).

**I don't want to race it in IP, but it's a good spec to build to - understood by scrutineers, etc. I need to check, but the "Type 3" class at hill climbs was always "cars that meet IP regs".

Spac

Harness bar done. Rear muffler delete done, in full TB style (including gasket goo, hose clamps, and a piece of old 240 exhaust). Made a significant difference across the rev range, including removing most of the strangled feeling up higher in the revs). Added bonus of saving 9kg.

Battery hold down sorted with a ratchet tie down.

Spac

Race car! :P