5 GT Turbo 11 years later silver bullet comes home

[Duncan Grier]

Nothing exciting but 2hrs of measuring, measuring postioning and more measuring......tacked in and think I am OK with it, but check with fresh eyes next time before making permanent

 

[Duncan Grier]

Ok 5-6hrs of fun later....now I will accept it! Was not perfect and tops were toeing in and out a few deg and not 100% level. Also found one side was 2mm further back from the cross member than other

Long story short cut all out and was then checking bottom was true which it thankfully was....turns out from the turrets they were fine and the front cross member is out 2mm from one end to the other........who have thought an old renault was not perfect to start lol (no crash damage) guess just variance of build

So lots of diy measuring tacking, more measuring, cut tack, adjust and repeat its good

Thanks to @Mark_L for the guidance, and telling me 4hrs earlier it was fine and leave it but just how I am and like to torture myself.

Nothing much to see other than also started to cut out old chassis rail to weld in some more sheet allowing bolt/nut access

 

[andybond]

View attachment 214543

Milestone picture there ...

 

[Duncan Grier]

Bit of a run this week and some more exciting we'll exciting for me lol

Got wishbones welded in position with hub on off car and moment of truth with all the front pickup and........

 

[Duncan Grier]

So front wheel has more than enough clearance and height currently static at height it will be on the ground.......can get on and weld up now and repeat on other side. Wheels are thinner than ones that will be going on but help to get it mobile for now.

Almost like I planned it

 

[Steve Swan]

Mad what passes for exciting with some people, self included....
None of your Coke and hookers nonsense here.

 

[DaveL485]

It's basically almost finished then Duncs!

 

[Duncan Grier]

Tremendous Tuesday = couple hours playtime after work.

Bit more to cut out of leg and CAD to insert made, bit of clean inside and lick of hydro80, orrible weld through primer (not sure why I persist knowing it hates me lol) anyway few spot welds before joining up. Do a final tidy after pickup in

 

[Duncan Grier]

2 steps back one step forward

So tonights short session had planned to get other notch done and pickup tacked in place........

Only I can't stop myself over thinking and constantly checking everything as I go - result was not 100% happy and cut top pickup back out again while probably ok there was a bit of resistance when shimmed and getting bolt through was not as free as you would want. Worth it in the end

A good 2mm adjustment so will tack, check jig off car, repeat until I dont think about it anymore

 

[Duncan Grier]

On a seperate note ordered some more metal

ROPT510
1.750"od x12swg 24m (6m x4)
1.500"od x12swg 12m (6m x2)

 

[Duncan Grier]

While cutting out last hole and continuing to torture myself on suspension pickup final resting postions...for some light relief.

Thought get rack and pedal bits out to start seeing how it all sits as needs ticking off soon

 

[Duncan Grier]

Rack will be rotated and sit forward about 100mm so that will be fun lol

Also can't find the pin for the auto pedal and probably unobtainable so prob have to cut manual one down as longer and get it on lathe to put grove in for clip

 

[Duncan Grier]

Ok so fired up with prospect of having pedals in the car and couple hours I had not planned today in garage got straight onto wishbone jig action, cut off braces and got everything bolted up solid and did again, very minor variance but put a 3rd bit of box to stop it any movement. With that all good and fits jig like a glove onto other side and going to use threaded bar and some angle steel to get them mirrored.

With time getting on measured up and made some box steel guides in place of front suspension damper/spring and drilled holes, recorded data and angle etc. Can use to position top suspension pickups

Then some measuring (hate to think how many hours of it now lol) for rack and servo and short of a small notch out of turret fits ok and meets pedal point well and looks to just clear rack in proposed postion taking that as a win

 

[Duncan Grier]

O/S front wishbones/hub braced, tacked and ready to go on.....had a moment of inspiration to avoid having to make full jig for this one and pickups all good and mirrors one done off jig, just triple checked as tacking braces on to make sure it never pulled out of alignment


Some time spent getting both fitted on car, upper pickups shimmed and in place.......blablabla

Then realised I had not put ball joint bolts on, and while wishbone end positions were good there was some float on hub not seated in . So you know this troubled me a lot and took all off again, cut braces off, bolts on, repeated on table and not sure any difference from prior tack marks but cleaned up and tacked again.

Managed to get one side back on and 'final' few tacks in for upper front pickup

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Really starting to see your vision come to life now Duncs! Great work mate! Keep it coming!!

 

[Duncan Grier]

Bit of a push tonight and top wishbone pickups in and tacked, held off welding in fully until steering rack sorted. Started a brace for the other front top and spent some time on draft postion for rack and will be snug with servo but also gives me an idea on space for fuel tank postioning etc. You can see where the rack will enter car but angle of spline helps and as no clutch pedal will cause no drama

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Was speaking with a chap today about power steering, and he fitted a Clio 182 rack to a 5 with a Citroen electro hydraulic pump, and he reckoned it was excellent as the rack was faster than a 5/GTT rack.

Might be worth grafting one of them on Dunc, got a feeling you might need fast steering to control all that RWD…??

 

[Duncan Grier]

Thanks @Big Steve - Raider always an option to go with assisted steering if needed, so good to have options noted

Not using the 5/clio rack mounted to subframe as normal setup but suspect easy enough to convert to assited. I can get quick rack version of the one im using, however would prob go Variable Rate Steering Arm System (VRSAS) on current rack to adjust speed but also has bump steer adjustment and few other tweaks I could do using them.

With mid engine setup steering should be good and prefer direct non assited if not too heavy

 

[Duncan Grier]

92.6kg of weight safety

 

[Steve Swan]

Yep. That'll hold your tail down.... Possibly. Watching the Rack positioning with interest. Heartbreak if it's wrong. Are you using the VX positions??