Mr Simmonds 3B lite project.

[Error404]

sorry to hear your 'rado got bumped, you must be gutted!
I feel your pain I'm also struggling find the motivation to work on the car right now, got too much else going on!
Making a list helps, then you can tick jobs off as you go. Try and do something every week and keep plodding on

[K Simmonds]

sorry to hear your 'rado got bumped, you must be gutted!
I feel your pain I'm also struggling find the motivation to work on the car right now, got too much else going on!
Making a list helps, then you can tick jobs off as you go. Try and do something every week and keep plodding on

Yep, I'm furious about the damage to my G60, as it was all that need painting was both bumpers, rear panel and N/S door, everything else was straight as die and original. Now the O/S has taken a whack I might as well paint the whole thing all bar the roof and tail gate, both of which are free from marks. I 'suppose' I can try look at it from a positive point of view, at least we don't have to worry about blowing in across panels to get a decent finish and all the stone chips on the bonnet will be dealt with. Plus that Tornado Red is ****** for fading/oxidizing so a fresh coat all over should bring her up a treat. I've recently picked up a bargain full Black leather interior for the old girl, only cost 200 quid, the foams are shot on the front's so I'm going to use the leather (which is in very good condition) to re-trim my existing 70K mile old front seats. I'd forgotten just how good Rado's G60's are, every time I get in mine and fire the thing up it brings a smile to my face. The handling is so sharp compared to a Coupe and the unique sound of a G60 unit is almost as satisfying as an I5 but in a totally different way. Since getting the blower rebuilt I'm getting an extra .2 Bar at full boost.

S2 wise a written list would be a good idea, it's all in my head at the moment and really there isn't that much to do just to get her on the road. The main thing is the car is safe in dry storage and I can do bit's and pieces as and when I please.

[mackenzie50]

Good luck with making progress on the S2, Kit !

[K Simmonds]

Good luck with making progress on the S2, Kit !

Cheer's mate.

I'm keeping the faith and WILL finish the car to standard it deserves. However I refuse to part with any on my current fold so progress is slow. Since my first car (1.3 Mk II Golf) I've always wanted a small bumper 16V MK II, so the one I have has to stay as it's an exceptional example with original black leather, PAS, EL, CL, FSH, less than 120K miles, oh, and it's Oak green. I wasn't planning on ever getting another Rado, but I picked up up my example for very little money, even after doing a major service and charger rebuild she owes me less than 1500 quid. Once I get the paint done and interior swapped over she'll be every bit as good as the one that's on eBay for 5K at the moment.

[re2500]

I'm gutted to hear about the raddo, kit! It really is a good un!! I hope it all gets sorted to a standard your happy with. Will have to arrange to pop up soon.

[andy10v]

If the s2 is in the dry then you will get to it eventually

That is really annoying about the rado, especialy with how nice your one is. Still it is done so just look on the plus side and think how shiny it will be once you are finished.

Were you doing the bmw/supra stroker prj mentioned?

I feel the lack of motivation after work, and that is without house crap like decorating etc

Anyway, as I dont get any car magazines, I need more pictures and inspiration, stop slacking

[K Simmonds]

Missed this post, sorry Andy wasn't ignoring you mate.

Well this is my two thousandth post so I thought I better update my own project thread.

I am still toying with the idea of building up an Eastern block style stroker at some point down the line, I have my old NG block and crank put by, figured it would be a good starting point. I did have a set of the BMW rods but they were in a block at work and I forgot to remove them before we scrapped it. However for the time being I'm concentrating on getting the car sorted with it's current motor as there's nothing wrong with it being rebuilt with all new OE shells and crank seals etc within the last 20K.

Over the last couple of months I've gotten a lot of jobs on the car done, been busy with the following, most of which were very straight forward but altogether it's taken a lot of time to complete to a decent standard.

Rebuilt all four OE brake calipers with new seals and painted them black.
Refreshed the tie rods with Bambridges inner bushes and up-rated front adjusters.
Built up the front suspension with brand new Bilsteins instead of my old Konis.
Drilled out the 12 mm holes in the front leg's and hubs too 14 mm.
Fabricated a housing for the poly front snub mount.
Fabricated brackets and oil lines for an Earl's 13 row oil cooler in the Aux rad position.
Fabricated a swirl-pot/catch tank and braided hoses.
Fitted two brand new OE knock sensors and after run pump.
Fitted Rusty's alloy coolant outlet on the back of the head.
Replaced the difficult to get at coolant hoses under the inlet manifold.
Re-soldered and insulated various deteriorated connections in the engine bay.
Replaced all the small bore pipe work in the engine bay with 4 mm Derv leak off pipe.
Replaced the cam cover gasket set.
Fitted a new cam belt and Aux belts.
Fitted a non air-con sump extension and oil return pipe.
Fitted a replacement fuel pipe in the engine bay.
Mounted the 044 pump properly in the tank.
Painted various brackets, pipe and the cam belt cover etc.
Spent ages over routing the plugs leads etc round the back of the head.

Here's some random photo's I've taken along the way.

[K Simmonds]

And some more.











This week I've been working on the exhaust which is now 90% complete, done the tricky bit and built the section that goes up over the sub frame and joins to the Jetex back box as well as the section the from the down pipe back. I just have to refit it to the car and fabricate the hangers but this is the easy bit, I'll then have to take it off again to weld them on and paint in black exhaust paint. I used mild steel as I'm a tight ***, figured it should get hot enough to stop condensation rotting it from the inside out.

still got plenty to do but I've broken the back of it now so to speak.

Thanks to the following members.

Alex (Error404) for the sump extension and hose.
Andy (Rusty) for the cam cover gasket set and coolant union.
Kev (Bambridge) for the tie rod adjusters and inner bushes.
James (RE2500) for the poly snub mount and 14 mm drill bit.
Sean (SleeperAvant) for the cam cover. I got the union for the breather system welded on in the wrong place first time round and it was easier start again.
Tristan (Trist28) for various odd's and sods.
And anyone else who I've forgotten.

Note, I didn't weld the bracket on the cross member for the RS2 IC, it looks rough but does the job fine so I haven't bothered redo it. Also the catch tank is unfinished in the pic's, the lower section is missing.

[_ShurikeN]

Not sure, whether makes sense or not IRL, but bolts (strut-hub carrier) direction is incorrect.

-- UPD: looked into the original catalog: it's not true! The direction in the photo is absolutely correct. Sorry for my comment. At last, I know that it's wrong in my car now. Needs to be corrected.

[K Simmonds]

No worries mate I thought I had them the right way around as I remembered the brake carriers being in the way when removing the bolts. I don't expect it make too much difference mind you.

Talking of brakes the G60's are only staying on till I get the car remapped, I have a four pot Alcon set up that needs refurbishing but I figured the stock ones would do the job for now and the shake down period.

[re2500]

Looking good mate! keep it up, dying to see her running again!!

[andy10v]

Good stuff, its a nightmare trying to tidy the wires down the back of the head.

[Error404]

Glad to see you're still at it mate. When I saw the pics i did wonder what had happened to that big set of Alcons you had!

[K Simmonds]

The Alcon calipers are on their way too Jamil and should be with tomorrow so he can size up some seals and pistons, their a bit corroded from brake dust on the inside's but the bore's are all fine so fingers crossed they should be OK.

Finished off a few job's on the car over the past week.

Refreshed the rear tie rods with Bambridges inner bushes, freed off the adjusters and cleaned/re-lubricated the ball joints/ inner swivel joints. Rear suspension and brake is all assembled with new nylocks etc.

[K Simmonds]

Today I've finally gotten round to removing the sump to clean out any nasties, found enough bit's of sealant in the oil pick up to concern me a little, glad I had a look!! The oil pressure was fine before but I can't see those bit's doing any good at all.

Also whipped the down pipe off and welded in the boss for a wideband lambda. The exhaust is now all finished as I welded the hangers onto the rest of the system whilst I was at it.