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Hi all,
my name is Ray and I'm based near Doncaster. I've been a car nut all my life (I'm 65). I ran a restoration business since 1968 doing all things such as Astons Martin DB4, DB5, DB6, DBS' , Rolls Royce Mk6, Silver Shadows, every Jag model you'd think of, MG's, Triumph TR series, Austin Healey's, AC cobra's, AC 300 M/e of which I took the body off -They said it couldn't be unbonded- and had the gearbox converted to take a SD1 gearbox in the Ford bellhousing.... Have seen most exotic and common BMW's, Saabs, Escort Mk1, Mk2, Mk3 (bought them new, or repaired them and sold on) but there is 1 constant though: since 1972 I always have a porsche of some sort at hand for reliability.
So, around 2008 a mate of mine dumped this 1992 Calibra on my drive. It started as a 130 kodd mile 2.0 litre 8v with a blown clutch. The car was nothing special, but after a while it started to annoy me. I put a second hand clutch in it as it was easier to move about. That was when the plan was formed, looking at what I had laying about spares wise....
Take 1 Range Rover V8 engine, overhaul + spec up
Take Rover SD1 gearbox
Go out and find a Vectra/Calibra 4X4 rear axle+ diffs
Take Calibra and gut it, re-engineer, nut and bolt renew of, well, everything really
and hey presto.
Well not quite, but be prepared for an interesting journey. Hey, a man who is retired needs to keep sane, no?
I'm sorting through my pictures, so I'll post them up bit by bit.
Take care,
ray
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Kieran
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,092
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Jul 13, 2013 10:58:19 GMT
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Hi Ray, great first post and introduction.
Sounds a great project, will be following this!
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The Ashby Jackson fleet:-
1979 Mini Clubman 1.8 K series
1978 Skoda 110r Project 130RS K-oupe
1978 Austin Allegro 1500 SDL Estate
1984 BMW K100 Sidecar outfit
1999 Yamaha FZS 1000 Fazer
1991 Kawasaki ZXR400 race bike
2002 Kawasaki ZX9r race bike
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Jul 13, 2013 13:27:54 GMT
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Ooh this is going to be good
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rodney
Posted a lot
https://www.facebook.com/RD-vehicle-transport-and-recovery-services-525622614268010/
Posts: 1,677
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Jul 13, 2013 19:01:29 GMT
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pictures please I'm excited,.
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facebook: rodney dean / rd transport  |
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Jul 13, 2013 19:10:15 GMT
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This certainly sounds interesting.............  |
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There is no such thing as a curse word car just overstretched expectations................. Herald 10/10 Gasser 10/10 Total score 20/10 |
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Jul 13, 2013 19:19:19 GMT
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hi and welcome,
you said:
AC 300 M/e of which I took the body off -They said it couldn't be unbonded- and had the gearbox converted to take a SD1 gearbox in the Ford bellhousing.
just a bit confused, but why would you change out the hewland box? also, an sd1 box is for front engine-rear wheel drive,
cheers
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www.facebook.com/AngrySpiderRacing
1965 Karmann ghia RHD Race car
1969 Baja Bug (splat)
1979 Leyland National London Bus
1981 DeLorean DMC-12
1993 Chevrolet S-10 4.3L Pink, and rolling 20's
1996 Toyota Paseo Super Modified Rallycross car
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Jul 13, 2013 21:36:03 GMT
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I'll be watching this with interest - sounds great - pics please |
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hamps
Posted a lot
www.medwayrscentre.co.uk
Posts: 2,077
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Jul 13, 2013 22:57:54 GMT
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Sounds like a beasty project, pics man hurry up! haha |
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10mpg
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,253
Club RR Member Number: 204
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Jul 14, 2013 16:51:40 GMT
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Yes, please for more!
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The Internet, like all tools, if used improperly, can make a complete bo**cks of even the simplest jobs...
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stonio
Part of things
Posts: 626
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Jul 14, 2013 18:46:42 GMT
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The calibra has always been a missed out example prime for tuning but your example has got the juices flowing cant wait for more....
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Sven
Part of things
Posts: 341
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Jul 14, 2013 19:19:19 GMT
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Tease!
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1969 Chevrolet 4x4 C10 Pickup
1969 VW extended cab pickup (doka)
1980 Volvo 240DL
1995 Mazda Miata MX-5
2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser
2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2011 MK Indy R (building)
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Jun 28, 2015 14:18:42 GMT
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Well, my apologies. The car was finished sometime in 2012, but then I had a heart operation, 6 months later my 34 year old girlfriend left me, and the finished car has exactly done 0.7 miles. I have never even driven it: it was transported to a garage to set the suspension and tracking, they did the MOT and it was taken up and down the road for a test.  We had to send the paperwork off to Swansea to register the engine conversion, as it is still registered as a 2 litre.  The beast came back on the low loader, it was parked up, SORN'ed and I got on with trying to find what is left of life. Cue April 2015, when Richard from the Calibra club showed up at my place. The car was parked outside as I was clearing out some stuff. "Ooooh, you've got to feature it at Billing for the show." -Alright then, lets pull the old finger out and give it a bit of a spruce up. Going through the paperwork -I have obviously kept every bill of every bob, nut, and screw I bought- I needed to send off the V5 with an engineers report to Swansea. I'll see if we all get it sorted in time. Amongst the paperwork, which I have sorted in chronological order, there was a little feature from Neil Thornely  in the January 2011 edition of "Total Vauxhall" magazine.  Lovely, except...WTF?! Who is Ray Smith?! But I digress... I decided to have the build documented here on Retro Rides, and if anyone is interested, they can check the car out at Billing 2015 where it will be featured on the Calibra club stand. If anyone has any questions, please fire away. Photos, I hear you ask?..... here we go. Laters, Ray |
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Jun 28, 2015 14:38:39 GMT
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I have 14 pages of photos on photobucket, so I'll spare the bandwith and make a reasonable selection. The 2 litre 8V engine was advertised and was collected by this amazing kid who knew his way around Vauxhalls. I forgot his name now, but in 10 minutes he had removed the brain from the wiring loom using the original connectors. Neat. Then, it was a trail fitting of the 3.9 Range Rover block.  mmwell, lets hang the f@cker....   I had a 3.5 V8 engine (Rover SD1) with a 5 speed gearbox laying about, and that would come in handy. The only way to make it work was to cut into the shell   I adapted some Transit diesel engine mounts, on fabricated mounting plates.   More to come..... |
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Last Edit: Jun 28, 2015 14:45:50 GMT by rayclintt
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Jun 28, 2015 15:24:04 GMT
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The only way to make this project a RWD, as I always intended it, is to use the rear diff and various bits and bobs of the Calibra 4x4. I was calling around to find a breaker, and as luck would have it, a breakers yard in Donny had one in. Leather interior...the lot. I made an offer, and he said: "You can have it if you can help us out with some paintwork, bodywork etc on a van or a personal car or somesuch". Well, time, tools and equipment I have, money is a different matter. We shook hands and they even delivered the pieces to my home. Off came the 8V suspension...   I shot blasted the 4x4 suspension and red-oxided it  the components were then under coated  and a coat of chassis black was applied   I like shiny things... There was an issue with fitting the engine though. That front cross member wouldn't clear the bottom pulley, and I had to relocate or re-engineer the oil filter. Hmm. A cup of tea and some roll-ups followed.     and we're in   Now, to find out a proper mounting solution for the gearbox...  Laters, Ray |
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Last Edit: Jun 28, 2015 15:41:44 GMT by rayclintt
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