1962 Rochdale Olympic - Let's crack on

They look B E A UTIFUL!!

They're almost too nice to put under a car! Lots of lovely stuff to drool over on the Force Racing website too…

those look amazing - we await trail fitment shots !

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THIS

Anything new here? I'd love an update!

HAWT!

Well, considering I spend so long on here, and also so long thinking and planning the Olympic, I'm not very good at keeping a Build Thread going am I!
Glad that people have prompted me to update, although I am going to be a moderate fail on the picture front.
One of the problems with me not doing the work myself is that it is more difficult to write and take good pics. With this car I do, unfortunately seem to be financing a cheque book build.
So, anyway, there is progress. Since the last post, I have driven no miles in the car, spent A LOT of money on it :-( and it now looks less complete than it did. Hurrah! The thing is, I'm totally motivated. I know the car I dreamt of owning when I first bought it is nearer than ever to being reality.
The car is still in the very trusty hands of Mike Youles, and right know, actually undergoing work at a fibreglass firm that he often works with.

Here is the photo that Mike sent me once the suspension set up was complete.



When I first saw this, I was very encouraged. Pretty difficult to tell from a picture text but I kept looking and was convinced that the wheels work well. In fact, I love it. God, it looks good at that height!
The car is sitting lower than previously, but the ride height is the result of the best geometry, so it isn't just 'stance' for show.
What you will notice is the HUUGE front arch gap. This wasn't really a surprise, based on the smaller wheel/tyre combo, and also the front suspension mods that have been made. The modified suspension has resulted in the hubs being positioned a couple of inches further back, to help achieve the changes to the steering. (I'm going to ask Mike to explain more so I can provide more details here - I am slowly able to understand more and more after reading a few good books on suspension systems). We always knew that changing the rolling diameter and offset the way we have was going to require some body mods - no hiding it now!
So, difficult to see on a phone pic really but I am really pleased with the wheels.
I also took a few rubbish, blurry photos of the rear wheels when I went down to see the car in November to chat with the fibreglass guys. (embarrassed to post these but they are all I have).





What you can see pretty clearly is that we have some more gaps. I don't like arch gaps! This is why the fibreglass guys were there..... That is why the car then made a trip over to their workshop...... That is why the next update will involve pictures of fibreglass carnage. It's not pretty, will update soon.
2013 will be the year of my Olympic, finally coming good.

Damn those wheels look good! 😛

Thanks for the comments Guys. I do really get a buzz it when I see that other people like the car. They're not everyone's cup of tea I'm sure but there are so many open minds on here, it is rewarding to share.



That's a logical question, and one I'm not equipped to answer without asking Mike to explain again . I will update once I've done that, Mike is happy to explain his work and is very open about his thought processes, which helps me learn too. Suffice to say, we have made new brackets for the top wishbones to fit the front subframe and had new stub axles made, so it has been pretty involved to get the geometry correct.

The front arches were going to need a lot of work anyway, based on the wheel offset change.
Aside from that, if you study this photo, and the contour of the front arches, you may see what has always been niggling anyway. Look left, then right, then again....



So, here is more of an update that is non wheel related, and a little more detailed than normal (this info is mostly from Mike).

Diff and Rear suspension -

Since the car was rebuilt with the BMW set up, the undertray of the car has been damaged by the droop of the trailing arms, as can be seen here -



We sent the dampers back to Avo and they fitted droop stops to prevent the excessive droop being a recurring problem. There is still plenty of droop for maintaining tyre contact with the road in all but extreme road conditions. Shorter rear springs are now also fitted too.

Mike also identified that the rear mount for the diff wasn't really satisfactory.





The top of the diff was bolted to a bracket off the beam. It is presumed that this area would be bolted to the chassis of the donor BMW. As it is here, it could be levered and the beam twisted against the "heel board" of the Rochdale where it has those two mounts. Loads through the suspension would put much more force through this so it needed a far more secure mount.

Since that diagnosis and some further thinking, the reassembly of the car will involve far more than making better mount points.
The Rochdale is losing more and more of what it owes to an E30 by the day, and losing weight at the same rate......

The fuel tank -

We removed the fuel tank in order that we could get to the diff rear support bolt. The tank was found "supported" on various bits of wedged in timber and two self tapping screws. The fuel tank had a hammered indent to clear the nut for the rear mount bolt so the tank had to come out to remove the diff. Mike advised to change the way it is secured, to re-glass a vertical section of this area, provide a steel hard point with captive nut to allow diff removal without the tank having to come out.

A new fuel tank support, has been made, as can be seen in the pic



This is made from two vertical plywood panels each side of the tank, which will be permanently bonded and glassed to the boot floor and vertical area. Aluminium angles are bolted to their tops so the tank flanges can in turn be bolted to them into floating anchor nuts. Lightening holes are also cut into the plywood panels to provide pass through for wiring etc.

Talking of wiring, Mike wasn't impressed with what lurked beneath the tank in the boot. Suffice to say, a new loom is having to be made, massively frustrating for a car that has travelled less than 1000 miles since this was done.







This is the wiring for the rear central fog light and number plate lights.



As a slight aside, but on the same subject, this is inside the drivers side wheel arch. An area that is completely exposed to road debris.



More in the exciting world of 'why pay for a car to be rebuilt once, when you can do it twice' soon