ej9 to rally car

[dave benson]

ok here we go, bought this ej9 2 years ago to build into a rally car, thought it would take me six months, how wrong was i !
sold my old 205 rally car which had been very successful, with much needed backing from DES Electrical of Blackpool and UK Carline.co.uk of Bilborrow near Preston.The civic would be a big step up in performance and hopefully results, but it has taken a lot longer than i thought but she's almost there, thought i would share the build with you guys as i've learnt a hell of alot of info from on here and bought plenty of parts as well

 

[dave benson]

first job was to strip her out

 

[dave benson]

then had the cage welded in, it was a custom cage, but was fitted at tornado motorsport to save money, it cost 200 quid less and he did loads of seamwelding

 

[dave benson]

then i had to decorate the hallway( and she went rusty, so loads of rust treatment and god knows how many wire brushes fof the drill she was ready to paint

i was still finding wires from the brushes about a year later still stuck in my clothes, in the soles of my trainers, and had to go to a+e to have one removed from my eye, before i went to work lol !

 

[dave benson]

someone reversed into my road car and when i was at the body shop the boss agreed to paint the whole shell, inside/outside/engine bay and under arches for a grand, so bit his hand off

 

[dave benson]

why are my uploaded photos thumbnails ????

more to come !

 

[dave benson]

back from the paint shop all nice and shiny

 

[dave benson]

start to fit the dash + wiring loom. Had to cut the loom to fit it behind the cage and resolder it, 50 wires doh !

wanted to keep the heater in as febuary is a bit cold with just a heated screen, so made some ducting to join the blower and heater unit together, and because the roll cage stopped the blower mounting where it should made some brackets to mount that

 

[jordan101]

looking good mate download photobucket and copy and paste the url links into ur build and the photos will be bigger

 

[si8pny]

looks a cracking build

 

[kahn_v]

looking good but should have done it in an another colour. something one off.

 

[wooks]

Looks stunning mate.

What part of the heater fouled on the cage? as im just about to start a build of my new rally car for next year, and my custom cages cage arrived last friday, and picking up an ek9 shell hopefully this weekend.

Going for tarmac or forrest? sorry if ive missed that bit!!

 

[dave benson]

tarmac for now, till it gets a bit battered

the blower motor mounts to the side where the big gusset is in the photo, and takes up an inch or two of space, so hung it off the rollcage crossbar behind the dash

if your short like me 5'7, then the custom cage is a bit of a houdini job getting in and out !

the seat rails also needed lowering as your head hits the cage if they are too high !

 

[Splat]

the custom cage is a bit of a houdini job getting in and out !

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[wooks]

Oh right....,im 6'6 so think i may struggle!!

 

[dave benson]

no you will be fine as you will have long legs so will sit quite far back, i sit quite far forward and its a bit of a battle to get out, watch the seat rails though !

 

[dave benson]

started trying to find everything and remenber where it went lol

got a rear disc conversion from a mb6 and fitted polybush trailing arm bushes and painted it all, also fitted some rosejointed rear camber arms (m factory)

 

[dave benson]

fitted alloy rad, and bought exedy paddle clutch and lighter flywheel, all off ebay !

fitted dummy engine to check things out, engine mounts etc and a very nice exhaust which i had to sell on as it hung too low below the sump, meaning the sumpgaurd was almost on the floor

 

[dave benson]

off she went to the garage to get the brake pipes done, bought a ek9 gearstick and linkage, extended the gearstick but it was far too long so shortened it again !
got a couple of new seats (600 quid-gulp)
then fitted a 1 inch master cylinder and servo, and an adjustable bias valve and upright hydraulic handbrake

also fitted the skunk front camber arms

 

[wooks]

Looking good.
Question...,what have you done to plumb the brakes? straight off the master cylinder t'ing off for the front, and running the rear through a bias valve etc, or are you still using the standard distrubution block on the bulkhead? My doner ek4 has abs which i obviously wont be using, just been wondering about the simplest way to plumb it once that is ditched.

Got a test day booked for the 4th of march so after i pick up my ek9 shell tomorrow im going to be a busy boy!!