my bedford ha

[FM155]

The spare wheel well front inner arches are a stroke of genius tbh. Looking class!

 

[carmad.]

hard to believe July was the last update on this but sure life gets in the way lol

so we got a few hours at it today and decided to get stuck in to the gear stick

when in the driving seat the gear stick was slightly behind where it would be in a comfortable driving position

i don’t know if vauxhall intended it to be shortened and i have done it with one off my other projects so i set the wee man the task while i sorted the seat mounts

he instantly got it sorted lol

now mounted and going threw the gears

we have to alter the tunnel and figure out how we are going to use the astra collapsible steering rack similar to his viva

i have also moved away from the opel manta recaro seats and on to gsi astra turbo half leather seats which are wider but lower and suit the driving position / roll cage better

so if you know any one looking a decent set of seats for a manta or mk1 astra gte give me a shout

 

[carmad.]

so the next step once we had established a seating position was to mount the handbrake lever and tidy / cut a bit off the gearbox tunnel as i had no idea where the gear stick was going to live

we then got stuck in to mounting the steering wheel in the right location

i used the side impact and crash bar off the astra which had all the steering wheel mounts on it ( this also allows the clocks / sim module / steering lock all to function as it should

this now gives me something to start forming a dashboard / centre console

 

[natogreen16v]

I love the "get it done" attitude towards this build. Good to see the wee man still enjoying it too.

Any pics of the Recaros?

 

[carmad.]

I love the "get it done" attitude towards this build. Good to see the wee man still enjoying it too.

Any pics of the Recaros?

the old manta / gte ones or new gsi ones ?

 

[natogreen16v]

The older ones please

 

[carmad.]

same as these with rails no rips or tears

i wouldn’t be looking a pile for them

 

[natogreen16v]

They're different than I was picturing in my head. Cheers though

 

[OddsieTurbo]

Amazing built right up my alley.

 

[carmad.]

Amazing built right up my alley.

i am hoping to get her out to a few track days ect soon

 

[OddsieTurbo]

i am hoping to get her out to a few track days ect soon

Bring it to the drags next year

 

[carmad.]

so we started on the steering today i have to adapt the astra steering shaft to the scimitar rack but same as my wee lads car i want to keep the collapsible shaft in case off a shunt

so i cut one off the universal joints off as it won’t need it and turned the welder up and joined it to the scimitar shaft

so stuck it all in and the steering is actually quite light even sitting still / dry steering

then because we share a shed with some other guys i had noticed that they had been at the bonnet possibly showing off our project when i am not about

so we will soon put a stop to that i set wee rory about putting on bonnet pins on it and we will stick a lock threw the pins

that should stop the nosy parker’s

 

[brendy7]

so we started on the steering today i have to adapt the astra steering shaft to the scimitar rack but same as my wee lads car i want to keep the collapsible shaft in case off a shunt

View attachment 378596

so i cut one off the universal joints off as it won’t need it and turned the welder up and joined it to the scimitar shaft

View attachment 378600

so stuck it all in and the steering is actually quite light even sitting still / dry steering

then because we share a shed with some other guys i had noticed that they had been at the bonnet possibly showing off our project when i am not about

so we will soon put a stop to that i set wee rory about putting on bonnet pins on it and we will stick a lock threw the pins

View attachment 378597

View attachment 378598

View attachment 378599

that should stop the nosy parker’s

Cheers for letting me get a look around this today chum some work has went into it and will be mad once done hats off to you and your we fella.

 

[carmad.]

Cheers for letting me get a look around this today chum some work has went into it and will be mad once done hats off to you and your we fella.

no worries i loved how even your mrs could see the potential in it lol

should be some crack if i ever finish it and my wee lad is a big boost to my attitude to working on it as you seen ya couldn’t watch him

 

[carmad.]

so had to start making the dash board

i decided to make it out of steel and i may pad it with something later on

i had the astra crash bar temporarily tacked in with some small plates just to hold it while i got the steering sorted

so i made some end plates and welded them on to the crash bar and then set about making something to hold the clocks and light switches

few welded areas to tidy up

might just paint it matt black or flock it if i can find any

 

[carmad.]

so with the run up to christmas being a plumbers busy time i found a couple off hours today to get the rest of the dash sorted

so we marked out for some extra gauges and the drill broke so that’s not finished

next up was a problem with the handbrake lever and tunnel clearance

we modified the handbrake lever to take the cable in to the centre and then started to finally line out the rear tunnel

hoping to get a bit more done before the christmas holidays

 

[svensktoppen]

Love that dash! Will look great when it's all done

 

[carmad.]

why do i think i am not going to be doing the test drive on this ??

 

[FM155]

That look just says "No chance old man"

I've seen it with my lad too lol

 

[carmad.]

so on the run up to christmas we are extremely busy at the minute

we managed to get a few hours at the dash

i drilled a few extra switches hopefully be able to use them for manual cooling fan control / the be-con light on top off her and arming the nitrous

i got the rest off the holes drilled and started making the switch panel for the sport / traction control / central locking / hazzard light buttons

hope to get a few full days over the holidays and get stuck it to what’s left off the pedal box and fire wall

 

[carmad.]

so the time has come to pull the engine and fabricate a firewall / bulkhead i have took a few photos for reference ect and i thought i would share them

changing plug number 4 will be a laugh

and now you can see how much we have to weld / fabricate

then he told me my welds looked rough and they needed buffed down

i hope to get a few full days over christmas and i have been saving up cardboard to make up a template for the bull head

tho some off my other projects need attention to keep em on the road so we will see how we get on over the holidays

 

[Paul RS]

That’s weaker m8

 

[carmad.]

now we are getting somewhere with the help off a few budweiser boxes i have collected over the last few weeks

few more welds and a bit off grinding and we now have a tunnel and pedal box and a lot off added strength

and view from inside

bit more welding to do

 

[svensktoppen]

I'm sure collecting the boxes was a chore

Great progress there

 

[IL]

Bead Roller Earning its keep!

Nice work!