MR1- The Devildog project.

[PW@Woodsport]

I've often thought what would happen if we took the complete running gear/suspension/engine/gearbox... literally everything from a Mk1, and made a quick tube frame chassis, shorten it, and literally cut the weight down to the absolute bare minimum.... how well would it go compared to a relatively heavy stock Mk1, single seat it too.

Well i'm not far off finding out.

I've literally spent three days from scratch nailing old bits of stock car and scrap tubes together to make this makeshift chassis.

Now before anyone gets critical, no it isn't pretty, it's a total no frills excercise to build a yard racer, it will never see the road or track, nothing is painted or even ground off. The important datum points are correct (apart from wheelbase), and it is structurally strong as hell and at the moment we are around the 350kg mark although there are much more tubes to go in and a lot more parts.

Just thought i'd share a daft project really.

Should be fun!

[kaiowas]

Looks good for a laugh, I'd be tempted to come at it from the other direction - start with a complete mk1 and just keep cutting bits off it until theres nothing left to remove then stiffen it up where necessary. I'd expect there will be more time than you'd think in turning a scratch built chassis into a runner.

[PW@Woodsport]

I know what you're saying, but the rally car i had was pretty much like that, a Mk1 with everything possible chopped away or replaced with FG, even then they have two bulkheads compared to hot hatches with only one, get rid of those and you then need to tube frame, so back to square one. Even that was 700kgs, i'm aiming for 400kgs this time.

Starting with a tube frame is the lightest way to get a Mk1 running gear operative, it is as short as it could be too.

Just a bit of fun and a fabrication excercise though.

[AW11mike]

thats really cool!

[PW@Woodsport]

Thanks! It makes me smile already.

It now steers, thanks to a homebrew concoction of UJ's and gearbox parts.

Thoroughly enjoying doing something so knarly, proper scrapheap challenge style.

[boondougal]

Paul.. all those threads on all those forums that contain the phrase.. very nice clean build Paul, very OEM.

This one is just Dirty.

[PW@Woodsport]

Yeah it's a bit ramshackle to say the least, but everything is properly attached and aligned, i must admit i'm finding it hard to not detail stuff or grind things down smooth etc...... it really is a case of position it, weld it, move on to the next thing.

Someone came to the garage yesterday and said if i jigged the chassis up and templated everything so that it could be repeated easily and sold it as a painted finished frame it would be an awesome thing for a Mk1 at the end of its life, when your chassis finally rots out just unbolt the running gear, and use it to create a little trackday toy.

Interesting idea, mind you i'd need to seriously up the game on that idea.

[Zirax]

That does look like a lot of fun!

Yeah it's a bit ramshackle to say the least, but everything is properly attached and aligned, i must admit i'm finding it hard to not detail stuff or grind things down smooth etc...... it really is a case of position it, weld it, move on to the next thing.

Someone came to the garage yesterday and said if i jigged the chassis up and templated everything so that it could be repeated easily and sold it as a painted finished frame it would be an awesome thing for a Mk1 at the end of its life, when your chassis finally rots out just unbolt the running gear, and use it to create a little trackday toy.

Interesting idea, mind you i'd need to seriously up the game on that idea.

Very interesting idea. The MEV Rocket was for people that wanted an atom like car.

I can't remember the name correctly, I think it was something like a "Warner R1" which gave you a chassis and then with 1 donor car you could get it all running. This is something to do with all the rotting mk1's

[PW@Woodsport]

It's something i may give thought to in the future, there would certainly be a market for it, but it would become a full time job very quickly i fear, time i just don't have right now.

[2mad]

Ha your nuts Paul BUT i like it ... tuned in for this one .

Reminds me of a dune buggy

[kaiowas]

It's something i may give thought to in the future, there would certainly be a market for it, but it would become a full time job very quickly i fear, time i just don't have right now.

Once you've got a design you may find you can subcontract the manufacturing. Could be an option to get a few chassis made up if the numbers stack up.

[Rogue]

I saw this pop up on Facebook and I'm interested to see how you get on. You've got a bit of a Rage buggy aesthetic going on!

Very interesting idea. The MEV Rocket was for people that wanted an atom like car.

Not really - it was based on the same principle as the Atom though. Literally, what's the minimum chassis we need to connect everything together and try and look cool at the same time!

My Xenon race car is based around a modified MEV Rocket chassis and MR2 Roadster running gear:



...although we had to ditch the 1ZZ in favour of the 2ZZ to be competitive. What you're doing is more akin to the MX5 based MEV Exocet / MX150R which uses all of the suspension components from the donor vehicle as well:

[PW@Woodsport]

Hi Patrick, to be honest it's just a bit of fun, i cannot even begin to compare this nailed together scrap with your beautiful Xenon racer, hey do you fancy a race?

We shall see how it turns out, if it goes and stops in a straight line without incident i shall declare it a lucky win.

[PW@Woodsport]

Ok so more scrapheap challenge today.... we figured out that the MK3 shifter assembly can be retrofitted to a C52 if you swap a few parts from the C52 shifter internals onto the Mk3 shaft, then make a bracket to hold the selector pivot, nail on a couple of cable holders too.... this allows Mk1 cables to route the Mk3 shifter to the right place, weld it all down and we have a gearshift that works, real hillbilly engineering.





That 8 ball gearknob is good for 20bhp.... i kid you not.



Wait.... what's this? I've spent actual money on this thing!..... hydraulic fly off handbrake, for deadly skids.



Placed right beside the gearstick so we can get good scandanavian flicks

I'm just waiting for someone to take this build seriously and internet flame me

[2mad]

No flame on from me .. that looks fun Paul .. i'd give it death in to a corner and pull the handbrake ... good times

[PW@Woodsport]

Yep it should be a hoot, the last one i built was a 600cc bike engined one from mostly quad parts and tube, that went pretty well... but had design flaws like a solid rear axle which made it push on and understeer badly, then massive amounts of oversteer as the engine was way too powerful for the size of frame i built.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKcd5w5LY5U

[PW@Woodsport]

Two hours spent this afternoon saw the brake master fitted, we have swapped it around so the pivot works in the opposite direction, saving front space and keeping the workings inboard, got as far as positioning the clutch master but not bolted up yet.





At some point we may even sand it down or have it shot blasted, we'll see.

[PW@Woodsport]

Hyabusa silencers.... nothing to see here, move along.







Overview of the deathtrap.... i mean properly British engineered sports vehicle using only highest quality parts with no expense spared, it's one of those.

[PW@Woodsport]

I've added a front end, a nasty bull bar type thing for herding bulls i guess....



All brakes and clutch are plumbed, bias adjuster added, supports snotted on and various return springs/bump stops added..... oh yes i'm gonna die.



Construction of the fuel cell has begun.... do you like that? Fuel cell? Not that it meets any type of regulations but if it keeps fuel in rather than out i'll accept that as a pass. This holds 4 gallons, still needs a surge tank added where the pump will sit and i'm going to add the fuel sender unit for shits and giggles.



They're not bad welds for a 30 year old MIG, i've welded it inside and out, i did think about breaking out the TIG for some prettier welds but it would go against the whole look of this build.



Overview of the beast... Woodsport devildog approves.

[alfiembra]

. Woodsport devildog approves.

Good name for the project