My EE4 RWD wagovan project

So the time has come to try and document my little fun project i have been working on, it has been built as a support vehicle for our BDC Skyline, so we can tqke it along and have a bit of a laugh at the same time. My plan when i started back in january was to run it as my daily but with a few hickups along the way its been on the road for just the last week but i am really enjoying it, so much fun on the road.
Ok so some of you may recognise the car as Darrens old shuttle, i had it off of him at the start of last december for an absolute steel really, below is a picture of it from when he came drifting with it last summer.
288.jpg

So by the time it came to me it looked like this
289.jpg
Bright pink wheels, sticker bombed bonnet, totally stripped inside with just two standard seats and no interior trim to speak of really except door cards and dash.
At this point i had to decide what to do with it, after looking around i struggled to find rear interior trim or even rear seats so i made the decision to turn it into something a little different, lots of people did not like the idea i had but at the end of the day, if your building something it has to be for yourself right?
So the conversion began.
290.jpg
The rear windows were very hard to pop out and one got broken, but didnt cry over it as dont really need them anymore.
291.jpg
This was the start of the van conversion, as much as alot of people may not approve, the idea was to make something different and importantly on a tight budget, it was never going to be a concourse car so meh...lets van it lol
292.jpg

Comments

  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    So next up was the time to turn our attention to the engine, the plan was really just to tart up the bay a little and get the engine running smoothly, after sourcing a new rad with out big splits in it, we discovered that the head gasket was blown, not to worry, whip the head off and get it skimmed, new gasket and away we go
    293.jpg
    Unfortunately the head was cracked in 4 places, aarrgghh.
    Well these things happen, so out it came, painted the engine bay ready for the new engine.
    294.jpg
    At this point i got a little carried away, so got on the phone to one of our BDC sponsors, SFS Performance hoses and ordered up a nice shinny set of silicone hoses, Thank you Anthony.
    295.jpg
    Fortunately a friend had a d16y7 lying in the corner of his garage so £60 quid later and after some vigorous degreasing the transfer box and sump and all ancilleries were swapped off of the old engine bolted on to the new one and dropped into place, also fitted the new ss manifold and the flocked intake manifold.
    296.jpg
  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    On to the inside then, obviously the inside was going to be a very simple affair, i decided to wooden panel the rear area and the floor to level it out like a proper van, we also run a flocking business so had to flock the door cards, dash areas etc to demonstrate what could be done by us, even dabbled with a stencil or two.
    297.jpg
    298.jpg
    And this is what it all looked like when it was fitted.
    299.jpg
    Im pretty happy with it. As you can see from the pics, we had a pair of cheapish fixed back bucket seats so we made our own custom runners for them, mounted them nice and low and in they went.
    300.jpg
    As i said earlier i decided to wooden panel the rear, whilst doing that i discoverd this great stretch camper van lining carpet, amazing to use and really easy to shape, also fitted a pair of infinity 6x9s, an infinity 10' sub sunk into the spare wheel well and put a kenwood amp under the floor.
    301.jpg
    Also fitted inside is a Tegiwa gear stick extension and an awesome house of toast gear nob from sunny california.
  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    On to the outside then, as i said at the start the idea was to make it look like our British Drift Championship skyline, this one.
    302.jpg
    We have a gretafriend called Jono he runs the dsign studio in milford haven very talented when it comes to graphics and vehicle wrapping, he did the skyline for us and helped to do the shuttle to.
    303.jpg
    304.jpg
    The rear with tow hook fitted.
    305.jpg
    pretty much finished, new windscreen fitted, new bumper fitted, its not a perfect fit but its not far off, also fitted as you can see is a new golf VR6 front splitter that afriend had humg up in his garage.

    A little engine test in the workshop....seems to work,
    306.jpg
  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    Nearly there now, we had our annual car show a few weeks ago, unfortunately did not get an mot in time so the poor old girl had to get dragged there on a trailer...
    307.jpg

    So sad, but after unloading and parking you would never know it didnt get there under its own steam.

    So this is how it stands now, all finished, tax and mot'ed and running sweet as a nut.
    3.png

    So there we have it, been lots of fun and just done a photoshoot for Banzai mag with it and the skyline together, now its time for me to move on to my next project.






  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    Heres a little video of it drifting at one of our events last weekend.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToqwARxwPN0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    and heres some pics from the day
    4.png
    5.png
    6.png
    308.jpg
  • Wow looks dope.
  • holy shit is all i can say. this is too sick!
  • bam-bambam-bam Council Member
    I like the panel van treatment! Nice work.
  • BillBoardBillBoard council member
    too cool for school... at first, i was like ut o, here comes another RWD abortion.. but then i was like YES YES YES YES... YEEEESSSS... then i threw my sticky keyboard away and took a shower....
  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    Wow thanks guys, was not sure if it would go down well or not, seems its been pretty well accepted.
  • GriftyGrifty Wagonist
    I love it!! Do you have any specs on the RWD conversion?
  • motorpunxmotorpunx New Wagonist
    wow:encouragement:
  • I don't really like the panel van look, but it turned out okay.
  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    @Grifty
    Its a very ghetto spec way of making it rwd im afraid, nothing very technical, very simply removed the front drive shafts and made some blanking plates to cover the holes to syop loads of crap getting in, then welded up the rear diff. thats it. nice and simple, just the way i like it, theonly problem i can see really is where to source a new transfer box from as here in the uk they are like finding hens teeth, so im hoping it lasts a while!
  • rbwdrivenrbwdriven Senior Wagonist
    Gavin,

    100% different, way cool.

    almost looks like the new ford transit vans.

    Still like the old transit vans better.
  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    @rbwdriven
    Thank you very much, glad you like it :smug:
  • Cool, I have been knocking around covering up my windows for years just never the guts to do so, or having the permission from the wife!
  • GriftyGrifty Wagonist
    gavin wrote: »
    @Grifty
    Its a very ghetto spec way of making it rwd im afraid, nothing very technical, very simply removed the front drive shafts and made some blanking plates to cover the holes to syop loads of crap getting in, then welded up the rear diff. thats it. nice and simple, just the way i like it, theonly problem i can see really is where to source a new transfer box from as here in the uk they are like finding hens teeth, so im hoping it lasts a while!

    Does it still retain the viscous coupler?
  • ThaClutcHThaClutcH Senior Wagonist
    That's pretty awesome. I was also like, "ehh" at first, then I saw the end results and it looks pretty badass.
  • TerminusVoxTerminusVox Senior Wagonist
    Pretty cool way to go with a low budget, especially considering the condition it was in when you got it!
  • You guys do good work. Its nice to see something new. If I still had my shop and money I would make my wagon into a 2 seater truck. Looks awesome and cool video looks like a fun little track.
  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    Thanks MyFirstWasAnEF9 was always a bit of a risk building it like this think, was not sure if the purists wouls approve but seems to have gone down pretty well. what sort of shop did you have?
  • Flocking, is that kind of like some of the newer model car's dash boards that are felt? Or similar? I like it!
  • gavingavin Band Wagon
    @Swap'd-D flocking is what they do to Rally cars dash boards to stop the sun glare off the windscreen. You basically cover the piece you want flocked with an epoxy resin then blow 1mm strands of nylon over it whilst appling a charge threough the piece, the nylon sticks to the resin and gives a felt like feel.
    Flocking has filtered down from motorsport to modified cars over here in the uk now as its available in so many colours and even lengths.
  • I've always wanted to do that to some of my interior. Now I know what its called! Thanks. That Wagon sure squats in the rear when you're giving it hell, haha.
  • I had an import shop, we specialized in Hondas thou. Mainly did engine swaps and suspension but we built a few drag cars from frame up. Around 2006 a law came into affect in Ventura county where if you got caught street racing they smash your car instead of impounding it. Our business stopped I couldn't even make rent so I sold all my parts and moved.
Sign In or Register to comment.