The ClubVan... Back in business!!
Turbo Mini Forums

You know what Dave.. your right. Just had my mate over looking at it and he said the same thing. Also he said (and I feel the same) I need to ditch the visible rivets as it ruins the look. I guess I was just excited to have it back earlier but upon reflection I need to change them... In fairness, all the other bits he has done for me he has done spot on, and he did say they would be trimmed to be flush with the wheel. So its me making excuses in my head with regard to spacers etc...

Awkward situation to have to ask him again... but... seams the only way... the right way and youll be glad after..

I'm thinking I may just do it myself cos it'll be done right then..

have to agree I think the arches should be trimmed to suit the wheels. with regard to the visible rivets though, I quite like them

Yeah mine had rivets i kinda liked them!!

But bad news is when you trim the arches the mounts wont be in the same place?

i also agree trim them,

i also quite like the visible fixings, however you need equal amounts in front and rear arches.... looks odd with so few in the back and loads in the front

Nothing's ever easy is it!

Ok... a little update on the arches.. after much pondering and deliberation it was concluded that I wasn't able to live with the arches the way they were. Wheel spacers were not the way to go so got a bit busy with the angle grinder..

Taped along the arches with some electrical tape and scribed a line along with my technical tool...



It was an inch that need to come off all the way round and was quite lucky with fixings as the holes in the body are just covered by a millimetre or two by the arch..

Much better though...





So the plan is to epoxy or fibreglass short lengths of stud to the inside of the arch and then fix through the existing holes so no fixings will be visible..

Ive come this far without scratching any paint yet! Delicate but slow work!

look much better

Yeah cheers Rob... I ain't got round to sorting those callipers for you but Ive not forgotten. Maybe after Christmas now when all slows down..

Good effort, will be worth the extra hassle!

Cheers Oli...

no rush

Much better! Don't like it when people bolt through the top of miglias.

I fobreglassed bits of angle to the underside of mine.

Yeah I'll do the same, prob a better method than studs actually...

👍

MuCH better!!

Yeah I reckon I'm going to be alright with the rear arches (fixing hole wise) but not so sure about the fronts. But, not as much need to come off the front so we'll see. Looking at about 3/4 of an inch to come off..
Plus he's put double the amount of fixings on the front.. having a split in the arch for the front to lift up is not helping either..

Another busy day in the garage.... got all of the arches chopped down to where I wanted them and mounted the fixings...

Epoxy'd on some studs for the bottom two fixings and stuck an angle piece at the top...



and then fixed them on...









Same for the front but used all angle pieces...





This much had to come off the fronts, slightly more on the rears...





So maybe a little higher than ideal but I managed to use all holes drilled previously so this raised them a little more...



But looking down the sides there's no comparison... looks fairly decent...





I'll wheel her out in to the daylight tomorrow for a proper look and see how she fairs up...
Anyway, a much better job and not a fixing in sight!

Not one scratch either!!!

Good going there mate!!! Especially on the fronts!! Cant believe uve managed to use all the holes too!! If the arches are lil higher does that now mean you can alter the altitude

Ha yeah that's right Dave!

I'm just a little concerned when it comes to setting up the suspension.. it's sitting fairly bottomed out at the minute so may have to go higher yet..

Rolled her out for a better view of the arches...



I noticed this one is slightly higher in line with the indicator hole than the one on the other side, only about an inch and I guess you'd have to be looking for it to notice it but now I know its there... hmmm...



I guess if I opened up the holes slightly on the angle pieces I could bring one up a fraction and the other down? But then may throw out the other sections behind where they've been chopped...?



Anyway, much happier with the look at the moment... Do you guys think they are sitting at the right height or should be lower?

Surely the front can come down? Not just looking at arches either

Yeah I guess it could but not looked up setting up the suspension properly yet...

Well after breaking my balls I finally got the air feed pipe on to the turbo. I tried many times but kept kinking the pipe and finally got it on after removing the rad.. have any of you folks used this kind of pipe....?



I have some bends and some tube left over from the intercooler plumbing which I'll use for the air filter.. should all connect together quite nicely..

I'm 99.9% sure the pipe has not collapsed anywhere (I just can get my hand in to feel round) so should be a nice seal..



A couple of dents in the pipe but no holes...





Looking to start it in next few days, I know I've said it few times before but its all pretty much done now. Plumbed all the fuel lines the other day, elecs are pretty much sorted so thats basically it to get it going..

Ready for l2b just like we said!