Russells Pitcrew Roadster

[vindi49]

Well I've been working towards this for a while, but I now have a Pitcrew of my very own... it needs a bit of work, but should turn out pretty nice... eventually .....

So here's the first look I got at it... wasn't sure what to expect as I'd only ever seen pics of it that had been photoshopped...



That exhaust / rear bumper is lovely!!



There was one main reason I wanted this car though






As you can see, the weather was about as bad as it could have been, but I'm still really pleased... so yes, I have a Pitcrew, and its been done nicely so far. Usually there is a really lame cutout in the bonnet where the headlight lids sit, which looks so wrong against the retro curves of this front end. This one has a Garage Vary bonnet (so now I have two of them!!) and the headlight lids have been removed, and some fibreglass extensions glassed into the bonnet. The curve of the front end looks a lot better as its meant for a Mk2!



The carbon fibre NACA ducts are really nice, but I'm not 100% sure if they fit the retro car? No rush to make a decision on that though!! The front end is not fully bonded onto the wings etc, so I can remove it and fully check / rustproof the car before finalising it.

So we loaded it on, didn't scrape it on the ramps as it went on which I'm pleased about as it has been lowered. Even as we were loading it, people were doing a second take as they drove past!!



And so to the rest of the car... the exhaust and rear bumper is obviously a custom addition, the ducktail has been blended in nicely and its an Autokonexion one. The Hard top is ratty on the outside, but has been lined with grey alcantara... there is no dash or interior, but thats perfect as I want to make it 50s / 60s if possible, so a blank sheet is ideal. The engine and mechanicals worked when it last ran, but that was about 2008 so we'll go round and check everything then chuck it in for an MOT and see how it does.

Excited? Me? ... there is lots of work to do before I can drive it, I don't exactly see that as a downside though

Russell.

[vindi49]

Few more pics of that ass!!





Russell.

[vindi49]

Got it up on the ramps today and oh dear, all is not well (as suspected, it has been sat for a number of years)...

Front passenger side


about 15 inches by 6 inches of missing metal

Front driver side


about 3 by 3 missing, but fairly extensive damage

Rear passenger side


About 14 inches by 10 inches missing... so yes, I could pretty much put my head through and sniff the carpet if I so wished

There's more, but you probably get the idea. So lots of thinking to do, obviously it can be saved but is it worth it?

Found some good bits as well though,





Mazdaspeed manifold

Hard top is ratty outside but lovely grey alcantara inside






Other bits I found... lots of aluminium and titanium bolts with aluminium washers used around the engine bay and interior, there is a reasonable soft top with a glass screen, a few shiny bits in the engine bay that I can sell (stainless steel fuse box cover, slam panel cover etc) as well. The brakes have all been disconnected, but appear to be a mix of new and reconditioned units, the discs have surface rust but are EBC cross drilled and grooved items, and there was a load of random parts in the boot that I need to go through as well...



Bit of work needed here...




Autokonexion spoiler blended into bootlid




So I'm off on holiday for a week or so, I will do some thinking and ponder on how I approach it!

Russell.

[Ihatecars]

Wow! This looks amazing! That bumper/exhaust is super sick!
I think my head might explode from all this awesome!

[vindi49]

Wow! This looks amazing! That bumper/exhaust is super sick!
I think my head might explode from all this awesome!

Cheers, its even more amazing in the flesh... obviously made by someone that really knows what they are doing. My only problem is whether it really goes with the rest of the car. One option open to me is to remove this, and fit the back end off my Wataru, which is a lot more retro... and totally unrecognisable to almost all people, which is good in my book.

Russell.

[— Phatmiata —]

Wow this looks like a fun project car for sure!! You chaps across the pond find all the good stuff!!!!

[vindi49]

Wow this looks like a fun project car for sure!! You chaps across the pond find all the good stuff!!!!

Thanks, although I should be thanking the previous owner, Rob (RobsRoadster on the UK forums). He spotted the front end for sale in New Zealand and imported it at pretty horrendous cost. He also sourced the Garage Vary bonnet and customised it to fit the NB front end... which is how they should have been made for the NA really. He also attacked his rear bumper with a hole saw shortly after being in a queue of traffic behind a Vauxhall VX220, and then took it to a fabricator and asked for an exhaust to be made up to fit it!

Russell.

[— Dandy —]

The rust is a little scary but otherwise it looks like an interesting project. There are some cool parts there for sure. I don't know how functional those NACA ducts are going to be given their location. I'd do a little research on that if you decide to keep them. Thanks for sharing. Good luck with your build.

[★ revlimiter ★]

Wow, Russell, this is incredible. CONGRATS ON THE NEW CAR!!!

[Mexican_Guy]

good lord nice find!

[imperfekt]

Russell!!! Awesome acquisition excited to see what happens!

[vindi49]

Thanks all, I was so excited going to collect it... been talking to Rob about it for over a year so its been a long time in the planning. Its a bit gutting there is so much rust on the chassis as I really don't want to reshell it...hopefully I can still avoid it, but I'm just not sure.

One of the big decisions to make is the wide arches... do they stay or do they go? I think I'm edging towards taking them off as I think they go against the curves of the car.

Russell.

[WASABI]

What a great find! Though the rust looks bad, if there's one person that can give the car the care that's needed it's you Russell. What you've shown so far is very fixable. The parts can always be moved to a cleaner car if you need too. Good luck, and congrats again!

-Cheers,

Jim

[—atank—]

Very nice find, and project!!

[— Vegard —]

Good to see Robs hard work resurface, I remember pming him to sell me the pitcrew front a long time ago

Looking forward to following whatever you decide to do. Where's the rest of that wonderful interior? It was all that nice grey alcantara!