GTM TYPE R

Hi everyone, have copied this from another forum that we are on, Car is originally a classic mini based kit car called a GTM ROSSA Here is a Picture of the car before we picked it up

As soon as we arrived back to the garage first thing we needed to do was completely strip the car apart Unfortunately we aren't currently able to find any photos of us working on it up until this point here.

Before fully welding the cage we test fitted it one last time just to make sure it was as good as possible and if any add ons were needed adding them in, at the same time we were also fitting the standard civic type r ep3 subframe to see how it fitted

This was when we were in the midst of fully welding the cage and then prepping it for spraying

Again unfortunately in between prepping the cage for spraying and where we are at just now we have no photos for the majority of the build as our camera was away getting fixed.

This is how things look at the moment underneath the bonnet, custom built fuel tank designed by ourselves as the original mini tank was keeping the center of gravity to high and was not using the available space well enough, the swirl pot is one from jjc race and rally that has been cut and re fabricated to fit under the bonnet but it will be replaced sooner rather than later with a custom built slightly fatter one as we have had quite a few problems with it, we have a high pressure pump feeding off of the swirl pot and a low pressure built into the bottom of the tank.

Here is what the inside of the car currently looks like, wooden dash basic shape is to be finished once all wiring is sorted then we will make the finished item with carbon fibre, as you will be able to see things such as gear lever position, hydro handbrake position and others are still to be finalised and we still need to find a suitable place for the battery to go, probably in the front.

This is how we are starting the car at the moment, wooden blocks are a great hand when building projects

And here are some pictures of its current entirety as I'm sure you can see we still have a lot to do, but we have got the engine going and we are just waiting on modified brake carriers before we will be able to drive it up and down the drive way to check that we are getting all gears and to sort out any little niggles before rebuild part 2

Got the engine started but its not idling correctly because it has huge air filter and a Z CAR's exhaust which is so much different from standard with no cat, needs remapped soon, should be getting at least 240bhp after map. We found out that if the K20 engines have been sat for some time a problem appears with the idle control valve and thats why its hunting so much
Watch Video here

Here are a few more photos, have got the brakes working a bit still a few adjustments to be made using mg tf cup brakes on the front and type r front calipers on the back but we're working on fitting rear calipers of some sort so that we can have hydro and cable handbrake. We should be able to have a go up and down the driveway to make sure we're getting all gears and after that we just need to sort out all of the wiring, finish the wooden dash template and then make the carbon or fibreglass finished item, take most of the rear apart for final welding, fabricate the bulkhead back onto the car and any other fibreglass work that needs done, then paint it and check everything and that should be us good to go. so we still have a while to go yet

Not updated in ages, done quite a few bits here and there, one of the rear discs shown here as we work on the brake setup, not using type r front calipers anymore but some rear mg tf's as regulations now require a cable handbrake, which is better anyway in case the car ever needs to sit on a hill

Have been working on the huge air filters cradle, which is soon to be smoothed and painted

Also done some work on the dashboard template, placing everything where we want it and making any minor adjustments before finishing the fibreglass work and making a mold of the whole item, then finish it off with a carbon fibre copy

Magnificent!

pretty awesome build so far. Based on it being mid engined, I would assume this was a kit for a VW bug floor pan?

Cool car. I didn't know that MG had a mid-engined car. Are you in the UK?

In reply to NordicSaab:
No. GTMs are designed to accept a Mini subframe and engine placed in the rear.

Only skimmed the pics. I'll read it all tonight.

You're obviously in the UK. I'm an ex-Pat who moved to the US in 94 and haven't been back. I love old British kit cars. When I was 16 I bought an original 60's Cox GTM, but there wasn't enough left for me to do anything with. I sold it onto someone with more skill and it did re appear on the hills in the 90's after I left the country. I did run a Davrian Mk VI as my only car for a couple of years. No frippery such as heater or even a blower in it. Much fun.

I did a thread on here a few years ago documenting some of my favorite British Kit cars you may be interested in. https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/cool-old-british-kit-cars/48216/page1/ It looks like many of the hot-links are dead, I should update it.

I can't wait to see how this progresses.

I'd love to find a GTM Rossa, Mida Gold, Mk VIII Davrian or various other old kits to bring over here.

Good luck.

P.S. my crappy Davrian from around 91ish Poor scans of piss poor pics

Thanks everyone, should have said its originally as DeadSkunk said with mini subframes however we have used a lot of aspects from the Honda EP3 subframe for the rear and altered the front signicantly. Also big thanks Adrian will have a good look at that :)

RossD wrote: Cool car. I didn't know that MG had a mid-engined car. Are you in the UK?

Thank you, Its a kit based production car not an MG :) and We are based just outside Edinburgh Scotland

Still copying bits over Its been a while since I last updated we've been distracted with working on other projects that you can see if you head to our Facebook page, will try and get some photos of the progress of the wiring work that we've been doing. we managed to get our first little test which you can see here http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=691310267572693 just need to sort out a tiny leak thats giving us a lot of hassle. Also first Airfield test hopefully coming soon :D

Been up to quite a lot over the past few days, fitted wing mirrors, rear arch extensions.

Fitted external killswitch and extinguisher pull cords

Plumbed in extinguisher behind driver seat http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb11466614/p4pb11466614.jpg

Mounted handheld extinguisher

Added recessed pins to secure rear clam

Some more dashboard work

Video of DigiDash working here http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=722482527788800

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Just got the GTM back from Sitech Racing where they have had it on the rolling road mapping it so it idles properly and runs smoother with the custom intake and exhaust, car is making almost 200hp at the wheels which should be 230-240hp at the crank. combined with the cars weight which should be around 720kg when finished we'll have a bhp per ton of 330ish

We have cut and fitted new polycarbonate windows for the rear

And for the sides which still need a bit of a clean up

We also temporarily fitted the windscreen, windscreen wipers, motor and wired it all up

We went to a track night at Knockhill for the cars 1st proper test,

Boy it is fast the acceleration is amazing, on the main straight we were quicker than highly tuned M3s and the like but in the corners we were really struggling as the front brakes were overheating as we thought they might because we had put in bargain pads just for initial testing and the front ride height seemed to drop substantially more than we thought it would after settling in. As we became more used to the car and how it drives we were definitely becoming faster and faster as confidence grew but when on track we had to brake far too early so as not to boil the brakes, we kept having to come in for a couple of minutes to let the brakes cool down and check for leaks, wheel torques etc.

When we got back to the garage we took the front wheels off and checked to see if there was anything else that we need to improve regarding the brakes, it appears the calipers are sticking a wee bit especially on the driver side so it looks like they will both need a rebuild as well as the right pads for the job. Looking at the front suspension the reason as to why the front ride height dropped so much is, it seems that the pin shown here at the top of the coil over even though already strengthened since this photo has bent on both sides we suspected this had happened when at the track but couldn't be certain.

So we shall straighten the pins out and gusset them to make them hopefully indestructible or fabricate something similar and order the right pads for the job

Some photos of first test at Knockhill

Since Knockhill in preparation for our 2nd test at Kaimes we have shot blasted, repainted and rebuilt the front calipers with Mintex rally/race pads. Fabricated new top and bottom shock mounts which will hopefully both be man enough for the job

Photo from Kames, Car ran better just need to get the brake setup right and couple other tweaks

Update Definetly need to fix this haha. Think we'll have to make some sort of alloy plate to stop it melting when it spits out flames. We got an Ikeya sequential shifter off a friend to see if we can modify it to fit the car, which would be great :) Also just got an LSD from gripper diffs, a 6.33 final drive from Mfactory which should give us a top speed of around 130mph with 15s or around 145mph with 17s :) and a baffled sump kit from CPL Racing to keep the engine running smoothly.

Hopefully test it all soon, car should be even faster :D

We've been doing a bit of work in the cockpit over the past couple of days Had the Engine and box out, took the box with final drive and LSD over to Sitech and fitted the baffled sump kit Also started on the final shape for the bulkhead

Next on the list is to fibreglass the bulkhead, sort out the brake setup a bit more, fit power steering and then probably put it back together for the next test

We've managed to get some fibreglass work done on the bulkhead

And try the K20 in an MGTF subframe for the rear in an attempt to meet rules and regulations

Thus answering that age-old question, "What would happen if you mixed a 993 and a Suzuki X90?"

Will wrote: Thus answering that age-old question, "What would happen if you mixed a 993 and a Suzuki X90?"

I had the same exact thought!

Is there a video? Because I have the sneaking suspicion that this thing is very loud and very revvy.

Acme Lab Rat wrote: Is there a video? Because I have the sneaking suspicion that this thing is very loud and very revvy.

Click here for our youtube page

Theres only a couple of videos at the moment but we have a new Go Pro so will have more soon

Been working on the rear subframe modifying it to fit the exhaust

Fabricating where the subframe connects to the rest of the cage

And adding an analog rev counter to the dash display

We've more recently been cutting out the old rear wheel arches and creating tubs for new ones as there was slight clearance issues and this may be a bit lighter also :D

Made a front sump guard basic shape that we will remanufacture in aluminium

Fitted these really light wheels only 4.7kg each corner with some maxsport tyres for testing

Just got the custom driveshafts from CPS drivelink really happy with how theyve turned out