4k GT86 Gets a Rocket Bunny Kit & LS3 V8 Swap!

4k GT86 Gets a Rocket Bunny Kit & LS3 V8 Swap!

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Discussion

defblade

7,392 posts

212 months

Wednesday 3rd June 2020
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Samjeev said:


We all really liked how the front bumper turned out in its sanded back primer look ironically, it sort of looked like a comic book sketch or some kind of video game (If anyone's played Borderlands you'll know exactly what i mean!)
Yep, 100% with you there... do the whole car like that, instead smile

Samjeev

Original Poster:

725 posts

120 months

Thursday 4th June 2020
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Paulr1980 said:
Ah cool, you’re near me (Hamble). If it’s ok I’d love to pop round and see this. It’s not something I’d do personally but I’m fascinated watching it come together from humble beginnings.
Well truthfully i'm based over just outside Brighton (Henfield) So not quite around the corner but not a milion miles either. probably won't invite too many people over to my little shed either as I know the landowner isn't too keen on the idea of it but i'd absolutely be up for having a good old chinwag and showing anyone around the car when we're finally able to have some decent meets or Pistonheads Sunday Service's again! biggrin


defblade said:
Yep, 100% with you there... do the whole car like that, instead smile
Haha it would be good fun although perhaps not something i've put so much time in to wink
If you use instagram you should check out Shin.ga1976 - A chap in japan who paints scale models to appear as though they're 2d and from a page of an Initial D manga.

therealsamdailly

328 posts

62 months

Thursday 4th June 2020
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Samjeev said:


We all really liked how the front bumper turned out in its sanded back primer look ironically, it sort of looked like a comic book sketch or some kind of video game (If anyone's played Borderlands you'll know exactly what i mean!)
Love it, very Initial D

Lewis's Friend

1,026 posts

189 months

Thursday 4th June 2020
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Quick question OP.

I like the look of this and find it fascinating seeing the work that goes into fitting a kit like this, having normally only seen them as finished cars on Speedhunters or similar!

My question is, what does it drive like on those wide wheels? I fitted 8'' wide wheels on my mk1 Mx5 and it totally destroyed the ride and handling. Going back to a 7'' wheel felt much better. I think Mx5s can be very sensitive to wheel size so it may be model specific but I would worry the dynamics of the car would be compromised.

Great build though!

Samjeev

Original Poster:

725 posts

120 months

Thursday 4th June 2020
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Lewis's Friend said:
Quick question OP.

I like the look of this and find it fascinating seeing the work that goes into fitting a kit like this, having normally only seen them as finished cars on Speedhunters or similar!

My question is, what does it drive like on those wide wheels? I fitted 8'' wide wheels on my mk1 Mx5 and it totally destroyed the ride and handling. Going back to a 7'' wheel felt much better. I think Mx5s can be very sensitive to wheel size so it may be model specific but I would worry the dynamics of the car would be compromised.

Great build though!
Good question smile I was actually quite worried about how it would feel especially on the front with wider and lower offset wheels.

Truthfully on the one time i've driven it I wasn't trying to get the back end out which I imagine will be nigh on impossible to get a set of 285 Federals to step out with ~200bhp in the dry unless i'm driving like a right knob so I can't say the rear feels any different really, it feels wider (or for lack of a better word "more planted" as in it would take much more force to unsettle the car at the rear however as far as the front goes it is a bit heavier steering wise which isn't a massive issue as these cars have quite light assisted steering by OEM Standards however there does seem to be one issue which I think is primarily down to the front camber but i'm not sure if i've lost some caster as it feels much slower to self-steer than before.

But having said all that as far as the front's concerned i still have a set of new front caster bushings and anti-bumpsteer kit that I need to fit to the front control arms that may bring everything back more in line with OEM.

Samjeev

Original Poster:

725 posts

120 months

Monday 8th June 2020
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Thanks everyone for all the recent kind comments. I'm really looking forward to getting the car back to a "finished" state and getting it out and about!

A bit of a small one in a way but last week before getting the car back in one piece I wanted to change my headlights and install and AC delete kit while I had the front bumper off.


With the AC delete i've been contemplating it as i've never actually got the system fillled up in the 2 years i've owned the car so why bother having all the gear, pipes, etc making a mess of the engine bay, blocking the radiator or taxing the engine if it's not doing anything, plus I might be able to sell the condenser and recoup some of the costs and eventually sell the AC delete (When i remove & sell the engine) and again recoup soem of the costs.
So with that in mind I went ahead and purchased the AC delete kit from ICP https://www.importcarparts.co.uk/par...y=&sear...


The process of Installing the delete along with removing the condenser and AC pipes was reallly easy, so easy infact that i forgot to take any pictures but covered it in my latest video.




Following the AC delete and went ahead and changed my headlights, Opting to swap my rather expensive Valenti headlights for a set of Vlands with a HID kit. My main reason for this was that despite the valentis being a great bit of kit and no doubt much better build quality I simply prefer the look of the Vlands. Plus this allows me to sell the Valenti lights!
I don't have a decent before/after comparison but you can see plenty of pictures of my Valenti headlights on previous posts




All of this is covered in my latest video. Give it a watch!












Edited by Samjeev on Tuesday 9th June 10:18

Samjeev

Original Poster:

725 posts

120 months

Saturday 13th June 2020
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So with the new headlights installed it was time to wrap up the final assembly of the car ready to drive it to Monster Wraps

One thing I wanted to do while putting the car together I wanted to check out to see whether i could lower the car a little further as there's still a gap from the sideskirt to the ground when fully aired out and the answer that?.... NO.




As you can see the chassis is very firmly sitting on the tyre at the front, but it's not the end of the world the car still looks incredible when fully aired out and practically sunken in to the ground with the bodykit hanging a bit lower than the stock body.
With that confirmed I moved on to continue some of the glass fibre work on the diffuser (sorry no pictures, check out the video!) and the final assembly of the car ready to drive to Southampton on Friday.
With the car all back in one piece I couldn't resist driving it out in to the sun, rinsing it off to get rid of any loose dust and taking some pre-wrap beauty shots!

Check out the latest video and the pictures below!











therealsamdailly

328 posts

62 months

Sunday 14th June 2020
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Looks absolutely brilliant

J.C...

156 posts

104 months

Sunday 14th June 2020
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I must admit I’ve been following this from the very start but as soon as I saw the words “Rocket” and “Bunny” I did think oh ffs don’t bother, but I have to say it looks the absolute bks! Massive fan of the colour choice as well.

As for the welding and sealing - you should have just left it all open. You’d have had people queuing up to fly you all round the world paying you huge amounts of money to hack their cars up if you had... nonohehe

Samjeev

Original Poster:

725 posts

120 months

Sunday 14th June 2020
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J.C... said:
I must admit I’ve been following this from the very start but as soon as I saw the words “Rocket” and “Bunny” I did think oh ffs don’t bother, but I have to say it looks the absolute bks! Massive fan of the colour choice as well.

As for the welding and sealing - you should have just left it all open. You’d have had people queuing up to fly you all round the world paying you huge amounts of money to hack their cars up if you had... nonohehe
Haha i'm glad to hear my work has paid off to get that level of recognition from someone that otherwise wouldn't be a fan.

Likewise I was massively against wrapping cars in the past as I thought why bother compared to paint but having now been in that position myself when faced with costs vs finished product there are plenty of reasons to go for a wrap over a half-assed (windows in, not painting engine bay, etc) job in my opinion as you essentially end up with the same result, but one doesn't suffer from rock chips in the long run laugh

Took me a moment to wonder who you were referring too there as well.
Although i know it's just a joke the problem with keeping it all open is you can litterally peer in to the cabin with the rear arches cut open, you see the back side of the rear interior panels, rear speakers, etc and it lets in quite alot of cabin noise!

Glad to hear people like it though, can't wait to get it back from wrap and another "stage" of it's life will be finished, the first being fixing the car up from the wreck, this one being to Rocket bunny it (It was always the plan from the start wink ) and the last one being some MORE POWAH.

TheJimi

24,860 posts

242 months

Sunday 14th June 2020
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J.C... said:
As for the welding and sealing - you should have just left it all open. You’d have had people queuing up to fly you all round the world paying you huge amounts of money to hack their cars up if you had... nonohehe
Guessing that's a dig at a certain wide arch 911 specialist?!

J.C...

156 posts

104 months

Sunday 14th June 2020
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TheJimi said:
Guessing that's a dig at a certain wide arch 911 specialist?!
Tbh, although I think his build quality is a bit questionable, I quite like the ethos behind RWB. It’s more a pop at the more money than sense look at me Porsche fashionistas and all their hangers on, desperate to be part of the latest fad and throwing ridiculous amounts of money to do so. I doubt half of them had even heard of RWB 10 years ago...

Butter Face

30,191 posts

159 months

Sunday 14th June 2020
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Looks amazing that colour should look superb.

I’m just contemplating a wrap, think I’m going to just go for a normal red but seeing that colour has got me thinking!

Can you let me know the rough cost for what you’re having?

Samjeev

Original Poster:

725 posts

120 months

Sunday 14th June 2020
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Butter Face said:
Looks amazing that colour should look superb.

I’m just contemplating a wrap, think I’m going to just go for a normal red but seeing that colour has got me thinking!

Can you let me know the rough cost for what you’re having?
I'm paying £3k all in, which includes doing the Door jams and Boot jam too.
Having done my own research it seems on average £2700 is the go-to price for a mid-sized car, I think throw in the fact my car's widebody, might require some additional prep for their application and will be ceramic coated at the end of it I feel i'm getting a fairly reasonable deal.

Having said that i've already had someone else comment on another forum that their having their whole car resprayed for £2k but to be honest you're always going to get comments like that with any bit of car paint/wrap work and personally I would question the quality of a £2k paint job which quotes "Will spray as much as the engine bay as possible with the engine in-place"

Butter Face

30,191 posts

159 months

Monday 15th June 2020
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Cool, cheers for sharing. Damn sight cheaper than a full spray in that colour!

I’ve priced up a respray and I just can’t justify the money being asked for TBH! Can’t wait to see it done.

Superhoop

4,676 posts

192 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
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When is it due back from being wrapped? It was going in this week wasn't it?

Samjeev

Original Poster:

725 posts

120 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
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Superhoop said:
When is it due back from being wrapped? It was going in this week wasn't it?
Hoping to get it back at the end of next week smile they advised a 2 week install.
But i've got a couple of small videos via instagram of the wrap going on, i'd link it but not a clue how to link instagram stories laugh


gobuddygo

1,383 posts

184 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
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Samjeev said:
Hoping to get it back at the end of next week smile they advised a 2 week install.
But i've got a couple of small videos via instagram of the wrap going on, i'd link it but not a clue how to link instagram stories laugh
Try this, but it wont work for private accounts - https://www.storysaver.net/


Bensontoast

12 posts

45 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
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+1 for sanding the whole car down to make it look Borderlands-esque

Samjeev

Original Poster:

725 posts

120 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
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gobuddygo said:
Try this, but it wont work for private accounts - https://www.storysaver.net/
Oh fantastic thanks! Well here you go, a small video they sent me when they began, starting off with the doors and boot jams

https://i.imgur.com/9iaOqPW.mp4


Bensontoast said:
+1 for sanding the whole car down to make it look Borderlands-esque
haha that would be amazing but pretty hard to pull off I think on a steel bodied car. It only works so well on the body kit as the raw FRP is black underneath biggrin

Edited by Samjeev on Thursday 18th June 17:49