If I do what I want to then its going to be a full back to chassis rebuild. . .

So, does anyone have any decent links to blog where a used se7en is stripped all of the way back to the are chassis and back up again? Key things I am interested in:


- How to clear out the old revet backs
- Tricks on cleaning off the old ali-panel mastic bonding
- Did they get the whole chassis sand blasted and re painted?
- What modifications should be done; Bushes, full cage, prop catcher, seat rail mounts, ARBs (On a RAW Striker)
- Other tips and tricks.

I am open to advice from individuals. Also I would consider buying an unfinished striker chassis is someone has one. New unused only.

Not something I've done or can point you towards.

WRT to removing the old rivet backs, short of either...

1. An open ended chassis tube and tipping them out or
2. Cutting into chassis tubes to retrieve them and welding the chassis tubes closed again

...I'm not sure how you'd get them out.

I'd be inclinded to stick a dose of cavity wax in the chassis tubes and (with a friend) lift and roll the chassis around. That would stop the old rivet backs from sliding around and rattling.

Regarding rivet heads, I asked the question on another forum (I won't mention it as this is the best forum &#128514 they suggested drilling a decent sized hole at one end and from the furthest rivet hole feed in compressed air. Weld up the big hole after all of the ends have come out.

I guess I would have to tap up all of the other holes. Also I wonder if I could connect up some thin tube to a can of air duster and just feed in a long length. . .

I can't help you with any specific links, but refloored my striker about 15 years ago.

I didn't remove the old rivets, tbh i have never heard anything from them but did waxoyl the box section while the floor was removed so they're likely all stuck to the inside of the box section.
If you're considering a full chassis removal/sandblasting then a 10mm hole in the end of every section that is capped off (probably 5-7 holes) combined with compressed air should help to remove them, then just weld up the holes after sandblasting as the chassis will fill up with sand that you'll need to get out as well.

A sharp chisel will peel off a large proportion of the mastic/silicon/pu adhesive, but you may well find that the powdercoat comes off with the floor panel anyway as that seems to be the way.
A knotwheel on a grinder will remove any residue pretty effectively without removing metal (you need full ppe for this!), roloc strip and clean type discs also work ok but you will get through quite a lot of discs as they tend to clag up with powdercoat.

I used the old floor panels to drill the holes into the new panels to get the holes pretty close, i also increased the rivet size to 4.8mm so it didn't need to be spot on first time, and used flange headed rivets as the originals had standard heads that had fretted through the floor panel.

I then dry fitted the floor with skin pins and drilled to the new rivet size, and deburred/prepped/primed all the box/floor faces to be bonded, and did a couple test rivets to see how much the pu adhesive would squish and how many operations the air riveter would need to pop the rivets.

Once everything was ready, i applied the pu to the chassis and placed the rivets with a small amount of pu under each rivet head to keep them in place, once the panel was aligned with a handful of rivets i then held it up with a couple blocks/wedges and placed the rest. With all rivets in place i worked centre outward with a single riveter operation pass, then did a second pass popping all rivets, just leaving cleanup of the excess pu.
This is definately easier with the chassis removed, but i was only concerned with the droopy floor that could be felt while driving so did this with the car on axle stands which was hard work even with an air riveter.

If you're going with the full chassis refurb, it's worth keeping all the old panels for template use for both the panel sizing and hole location to not have to drill more holes than already present.

I would get all the panels and modifications dry fitted and ready before powdercoating is done to get the best out of it, mods after the chassis is cosmetically finished are a pita.


Dave

There is a couple pics here, and threads linked from the pics, might help with the arb, also look up Rob Farley on here and the SSC site, he used to make an arb kit that fitted all the inboard sprung Sylva designs.

https://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/photos.php?action=gal&user=lsdweb&folder=Striker

Dave

I purchased my current striker already stripped and part rebuilt. Rather than type it all in again the advert with lots of details and pictures is still on this site https://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=185628

The old rivets are still in the chassis and have never been a problem. The holes were all welded up after the chassis was stripped prior to re-powde coating and I then fitted all new ali/carbon panels with new holes rather than try and match the existing holes.

I have loads more pictures of it if you want them for inspiration/ideas. Maybe send me your email address and I can send a dropbox (or something like that) link to you?

Mods I would consider are full roll protection if you are going to track it at any point. Twin brake cylinder setup if you don't have one. Consider going for rose joints if more track than road work expected, allows the springs and dampers to fully control the car and not some aging rubber bushes do half the work.

I also have a Rob Farley Striker front ARB setup sitting on a shelf some place. It won't fit on my car as the engine is to big/far forward If you want it then I can check what I paid (got it off here I think) and would be happy to let it go for the same price?

Thanks all for your links and advice. This is super.

I have an early track day next year and then I'll start the strip down. I think I'll just keep on going deeper into a strip down until I feel I have done enough.

The (Nice I guess) problem is that I have brands GP booked in July '23 giving me only 5 months or so. I'm not a fast worker as I don't have much personal time so I may do basic strip back and check, then plan what I want to do.

It's mainly track and a full cage is high on the list. I also want to be careful with how much I spend as I also want to get an engine rebuild, gearbox refurb and new diff.

Not much then! I'm kinda thinking it's easier and quicker to just buy another car and sell this but if I do what I want to do then it will end up a £12k+ car for about £9k.

quote:

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Originally posted by bi22le
Thanks all for your links and advice. This is super.

I have an early track day next year and then I'll start the strip down. I think I'll just keep on going deeper into a strip down until I feel I have done enough.

The (Nice I guess) problem is that I have brands GP booked in July '23 giving me only 5 months or so. I'm not a fast worker as I don't have much personal time so I may do basic strip back and check, then plan what I want to do.

It's mainly track and a full cage is high on the list. I also want to be careful with how much I spend as I also want to get an engine rebuild, gearbox refurb and new diff.

Not much then! I'm kinda thinking it's easier and quicker to just buy another car and sell this but if I do what I want to do then it will end up a £12k+ car for about £9k.

---

Hi

I think most of it's covered above, but just in case it helps..

When I rebuilt mine (for the 2nd time..) we did the 'bare chassis' - I did the '10mm hole' for the sand (and as many of the rivet heads as would play!), which we filled after blasting, but didn't weld and drill the rivet holes, just used the old panels as templates along with a bit of 'brass rubbing' to create drill patterns as required, worked fine.

Ideal time to do the full cage while it's stripped, I can recommend Cougar Engineering at Redditch, Nigel's done several Strikers, pics in my archive of the car before and after, NTDWM other than a happy punter.

Prop catcher is very sensible while it's in bits.

If you've not already done the, well known, '12mm to half inch suspension mount mods' now's the time too!

I'd suggest gusseting the steering rack mounts (the standard ones can flex) while its bare.

I'd suggest the ARB is a must..


Oddly I wouldn't bother with seat rails, as it means the seat is higher.? I'd mount it straight onto the floor, I'd go for a seat insert if you swap with another driver (my brother and I do this at events, works fine)

HTH

^^^

Ditto to JimSpencer's comment on not adding seat rails. When I built my MK Indy I made 15mm steel frames and mounted my seats with those to the floor. I'm 5'11" so not tall, but wanted the seats as low as possible in the car. I set the drivers seat position right for me to reach the pedals (only me driving the car). It meant that with a helmet on the roll bar was still above my head.