Reshell?

[unclecalzone]

As above, why bother.

Incidentally I had my eye on a gt turbo shell behind a garage premises that hadn't moved for years, until the garage got raided by the police and everything disappeared literally over night

[cort1977]

The Pistonheads experts really wet themselves over this. You've built a car into another shell. It's not a fucking ringer, it's a reshelled car. If and when you sell it, be upfront about it.

 

But don't tell DVLA - that's a whole world of pain and using a secondhand shell to rebuild a car is NOT illegal.

 

Sounds about right; where's the crime if you follow this course of action?   Make a good job of it, tell the buyer if you come to sell it, where's the harm?

 

I like to think I'm law abiding but sometimes you have to be sensible.  

[Isaac Hunt]

You will end up with a bit of a 'Triggers Broom' but its been going on for years.  

 

Many years ago, my mate stuffed his RS2000 through someones garden wall.  

 

The RS2000 was already a 'damaged repaired' wot we know as a Cat C today.  

 

By the time it had had its second 'off' it was mullered.  

 

Bring on a 2 door Escort popular shell, swop the strengthening braces and plates over and all other bits, looked better than before he stuffed it.  The car in 'damaged repaired form had had quite a stuffing.  The Escort pop shell was mint and one could argue that whilst it was a triggers broom, it was a better car after the shell swop and he was happy.

[doobietoo]

Is a non turbo car cheaper than buying the panels you need? if you can find a rust free one AFAIK there is no limit on replacing old panels, floors, etc.  just look at those old snotters on car sausage and the like pretty much every panel is new. There is also AFAIK any requirement to use new metal in repairs. Therefore don't do a reshell just use the other car as a panel donor...

[stephen01]

I will get pictures at the weekend. She isn't pretty bless her.

The floor is fucked, I think the aerial on the roof has got twatted, leaked, and rusted it to bollocksedness. Its also green, but meant to be white.

It ran perfectly when parked up, no twattish body modifications, 180 bhp on rolling road due to mega intercooler and huge boost yo!

I have an embarrassing confession, its replacement was a six month old Audi TT 225 in 2001. I know I know.

In my defence I was only 24 and had a mega stroke of fortune financially. Would not repeat, but I thought it was the absolute bollocks at the time. 2 years later wife jumped up and down on the roof and bonnet so much it was nearly a write off, roof was resting on the seats, doors wouldn't open. No she wasn't fat. Very very angry.

 

are you still married?

[Felly Magic]

You have to counter in what else has become fucked during it's lay up, the costs soon mount up, and you could well end up with bills bigger than what a tidy one would cost you to buy. 

[SherpaMog]

You have to counter in what else has become fucked during it's lay up, the costs soon mount up, and you could well end up with bills bigger than what a tidy one would cost you to buy.

There is this, but the more I keep of the original, the better, and I will enjoy doing it. There is quite a bit of information online, and there are a few differences that need sorting. The shells aren't strengthened at all on the gt, except for strut brace on later ones.

I have found a couple of cracking looking late campuses. I'm going to have a good poke around the shell I have and make up my mind. It won't be simple I even need to change the rear beam and I'm not that good on the spanners.

[Felly Magic]

Your last line sums it up perfectly, if you aren't good with the spanners, don't even think about it, because it is not a simple task at all, you are having a misty eyed moment, and it is going to blind you all the way. You are best off buying a roadworthy example, and using what will be salvageable as spares, and I'm betting not a lot will be to be honest

[SherpaMog]

are you still married?

No, it really didn't suit me. I was due to get married again (different woman) in gretna green, nice quiet day, no fuss. I really didn't want the whole big day again second time around. In fact I was pressured into the whole thing.

A couple of weeks before, the lady in question received a phone call and said the Commonwealth torch was in gretna that day and we would be carrying it through on a horse drawn carriage on national breakfast television, and a news crew would capture our wedding for the evening news. She agreed, but only told me a couple of days before.

I'm not with that lady anymore either.

I prefer cars nowadays.

[SherpaMog]

Your last line sums it up perfectly, if you aren't good with the spanners, don't even think about it, because it is not a simple task at all, you are having a misty eyed moment, and it is going to blind you all the way. You are best off buying a roadworthy example, and using what will be salvageable, and I'm betting not a lot to be honest

I have the advantages of a friend who is an excellent mechanic, owned his garage for twenty five years, mostly working on old Bentleys and rolls Royce, but a lot of modernist Mercedes as well, proper old school mechanic.

I'm sure he will sort the electrical side and plumb in the engine when its fitted. He is very helpful but I can't take the piss he is very busy.

It wouldn't start recently, but started and ran fine a couple of years ago. I'm sure at least the bottom end will be fine.

I have another friend with a huge barn, where it is going to be done, every tool you could need, hoists, welders, blowtorches etc, a proper workshop (he's a smallholder/groundwork company owner and very keen on agricultural mechanics, he rebuilds old diesel engines/ tractors etc) and all the time in the world. He really won't care how long it takes, and he is good with the spanners. I do intend to do as much as I can myself though. I'm under no illusion, I will probably have to cut almost every rusty bolt off, nothing will go smoothly. But,

The rear beam looks fine, the brakes aren't seized, although the calipers will need a rebuild, the fuel pump still works, the driveshafts look OK, hubs rusty, but I'm sure will be ok, as does the engine subframe. From a bit of googling that is the main parts I will need.

Looking at the price of a non rusty always garaged campus, if it all goes wrong I've lost not a lot of money and some time I would have spent down the pub.

It was the rotten floor and sills that were my main concern. I don't think any of the three of us would want to get into welding like that, the job looks humongous!

Reshell it is. And a lot of swearing and hurt knuckles, putting things on then taking them off when someone tells me its wrong. Engine blowing up after a week. And I will enjoy it.

[sierraman]

Reshelling a car is about as bigger job as it gets.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Reshelling a car is about as bigger job as it gets.

Isn't this where Junkman mentions P6 rear brakes?

 

I have experienced a few reshelled cars- mostly Mk2 Escorts, that to be honest, are so simple that if you can build Meccano you can reshell a rwd Escort.

I also one bought a very late immaculate Sierra Azura shell that had been stolen and completely stripped, right down to the loom and brake pipes been removed. It was a nightmare and never felt right once rebuilt, lots of little things like sound proofing and trim clips never went back on.

Interestingly I tried to sell it as a D plate GL, nobody wanted to know, so I got it put on a Q as a ' Sierra Special' and zeroed the speedo. advertised as a rebuild and got £500 more than I initially advertised it -this was in 1994.

[stephen01]

No, it really didn't suit me. I was due to get married again (different woman) in gretna green, nice quiet day, no fuss. I really didn't want the whole big day again second time around. In fact I was pressured into the whole thing.

 

Ha, I got married in Gretna, two witness's off the street, proper 60's style apart from we didn't run away! but no one was there apart from us, and much to the annoyance of my MIL our 12 month old daughter I was a mere 21 years old,

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Yes it's going to be hard work but you won't make it any worse than it already is by sounds of it.

 

My advice would be strip the existing car and get someone who knows what they are doing with a welder to inspect the bare shell. Go from there. It may or may not be as bad as you think.

 

Same advice also applies to the donor shell, some very very solid looking cars can hide all sorts of nasties once you start stripping them.

 

As others have pointed out this is likely to be a rather spendy rebuild.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

[sierraman]

A Mk2 Escort would be simple but anything newe than that would be extremely difficult I'd say to do at home if you are not fairly skilled.

[Guest Hooli]

I could be entirely wrong here, and most probably am, but I always always was under the impression that if enough of the major components of the original car shell were transferred to the new car shell then that made it qualify for being able to legally re-shell the old car into the new one, keeping its identity, and by the sounds of you planning to transfer pretty much the entire car this would be enough.

 

EDIT: Am I maybe confusing this with buying a brand new shell and rather than it being Q plated, it gets to keep the original shells identity if you use enough parts from it?

 

If so that's your only option of doing it legitimately, the other options as have been stated involve removing vin plates, V5s, chassis number stamps on the bodywork etc. of the original car.

 

BTW, slightly off topic and sorry for asking on your thread, but talk of Q plates has got me wondering, does stolen recovered stuff still get Q plated? and what reg do cars newer than the current reg number system, i.e. post September 2001 introduced models, so say for talking sake a mk2 Focus, what reg would it get under the new system like a pre 2001 car would get a Q under the old reg system?

 

You're not wrong on points etc, but IIRC it's out of 9 points & you need 5 to keep the ID. So the DVLA score the original (or new unregistered replacement) shell as 5 points making it impossible to keep the cars ID with a 2nd hand shell.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Just do it! Recommend applying an intelligent level of discretion.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

The Pistonheads experts really wet themselves over this.

 

 

And everything else. 

 

 

[Pistonheader drives to pre booked MOT without tax]

*police siren in distance*

[shits pants]

[Guest Hooli]

I wouldn't do it.

 

Not because of illegal or anything, but if/when it is stolen (& these still are) if it's noticed you'll get nothing back.

[fordperv]

Ringing a car is about as bigger job as it gets.

Ftfu

 

"reshelling" is big in the ford scene as many others but it can only be done legally retaining the original car's id if it's a brand new shell, so my advice is get a mint 3 door r5 shell delete this thread and what you make of the 2 cars is your business if you get me

[SherpaMog]

I'm going to start this weekend, put it on some stands, remove hubs, calipers, brakes and have a look how to get the rear beam off.

Yes it does look a bit spendy. It won't be quick, so can pay as I go along.

[SherpaMog]

I think I can carry on the thread once the car is stripped and welded and the original shell is solid. Maybe a different colour if you know what I mean.

[stephen01]

​It all depends how much risk you're willing to take? What you're doing sounds okay to me and I'd be happy for you to use what ever ID you so wish, (given the R5 Turbo is ££££ in comparison with a campus I assume you want to keep the R5 Turbo. but I'm not the law and may cause you trouble in the future.

 

​I'd always try to save the original car but understand that that's not always possible or worth the expenses.  

 

​Strip it back, it may not be as bad as you think?

[sierraman]

I'm going to call the cops, I'm not comfortable with this...

[DodgeRover]

Get the original car into the barn and look at it properly. Sills and floors aren't a major job assuming parts are available.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Bin engine, sign up to a certain French car sales site.

[andy18s]

Ftfu

 

"reshelling" is big in the ford scene as many others but it can only be done legally retaining the original car's id if it's a brand new shell, so my advice is get a mint 3 door r5 shell delete this thread and what you make of the 2 cars is your business if you get me

This x 1000

Do you have anywhere to store the Turbo shell once you strip it?

As you now know there would be money in getting it repaired in the future,even if its a couple of years

Then you could transplant the running gear from the r5 back into the Turbo shell once you've had your fun.....

[PiperCub]

While it's a car you'd like to keep, if you do need to sell then a re-shell presents it's own unique problems. 

 

If you aren't upfront and honest about it then that would be treated as fraud if the new owner found out and thought they were buying a 'Real' 5GT. If you are honest about it (and put it clearly on any receipt and keep a signed/dated copy for the future) then any prospective owner will not be prepared to pay 5GT money for something that will never be viewed as the real thing. While that may seem silly and a bit anal, it's the way pretty much anyone who's into this type of car will be so that's the way it is.

 

As an example, my 205GTi, I bought it from a garage (for once), it was & is immaculate, if the Johnny selling it to me said something like

"Yes, it's real immaculate, it's all original parts built into a v.low mileage 1 litre 205 Junior shell as the original shell was rusted/munted beyond saving"

then I would have thanked him for his time and made a swift exit. No fucking way was I paying £4.5K for what was in effect, a 205 Junior dressed up with GTi bits, I don't care how low mileage/low owner/pretty it was, that would have been worth about (at the time) £1K as a bit of fun car. 

At the end of the day, the shell is the car, the car is the shell, you can't really get away from that. 

 

Now you are free to think that's stupid as it's still effectively the same car but that's simply not how it is viewed in the old car world. The same goes when older cars get replacement engines, it's the old chesnut of 'Matching numbers' raising it's head, if it isn't then it'll be worth less to someone who wants one. 

 

Of course if you intend to be literally buried in it then there's no problem! But as others have said, do not underestimate the amount of work a re-shell requires, as you'll need to refurb quite a bit that comes off the old car before putting it into the new shell - that's time and money. 

 

There's an old saying - when estimating time/money for a project: Double the time and triple the money or triple the time and double the money. 

[PiperCub]

FWIW - my opinion is this is a case where you may be better cutting your losses and breaking/selling the existing one and put the money/save up for a decent example as I think the whole reshell idea may wind up costing you a similar amount if done properly. 

 

But I wish you good luck if you decide to do the reshell thing anyway. 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Get the original car into the barn and look at it properly. Sills and floors aren't a major job assuming parts are available.

 

My point exactly. I wouldn't think of buying another car until you have properly looked at what you have. As I said anything you buy is likely to have the same or worse hiding under all the trim and carpet etc.....