Rocco GT rat project

[manox]

Hi guys,
Not sure how this is going to go down with the purists of mk2's, but im a big fan of rat-look rides and thought i'd give an update on my rocco project so far;
Bought her about 6 weeks ago for £103 off ebay, its a 1987, 1.6 GT thats done a steady 160k miles. The bodywork was fairly good and didn't need a lot doing to make her road worthy.



I gave her a new batt, oil and general service then fitted a nice roofrack that was kindly donated to me by a friends mum.



Next job was to pyjama can the tear drops matt black. Not much prep went into this as im extremely unpatient and wouldnt be suprised that they chip like bugger. Doesnt bother me as i'll prob get some new wheels soonish.





After that i bought some german pressed plates and yellow tinting film for the heads and spots




Got me a beetle side mount aerial and filled the old hole (still to be painted).



and some stickers (i'm esp. proud of my bastardised 'rat is how we roll' one)



And finally bought some JOM coilovers from ebay for £200 and some new top mounts. So easy to fit and adjust. Just need to spend some time fettling round with the height to get the ride right.











Have to MOT her this week now, so fingers crossed! Hope she passes as im hoping to get to edition 38 for next sunday!!!
Still have my future plans for white walls, an engine transplant over the winter, a brake upgrade and who knows what else!
So far total spend is upto about £450 which i still think is a bargain!

Andy

[LEEP]

looking good fella

[sidewalkdave]

love it
where did you get the light tinting film from


honestly thats up there in my top 5 roccos

[manox]

Cheers guys, im loving working on it.

I got the tinting film from lamin-x.co.uk, think it was around 25quid. It goes on ok, the only problem being with the square mk2 lights is the corners, but with a bit of cutting and heat it sorts itself out.

[manox]

Well 215quid later and it passed it's MOT. Failed on the German plates (?!?!), wiper blades (again ?!?), Discs and pads up front which i planned to do anyway and cracked exhaust mount.
Anyway, managed to get her to Edition 38 which i was happy about, great day and the cars were just nuts. I'll try put some pics online today.

[YEAH]

Anyway, managed to get her to Edition 38 which i was happy about,

im pretty sure i got a thumbs up from you on the sunday, i was parked under a tree with a black caddy and a lupo nearish to the exit.

i was sat in my rocco' rolling ciggies for the trip home...

your car was looking good!

[manox]

yeah that was me!nice motor you got there, had a peek earlier in the day at it.

[YEAH]

yeah that was me!nice motor you got there, had a peek earlier in the day at it.

i was glad i made it there tbh. she over-heated on the way up friday evening in traffic before the m40 and at that point thought it was all over.

after a bit of cooling down (hour) she came through.

id liked to of got a better look at yours in detail tho', that was the only time i caught a look

[Jay4424]

I'm absolutly loving this car!

...just loose the inner spots for me, aleast make them yellow too!

as far as the engine transplant goes... have you looked in to the insurance increase? teh time taken to do the job (you'll be with out a car!) and what other engine you'd want to put in? ...going to another carb, easy enough, changing to injection a pain but do able... why not just super charge it instead (thats another idea I'm looking into atm), or turbo it?

...lagain, loks great, espesially lowered.. I've dropped mine 80mm odd... but have found it catches the inner chassi on the off side drive shaft sometimes!

Jay.

[manox]

Cheers Jay! Its a second car for me (drive a company van 99% of the time), so having it off the road for a few weeks isn't a massive deal. Im looking at sourcing a 1.8 or a 2l 8v and putting webers or bike carbs on which should be a fairly simple job. Looked into getting a 16v or an injection, but it sounds a right pain, plus i love the look of trumpets under the hood. Was going to buy one, rebuild it then bolt it in as ive heard its literally that simple! Cost wise, if i can pick up an engine for bugger all (seen them go for 40quid!) it should be a fairly cheap job. Im not after massive power gains, just something that can keep up on the motorways. I saw the Retro Cars mk1 Polo at Edition 38 which i read all about and its really got me thinking it's the way to go. Im bar no means mechanically minded so we'll see how it goes and no doubt drag a far more experienced pal or two to help out.
Also thinking about spraying it desert sand colour in military paint whilst the engine is out... we'll see!

[Jay4424]

the trumpets... you only get them at the front on the 16 valves... the 8 valves have the inlet manifold at the back! ...so i believe.

[manox]

Cheers Jay, that sounds like the way to go then! Someone's put R1 carbs on a 16valver and it looks ace...... got a lot of swatting up to do i think!

[manox]

YEAH... are you mates with Pete cochran?!?! Small bloody world, i went to uni with him!

[RevDarkman]

I have to admit, I keep coming back to look at these photos, it's growing on me...

...I like it... I like it a lot!

[manox]

Managed to completely rewire the CD player that came with it today, so i now have music in the rocco!!!
Heres a few more pics then for you to have a gander at! Glad you like it, tried to style her a bit differently to the other rocs out there. I get a lot of points in it, hope thats not just chavs eyeing up the contents of my roof rack tho!













Maybe a respray in this colour???