Custom Longlife Stainless Steel Back Box

I'd been after a new back box for quite a while, originally wanting an X-Power 6x4" Oval made by Janspeed. But these were quite rare second hand, and expensive new.

Out of sheer luck I stumbled on a new for sale thread on themgzr forums that advertised an unknown brand 5x3" exhaust. The pictures showed the exhaust was pretty dirty, what you might expect from something hung underneath a car, but was advertised as solid with good welds, so for £40 posted I took the gamble. I knew the fella, Jake (rakester on themgzr.co.uk), from a previous purchase, so I trusted what he said about the item being ok.


Actually, it turned out to be a custom made Longlife Stainless Steel back box, which would have cost in the region of £170, so it was an absolute bargain.

When it arrived it was pretty cruddy, so I decided to try and rescue it a bit and gave it a bloody good clean.

I broke out the engine cleaner, brasso and metal polish and set about it. I must admit, even I was shocked how well it came up.

Before (left) - After (right)




Obviously I can't not comment on the noise it makes, I have to say it sounds awesome, a deep rumble, quite quiet when just ambling along but comes alive when you go up the revs. Absolutely what I wanted, and actually the more rectangular shape fits the bumper cut out better than the 6x4" oval anyway, so a win win in the end!

Here are some images to compare the old standard back box with the new one.

Comparison (old vs new)







Face Off Grille Project - Primered

This post is a continuation of the following two posts detailing the progress of my custom Moto build face off grille.


Once the fibre glass holding the new mounts had fully cured overnight, I could start preparing it for paint.



To start with I made a stand for it out of card. The stand could hold the grill off the floor so that I could spray right around the edges, as most were visible when it was fitted to the car.

Even though it was very crude the stand worked really well, and obviously didn't incur any marks in the painted surface either, marks that might have been caused by hanging it on a hook or by string.


Once again though, due to the poor quality of the Moto build product I had to do a fair amount of filling and sanding to get a decent surface to lay paint onto.


With the stand in place I set about putting the first layers of Halfords primer down. In between each layer I used 600 grit wet and dry to give each of the 3 layers something to key into.


After the primer had been allowed to fully cure overnight I could put down the first coat of the red colour coat. The paint code for this car is CMU - Solar Red, quite a tricky one to get right apparently.

Anyway, the first coat went on well, and left a smooth finish. I test fitted it on the car to check the colour match which turned out to be surprisingly good.


Once the red coat had dried I began working on the grille mesh. The grille from Moto build came supplied with some mesh but was not cut to the correct size.

Taking the mesh I bent it around the centre aperture of the grille, so that when fitted to the car you would not see any of the edges. I also trimmed it and cut around the mounts to avoid any fitting issues.


With the mesh shaped, the grill was really starting to come together, not much more to do until it is finished and on the car. Next steps will be to lay down some clear coat, paint the mesh and fix it to the grille.

Face Off Grille Project - New Mounts Fitted

This is just a small update today, following on from this post - Face Off Grille Project. The grille has got new mounts and I got messy with fibre glass...



Work has been on going on the custom Moto build face off grille. From the thin sheet metal templates I made up the final mounts from thicker aluminium, initially without fixing holes. Before the brackets could be permanently fixed to the grille, I temporarily held them in place with tape, this allowed me to offer the grille up to the car and make sure they were located correctly, then mark the fixing hole locations for a perfect bespoke fit.

Once the mounting brackets were located correctly, and the holes marked, they could be removed and drilled. Another test fit and everything is looking good.


The mounts could now be prep'd for fibre-glassing, I drilled a number of holes in the face that would be touching the inside of the grille, this would give the fibre glass resin a chance to seep through the holes giving a very strong hold.


The fibre glass was quite difficult to use at first, and the first batch I made up set far quicker than I imagined and therefore I only used a small amount of it. So lessons learnt I made smaller batches with slightly less hardener in it from then on. After a short while though, all the mounts were on and absolutely solid.



The next job is to fill any moulding defects and scuffs in the A-surface (surface you see), attach the mesh and get the first coats of primer laid down.

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Face Off Grille Project + Coolant Flush

Two bit's of news in this post, a minor service in the shape of a coolant flush, and the much more excited start of a custom face off grille project.



Coolant Flush

Having previously suffered head gasket failure, which was fully fixed, the coolant tank was dirty and the coolant level obscured. Clearly the tank hadn't been cleaned out as a part of the fix.

Taking the opportunity whilst the coolant was drained, I removed the coolant tank and gave it a thorough clean. The purpose being that monitoring the coolant level, and identifying any future signs of head gasket failure would be easier.

The coolant that was removed from the car didn't have much antifreeze in at all, certainly not a 50/50 mix, so I ensured the mix was correct when refilling.

Close up

Before (left) - After (right)



Face Off Grille

Right, mundane stuff out the way, on to the interesting stuff.

Much the same as the wheels and seats, the standard Rover 25 grille doesn't scream sports hatch. To help remedy that I ordered a fibre glass face off grille from Moto-build on eBay. I had a 10% off coupon too that helped persuade me to buy it.

Moto build Rover 25 face off grille

On first inspection the grille seemed pretty well made, but after trial fitting it on, it really wasn't that great. The tabs for fixing the grille to the bumper didn't fit the aperture, which held the grille off the bumper preventing seating down.


Clearly the tabs had to be removed and then sanded down to a clean edge.

Along with the tabs on the face off grille, the bumper upright in the middle of the grille aperture was also preventing the grille from fitting correctly. It didn't take much doing to remove it with a hack saw though.




Work could now start on making some mock up mounting tabs from some thin metal sheet ahead of fabricating some final ones out of thicker, more robust metal. The plan is to fibre glass them on once tailored to the car. To stop the grille from flapping about in the wind I also made some hooks for the lower edge of the grille. 





That's it for now, the next steps are to; fabricate the final brackets, find a method of attaching the mesh to the grille, get the grilled sprayed and finally get it fitted.

Let me know what you guys think in the comments below, have you used Moto build parts before? Did you find their quality as poor as I did?

K&N Panel Filter + Service

I got a new K and N panel filter for £15 which, compared to buying one new, was a bargain. It had hardly been used as well, the guy said he'd used it two months before getting an cold air feed and enclosed filter.

The filter is dead easy to fit, so it went straight in. It made a very slight but noticeable difference, picks up the revs a bit better, and it's very easy to clean and reuse, so would well recommend getting one.

It was also time to change the oil, I decided to put in some fairly good stuff - Mobile Super S 10w/40, and with it I put a new halfrauds oil filter on.