[misc_work] 'nvl' - My '92 Miami 1.6 Gti

[Baz 421]

Long overdue perhaps but i've finally decided to start a project thread covering my ever-hardy Miami 1.6 non-sunroof, both retrospectively, across the past (nearly) 2 years, and what's coming! This will be ongoing and possibly quite sporadically updated, considering i have a few cars i often neglect the odd one for some time!!

 

So, back to the mid-february '08, i'd been looking for another Miami since selling my previous Mi'd one, and a black 49k 1.6 a few months previous, ideally a non-sunroof, with a view to making a nice road car, and of course doing a few sprints in the lower classes, considering my white 205Mi was still not very close to being finished!

 

I was scouring ebay fairly regularly, until eventually an August 1992 'K'-reg non sunroof Miami 1.6 popped up, only in cambridge so not far from me! It had a few small issues, lacquer fade/peel, but on the whole seemed very good, bar the awful seat covers! I made my bid within a few minutes of the end of the auction, not really expecting to win it, but i did! And at a very reasonable price!.

 

 

 

I organised to pick the car up one weekday evening, and caught a train from my village, all the way up to cambridge, only i was running very late and got to the station as the train pulled in, so i jumped on, not buying a ticket! Got to Cambridge and forgot they'd put in barriers, only opened with a ticket! So i went to the clerk in attendance and admitted my mistake, explaining i was late and was going to miss the train if i bought a ticket, asking if i could pay now. He took his keys out of his pocket, and led me to a side door, opened it and said, 'as you were so honest, don't tell anyone!' and let me through the door!! Already a good sign! I walked out of the station, where i was greeted by a pleasant sight of a tidy miami waiting for me! We drove back to the vendor's house where i was invited to look around the car as much as i pleased, i had a good, but brief look, it was such an honest car, and more importantly, cheap, i didn't really feel the need to go over it with a fine tooth comb!

In the house i was given a cup of tea, and met the seller's elder brother, who also used to own the car, after buying it a few years before from previous and long-time owner, their uncle! We went through the mountains of history and receipts, the majority being from a Peugeot/Citroen dealer just up the road! In the last 2 years alone, i quickly added up around £3k's worth of receipts! Unsurprisingly, they were a little annoyed it didn't go for alot more!

 

Anyway, their loss was my gain, and i made my way home, the car drove fantastically, and pulled like a train! Even had a flash Sony CD player left in for me! I was so impressed with the car in it's original state, and how well it handled thanks to rebuilt rear beam with new bushes everywhere, 4 matching goodyear tyres all round, recent brand new OE dampers, etc etc, it had clearly been a well-cared for, pampered car, wanting for nothing! It clocked 128 on the sat-nav on the way home, bouncing off the limiter in fifth, and feeling like it wanted to pull more! (once on my private track of course!) I was thoroughly impressed, apart from fitting some Goodwood rims, left it as i bought it, and over the next few weeks of driving it around, massively re-kindled my love for these awesome little cars in good standard form!

 

 

 

 

Anyway, that's the long initial story done! Dad pretty much made my mind up and convinced me into doing a few sprints in it, so i started doing a few little bits to get it up to scratch, and entered the AEMC Shakedown Sprint at North Weald airfield at the start of March. I changed the thermostat for an 82c item, and a lower temperature thermoswitch, as well as making the fan cut in on full rather than half speed, had a quick look round the brakes etc, made sure they were bled and plenty of pad/disc left, all in good condition of course, made a few small other mods, like the scrutineer's favourites, yellow tape around the battery negative terminal, cable ties round the brake reservoir, and a jubilee clips round the seat subframe. fitted some worn road tyres to some 1.9 rims, and we were ready to go!

 

 

 

We had a hell of a lot of fun, the standard handling allowing you to get away with massive slides as you entered corners well over the limit, yet still doing very respectively! I entered the first Sprint of the season, again at North Weald a few weeks later!

 

At this point my made was made up and i was going to be doing a bit more than i initiially intended in this 205, so i decided to rip out the standard, worn cloth interior, clean the carpet and trim up, fit one of my Sparco bucket seats and a 6pt Harness, and a tidy half leather interior i had kicking around.

 

 

 

The next few sprints came and went, with the 205 doing reasonably well, all the while me getting more and more used to it, and Dad having a lot of fun in it too, despite not fitting very well into the heroin addict sized Sparco seat!!

 

 

 

Next up i headed over, as usual to the west-country for the Spring Action day at Castle Combe, and decided i'd have a few track sessions, all i'd done at this point was change the rear dampers for some slightly stiffer ones from a GTi6, & the front pads for some Ferodo premiere's, cheap but would stand up to alot more abuse than the OE ones it had fitted.

Tracktime was fantastic fun, unusually finding a nice amount of space to play in, and having a dice with a few other cars, again surprisingly for one of these days also being driven fairly well!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 31, 2010 by Anthony

[Baz 421]

The sprint season went on, bit by bit me adjusting to the car more, and putting in quite frankly some surprising times from a little 1.6, in an upto 2litre class! I was equally having more fun though, after all that was ultimately what we're there for!

 

 

 

The work and development went on, i had a blowing centre-section, so fitted a new Arvin one, retaining my standard (although now with very little baffling left!) back-box, with new manifold to downpipe Pug OE sealing kit, trying to keep it as simple as possible, as it was already reminding me why i hate exhausts!

Beyond that, i had a Vibratechnics top mount kicking around from previous cars, and a new-ish lower and gearbox mount, so fitted these, as well as fitting my usual 3rd top mount buffer.

 

 

I also felt it was about time i sorted the long reach gear-shift, and at the same time limiting any play/slop in the whole system. I gathered together a set of Miles at PugRacing.com's metal-jointed gear linkages, an extended 'L' subframe quadrant, and some new top hat bushes for the gear lever and said 'L'-quadrant from Pug. All fitted, this little lot tightened up the gear-change drastically as usual, made a great difference and now has possibly the best feeling gear-change i've ever had!

 

 

It was also around this time i fitted a set of clear side repeaters and yellow-lensed driving lights.

 

 

 

After a while i got around to building up a set of Koni sport top adjustable dampers i'd had for a while with new top mount bearings from GSF, and a pair of GpN Rubbers from Stew at BakerBM.com. Due to the regs of the class i compete in, i had to retain standard ride height, so standard springs still at this point! I also took the liberty of fitting some 1.9 Calipers again with Ferodo premiere pads, and with a set of braided hoses. Anthony and i managed to get this little lot done one weekend, as well as a midnight oil & filter change before a Sprint iirc!! Cheers Ant!

 

 

The Koni's made a huge difference, i remember thinking they must be worth a second or two around a few of the Sprint courses, usually only around 90 seconds total, so a fair change!!

 

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------

 

Hope you're enjoying reading thus far, this is probably the first in-depth project thread i've ever done. I've done a few in the past but they've never been anything like this covering such a history with pics etc, and usually die-out! I'd like this one to stay as a long-running diary of the car as it changes and evolves ideally!

 

I think i've just about mastered thumbnail image tags, and this takes a lot longer than i thought, to respect to everyone that's done it to this kind of depth and beyond also!! Alot more to come... So please bare with me, thoughts, comments and suggestions welcome!

Edited January 31, 2010 by Baz

[tezza 0]

brilliant matey. was hoping you would put a thread up.

 

excuse the dumb question, but what is the benefit of the third engine mount buffer? much difference?

[Baz 421]

brilliant matey. was hoping you would put a thread up.

 

excuse the dumb question, but what is the benefit of the third engine mount buffer? much difference?

 

The benefit of the third buffer further limits any lateral movement of the engine, just another chance to stiffen things up a little more, helping the lower and gearbox mount i guess. It doesn't make a drastic difference i don't think tbh, it's in all the PTS competition build manuals though.

 

Cheers for the reply!

[welshpug 1,663]

a Great read Baz, highlights even more how much fun can be had from a relatively standard and very healthy 205 with only a few choice mods, its not about the power

[Baz 421]

About time i added to this!

 

In August '08 a load of us were off to the Nurburgring, Anthony and i were going to be going in NVL, so a few weeks previous i decided to make a few changes for reliability if nothing else!

 

I bought a set of BakerBM silicone coolant hoses, and a silicone oil filler hose, and promptly fitted them!

 

 

 

 

Then went out that evening for a 'test', which usually consists of fantastic hoon down some pretty awesome back lanes to a 4 mile or so by-pass that loops around Bishop's Stortford to the M11. It's basically a bunch of straights, linked by many roundabouts!! This is where i hone my LOOS skills...

 

I got to the last roundabout before M11 roundabout, it's a large, and very wide one, so a great amount of fun can be 'got away with' Did a couple of loops playing around, then went off one exit, turned round up the road and came back to the roundabout; entered it at some speed in my usual fashion, and as i pointed the car into the roundabout, came off the throttle rather abruptly, again as usual, the back stepped out, but went way more than i'd anticipated, i managed to hold what must've looked to have been a fantastic sideways drift, but it'd caught me out and before i knew it the car was then going backwards!! I managed to get it stopped, as i say the roundabout is pretty big and there was no one around, and as i sat there wondering what just happened, realised the coolant temperature was pretty high! I pulled off the roundabout at the nearest exit, parked up and switched off the engine, opened the bonnet to find coolant everywhere! I'd blown the plastic thermostat housing cover/outlet, must've tightened it a little too much coupled with being old and brittle, game over! I walked back up to the roundabout whilst waiting for my dad for a tow home, and could see my coolant all over the road, whoops! That's explain why it stepped so violently then!

 

 

 

Metal one fitted the next day and all was well again.

 

 

 

 

The 'Ring trip came, hiccup free and we had a whale of a time, it was a beautiful day so on the way we called in at Spa for a look, there was a bike trackday on so stayed for a while and watched. We were there in quite a large group, a fair few of us from this forum too, Anthony, Kate, Alastairh, Ashley Peddle, base1, Erica & 16v205, Garry & Mrs, Bono, and a fair few more, so a fantastic time was had!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only sour point of the whole trip was me beng mugged of 300Euro by the dutch police on the way home, for a *slight* breach of the speed limit...

 

 

A few more pics at the following link;

 

http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f255/205gtmi16/RingAug08/

[Baz 421]

Next up, bar a few more Sprints that were all going very well, (just a reminder that i was doing reports on these at the time if interested, find them here) was a trackday at RAF Marham with the PSOOC in October '08.

 

I didn't actually use NVL for this though, it was there as 'support car', so Anthony and myself joined Jonny (screwloose) in his car for this, a circa 200bhp caged 205 Mi on twin 45s.

 

It was a great, fun day, huge track set out on an airfield, with a silly long, mile or so straight! Not really suited to the 205's etc, but still the technical sections were, i especially like the multi-apexed first corner, that you entered at about 115 in 4th, lift off, scrub a bit of speed by allowing the car to drift massively sideways though the last apex, and drop a gear, then plant the throttle to bring it back straight, i think i was smiling like a cheshire cat!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More pictures in Anthony's album; http://anthonyshuttle.com/photos/marhamoctober2008

 

 

We also had a bit of a photoshoot at the end of the day where NVL was used too, this was to be then used in Performance French Cars magazine in a Peugeot Sport Official Owners Club report.

 

 

 

 

 

[Rich_p 23]

Was this outside the garage in the pinnacles a week or so back Baz?

[Baz 421]

Was this outside the garage in the pinnacles a week or so back Baz?

 

Erm, not that i know of mate!

[Rich_p 23]

Fair do's, must be another Miami on goodwood wheels local to us then.

[Baz 421]

Time for some more!

 

A few more sprints towards the end of the year, with some good results so boding well for the championship!

 

 

 

 

 

Ended up taking the championship by a very small margin of points, matching the same amount of events as the S2000 that'd been otherwise beating me all year, so a nice collection of consistendy added up to the class win!

 

End of season Sprint report here!

 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

So with the Sprint season over, the car got a little well-earned TLC in the form of a service and proper clean up!

 

 

And usual everyday service continued!!

[Baz 421]

So, into '09 and the first event for NVL was the PSOOC Spring meet at Llandow, early March. Screwloose, Tom_M and i headed over to Anthony's the night before for a few beers! Early start and made our way over to Llandow, where we met up with a few others from here/PSOOC etc, 28Craig & Lorn, VickiMi16, Paul (205turbo), Miles etc.

 

Was a dry day, a bit nippy but the the sun was out! All signed on and raring to go, the first few hours was sessioned, Tom went out in NVL with me as passenger, and Jonny went out in his 205, with Ant in the hot-seat for the first session, and next up, somehow i managed to miss my session! Probably due to p!ssing around changing wheels or something!

 

 

 

I eventually got out onto the track and started to re-acquant myself with the car, and more-so the circuit! Llandow is a great little circuit, and the 205 suits it fairly well, with lots of fun to be exploited from it, especially through the Bus-stop section!

 

 

 

 

 

Had a lot of fun, especially pulling silly lift-off oversteer slides through the last 2 right handers, and through the bus-stop! I think i scared Tom a little though!!

 

 

 

 

 

Had awesome little tear-ups with a few people too, it's excellent to be on track with other like minded, and well-driven cars/people! Jonny and I had a few awesome tandem laps together, and i especially enjoyed holding off Anthony in Craig's 306 GTi6 for a few laps, that was brilliant fun! There was also a good few points where Jackman and i in NVL had a good few laps swapping places, and i also had an excellent session in Jonny's 205, chasing Carl Chambers(GKZ 206) in his 205 GTi6 too, great fun indeed!

 

 

 

 

 

Loads more pics here!

 

[Baz 421]

Long overdue update!

 

To briefly summarise the gap, in'09 i moved up to the 'standard' fast road class of the AEMC championship in NVL, after a very fun and camerardery filled not to mention closely battled championship i luckily managed to take class honours just a few points ahead of Mitchell in his 182 cup. Results HERE!

 

In 2010, NVL got a well deserved rest, whilst i used my Sorrento green Mi16 and red Longman 8v 205's in the Modified classes of the AEMC & ASEMC championships. I was beaten on points in the AEMC Championship as i didn't equal the amount of entries as some, but won the whole Category B in the ASEMC Championship, Dad winning class B8!

 

Fast forward to the present and i'm using NVL again this year, back in the old 'standard' fast road class. I didn't intend to, but the Longman 8v 205 was halfway through it's 'Evolution' and wasn't finished, so NVL came to the rescue!

 

Edited August 2, 2011 by Baz

[Baz 421]

Mid-July '11; My Longman 8v 205 was being mapped and looked to be making decent power until we discovered the head gasket had let go, number 3 cylinder filling with coolant. So it's been tucked away again waiting for the head to be whipped off & sorted.

 

So with that in mind, "NVL", the legendary little blue 1.6 would have to be called upon to continue competing as it has been thus far anyway. It's been fantasticly reliable for the best part of the last 4 years, not to mention cheshire cat like grin-inducing fun, as well being as ridiculously quick for what should be an asthmatic old 1.6, but i felt it about time i give it a well overdue birthday and treat it to a bit of a spruce up, consisting of a bit more power and a way to lay it down, especially since it's now becoming a little obvious that it's not quite up to the pace, as i'm (only! ) second in class in the 2 championships i'm competing this year. Naturally i'll be doing a few other little jobs along the way too!

 

It's been such a hard decision as i've always wanted to whack an Mi in it & the 1.6 engine has always been miles better than most average 1.9's, so i've always worried if i fit another 8v i'll end up with an engine worse than the one i remove!! Since i'm currently competing in a mostly 'standard' class, an 8v is the only option, so that rules out the Mi.

 

So massive thanks go to Anthony as I've had a standard but reliability proven & quick 1.9 sat around for a while that i got from him. It's quite well known having been in a few cars before; namely James_R's old black track car 'BTX' (that Kenno now owns), then the slag 'NNO' that was passed around a bit & now easypug owns, so makes perfect sense for it to make it's new home in another slutty old dog! It had a cambelt, water pump & tensioner not long before it was removed from the previous car it was in and they still look to be in great order.

 

 

I put in a bit of time here and there last week, prepping it as it was basically bare, refitting it with bits i've had lying around, a Ph2 thermostat housing & inlet with coil mount, a few painted bits & bobs (i usually hate this unless done well tbh, but they're kicking about and look better than dirty old crap so i don't really care!).

 

 

Then last night whipped the 1.6 out of the blue 205! I've also cleaned & mated my rebuilt be3 1.6 gearbox fitted with a Kaaz plate diff to the engine, encasing a 1.6 flywheel & nearly new Valeo Clutch kit i had kicking about.

 

 

I'll be retaining the 1.6 management but with 1.9 dizzy with a new, working vacuum advance capsule & o-ring seal as the ones on the 1.6 had recently failed! All new service items of course; engine & box oil, filter, plugs, dizzy cap, rotor arm, 82deg 'stat, alternator belt and the 1.6 recently had new coilpack, ignition amp, leads, TPS etc. I'd like to have some reconditioned/new injectors too, but some from a 55k car have been fitted for now, they should be good for a while at least. The battery tray's had a quick clean up, rust treatment & paint too. I'll also be replacing some fuel hoses, the filter was replaced on the car less than 1k ago.

 

I'll update in due course, i have an event at Lotus' Test Track this Sunday at Hethel, which i'm looking forward to immensely & obviously have a few hours to put in on the car first! This event last year i was in the Longman engined red 205 in the Modified class so punching above it's weight, (it's built to fit in the 'standard' class regs) especially as there was a couple of Westerhams there with c300bhp engine, 6spd flat shift sequentials etc. in my class for some strange reason, so obviously had my ass handed to me!

[Baz 421]

Engine went in fine, had a few small teething issues with a dead dizzy, but nothing major! Looks pretty good for what is essentially thrown in over a few days!

 

 

I've been using it nearly daily since it's engine change, done a couple of sprints, the last of which i took class honours in, plus it's taken Screwloose, Taylorspug & I to the Nuerburgring & back via Spa-Francorchamps too.

 

 

[Baz 421]

The 'Ring trip was a totally un-thought out last minute thing, Jonny(Screwloose) text me on a thursday evening a few weeks ago about it, i text Dan and did a bit of accomodation scouting whilst Jonny booked the ferry. Friday afternoon i di a few checks of the car, packed the spares box and some stuff, nipped to the workshop when Dan arrived for a quick brake pad & shoe check & adjust, pads were low so took a new set with, brake pedal had a bit of travel so the shoes i'd fitted a few months before needed re-adjusting & off we went at 10.30pm, just getting on our midnight ferry, setting a new record along the way i think!!

 

Arrived in Barweiler, around 7 kms away from both Nurburg & Adenau at our over-flow Guest-house to be greeted by a little old German lady by the name of Inge, who basically runs her house as an over-flow for the local Hotel. Not a single word of English, but my god you couldn't want a more lovely hostess! We arrived at around 10am to offers of refreshments & snacks, shower and clean bed for a little nap! We did just that seeing as we were nackered having driven through the night to get there, had an hour or so nap, but were rudely awoken by the sound of an air-raid siren! We never did find out what it was and why it was being used, but if i said it was a surreal experience it would be an understatement!!

 

 

 

 

Fantastic time was had despite only getting in a few laps, it was WSB weekend so was silly-busy, plus there was a death on the sunday morning as a UK clio crashed and the rear passenger was flung out of the rear window, sad news and obviously puts you off lapping!

 

So we used the time wisely, caught up with TurboSam, Josh (lemmingZappa) & Littlelise as they were also out there with a big group and popped in on a few friends that live & work out there. We also did something i've wanted to do for a few years, did a bit of scouting about and found most of what's accessibly left of the old Sudschleife (South-loop). You can really see why Jackie Stewart coined the place 'Grune holle' - Green Hell, and why the rest of the F1 boys boycotted the last few races to be held there!

 

 

 

 

Dan trying to show the gradient & camber as it really doesn't show up in the pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a few snaps, there's more HERE.

[Baz 421]

Cont'd...

 

We left on the monday afternoon via Adenau, as usual grabbing a 24" Pizza from the fantastic Pinnochios restaurant (lovely people, amazing food & cheap!) and began our homeward-bound journey through the Eifel mountains before hitting the Autobahns!

 

We were running late for our ferry, so basically decided that stopping off at Spa for a rest/food etc was a good idea, luckily there was something going on, what looked to be a timed event across sections of the circuit as they'd run it one way, then back the other! A few nice cars there...

 

 

 

 

Again, more in the same album linked above.

 

 

 

Big thanks to Jonny & Dan for their help regarding the trip & coming! Roll on the next one...!!

[Baz 421]

And back onto 'NVL'!!

 

I attended the Sprint at Lotus' test track, Hethel, the weekend after the engine swap, but hadn't managed to play with the ignition timing as much as i'd liked and it still felt lacking, and only took list 1A (road) tyres, plus with the circuit being alot bigger and more open, was more of a power circuit, so the 220bhp DC2 Integra and (bloody wooden POS!! ) Morgan powered by a zetec on twin 45's easily walked it, i should've taken some 1B's!!

 

 

After this and the 'Ring trip showing some top-end 'missing power' issues i decided to swap out the 1.6 management for proper 1.9 stuff, which seems to be better. The former 'works' yes, but in the same way twisting two wires together does... i'm now firmly of the opinion that it isn't right by any means, certainly at the top end it didn't have the correct fuelling and felt & sounded very apparent. No idea why people believe it works fine & more-so how i was ever fooled into believing as such either, you wouldn't build a 1.6 engine and map it, then change to a 1.9 without a re-map would you!!

 

 

I then had a sprint to attend at North Weald the following weekend, ran it on some medium A048's with light showers over the day, so had some massive slides in places, really enjoyed myself reminding me why i do this!! And managed to take the class win & 18th OA, matching the time of a Clio 182 Trophy, which i was quite chuffed with, knowing how capable they are with their trick sus. setup!

 

 

 

 

Sprint Championship news...

 

The ASEMC Championship i'm currently in 2nd iirc, behind a guy that's done a shedload of events as he's doing 'Fifty at 50' - 50 events in a year for Charity! But as for the AEMC championship, i'm a round down to the leading 2 guys that share a 160bhp Clio Valver, but otherwise should be ahead, if i do both the remaining events and they only do one which is what they plan to do so they say, it'll bring me equal to the amount of events and give me enough accumulative points to take the championship fair & square! I've entered the next round on the 2nd Oct. at Carver Barracks, but the next will be lydden which is a bit of a trek, and expensive! Currently in talks with my sponsor...

 

Here's the current AEMC Champ' points table;

 

http://aemc.org.uk/Motor_Sport/Sprints/2011_SprintResultsto12092011__11.pdf

 

 

 

 

MOT-time!!

 

Despite the fact that a bit of rust has begun to firmly set into the OS Rear quarter, it went through an MOT yesterday, so at least another year of smiles! But, there's talk of the bodywork getting sorted in the winter months in the very capable hands of Dan Taylor at his company, SPD Restorations in Colchester, so it may not be it's last yet!

 

 

[Baz 421]

Just a small update! NVL had a 1.6 in it for a while but had a break over the winter being tucked away. I put a 1.9 8v back in it but minus diff around mid-December. It's been back sharing daily-service now since mid-March.

 

 

 

Using it again has reminded me how much I bloody love this car, although i still haven't sorted the couple of bits of bodywork it needs, i really should at some point, but it still does everything i want it to whilst looking pretty good from afar!

 

 

 

Despite me sharing the drive of an E46 M3 with a mate, it looks like it's also coming on another Euro-trip we have booked at the end of the month with Taylorspug, Screwloose & 28Craig including the VLN & DTM Revival weekend at the 'Ring. Looking forward to it!

Edited April 8, 2012 by Baz

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Polished compomotive TH's? Love it! Need to get me some of these at some point.

[Baz 421]

Yup.

 

Ring-trip was great fun! The Sunday before we went i managed to do a bit of work on the old girl & re-fitted the hybrid box with Kaaz diff with a pair of new GKN 309 shafts, diff seals & oil. Also did a quick engine-oil change.

 

Then the evening before we went, popped over to a mate's to do a bit more; Brakes-checked & rear shoes adjusted, fresh super dot4 fluid and proper bleed. Mega pedal feel now, best i think it's ever been strangely! Whacked on some all weather-safe wheels/tyres; set of Goodwood style Speedlines with Michelin PE2's.

 

Also re-set the tracking and checked the geometry, pretty damn good as ever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 'Ring trip was damn good as usual, didn't get many laps in tbh, but had a few good quality ones when it felt right, i'm very picky/careful/anal about when i choose to lap during TF, don't ever under-estimate the Nordschleife!

 

NB: Please don't read this the wrong way. TBH i never really 'try' or even go at 9/10's for obvious reasons, it's the world's most reknowned, dangerous circuit and we're miles from home, added to the fact that cars with this little power/torque are just pointless flogging up places like Kesselchen/Klostertal and therefore I certainly don't 'chase times' at the 'Ring during TF.

But, i know it pretty well & although i think i've been quicker when less traffic etc, but my PB BTG time has been clocked at 9.12 in the past where someone has timed me, from the passenger seat unbeknown to me(always the way, i don't want to be knowingly timed at all), which i guess is nothing to be sniffed at when the car was still a 1.6 and LSD-less. That was a few years ago, it's been a few trips since every condition has felt perfect enough to care if you know what i mean, but obviously I've wanted to beat that and possibly break the 9min barrier for some time since!

 

So again, unbeknown to me, Craig timed a lap we did this time, with a little roadworks at the beginning of the lap, mild traffic including pushing a 135i into a 'wibble' at Mini-karussel and moving over at Pflanzgarten to let an awesome Scirocco-R cup car come past that then didn't for a few corners, we did an 8.58, which although there's a bit more there, i'm obviously fairly chuffed with! I guess the bit of extra grunt the 1.9 has as well as the diff obviously help. Please don't go using this as your yardstick though!

 

 

 

 

 

Roll on the next trip!

[Baz 421]

I don't think it's ever actually been mentioned in this thread somehow, but the car has a pretty awesome do-anything suspension set-up, if anything ever-so slightly aimed towards Sprints, well, being a little steer-able on the rear.

 

Which this animated GIF that Anthony made, (of me being a bit of a hooligan! ) would suggest;

 

 

 

This came about through general progression/'development'! As earlier mentioned i was running the car in the factory standard class in '08, at first with some good OE dampers, then GTi6 rears were added, as these were made a standard 1.9 part some years ago, this was a nice setup as it goes, VERY progressive, could pull massive LOOS slides everywhere and pretty much never get into trouble, unless on the road and then perhaps with the law...

 

From then the Koni's were added as the regs state "dampers to remain of the original type and mountings". At the end of that year after winning the class championship i decided to move up a class which allowed more modifications, so the ride height could be adjusted. So, i got some Eibach 7001's, a big rear ARB and had Anthony the beam rebuilding master build me a beam to my spec, lowered, but not too much, to match the Eibachs. This is how it's been pretty much since and i went on to win that class championship in '09 too!

 

I find the Koni's akin to Bilstein Sprintlines, perhaps slightly harsher/harder, for the initial inch or so of travel anyway. I also added 309 front running gear for the degree or so of negative front camber, if anything just to reduce the outer tyre wear! It currently has a set of wishbones with PolyRace red bushes. The Anthony re-built beam is nothing short of superb, with arms that give 1 degree of neg. camber and 0-toe rear arms.(Drums retained! ) It has a PAS rack run without the PAS, & runs a 24mm rear ARB most of the time, i carry a 22mm one sometimes when i'm worried about the damp, because it is fairly tail-happy in the dry when provoked, which i love but can be a bit of a handful especially on some uneven/broken surfaces in the wet, airfields etc, but tbh i've barely ever needed to bother swapping! It's been like this for around 3years or so now, and although i have a set of 20mm bars for it, i really haven't ever seen the need to fit them, a little in fear of upsetting it!

 

It may be "wrong" or cheating in a way, but the rear ARB really is sublime, the increased front end grip from pushing the subsequent weight transfer to the front really is noticeable. For similar effect or to try it out, you could disconnect the front ARB, but without serious damping or stiffer spring rates, this allows a bit too much body-roll!

 

 

 

 

It'll quite happily wag a wheel in the air at any opportunity anyway;

 

http://i49.photobuck...%20NVL/P258.jpg

http://i49.photobuck...9f77f802d97.gif

 

 

 

As well as being used daily at times, quite comfortably, it's done loads of different events like this perfectly well, smooth trackdays & circuit sprint & hillclimbs, to rough airfields and the odd very rough-gymkhana etc! I think i'd draw the line at an Autocross though, it's a bit too stiff for that! It's probably as near to a perfect all round set-up, for me anyway!

 

 

 

I can't place enough emphasis on how much i actually love this car and what it's done for/with me, i thoroughly under-estimate it at times! Sometimes it takes driving someone else's car to make me realise just how lucky i am, or just how perfect this one is.

 

 

I'm having a severe dilemma about the fact it needs some bodywork attention though.

[Baz 421]

Small update; whacked it on the corner weights just for fun recently and was pleasantly surprised at the result.

 

 

829.5kg.

 

 

Not bad for what is basically a road car with a full 1.9 interior & stereo etc, just some underlay removed but is still very comfortable for Euro-jaunts etc.

[qwerty 9]

That's mad, good and light that

 

I don't understand how tho, if it's jus underlay you say you've removed, standard gti's are around 880kg so 50kg of underlay you've removed?

[GLPoomobile 958]

I can see what the next trend will be on the forum - endless debates about how inaccurate corner weights are