[trackday_prep] Roland Garros Hillclimb/trackday Project

[Jrod 7]

Give. now.

[AdamP 0]

Give. now.

 

Well... when I say three, I mean I've got one with a dodgy 2nd gear that would do for emergencies, one in the car and one on the engine.

 

If I see one I'll give you a shout.

[Jrod 7]

I've found about 5, just trying to sort out getting them.

 

I have 1 with f***ed gears and 1 with an exploded diff.

[AdamP 0]

The car is pretty much prepped for our first hillclimb now, less than 2 weeks . Made up a timing strut on the CNC laser cutter (what a tool!),fitted the new 4pt harness, bought a race suit and will be padding the cage this weekend.

 

I really can't wait, even though I won't actually have driven it before the event! It shouldn't be too different to my Polo though, being a FWD hatch on stiff suspension...

[danpug 1]

Any news adam?

[AdamP 0]

Any news adam?

 

Been on holiday for the past couple of weeks.

 

We've done two hillclimbs and shes been running pretty darn well. Firstly at epynt where I managed an 83.28, which was pretty good considering it was the first time i'd ever driven the car, or any car except my 40bhp Polo Managed to beat my dad by 3 seconds The car definately has the potential to get into the mid 70s, it felt so nice and balanced to drive and pretty go kart like really, 'point and fire'.

 

 

Then went on to Prescott which was a very different sort of hillclimb, where I actually had to think about the lines as well. This time I had a bit more confidence in the car, and having been given the challenge of getting under a minute by a prescott veteran I managed a 58.32, just half a second off the class leader in his 1400cc fiesta. There was definately still time to be had with a slightly gentler right foot and some better lines but I was still extremely happy My dad managed a 60.01 which he was pretty peed off with

 

 

At Prescott we had a bit of trouble with the battery going flat, and halfway through one of my runs it pretty much died completely, giving me a 4000rpm rev limiter essentially. After a bit of searching around, I found the end of the alternator wire, and it wasn't connected to the starter motor! A quick bit of bodgery and some help from the battery pack saw us on our way again, and after a short period of time the battery was reading 14V again, having previously read 6V! We also have a bit of a leaky master cylinder reservoir where the seals have perished slightly, but tightening a cable tie around it seems to have sorted it temporarily. It hadn't lost a noticable amount of fluid, just enough to look damp around the seals.

 

The hillclimbs have also brought to our attention just how s*ite the engine mounts are, so we've order a set of Group N spec ones from TI motorsport, which I will be fitting next week.

 

Next hillclimb is on the 24th of August at Gurston

[danpug 1]

Sounds like a great effort.

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Gurston Down on the 24th.... oo thats 14 miles away might pop down and give you some support adam. Really liked this build.

[AdamP 0]

All went well at gurston. I managed 44.48 and my dad 45.51, but the weather was on and off and I feel I could have gone faster in places. The A048Rs we fitted are phenomenal really, even though they are past their prime they're definitely grippier in the dry than the A021Rs or the ACB10s we have been running.

 

Video of my fastest run:

 

 

Some photos:

 

 

The competition....

 

[AdamP 0]

Got the new Grp N engine mounts from TI Motorsport in this weekend!

 

The lower one was a complete and utter pain in the rear but went in eventually with some clever useage of the freezer, a vice and some threaded bar, the other two were pretty damn easy!

 

I also found that the long driveshaft had a split in the centre boot and it spat all it's oil out everywhere when I moved it. Managed to undo the hub nut on the one I got off the XS so that's gone in there now, it looked in better condition than the RG one actually! It's now all back together again but needing some gearbox oil

[AdamP 0]

September 8th:

 

Picked up some gearbox oil this morning and started her up.

 

If I EVER hear anyone complain about rattles in there car....... Sriuzly, those vibrations are enough to make a woman keel over.

 

They should bed in a little and the clutch feels 200% better now that the engine doesn't try to escape through the radiator when you launch it.

 

Also september 8th:

 

Started off trying to solve a leaky joint in the exhaust, ended up with this:

 

 

Magnex backbox originally for a Clio 16v, but adapted by a mate to fit a 106 (quite badly). I thought I'd try it on, and before I knew it i'd rewelded the olive joint thing which had been badly arc welded on, and slung it on with some wire. I'm back in school tomorrow so i'll have a go at making up a hanger for it at some point in the near future.

 

Looks and sounts pretty good I think, definately much better than this monstrosity it was wearing when I bought it:

 

[AdamP 0]

Got the exhaust mounted properly again this morning. Made up a couple of right angles from 10mm steel bar, placed them in position and tacked them:

 

 

Took it off and welded up fully:

 

 

Trimmed down the excess:

 

 

Fitted to car:

 

 

PERFEC.

 

Job done.

[AdamP 0]

Shelsley Walsh, what a place. So much atmosphere and history, its an honour just to able to produce a picture of your car parked in the sheds....

 

 

The weather was beautiful and the car went well, the new engine mounts have made the gear change more precise and the clutch less snatchy. I started off posting a 44.43 time, respectable but not amazing. The amazing part was that my dad recorded exactly the same time! 44.43 again, but with different splits.

 

The main problem we were finding was the lack of power. Around the corners we were keeping up with all the big boys, but on the straights we were only reaching about 65mph where the bigger boys were reaching 80+. Shelsley is definitely a power hill, and it's extremely steep!

 

I then managed to take my time down to 42.14 by not lifting off at the first 'corner' and then braking much later into bottom Ess. My dad got a 42.69 by the same methods.

 

Unfortunely my dad missed gears on both of the competitive runs leaving him with times of 42.91 and 43.91, but I managed to improve even further by braking even later to give me a 42.00. At this point the splits were showing my best possible time to be 41.56, so that was my aim when I went out for my final run.

 

I changed the line slightly on the first bend which allowed a little more speed up to the speed trap, and then I barely dabbed the brakes for bottom Ess. Brown trouser moment, I really thought I was going up the bank, but the A048Rs kept me on the line with the back starting to squirm through top Ess and out onto the finishing straight to a time of....

 

41.23!!

 

That's my biggest achievement so far I think. I was just 0.68 seconds off the time of a similarly modified 1.9 GTi, and 1.2 seconds off a 1380 well modified Mini!

[AdamP 0]

A few updates coming in one go here. I've been off over christmas so i've been a very busy bee!

[AdamP 0]

Wow, whats this? Adam has actually been working on a car!

 

Picked up a pair of 1.9 GTi discs for £29.50 from Motorist Discount centre, which meant I could finally fit the GTi setup. This basically consists of a wider pad carrier, and that is it!

 

New on the outside, standard on the inside:

 

 

Discs:

 

 

As you can see here, the carrier merely unbolts from the piston, allowing me to fit it without changing fluid / rebleeding etc (although this will happen when I fit braided hoses).

 

 

All back together again:

 

 

However.... these carriers stick out 10mm more than the old ones, meaning my winter roll around alloys wouldn't go back on. 5mm spacers to the rescue:

 

 

 

 

AHA. You think that is all?

 

I have also been working on my cold air feed for the carb / back of the engine.

 

Take one headlight shell, a piece of aluminium and a 100mm pipe connector:

 

 

Bond with the oldest tube of 'no more nails' in existence, while also bonding everything else to your hands:

 

 

All that's needed now is a can of matt black to finish it off. Total cost: £13 including ali ducting.

 

I also have the dash in pieces so I can work out how this heater comes apart. Bloody complicated!

[AdamP 0]

I've been shedding a bit more weight today.

 

No, I haven't been for a jog, I have removed the heater and lots of bits of dash.

 

This mofo:

 

 

Weighs in at 13kgs It also held up half of the dash, so that had to go too. I chopped the switch pannel off and screwed it back on, but other than that the whole lot has gone!

 

Originally:

 

 

Now:

 

 

I've also chopped out / tied up all of the useless wiring. I'll need to make up another panel to hold the kill switch but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. All that space should make it a lot easier to wire up!

 

Some pictures I forgot to put up yesterday, having changed the wiper position:

 

 

Much better methinks.

 

And finally, bought a new can of matt black to the headlight air duct is almost ready to go!

 

Edited December 31, 2008 by AdamP

[AdamP 0]

I'm going to add to my list of winter mods a pair of 19mm GTi torsion bars and a 22mm ARB to (18.1mm TBs and 16mm ARB as standard). This should stiffen up the rear a lot to try and reduce the horrific understeer we were experiencing at gurston and prescott:

 

 

Note the excessive roll at the rear!

 

 

 

Da dahhhhh....

 

Finished

 

 

As I have the cooling system drained I decided to have a look at fitting the GTi radiator I acquired a while ago today. It will fit, although it's very tight on the alternator and the top hose will need modding. Also need to make up a couple of little brackets to hold the radiator into the surround.

 

I managed to get the headlight intake in as well and it looks properly evil now. Was dark so didn't manage to get any photos sorry.

 

Also been on a bit of a buying spree:

 

Parts that are going to be on my doorstep very soon

 

Goodridge braided hoses

Quick Shift

Rose jointed gear linkage / new bushes

18.9mm torsion bars

24mm 306 GTi6 ARB (tripod-arific!)

 

Other parts I need to get from the motor factors after christmas:

 

Copper brake pipe

" Fittings

Rear hub nuts / socket

 

So that should see me with:

 

Brake system sorted.

Internal brake lines.

Perfect gear linkage system, no slop!

Stiffer rear end for reduced understeer

Better cooling system, especially after removing the heater.

 

[AdamP 0]

Got a fair amount done today Took some photos of it with the headlight duct fitted... looking pretty menacing I recon!

 

 

Started off by removing the battery and battery tray from the engine bay as they won't be needed any more. This frees up space for my cold air feed

 

 

I really need to tidy up the wiring in there at some point as well.

 

Also made up a new panel for the dash to hold my kill switch. This goes where the heater controls used to be. Here being painted along with my hole fillers to go above the fuel tank:

 

 

Dug out the GTi radiator and surround in order to mate them together. The radiator is missing some fittings so we made up a couple of brackets from some stainless that was lying around to hold the top of the radiator in:

 

 

I managed to drop the petrol tank out again so the battery box can be bolted down, hopefully we'll do that tomorrow

[AdamP 0]

Today I met a problem.

 

 

SYSTEM ERROR: Radiator Alternator Connection Failure

 

Damn.

 

Option 1: Fiddle around with alternator and radiator until I gain sufficient clearance. As the engine mounts are pretty much solid there's very very little movement so not a huge amount of clearance is needed.

 

Option 2: Run without alternator, save weight, carry around an extra battery just in case. We managed 2 hillclimbs and 2 MOTs without an alternator or charging the battery so I couldn't see battery life being a problem....

 

I think Option 1 is preferred at the moment.

 

Another picture of it in place, showing the extra size:

 

 

Fitted my new dash panel with kill switch:

 

 

Got going on the cold air feed. Bolted a hose clamp to an old battery tray rivnut to support it in the middle, then made up a bracket to attach it to the inlet manifold aimed at the carb:

 

 

 

More coming in a minute....

[AdamP 0]

I also had to sort through our wheel and tyre stack to sort out which tyres we want on what wheels.

 

I've been cutting down, so i'm down to this:

 

 

While I was at it I thought i'd do some weighing, so here's the results:

 

6x14" KN Jupiter + 185/60 Yoko A021R - 17.3kgs

 

5.5x14" Peugeot 1.6 alloy + 185/60 Pirelli P6000 - 15.5kgs

 

5x13" Peugeot steel + 185/60 Yoko A048R - 12.4kgs

 

5x13" Peugeot steel + 6.0/21 Avon ACB10 - 9.8kgs

 

That's a 7.5kg weight saving PER WHEEL when using the ACB10s over the Jupiters. So 30kgs!

 

I also tried on one of my weller steels with 165/55 nankang, and they almost fit despite the silly ET-7 offset!

 

 

Plus it's insured for my dad to drive as of tomorrow, so once its all back together we can test drive it whenever we like!

 

Today has been dedicated to getting the car back on all 4s, which meant removing the tank. drilling the holes for the battery box we've been working on and putting the tank back in. Sounds straighforward ehh?

 

Tank out (infinite number of pipes, hoses and wires attached!):

 

 

Battery box in:

 

 

And all back together again:

 

 

It was so cold that the car never defrosted, just gained ice all through the day! Never went above 0degC.

 

Now its just a matter of wiring to sort. Going to buy a couple of battery terminal clamps tomorrow along with a pair of jump leads to butcher for the wire and a whole load of brake parts.

 

Finally... took my dad to collect this this morning:

 

 

A new tow car! 2001 Disco 2 TD5 auto, 39000 miles and mint for the bargain price of.... £5k! A year back it would have been worth near double that

[danpug 1]

Good work and nice collection of tyres/wheels!

[swordfish210 20]

Cars looking really nice Adam. You'll have to bring it up Combe sometime

[AdamP 0]

Cars looking really nice Adam. You'll have to bring it up Combe sometime

 

Cheers

 

We are planning to take it over to combe at some point. Let me know what dates you're there and i'll see if we can fit into the calendar Got Oulton booked for the 7th February now which should be good fun.

[swordfish210 20]

Well i'll probabl be back at combe in april sometime as the cars coming off the road for an engine rebuild...again

[timb1046 1]

cars looking awesome! keep up the good work!