Scaffolding poles + old VW bits + Rotary engine....
Discussion
Well, due to having 4 million other things to do we didn't actually get the new trailing arms on in time, although we mounted the new, wider tyres and new rear dampers, plus some modified fronts, and bled the new cooling system through - just about managed to throw the car back together by 5:30pm on Saturday, and head off to Walters Arena for the first event.
Haven't even got this years stickers yet so had to make some temporary numbers up from electrical tape too
Got there at 9.30 after traffic from hell, went to sleep, up at 5:30 and walked around 7.5 miles of muddy Welsh hills
Not the best thing to do in a morning before the racing! Cue two knackered northerners running around like nutters trying to unpack the car, get setup, scrutineered and signed on in the 30 minutes before the drivers briefing....
In a shocking distortion of reality it was actually bloody sunny in Wales for once, which dried most of the standing water up pretty quickly, so apart from going steady for a few laps due to rough riding and a horrible knocking noise, the car ran well all day, no trouble with traction, although it could do with a gear between 2nd and 3rd on some of the steeper uphill slogs!
The horrible noise and rough riding was due to throwing the torsion bars back on in a rush on Saturday and the car sitting on it's suspension like a stilt walker - the rear was running on the droop stops, but altering it would have taken far too long and the new dampers were keeping it in check enough to give us another 1st in class and 7th overall. No problems with the car for once* so we'll get the new suspension on for the next event (Waterbeach) and spend some time setting it up properly. Hopefully we might achieve our aim of a top 5 overall finish this year, it wasn't far away this time.
The good news is the new dampers on the rear and the revamped fronts have got the car handling jumps and ditches far better, I might do a little tweak to the rears but even I'll be struggling to make them much better now, without fabricating some 2/3 way adjusters for them - I'm thinking about it....
Some more good news came over the weekend as Tom from Gripper gave us a ring, who has one of the old differentials to look at with the aim of having a plate-type limited slip made, and after some studying he thinks it's definately possible to drop a unit in that's robust enough for our abuse, so we should have that soon, for some much needed traction
I think that'll have to go in during the summer break when there's a free month between races so we can take our time to build a good gearbox up out of all our spares.
So, a good start to the season with 100pts in the bag, here's hoping the rest goes as well and we can concentrate on making the car faster rather than repairing it for a change!
Haven't even got this years stickers yet so had to make some temporary numbers up from electrical tape too
Got there at 9.30 after traffic from hell, went to sleep, up at 5:30 and walked around 7.5 miles of muddy Welsh hills
Not the best thing to do in a morning before the racing! Cue two knackered northerners running around like nutters trying to unpack the car, get setup, scrutineered and signed on in the 30 minutes before the drivers briefing....
In a shocking distortion of reality it was actually bloody sunny in Wales for once, which dried most of the standing water up pretty quickly, so apart from going steady for a few laps due to rough riding and a horrible knocking noise, the car ran well all day, no trouble with traction, although it could do with a gear between 2nd and 3rd on some of the steeper uphill slogs!
The horrible noise and rough riding was due to throwing the torsion bars back on in a rush on Saturday and the car sitting on it's suspension like a stilt walker - the rear was running on the droop stops, but altering it would have taken far too long and the new dampers were keeping it in check enough to give us another 1st in class and 7th overall. No problems with the car for once* so we'll get the new suspension on for the next event (Waterbeach) and spend some time setting it up properly. Hopefully we might achieve our aim of a top 5 overall finish this year, it wasn't far away this time.
The good news is the new dampers on the rear and the revamped fronts have got the car handling jumps and ditches far better, I might do a little tweak to the rears but even I'll be struggling to make them much better now, without fabricating some 2/3 way adjusters for them - I'm thinking about it....
Some more good news came over the weekend as Tom from Gripper gave us a ring, who has one of the old differentials to look at with the aim of having a plate-type limited slip made, and after some studying he thinks it's definately possible to drop a unit in that's robust enough for our abuse, so we should have that soon, for some much needed traction
I think that'll have to go in during the summer break when there's a free month between races so we can take our time to build a good gearbox up out of all our spares.
So, a good start to the season with 100pts in the bag, here's hoping the rest goes as well and we can concentrate on making the car faster rather than repairing it for a change!
- Well, apart from catching a car up, hitting the horn, and the car in front promptly rolling over onto it's roof....cue muggins here running up a welsh hillside in overalls and helmet waving like a nutter to attract a marshall.
Edited by PhillipM on Tuesday 15th March 00:22
It's on the 24th, although most of the cars will be there by the 23rd so they can be scrutineered.
Only problem with waterbeach is being a flat airfield there's not much in the way of jumps or forest/rough terrain, so tends to be straights followed by 90's to keep the average speeds down.
However, having said that, being flat and half concrete/gravel means it's a lot easier to walk around and watch on, and the weather is usually good too.
If you spot us come over and say hello, don't worry if it looks like were busy, we tend to tweak all-sorts between every run, just pre-flight checks
If you have an MSA legal helmet (or my medium'll fit you), and 30 quid spare to join the club for insurance, then we'll strap you in the seat for a run...
Only problem with waterbeach is being a flat airfield there's not much in the way of jumps or forest/rough terrain, so tends to be straights followed by 90's to keep the average speeds down.
However, having said that, being flat and half concrete/gravel means it's a lot easier to walk around and watch on, and the weather is usually good too.
If you spot us come over and say hello, don't worry if it looks like were busy, we tend to tweak all-sorts between every run, just pre-flight checks
If you have an MSA legal helmet (or my medium'll fit you), and 30 quid spare to join the club for insurance, then we'll strap you in the seat for a run...
Edited by PhillipM on Thursday 24th March 13:33
Right, no, we haven't been spending all our time in the pub (more's the pity), just haven't had much time with the photos due to pulling the engine/gearbox/etc all back out again so we could change the clutch (cracked the plate and worn yet another splined center out), and weld in the upgraded suspension bits:
As you can see, the torsion bars have been removed, along with the frankly knackered bushes and spring plates (they wear out rapidly from all the grit that gets in, then the back wheel toes in and out of it's own accord and the car steers where it likes!), the bushes are about £120 a set and when they're dying after an event and knackered after a few it's a bit tiring.
Anyway, if you look, the whole thing has now been replaced with a chromoly rose joint, clamped in double shear between those plates (the gap will be plated over and welded between the pegs to stiffen the whole thing up at the front).
In case you are wondering, the gap between the plates is that large as the rose joint runs side spacers - these serve two purposes - one, they allow me to wrap the joint in a neoprene sealing boot to keep the mud and water out (which will also be packed with grease to reduce the heat and wear in the joint).
In addition to that, the gap should allow the mud to drop out of the back of the plates, to prevent damage to the boot - seems a little backwards having a larger opening for the mud to get in there to start with I know, but with a small gap all you need is one small stone/clump of mud to stick and then all the muddy slop/stones build up behind it.
More pictures soon, I promise
I'll have to as Rob over at www.gtechniq.com has kindly donated some more products that will now work on the side polycarbonate windows, some of their P1 polish, and dirt repellent coating for both the paintwork and the mudguards in an effort to keep the buildup of mud off the car and the stickers visible - seems a little tarty for us I know, but it's not uncommon to scrape 30-40kg of mud off the car if it's a wet event, that's a fair chunk on a light car such as ours.
Personally I think Rob's sitting at home laughing his tit's off at me having to polish this thing, it's gonna take a tub of elbow grease the size of a swimming pool!
Edit: You can also see the upper secondary torsion bar there - the one that runs across the back above the beam - it's attached via rocker arms and rose-jointed droplinks, and can be set as either a secondary spring that lifts the spring rate at a certain point in the travel, or stiffened up and set to use a softer version of a bumpstop to prevent the chassis hitting the floor, depending on the course.
As you can see, the torsion bars have been removed, along with the frankly knackered bushes and spring plates (they wear out rapidly from all the grit that gets in, then the back wheel toes in and out of it's own accord and the car steers where it likes!), the bushes are about £120 a set and when they're dying after an event and knackered after a few it's a bit tiring.
Anyway, if you look, the whole thing has now been replaced with a chromoly rose joint, clamped in double shear between those plates (the gap will be plated over and welded between the pegs to stiffen the whole thing up at the front).
In case you are wondering, the gap between the plates is that large as the rose joint runs side spacers - these serve two purposes - one, they allow me to wrap the joint in a neoprene sealing boot to keep the mud and water out (which will also be packed with grease to reduce the heat and wear in the joint).
In addition to that, the gap should allow the mud to drop out of the back of the plates, to prevent damage to the boot - seems a little backwards having a larger opening for the mud to get in there to start with I know, but with a small gap all you need is one small stone/clump of mud to stick and then all the muddy slop/stones build up behind it.
More pictures soon, I promise
I'll have to as Rob over at www.gtechniq.com has kindly donated some more products that will now work on the side polycarbonate windows, some of their P1 polish, and dirt repellent coating for both the paintwork and the mudguards in an effort to keep the buildup of mud off the car and the stickers visible - seems a little tarty for us I know, but it's not uncommon to scrape 30-40kg of mud off the car if it's a wet event, that's a fair chunk on a light car such as ours.
Personally I think Rob's sitting at home laughing his tit's off at me having to polish this thing, it's gonna take a tub of elbow grease the size of a swimming pool!
Edit: You can also see the upper secondary torsion bar there - the one that runs across the back above the beam - it's attached via rocker arms and rose-jointed droplinks, and can be set as either a secondary spring that lifts the spring rate at a certain point in the travel, or stiffened up and set to use a softer version of a bumpstop to prevent the chassis hitting the floor, depending on the course.
Edited by PhillipM on Tuesday 5th April 13:10
Classes? Virtually anything right from caged production cars up to spaceframe kevlar clothed beasties. There's pretty much a price point for anyone to play at some level, the format is a competetive safari - think laps of rally stage but across country (well, rough tracks and forest jaunts anyway), try marches4x4, awdc.co.uk, norc.co.uk amongst others for regulations. The BCCC and the AWDC (which we run in) are both national championships, the BCCC is the MSA recognised british championship but is run to a slightly different format - less aggressive tyres, smoother stages, etc.
Best bet is just to come along and chat to everyone on the day for a few events, you can see the range of what competes then, and get an idea of the various locations, and there's plenty of people who know where there's an old car or buggy sat in a shed already prepped/caged....
Like I've said before, if anyone does fancy it, they are more than welcome to jump in the co-drivers seat for a lap if all's going well. Just need to join the awdc on the day (for insurance) and have an MSA-spec helmet (or a Medium head so it'll fit mine... ).
Failing that we'll probably be at some trackdays over the winter again!
Best bet is just to come along and chat to everyone on the day for a few events, you can see the range of what competes then, and get an idea of the various locations, and there's plenty of people who know where there's an old car or buggy sat in a shed already prepped/caged....
Like I've said before, if anyone does fancy it, they are more than welcome to jump in the co-drivers seat for a lap if all's going well. Just need to join the awdc on the day (for insurance) and have an MSA-spec helmet (or a Medium head so it'll fit mine...
).Failing that we'll probably be at some trackdays over the winter again!
Edited by PhillipM on Tuesday 5th April 00:28
And a bit of makeshift modifications to the arms to space the rear dampers apart so that we can run springs on both pairs of coilovers, it also grabs the shock in double shear instead of single - as the bumpstops are on the dampers rather than the body now it makes it less likely to bend a bolt on a big impact.
Not the best arm design in the world due to the cut and shut but it's more than functional, we'll probably make a couple of lighter, stiffer ones during the break in the race come summer.
The open area to the right you can see will be plated in with some drilled/pressed 1.2mm steel sheet to tie the upper and lower tubes together, which will stiffen up the connection between the inner damper and the hub without adding much in the way of weight.
In other news, the Bay of E has turned up trumps with a brand new half-decent TIG welder without breaking the racing budget, picking it tomorrow, so lots more formed alloy components and brackets to save weight will be appearing through the year after a bit of practice, hopefully!
Not the best arm design in the world due to the cut and shut but it's more than functional, we'll probably make a couple of lighter, stiffer ones during the break in the race come summer.
The open area to the right you can see will be plated in with some drilled/pressed 1.2mm steel sheet to tie the upper and lower tubes together, which will stiffen up the connection between the inner damper and the hub without adding much in the way of weight.
In other news, the Bay of E has turned up trumps with a brand new half-decent TIG welder without breaking the racing budget, picking it tomorrow, so lots more formed alloy components and brackets to save weight will be appearing through the year after a bit of practice, hopefully!
Edited by PhillipM on Saturday 29th October 13:48
BCCC Pikes Peak round?
Might be along to spectate and see how Karl's car goes after the mods, don't know yet - depends how many repairs the buggy needs after Waterbeach!
I'm not sure if Guy's doing the BCCC with the V10 or sticking with the AWDC now he's won one, might go down with him if he's switching to the British.
We can't really run the buggy in the BCCC because the all terrain tyres would kill us - what with the car being 2wd and not having a LSD in there, there wouldn't be much grip at all - there'd be places where we'd be struggling just to keep it going, n'mind racing.
There's one in the pipeline now thankfully but the race budget is a bit tight at the minute, we'll have to have a whip 'round, who's got a fiver spare?
Might be along to spectate and see how Karl's car goes after the mods, don't know yet - depends how many repairs the buggy needs after Waterbeach!
I'm not sure if Guy's doing the BCCC with the V10 or sticking with the AWDC now he's won one, might go down with him if he's switching to the British.
We can't really run the buggy in the BCCC because the all terrain tyres would kill us - what with the car being 2wd and not having a LSD in there, there wouldn't be much grip at all - there'd be places where we'd be struggling just to keep it going, n'mind racing.
There's one in the pipeline now thankfully but the race budget is a bit tight at the minute, we'll have to have a whip 'round, who's got a fiver spare?
Edited by PhillipM on Wednesday 6th April 11:36
Well, I took a few photo's of some lovely shiny red new parts for you lot tonight 
Unfortunately, must have had some grease/oil on the lens of the phone camera as they're all blurry as hell, sorry!
I'll try and get some tommorow!
Anyway, all the new suspension is one and setup - the dampers want some valving changes but we're waiting on the new sets of rear springs (for some reason, Demon tweaks and Rally Design don't keep 24" long coilover springs in stock, ), so I'll leave those until I know precisely how it behaves on those. There's also another 20mm travel available with the new parts so I'll need to alter the stops in the dampers anyway.
Waiting on a new paddle clutch arriving (mullered the centre in yet another one), before we can put the engine in and rear cage/bodywork, etc, on though, so going to be some long nights this week!
Unfortunately, must have had some grease/oil on the lens of the phone camera as they're all blurry as hell, sorry!
I'll try and get some tommorow!
Anyway, all the new suspension is one and setup - the dampers want some valving changes but we're waiting on the new sets of rear springs (for some reason, Demon tweaks and Rally Design don't keep 24" long coilover springs in stock,
), so I'll leave those until I know precisely how it behaves on those. There's also another 20mm travel available with the new parts so I'll need to alter the stops in the dampers anyway.Waiting on a new paddle clutch arriving (mullered the centre in yet another one), before we can put the engine in and rear cage/bodywork, etc, on though, so going to be some long nights this week!
Well, the firm that were looking at the clutch don't look like they can make a centre now, so last minute rush around to weld a centre in the old plate and hope like hell that it:
a) Holds up
b) Is ready before friday!
Last minute rush again!
Anyone know a clutch firm that could possibly do a very short notice rush job on a custom drive plate?
a) Holds up
b) Is ready before friday!
Last minute rush again!
Anyone know a clutch firm that could possibly do a very short notice rush job on a custom drive plate?
Well, springs are here
Brake pads are here
Nice clutch firm sent us some new splined centres out for free because they couldn't do us a plate, which are being machined to fit the old paddle plate as we speak
And the engine is still sat in the corner and half the frame and bodywork is on the floor, 's gonna be a looong day today!
Brake pads are here
Nice clutch firm sent us some new splined centres out for free because they couldn't do us a plate, which are being machined to fit the old paddle plate as we speak
And the engine is still sat in the corner and half the frame and bodywork is on the floor, 's gonna be a looong day today!
Well, shiny red new arms, casing and rose joints:
Shiny red new XP10 brake pads:
And new damper mounts to allow twin springs so the torsion bars can be chucked:
Got a final review on the Carbotech XP8 brake pads here too I wrote for another forum, in case someone is looking around for pads:
Shiny red new XP10 brake pads:
And new damper mounts to allow twin springs so the torsion bars can be chucked:
Got a final review on the Carbotech XP8 brake pads here too I wrote for another forum, in case someone is looking around for pads:
PhillipM said:
- Initial bite and outright power has been the most consistant (and the highest) of any pad I've ever tried on the car.
- No hint of fade even with the discs glowing red (we use steering brakes, so the inside wheel gets the brake dragging all the way through a corner after braking)
- No undo squealing, in fact, they've been completely silent.
- Modulation and feedback has been good too - it's not often you can consistantly hold a car on the point of lockup even over rough and changing terrain/grip levels, we reeled so many cars in on the brakes last year I thought about sticking a 'Gone Fishing' sign on the car.
- Pad and disc wear is exceptional, I know the pads are a touch more money than most of the competition (although Ian is kindly providing us with some discount to help us out :smthumbup), but the pads have lasted 9 events, 10 test sessions, and a trackday. They'd probably do another 1/2 events if needed.
Previous set of race pads lasted an event and a half, and ate a set of discs every other event.
Disc wear on XP8's is so low I haven't even been able to measure it!
- Work superbly even in cold water and mud - not often a race pad can cope with cold water and a bit of mud, nice to see these held up.
Downsides?
Well, unless they're a bit dusty (pass, wheels are filthy 10s after the start anyway), none, absolutely nothing, bar the steering brakes make them wear a bit faster than the ones up front (which are still only 1/4 worn).
So, this weekend, out went the XP8's and in went these, XP10's.
Oh, and the disc 'wear' after ~15 months of racing abuse.
That'd be, errr, none then.
Just about ready to give it a quick run in the morning to bed the brakes in and then load up and head to Waterbeach, hopefully I'll see a few fellow PHer's there?- No hint of fade even with the discs glowing red (we use steering brakes, so the inside wheel gets the brake dragging all the way through a corner after braking)
- No undo squealing, in fact, they've been completely silent.
- Modulation and feedback has been good too - it's not often you can consistantly hold a car on the point of lockup even over rough and changing terrain/grip levels, we reeled so many cars in on the brakes last year I thought about sticking a 'Gone Fishing' sign on the car.
- Pad and disc wear is exceptional, I know the pads are a touch more money than most of the competition (although Ian is kindly providing us with some discount to help us out :smthumbup), but the pads have lasted 9 events, 10 test sessions, and a trackday. They'd probably do another 1/2 events if needed.
Previous set of race pads lasted an event and a half, and ate a set of discs every other event.
Disc wear on XP8's is so low I haven't even been able to measure it!
- Work superbly even in cold water and mud - not often a race pad can cope with cold water and a bit of mud, nice to see these held up.
Downsides?
Well, unless they're a bit dusty (pass, wheels are filthy 10s after the start anyway), none, absolutely nothing, bar the steering brakes make them wear a bit faster than the ones up front (which are still only 1/4 worn).
So, this weekend, out went the XP8's and in went these, XP10's.
Oh, and the disc 'wear' after ~15 months of racing abuse.
That'd be, errr, none then.
Edited by PhillipM on Saturday 23 April 01:30
Well, the weather was fantastic, the course was nice - albiet a bit of an outright power course - lots of fast stuff, the engine didn't explode, the temperatures stayed reasonable, all the wheels stayed on, new brake pads feel like someone threw a brick wall in the way, the new suspension held up just fine and the car rides the rough stuff like a bloody magic carpet with a rocket up it's arse
Unfortunately, we had the Curse Of Waterbeach return in an exact re-run of last year the bloody throttle cable snapped just before the finish on the last lap!
After burning our hands and removing a few yards of skin trying to wedge it open to trundle the last straight to the finish in first, we had to give up and take a maximum, a little unfortunate as it was feeling pretty quick all day.
See what we were doing when the run times come through on Tuesday (issue with the timing printer/computer), car was much easier to drive with the new suspension though.
Unfortunately, we had the Curse Of Waterbeach return in an exact re-run of last year the bloody throttle cable snapped just before the finish on the last lap!
After burning our hands and removing a few yards of skin trying to wedge it open to trundle the last straight to the finish in first, we had to give up and take a maximum, a little unfortunate as it was feeling pretty quick all day.
See what we were doing when the run times come through on Tuesday (issue with the timing printer/computer), car was much easier to drive with the new suspension though.
Right, the drill and hammer has been out and she now sports 2 throttle cables, take that yer swine
Rear dampers are apart to give a little more damping to match the new spring rates, and the driveshafts have been tweaked to give us another 20mm of rear suspension travel. Next job is to pull the front suspension apart and replace the worn bearings and bushes (again), and perhaps some tweaks to the side scoops to flow some more cool air around the gearbox as the oil is getting a bit warm.
And beat all the dents out of the skid pans with a sledgehammer
Rear dampers are apart to give a little more damping to match the new spring rates, and the driveshafts have been tweaked to give us another 20mm of rear suspension travel. Next job is to pull the front suspension apart and replace the worn bearings and bushes (again), and perhaps some tweaks to the side scoops to flow some more cool air around the gearbox as the oil is getting a bit warm.
And beat all the dents out of the skid pans with a sledgehammer
Edited by PhillipM on Monday 25th April 13:21
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