GTE valver fast road/track car project

[Harvey]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

The shiny flywheel is a brand new www.ttvracing.co.uk item part no.0559 machined from a new lump of billet steel. Drop vxlgsi a PM on www.migweb.co.uk for more into and if wishing to purchase as they are available off the shelf. They aren't listed on the TTV site any longer but are still available. The TTV info I could find online list this flywheel as 4.2kg but that is for the pot XE/LET item and as I have found it is actually 3.9kg for the early flat XE.

[tjshill82]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

Great dairy. Could have done with one of those water bars a couple of weeks back. Bought the TX auto sport one and modified the hoses to suit. How much was the fabricated pipe if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks
Tom

[Harvey]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

How much was the fabricated pipe if you don't mind me asking?

It was £70 and worth every penny in my eyes.

[DarrenH]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

From Harvey and Darrens points of view I'm sure they would recommend that the cash outlay is worth the performance gain, value for money wise, compared to what you would spend on say bilstein dampers and eibach springs.

well i wouldnt go as far as to recommend people buy them, its just my observations of what i've driven. my initial reservation would be do i want to even spend 900 quid for an old hobby car that's worth 1.5 - 2k to start with. for a 25 year old hatchback which noone seems to care about (relative to a mk2 golf or escort RST say) there isnt much available off the shelf, its not possible to go out and buy a bilstein B16 clubsport kit and draw the conclusion that 4k worth of coilover technology are an even bigger leap from gaz gold, but i bet they are, and the science in them is undeniable like you say. that is one thing in gaz favour, they actually have a product for us which appears to do the job and not inconsiderable cost, good customer service and willing to cater for folk

[KEV]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

Yeah I didn't mean to speak for you with the recommendation Darren, that's rude, sorry.

What I meant was - if your in the market for adjustable coilovers for the mk 2 astra, then this is really the only option within the realistic price range of a good track car budget. Gaz have filled a niche.

Does your car ever lift a rear wheel on track days Harvey? Plenty of the lads at work who used to mechanic for 80-90s saloon car teams have mentioned to me about the good tweaks for setting my car up, lots suggest a droop stop. Low and soft at the rear.

[Harvey]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

Does your car ever lift a rear wheel on track days Harvey? Plenty of the lads at work who used to mechanic for 80-90s saloon car teams have mentioned to me about the good tweaks for setting my car up, lots suggest a droop stop. Low and soft at the rear.

I don't believe it does as I run the car softish on the rear. It's quite flat round the corners surprisingly and I believe the uprated rear ARB's help with that. With the rear being a fixed beam design there's no need for me to run drop stops as it doesn't lift that much to justify them.

To answer one of your earlier questions none of my ARB are adjustable but I do run the front ARB drop links loose as I don’t clamp them down, just enough to stop the nyloc nut coming off.

[AdamGTE]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

Do you have anymore info on the ABS speed signal relay? Bits needed, wiring diagrams etc?

[Harvey]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

Do you have anymore info on the ABS speed signal relay? Bits needed, wiring diagrams etc?

Nope but I'll get something written up and posted in my diary.

[AdamGTE]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

thank you that would be great

[Harvey]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

thank you that would be great

Adam, I'll get something written up for the club members area and give you nudge once complete.

[Harvey]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

I decided a few months ago that the GTE would be going on the road this year so after sorting the insurance through motorsport specialist www.reis.co.uk it was MOT time this morning.



While it was on the ramp I checked everything was OK and no leaks so all good.



Nothing found to be loose at the front end.



I already know about this but hadn’t done anything about it, no rot just a crusty surface so I’ll be sorting that sooner rather than later.



The good news is she passed so a huge thanks to Rob. If you require an MOT, service or mechanical work try Rob Bates Garage www.robbates.co.uk who are based near Mansfield and only 5 minutes from the M1. I’ve known him for over 10 years and he’s a superb mechanic and car enthusiast having owner a plethora of performance Vauxhalls over the years.

[DarrenH]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

gratz on the pass

that intersection turret to inner wheel arch is quite a common rot point, extends down to the wheel arch liner rivet. no biggy though, easy repair

[Harvey]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

When I fitted the new box I wasn’t happy with the passenger side inner CV as it didn’t seem to be holding in the box by the snap ring. I checked it this morning after driving the car and found it had popped out but luckily not enough to drop any transmission fluid and still offering drive to the wheel. After todays MOT I did this in the afternoon.









Started stripping the diff to have a poke and a prod to figure out what was happening. The issue is that the splined section within the diff doesn’t seem to be machined correctly so the snap ring isn’t passing all the way through.

This picture is taken with the snap ring removed and the CV pushed in as far as it will go.


In this picture the snap ring is installed and pushed all the way through the side gear to correctly locate the CV in the box. You can see it’s lifted the gear by a couple of mm.



Inside a Gripper with the passenger side gear removed.



This is the side gear with the CV installed and snuggly against the snap ring.





It’s the inside spline that needs a couple of mm machining. As I use an equal length setup on the driver’s side this doesn’t use a snap ring so I’ve not got the issue but I want both sides sorting.



I’m going to speak with Gripper on Monday and see what they say as I know they offer a rebuild service and have a new clutch plate design that helps eliminate the low speed noise/crack when manoeuvring. They are only an hour down the road so I’ll more than likely end up popping down to Coventry sometime soon.

While I had the diff apart I got a little carried away and fully stripped it to see what was inside.





I was told I had a 45/45 ramp angle diff but interestingly I found this stamped on the inside. So my diff is actually a 40/65 which is a better setting for track use anyway.

[DarrenH]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

so the inboard end of cv joint is touching the diff cross pin. only solution seems to be lopping a few mm off the end of the cv joint ?

[Harvey]

Re: GTE valver fast road/track car project

so the inboard end of cv joint is touching the diff cross pin. only solution seems to be lopping a few mm off the end of the cv joint ?

Nope, it's not the CV that is the issue but yes it's hitting the x-pin so not enough room for the snap ring to open and hold the CV in position.. It's the side gears in the diff as they don't have the snap ring location machined into them. I've tested/compaired a few spare CVs that I have and all are identical and fit my old box perfectly that had the Quaife ATB diff. That's my thoughts/findings thus far. I'll speak with Gripper later today and see what they have to say about it.