Laurie's First Track Day Car

[easytrans]

Thanks Darren, yes I read the Haynes process but while I'm sure it works ,, It seems a lot of faffing around and reliant on easy moving threads and bearings settled in etc...

I'm sure it will need adjusting again after the next outing ....

Anyway, back home on Wednesday from 4 days in the Highlands and what brilliant weather I had, one day I took what I thought would be a 20 minute walk around the block from a cottage and back .... after about 4 hours and 10 miles later I arrived back at the cottage , Mind you I could have done with having a MK2 rather than the sluggish Vauxhall (something) Crossover rental car I had for running about, how boring can modern cars be?...

I enjoyed looking around Keith and Elgin and kind of fell in love with a property just south of Keith (4 bedroom extended cottage with 5 acres of forest attached) but on return home we managed to talk ourselves out of it as the cottage was far bigger than we need and so we would just be ratteling around in there. What we really need is outbuildings and land not bedrooms

So the search continues ...

Well I caught up with some Pony field tasks and other domestic jobs the rest of the week but today after running around all the motors and testing / topping up antifreeze, I managed to finish off the raised floor I started last week (all bar paint) ...


Picked up on the cage mounting bolt ...


Drilled a few holes and punched the recesses to add a little strength ....


RIVNUT (insert) in the tunnel


I have primed it and its drying in the barn then just need to slap some while hammerrte on it and job done ....

Never got around to making a start on the arches but will save that for another day ......

Thanks for looking ....

[easytrans]

Tomorrows a shakedown track day at Woodbridge .....

Looking forward to testing out the new LSD

Just as a taster ....

The Diff works well



..... to be continued:

[easytrans]

So following a spur of the moment booking with Javelin I headed off down the road from me with my college close behind in his RX7 to Woodbridge.
It was ((((( Verrrrrrrry Cold ))))) but dry to begin with and the track was green "literally" as this was the first event this year and the tree moss had grown on the runway straight.

Surprisingly there was quite good grip though it took some getting heat into the tyres first 2 sessions they were squealing on the big curve bend but intermittent rain and a little more confidence was gained.

So the three (well four) recent changes all came together really well and as always the car impressed both me and a few others in the paddock and a couple of Dominic's mates that had passenger rides ... So 1 the biggest jump was the LSD ... amazing as it will now drag its ass out of the corners instead of spinning up and going straight the wet conditions and the changing surfaces did present a challenge in some corners but I'm well chuffed. Secondly I'm sure the combination of the Diff and the new clutch meant I was not fighting gears and riding the clutch like I had before out of corners. Raising the floor below the pedals made the day comfortable and finally the dead weight hammer fettling of the rear arches cleared the tyres so no impromptu chaffing in the dips on hard cornering.

I do have a thought and its not the first time either but very obvious from the photographers angle ... is I need a stiffer front spring I believe as it really is getting a mega amount of body roll ...








Saying that not only did I cock a front wheel see previous post ...

I managed to almost cock two!



So my question would be what springs can I fit that will stiffen it up a little? I know I can damp down on the adjustable shocks but I assume that's only going to effect the rebound?

Searching the forum I saw various postings that mention Cali springs but will that sit my lightweight up too high ? ANY IDEAS?

I also bought myself a GoPRO HERO 3+ in the Black Friday deals and its takes some nice footage, the Old Hero 1 was on the boot but I made the mistake of using cheap SD's and lost some data ...

Not edited or uploaded anything to Youtube yet but if you want you can see some of the video on:

http://lauriebaker.co.uk/woodbridge/

Thanks for looking

L.

[DarrenH]

haha quality that the caught the rear wheel in the air. 16v anti roll bar will go some ways to helping, but yeah stiffer springs will do it.

probably compounded by the fact you have medium hard cut slicks, more lateral grip means more roll

[easytrans]

Thanks Darren, I assume you mean front ARB ? I have one here waiting to go on (for the past 3 years) so maybe try that next.

Any hints on springs to use ?

L.

[DarrenH]

yeah thicker front anti roll bar. this will effectively share part of the vertical spring rate of the opposite partially loaded spring (but only while cornering)

not sure on the springs themselves, the obvious answer is coilover conversion. paul rallym has allot of experience with spring rates on those. choice of standard springs are limited by a lack of manufacturers, let alone spring rates

[RallyMarshal]

What springs on the car now Laurie - front and back? Its surprising how much the rear rates also affect the front.

Also what ARBs..?

Paul..

[easytrans]

What springs on the car now Laurie - front and back? Its surprising how much the rear rates also affect the front.

Also what ARBs..?

Paul..

Hi Paul, It has the set of Ebac springs that I had off you in a box I believe ... .the ARB's are standard at the moment but again I have the 16v Front ARB that I think I had from you also ready to fit.

I should find it back in my history somewhere ....

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8089/8...1dcf22d8_b.jpg

I assume there is some way to measure the spring rate but probably a specialist job .... I just don't want to get something to make it stiff and then find its sitting too high.

Coilovers are just a no-no for my budget car and I can't see beyond the end of the year now so its got limited time

L.

[RallyMarshal]

I think you only had the front springs from me as I used the rears on the car.

Paul..

[easytrans]

I had a few minutes this afternoon so put the new springs I bought on the car.. I believe that the rears were some that were with the Ebach fronts I got from Paul (well they were in the same box but may have been 16v ones) but anyway ....

These are what I bought ,,, sticking to the "budget ethics" they cost ~ £65 delivered ...



This is how they match up with the old "standard" 8v springs I took off a year or so ago .....



This is what the ones I'm taking off look like when sitting on all four wheels ... I do have 5 spare wheels and tyres in the back of the car at the moment though ....





How it sat then .........



How it sits now ........



Springs fitted though I fitted them up the other way this time ... Not sure there is a correct way as they are the same both ends and easy to flip if I want .....





Now to the fronts, quite a big difference between the Ebach I took off and what I'm putting on ........



The good thing with short springs is that they can be changed (with a bit of a fiddle) without removing the legs ..........



Again Ebach against the new spring .....



And finally after a blast up and down the drive to settle it all in ...........



I'm not sure if I will need to add some drop strops as there will be a lot of spare room if I leave the ground but that's so unlikely I'm not sure if I should ?

Oh and I didn't fit the 16v ARB though I got a pair of bushes ready I think the bush clamps are bigger? ,,, and Question: will the ARB come out without dropping the rear engine mount and or removing the wishbones?

Well that's all for now ......

Thanks for looking.

Laurie.

[astra216]

those rear springs... are the coils touching each other ? ... the ride must be pretty hard.

i like those 5 spokes, they suit it well.

[easytrans]

those rear springs... are the coils touching each other ? ... the ride must be pretty hard.

i like those 5 spokes, they suit it well.

Yeah they are "almost" but so were the ones I took off ... you would be surprised they are not as hard as you would think .. but that said this is a pure trackday car in this format, trailered to the tracks and I'd probably be crawling out with a 2" shorter spine if I ran it far on our roads

The wheels .. I wanted to move up to 15" so those came up at a good price and I was not sure until I fitted them with the rubber and I agree its not at all out of place in them boots.

Laurie.

[easytrans]

Well slowly slowly slowly things are coming together here at the cottage its been almost a year (come Aug 26th) that we moved in .. seems like only yesterday!

Since probably (I forget when now) probably the club trackday at Blyton the car has been here in a barn on the farm .. darn field voles have taken a liking to the crash padding foam and the seats which has pissed me off a little but its not just the cars in the barn that get attacked I have caught them in the bonnets of the SRI, Omeg the VW truck .. I've now donated the Matiz to them in the hope they will leave everything else alone now.

Meanwhile, while it seems that I'm constantly digging holes and filling them in again every free minute I have to either add field drainage or water supply and mains power to the stone barn ,,



There has been some progress though in sorting the workshop I've been dreaming of

Getting builders to do anything quickly here is impossible, they all want the job but seem to be job hoppers and you can never tie them down to a date/ time but we have got started at last ...

Originally it was going to be a 5 x 9 meter concrete slab that I would construct a nissan style building in fitting with the other 50's style semi derelict barns around the farm, but then the builder suggested why not a bespoke timber workshop that should fit my budget?

Well I marked it out 5 x 9 and sat a couple of the cars in the foot print and felt it may be a little tight if I added a ramp and considering I've only one chance to get this right I added a meter making it 6 x 9 which would work far better ...



So after a bit of consideration the builder said he can probably still "just" squeeze it into the budget, I said there was no "probably" about it it cant bust the budget as there is no contingency [period] ..

So the slab went down a couple of weeks ago .....

[



Meanwhile I'm yet digging another trench this time for electric trunking to the barn .....



Thursday the sparky came and connected between the cottage and the barn so I now have a point to plug the welder in

And this Friday the builders came and built up the frame and roof trusses (not bad for a days work!) .............



.


So the workshop is now being nick-named "The Chapel"

Standing in the shell it looks great with reasonable height with room to accommodate a hoist plus a car beside and the bike ramp and room to work around it all.

Plan is ..
Close boarded vertical "sarking" cladding (boards butted together with a 1/4 size board overlap to the joints)
8' x 8' Doorway 2 x 4' sliding doors
Slate Grey box section metal roof (same as stone barn) with 2 skylights
And I may add a window if I can find something cheap and useful.

Hopefully more progress soon .........

Cant wait to get in there and start getting my hands dirty rather than my boots muddy!

Thanks for looking

Laurie.

[1800turbogte]

Hope your well mate, that workshop will be heaven for you

[DarrenH]

insulate before you generate !

cracking, i like the new shop