Mark A

iTrader: (1)

Did you say tyou where going to try some newage Sti hubs?

Mark

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Well eventually making some progress after a lot of head scratching and some rewiring and some tweeks on John's laptop the car now runs and doesnt seem to have wheels that would make Charles Fandango jealous, for all you youngsters ask your dad he will explain :P .
I have sorted the suspension issues I had by changing the coilovers to an inverted set up which has made all the difference. The car now has clearance all round and visible negative camber and there is still clearance to adjust the camber more via the bolts if required without having to widen the track again.

I finally decided to sort the holes in the floor left by the grommets which came away when I removed the underseal last year. Was going to just use new rubber grommets but struggled to find any the right size at a reasonable price so just shaped and rivetted some bits of ally, aircraft grade obviously, and sealed with seam sealer - sorted.





I seem to have created a hoste of wiring issues as a result of removing the dash, most of them minor and only really MOT issues but since the MOT has expired they needed fixed. One of them was the hazards only working on the RH side but all indicators working properly. It wasnt hard to work out what the fault was but took ages finding the plug breaks under the dash and then tracing the fault. This one turned out to be a broken wire at some point between the hazard switch and the plug break next to the fuse box. Continuity check proved the wire open cct, New wire spliced in problem sorted - 4 hours later tho . most of the other problems I had were poor connections at plug breaks I had disturbed and most only required a clean with contact cleaner and the plugs reseated.

There just seemed to be a raft of niggling issues that seem to run away with silly amounts of time but managed to get the car MOT'd today with only an advisory for all 4 tyres being near the limit. Not surprised since I forgot to put the road wheels on and went with the Khumo's on oops. The guy who MOT'd it was hilarious he just kept saying "I am wasting my time everything is new even the bolts are new, the underside of this is cleaner than our canteen table" was another cracker, probably true tho it was probably the quickest MOT he has ever done

Managed to get some pics outside today as well which was nice instead of trying to take pics in the garage where space is restricted.













Some of the finished engine set up







And one showing my new lightweight windscreen washer bottle, its actually a pish sample bottle adapted to fit



And one of the Carl Davey's cracking alternator bracket set up, it is a really nice piece of engineering, thanks Carl :thumbup:



I am still using the tank from last year which I have put back in but it will be replaced before the Sprint at Boyndie.







Some of the inside which is a vast improvement from last year.







Its off to John at Progrip tomorrow to have the Geometry set up again which hopefully wont through up any more issues. After that its just the small matter of geeting it mapped.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Just a quick update for now.
Things were starting to look good the car was pretty much finished and was idling fine. The MOT was done and the geometry was set up to pretty much what I needed at this stage. Unfortunately Andy F was off on holiday so I couldnt get it mapped in time for Boyndie. But desperate to get the car out Andy offered some advice which was greatly appreciated and Simon (Jolly Green Monster) also offered to help out, thanks Simon really appreciate the help :thumbup: .

Armed with the info required, John's wide band set up, data log software and a few other Gizmo's, John and I decided to map the car ourselves. We took the car out on Tue using a base map and proceded to tweek things to get the fueling right. The car felt good and really pulled hard through the gears. It felt SIGNIFICANTLY quicker than last year. Just when things were looking good for Boyndie disaster struck I took 5th gear after a hard run through 2nd and 3rd and the gearbox stuck in 5th lucky white heather . We eventually got it into neutral, initially I had thought it may be an issue with the short shifter and bushes that were fitted but it happened again, the gear change although very tight was not smooth at all. Unfortunately I had to go down to Exeter to work for a couple of days which gave me no time to sort it before Boyndie. The only viable option was to withdraw from Boyndie, totally gutted about that, and remove the gearbox and see whats went wrong. So the gearbox will be out in a few hours and I will start to strip it down to see what can be done.

The hope is to get the car out for Kames on the 1st Aug although there really is nothing to aim at now as there are not enough events left to score any points worth talking about so the rest of this year will be about tweeking the handling so that the chassis at least is where i want it for next year.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Well an update is probably overdue. to many trips to France for work have eaten into my time again, well it was Exeter but suppose thats nearly France

Gearbox is back in and hopefully all sorted the problem was an easy fix in the end, with some help from John it was back together and back in place pretty quickly but unfortunately not in time for Boyndie. I also found the quickshift was hitting the tunnel in first and second so a few cm's removed from the tunnel with an air saw and all sorted and the bonus being 7.342g saved in weight and that includes factoring in the alloy replacement patch and rivets

Decided it was time to attack the boot lid and decided it needed to go on a diet so removed this



It did make the boot a bit wobbly, think that is the correct engineering term So I decided to use my favourite right angled alloy to stiffen it up again. So with a few cuts and a bit of fileing and riveting it looks like this now, and is as solid as it was with the skin in place - result.





This allows me to retain the lock and hinges etc for now although there is a lot more weight that can come out of the boot lid yet.

I was also considering going without a spoiler



But in the end decided on this





The problem is that having put the bigger spoiler on any weight I saved from the boot lid has just gone back on via the bigger spoiler mmm note to self spoiler needs the weight watchers treatment asap

The car will be over at Andy's next week to have a final check of the map so hopefully this will show no new issues and it will be all sorted for Kames on the 4th and 5th Aug. With the season all but over it is now really about testing the bits of the car that will stay the same for next year and then tweeking them slightly. And most importantly start planning ahead to ensure this scenario nevers happens again.

I have a small fuel seep from one of the dash 6 unions at the fuel rails so going to change that section of pipework and the unions as a precaution. I also have a few suspensions tweeks to make if I have time, but they are not critical although it would make a difference on track.

trails

iTrader: (41)

sup[er clean looking now its all back together, love the boot strengthening; real garage engineering

Fai17

iTrader: (2)

Goodish news Arch

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Cheers Peter looks like your build is coming on nicely Exhaust work down at Meercat is looking really good but not surprised to be honest they do some quality work.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Well at last real progress. Had the car across at Andy F's on Wed to have it mapped and it all looks good. Car is pulling well and is very responsive with good power from pretty early on to well up the rev range . The bum dyno indicates that it is much quicker than last year so will be interesting to see how it fairs at the weekend at Kames. Thanks Andy another quality outcome :icon_salut:

Had the car across at Progrip today and had a few tweeks dialled in which worked out really well so almost all set for Kames at the weekend. Always good having some Banter with John while he is setting up the car
Got the car back and took out the huuuuuge tank and bracing ready to fit its smaller brother Thats a job for tomorrow tho



Need to make a decision on a quick shift that I have fitted but not 100% sure so will sort that tomorrow and change it back to the standard linkage if needed. It does produce a much quicker shift but is not as smooth and precise as the standard linkage.
Got a few small things to do but nothing critical. Really looking forward to the weekend to see how the car compares to the others in the class and also to last year.
The entry list for this one is interesting with this being a round of the British championship. If the weather is good this will be a good couple of days.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

As stated above I managed to get the small tank in for Kames. There wasnt a massive weight saving really but it does tidy things up a little.







The two days at Kames went really well. The car ran very well with just the seat to wheel interface the issue It was a good feeling to be back driving the car and also good to get the class wins both days. That was unexpected to be honest but nice all the same









It really is like driving a different car from last year, although it looks pretty much the same there are a lot of things that have changed which have changed the way it behaves on track. It does still feel really well balanced and predictable which makes driving it easy.

I dont have anything to do to the car between now and the Golspie Sprint in September which is a bit of a strange feeling after the last 6 months. Straight after Golspie is Boyndie which is always a good event and very similar to golspie in many respects although Golspie is probably the faster circuit.

Jamz_

iTrader: (12)

looking good mate! Just noticed your front towing eye, where did you get that from?

Arch

iTrader: (59)

It was off ebay but cant remember the seller, I have had a quick search but cant see any now

GazJenno

Just had a quick look through all this and looks really good, come along way! Was very intrested in the way you prepped the interior as Im doing the same at the moment. Looks good how you did the fire wall and the wiring...

Thats the bit thats worrying me at the moment, wiring, as Im not really sure how to remove certain things out the wiring system (like the rear wiper, interior lights, central locking, door open switches, etc.) and do it properly as well as keeping it all neat, any advice?

Gaz

Dan Ingram

iTrader: (4)

Nice work, I'm planning to do similar things to mine. One quick point. Would it not be better to have your harnesses mounted to the cross bar on the roll cage? Its a better angle for them than down to the floor.

Jamz_

iTrader: (12)

Aye had a look on ebay last night and couldnt find anything... appart from rear ones from America

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

looks similar to mine, which is the heavy duty one on the left here
Drifting Car Parts | Drift Videos and DVDs | Drift Clothing

Archie, looking good, was good to catch up at TOTB, may try get to one of your events later in the year to see what all this sprinting stuff is about

mr_D

iTrader: (12)

awersome thread. just taken an hour reading and looking. works going quick today lol

Jamz_

iTrader: (12)

Cheers for that. Just out of intrested, how did you fit it? Just drilled holes into the front chasis?


Also just noticed your not running any fans, do you not see any over heating at all?

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

Could either bolt through chasis leg or weld it to chasis leg.

I think Archie has fans in front or radiator that push air through rather than pull.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Gaz
I must admit most of this stuff is easy for me, I have been playing with cars since I was a boy and am a Licenced aircraft engineer and work with aircraft wiring, engines and airframe systems every day so it does make modding the car a little easier.
That said in terms of the wiring the easiest thing to do is get a wiring diagram and start from the systems you want to remove, for example the rear window wiper. Go to the wiper and motor, remove the plug from the motor and de-loom all the wiring all round the boot all the way into the car and along the side of the interior sills, this is time consuming but necessary. You will then trace the wiring back to probably one of the main plugs under the dash next to the fuse box. It is then a case of cutting all the wiring you dont need and then terminating the bare ends that remain with good quality heat shrink or something similar. It is always best to check the wiring diagram for the colour codes etc before cutting, also make sure all this is done with the battery disconnected. If you do this for every system you want to lose you wont go far wrong. It will leave you with a mess of wiring and many open unprotected looms. I like to tie all the wiring back together and then protect with spiral wrap, or convoluted tubing, at any point where there is even a remote risk of any chaffing against anything that could cause damage to the loom.
I am lucky in as much as the RA doesnt have many of the electrical items that most people remove. I also have not removed much wiring as I always intended to be able to put the car back to as near standard as required if any rules changed for the road car classes.
I did add a flashing led on the 12v supply to the fuel pump so that I can instantly see if there is power to the pump in event of a pump failure. This will allow me to quickly diagnose if I have a pump issue or a wiring issue.

As for the fire wall, i used some aircraft grade alluminium and cut and shaped it to fit the hole. It was pretty easy to be honest appart from the two corners at the bottom where the structure curves a little. The ally just needed to be worked a little to get it neat. I then used skin pins to hold everything in place before rivetting it all up. I firewalled the rear shelf in the same way but used a number of smaller panels. I then went round and sealed all the edges as required under the blue book rules. This is purely to seal the drivers compartment from the boot where the tank is. Some people call it a firewall but i would argue that it is not really. I have probably went over board with mine as it is very sound structurally and sealed with fire resistant sealant and may act as a firewall for a limited period, but this is not required, it only has to be fluid sealed.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Dan it may well be a better angle if they were attached to the roll bar but I have not had any issues using the rear seat belt mount holes and most of the other lads running in road saloon classes mount them in this way

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Was good to say hello as well and was a good day out, the boys enjoyed themselves although it was tempered with the problems experienced by yourself and some of the other 22B team which was really unlucky. The good thing is elspeth didnt play her hide the car key game this year

It would be good to see you up this end, I only have 2 sprints left one at Golspie near Wick on the 12th and 13th Sept and Boyndie near Banff on the 19th and 20th Sept. I am not intending doing any of the hill climbs that are left although might not be able to resist Doune but will need to see nearer the time.

The towing eye I have is similar to the one in the link although mine is alloy and pretty light. I have bolted it directly onto the chassis leg

Arch

iTrader: (59)

100% Steven. I have two fans mounted in front of the radiator to push air through it. This is purely a space saving mod to give me the room required for the intercooler pipework.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Thanks appreciate you taking the time to read it all. These project threads are good as they often help people with ideas and ways of doing things that maybe they hadnt thought about. I read Steven's old thread and it was full of very good info as is the case with many of the threads on here where people are doing the jobs themselves.

Danny Boy

iTrader: (2)

Hi Archie

Your car looks mint
What paint did you use to tart up your hubs etc?

Arch

iTrader: (59)

I used Por15 from frost. Its an amazing paint, I also used it on the underside of the car. The only problem is it reacts with air and if you buy the single large tin and dont use it all in one go you end up losing a lot of it as it goes thick in the tin. Thats why the 6 small tins are better, the small tins appear really small but it does seem to cover very well and goes a long way. On a smooth surface it goes on by brush and gives a finish you would swear had been sprayed on Its not cheap tho but very very good, word of warning tho dont get it on your skin as its really hard to get off trust me i know

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.a...tSubcat=POR-15

Danny Boy

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for that, doing a bit of a suspension overhaul on mine soon so thought i would tart it up a bit whilst i'm at it.

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

Dont think i will be able to make it up for either of those weekends, if i dont get up before the end of the year, i will certainly be up next year to watch/play maybe

Arch

iTrader: (59)

That would be cool Kames, Doune and Forrestburn would be the best options as they are all local with Doune and Forrestburn being hillclimbs. Maybe you fancy a look at Doune

utaka

i cant seem to get to page four keeps going back to page three

trails

iTrader: (41)

a new SN feature Utaka...thread tease!