[trackday_prep] My 205 Xt Trackcar Project

[swordfish210 20]

I guess the thermostat housing from a later TU 8v engine isn't a direct swap then, as I'm assuming these would all have a CTS sensor on them for the various guises of engine management they ran?

 

Might be, i've never seen one though that i can remember.

[swordfish210 20]

Hey all, i'm back from my week away now and when i got home i had a present wating for me:

 

 

I bought some of these from Baker BM about 3 years ago which allways worked fine but after i rebuilt the beam i was torqing up the bolts and one of them snapped I phoned up Stew Baker to enquire how difficult it would be remove the snapped stud with a stud extractor to which he replied;

 

"Ah don't bother, it'll be really hard. Just send them back and i'll send you a new pair FOC" It's a credit to what a nice guy he is in that he will offer aftercare on a 3 year old product. I went to the workshop earlier and fitted them, next on the adjenda for the car is to design and make some sort of dash to mount all of the gauges and lights so i can make a start on the wiring.

 

On another note, in my constant quest for lightness i have made a breakthrough I spent last week in Magaluf eating very little, drinking a lot and doing stuff.... and i've managed to lose 5kgs in just one week Not bad methinks

Edited July 30, 2010 by swordfish210

[swordfish210 20]

Hey all, i was having a bit of a domestic day at the workshop today I gave all of my tools a good clean and greased up and serviced all of my ratchets and torque wrench. I've also been working on a new dash for the car to mount all of my gauges, i've got a cardboard template done but i need to see now if it fits underneath the dash and find a way to mount it. I also need to save up for a speedo then i can start the wiring.

 

I also wanted to set the steering rack as i've allways had the tracking done by the local tyre place and i was concerned the rack could be out. I got the car on the stands and my suspicions were confirmed:

 

 

 

You can see the passenger side trackrod end is noticably further out than the drivers side so i broke out the WD-40 and gave everything a clean up then i adjusted both sides so they measured 30.3mm with my trusty vernier:

 

 

It seems to have given the car a shed load of toe out but i'll get the Dunlop gauges on it (when i get some ) and get it back to my prefered setting of 0 Toe.

[swordfish210 20]

Hey, I made a new template for my dash today. It seems to fit pretty well I just need to add some holes for the rest of the warning lights.

 

Once the template is done i'll make it out of aluminium and make some mounts for it, then I just need to save some money and buy a speedo.

 

[swordfish210 20]

Would you Adam and Eve it! I've actually done some work on the car recently. I was so broke after finishing uni i had to put the car by the wayside for a while until things picked up but now i'm earning some money (plus i can buy parts from work for a seriously low price ) i can actually get cracking on the car again.

 

First thing i bought was a battery and mounted that behind the passenger seat:

 

 

Then i bought a speedo and the magnetic pickup and put that in to the dash i've made:

 

 

I still need to add one more warning light to the dash for the handbrake but that can wait. Next thing i'll be buying is some battery cable and fittings then i can hopefully get cracking on the loom

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Looking great! The dash looks shweeeet, proper motor sport! Never knew your could put those batteries on their side !

[swordfish210 20]

Looking great! The dash looks shweeeet, proper motor sport! Never knew your could put those batteries on their side !

 

Thanks, the dry cell batteries can be mounted in any orientation although mounting them upside down is not reccomended.

[Cameron 16]

Looks cool, but those wonky green lights would drive me crazy!

[swordfish210 20]

Looks cool, but those wonky green lights would drive me crazy!

 

Yeah, like a tard i drilled the hole in the wrong place. I wasn't about to scrap the whole dash over it though.

[swordfish210 20]

I got myself some new Xsara VTS trialing arms from AlistarH the other day (thanks again) so i took them in to work and stripped them down, then i made them a bit lighter thanks to some creative work with a grinder

 

I wanted to strip them right back to bare metal and paint them and i was curious to try the vinegar method, so i got myself a big tub and 13 litres of vinegar from Morrisons for a grand total of £2.13 Bargain!, i did get some funny looks though going to the till with all of these bottles:

 

 

 

I also blasted and painted some other bits from the beam last week:

 

 

Few more bits to clean and paint then it can all go back on again.

[swordfish210 20]

I had a nice parcel arrive from Colin Satchell today:

 

 

I sent him the bits a few weeks ago and he had them Zinc coated for me, should look nice on the beam. On the subject of the vinegar rust removal thaings seem to be looking up, the rust has just fallen off of some of the smaller parts and it seems to be eating away at the thick rust on the trailing arms Considering what it cost i think it's an absolute bargain.

[swordfish210 20]

Thought i'd cheer myself up with a bit of work on the 205 today, It was working fine until i put a 5mm drill bit through my finger Anyway, that aside i managed to get a few things done, namely removing these little bastards:

 

 

I also gave a pair of calipers i got from Anthony a quick refurb:

 

 

 

Sneaky shot of one of my trailing arms:

 

 

And my Torsion Bars after a fresh coat of paint and ARB:

 

 

I also sanded and cleaned my beam tube ready for paint:

 

 

As soon as the tube is painted i'll get it all built up and back on.

[swordfish210 20]

Got a few more jobs done today. First i wanted to sort the oil system, i noticed the last time the car was on the road that the oil thermostat had stopped working and was just letting the oil flood in to the cooler regardless of the temperature. I took the cooler off and took it to Merlins where i had a chat with them and a guy from Mocal who said that they do break occasionally and i'd have to send it back Bit annoying but it should be back shortly. I also had them make an oil pressure pipe from Goodridge hose as the plastic one i had melted against the exhaust manifold :

 

 

Which i fitted to my recently shortened T-piece:

 

 

 

I also put my calipers togeather:

 

 

I spent the rest of my time there painting bits and de-rusting others. Hopefully it'll be back on wheels by the weekend.

[Anthony 1,000]

What did you clean the calipers up with Mark, as they've come out very well! Did you shot blast them or something?

[swordfish210 20]

What did you clean the calipers up with Mark, as they've come out very well! Did you shot blast them or something?

 

Yarp, i just sealed them up really really well and blasted them with some fine sand. The sand was a bit too fine for the carriers though as it wouldn't take the paint off so i had to do them with a wire wheel.

[swordfish210 20]

I got some presents in the mail this morning

 

 

2x 8 row fuse boards, 7x 4 pin relays, 1 indicator flasher unit from PoleVolt and 2 torsion bar end caps courtesy of Mr Fenton Thanks again mate. Just got to mount the boards and relays now then get all of the wiring in

[swordfish210 20]

Few more pictures. The other day i bought some battery cable to do the starting/charging system. I temporarly laid it out to see where it can all go:

 

 

 

I'll tidy it all up another time, i may run some of the loom alongside it so theres no hurry. I also monted my new fuse boards:

 

 

The rear beam is also coming along, i just need a grinder to tickle part of the beam as the torsion bar just touches it:

 

 

More updates on sunday hopefully.

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

You cannot use manky old bolts on a beam that looks like that! Get some new ones man!!

[swordfish210 20]

You cannot use manky old bolts on a beam that looks like that! Get some new ones man!!

 

I have technically, they're just on back order from Peugeot and won't be here til the middle of November (which, knowing Peugeot, will actually be january). I'll just be using the old ones for now

[welshpug 1,622]

heh, I spy motorsport prep detail there

 

which bit needs relieving?

[swordfish210 20]

heh, I spy motorsport prep detail there

 

which bit needs relieving?

 

At the other end of the beam on the large cast part where the bar comes out of the arm. With the large diameter bars it just rubs a bit, not really an issue but i want it nice and contact free

[swordfish210 20]

I got my beam sort of finished today (still wating for bolts from Peugeot and some wheel bearings) I'm quite happy with the result as i think it looks pretty good:

 

 

 

[swordfish210 20]

Didn't get much work done today. I managed to get the old towing eyes off, the front one was an absolute bastard and i had to borrow Ed Cherrys impact gun to get the old bolts out as they were impressively seized, the rear one was just a matter of chopping off though:

 

 

I can now fit these (much lighter) Schroth tow straps:

 

 

I also fitted these OMP pedals, should be nice and grippy and make heel-toe braking a lot easier:

 

[miamichris 9]

I got my beam sort of finished today (still wating for bolts from Peugeot and some wheel bearings) I'm quite happy with the result as i think it looks pretty good:

 

 

Looks good but don't expect those zinc coated bits to stay looking nice for very long!

[Lan 24 1 Cars]

I also fitted these OMP pedals, should be nice and grippy and make heel-toe braking a lot easier:

 

 

Nice work as usual, Great pedals those shame someone couldn't fit them straight tho

 

Edited November 1, 2010 by Lan