[trackday_prep] My 205 Xt Trackcar Project

[RossD 43]

You'd be fine, what you may lack on the straights you will probably make up for in the bends with the suspension you've got!

[swordfish210 20]

You'd be fine, what you may lack on the straights you will probably make up for in the bends with the suspension you've got!

 

Yeah probably, this car has allways been good in the bends, i even out manouvered an Elise around Combe once...the driver was mincing along though but i'm counting it as a win

 

Another update. I'm currently making the car eligable for sprinting and hillclimbing so i wanted to fit some external cut-off switches for the master switch and extinguisher system. I didnt want to just fit them in the scuttle pannel because i think it looks a bit tacky and everyone does it, i'm not too fond of being a sheep. I decided to make a mount out of fibre glass (was originally going to use carbon but glass was cheaper and would be fine) I started by cutting a block of wood and shaping it accordingly:

 

 

Once that was done i covered it in foil tape. It would have been neater to paint it smooth but it would take much longer:

 

 

I then stuck it to a bit of wood and ran some plasticine around the edge to make a nice chamfer and make it easier to lay the glass:

 

 

I then coated it in some release agents:

 

 

Then i mixed up some resin with a nice black pigment and coated the mound in it:

 

 

and then i layed some layers of glass on top, carefully rolling it in place and coating it with resin as i went:

 

 

I left it until this morning and then cracked it out of the mould. I then drilled two holes in it and tried it with one of my pull cords:

 

 

I would have cut it out but i dont have any cutting tools and need to borrow a dremel. I'm now contemplating where to mount it, i was thinking of putting it in the front wing but i can't help thinking that it would be better in the 3/4 panel just behind the door, what do you guys think?

 

I then did a bit more wiring work on the car. I now have the rear lights all wired in and the cable is neatly tidied away. I'm going to start on the dash loom next week and then i can do the engine loom and fit the DTA. Thanks for reading.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Pug are supplying the old type of bearings again, the last 20 odd set's have all been those thankfully

 

You looking at doing any at Gurston?

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

With the cut off switches, do they not have to be positioned in a certain area? I'd just have a quick check in the blue book if I were you.

[swordfish210 20]

Pug are supplying the old type of bearings again, the last 20 odd set's have all been those thankfully

 

You looking at doing any at Gurston?

 

Ah really, i thought i was lucky because the bearings were upstairs and according to the parts guy they had been for sometime.

 

Gurston Down was on my to-do list for Hillclimbs, looks like a good course. What's a good time for a -1400cc mod prod up there?

[swordfish210 20]

With the cut off switches, do they not have to be positioned in a certain area? I'd just have a quick check in the blue book if I were you.

 

I've got an old blue book that just says that have to be easily accessable. I'll nab my mates one and have a nose though just to make sure.

[swordfish210 20]

Not much of an update really. I've been picking away at the wiring loom, i seem to have all of the back lights working now, just need to tidy it all away and then i can start ripping out the dash loom (really not looking forward to that ) I made a bracket to mount a CPS on for the trigger wheel but i'm not really happy with it so i may do a bit of a redesign.

 

On another note i just found out that i've been getting overcharged for the s*itty garage that i rent from the Housing Association so i'm in the process of trying to recover circa £170 from them and i'm going to look at a workshop on Tuesday which is just down the road from my house and the owner reckons is big enough to work on a car in (the previous owner was restoring a race car in there too ) and it has fitted lights and 240v power outlets so hopefully i can get that, move the car in and stop letting the weather and daylight hinder my work

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Get a workshop big enough for 2 cars and I will move in too

[swordfish210 20]

Get a workshop big enough for 2 cars and I will move in too

 

There might be one there but it's twice the price as the single, suppose we could go halfs on it though. I'll try to get all the details on Tuesday and let you know mate.

[swordfish210 20]

It's mine now

 

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Want a kettle once i've got rid of my workshop?

[swordfish210 20]

Want a kettle once i've got rid of my workshop?

 

Mmm, sounds nice. Can't work properly without a good supply of tea

 

I started ferrying stuff over to the workshop today and i was going to drive the car over but it's SORN'd and i don't fancy the £2000 fine so i called Dixon and he came over with his trailer and we took the car over. Here it is in it's new home:

 

 

I'm going to borrow the van from work on Saturday and take the rest of my stuff over, the stuff that wouldn't fit in the Sedan and then i can start some work on the car. I'll probably whip the beam off and start doing that as i'm bored of doing electrics.

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

If your bored of doing electrics... want to help me do my electrics? Had jack over this evening and we marked the cig lighter and thats about it!

[swordfish210 20]

If your bored of doing electrics... want to help me do my electrics? Had jack over this evening and we marked the cig lighter and thats about it!

 

Um, no not really. Let me know when you're doing something interesting

 

I had a bit of a manic day today, the agency i do some work for got me a job today dong some unloading, basically it involved unloading an entire 40ton container filled with boxes of doorstops in to a warehouse...and it nearly killed me doing that in 4 hours.

 

Anyway i came home, had a meatball sandwidge and went to the workshop. I was going to do the electrics but i quickly lost my enthusiasm for that so i pulled the rear beam off of the car and started stripping that down. It came apart really easily using my now trusty torsion bar puller and i quickly had it all in bits. The thing that surprised me was that both of the trailing arm shafts are in really good condtion, prefectly servicable, so i breated a sigh of relief when they came out as i was worried they would be scrap.

 

I stripped out the old outer bearings which wern't in bad condtion but i can't get the inner bearings out, real pain in the arse so i'll have another go tomorrow, and start attacking the beam with some paint

 

Beam off:

 

 

Old torsion bars:

 

 

Stripped down with the new bars slid in:

 

 

Thanks for reading

[miamichris 9]

Use a long pole, like one of your old torsion bars and knock the inner bearings right through and out the other side of the beam mate.

 

I made up a puller thing using threaded bar, nuts, washers, a dumb bell weight etc. and it worked but the "bashing them out with a pole" method is much faster and made me regret the time I spent making the puller tool!

[welshpug 1,622]

what I use is an arm shaft fat end first, remove one outer bearing, them bash the shaft all the way through till it drops out of the other side with 3 bearings

 

36mm socket might be about the right size IIRC.

 

I take it as the new bars are already in they're man sized ones that wont slide through the arms?

[swordfish210 20]

I do have an old ARB that i tried to use to hit the bearings out but the ends of the bar are rounded so it slips off very easily If i had a welder handy i could weld a disc of steel on it to add a bit more surface area that would make it a lot easier.

 

Yeah the bars are 24mm and the arms have to be removed to fit them, i really hope i get the rideheight correct the first time

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

If you can be assed, kev will be in my workshop tomorrow and i've got lots of steel your welcome to make something, but best give him a call since im at sillystone.

[swordfish210 20]

I went to the workshop after work today but i only had an hour before i went to the guy so i didn't get a lot done. I started off by giving the rear beam a bit of treatment with the blowtorch:

 

 

To loosen up the inner beam bearings, once i had them nice and hot i took Merions advice and dropped a 36mm socket in the tube and gave it some hell with the hammer and they soon dropped out:

 

 

I then greased up the new bearings and slid them in to the correct depth and then added the new seals:

 

 

It was at that point that i nearly made a right cock-up. I got a bit carried away with my progress and allmost slid the trailing arms in without putting the torsion bars in and setting the ride height Still, no harm done and i should have it all built up and ready for some paint on wednesday.

Edited April 12, 2010 by swordfish210

[swordfish210 20]

I went to the workshop this afternoon and did a bit more work on the beam. I first attacked the tube with some Nitromors and a wire wheel attachment on my battery drill to get the tube back to bare metal:

 

 

I then gave the tube a few coats of Hammerite smooth to bring it back to a nice yellow:

 

 

While that was drying i greased up the torsion bars at the trailing arms and fitted the dummy shock to the beam to measure the rideheight. I then slid the arms in and locked the torsion bars in:

 

 

I've just got to set the clearances between the trailing arm and the tube seal and bolt it all up. I went to slide the ARB in but the end plates don't fit in the trialing arms and they are too short to fit the standard bolt holes in the arm? Has anyone ever fitted a Saxo VTR ARB to a 205 beam before?

[swordfish210 20]

I went to the workshop today and got the beam back on the car, bit of a pain by yourself with only one trolley jack but i think i've got the technique down now. I then dropped it on to the floor to check the rideheight and it looks like i got it just about right the first time I used a 295mm dummy shock length to get it right. I the set the clearances on the trailing arms and bolted it all back togeather:

 

[Jrod 7]

Needs GTI rear valance.

Edited April 14, 2010 by Jrod

[miamichris 9]

Is 295mm not very low?

 

Surely that would be about a 40-50mm drop in ride height which would have you on the bumpstops mate?

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

On standard torsion bars maybe. But not on thicker ones. My car is set at 300 mm centres and looks like an off roader at the back, 23mm torsion bars.

[swordfish210 20]

Yeah it's quite a way off the bumpstops and i haven't even cut them down Just need to sort the ARB out now. This is the problem i have now:

 

 

I was told that 306 endplates would fit the saxo ARB and the 205 trailing arm but i need to get the old endplate off which some french plank has welded on.

 

Needs GTI rear valance.

 

Um...thanks Whats the difference between the GTI rear valance and the one thats on there?

Edited April 14, 2010 by swordfish210