Croft Update Decided I finally needed to do Croft! Its my local track and only an hour away from home I booked the Monday off work and rang around a few mates. They were all game for coming along which made it all the more fun! Beardy came all the way from Anglesy in his DC5 Teg. Myles can along with his dad, he has a standard 197 clio with a cage - Myles has the lap record at Croft when he used to race in the NSSCC! So I was excited to go out with him, and get some feedback about my driving. I had loads planned to do to the golf before I went. The rear engine mount is pretty goosed, I wanted to adapt the mounts on oil cooler with some rubber bushes and I wanted to check everything over and give him an oil change. ... I didnt get any of those things done, I was too busy having a whale of a time with my mates mountain biking and climbing. So Sunday came and I changed my oil. I was glad I did it as it had reached almost 130 degrees at the ring and after only 1,000 miles it was completely black! Got the car all packed up with the essential spares just in case. Gave him a wash and I was ready for Monday. Arrived at Croft at 7:30am, and unloaded the car, we had a garage which was nice. The majority of people were there in Caterhams with race teams obviously using the day as a test day. Passed the noise test and out to do the sighting laps. From the onboard footage it doesnt quite show how wide the track is, or how bumpy. Its a very technical circuit that has very fast sections down to a 2nd gear hairpin. Early on in the day I was pleased with how I was progressing, and I was soon building up some good pace. I took Myles out and he was impressed, he said he couldnt believe how quick I was going to say Id never been there before - which was nice to hear! I asked him if he would change anything and he said no not really, just try come off your brakes quicker and let the car roll in Took that on board and immediately felt better. He also gave me the command FLAT when I began to lift for the right hander before Sunny in/out. Keeping flat took some balls.. to then brake for the Sunnys means youre braking whilst still having slight steering angle because there isnt enough room to get the car straight before you brake. But again this advice paid off and it felt quick. Before coming to Croft Myles sent me some of his onboard videos from a few years back when he raced there. Ive watched them over and over trying to get a feel for the place - Its amazing how much you can learn from just watching. Its a similar story to when I went to the Ring using simulators to gauge a better feel for the place. anyway... here as some onboard videos. They wouldnt allow helmet cams, so I made a mount out of a plastic clamp, which turned out better than expected! This first one is a lap with Myles dad, who was also giving me some useful tips along the way [video=youtube;seT1H9YWR80]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seT1H9YWR80[/video] Second video is on my own, Beardy in the white teg, Myles in his blue Clio.- this was a really fun session, and a highlight for me! [video=youtube;cdN_9LI13ms]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdN_9LI13ms[/video] Track selfie lol after the checked flag came out. All in all we all had a blast! the track is fantastic!! and I will be back there soon! There a few places I can improve but generally I was pretty please with how everything went and the feedback I received from everyone I took out. My rear tyres at the end of the day Im waiting for some photos from the photographer so Ill post them up when they are ready
I like Croft, some really quick corners through the Jim Clark Esses then a 2nd gear hairpin. ! Looking at your car on the Javelin Gallery and it`s looking good
Got some pictures through tonight, some great shots! Really surprised how flat the car looks through some of the high speed corners. love this one! Looks like I have a touch of oppo here... Let the car roll in.. Look to be cocking the inside wheel here
some good and bad news this time.. Lets cut to the chase, Ill just address the elephant in the room... Yep. Last year it was the passenger side, this year the drivers side.. obviously this hasnt happened in a year but just goes to show what can be lurking under perfect looking underseal. My plan was to tidy a few bits underneath properly grind back the bits I had welded last year, stone chip, prime, paint and re underseal. After chipping away with a screw driver on a piece of broken underseal no larger than the size of a pea; this was uncovered. Just as i was stabbing my way through my sill fordy turns up I can tell that doesnt sound good haha he wasnt wrong. Anyway, nothing that cant be fixed! lets look on the bright side! ...Which brings me nicely to the second elephant in the room.... Yep. Thats a hole in my subframe. I do check these things over regualry especially with using it on track but things are easily missed. The hole is right next to where my wishbone mounts, which seems safe. new subframe it is then. Moving on to some better news! Ive been doing some more Graphics work for Milltek which involves me designing next years GT86 VLN race car at the Nurburgring; as part of the parcel I mentioned I was interested in a manifold for the golf. 2 days later there was one waiting for me at home! - Ill post some picture of the car up when everything gets signed off, currently in development stage so things are really looking up, pretty exciting stuff. certainly looks the part, and seems much better quality than the tat I bought years and years ago. It will also cure a long term problem Ive had with the current pattern part downpipe which catches on my steering rack. After Croft i felt the rear engine mount was goosed. So got that sorted, the original one was still on the car from factory and actually looked in perfect nick when I got it off - Ill keep that safe incase this Febi one fails. Ford suggested I be a pikey and fill it fun of silicone as that stiffens them up.. okay then.. heres the new mount-with said white silicone and repainted bracket Not really much point bolting it up until I get a new subframe. Also had the problem at Croft of my battery light glowing when the car was idling - this is with a new battery and alternator, so I checked everything over and all seemed perfect. Took the wiring loom out from the alt - battery to find this, The connector on the live wire to the alternator was loose and look pretty burnt, felt pretty lucky I caught this when I did! Cut the outer skin off the cable and replaced that, added leccy tape and some proper loom tape; then re crimped the connected - so that one issue fixed. This is the space Im working in, its pretty tight, I can just about squeeze the wheel off the passenger side.. saying that its where Im most happiest! In the garage, Radio on and a brew of Yorkshires finest. jobs a goodn!
update time.. Went back this weekend for a couple of days of tinkering. you will see from my previous post I found some nasty holes in my sill and subframe. I managed to source a genuine vw subframe freshly powder coated for very reasonably money from Vosswagen - cant recommend this guy enough, very helpful and always appreciates the custom. So with the new subframe I ordered new polybush antiroll bar bushes, New Genuine VW bolts for all the subframe, New Genuine roll bar brackets and got them fitted up - along with the manifold Bought all new gaskets studs and nuts for the manifold too. I got Milltek to make me a replacement pipe for the centre section, mainly for a bit more grunt/less restriction and potential clearance issues getting on my steep driveway or the carousel. It really is a thing of beauty! slots together like a dream! I will post a video shortly of the fully exhaust system in action. If anyone remembers a few years ago when I had the ebay 4 branch fitted and how horric that was in every possible sense (didnt fit, lost of shed load of power, sounded tinny) I can only say the complete opposite for the Milltek system. The increase in power and torque through the whole rev range is incredible, its really really pulls hard all the way to 6,500rpm I think married to the uprated Newman cam this is exactly what the car needed. The system is evidently extremely well engineered. I let Ford take her out for a spin to see weather of not it was just me thinking it was much faster. He came back with a huge grin! its actually really fast!! We had a little play later on that day in Mexico.. He has a mk1 TT V6 and we were fairly well match up to around 85 ish then he began to pull away.. saying that I never expect the little 8v to be a rocket ship, thats not what this is about. I get alot of people saying broooo just stick a 20vt in it or a VR or why you putting this amount of money in an 8v they just dont get it... its not all about power, but how its delivered, the rawness, how it feels and the character of the thing - and that you would never EVER replicate in a 20vt. moving on... I did alot of little jobs at the weekend too, like tidying up my mahles, they were starting to look scruffy and needed some attention how many wheel weights.. cleaned them all and gave the lips a lick with the polisher, then a coat of wax. I also started to have a look at the engine and fuelling. Since I fitted the cam Ive been returning around 25mpg on a run! appose to 45mpg before. Friends have told me it stinks of fuel when they are behind me when Im on throttle and there is a few puffs of smoke here and there.. There was nowhere open with a gas analyser to test my fuelling on Saturday so I concentrated on the oil issue. Had a look at the PCV system - If this is blocked the engine cant breath and it will push oil past the piston rings and cause it to use oil. I took everything apart for a clean. The rocker cover gauze was completed clogged, I think this is also down to the powdercoat. Thats with a bright bulb directly behind it! pipework was pretty dirty too got everything cleaned with brake cleaner and the gauze unblocked. my cams still looking clean! Another problem Id been having is my oil running too cold on the road. with the cooler it sits around 72, this is not good for the engine as it wont burn off any condensation. I also think this is contributing to the low MPG. With that in mind I decided to make a CAD Template (Cardboard Aided Design) and blocked off 70% of the cooler to see if it would make a difference.. it did! oil sits at 82 now which is better but still not ideal. Next time Im back I will make a full cover for the cooler which I can easily take off for track days and see how that works. Another alternative would be to fit a different termo plate which is what Ill do if the cover doesnt work. So thats about everything! Interesting post again eh!lol Weve booked the Nurburgring again this year! 13th-21st July Im giddy already TURNING RIGHT!
A few more bits and bats sorted this weekend. Had it booked in at a mates garage to borrow their Exhaust Gas Analysers to make sure the engine was fuelling right after the recent modifications. I had suspected it was running really rich because it was eating fuel, averaging around 22mpg on a good run and popping flames at every opportunity! We hooked up the machine and the CO was at 0.4... really lean! which is very weird! never the less we followed Rubjonnys guide and got her set up to around 1.8 at 850rpm. but...this didnt come with out problems! (when does anything do right first time eh!) We had disconnected the rad fan so the CO settings wouldnt be interrupted and the inevitable happened. We both forgot about the fan, and unfortunately I was standing right over the engine bay when the flange decided to snap and blow a few litres of coolant right in my face and all over me - my arm and chest were pretty red, like sunburn. but after an hour or so I was back to my usual milky bar kid-esk pasty complexion! We were both very very lucky - this could have ended up much much worse. lesson learnt! Luckily it was only 2pm and GSF in Leeds was open til 4pm and had a flange in stock. So we picked that up, grabbed some coolant and some water from the shop and fixed it at the roadside as the garage had shut by this time. no dramas - easy fix. Got that all bolted up and drove home On the drive home the golf felt sluggish, so I pulled over and leaned the mixture half a turn - instantly much better! but i wanted to run it as rich as possible to be on the safe side! so I we back a quarter turn rich and the performance remained the same. Thats good enough for me! I can have peace of mind I know its running about where it needs to Next on the list was to remake the oil cooler blank I made last time. This time I used some corrugated plastic sheet which was really nice to work with. Ive made it to go around the sides of the cooler and over the top - and can be easily removed when I do a track day Took it for a test drive, and its increased temps by a whopping 20 degrees! so it now sits at 90 degrees instead of 70! result! This along with getting the fuelling sorted has resulted in a healthy 33mpg on a 5 mile steady b-road. Next up my favourite thing. RUSTTTT ..again.. decided to tackle this. it was too late to get the grinder out so I went at it with some 80 grit Used Kurust, the a skim of filler. some primer and a black base coat - flatting the edges of each coat. and finally 2 generous coats of lacquer, again with the edges flattened and polished Pretty happy with it for a quick job! All in all a pretty good, eventful, productive weekend! Even managed to free up the Sunday to spend with the mother
A few new bits and bobs to add since the last update. got another years ticket! no advisories, pretty chuffed with that Swapped the semi slicks over to the Mahles and put the road tyres on the RAs - the lads at the local garage let me borrow their tyre machine which saved some money! It was my first time using a tyre machine, took a bit of getting used to! but got there in the end..only took me 4 hours haha I had a trip over to Doncaster in April to help Simon and the team with Elsecar, fantastic day as always! I even took sometime to give the old girl a well earned polish The countdown now begins for our trip to the Nurburgring this year on the 13th July. Ive booked some trains home to get the golf sorted - Ive got 2 more weekends to get everything I want sorted. So 4 days in total. I want to replace all the rear brakes - they are the original discs, pads and bearings I put on when I first got the car almost 10 years ago and they were looking rough, pads were low and the rear calipers had the tendency to occasionally seize. The plan was to replace everything with good quality standard stuff as I dont want the rear doing any more braking. I decided to find a set of late mk3 calipers as a cheaper alternative to mk4s because you can still use the standard rear hoses. but after being sold some late mk3 calipers by a guy on here, it turns out he told a LOT of fibs and Im now going through a PayPal dispute as I write this! So moving forward I got in touch with a mate who was breaking a leon cupra so I grabbed the calipers off him. This would mean I will need conversion hoses for the rear - I decided to bite the bullet and order a full set of Tarox braided lines with mk4 conversion hoses. They are expensive but I really dont mind folking out for safety!..(and shiny race parts ) Aside from the hoses I ordered new discs, pads, bearings, bleed nipples and a rebuild kit for the calipers - all decent Meyle or Febi stuff. So I went home last weekend and cracked on with loads of stuff! got loads of little niggly jobs done. I have to wait for Tarox to make up the hoses so I decided to do as much as I could with the brakes. They were a little rough but luckily they had been sat in a carrier bag soaking in their own brake fluid so it make the clean up fairly easy! Got the new seals in and new piston I ballsd up on the last dust seal and ended up putting a hole in it.. its really awkward to do as the piston needs to thread in at the same time as seating the seal, the first one took me an hour so if anyone has any bright ideas that would be amazing! Ive ordered 2 more seals just to be safe! Other little jobs, finally fixed my washer - turns out I had the hoses plumbed in the wrong way round... ehhmm... One of my spot bulbs had gone so I got these yellow bulbs, I was bit sceptical at first at how it would look but i really like it! they are great at night too Another little job on the list was to sort my top mounts. Ive never been happy with the factory silver so I painted to top plates in stone chip so it should hold up well. I also treated myself to some racing gloves..a bargain 15 on fleebay. Apart from them making me feel like a racing driver... they will stop my wheel getting buggered on track with my sweaty paws - win win! and thats pretty much everything so far! i went with Ford and Brooke for a drive out to Mexico on saturday night which was very fun. I let brooke have a go in the golf - he said how much confidence it gives you and that it just wants to go! I grabbed a video of Brooke driving off down the road and i couldnt believe how loud it is!.. we could here him from around 2 miles away. I think this pretty much sums up our night - bloody yobos. But who doesnt like flames right?! Should hopefully have the brakes on in a couple of weeks, then just and oil change and shes good for the Ring! fingers crossed
I'm back up North next weekend and have the last few bits to sort out... all being well it goes smoothly! Will hopefully see you over in Germany!
Went back last weekend and was greeted with the new shiny Tarox hoses Had a special guest appearance, from the man himself Josh Savage who came to tell me all about his recent trip to the ring, sit and watch, provide sarky comments, and occasionally pass a spanner After fitting the last seal to the new mk4 rear calipers the new brakes were ready to bolt up. This is what I was changing I have to apologies in advance for how crusty my rear beams looks and the rear arches. They have both been on my list for a while! but Mechanical stuff before cosmetic Even though I fitted new rear carrier bolts all 4 rounded, even with a decent 1/2 allen key socket hammered in before hand...(who thought allen headed bolts were a good idea!?) So out with the Irwin bolt gripper. Turned out I didnt have the right size so a quick dash to screw fix for some new grippers and some new bolts! I decided to drop the rear struts to give me better access to get the bolt grippers on. This gave me enough room but unfortunately the bolts thought otherwise... after taking and edge off with the grinder and about 2 hours or faffing around, then realising Id been going the wrong way for about 1h 45 mins... righty tighty, lefty loosey they were finally off! I picked up some new stainless bolts, unfortunately they were slightly too long so had to shorten them. They were also a slightly different pitch, so I had to re-tap the carriers. I dont own a tap and die set so used a bolt, ratchet and a piece of bar as a lever to rethread it - then using a fresh bolt when fitting them. I was sceptical but it worked a treat! With the carrier painted and bolted back on I moved onto the new discs and bearings. I tapped out the old race from my old discs and used those to tap in the new ones. I took the outer edge off with the grinder which saved them getting stuck in the disc. Got both new bearings and discs on, and bolted up one side, happy days! But of course from then on it was a pig of a job! Even though all the copper lines were new not so long since every one was a pain! and I ended up having to make a new line for one side. Every union was a real pain, I ended up snipping the rubber hoses off so I could get a deep socket on it which worked well. Got all the lines on including the ones on the rear beam And that was that. I was absolutely buggered at this point. Laying on your back spannering is not my version of fun, but we got there in the end! so Im happy. Just need to bleed them up when Im back next weekend. - hopefully a smooth job... The results
I will eventually get round to updating this with the latest ring report! I'm still trying to figure out how to get round the photobucket image thing... if anyone would like to volunteer...lol
