2001 Saxo VTS track toy - Saxperience

simonsaunders · 17th July 2014, 07:33

Having sold my last track toy (Caterham 7) to fund a house move about 18 months ago, I'd done a few days in the then daily driver (Z4 3.0) and borrowed a couple of cars for other days, but managed to book another day and had nothing to do it in (especially as I had sold the Z4 for a family wagon). Decided to get a short term track car.

This resulted in much eBay hunting.

It had to be small, cheap and quick enough. This won't be a keeper, unless it utterly shines and wins my heart. Unlikely. In the back of my head, I had the idea that I wouldn't mind something requiring a job or two. Not to make money especially, but just to maybe add a few eBay parts and maybe cover petrol costs or any unexpected disasters.

Having looked at all sorts on eBay, bidded and having either not won, won and had a seller go sketchy on me or find something nice in Lanarkshire (I live in a Kent), I stumbled across this literately a 10 minute walk away.

Behold, the £395 Citroen Saxo VTS!

Quicker than I thought and missing a mirror and wheel arch trim it ticks all the boxes. Taxed and with MOT to Feb.

Seems very French so far.

Discovered that it is on T1-Rs all round (pleasant surprise) and is obviously lowered. We'll work out how that was achieved later. Stacks of history too.

So will find and fit some trim on the side and give it a quick once over to make sure it has some brake pads and stuff ahead of Goodwood. My old man is in the parts trade and gets an insane discount (only on mundane parts - sadly he doesn't work for Demon Tweeks), so not to fussed about any odds and sods.

I reckon the odds are 50:50 on it surviving Goodwood. We'll see.

simonsaunders · 17th July 2014, 07:33

So, a little list of jobs. Mostly as a reminder for me. All pre-Goodwood, obvs.

Source and fit new wing mirror
Source and fit new arch trim
Buy some new clips for the above
Remove spare wheel and carrier from under the car (I'd like to say for lightness, but mostly to avoid it flying off and hurting someone)
Find radio code
Oil change
Brake fluid change
Probably fit new front brake pads
Give the tyres a proper once over
Clean it
Adjust door mech
Refit door trim
Take a look at the discs

Contemplate refreshing the gear shift. It is quite sloppy and is the only element that let's the driving experience down at present. Lots of plastic bushes in there. French plastic at that.

simonsaunders · 17th July 2014, 07:34

Productive lunch break!

Parts ordered for:
Source and fit new wing mirror
Buy some new clips for the arch trim
Oil change
Brake fluid change
Source and fit new arch trim

Completed & status:
Take a look at the front discs. Done. They are like new
Remove spare wheel and carrier from under the car. Done - sort of. Unless the car is on ramps, or you cut it, you can't get the carrier off. Spare removed and hanger safely secured.
Give the tyres a proper once over. Done. Rear passenger is legal, but might not be after Goodwood! Rest all lovely.

To do:
Find radio code
Probably fit new front brake pads
Clean it
Adjust door mech
Refit door trim
Sort out a means for mounting a camera
Drill some ventilation holes behind the plate. Hoping that Goodwood will be HOT!

simonsaunders · 17th July 2014, 07:35

Yes, I am shamefully re-posting from another forum (Northloop), but that is just to get things going here.

Gandi699 · 17th July 2014, 07:55

You've had a bit of a bargain there, that money for a solid roadworthy vts is very good going.
Best of luck with it, I think you may just end up keeping it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

simonsaunders · 17th July 2014, 08:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gandi699

You've had a bit of a bargain there, that money for a solid roadworthy vts is very good going.
Best of luck with it, I think you may just end up keeping it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

People keep warning me that it might become a keeper!

simonsaunders · 17th July 2014, 08:51

This arrived late Tuesday. £20 delivered.

As did Unipart Dad, with this. His staff discount is insane, so whilst it isn't a premium brand, it is perfect for this project. If only he could get some decent pads for me! Was pleased that he could get dot 5.1 brake fluid though. A few bits there for one of our other cars too. Dumped it in the shed, went to Monty Python.

I was out all day yesterday, but was up bright and early this morning, so put the wing mirror here:

And the door trim here.

All nice and quick, but the electric mirror switch is a bit sketchy, so added taking a look at that to the to-do list. You can make it work, but not without much prodding.

simonsaunders · 17th July 2014, 08:51

The running list...

Parts ordered for:
Buy some new clips for the arch trim
Oil change
Brake fluid change
Source and fit new arch trim

Completed & status:
Take a look at the front discs. Done. They are like new
Remove spare wheel and carrier from under the car. Done - sort of. Unless the car is on ramps, or you cut it, you can't get the carrier off. Spare removed and hanger safely secured.
Give the tyres a proper once over. Done. Rear passenger is legal, but might not be after Goodwood! Rest all lovely.
Source and fit new wing mirror
Refit door trim

To do:
Find radio code
Probably fit new front brake pads
Clean it
Adjust door mech
Sort out a means for mounting a camera
Drill some ventilation holes behind the plate. Hoping that Goodwood will be HOT!
Look at electric window switch

chompy · 17th July 2014, 09:06

For a track car it seems to have a lot of interior. Bargain though!

simonsaunders · 17th July 2014, 09:16

Plan is to keep it all in one piece for now, just for the simplicity of moving it on if I don't like it. Obviously if it sticks around, it will be striped and caged.

D4MJT · 17th July 2014, 09:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonsaunders

Plan is to keep it all in one piece for now, just for the simplicity of moving it on if I don't like it. Obviously if it sticks around, it will be striped and caged.

Welcome Simon, can't go wrong for some track fun for the money.

Granted you're no stranger to performance coming from a Caterham 7, but these little cars are pretty good fun on a track.

Being brutally honest, standard they're pretty terrible, and "budget lowered" doesn't go a long way to making them much better, however...

4 Polybushes or Nylon bushes in the rear beam
2 Polybushes in the front sections of the bottom arms
2 Vibra Technics solid bottom arm mounts

and it really does make a colossal difference to how it drives. Standard I think they're incredibly "vague".

There's also masses you can do, and fairly cheaply. Weight is the key, it's free to remove and really helps, there's tar to remove from the floorpan, a huge foam pad that runs up behind the dash, foam inside the rear quarters, bumper areas etc, rear seats, carpet, airbags, airbag loom, interior trims, etc.

The gearchange is pretty sloppy usually, there's a rubber ball mount that usually wears down, and a great guide here (http://www.saxperience.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=397517) on how to tighten up the play. I think generally, the best option is something like an OBP Quickshift lever that sits in the standard housing, and Constella linkage bars. If you want to spend some money, Satchell Engineering produce a kit which entire replaces the stock system, it's pricey but fantastic.

A manifold and decat system produces some decent enough gains, and I think helps the pull through the rev range over standard. Filter wise, you can do an awful lot worse than the standard VTS airbox with a good panel filter and a cold air feed.

Other mods that can save weight over the front and are relatively simple are moving the battery and washer bottle to the back of the car, you can do a PAS delete by draining the system, removing the pump, lines, and PAS loom, and draining the rack. You can then use the PAS rack without fluid if you remove the hydraulic damper. This saves roughly 10kg over the front of the car.

Brakes are easy to upgrade, most Pug / Citroen stuff bolts up to 106 struts, you can do a lot worse than a set of 266mm calipers from the likes of a berlingo with decent discs and pads. There are a range of master cylinders that can be fitted to suit as well.

There's obviously masses of other far more expensive ways to tune them up and make them more of a laugh on a track day, but if you threw 6 or 700 quid at it in the form of bushes, brakes, sticky tyres and maybe an exhaust, it'll feel an entirely different car to what it will currently.

Got any pics of your old Caterham? What was the spec?

D4MJT · 17th July 2014, 09:40

Looking again at your pictures it looks like you have a 2" saxsport system fitted already, which is happy days.

simonsaunders · 17th July 2014, 10:12

The exhaust did look non-standard and shiny, but I don't really know these cars well enough to spot what it was and whether it is any good.

Had one of these in mind for a little while as a budget track car and part of the appeal was the amount that could be done (useful list there, thanks!). However, the plan for now is just to get it through Goodwood in 3 weeks time, so all effort is going in that direction just now.

As I say, if I like it then it will be in pieces soon enough! If not, it will be tidied and moved on. Everyone keeps telling me, including folk that have some really serious metal, that these get addictive! We'll see. Nothing will sap my enthusiasm more than unreliability, so that will be key.

D4MJT · 17th July 2014, 10:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonsaunders

The exhaust did look non-standard and shiny, but I don't really know these cars well enough to spot what it was and whether it is any good.

Had one of these in mind for a little while as a budget track car and part of the appeal was the amount that could be done (useful list there, thanks!). However, the plan for now is just to get it through Goodwood in 3 weeks time, so all effort is going in that direction just now.

As I say, if I like it then it will be in pieces soon enough! If not, it will be tidied and moved on. Everyone keeps telling me, including folk that have some really serious metal, that these get addictive! We'll see. Nothing will sap my enthusiasm more than unreliability, so that will be key.

I think ownership tends to go pretty much as you've started out really, fancy a cheapish track toy, and then get suprised at how much fun they are for the outlay.

I'm sure there's far more enjoyable and better cars out there, but for what these do for the cash, they're pretty damn good. Plus the fact that people are still developing new parts for them now says a lot.

If it's looked after it should be very reliable indeed, MuZiZZle on here is a mate of mine and we've done a number of track days in his. Last year we drove from Alnwick to Castle Combe for French Car Show, did 4 hours on track and drove home, the car did 1000 miles in a day and never missed a beat.

It was running a bit hot, and later turned out I'd made a hash of bleeding the coolant and it only had 1.5 of the 4 litres it should have had lol.

I'm not going to say bulletproof, but looked after they really aren't the crock of shit people make them out to be, I suspect that's down to them being a budget cheap car, so people run them without servicing and care, and shout about it when they go wrong.

simonsaunders · 17th July 2014, 14:25

Quick Caterham shot:

It was a 1.6 Superlight (Evo did a big Caterham shootout from across the years and the Superlight and the mad JPE were their favourites - I was very pleased when that mag came out a month after I picked this up). The Superlight had a tuned 1.6 K-series and mine was optimised by DVA to get it 'just so'. 140ish BHP, 500kg, carbon nose, wings, dash, 6-speed, LSD, etc. The Superlight pre-dates the R300 / R400 / R500, but set the mould for those. In that sense , you would call mine an R280... But the reality is that the R300s never made their quoted BHP unless they were set-up by someone over than Caterham, so I had fun beating them over a lap!

Adequate straight line performance, but over a lap it was phenomenal - sky high cornering speeds, very late braking and you really had to master the braking / cornering to get the lap times. Couldn't be lazy! I didn't have to sell it when I moved house, but was just too busy to use it and the £15k looked tempting. Cost me naff all in running costs and depreciation over 2 years. Glad in owned one, but if I went that route again I'd either go budget and build my own Westfield or look at Radicals, Atoms and the like. A lot of Caterham guys just go for faster Caterhams... But there is more to life IMO. Especially as I'm not a Caterham fan-boy, it was just the best track toy I could afford at the time. I was also single and could do 7-8 track days a year back then! Love to have the time to do that now!

simonsaunders · 18th July 2014, 08:58

So this arrived yesterday:

Condition was a little under what I was expecting, most notably broken tabs on the indicator unit. Evaluated options and bonded into place. At some future date, changing an indicator bulb might be a 5 minute job, rather than a 2 minute job. Meh.

Fitted it here, with new trim clips as the old ones were very brittle.

This weekend will see me getting my hands dirty. :thumb:

Ross^p · 18th July 2014, 09:07

wow. Bargain. Nice work!

Jigs2895 · 19th July 2014, 09:18

Quick heads up, the spare wheel cage can be removed with the car on the ground, just have to turn it to all different angles, it will come out, mine did!

Great work so far dude.

simonsaunders · 20th July 2014, 16:34

A productive day!

Did an oil change, went much like any oil change really. Now all topped up with Unipart's finest. Noticed a washer cap missing - quite common apparently. Couple of quid on eBay... So added to the to-do list. As is resetting the service indicator. The last owner said that it had a recent cambelt and noticed a sticker under the bonnet confirming that it was changed in 2013. I'll assume the sticker is truthful!

Whilst the oil was draining out, I decided to get on and drill some holes behind the licence plate. I think that Saxos are quite good on cooling, but a few of the track spec ones that I had seen had extra cooling holes drilled.

Had a 57mm cutter to hand, seemed like as good a size as any. This type of cutter (as opposed to the type with a backing plate) can go right through without getting snagged on anything - or so I thought...

So I measured and marked:

I changed my mind a couple of times, but was finally happy with the spacing between holes, existing number plate screw holes, etc.

Double checked with the cutter:

And double checked all my spacings again... Measure 29 times, cut once.

Decided to stick some board in front of the rad, just in case I burst thorough the bumper and into the rad...

Having drilled some pilot holes (noting that the plastic was quite soft), I cracked on... And hit a problem:

There is an internal structure (never thought much about what was inside of a bumper!) and the hole cutter could only get so far before being stopped by the internal structure. Had to Dremmel this out, before resuming with the hole cutter. Got there in the end, but if I was doing it again, I would buy a longer / deeper hole cutter, so that I could do it in one pass. Really did make a 15 minute job into a 60 minute one. I was warned that it was a pain doing this mod, but didn't quite comprehend the way in which it would be awkward!

Good ventilation now though.

And with the plate back on, for the plain street car look.

Hopefully that will keep me cool at Goodwood. Anyone think that it needs to be meshed? To stop stones and stuff smash in the rad? The opening in the bumper if pretty open already to be honest, so I'm thinking it will be OK? Famous last words maybe!

More to follow...

simonsaunders · 20th July 2014, 16:35

Back from the shops, so I can continue my update. Fajitas for tea, with key lime pie for dessert if anyone is interested.

Had a proper look at the passenger side door mech - not adjustable. Seems like quite a lot of Saxos suffer from sagging doors and this one is no different. I knew it was out when I bought it, but assumed that it was adjustable. Anyway, looks like a welding / bodyshop job. Not a pig and quite cheap by all accounts, but it won't be done pre-Goodwood. A new category added to the list... Live with it for now.

Same goes for the electric mirror switches (I called them electric window switches earlier in the thread - that was me being a dick and writing the wrong things). Had those out, but it is all sealed and looks non-serviceable. Squirted some contact cleaner in there, but didn't expect much and true to form, it didn't do much. Mirror position can be adjusted from outside the car anyway. Added to the live with it for now list.

Better news on the radio front. I'm not driving A to B without some Radio 2, track car or not. I needed a code, but couldn't find one in any of the paperwork. I had read that sometimes they are written on the unit and so it was:

Saved me having to decide whether to pay for a code (£20), or whether to get a second had unit off eBay. Not the last word in Hi-Fi I'm sure, but it will do!

Next up, camera mount. I'd always thought that a headrest mounted cam would be a good option in a car without a cage. Not difficult to make, but I wasn't sure what material to use, but the Gods solved that one. Randomly my garden umbrella had appeared earlier in this thread:

It took a tumble in the recent thunderstorms, snapping the shaft. I decided to recycle it, as it was irreparable. This is the result:

It does fit on the front and rear headrests, but the catch is broken on the front passenger headrest and the headrest can be slid right off. The headrest would need to move about 8 inches before becoming completely detached, but a flying camera would be less than ideal if I have a big off (although in a Saxo, a flying camera might be the least of my worries).

Double checked the framing:

Happy with that, especially as the camera quality is good enough for me to be able to zoom in during subsequent editing. Will try to remember how to use the camera properly and might be able to sort that in advance. Only additional change to that mount was to drill a third hole so that I can tether the camera to it.

So that is me up to date...