The 105bhp Track Flatarch; 18months out.

[1-1dicky]

just wondering mate, iv notice you have a different inlet on and that you used to have the old one facing up, well my querie was what inlet have you put on it? and was there anything comlicated you had to do? very nice car btw, i was going to go down that route, but got some compomotives for cheap so had them instead, pm me please mate

[lee_1]

looks good m8

[curt]

looks good dude your car inspires me

[shooorn94]

The easter break has been good! With a trip to the yorkshire dales on the cards I set about fitting my powerflex engine mount and new brakes + braided lines.

Straight after fitting my engine mount I hit a pothole and a awful knock was apparent from (what i thought was) the steering rack. So I confirmed it with the garage that it was the rack causing the problem and asked what the likelihood was for it to go pop when in yorkshire (as it was tomorrow) obviously it was fine and I travelled to Yorkshire.



I got the rack sorted when i returned... and low and behold the knock was still there! I began tinkerring with the steering system some more to find that the steering wheel had just become loose on its bolt a simple tighten with my T50 and it was sorted.

I fitted the 266mm's I had sitting in my bikeshed, shamefully i picked up the wrong size brake spanner so didnt get the chance to fit my new exact braided lines :thumbdown: Also due to where the wheel weights were placed they caught the caliper on every rotation. I am now driving weightlessly. Thankfully there's no wheel wobble at below 65mph!

However the brakes are on and look as follows:







When up at Alton Towers I returned back to the sax only to find two wheel bolts missing from the front wheels after a mile or so of driving! This then involved searching mile after mile for a halfords! I now have a spare set incase this should ever happen again just a bit annoying really that someone should take something so odd.

The next few months I'm working towards getting the car looking perfect, ensuring the underside is in as good as a condition as possible, getting the roof resprayed, sorting a new front bumper bracket as the old one is quite rusty and ensuring the engine bay looks perfect before FCS.

I've just began undersealing the front passenger side (I undersealed the rear last year)

I'll also be sorting the car for Scotland, Cornwall and it's first trackdays.

Comments as usual are welcome.

[p47ch1]

this car is ace i love it very nice flat arch ... was the conversion alot of messing about did u have to do owt for the engine to fit or did it just go straight in ?

[Jay_-]

Looking good pal .

How long did it take to do the 4 stud conversion, did you just replcae the hubs on the rear axle or change the whole axle ?

Im half way way though doing mine done the front 2 struts, of a 106 discs are nearly twisce as big . Just waiting for a free weekend to put on the beam

[gox]

Nice nice nice nice nice and nice !

[rushy_23]

Looking as good as ever

[shooorn94]

Originally Posted by Jay_

How long did it take to do the 4 stud conversion, did you just replcae the hubs on the rear axle or change the whole axle ?

Cheers fella! The four stud conversion didnt take too long, the only reason some images here show the car rolling around on a 3 stud rear beam is purely due to an ebay seller messing me around before AlexB came to my rescue And supplied me with an 4stud rear axle! Which ironically will be coming off again for some new bushes by september!

Originally Posted by p47ch1

. was the conversion alot of messing about did u have to do owt for the engine to fit or did it just go straight in ?

Thanks, its not too much messing about its the fueling and ensuring you've matched everything up this moment (driveshafts, brakes etc.) that is key remember the mk1 1.1i runs a return line to the cylinder head whereas the mk1 vtr has a return line only at the fuel filter so a t junction is needed. Otherwise if all the parts are there its pretty easy.

Large UPDATE



Yep, UFI oil filter coupled with Fuchs Titan supersyn 5w40 as reccomended by mr oilman (sump plugs were changed at the same time, yet to change the gearbox oil as I may change the drivers driveshaft yet). The braided lines are now on and the fluid refreshed for some fresh dot 4, the brakes feel alot better and after a near accident involving an annoying C1 pull out in the wets, it made me realise how much I needed new rubber!

I then got on with the following:



Rocker cover resprayed in heatproof E-tech graphite paint (not brilliant but no bubbling!), coil pack wiring relocated to no longer run across the rocker, I've stuck down my citroen sport rocker badge, I've also set about respraying the front chassis legs (coverring everything and moving the ecu was very awkward), only done the offside at present as it was more obvious! Bought some brand new citroen locking wheel nuts too.

So it was time for FCS:

FCS 2010



It was straight to the track with brand new kumho ku31's fitted and the change in rubber was instantly noticeable.








Good stuff, the car handled well and as expected, just under braking it was squirming a bit but I haven't experienced it since (or maybe I don't brake as hard on the road as I do on track ) Either way a few suspension components need renewing which I knew about.

Anywho I headed up to Cornwall at the start of July; before heading up I became attached to a little friend.



I have a pair of droplinks and track rod ends (new rack's t.r.ends were nackered) waiting to be fitted which will probably get done over this next week if I manage to free myself up and then it's deciding fully what I want to do with the 8v.

I am very tempted to upgrade the suspension further, engine wise I'm not bored of the power yet and it keeps raising a smile on my face (after all if the car doesn't make me smile whats the point in owning it?) but I have a few ideas where to go with the 1.6 8v tu lump, but it all depends on my income and how he performs come MOT time this year.



I've got some powerflex front arb bushes on order from Kam and i put my finger through some rust this evening which i was quite annoyed about, i now have a nice hole from my rear arch to my boot so that needs to be filled tomorrow!

I'm just getting the car ready for trax and prepping it for the winter now.

[Aly]

I love this little car mate, doesn't get a lot of recognition but it's one of my favourite's

[shooorn94]

Originally Posted by Aly

I love this little car mate, doesn't get a lot of recognition but it's one of my favourite's

Cheers fella means alot! You own manic motors old sax judging by the pics? Will have a ganders a bit later at your thread

Sorted the hole last night and filled a bit more than neccesary just to cover my back, should be sanding down some more, primerring and spraying up in venetian red by the weekend.

My powerflex front arb bushes have now arrived from Kam, picking up a yaris for a friend in a sec then I'm busy the rest of the day so sadly they're on hold.

[shooorn94]

Few things as of late:

Hiq nackered my locking wheel nuts, this caused me to severely become p*ssed at them and forced them to buy brand new locking wheel nuts for me and due to wasting my time fit new track rod ends as it was my only day off before my MOT. This got sorted and I was happy.

MOT day:

here we are today. I was advised to take the car to a "friendly" MOT tester and the following has just been brought through:

Dangerous fittings to the headlight, insecure - my headlight has had a single catch snapped on it for the past 3 years. Funny how it's only just been mentioned!

Cat, insufficient or not working - well I knew that, luckily I should have a working cat in the house.

Exhaust - leaking/blowing- again I know this, but again the supersprint system has been blowing for the past 2 years.

Braking system, insufficient/dangerous - I know that the discs could do with a change, but the shoes in the drums may also need changing which tbh, is news to me.

Managed to brake very hard yesterday, hardest I'd used my brakes since track time, and apart from locking up once it felt fine... but I know that they may be warped as the car does snake/squirm about under sudden/heavy braking... but the MOT place can't decide what exactly is wrong I know the caliper isn't seized otherwise it would be sticking which would cause me to career off the road by now. Don't know what to think atm!

What I know is that I'm starting uni next week and I'm not only car less now but have less free time to work on it

The bloke said "may not be worth fixing, could cost in excess of £700" to which i replied "I'll do it myself then, get the welding sorted and fix everything thanks"

It's the fact that they're so vague about the braking system that has fcked me right off as I don't know what to focus on/replace.

[Tom_Crx]

May not be worth fixing, pah, So much has gone into this car mate, looks so good in the flesh, Keep up with the work, drop us a pm if you need to "borrow" anything to get it passed eg cat headlight

[AlexBp]

The snaking might just be bad bias dude
mine does it as do a lot of cars only real solution is to get it set up properly which may involve new lines

[Rudpud]

£700 <<< £600 is labour :/. Love how they try get as much money out of you as possible. Unlucky man, so much work gone into for that to happen. Dont scrap it, unless it really is too much to fix, think its a lovely car

[shooorn94]

Originally Posted by AlexB

The snaking might just be bad bias dude
mine does it as do a lot of cars only real solution is to get it set up properly which may involve new lines

Figured it would just be a bad bias. When I fitted the braided brake lines it felt odd, so a mate handed me over to a bloke and he adjusted the balance bar. But after heading on track after 4 laps it began to snake! So put it down to naff discs, Squirming under braking is not fun.

I'm still running the 1.1 lines, with 266mm setup up front, and your drum rear beam afaik the shoes and drums are perfect. I drove back from brum last night and my brakes performed better than ever when entering northants, especially when slowing from 50 to 0 within a split second.

Cheers Tom I appreciate it, and on the cat side of things I may chase you up on that as it's finally going decat this year anyway!

Rudpud, yeah I know it's just useless labour and they're just trying to rob a "typical young saxo driver" I've just insured the car for a year so I'm not going to be scrapping it

[shooorn94]

Been to a slightly more trust worthy garage that I have used for around 5 years and have worked on my families cars for the past 10, they looked at the rust and gave me a price of £65 and then tested the brakes on the rollers, they found that the front brakes are fine! I also monitored the readout and both read fine! So god knows what they're going on about that. They then tested the rear brakes and they were totally out of balance.

They are now sorting the welding and rear drums, the drums were actually leaking at the cylinder and were causing slightly more travel in the pedal. But it was only minor, otherwise they're now balanced up and reading correctly.

I'm going to grease up the sliders up front, then wind the piston back and ensure it works as it should and isn't seized, and just generally clean the brakes so it makes it look like they've been taken apart! If they're fine theres no need to fiddle imo.

As for the cat I don't know what to do there. I could fork out £50 and fit a new one, but considerring I want a decat anywho it seems foolish lol!

[Tom_Crx]

Originally Posted by shooorn94

As for the cat I don't know what to do there. I could fork out £50 and fit a new one, but considerring I want a decat anywho it seems foolish lol!

Honestly buddy, fook the £50 just pop to stourbridge, borrow mine, just let me know when you need it

[shooorn94]

Cheers Tom, sad thing is I'm unable to drive up to Stourbridge and if I did it'd cost me £40 to get there and back. Cats on ebay from downpipe to backbox are just £50. I'd buy it and wrap it up till next years MOT

Otherwise:

Update in full:

Car's came back today, got the welding sorted (and they did an ace job, much better than last time) and the brakes so that's two things sorted, it is now braking straight and true on my usual garages rollers after a test but I'll grease up the front brakes just to save arguments with the other petty garage.

I've now got my emissions readouts next to me and deciding what to do here as tbh if a bit of exhaust putty was applied to the leak around the cat join (looking at it today it appears that where my car has scraped going over a bump in the road it has caused the old putty to fall off, hence the leak!) and the car was warmed up significantly before the run I reckon it could pass.

The fast idle test was as follows:

CO = 0.459 fail
HC = 23 pass
Lambda = 1.053 fail

For those that don't know the CO is out by 0.159 and the Lambda is out by 0.23 here.

Second fast idle:

CO = 0.357 (so it was a tad better, out by just 0.057) FAIL
HC = 78 pass
Lambda = 1.133 (worse but out by 0.103 here) Fail.

It passed the natural idle test.

In comparison to last year (overfueling; braking the Emissions reader and forcing my usual garage to spend 2 grand on a new machine ) it's not bad and the lambda readout can be sorted by fixing the leak just after the lambda sensor. But as for a new cat? Really neccessary? I have a day to decide.

[bobertmate]

mine failed on CO & Lambda too, but passed every other emissions test so it passed overall, gonna sort it though, it failed on 50% inbalance on the front nearside brakes, and handbrake was only 9% effective :/ even though it actually works lol.. i think theres air in my system which is why theres an inbalance, so bleeding them tomorrow and checking the discs & pads... & Need a new CV Gator, which i'm not doing myself lol.

i got 2 advisary's, corrosion to boot floor, and floor pan, which is literally a little bit on both, so getting welded once i get it through the MOT..

but on a better note, finally passed my test Monday, with 6 minors