4722 replies to this topic

[hairy]

did she get a ride though ?

[Boombang]

I didn't bother taking any as I have quite a few now. Though some girl taking pics of him asked me "what it would take to have a ride in him" - as her boyfriend was standing right next to her I didn't reply with what went through my head!

Cool story.

[Nev]

Just got back from the wheel alignment place, where I got a decent job done I think. Basically the wheels were pointing all over the place, which was duely corrected. Most importantly I have now discovered why my VX has felt so light on the front. It has -1.2 degrees of camber on the front, which is much of a high speed track oriented setup for smooth hard cornering on the assumption that the tyre/suspension will flex down to make a full footprint. I had always suspected that the previous owner had adjusted this from OEM (-0.3 degrees) for his own tracking purposes. -1.2 front camber isn't too mental looking at extreme geo's and I will have to see if I can live with it on the road. Also, one of my rears needs a degree of camber taken out of it (I think just changing a shim will likely do this). Anyway, the short drive home in the traffic wasn't a propper test, but the car did feel quite a bit better. Once I get some time I will sort the remaining cambers out with some shims and also replace the front hub carrier bolts as the fronts have not been upgraded yet. Hopefully if it remains dry this evening I can take it out for a blat and properly see how much difference it has made on a road that I am familiar with. Lastly, I've noticed that my in cabin boost guage has suddenly stopped working. This is likely due to the feed pipe popping off somewhere (hopefully in cabin), if its somewhere else it will be very irritating as if its near the engine I'd have to take the bloody clam off probably to get to it.

Edited by Nev, 12 September 2012 - 06:17 PM.

[Ormes]

I think a camber gauge is pretty cheap so maybe worth investing in one? From memory they are magnetic so you can stick them to a disc.

[Nev]

Also, while it was on the ramps I could see where the rears tyres are rubbing slightly on the chassis. I will need to order up a pair of hubcentric spaces - probably 2 or 3 mm will suffice.

[Nev]

I didn't manage to get to drive the car last night, so am itching to test the new alignment out on the dry road this lunch time... roll on mid-day...

[chris_uk]

1.2 degs of camber on the front is fine. What was the camber on the rear?

[Nev]

Just been on a 45 minute lunchtime blat on a great A/B road I am very familiar with. The car is deffo more inspiring to push hard now. I reckon I am approaching mid speed corners with 10 MPH more than I was before (with the same level of confidence). Also, I have tweaked my front valves down more than the rears, so that the front end is softened more than the rears - this helps on the bumps I think. In fact my valving is really pretty soft all round, which possibly causes a bit of 'wallowing around' at higher speeds. What I need are remotely adjustable valves in the cabin, so I can modify the ride depending on the road whilst on the move !! LOL Rear cambers are currently -2.2 O/S/R and -3.0 N/S/R. According to the geo sheets I should really lower that -3.0 to approx -2.0 for even tyre wear. I doubt the camber on the rears has as much influence as the fronts, thought really I do need to sort this out sooner rather than later. TBH, I am quite enjoying (as usual) the experience of fiddling/experimenting and trying things out. If I just handed over the car to a pro geo'er I expect I would get a great handling car back, but would have failed to understand and learn why it was handling so well. This is my first real try at evauating the ride/grip/geo setup and I have already learnt some basics which is quite rewarding.

Edited by Nev, 13 September 2012 - 12:11 PM.

[chris_uk]

I have 2.5 on my rears (225's) and i find it doesnt allow the rear to wonder around, its very planted 3 is probably a bit too much tbh, i think mike had that much but reduced it down to something like 2.5. Do you know your front and rear toe? Id try keep backs same across the wheels (unless corner weighting)

[Nev]

I have 2.5 on my rears (225's) and i find it doesnt allow the rear to wonder around, its very planted 3 is probably a bit too much tbh, i think mike had that much but reduced it down to something like 2.5.

Do you know your front and rear toe?

Id try keep backs same across the wheels (unless corner weighting)

Front and rear toe ins are setup exactly as I want (approx 340R road spec):

1) Fronts are toeing in by -0.3 mm (i.e. toeing OUT).
2) Rears are toeing in by 1.6 mm (i.e. toeing IN).

I forgot to mention that, on the whole the car seems to be hunting around in the lorry ruts a bit less, though this was only a mild improvement, as the steering wheel still had a life of its own unless gripped moderately firmly!

After all this fiddling about it would be great to drive a completely standard "out of the factory" car, just to see how different they are. I am sure that Nipper has now lost a fair bit of his nimbleness due to the fatter and heavier wheels/tyres, though the improvement in overal traction (particularily on smooth(ish)) "fast" tarmac outweights this factor IMO. Nimbleness on B-type roads doesn't really concern me too much, as my speed on such roads is dictated more by line of sight (which is usually short), so if I want to drive safely it is not the car's limits that hold me back, it's more common sense and ability to stop incase there is a tractor or cylist round the next bend that limits me. If I am going round any corner on a public road I usually do so on the assumption that there is a "notional pedestrian" in the middle of the road, because one day there really might be one for real !!

Edited by Nev, 13 September 2012 - 01:18 PM.

[siztenboots]

camber on mine f/r -1.5° and -2.5°

[chris_uk]

camber on mine f/r -1.5° and -2.5°

Same as mine

[Nev]

I've found out why my boost guage isn't working, I can just see where the rubber pipe has come off from the nipple on the boost pipe. Tricky to get to though, will wait until my rear wheel spacers arrive when I will take the rear wheel + arch liner out to both put the pipe back on and fit the spacer.

Edited by Nev, 14 September 2012 - 12:02 PM.

[Zoobeef]

Small cable tie to to keep it on or a dab of glue?

[Nev]

I have some tiny little clips to secure the small vacuum pipes, though as you suggest a bit of RTV or mild glue would do the job too.

[Nev]

The black vinyl that I ordered arrived in the post today. I have put a small patche onto the base of each rear wheel arche where I was getting a LOT of stone chips. The colour match is excellent (by chance) and should help protect the paintwork for a limited time.

[Judderman]

Went to Castle Coombe (Forge event) and had the car static noise tested. It made 102.7 dB at 4500 RPM (their limit on the day was 100 dB). Deep down however I know it is way noisier than that when on boost at 8000 RPM, so driveby tests would almost certainly fail me too (with an even larger margin of failure)

The solution would be to get a full silencer box welded back in (I only have a 1/2 sized box in there at the moment).

Would a full silencer have any other effects other than noise on nipper Nev?

[Nev]

The more you silence it, the more you increase backpressure, which means a bit of a drop off of power at high RPM. It reality, it's not an big issue for the car, as I could have the boost increased by 0.5 of a PSI to overcome it, but I am trying not to spend money on the car for these 'little' things, otherwise I'd end up 5k poorer and the car would be barely any 'better'. I have fixed the little boost leak from the blown off hose and the car has got a bit more pep in it. Also it has resumed making a wierd compressed air noise that it used to make, which is it's little way of letting me know it's happy. I have noticed a slight bit of vibration at approx 80 to 110 leptons, which I suspect is a wheel weight flying off. I did double check the wheel nuts when I got home just to be sure (after them coming off for the recent mini-geo).

[Nev]

Have ordered some CL RC6 pads. Once they've arrive I intend to work the brake calipers in and out and lube them up, fit new discs, fit the pad, fit the wheel spacers on the rears. Hopefully this will improve my braking, fingers crossed. I discussed the matter of the pad material shearing off the backplates on the RC5+ and I was told this is due to salt penetrating the porous sintered material of the pad, expanding and thus levering the material off the matal backing. As I won't be driving the car in salty winter conditions this won't be an issue for me.

Edited by Nev, 18 September 2012 - 12:31 PM.

[cnrandall]

Get the earplugs ready!