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Thread: Pauls Astra Mk2 rallying adventures...

  1. #41
    Senior User Iain's Avatar
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    4.5 sounds quite wide compared to what you normally run? Is it Rockingham this weekend?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Iain View Post
    4.5 sounds quite wide compared to what you normally run? Is it Rockingham this weekend?
    Its only 1 step down as ran a 4.8 at Donington. The 2.0 will pull a higher ratio nicely and Im keeping the "short" 5th gear (1.04 ratio).

    The 4.85 gives 44mph / 64mph / 79mph / 94mph / 108mph on 580 profile tyres
    The 4.5 gives 48mph / 69mph / 85mph / 101mph / 116mph on the same profile

    We will see this coming weekend how well it works I guess... Its only 1mph "longer" between each of the gears and I struggle with traction in 1st off the line anyway so a longer 1st gear wont hurt in slippery conditions.

    Paul..

  3. #43
    Club Member Club Member TallDave's Avatar
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    Best of luck at Donington this Saturday, hopefully you should get a good result, especially if the afternoon performance at Donnington is repeated of even improved upon

    I, among many others, will be looking forward to the in car videos, so do try to keep the thing on the island!

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    Quote Originally Posted by TallDave View Post
    Best of luck at Donington this Saturday, hopefully you should get a good result, especially if the afternoon performance at Donnington is repeated of even improved upon

    I, among many others, will be looking forward to the in car videos, so do try to keep the thing on the island!
    Thanks Dave

    Rockingham this weekend, which we have done in 2012 (won 1400 class), 2013 (with 2000cc 8v engine which blew up, engine change on Sat night and won Sunday trophy rally with the 1400cc) and 2014 (3rd in class with same 1400).

    Looking forward to it, just gotta wake up with my "game face" on and push hard from the start. Would be nice to finish this one after 2 mechanical DNFs. Not expecting any kind of class result as its an extremely strong entry - 23 in our class! but want to push the car more, get some confidence in myself in the car and see where we end up.

    Paul..

  5. #45
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    Update is overdue so here goes..

    Rockingham Stages was at the beginning of December. 3rd event in the new car and a 2 day event which we have done in the past and enjoyed as an end of season fun event.

    Started extremely well for the first couple of stages but on stage 4, the gear cables started to go tight. On stage 5, part of the outer cable broke and I lost 2nd and 4th gear and the guys did a temp repair to get us back out on stage 6 but I was careful with the gears and lost time too. Spanner checking the car after day 1, we found a brake caliper seal gone so we swapped to standard 256mm calipers and old disks for the start of day 2 but couldnt fix the cable properly. Brakes and cable shift being knackered affected us but kept going until the linkage broke on stage 9 and then again on stage 10 as we started so put the car on the trailer to come home without further damage to the car or box..





    Cables are stripped out of the car now, ready to be re-engineered but not much other progress made.

    So onto the other car rebuild

    Removed front suspension and stripped down then painted with etch and black topcoat.



    Then rebuilt with new wheel bearings, hubs and studs and nuts



    Started stripping the engine bay of fuel system parts and cleaned a little..



    Then started the bottom arm mods - this car is having adjustable bottom arms so had to drill the centre of the mount out.. Took a step by step..

    As it started..



    40mm Holesaw with auger modified to take 1/4 inch drive socket as guide then through the outer wall



    Then the back section removed and the crush tube cut out with different size guide



    and finally the replacement centre section fitted - just needs welding up and the outer support fitting



    Started on the rear of the car at this point. Removed the exhaust, tank guards, cross brace, dampers and rear beam





    The removed the hubs to fit new bearings, disks and studs



    Stripped down the internals for cleaning and a quick refurb..



    but havent got that far yet!

    Paul..

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    Another update,, Not spent as much time as wanted over Xmas and New Year but done a bit more.

    Painted rear backplates and rebuilt with new shoes, wheel bearings and new discs with fancy studs and nuts..




    Ste came over to play for a few hours so welded the front pivot mount in place then tacked in the pivot brace..



    Then fully welded once happy with the positioning



    and given some etch to protect..



    Removed the old carb tank (with only an outlet - no return) and cleaned up the injection tank to be fitted. Its nearly brand new anyways.



    and fitted it. Luckily the current carb feed line goes to the injection return line so I only have to make up a new feed from the tank to fuel pumps (in the spare wheel well) to engine bay.



    Also swapped the steering arm bushes for purple polybushes and fitted new trackrod ends



    Fitted new bottom balljoints to the bottom arms



    Bolted the bottom arm kit to the car



    and then fitted the strut too



    Also cleaned and painted the rear beam, tank guards and fitted the rear beam



    Should be rolling again this weekend

    Paul.

  7. #47
    Senior User Iain's Avatar
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    Your wheel nuts and studs arouse me. They look the part but are so easy to use.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Iain View Post
    Your wheel nuts and studs arouse me. They look the part but are so easy to use.
    Like a good hooker... Smooth action but bloody expensive :-)

    Paul..

  9. #49
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    Not a huge photo update, but a few more bits done..

    Hubs fitted, then wheels and car taken off stands to be put into short term storage while I work on the other cars..



    Then started fixing the black roadrally car. Was originally going to be leaving this until later in the year but my roadrally navigator persuaded me to get it ready for the next event and came over to help at the weekend..

    So car in garage and up on stands and checked front suspension, engine mounts, wishbones etc after our previous "off"



    All looked OK so decided to fit the ZF LSD to the box..



    But that was a pain as it needs the box casing modifying to allow it. A while later with a die grinder and we get this modification to allow clearance..



    Then fitted the diff, refitted the sumpguard, fitted a new heater as the old one was kaput and made a new front spotlight mount to fit between the bumper holes rather than having to modify the bumper



    Still got to paint front bumper, refit spots, check rear end of the car and take for a testdrive..

    Paul..

  10. #50
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    I also love the wheel nuts ...bottom arms look good, although a bit strange on an Astra cos of where the wishbone mounting points are.

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