wide track kit

[tonydry]

can anyone tell me the advantages and the disadvantages ov haveng a wide track kit on a nova with a 2.0xe ive been told it will greatly improve the handleing any more info would be great also what wheels can i run does the et49 rule still aply cheers tony

[tonydry]

anybody

[benji]

you will probably need a wide arch kit, if your wheels stick out furthur than your arches it will fail its mot, unless you know someone :wink:

from what i've heard it's suspossed to make the handling loads better

[brian]

Yes you will need a wide arch kit.
Mine was a 2L with Pro-Tec (T.A.S) wide track kit.
Good handling but need to be professionally setup as there is a lot of adjustment. and yer local garage wouldn't be able to set it up!
The et49 rule still applys but under the wide arches.
You will have no bushings up front if you buy the kit i bought. its fully rosejoined and the discomfort is a personal choice!
http://www.novaload.net/images/car_images/177big.jpg
http://www.novaload.net/images/car_images/177big5.jpg
http://www.novaload.net/images/car_images/177big6.jpg

[tonydry]

ok lads nice 1 i allready have the wide arch kit fitted and it is protec who are going to be doing the work my curent wheels are 16" et44 with 5mm spacers would keeping the wheels be ok oviously i would lose the spacers or would i need to get some et49

[benji]

do you get drive shafts with the kit? if not you will need astra driveshaft's and hubs, not to sure about the wheels but would of thought that the ones you have are ok.

[tonydry]

not sure about the shafts and hubs but i am going to ask when the car goes to get the work done i am going to try and get a full car when i do the convertion so either way i should have all the parts

[Aragorn]

urm - if uve got ET44's and are fitting 5mm spacers your turning em into et39's

why?

[tonydry]

firstly the spacers whent on origanaly because it is droped 80mm at the rear and it was rubing on the inner arch i wouldent put spacers on for no reason atall secondly the spacers will be coming of when the wide track kit goes on witch is what this post is about so thanks for everyone who has give contructive point any more info would be great

[brian]

so thanks for everyone who has give contructive point
i don't think Aragorn was havin a go :?
anyway,
You will need Astra shafts. the Pro-Tec wide arch kit is designed to suit the wider shaft of an Astra/Vectra.
I used Astra GSi shafts as i had a 2L with f16 and had to use bigger in cvs. i machined down Astra GSi hubs and pressed them into Nova bearings. they need to be machined in a certain way or else the hub will lock when the big nut on the shaft is tightened. i was shown by a guy i know who uses this setup on his 200bhp 1600 nova rallycar.
But you could use the thinner shaft from a 1400 Astra or 1600 Vectra.
You might as well get poly bushes for the rear beam and you will have it well sorted then. Pro-Tec stock them too. Is Allan going to fit and setup the wide track kit for ya too?
Tell him my car is a rallycar now with a new owner!

[tonydry]

yeah allans doing the work so ill tell him about your car youve lost me with the hubs carnt i just use the astra hubs and shafts

[brian]

ok!
you need to find out if the Astra 1400/cav 1600 hub(the bit that has the splines for the shaft and the wheel bolts to) will fit into a Nova bearing in a Nova strut.
The 2L setup i wanted to use so i could have the thicker drive shaft and a 2L astra/cav hub will not fit into a Nova bearing without being machined down to the same diameter as a Nova one.\
2L Astra/cav's have a bigger internal diameter in their wheel bearing than a Nova, thus the hub won't swap straight over into a Nova without being machined down on a lathe.
If you are happy to use the thinner shaft astra 1400/cav 1600 (which is fine on 1600etc) you need to find out if the hub will swap over or need to be machined too

[tonydry]

ok cheers brian i understand u now i think i would rather use the thicker shafts to all ask all and c if he can sort it out for me when he does my car.so how did the car handle with the kit fitted and a 2.0l16v would u say it was worth the money.

[Ste_Nova]

won't an astra mk2 rear axle bolt on the back to get the correct width?

[Aragorn]

no wasnt having a go

just brian said the ET49 offset is still applicable and u said u had 44's with 5mm spacer

i thaught this meant u were assuming that the 44's plus the 5mm spacer would give 49 and so be ok which i pointed out was the wrong way round :/

[tonydry]

yeah thanks its just anoying when u get people just posting crap when im trying to find out usefull info i can understand your post now u exsplaned it cheers ....tony

[brian]

won't an astra mk2 rear axle bolt on the back to get the correct width?
technically ste that does make sence as the wide track kit is supposed to be Astra width but the kit comes with an addition to the rear beam so its as well to use it as its 100% right with the front.
The rear addition does not interfere with wheel bearings as it bolts to the beam and the hub bolts to this.
If Allan isn't familar with machining down the 2L hubs method i can explain more in depth with a pics etc tony.
It does handle excellent Tony and i didn't even have mine set up as well as i would have liked. the weight of the red top mixed with the lack of bushes up front etc it all went well together.
There was a problem with the adjustable T.C.A's one of mine broke xmas eve last:
http://www.novaload.net/forums/album_see.php?id=211
you can see it broke on the threaded bar section. this was a bit hairy. just had come off a slip road on to a dual carraigeway when i heard a snap. then the car understeered across a lane towards a centre island. i caught it with the handbrake (hydraulic handbrake!) and managed to steer it up on the the footpath.
the threaded bar section was sent back to pro-tec. a tension test was done on it to determine if it was dodgey steel. nothing showed up so they put it down to a "bad batch of steel"
The design was changed and its now a lot stronger design you'll be glad to hear!

[tonydry]

i like the end bit thank f**k for that i nearly changed my mined then i asked allen about the hub thing and he just recomended geting diferent shafts so dont realy no what to do about it ..how come u dident get it set up properly cheers.... tony

[brian]

never got a chance. lol :(
i only drove the car for a few months and next thing i had guys lookin for bits and pieces off it. i broke the car, made my money back and moved on!

[tonydry]

cheers for the advice brian