1.2 track car

[Mike.]

i'm not driving yet, but i'm learning, but i've got a nova sat in my dads drive way so i thought, id do something with it, i have decided to turn it into a track car

a engine transplant would not be possible at the moment, because of insurance purposes, but i have started to make the car lighter by stripping the interior completey, i have added a pair of cobra monacos with harnesses.

i have also got some fibre glass panels on the way along with a full cage

what else should i keep in mind, cheers mike

[peester]

u cud do - get the shell race/sprint spec - then just run the 1.2; do the cheap mods - gte/gsi manifold, system etc.. then in few years time transplant..

[Mike.]

yeah i wouldn't mind doing the basic things to the engine, to prep the shell would it need strenghening/ welding

[Aragorn]

no panels is lighter than fibreglass or carbon ones ;)

dump the dash too

sort the suspension wheels tyres brakes etc with decent stuff (bilstien sprint dampers or coilovers are my recommendation, some 15" vauxhall alloys off astra or cav, decent sticky tires (possibly slicks), "valver" brakes with mintex 1155's or summat)

[Mike.]

i've got some Revolution wheels, i think there 14s, there popular with the rally boys, would this be a problem when upgrading brakes because of the size of the wheels?

its also lowered 60mm on bilstein dampers and springs

[Aragorn]

which bilstein dampers?

black or yellows?

blacks are pretty shite and are only very slightly uprated and arent shortened over standard units

yellows are what u want

the "valver" brakes should fit under 14's as the original wheels on cavs and astras are 14's

[Adam Moran]

i've got some Revolution wheels, i think there 14s, there popular with the rally boys, would this be a problem when upgrading brakes because of the size of the wheels?

Not really, u can run 16v brakes with 14' wheels, just add some good pads, braided hoses and racing fluid.

I'm sure Dar (Darren) uses 16v brakes with his 200bhp track wepon.

15's are need for V6 and bigger

[srs1]

sounds like you know what you are doing with the plans.

just keep going.

on another note, if the car is going to be a track car, why not just put a 1600 in it.
you wont need road insurance on it if you trailor the car around

[Mike.]

which bilstein dampers?

black or yellows?

blacks are pretty s**t and are only very slightly uprated and arent shortened over standard units

yellows are what u want

the "valver" brakes should fit under 14's as the original wheels on cavs and astras are 14's

there the black dampers, do'hhhh

[Adam]

which bilstein dampers?

black or yellows?

blacks are pretty s**t and are only very slightly uprated and arent shortened over standard units

yellows are what u want

the "valver" brakes should fit under 14's as the original wheels on cavs and astras are 14's

there the black dampers, do'hhhh
The black dampers are the ones you get with the ?200ish kit from somewhere like www.tuning.co.uk
IIRC they are only 10% uprated from standard dampers.

[Matt Nova]

i've got black bilstein kit on mine and had no problems with it think they do their job quite well

[J4MES]

sounds like youve got some good plans there....

[Jack]

I'm assuming those mods will be declared? Surely they'd put the price of insurance up over a std 1400 or 1600?

[Mike.]

the mods will be declared, i'm not one of these fools who wouldn't declare any mods

[Stuart]

:) another 1.2 to play with once its done.

just keep it light! then all the engines power will be used to keep the speed up.

any probs just give me a shout

[Mike.]

i heard you was building one aswell stu, i'm getting rid of the bumper bars/ irons on saturday and i'm going to build some custom brackets, and i've just ordered a fibre glass tailgate, the good thing about that is itas very light and its in the early mk1 style

[Ste L]

sounds like a good plan, keep up the work mate :D

[Mike.]

i'll try and get some pics this weekend, alot should be done on saturday i.e new steering wheel, tailgate, should be fun fitting that, i think bonnet/ boot pins will be the answer :wink:

[Stuart]

yep, mount the bootlid with bonnet pins where the hinges used to be and then SVA type catches for the lower sides.

the bumper irons only weigh 2Kg or so. So make sure your brackets are nice and light.

[Mike.]

they'll probably be made from aluminium

[Stuart]

hmm dont forget that to get similar strenght to steel you will need a similar weight in ally.

im just going to bond the two std parts that go into the engine bay to the bumper

[Mike.]

there was another idea i was thinking about just using the brackets which fix the bumper to the wing, BUT that would probably make the front of the bumper sag a little lol

[Stuart]

hence just bonding the original brackets to the bumper where they would bolt to the carrige bar

[Mike.]

i might have ago at that, there just bolted to the carrage bar aren't they?