My Nova 16v Project

OK, so... I'm returning to JamSport in early July for a re-setup on castor, camber, toe, re-do cornerweighting - and putting rear toe back to 1mm toe in... how... I don't know, but I'm sure they'll have a way to do it.

Not going into depth what agreement we've come to, but I'm a great believer that everyone deserves a second chance, no matter how silly/ ridiculous/ dangerous the first mistake was.

JamSport wanted my car back, so they could prove to me, and everyone else that they are capable of doing such work.

We've come to some agreements where both parties are happy with whats going to happen.

It'd be scandelous not to have some of my latest Sprint pics in here too - as I don't want this thread to lose track of what it is...

So here are some piccies from Sunday 15th June, Curborough Sprint lol

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/nc0888.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/nc0886.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/nc0884.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/nc0883.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...lyWriteOff.jpg

three posts in a row - ohhh errrr...

OK - so I'm having a completely new lower suspension setup fabricated (prior to my revisit to JamSport), with some shorter tiebars so I can achieve +4degrees positive castor, and still run a locknut on the rosejoint, aswell as these, I am having some boxed off TCA's with rose jointed inners fabricated also.

I've decided to leave my current 300lb front, 450lb rear spring setup, simply because I don't think I've gave the car enough testing to know whether it's that or not.

I'm leaning towards not, as I have done a trackday at Donington (when I went with ben21 in his Astra Saloon) and the photos from there show how stable the car is through corners where I'd normally be toppling over.

I do however still want to lower the car moreso, without scrubbage and the like - so I'm on lookout for some 4/5 door / saloon front wings so they're round and I can get them flaired.

Was wondering how they'd look, but to be honest I'm not fussed...

When I had my white Nova and I crashed it, I bought some 5 door front wings not knowing they were different back then... here are some pics...

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/Ragga5.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/Ragga4.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/Ragga2.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/Ragga1.jpg


Obviously a full side on photo would have been better, lol, but the car wasn't at it most photogenic back then lol

should have just started with a coup mate - its the future ;)

right thats it. i'm gonna reshell lol

Front wings will be a cool mod :thumb:
Although there is a wide track pilbeam suspension setup on ebay at the moment....;)

Yup - I've seen lol

Front wings wont be standard, the vertical piece will be pulled out to match the 45degree angle

Might look euro, but thats not the look I'm aiming for

I think the front wings look uber cool... you are going to do the rears too tho yeh??

Nope, no need - rears don't scrub, well, they do, but they don't cause any problems...

This is with your old 90mms
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/Bobb01.jpg

and I won't be going any lower than this.

As well as this, it'd be hard to do a rear round arch conversion without it looking gash, as from a 4door, the arch is made up from a part of the rear door also.

I'm not wanting to be spending any money on body work, welding, fillering, primering, painting, as it's not that type of car, and its just adding more weight.

use another pair of front wings for the rears ;)

just cut the round bit of..

Why don't you just pull the wings out, seeing as its not a 'looker'?

Martin - good idea... I'll have a look into it lol

Dan - I don't think there is enough metal on the standard three door wings to give me the room I need, unless you think otherwise?

I'll get the bottle jack and the wet ply wood out lol :cool:

This is what I'm thinking... might see how it looks...

http://www.driftworks.com/forum/tech...ch-roller.html

Good stuff.

Hope you don't mind, but there was a curborough thread on CS so I linked them to your vids etc.

http://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/vi...php?tid=437292

This is just like what oddball on mig did, had the round rear arches welded in,
gave alot more cleanace.

Yeah Oli, I was "all over the shop" wasn't I. :roll:

Who gives a flying fook how my driving style is, the main aim is to get around their the quickest, simple as, and I did.

I've actually dont Nova rear arches in the same manor, I just needed a few mm but between stretching the arched and trimming the lip right back, I can rear et40's on the rear of my SX :D

[quote=trackdaynova]Yeah Oli, I was "all over the shop" wasn't I. :roll:

Id like to see those f#ckers drive a 35.93 like you did.And considering the geometery was all over the place i dont for one minute think you were "all over the place" at all.

I thought the day was excellent apart from the pump incident and the 2 wheeling was cccccccccoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll !!!!!!!!!!

Liking the idea of the bottle jack and wet ply wood too!!!! Get it done!!!!!!!!!:thumb:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by trackdaynova

Yeah Oli, I was "all over the shop" wasn't I. :roll:

Who gives a flying fook how my driving style is, the main aim is to get around their the quickest, simple as, and I did.

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:thumb:

it doesnt matter how it looks, if you get round quicker you win - end of

Expecting to receive my new replacement tyres on behalf of JamSport any time now, spoke to Mark today, who assures me they were ordered yesterday.

So then - on the subject on wanting to get my nova below 767kg, I'm weighing up (lol) what options are available to me.

Now I've moved my battery to rear left of car, out of the wheel well - I'm now going to cut the spare wheel well out, in favour of a sheet of 2mm alloy riveted in.

I'm still looking around for fibreglass bonnet and boot - however I'm not overly fussed about fibreglass front wings anymore, after speaking to Oli, he explained that they're made so strong, that there isn't alot of weight advantage by fitting these.

Because I'd only be fitting these for clearence, and to lower COG, I'm now going to definately buy a bottle jack and do it the jap way, on all four corners.

Next up - is looking at unsprung weight, I've reduced it at the front by fitting the alloy four pot calipers which were much lighter than the standard items, and at the rear the small 4" springs have helped.

The lightest alloy wheel, value for money is the OZ SuperLeggera at 4.9kg per rim (7x15, and they do ET45), followed closely by the OZ UltraLeggera which is 5.1kg per rim (again, 7x15 ET45 available).

I've just weighed my Cesaros and they are 7kg each rim, no tyre, so across all four, they're 28kg... versus the optimum 4x SuperLeggeras 19.6kg, which would give me an unsprung weight loss of 8.4kg which is corking :thumb:

I have found these for sale at £100 per rim, so it's £400 for a 8.4kg unsprung weightloss...

Or do I go £300 for FG bonnet (£150) and FG boot (£150)...

Without someone weighing their FG items, and me removing mine and weighing them - I don't know which would give me the greatest advantage!

better to lose unsprung weight than sprung weight!

If I recall correctly, the FG boot was about 7kg as opposed to CP's standard item of 14kg. His was a mk2 SR item and the boot spoiler is massively heavy.

MC

You're obviously rich, so spend money on both!

MC

OK, so there is a possible 7kg to be saved on the tailgate alone, and I presume more than 1kg on the bonnet? and £100 less... (for now...) lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MC

You're obviously rich, so spend money on both!

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how fecking dare you, i ain't rich!

having a wife, a mortgage and 2 cars doesn't leave me much to play with :( lol I do most things on the cheap, where I can!

Search for some alloy front/rear hubs whilst your at it :thumb:

Here's an email from Andy at agmotorsport, who sell fibreglass bonnets and tailgates (at not a bad price)

Quote:

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The fibreglass bonnets weigh just under 5 kg. The standard steel one is aprox 12kg.

The fibreglass tailgate is 5kg. The standard steel one is aprox 11 to 12 kg when stripped completely bare of all parts - wiper motor, locks, glass etc etc

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Hope that helps your decision.

a local rally driver to me (Julian Wilkes sure someone has heard of his car) told me the other day that when he had his car set up for tarmac including tanks and cage and what not he had it weighing 723kg!!!

Think he must of cut a hell of a lot out to get it that weight but still kept it strong somehow?

I'd go the unsprung weight route.

Get the FG bits as the wheels won't affect the corner weighting at all if you get them at a later date ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sturge

better to lose unsprung weight than sprung weight!

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Why?

Out of interest

Ad, the unsprung weight of a wheel controls a trade-off between a wheel's bump-following ability and its vibration isolation. So any bumps and surface imperfections in the road (less likely on a track) cause tyre compression-which induces a force on the unsprung weight.

In time, the unsprung weight then responds to this force with movement of its own. The amount of movement is inversely proportional to the weight - a lighter wheel which readily moves in response to road bumps will have more grip when tracking over an imperfect road.

For this reason, lighter wheels are better. In contrast, a heavier wheel which moves less will not absorb as much vibration; the irregularities of the road surface will transfer to the cabin through the geometry of the suspension and hence ride quality is deteriorated. High unsprung weight also exacerbates wheel control under hard acceleration or braking.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ar_diagram.jpg

Oh right, i get you.

how did you not roll it!

This car is a great example of attention to detail!

love it lol

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ar_diagram.jpg <--- worryingly accurate diagram of a vauxhall nova

Its completely wrong, that one has independant rear suspension :p.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Welsh Dan

Its completely wrong, that one has independant rear suspension :p.

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lol

Hope it all gets sorted for you Olly, it could have been worse you could have really injured yourself. :thumb:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dhdev (Oli)

course you can tyrone :thumb:

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lol Well that'll be me quoting Snatch for another few days. Damn you Oliver!

Olzor... (what? lol ) with regards to the unsprung weight/new wheels situation, have you looked at the Rota range? Cheaper, likely to be easier to get ahold of... hell - i'd ask Rare Rims for a cheeky bit of sponsorship tbh...

15 x 6.5 or 15 x 7 - don't think they're much (if any...) heavier than the Superleggera's:

Go rarerims.co.uk > Wheels > Lightweight Range

A 15 x 6.5" Rota Slipstream wheel is 5.39kg. £350 for a set too... :thumb: