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The Car Thread


MadManMike

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Does anyone know anything about how shifters work?

Could any of the below parts cause the sifter to feel jerky? It should be smooth, in my case you need to apply quite a lot of pressure to get into gear but once you pass the tight spot, it goes in instantly.

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look like a mk1 focus? if so grease the f**k out of both ends of the linkages. sounds like the input(driver) end of the linkages could be a bit worn

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Jardo, The 'B' Platform VAG stuff goes a bit funny around the B3/4 age. The Passat and 80/90 share sod all at that age. The Audi's pretty much keep a normal evolution from the B2, they stay with an inline engine and a transaxle, like the B2 and B5 do, but the Passat's go their own way, and go out of line from the earlier/later models, they go to a front end similar to a mk3 golf, and mount the engine tranversly. As such, there's actually zero link between the B3/4 Passat and B3/4 Audi 80/90. Trust me, I've compared them side by side, they're a totaly different car. The Passat is basically a mk3 engine, and mk3 moving parts up front, but with a wider subframe/steering rack, and 'wide-track hubs' (like used on mk3 VR6's), then the rear end uses a Corrado rear beam. (Well the Corrado uses the Passat beam, but they're the same either way.) It's why the Passat was offered with the VR6 while the Audi's got the more traditional 90deg V6 engines.

Yes you can bolt a Passat 20vt straight into an 80, but that's because the only 20vt Passat's are B5's, which go back to using an Audi platform. You can't bolt a B3 Passat engine into a B3 80, as the holes for the inline mounts aren't there. (Or they might just need tapping, I can't remember.)

Adam. Nice one! Looks like you got on very well! Look forward to hearing a little more about it/seeing some pictures.

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So what car do I need to buy to find this engine??

90 or Coupe B3 :) the 90's (especially quattro and Sport versions) are highly saught after so you're better off looking for a coupe, I was just lucky as hell to get mine for the price I did! It was an off chance bid, I really didn't expect to win the auction at all!

Well pleased with it anyway, a few niggles but I expected it for £320!

I don't have any pics of my own yet so here's the eBay link :)http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261081723588?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

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George - Prawn scanned my car and the warning lights were MAF related, thanks anyway but your one won't fit. When I started the car last night the engine management light wasn't lit and it has not come on again after 160 miles.

Last night I went to Ace Cafe in London with Prawn for VAG night. There were some very nice cars there (The pick of the bunch was probably the mental Corado!) but I just didn't understand why people thought it was appropriate to use the public road outside as a drag strip. There were also some uber c**ts on motorbikes doing wheelies and stoppies, one of them clipped a BMW and shortly after another had to bin his bike to avoid going into a car. It wouldn't have been too bad if the bikers had behaved themselves but last night was a bit too chav for my liking :P

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look like a mk1 focus? if so grease the f**k out of both ends of the linkages. sounds like the input(driver) end of the linkages could be a bit worn

Doubt it, the linkages shouldn't get that tight. If anything, they're too loose. I'll give it a go though. What do you mean by the focus reference? The box is a 6 speed Getrag 420G off a BMW V8.

In car related news, found this on the TG website, possibly the most awesome parking ever?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_Yq0enkHWzs

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Very long post alert - feel free to ignore! Some of it might be out of context too...

The latest update in my blog comes from Snetterton, August Bank Holiday weekend. We were on the 300 circuit and shared the weekend with the 24hr 2CV race, truck racing and others which were a good watch!

I had to go to a family do down in Kent on Saturday night, which meant a relatively early start Sunday to make sure I was at the track in time for our briefing at 12.

I arrived about 10ish and said hello to everyone, then spotted Mark doing some cheeky weight-saving (yes, the sills were pretty full!).

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Decent weather, woohoo!

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After mingling with the paddock for a bit, we decided it was time to watch the last half hour of the 2CV race. They had been at it since 11am the previous day, had a red flag overnight due to flooding on the track and in the pits, but everyone was in great spirits and there was an amazing atmosphere about the place.

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One of the cars came in about 20 mins from the end with what looked like a pretty terminal problem, smoke billowing from the exhaust. He was sent back out on the track (albeit VERY slowly) and came back round to the pit straight after what seemed like about 10 minutes, smoke still pouring from the exhaust. He was given a huge cheer by everyone on the pit wall and pushed over the line by a fellow competitor - amazing stuff :)

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The finish of the race ended up pretty close from what I can gather, with only a few seconds in it! All the cars were met as they cruised down the pit lane at the end of the race, a great sight.

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After that excitement, it was time to turn my attentions to our weekend. First up was our new driver briefing (you have to go to this if you haven't raced at the curcuit before). I went to Race Control to check the time and place of the briefing... 12 at Tyrrells resaurant - sorted.

The chap started by introducing himself as having run the first truck race in the UK in 1983, and mentioning that we had to be careful of black smoke, so would be flagged and allowed to adjust the mixture in the pits if it was too smoky. He also mentioned that a couple of the corners on the track didn't have much camber, so we needed to be careful of toppling over. Very odd...

At this point Sam (yellow number 11 car - his first time driving the car and his first race, more on that later) came over and dragged me away. It all seemed a bit weird but I was just going along with it... haha. I was at the truck briefing! Oops.

Anyway, luckily the 'correct' briefing was running a bit late, so managed to get to that. By the time we'd finished it was about 12:30, so still had some time to prep the car (yes, I checked the oil, twice in fact!!) before scrutineering at 1 and qualifying at 2:20pm.

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Scrutineering went fairly well, only thing the guy seemed a bit iffy about was the fire retardant foam between the boot and the cockpit (the cockpit has to be sealed from fluids - especially fuel!). They always seem to pull me up on that. I blagged my way through it, but might bang some fibreglass over it at some point.

The car weighed in at 909kg with about half a tank of fuel - we need to make 970kg with driver and 3 litres of fuel at the end of a session / race. With my 85kg in there too, I knew I'd be plenty safe.

So - qualifying. I was pretty comfortable with the track as I'd been there about a month earlier in my other Mk1 to check it out. I had been lapping about 2:34 with a passenger, so was hoping to go a bit quicker this time...

Managed to get out onto the track in some clear air, but I had made some relatively major geo changes and not driven the car since it's last outing, so spent a couple of laps getting used to how the car was feeling before pressing on.

Now, there are two very important corners at Snetterton, one is Williams and the other is Murrays. Both are before very long straights, and Senna Straight (between Murrays and Riches) is uphill, too. You have to get good exits from both of these corners to get a good lap time, as obviously that extra speed carries all the way down the straight. I'll refer back to this track map a few times later on...

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Turns out my quickest lap was on lap 5 (out of 8) - a 2:30.397 - I think I was maybe pushing a bit too much towards the end of the session. Watching the video back carefully would confirm, but it proves that smooth is usually fast!

Once back off the track we were shepherded through Parc Ferme and into the scrutineering bay for weighing. We don't get weighed every time, so this was a new experience for me. I'd done some quick calcs after scrutineering and was pretty sure weight would be no issue, but was nervous anyway..!

982kg, phew. That means I'd used 12kg of fuel (a smidge under 17 litres) in an 8-lap, 20 minute session. That's about 7mpg, if you include the warm down lap, eek. Either way, this was good knowledge for both later in the day and in future...

We headed off to grab some timing sheets and found I'd qualified second, just pipped at the post by Sam in the bright yellow #11 car as he'd busted out a very quick 2:30.1 lap right at the death - a bloody great result considering he'd never driven Snetterton OR the car before! (Why is it that ex-karters are always bloody fast?)

Unfortunately though, at the weigh in, Sam's slender figure and dry-cell battery (which had been fitted as a safety measure rather than for weight-saving, and isn't against the series regs) meant the car came in underweight, so he would have to start at the back. That would give me a better chance for the race, and also Sam would have a great time getting through the field, but it was a shame his efforts were in vain.

Our next action wouldn't be until the next day, so the cars were covered up and we went to watch some of the other racing. The trucks were kicking out rather a lot of black smoke, but watching their 6 tons lapping at under 2:30 was quite a sight!

The evening was pretty chilled - had some sausage buns, chocolate doughnuts and chocolate buttons with Chris (cheers for letting me borrow your stove again!), grabbed a pint of coke (and something stronger) with Paul, Jo, Mark, Tom and Chris, then went for a saunter round the track.

Main straight (Senna)... long and uphill.

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Bentley straight... also very long.

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There was lots of chat of best lines, inspecting kerbs, etc, and the odd silly pose.

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We (Tom, Chris and I) popped back to the bar for another coke, checked out the TSL Timing website for the quali times, and decided on our strategy for the race (get ahead of the other cars and stay there). Then it was bed time.

Got a pretty good sleep, woken by the bin lorries coming round about half 6... 1100 litre steel wheelie bins are not quiet when they are being chucked around!

View from my boudoir (back of the van) in the morning - sunny!

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Everyone else was still tucked up at this point...

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But it wasn't long before we were all up and about, grabbing breakfast etc.

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Sam and Barry prepping and adding weights to the car - doing lots of fuel weight calculations to make sure they were over the weight limit for the races. Neither of them had raced before, and it was Sam's first time driving the car too. Both thoroughly nice chaps and very quick drivers, so we hope to see you again in the future!

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Sam with torque wrench in hand - maybe not so inexperienced after all!

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Jeremy, Joe, Paul and Ian chatting.

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The Chilcott camp - great setup they have there!

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Final pre-race checks, Rodders and Tom on the left, Chris in the middle, and Paul on the right.

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So - onto the first race. We were guided into the holding area and it appeared the marshalls had been given a grid list that hadn't been fully updated - Sam was put on pole with me in 2nd. Not a problem really, the #11 car now had plenty of weight in it, and this would just make the race more exciting hopefully!

I had an 'ok' start, with Chris in the orange #15 car passing me around the outside on the first straight and into Riches. Sam was ahead of us both at this point, but I think he must have missed a gear as he dropped back between Chris and I.

I got a bit sideways in the first corner and then stayed in 4th when I should have dropped a gear, so Sam came around the outside of me into Montreal and with a brief puff of smoke Chris' tyres he kept Sam at bay under braking - from 3rd to 1st in 2 corners, nice work mate! I had the inside line for Montreal, but Sam cruised round the outside and got on the power better than me to take 2nd.

He and Chris looked to be pretty evenly matched, with plenty of jostling going on throughout the first lap, so I decided to hang back a bit and bide my time...

My time came at the end of lap 1 - Sam got up the inside of Chris around Coram, but then had too much speed to stop the car! He went off on the outside of the track at the next corner, the tight left hander Murrays, with Chris getting some oversteer too and diving to the left of the track upon correcting it.

I made sure I got a good exit to carry speed along the main straight, and cruised up behind both of the cars ahead. Gradually creeping to the left of the track, I held Chris there and drew Sam across, leaving space to jink right and take the inside line for the next turn. My first 'proper' overtake :D

I reached the turn in point first and just needed to keep it steady to stay ahead - no dramas. Something my camera reveals but I missed at the time was Chris getting a bit drifty on the inside of the turn (at 85mph) and tagging Sam by accident, which made both of them get a fair bit out of shape. They both held it well, but it gave me a bit of breathing space.

At the next bend, Montreal, a tight right hander, Sam got seriously oversteery and spun, causing Chris to take evasive action losing both of them a fair bit of time. From here, I was able to take it fairly steady and come home for my first win!

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After the race it turned out Chris had ended up with a bit more damage than I realised, so had his wing rubbing on his front tyre and had to retire :( Still, a bit of tugging, hammering and duct tape had him ready for Race 2!

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This time I started on pole, next to Jimmy in the Mission Motorsport car, with Barry (Sam's dad, in the yellow #11 car) starting at the back due to being a shared driver and not having completed a full qualifying. Chris started next to him due to his DNF - with two quick guys at the back they were sure to have some fun, and I had to make sure I got away cleanly to avoid being swallowed up...

I got a decent start, and was in the lead into the first bend. I could see Mark (black and white #23 car) had made his usual storming start and was now in 2nd place. I was hoping I could make a bit of a dash and pull a gap while the others tussled with each other.

This worked well, and by Lap 6 I'd got a bit bored of driving round on my own again. I decided to back off, let Barry (who was now in 2nd) catch me, and then I could hopefully back him into Chris (who was in 3rd) and give us an exciting finale!

Once Barry was a reasonable distance back I got back on the pace - this was just before Agostini (2nd gear left hander). He made a really late dive on the brakes and tried to come up the inside! A very ballsy move - certainly woke me up, haha! I made sure to leave him a good car's width at the apex, but luckily I stayed ahead and the race was on!

We spent the rest of the race dicing with each other, both of us doing our quickest laps within the last 2 laps of the race when we never separated by more than a few car lengths. It was awesome to be so close to another car - this was the feeling I had been waiting for!

I had to take a few pretty defensive lines (mostly into Brundle and Murrays) to keep Barry behind me, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Big smiles all round on the podium, and another 1st place trophy for me! Full results are here: http://tsl-timing.com/barc/2012/123421max.pdf

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My video is uploading at the moment, and should be finished tonight - I will stick it up when done.

Overall, a top weekend once again - even better than the last one obviously! Thanks to all the guys for making it so enjoyable.

Next race is Mallory Park on 30th September, with the quali and both races crammed into the same day. Should be very exciting due to the track being short and tight!

Stay tuned for the next installment of 'Northern bloke rambles on about his weekend and tells you about stuff you don't really care about in far too much detail'...

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Having spent all last week playing in high power MX5's, watching your video's, reading your post, looking at them on driftworks and driving them on a daily basis for the last year. I really want a Mk1.

So smooth in the middle of that video Adam, properly good.

What spec is the car? I know you hold your cards close; which is why I never asked you about the thing I knew you had. ;)

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I've been meaning to say thank you Adam for the tickets! I had a great day, you raced really well, one heck of a lead! I tried to find you in the pits a few times but no luck

Cars still waiting for new solenoids and running like crap so I figured I should sort out my bumper.... For the millionth time! Got halfords to mix me some 1k as I don't have an air fed mask for 2k, scored some free paint off them too which is nice :)

Splitter was torn yet again and has worn through I several places from scraping, bumper had a few spiderwebs in the paint from pigeon impacts....

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Spare old bumper that I never got round to finishing (fairly split in places), car looks pretty rad...

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Prepped splitter with base coat

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Prepped bumper with primer

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Hoping to get them both sanded down again tomorrow ready for a proper top coat, then several coats of lacquer to make them super shiny.

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For small parts like that a decent cartridge type mask, such as the 3M ones will do when using 2k. I often ditch the air-fed at work when doing little bits with 2k as having an assortment of airlines trailing around the place can be a bit of a nusiance. Saying that..I do stand in front of a massive waterwall extractor too...

Black chequer the bumper and then yellow the bonnet! Roll in true crash-test style!

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Having spent all last week playing in high power MX5's, watching your video's, reading your post, looking at them on driftworks and driving them on a daily basis for the last year. I really want a Mk1.

So smooth in the middle of that video Adam, properly good.

What spec is the car? I know you hold your cards close; which is why I never asked you about the thing I knew you had. ;)

Haha. I think you just want any car that's good :P To be fair, they are properly fun cars, and cheap, and damn reliable. Slow as hell, but very fun. I was all 'aahh shitty hairdresser cars, slow and rubbish and old' before I bought one, and I am astonished at how good it is! You don't need power, in fact I like the fact it's slow, just means you have to drive it hard :dance:

Cheers - keeping it smooth is the name of the game as you know! In race 1 I managed 7 of 8 flying laps all within 0.7s, and the one that was slower was a 'slow' lap as I could feel the brakes going away a bit, then in race two 5 of 5 flying laps were within 0.5s. I'm not the fastest on the grid but I think consistency pays...

As for spec - it's limited by the series regs. We have control tyres (Federal RSR 595s), wheels (TD Pro Race 2), brakes (standard 1.6 brakes - pads are free), shocks (Gaz), standard ARBs, cage (Safety Devices or Caged), no chassis mods allowed, no bodywork mods allowed, standard airbox and filter, engine is limited to a 20 thou head skim (no uprated cams, pistons, etc) and you can change the exhaust (as long as it's under 105dB). Maximum bhp is 130, my car runs 129, and everyone in the field is 127 or above. Weight limit is 970kg with driver and 3 litres of fuel at the end of the session. This all means you can't spend megabucks and makes it good close racing!

I've been meaning to say thank you Adam for the tickets! I had a great day, you raced really well, one heck of a lead! I tried to find you in the pits a few times but no luck

No worries man - sorry I didn't get to see you! Hope you had a good day out :) Next time...

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Looks pretty good! Only thing to check is the sills and arches really, as you know. If it's come over to the UK fairly late on, that's a bonus. If it drives fine, it will be fine. If the air con is bust or the power steering whines/leaks, then that's a bonus, as you should be ripping that out anyway and it will give you more bartering power :)

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MX5's look great in isolation. When you see them in the flesh, they look gay as f**k.

Part of me loves them and part of me hates the fact that you need to destroy the handling to make them look good; dunno. I've probably driven 40/50 standard MX5's in my job, and not one of them has ever driven badly.

I know it's like the first image on google, but this one looks great!

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If they are lowered a little bit and proper go faster spec then they are awesome, slammed or standard they are just a bit shit.

The one I went to look at earlier was rotten, release bearing was gone, sounded like a bag of spanners for the first 20 seconds after I started it, was no less than 7 shades of pink and needed new bumpers and a wing. No thanks.

Edited by Pashley26
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