2006 Deep Black Track Shed BudgetBoltOnBuild

[Helpimonfire]

Maxton Design splitter fitted this afternoon. Much better than the split, knackered rubber trim that was there before. I'm gunna run a bead of black silicone along the gap as the fitment is typical cheap ABS plastic, I just wasn't going to spend twice the amount on a genuine RS one.

Not 100% on it yet but it's good enough for now. I'll probably only tear it off when I go off the track at Snetterton next month

 

[Big Ben]

Maxton Design splitter fitted this afternoon. Much better than the split, knackered rubber trim that was there before. I'm gunna run a bead of black silicone along the gap as the fitment is typical cheap ABS plastic, I just wasn't going to spend twice the amount on a genuine RS one.View attachment 146533View attachment 146535

Not 100% on it yet but it's good enough for now. I'll probably only tear it off when I go off the track at Snetterton next month

Lovely that mate. Gravel scoop!

 

[Helpimonfire]

Let's hope not!

So I did a few miles in the Clio, used it for the commute and needed to run the car down so I could fill it up again to see if that reset the fuel sender level. Thankfully it did! So that got fixed.

Fuel gauge/level sender - ✓

Next on the list was a little more pressing. The rattle from the rear end. I had a feeling it was a blown rear shock, the rear has no give in it as we all know and I only ever heard it over bumps. I'd ordered a pair of second hand shocks from BTT Motorsport on eBay, £9 each delivered. Lovely job. They only sent 1 which they're sorting out thankfully but it turns out I don't need them...

Confession time. When I fitted my refurbed calipers, I thought I'd torqued the rear caliper carrier bracket correctly. Turns out I'd missed that one

On both sides. So the rattling I'd heard was the rear calipers moving around! Thankfully I'd put some threadlock on the bolts when I'd fitted so they hadn't backed out or damaged the threads but that could have been a biiiiiiig accident if I hadn't caught it!

Sorted now though. Treated myself to a helmet net too. Just for kicks really, I can't see it being overly useful but we like these things

 

[Helpimonfire]

Lovely that mate. Gravel scoop!

Ended up working really well today for punting cones across the track

So, today I did a How Fast day at Bedford on the West Circuit, it was only a 2 hour session but it was a good event to be fair, had the morning brief and then we went out to the west circuit. Had a session booked with an instructor, mainly to see how my driving stacks up. Turns out my driving on track is fine and he was really impressed with the car, he kept telling me to change up at about 5500rpm but I gave it all 7800rpm as we all know there's nothing below 4k

Had a bit of a drame when we got back to the pits, popped the bonnet as I usually do to let the hot air escape and there was oil EVERYWHERE. Had a proper panic on but turned out when I was checking the oil before heading out on track, I hadn't pushed the dipstick in fully as I was chatting at the time. Cleaned up and made sure there was still oil in the engine and went out for another few laps, checked it again and all was good. Went out for my hot laps and I made a mess of braking for a corner, I'd gotten my trainer caught under the brake pedal and ended up going too hot into a corner, had to cut it and sent a few small cones absolutely flying That voided my lap but the second lap was my quickest, ending up 12th out of 17 cars, mine being one of the lowest power cars on track (lowest power was an MX5, mine was next up in the power stakes) and then I was 3rd out of 5 in the hot hatch category. Happy with that. Not bad for a new track and only about 30 minutes of track time before the timed runs.

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[Helpimonfire]

So the splitter took a heavy rubber cone to the face and came away in one piece with only minor scuffs.

Onto other bits now. BTT Motorsport have got their own polybushes for engine and gearbox mounts, along with rear exhaust rubbers too. £85 delivered for the lot so I've got some of those to fit before Snetterton on Weds evening. Will update with how they feel compared to the 122k mile old OEM ones

 

[Big Ben]

Getting in some practice before the big Snet meet I see haha. Looking good mate.

 

[Helpimonfire]

Getting in some practice before the big Snet meet I see haha. Looking good mate.

Too right mate!

After weeks of ordering and returning them, I've finally got wind deflectors again. The Team Heko ones I had before were shite to be honest and I wasn't going to spend money on those again. I didn't fancy the generic cheap eBay ones so I checked ECP as they do Clim-Air ones, highly regarded on the Focus ST groups. ECP are mostly useless at sending the right ones out but they managed it. These require no clips, no tape or anything like that, they just fit. Really well made too. Will update if they fall off tomorrow at Snetterton

And a part number for reference;

 

[Helpimonfire]

Swapping out the lower gearbox bush for a BTT Motorsport polybush and I found this...

So I'll have a spare kicking about if I ever need it The OEM bush at the other end of the dogbone has seen better days though so I'll need to swap that out eventually. BTT torque arm bush and gearbox mount bush fitted tonight. Spent 2 hours trying to find a bolt that I dropped only to find it wedged perfectly in one of the casting ribs on the gearbox casing! I can assure you there was a LOT of swearing.

Other things I noticed is that I think I've split a CV boot, there's a fair bit of grease around it that I can't say I'd noticed before, so I'll address that in the coming weeks. After my oil spillage at the weekend with the dipstick not being pushed home properly, I'll be cleaning the engine bay first thing in the morning, hopefully get rid of some of the oil and other shit that's accumulated over the years.

 

[RSRowe]

If the grease is around the middle of the long shaft, it’ll be the little o ring where the shaft splits in two.
I’ve replaced a couple now

 

[Helpimonfire]

Sadly it's the short shaft. I'll do this session tonight and get it sorted for August. I can't work out how long the grease has been there though because it's full of grit and other detritus, I did see in the history it had a CV boot a year or so before I got it and I have a feeling I've had one put on at some point too. More reading to be done methinks.

 

[Helpimonfire]

So Snetterton last night was brilliant fun, got a solid 2 hours of track time with only a few stops to let the brakes and tyres cool a bit. The seats and harnesses made a huge difference to cornering speed and commitment, I think I'm now pushing the limits of my tyres so I'll be trying something a bit more expensive next. I was surprised that there was only 1 other 197/200 there last night, with the daytime session having none at all, all 172/182s instead!

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Couple fly-by's for you, second video I slapped the limiter fairly hard while going past that Fiesta ST150 You'll also hear a fair bit of tyre squeal. I found out last night that the DS Uno pads up front are a lot more aggressive and I spent most of the evening going into the last corner with a dab of oppo

Onto a slightly more pressing concern. Turns out I hadn't forgotten to push the dipstick in fully at Bedford as a 45 minute stint of hard driving popped it back out again, caught it in time though so it didn't shower the engine bay in Elf's finest 5-30. I'm going to try cleaning and breathers I can find under the bonnet, I've got a new dipstick and PCV coming from RPD as the o-ring on the dipstick is basically plastic now and the PCV has started making odd noises. Hopefully this will cure it, otherwise my engine swap/build plans will be pushed forward by about a year

 

[RSRowe]

Sounds spot on

 

[Helpimonfire]

 

[Helpimonfire]

Dipstick and PCV replaced. The old dipstick literally fell out, the new one locks into place firmly so hopefully that was the cause.

Other news. I have acquired a tow pig and trailer!

The car is a 2005 BMW 530d with the smooth 6 speed auto box, full leather etc etc... Few things to sort but they'll be done this week all going well!
The trailer is an interesting one, it's an ex-AA recovery trailer, built like a brick shithouse and has recently had a full brake and wheel bearing overhaul, along with new LED rear and marker lights. New jockey wheel too. It's 16ft long and is rated to carry 2.7t. It also has multiple mounting points for a winch, I'm gunna hook up an old 12v winch and build a strap/tool box for it too.

Mega happy with this!

 

[burrellbloke]

Get a wheel/tyre rack on the trailer.

 

[Helpimonfire]

Get a wheel/tyre rack on the trailer.

That's the plan eventually. It's gunna be an ongoing project as I need to pick up a welder too for some more tie down points, reinforcement of existing tie downs and then I'll work out where the Clio needs to be on the trailer and put some (removable) stops on the bed for easy loading.

 

[Helpimonfire]

So. Updates. No pictures at the moment.

CV boot - Turns out it wasn't split, one of the clamps had worked loose and that's why it'd spat grease everywhere.

Trailer - This one is a little embarrassing... I got a little excited when I bought it, I'd forgotten a measuring tape to see how wide the bed was and it turns out it's about 5mm too narrow for the Clio on the black wheels. So hopefully once I get my other wheels back from having the tyres switched over, it'll fit. I also almost overcomplicated things as the ramps are fairly short, I was trying to work out how I could load the car with extra blocks of wood, ramp extensions etc... Turns out it's an old-school tilt bed. Undo the front fixing and start driving up the ramps and it'll tilt! Just need to work out where the weight needs to be and I'll fix some blocks down to the bed as markers.

Towpig - Fixed most of the electrical issues, there's still a few but I have a pair of loom repair kits so that's a job for a long weekend I think. Also got the towbar fitted, most of the wiring was already there so all I had to do was remove the extra cable for the caravan 12v charging point or whatever it was, tidy up the rest of the wiring and stick a plug on it! Next up is to figure out this new Android headunit I bought but that's a job I'll figure out soon. For the moment I've had to dig out a bunch of CDs!

I need a 5 day weekend before Snetterton at this rate...

 

[RSRowe]

Blocks of wood under the rear wheels of the 5 will help and probably be a bit easier than tilting.
Which head unit did you go for?

I replaced the mechatronic seals on mine yesterday and did the box oil again. Had an error flash up towing to the last day
Hopeful it’ll at least help slightly.

 

[Helpimonfire]

Blocks of wood under the rear wheels of the 5 will help and probably be a bit easier than tilting.
Which head unit did you go for?

I replaced the mechatronic seals on mine yesterday and did the box oil again. Had an error flash up towing to the last day
Hopeful it’ll at least help slightly.

Yeah I might just make some blocks to be fair. The tilt bed only works when it's got 200kg+ on it seems!
The head unit is some generic E60/61 fit, quality seems alright but I'm not sure about the home screen yet, I've taken it out for now while I wait for a cable for it.

Got these mounted this morning, will see if the car will actually go on the trailer with these wheels instead, if not I'll finish tidying this trailer up and buy a different one as the Focus went off to a new home this afternoon so that's freed up some cash!

 

[Helpimonfire]

Had a nightmare today. Put the smaller offset wheels on the car and tried to load it up on the trailer. Tyres had about 2mm clearance... Forgot about the wheel spokes sticking out slightly.

Fuck.

Nevermind. Off to buy another trailer tomorrow now as the Clio has no insurance on it anymore so I can't drive it to Snetterton, plus I'd rather have a nice wafty barge to go there and back in