Sam's build thread

[Sydneykid]

ha ha. you can tell I've only done hillclimbs - Often the fuel light is on and I take a 5L container to get me to the nearest servo before the trip home! Ok I'll take 2 X 20L fuel containers then. I could be wrong here but I believe our tank is a 44L unit. At the hillclimbs from what I've worked out based on refills and where the needle is beforehand, I can start a run with only 5L in it and have never had fuel starvation. From whats been said so far it looks like 4 sessions. Ok i'll have to clean out another container that's had diesel in it recently. I've never run with such a high fuel load before which should be interesting.

Gary a rear damping question for you - my rear MCA's were initially delivered with 6kg/mm springs in mind and 7 clicks out (of 12) from full hard. There are now 8kg/mm springs on board. Do I necessarily go a couple of clicks harder on the damping as a starting point?

Hard question to answer, it depends (of course) on many things. You really need to try it, what you want is enough control so it doesn't oscillate, diagonal pitching is the usual symptom. But not so much that it won't ride the curbs, which you need to do at Wakefield. That's the balancing act required with single adjuster dampers.

Cheers
Gary

[metalhead]

Hope your day has gone/is going well!

[sambb]

1:10.39. At Wakefield. Should be up on natsoft. Elated. For my first time there in a stock turbo too, I'm pretty stoked. Massive thanks to Gary cos it was just sooo sweet to steer.

[HaydEn]

1:10.39. At Wakefield. Should be up on natsoft. Elated. For my first time there in a stock turbo too, I'm pretty stoked. Massive thanks to Gary cos it was just sooo sweet to steer.

That’s not a slouch! Good work


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[Eddy]

Hoyhoy.

Well done Sam.

Hooroo.

[metalhead]

Nice! That's moving, very well done!

[sambb]

Thanks fellas. Was the best day. I actually had continual problems with the shift linkage jamming - the plastic bit with the two channels in it that the forge short shifter slides through. It kept 'un-lipping' and jumping out of its tracks and either getting stuck going up into 4th or worse, stuck trying to come down out of 4th into 3rd which was very scary coming through turn 1 (the kink). I think the heat was getting to the part and also the bush on that linkages shaft was shot and had too much free play. I never actually did more than 5 laps in each session which was a bummer, and it wasn't very confidence inspiring having the slop taken out of it with a cable tie and a plastic washer. I'm glad I was able to get the time that I did in the reduced running, and I feel like I did a 12hr or something compared to the fleeting seat time you get in hillclimbs, so I'm still stoked with the day. I'm guzzling coopers like water presently so I'll type up a better report later when I'm a bit more with it.

Natsoft results here: Result
F**k yeah....7th overall!

[sambb]

and props to my mate in his Clio RS w172 atmo 2L with a 1:12.37..

[sambb]

quick shift position in neutral.
and in 3rd. Note how the trailing edge of the quick shift is further forward than the pivot on the linkage that hold on the plastic slider.
This is how much free play was in the slider though. What was happening was that when I'd go to grab 4th or more commonly come down from 4th to 3rd, the quickshift would turn CW and jam the slider when in 4th. Whenever it jammed I would come back to the pits to find the white slider twisted 90 degrees so that its channels were perpendicular to the quickshift and either wedged at its end or wedged outside of its rails. I nearly went off at the end of the main straight because of it. I had grabbed 4th and was about to shift down to third when just through the kink and it was wedged in 4th. I had no compression braking and had to haul it down with the brakes only. Lucky that on that lap I'd been held up coming onto the straight so I had a bit to spare and kept it on the track but I could have ended up in the sandpit if i'd been on a flyer. On two occasions I managed to get into 4th on the back straight - once ended up being my fastest lap and the second time it wedged in 4th and I went straight into the pits, but more often it happened at the kink and I'd have to do a whole lap in 4th before coming in. It came good once while I was on the way in and I kept going but all other times I had to come in. Its that $2 dollar part letting you down story. Anyone had this happen before? or know of aftermarket steel sliders? Can't afford the proper diesel geek shifter so i'll have to make up something if there's no off the shelf alternative to reinforce the slider. In the mean time i'll have to put the stock shifter back in which has longer rails for the slider to engage on and maybe what i'll end up doing is drilling/tapping the stock shifter to turn it into a quick shift.

[sambb]

I've got to start by saying that Wakefield is such a great circuit for our cars or probably any hatchback for that matter. I love the main straight that runs through the kink before the braking area. In the hillclimbs there are a few spots where you have fast kinks like that before a braking area that have always in nerved me a bit - namely through the kink into the 'cutting' at Bathurst and the kink at Huntley, so this was good practice for that. My favourite part of the track was the run down hill after the top corner. Before the only proper left hander there's a right hander (can't remember what turn it is) where I could be beyond the painted curb and onto the concrete and have full throttle pinned and use the LSD to rip through there before climbing on the brakes for the tight left with the arse squirming around under brakes - so fun. The parts I never figured out were the top sweeping corner (was doing it in third by trying to back it through) but was always unsure if I should have been going back to second, and also the last corner before coming onto the main straight. It wasn't till the very end of the day when I was following my mate in his Clio who had just had tuition that I discovered how wrong I was doing that.
Apart from never being able to do more than 4 or 5 timed laps (I think I only did 3 when I did my quickest run) because of the linkage drama, I really stuffed myself by requesting to go into the same group as my mate in his Clio. I'd wanted to sort of tail him and free load off his tuition to learn the lines, but didn't realise how badly the traffic was going to affect me. Ours was the third fastest group but when there are guys in the second fastest group doing 1:15's, I realised that I'd stuffed up badly. I can honestly say that I never strung 2 unimpeded laps together or if I did get a clear lap it was one where I was really compromised coming onto the straight. Another time you'd get a good run down the straight and think alright I'm into it but the guy you were overtaking couldn't find it in themselves to just lift for a split second and let you through cleanly so you'd be side by side going through the kink that would mess up turn 2 for you. I guess that's the big advantage of Hillclimbs the fact that you have the track to yourself and I really underestimated how frustrating it'd be to negotiate traffic. Atleast next time i'll have a natsoft time and will go into a more suited group where there'll maybe more free track. When I did my quickest time I basically went out like it was a qualifying session. I'd put the linkage back together for the second time and thought that I might only get one more session out of it, so I actually put air into the tyres so that I went out on 29psi knowing that I'd only get 3/4/5 laps before it broke again. I staged up as soon as we were called so I could get out the front and let a pulsar get miles down the road, wieved like a mofo to get heat into the tyres and then just went for it hillclimb style on the first timed lap. I was punching kurbs and managed to get most of it right. On the back straight I climbed the kurb and took it with only a slight lift so that I was in fourth before the hairpin for the first time, nailed the lap and then the linkage seized again when I tried to down shift at the kink. I trundled around the next lap stuck in 4th, it came good I went around again and then had to come in. Not a circuit smooth style at all, more like a hillclimb lap but it was so fun. I did the same at the end of the day too and I thought it was quicker but apparently not, probably because morning temps were more favourable.
A bit about the suspension later - have kids climbing all over me presently, but I'm still on such a high from such a top day and can't wait to get back there with a reliable car and really put in a lot of laps.

PS - thanks for the tip on the cabins Andrew. We had a whole cabin to ourselves the night before with many beers looking at the view and getting pumped for the day ahead.