John’s Titanium 182 Track Project

[John Lindsay]

So I’ve been on the forum for some time now, and have been meaning to make a thread for quite a while, but photobucket became a nightmare and I couldn’t be bothered. However I’ve just downloaded Tapatalk so we’ll see how this goes.

It all starts back in March 2016, when I purchased a ‘cheap clio’ to escape the never ending money pit that was my Audi A3 Track Car.

To be continued... when it’s not so late and once I decide if Tapatalk is for me.


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[John Lindsay]

Some pics of the aforementioned Audi. The end just wasn’t in sight and I decided that I’d get a clio as ‘Cheap track car’ and just do the basics:

 

[imprezaworks]

What happened to the audi

 

[John Lindsay]

What happened to the audi

Was sold as a rolling shell to a lad down south. He had an S3 as a road car and was going to transplant the engine. I’ve not seen a massive amount of progress on it.

 

[imprezaworks]

Ah fair enough. Hopefully the clio is less of a headache

 

[Hyperhatch]

Nice car, it’s silver so it’s going to be fast :smile:

Silly question time! I’ve just brought the same tow hook but it’s to short to fit as the hoop would sit behind the grill/bumper. How did you make yours fit?

Cheers

 

[John Lindsay]

So after the Audi went it was time for the Clio’s first track day at Knockhill. It performed well for a totally standard car on shagged cup shocks and but the Uniroyals took a bit of abuse!

 

[John Lindsay]

Nice car, it’s silver so it’s going to be fast :smile:

Silly question time! I’ve just brought the same tow hook but it’s to short to fit as the hoop would sit behind the grill/bumper. How did you make yours fit?

Cheers

It didn’t fit lol...

Was on the car when I bought it and swiftly thrown away - seemed to only be there for looks!

 

[vroomtshh]

Ah fair enough. Hopefully the clio is less of a headache :smile:

Hahahahaha if only you knew

 

[John Lindsay]

So after the first track day didn’t kill the car I decided some upgrades were in order. Starting with a nice set of 888R’s

Then some weight removal:

The Tyres fitted to my new wheels:

New seat, harness and mounting bar:

So that was it all back together and ready for it’s next track day. I also fitted brand new Cup Shocks and Cooksports springs at this time, but I don’t seem to have any pictures - you all know what they look like.

Anyone planning to build a pure track car and considering this suspension option I would recommend avoiding it and going straight down the coilover route. They were okay but just not stiff enough imo.

 

[John Lindsay]

The next track day went well, very few problems. Not many pictures from this one.

This happened though...

One of my freshly powered-coated wheels decided that it wanted to part company. No real damage though, just the wing. So continued with the rest of the night.

Replaced the wing and done another track day:

So that brings us up to July 2016

 

[.LiamC.]

I'm seriously thinking of getting another Titanium 182 to start doing track days in again Car looks awesome!

 

[John Lindsay]

So after that the car wouldn’t see the light of day again until August 2017. There was a long time with no progress but I got quite a lot of work done too.

Christmas time 2016 I picked this up as a daily, it lasted a couple of weeks until I remembered they’re terrible road cars lol

We also done a bit of work on my mates Ph1 Exclusive Track Car - Build Thread here

Then I started work on my car, weight saving to begin with:

Fitted my PMS A/C Delete:

Fitted headlight blanks, made the front bumper quick release and fitted up the tailgate and bonnet:

And so by March 2017 it resembled a car again...

 

[John Lindsay]

Next step was to get the dashboard back in and start to sort out the interior wiring:

Dash pod:

Battery positioned, and wiring run:

I removed a lot of unnecessary wiring from the dash loom, but there’s still a bit more to come out, this may need revisited in the future but for now I wrapped it all to to make it neat and tidy. I also trimmed down the heater box so as Just to point to the windscreen and fitted the dash pod with the isolator switch, hazard switch and on/off switch for the new non A/C heater:

Then, a nice box (finally) arrived:

So I fitted the PMS top mounts and strut brace then the AST Coilovers with powerflex mounts on the rear.

Then I fitted the rear door cards and it was time to remove and tidy up more wiring... gotta love wiring, especially French stuff!

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[imprezaworks]

Very tidy.

 

[CFAB]

Yeah I like this, weight saving is a fun chase.

What’s next?

 

[John Lindsay]

Yeah I like this, weight saving is a fun chase.

What’s next?

More to come! We’re now up to date until June 2017, and it gets better. Hopefully manage another post this afternoon/evening!

 

[AdamCup]

Nice work :up: Subscribed
Why did the wheel come off ?

 

[John Lindsay]

Nice work :up: Subscribed
Why did the wheel come off ?

Freshly powder coated wheels. I should have really removed the powder from the wheel mating face but didn’t...


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[John Lindsay]

Next job was to trial fit the Perspex windows:

Given the effort I’d gone to saving weight I decided that the twin exit Scorpion 182 Exhaust was unnecessary weight too. Cue more shiny bits in the form of a PMS Race Exhaust.

Before I could bond the Perspex rear window and spoiler into place I got the panels painted:

Fitted up:

Then I painted the headlight blanks:

And fitted the rear screen with spoiler:

Front windows fully fitted and door cards with pull handle fitted too. PMS Shifter now pictured but was fitted at the same time as the exhaust:

I decided that the spoiler didn’t look right without a brake light so got a bit of reflective tape:

I picked up a roll centre/bump steer correction kit from Anthony Smith at ACS Motorsport and got that fitted too:

I also picked up an ABS Delete kit from Mitch at Pro-Line Motorsport, but decided I’d tackle that at a later stage.

And at that point, shock horror, but it drove out of the garage under its own steam for the first time in around a year, bringing us to July 2017:

 

[scullyg40]

Nice build. :up:
Do hou have any idea how much weight you have saved with the exhaust and windows?
Also, you are not using any brakelights?

 

[John Lindsay]

Then I booked a 2 hour open pit lane session at Knockhill on the 5th August, and took the car to have its alignment setup beforehand. Big thanks to Andrew Baird at Automek for this:

Fitted up my tow straps then headed to the track :

The car went brilliantly. Right up until the last lap of the session.... The gearbox had always been a bit crunchy going 2nd to 3rd high up the revs. I was able to work round about it by just being very precise with that change. However on this occasion there was an almighty crunch and I couldn’t get it into gear at all. I eventually managed to force it into a gear and limped back to the pits. Assuming the worst, and that a gearbox replacement or rebuild was now on the cards I pushed the car back onto the trailer.

 

[John Lindsay]

Nice build. :up:
Do hou have any idea how much weight you have saved with the exhaust and windows?
Also, you are not using any brakelights?

I haven’t been weighing stuff individually unfortunately. The car still has standard rear lamps, with the exception of the high level brake lamp.

At the front I have a pair of LED Strips to fit. Test picture below:

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[John Lindsay]

The following day I set about finding out why the gearbox wasn’t happy. I discovered that with the engine running I couldn’t select gears, however with the engine off I could get all gears no problem. Also when starting in gear with the clutch depressed it felt like the clutch was dragging.

So out came the box, after just having the alignment done I lifted it out the top so as not to disturb the subframe:

With the clutch off I discovered that this was the cause of the problems. Relieved I decided that the box would be okay and just a new clutch would be required:

Upon removal I discovered this mount was broken:

I didn’t like it anyway, so managed to pick up a second hand PMS one:

New clutch ready to go:

Now... This is the point where I need to admit that I have a problem. I just can’t leave things alone. It would have been easy enough to refit the box and do a few more track days before the year was out. But no. Not me.

So I picked up a few more bits that were unnecessary at this point.

OZ Superleggera’s because they were cheap and why not?

New Milwaukee impact guns because they were a good deal, so again, why not?

Then I decided that the next sensible step was to remove the engine, this would give me the chance to clean and tidy the bay. Also fitting the engine and box together would be easier than trying to wrestle the gearbox back into the bay.

More wiring to be removed and tidied:

Engine and box - this trolley has had a few different engines over the years!

The engine bay was filthy. But it was December and it was genuinely -6° outside. I couldn’t wheel the car outside and hit it with the pressure washer could I? Yes - Yes I could. I wouldn’t recommend it, but it was kinda holding up progress so needed done. No pictures of this stage because it was pretty horrible. The water was freezing instantly and the driveway became an ice rink and the pressure washer broke. However. Mission accomplished. Here’s a before picture:

I pulled the car back inside, shut the door and fired up the space heater so that me and the car could defrost a bit. I then dried the bay off, removed the ABS pump and all lines plus a few unnecessary brackets and painted a few bits to tidy things up.

After:

 

[John Lindsay]

Next job was to clean up the engine. I didn’t bother painting at this stage. I picked up a used lightweight flywheel and fitted this at the same time before putting the gearbox back on.

So that’s the engine and box all sitting ready to just drop in.

Then I fitted the Pro-Line Motorsport ABS Delete Kit:

Next I removed it all again... There’s method in the madness though. That’ll be the next post!

So that’s it now sitting as basically an empty rolling shell and brings us up to 12th January 2018:

 

[John Lindsay]

So this post brings us right up to date, and it’s probably my favourite one yet. I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

Big thanks and massive recommendation to Scott McMinn of Scott McMinn Motorsport & Fabrication for building and fitting the cage.

Next step is to paint the interior and then rebuild it. I’ve booked track time for March 25th. So let’s see if I can make it!

 

[CFAB]

Well, that escalated quickly Jesus that’s going to look good. Different colour inside surly?

Lunar grey will work very well, satin finish to reduce glare .

Looks good yet again mate.

 

[JamesBryan]

Cage looks mega!

 

[John Lindsay]

Well, that escalated quickly Jesus that’s going to look good. Different colour inside surly?

Lunar grey will work very well, satin finish to reduce glare .

Looks good yet again mate.

It just looks that way from the thread. It’s been a long time in the making lol

 

[JamesBryan]

How much would you say you've put into this, £5k+?

 

[John Lindsay]

How much would you say you've put into this, £5k+?

I don’t really keep count, but it’ll be that plus I would think.

 

[Alex__]

Looks like a proper build this! Subbed

 

[Chambers_RS]

Subbed to this too looks really good.

What have you used to mount the dash with. (The metal bar bolted to the tunnel and dash pod)

 

[Alex__]

What is involved when fitting polycarb windows? Its something id like to do to mine in the future but not sure if its something to attempt myself..

 

[Djw John]

Didn't realise you'd done so much to this, seen the car up at KH, great effort.
Hopefully see you up there this year, need to finish mine off too

 

[John Lindsay]

Subbed to this too looks really good.

What have you used to mount the dash with. (The metal bar bolted to the tunnel and dash pod)

It’s a bit of an old shower pole I think - hollow and light, attached with M4 bolts and rivnuts.

What is involved when fitting polycarb windows? Its something id like to do to mine in the future but not sure if its something to attempt myself..

They literally directly replace the standard windows. If you want you can make them operate as the standard windows do too. I’ve removed all the motors and regulators though and just slotted them into the existing runners then secured in place with a bolt and nut.

 

[John Lindsay]

Managed to spend a bit of time prepping and painting the interior over the last few weekends with the help of @vroomtshh and @Fraser.J.

 

[dann2707]

Wow. Just read all of this. Amazing job.

How awesome are those impact guns. I've got the same ones

 

[John Lindsay]

Wow. Just read all of this. Amazing job.

How awesome are those impact guns. I've got the same ones

Aye they’re excellent. I now also have a drill, a grinder and 2 torches lol




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[scullyg40]

Managed to spend a bit of time prepping and painting the interior over the last few weekends with the help of @vroomtshh and @Fraser.J.

That looks really good. :up: