My 182ff track car build (so far)

[1985michael182]

I'll be honest the dampers work well.

 

[1985michael182]

So nimbus heat shield, to protect my brake lines, master cylinder and clutch cable.
Bought it from Tweeks I think.
Started by measuring the depth and width i wanted it to cover. Then once i had the correct size i used a rubber mallet and a plant pot to panel beat the curve where it sits over the collector of the manifold.

I tried it down the back of the engine for size. Still wasnt quite right. It was hitting the fuel line so I cut a relief and bet it away from the line which actually ended up working out well as it covered the fuel line from heat.

I wanted the MC to be protected but at the same time be able to remove the cap to fill the fluid up. So I had to cut small sections out a bit at a time until i was happy with the shape. Then whilst test fitting it again I cut myself on the sharp edges so I rolled them over to make them safe.

So now it looked like this.

 

[Usr117063]

tbf if they cope with the slicks and the cars stable then not much point upgrading

 

[1985michael182]

But after looking closer, there was a gap at the bottom where the wiring was still at risk of melting with the heat.
So I made a little shelf to cover the wiring.

Used 5mm rivnuts squashed to hold it on

Basically done

 

[1985michael182]

The MOT day soon came around. I fitted the headlights again and made sure all the lights were working. The horn, washer jets all that good stuff. Then headed for the garage. It felt strange and alien to me now. The steering was sharper and strange with the EPAS and then the diff pulling the car around ment I had to pay attention rather than sit and cruise.

We checked the brakes and the bias difference from closed off to full open. The back brakes definitely work now!
We aligned the headlights and only found one issue which was the brake light switch. I'm guessing with now using the cup MC the length of the shaft which attached to the brake pedal are slightly different length. But we fixed it temporarily by sticking a wheel weight to the back of the brake pedal (needs must)

Whilst I was there we quickly setup the tracking so i wouldnt ruin my tyres before i could get onto a proper hunter tracking machine.

That all done I could give it some stick on the way home! Man its rough on the roads now with all the rose joints, black series bushes and the 550lbs spring! But totally transformed now. It feels positive and like it's ready to do a job now.

After a 20minute blast down the back roads round me I got it home and fitted the splitter. 8 cap head bolts and 2 ally rivets and it's on, no messing!

Job jobbed. Very happy with it. Next we need to book a track day and get some miles on it so I can do another spanner check and make sure I dont have any issues anywhere.
6 month journey basically completed on the front end.

 

[1985michael182]

So 26th August 2019 the date was set.
Croft race circuit.
Me 182ff clio

Jeffy 172 cup

Andy 172cup

Lee mk2 golf GTI

Ryan 172

Aron Saxo

All in varying levels of mods. The golf is the pace setter and I've been chasing the bloody thing ever since I started with my 1st 172!

It was his first car like 15 years ago. Started out as just a 1.4 or something. Now it's a VR6, bc coilovers, caged up, diff'd up animal!

So it was only a week and a half away, I threw the laptop on to the ECU and checked the parameters. Slightly off to what Chris at EFI told me so I set about re balancing the bodies and adjusting the idle so it showed 13.6 on the AFR gauge then reset the TPS so closed and open throttle was corrected. It was quite a way out so it needed doing!

I had run the car for a good couple of weeks so I decided to change the oil and filter again. I also dropped the water out of the rad and flushed the system out and replaced it with coolant.
Next I removed the front wheels and spanner checked ALL of the nuts and bolts. Nothing seemed to have come loose and all was well so far.

The day before Croft I removed the front wheels again so I could lube up the rose joints as I had forgotten to do it when I spanner checked and I was greeted with this...

The wheel nut was fcuked!! How I had managed to do it I dont know! Took me best part of an hour to get it off and then I didnt have replacement nut! Great. 4 o'clock in the afternoon with nowhere to get another from.
So I had to remove the stud and use my mates normal wheel bolt just so I could get a go at Croft.
New studs and nuts required after I think. To be fair they are too long so I need shorter ones anyway.

I loaded the father in laws X4 up with tools,fuel and spares. Loaded the clio up with the 2118's with the slicks on and parked up ready to set off early in the morning. I was driving it there as I'm only like 45 minutes away and I trusted the car to complete the day and get me home.

 

[1985michael182]

After writing those 2 updates I decided to go give it a run out. Clean the brakes up and then give it a wash off. Its LOUD VERY LOUD!! Forgot about all the drama lol

 

[1985michael182]

I'm just loading videos onto my YouTube ready for the next instalment

 

[1985michael182]

So Croft, on a red hot August weekend 105Db trackday.
At one point it reached 31°!
We convoyed up to the track setting off at 6am. We had booked a couple of garages side by side knowing itcwas going to be hot. Glad we did as theres no shade to sit in at Croft its wide open.
Que the photos....

 

[1985michael182]

It was pretty rough on the cars in the heat. Andys power steering fluid boiled everytime he went out, Ryan's gearbox was leaking from an unknown area, Lee got a flat tyre in the last hour of the day and Aron ripped Andy's splitter off when he went out for a spin and erm went off track.
Luckily mine never missed a beat, I checked the wheel nuts and tyre pressures a couple of times but wasnt expecting any problems with everything being brand new and rebuilt. Very thankful to have the roof scoop for fresh air into the cabin, was like an oven.
Few videos of the days events.











https://youtu.be/iH8lp_TRFfE

https://youtu.be/UsBAeRAmjR4

 

[1985michael182]

 

[scullyg40]

How's the handling of the Golf? As they say VR6 is understeer heaven.
And do you have any more info about the car? As I can't see a 174 bhp Golf be a car to chase with a decent setup Clio. It must be pretty good developed.

 

[1985michael182]

The Gripper diff and the bump steer/role centre kit probably the slicks aswell have totally transformed the way it drives! The grip is unreal, if it did start under steering just give it some gas and the diff worked its magic and pulls you back into the corner.
The 550lb springs I had fitted to the front stop alot of bounce and helped the tyres to do their job without rolling. EPAS...
Love it, I know alot of people dont feel like you get feed back but I knew exactly what the car was doing and as the day went on and I got the hang of all the new changes and I love how it drives now. On road its horrendous. On track is perfect.
Great day had by all.

Few action shots

This one made me chuckle, I dont thinking could role more if it tried.

 

[1985michael182]

How's the handling of the Golf? As they say VR6 is understeer heaven.
And do you have any more info about the car? As I can't see a 174 bhp Golf be a car to chase with a decent setup Clio. It must be pretty good developed.

It has schrick inlet and cams think it's running 240+, brand new BC coilovers. Like I say hes been developing it for 15 years. It was his first car.

 

[Waite_87]

Love this

 

[1985michael182]

How's the handling of the Golf? As they say VR6 is understeer heaven.
And do you have any more info about the car? As I can't see a 174 bhp Golf be a car to chase with a decent setup Clio. It must be pretty good developed.

The first time I tested the clio at Cadwell when I had bought it, the Golf would pull away from me coming out of corners. Partially the bigger torque it has but then he had a diff and stiff suspension.
Since the slicks, bigger poundage springs, role centre/bump steer kit and the gripper, I can now enter, maintain and exit corners at greater speeds which cancels out his bigger torque if not surpasses it. It's a whole new animal now.
In a straight line theres nothing in it though.

 

[1985michael182]

Love this

Which? What? Where? When?

 

[1985michael182]

The after math of the day at Croft.

Everything worked well. No dramas at all. After pushing the meg 225 on and him having to let me past it's clear it's a quick car now.

I got everything unpacked and back into the shed then set about cleaning the ferrous brake dust off my shiney black speedlines and put them back on the shelf ready for next time.

Then I did a spanner check on the car. Nothing had moved or come loose which was a surprise!
I cleaned the front suspension components and wheel arches. Re lubed the rose joint and check the paint on the fresh front calipers.

So much for 800° stove paint!!

It isnt bubbling off but its definitely burnt! I must have been pushing hard!

It's only really where the caliper touches the pad that's dis coloured. Think I should refresh the brake fluid and introduce brake cooling next.

 

[frayz]

Might be worth seeing if you can get some titanium shims laser cut for the backs of the pads. We used these on the Porsche to prevent heat transfer to the calipers and fluid.
if you get some done, get a load done and sell some to fund your own. 🙂

 

[green]

So as I’ve stoped getting notifications for this beast I thought I’d make a comment lol

what’s the lube your using for the joints?

you’ve done a great job with the front end. Where you finding the front would jump/skip round corners before the springs?

 

[1985michael182]

Might be worth seeing if you can get some titanium shims laser cut for the backs of the pads. We used these on the Porsche to prevent heat transfer to the calipers and fluid.
if you get some done, get a load done and sell some to fund your own. 🙂

To be fair the CL range is on copper backing plates for that very reason I imagine.

 

[1985michael182]

So as I’ve stoped getting notifications for this beast I thought I’d make a comment lol

what’s the lube your using for the joints?

you’ve done a great job with the front end. Where you finding the front would jump/skip round corners before the springs?

I'm guessing the guy who bought the suspension originally must have got the standard spring rates as seen below

I had excessive role and understeer not skipping, usually if you are skipping across the track you are setup too hard and bouncing on the tyres.
So coming out of a corner and adding some throttle it would just push on rather that exit the corner correctly.
The stiffer front springs at 550bls and the struts revalved to suit the springs reduced the role so the car was more stable allowing me to accelerate out of corners earlier.
Obviously I changed alot of other things which factor in like the diff, role centre kit, slicks. But with less role you keep a larger contact patch of tyre on the tarmac for grip and less weight transfer from one corner to the next.

The lube I use is for motorbike chains like the instructions say that Northloop provided me. Clean it off with wd40 then plenty of chain lube. It sticks to the components rather than runs or washes off.

 

[1985michael182]

Might be worth seeing if you can get some titanium shims laser cut for the backs of the pads. We used these on the Porsche to prevent heat transfer to the calipers and fluid.
if you get some done, get a load done and sell some to fund your own. 🙂

Yours should be on 4pot ally calipers? They dont normally get as hot?

 

[frayz]

Yours should be on 4pot ally calipers? They dont normally get as hot?

I’m on the Porsche 4 pots front and rear with bigger 2 piece GiroDiscs.
these take the fronts to 345mm and rears to 335mm. RS29s, titanium shims and GT3 ducts complete the setup. They still get a solid work out on track even with cooling and ally uprights all round.

 

[1985michael182]

More weight and faster car I suppose

 

[1985michael182]

So that last update pretty much brings me up to date now as the car sits.

I took it to work the other day for ride out aswell. In between all these bloody storms!

And I just bought some more 2118's that I will do black like the others and fit the red decals again.

I'll fit probably some Toyo R1R tyres to them. Road legal slicks and supposed to be for wets. I've never run them yet but always wanted to try them. I know everyone raves about rainsports, but what happens when the track dries up or if you get a puncture on your dry setup. The R1R is still the same compound as r888 so will still work in the dry.

 

[frayz]

More weight and faster car I suppose

Not that much more weight but around 1290kg and circa 350bhp.
worth investigating the Ti shims though. The CLs having copper backs will only compound the issue. Cooper has exceptionally high thermal conductivity so yes it pulls heat from the surface of the pad it piles all that heat into your calipers and fluid. Titanium does the exact opposite.

 

[1985michael182]

Ok I will look into it. What thickness is your Ti plates?

 

[1985michael182]

I'm going to do the rear axle soon. Blast it, PMS plate it then red powder coat it. 5mm spacers with the correct ° to straighten my rear axle up and camber.
It's as cheap to replace the rear struts than refurbish them. Not sure on the rear spring rate yet, maybe 450lbs.
Whilst the rear is stripped I will attend to the usual surface rust on the underside.
Then its mechanically perfect I'll splash some fresh paint on it.

I like 2 different colour schemes.

Or

Maybe do a fibre glass boot and bonnet. Unless I can find a cheap enough setup to make some carbon ones that is.

 

[Eddie555]

Bummer.. 2 days too late.. I sold my Carbon bonnet on Thursday night.. A 2 tone theme will look nice.. Mines Pink and Blue..[emoji51]

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[1985michael182]

Currently I've got red and silver going on.

 

[Eddie555]

Silver and yellow or silver and purple works too.. a long time ago I used to own a model shop and raced 1/10 RC cars.. This was my colour scheme and that's why Pink is in my track toy scheme..

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[frayz]

Silver and yellow or silver and purple works too.. a long time ago I used to own a model shop and raced 1/10 RC cars.. This was my colour scheme and that's why Pink is in my track toy scheme..View attachment 1459249

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Lol, somewhat off topic but which shop Eddie?
I also used to race 1/10 touring and then 1/8 buggy.

 

[Eddie555]

Haha.. Love the Pink... My Shop was in Birmingham, AG models Big Boys Toys.. I closed it down in 2005..

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[frayz]

Can’t see Michael painting his car any shade of pink/purple but it’s what’s easy to see on track lol.
personally any track car for me looks best in white.

 

[Eddie555]

Takes a big man to comfortably wear pink.. Mine was originally a dare.. Kinda stuck but I like it.. [emoji23]


Micheal I dare you to do Pink and white..

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[1985michael182]

Haha you crazy!!

I've had a purple corsa b 1.6 sport.

And a purply blue 200sx s14a

 

[Eddie555]

That Corsa Purple and silver would look wicked..

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[1985michael182]

That was my first propper moded car.
Spent hours smoothing the plastic arches and side skirts into the 1/4s and wings.
F50 bonnet with bad boy headlight extensions and the front and rear fibreglass bumpers.
Think the wheels were 100+ milli amiga or something

 

[NorthloopCup]

Ahhhhhhh my eyes!!!! 🙈