sburrell's ph1 172 track project (maybe)

[Fraser.J.]

Never noise tested on a track day. That I've seen anyway

My old was a Ktec with a centre silencer, was loud and droney, louder than the PMS at just cruising but the PMS is louder when full chat

 

[Djw John]

Only ever seen an old Honda get pulled for noise, it was easily 200db though

 

[sburrell93]

Hmm, droney is what I'm trying to avoid. I'll see how it goes though. Either way it'll look better than what's on it!

Going to go custom for the centre section anyway I think. £120 for essentially a straight bit of pipe from ktec is ridiculous. Will get an unsilenced one made up and if it's too loud will get a silencer welded into it.

Only ever seen an old Honda get pulled for noise, it was easily 200db though

Was that that red shed of a thing with the exhaust coming out the side of the front bumper?

 

[rctempire]

Sorry wee man never saw this.

Looking good.

 

[Djw John]

No, it wasn't a civic though! My brain is failing me again, was a black crx

 

[AlexW]

I'd get the silenced mid section, They are too loud and droney imo.

 

[dmallett]

I have decat & silenced stealth.

Still drones

 

[sburrell93]

There may be a backbox up for sale soon then [emoji23]

Is it a liveable/bearable drone though @dmallett? The one I have just now genuinely leaves you a bit deaf feeling after a journey at a motorway speeds lol. If it's better than that I can live with it.

It's not a daily at the end of the day. Just need something a bit less irritating than what's on it the now.

 

[dmallett]

Yeh it's livable, drove to the ring twice with the system on.

It just seems like the noise echos under the car. I'll be looking for a non stealth for my latest Clio.

 

[sburrell93]

Sounds like it'll be quieter than mine anyway which is all i'm after. Will decide further down the line if it's still too loud.

Been quoted around £100 for an unsilenced mid section from a local place, or about an extra £20 for a silencer in it. Will be heading in tonight to discuss it with them hopefully, but at that price I'll no doubt just go silenced.

 

[AlexW]

Putting a tip on it, and so its out the bumper rather than at the floor will make it better too.

 

[dmallett]

Putting a tip on it, and so its out the bumper rather than at the floor will make it better too.

defeats the object of a stealth then

Though you know I agree this would make it better!

 

[Ph1 Tom]

Stealth = drone

My ktec with a proper tailpipe (which imo is better as you can see it has an exhaust rather than what looks/sounds like a broken backbox) is fairly quiet on the motorway. The itbs make more noise

 

[sburrell93]

What makes the stealth drone? (Obviously the shape of the tip but why?)

The backbox that's on the car just now though goes straight out the back and still drones like f**k! I measured it with a decibel meter, and under acceleration (inside the car) it peaks over 100dB(C) :fearscream:😂 So long as it's quieter than that I'll be happy!

 

[sburrell93]

Dropped the car off at SWR today ready for getting the belts, dephaser, water pump and thermostat changed, with some new oil and coolant. Looking forward to having an engine that doesn't rattle like f**k anymore! They're also going to have a look at my oil leak from the gearbox/driveshaft and let me know what the problem is. Will probably fix that myself at some point though and get the box oil changed at the same time.

Pretty dull post, done mainly out of boredom. Looking back at my OP though the car's came on a decent bit since I bought it. Pleased with how it's turning out and will hopefully be even better when I get it back tomorrow night, as I'm convinced the timing was out slightly before as it quite lumpy sounding on idle. Pulled well though (even with a worn dephaser) so I'll have to wait and see how it turns out!

Oh and I'll hopefully be getting my exhaust fitted next week or so too.

 

[AlexW]

Dephaser will cause crap idle so.

The stealth tip design causes it due to being directed at the floor, I may be wrong here, but I assume its due to how it bouces off the floor, and then through the boot floor.

Noise out the back, is win.

 

[sburrell93]

It's strange how noisy the dephaser is yet the car still pulls brilliantly. Comparing it with a couple of other cars it certainly doesn't seem down on power. Would always be a bonus if it pulled better after getting it sorted though.

Makes sense that about the exhaust. I'll see how it goes when it's fitted. I'll probably just make do and leave it with the stealth tip because I'm too lazy to get a proper tip on it lol. Always liked the idea of a PMS or Oreca Motorsport exhaust anyway, but couldn't pass up the price I got the ktec backbox for.

 

[AlexW]

If the timing was out before, might even be faster.

Yeah I'm trying to talk my mate into a PMS exhaust, its a lot of money though!

 

[sburrell93]

Here's hoping anyway! I'll need to remember and ask how the timing was when they remove the belt.

Yeah it's mental money for them! They do sound rather awesome though.

 

[sburrell93]

Another couple of jobs down! Timing was slightly out according to SWR. The car does feel like it pulls a bit harder higher up the rev range now, but more importantly the engine is quiet for once!

Temp gauge is now going up to halfway too, so it's good to know the thermostat change was worthwhile.

Got the gearbox oil leak looked at too, which is just the cv boot that's leaking, so I will be ordering a new one soon and some new gearbox oil. Shame to finally have everything sorted on it and it's the end of the year. Have to wait a few months before I can get it on track now.

 

[GrahamS]

I like it that this quickly turned from a budget track car into a full blown addiction so quickly. I had this with my 182 so can't allow myself to buy one now

Looking cool buddy.

Stealth pipe is a 2.5" bore so is naturally more boomey. My 182 was a 2.25" bore so raspier and without a mid silencer had no problems passing noise tests.

 

[sburrell93]

Cheers mate! Tell me about it. I did account for the belts and dephaser when buying it though, and I've managed to come in at £2.82 under what I originally planned on spending I can definitely see me throwing a fair bit of money into this though. More than would be classed as 'budget' anyway lol!

 

[sburrell93]

So this happened at the weekend

Ripped out the whole rear interior. No idea on just how much weight it's saved but I'd guess it's about 20-30kg. Probably not enough to make a noticeable performance difference but every little helps.

Will be attacking it tomorrow with some strong degreaser and APC to hopefully clean it up slightly.

 

[sburrell93]

Not much to update really. I'm just bored as f**k sitting in the house while its rained constantly for the past two days

I did manage to sort out my cold air feeds for the induction kit the other day though, so they now look like this

Been seeing posts on here of people buying steering wheels and I really want a new one now. Can't decide between 330mm or 300mm though.

Also got a list of jobs to do the length of my arm. Turns out my gearbox oil leak was the n/s inner cv boot, so that needs sorted. Also need to change the arb bushes, new spark plugs, sort my manifold heat shield, get new tyres, change inner track rods and tre's, fit new steering rack bushes and get the alignment sorted (running horrible amounts of toe in just now. Its so bad I managed to measure it with a measuring tape LOL). My DCI has its MOT this month and also needs a few things sorted before hand. So much to do in so little time! Want to try and get it track ready for February or March really.

 

[sburrell93]

An update! Got myself a ktec centre section last week (cheers @J9HHY!) and decided since I now had that and the backbox, I'd fit it tonight. The old exhaust was a proper c**t to get off. Had a flanged connection to the backbox section and the bolts in that were rusted so so badly. The cat flange wasn't much better, and after rounding a bolt head had to get the angle grinder on it and cut the side off one of the nuts to get it off. Got there in the end though.

The hanger on the new centre section had broken off, and unfortunately I had a welder but no stainless welding wire! Plus any wire I could find wasn't flux cored, so needed gas...sigh! I decided I'd just weld it with the mild steel wire I had for now though since it'll hold but just rust and crack easier. Ended up with probably the most over-engineered weld ever, but it'll certainly hold it!

Once it was all sorted, fitting took all of about 20 minutes. The result is SO much better. Can't even describe how much quieter this exhaust is than what was on it. I can kind of see where people were coming from when saying it was droney but Christ, you lot should've heard it before! 😂 I did notice that the old exhaust had a split on the centre box though, so that certainly wouldn't have been helping matters.

Couple of (terrible) pics...taken with my potato
Old vs new!

Old system looked like it was only 2.25" bore.

And fitted. Tidies up the back of the car so much.

Aaaand my brilliant exhaust clamp for the rear...yup, a jubilee clamp...

Only managed to get one proper clamp for it just now but will be getting another in the next couple of days.

The centre box looks a bit low just now as well. It's the same height as the cats are off the ground but the positioning of it is probably gonna ground me on speedbumps now lol!

Anyway that's about it for now. Smallish update with more pics than are really necessary to make up for a lack of them before.

Hoping to get some new brakes and fluid, sort the CV boot that I've still never got round to doing, get some new tyres and the wheels powdercoated at the same time, and then get out on track at the start of next month. Aiming for an open pit on 3rd April but we'll see how it goes.

Oh I'll also be ordering a rear cage so will be getting that fitted as soon as. Then some Corbeau Clubsport buckets with OMP subframes and get my harnesses fitted with them, so hopefully will have some meaty updates soon.

 

[J9HHY]

Glad it fitted alright in the end, bloody clios, every job takes double the time haha

 

[sburrell93]

Glad it fitted alright in the end, bloody clios, every job takes double the time haha

Lol, tell me about it! Still blowing a bit at the centre after getting a new gasket too so it's not even a finished job yet haha.

...

Anyways, not much of an update, but I gave the car a clean today and decided I REALLY needed to get rid of my bald front tyres, so bought some Pilot Sport 3's that'll be getting taken through to Fife Powder Coating and getting put on a set of freshly refurbed wheels, hopefully later this week. Going for gloss black.

Sort of on a countdown to my first track day now. Excited, but there's loads I still want done before then. So much to do in so little time.

 

[sburrell93]

Part have arrived! The track prep begins...

New exhaust hangers, throttle cable and a new ns inner cv boot. f**k knows how I'm going to fit the cv boot. Need gearbox oil first! But it looks like it needs pressed in so will probably be a garage job.

 

[sburrell93]

Buckled Oz F1's FTL [emoji23]

Just got my new pilot sport 3's fitted and that was the result on one of the wheels! 120g of wheel weights on one side LOL

 

[GrahamS]

That's hilarious!!!!

 

[sburrell93]

That's hilarious!!!!

Haha I couldn't believe it when the guy brought the wheel out to the car! Although at least it's now perfectly balanced lol

 

[GrahamS]

it's even nicely alternating weights

 

[sburrell93]

Part 1 of this weekend complete... Got the tyres fitted, and started work on the track rods/ends and ball joints.

Track rods are a pain in the hole! Had a tool for removing them but it turned out to be as useful as a f**king ashtray on a motorbike. So binned that idea off, went to halfrauds and came back 10 quid lighter with a 32mm viscous fan spanner that soon got attacked with an angle grinder to cut one end off and make it fit in the little space that was available.

End result, a nice shiny new track rod and end setup!

The old TRE was looking a bit worse for wear...

Tomorrow will hopefully see the other side done, as well as both ball joints. Hopefully the tracking hasn't been knocked out too much for now. Only way I can think to check is measure the distances between the front edge of the front wheels, then the back edge of them and get it as close to being the same to get them running straight, since I don't have enough axle stands to do the string method.

 

[sburrell93]

it's even nicely alternating weights

I never even noticed that! Tyre fitter with mega OCD clearly lol.

 

[cpaterson76]

Part 1 of this weekend complete... Got the tyres fitted, and started work on the track rods/ends and ball joints.

Track rods are a pain in the hole! Had a tool for removing them but it turned out to be as useful as a f**king ashtray on a motorbike. So binned that idea off, went to halfrauds and came back 10 quid lighter with a 32mm viscous fan spanner that soon got attacked with an angle grinder to cut one end off and make it fit in the little space that was available.

End result, a nice shiny new track rod and end setup!
View attachment 124049

The old TRE was looking a bit worse for wear...
View attachment 124050

Tomorrow will hopefully see the other side done, as well as both ball joints. Hopefully the tracking hasn't been knocked out too much for now. Only way I can think to check is measure the distances between the front edge of the front wheels, then the back edge of them and get it as close to being the same to get them running straight, since I don't have enough axle stands to do the string method.

Looking good mate, when's the first outing?

 

[CallyTeee]

looking good! You should try and make the 22nd?

 

[dann2707]

it's even nicely alternating weights

They usually come on the strip like that

I did the exact same with the viscous fan spanner cut in half, worked a treat! Get those threads caked in copper grease though will save a lot of time and effort if you need to alter anything at a later date.

 

[sburrell93]

Looking good mate, when's the first outing?

looking good! You should try and make the 22nd?

Cheers guys! Think my first outing will be April 3rd, evening session. Would've loved to get it out earlier but there's still a couple of things that won't be ready for next weekend. Mainly the alignment and my leaky gearbox cv boot.

They usually come on the strip like that :tongueout:

I did the exact same with the viscous fan spanner cut in half, worked a treat! Get those threads caked in copper grease though will save a lot of time and effort if you need to alter anything at a later date.

Yeah, apart from ripping my arms apart on the subframe trying to get into one side to get the boot back on, the inner rods ended up fairly easy with that tool haha. Also completely forgot about copper grease! Will only ever be my local alignment wizard that's playing about with it but it would make his job a lot easier in future lol.

 

[AlexW]

What inner track rod tool did you buy? Do you know the size? I keep forgetting to measure and want to buy a tool lol

 

[sburrell93]

What inner track rod tool did you buy? Do you know the size? I keep forgetting to measure and want to buy a tool lol

It's 32mm on the inner track rods, and I know it's definitely DEFINITELY not this fucker you want lol
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal...415?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20f1907bd7

I'm sure I read in a thread that people have used this one before:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal...384?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c414dca48
but IMO that'll be too wide to grab the squared off section on the track rod, the exact same issue I had with that first tool there. It just grabs the rounded section of the track rod and gets you nowhere.

TBH though, I'd just go for something like this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BERGEN-St...378?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item233e94dfd2
only downside is you'll need to get the 21/22mm securing nut that holds the TRE in place off before the tool will go on, but the fact you can put an impact gun straight on that and buzz it off would make lift a million times easier!