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The everlasting ph1 ITB Build **GREEN-BUILD STARTS AT PAGE 100**



Nafoff

ClioSport Club Member
UPDATE:

The cars very first trackday/shakedown. I chose to do the Cooksport day at Castle Combe for a couple of reasons. It was late in the year so if anything drastic happened I had winter to rebuild it, it is relatively close so again if there was any big issues it would lessen the hassle and I had heard the days were quieter than most and had a good driving standard.

I got the car packed up the night before with what I thought were essentials, luckily everything packed really nicely between the rear brace/harness bar and the tailgate meaning it was all secure. I filled the car up with 99ron and took an extra 20ltrs too.

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After the briefing the car noise tested and went straight through. There was a really good ix of cars at the day from megs, clio's to Civic's and a selection of BMW M power cars. My focus for the day was to ease in slowly, get to know the track and the car and then start pushing a bit more.

SESSION 1
I got myself out quite early and had a good first stint learning the track, once I was out it didn't feel as daunting as I first thought it would, I started settling in and picking up the pace, the car felt great, I was buzzing.

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When I came in from my first 20min stint I had a check around the car as it cooled down, it was then I realised that the OSF CV boot had spat grease everywhere. On getting the car in the air, cleaning it up and inspecting it it was evident that the original/factory clip and come away, this was fixed with a zip tie and I went out for the next stint.

SESSION 2
Session 2 was as session 1 finished, just awesome - I was loving the car. I was pushing on a bit more and just learning so much about the car and track. It was nice and quiet so I didn't need to worry about my mirrors too much. On coming in from session 2 the marshals said it sounded like my exhaust was blowing. After the car had cooled I had a look. It sounded like it was blowing from the front section somewhere but I checked/tightened the manifold - decat section and the decat - rear section so nothing was loose, it did sound like it was blowing but I decided to just press on.

SESSION 3
Apart from the blowing exhaust this session was great, I came out of the pits as a 182 was passing and into the back end of the circuit he slowed to gather me up so we could lap together. I had a good few laps tailing him but it was evident that he had more experience as he was easily pulling a length or 2 each corner and the 172 was breaking it back in the straight lines. We were then joined by a very well driven CTR and had a few laps behind that - it was then I lost some concentration and was concentrating more on them than myself. This lead to a clockwise spin at quarry and not being able to start the car again, sat on the apex the track was red flagged but it was lunchtime anyways so I didn't feel too bad.

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SESSION 4
I decided to go straight out after lunch, I topped the fuel up and decided to get going again to try and make the most of the afternoon. After a couple of laps I thought I notice some tyre smoke but only occasionally so I put it down to the increased load on the rear and thought it may be that the rear shocks were too soft. I got flashed by @incy-spider and at that point I decided to head back into the pits.

It was pretty evident that there was significant rubbing as I had basically cut a grove in the tyre edge, What wasn't so evident but spotted by @incy-spider was the positive camber the OSF rear wheel had - it needed closer inspection. I got the car in the air and as soon as it was up it was evident that there was a sh*t load of play so it was potentially a loose hub nut or collapsed bearing, oh and the spigot ring had melted

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I removed the hub nut cover and this revealed the nyloc part of the hub nut had melted, but that it was tight. Then removing the calliper off the stub axle to pull the disc away and the bearing just fell apart - well at least I knew what it was now...

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Time was going on now and my main concern was getting home as I needed to pick my son up. I managed to find a local motor factors with stock and my dad kindly drove me down to collect. £130 lighter I got back to the car and got the new disc/bearing fitted, I was then given some spare wheel bolts to drive home (as the studs were in the other disc). I got home fine and in time to collect my son.

Shakedown summary
I enjoyed driving the car so much, it performed (when running ok) so well, the handling was great. I am pretty stoked on that. It seemed to get a fair bit of attention and compliments too "it looks stunning' "it looks great" - I guess that is a positive when it is broken down.... at least it looks good... ha.

A bit gutted that my day was shortened by the niggles, a bit frustrated that I lunched a tyre and had to buy new discs, however all of these things are what a shakedown is for. The tyres were on their way, I will get a new bearing pressed into the other disc and then have those as spares, I know I need to carry some other items now as spare/backup kit and I know that I now have all winter to sort everything, no rush or financial pressure.

I am already looking forward to next year.
 

Andropidis

ClioSport Club Member
Nice to meet you yesterday, your car looks awesome both on track and in the paddock. A few issues has to be expected, all easily fixable though! You're going to be flying in this when everything is sorted. Hopefully I'll see you on another track day for some more fun.
 

incy-spider

ClioSport Club Member
Looked pretty cool leaving smoke trails on right handers, basically the whole track! [emoji23]

Awesome little car you have there mate.

Good to meet you guys yesterday, I’ll definitely be back for another Cooksport day… also clutch arrived today so I can crack on too! [emoji106][emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Nafoff

ClioSport Club Member
That's really not bad when you consider everything you've done to it, I'd chalk it as an overall win!
My sentiments exactly, decent first cracking leaning on a completely new build after a long ground up build process. One zip tie and a collapsed bearing is a win all round
seems like a good day really, if that's all the issues you end up with on such an in-depth and long term build you have done well (y)

We need vids btw

Overall for sure a win, things could of gone a lot lot worse so I am pretty chuffed.
Washed it off today, bloody hell rubber is hard to get off the paintwork (even after all of the coats of wax and polish it had).

My first shakedown day went without hitch. Just saying. X

Yeah but I put mine together and I colour in things for a living, I expect your personal mechanic did yours ;)
 

Nafoff

ClioSport Club Member
Nice to meet you yesterday, your car looks awesome both on track and in the paddock. A few issues has to be expected, all easily fixable though! You're going to be flying in this when everything is sorted. Hopefully I'll see you on another track day for some more fun.

Looked pretty cool leaving smoke trails on right handers, basically the whole track! [emoji23]

Awesome little car you have there mate.

Good to meet you guys yesterday, I’ll definitely be back for another Cooksport day… also clutch arrived today so I can crack on too! [emoji106][emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Absolute pleasure meeting you both, thank you both for your advice/assistance and wheel bolts (ha)
Will for sure be doing another Cooksport day, the chilled vibe just makes it so much better. Look forward to a 3-way play next year then
 

Nafoff

ClioSport Club Member
UPDATE:

Well I just haven't been that enthused to do much over winter, it didn't need much doing but I just really haven't prioritised it.... until now and that is because I plan to tax it again from April.

I have made a couple of purchases over winter including the Oil/filter and coolant for a service and a complete set of part worn Giti GT2 tyres as spares, quite interested to try them out as I have heard really good things.

Based on the above I had some time last night so decided to get my ass in gear and service the car. The oil., filter and coolant have only covered 550ish miles and the mapping but were last changed in Feb 2019 so it was about right to change it now.

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Due to my unique intake set-up I decided to remove the front bumper for ease (only 4 bolts), I was then going to remove the bottom piece section of the airbox to give me a little more access to the fuel filter, this wasn't going to be all that easy so decided to leave it on. Removing the bottom section would of allowed me to fully access the air filter also, but not to worry as I could still access it from the underside to inspect it and lube it.

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It was at this point I noticed a small crack in one of the welds at the base of the airbox (shown below), this must be down to resonation. I have had a good look around the rest of the airbox and can not see anymore issues, I will need to keep an eye on it but may try some Araldite on it in the meantime.

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The image above pretty much shows my view of last night, this is where I spent most of the night led down trying to get to the oil filter. It wasn't that keen on budging by hand and no set of pliers were really getting around/to it, so I had to result to a bit of butchery. From this angle and from the dipstick side I could get a flat nose screwdriver and hammer in and put it through the filter and rotate it enough to twist it loose, a ballache but not too bad.

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New oil in, new (primed) oil filter on and then also all the coolant drained and refilled, it takes 5ltrs with no matrix so nice and simple, just need to run the car up to temp at lunchtime today.

That is almost all of the jobs to sort before using it again. I had a fair bit of cleaning up to do of the arches after the CV boot at the front and butchering the tyre at the rear so have sorted that. When doing that I realised that the arch lips had actually gone back to bare metal with the rubbing so that is being sorted, they have been cleaned up, primed and I am now waiting on a match spray can from RS Components.

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Once that is done (later this week) I will be dropping it back on its wheels and rolling it out on April 1st.
Can't wait
 

incy-spider

ClioSport Club Member
UPDATE:

Well I just haven't been that enthused to do much over winter, it didn't need much doing but I just really haven't prioritised it.... until now and that is because I plan to tax it again from April.

I have made a couple of purchases over winter including the Oil/filter and coolant for a service and a complete set of part worn Giti GT2 tyres as spares, quite interested to try them out as I have heard really good things.

Based on the above I had some time last night so decided to get my ass in gear and service the car. The oil., filter and coolant have only covered 550ish miles and the mapping but were last changed in Feb 2019 so it was about right to change it now.

View attachment 1584286 View attachment 1584287

Due to my unique intake set-up I decided to remove the front bumper for ease (only 4 bolts), I was then going to remove the bottom piece section of the airbox to give me a little more access to the fuel filter, this wasn't going to be all that easy so decided to leave it on. Removing the bottom section would of allowed me to fully access the air filter also, but not to worry as I could still access it from the underside to inspect it and lube it.

View attachment 1584290 View attachment 1584289

It was at this point I noticed a small crack in one of the welds at the base of the airbox (shown below), this must be down to resonation. I have had a good look around the rest of the airbox and can not see anymore issues, I will need to keep an eye on it but may try some Araldite on it in the meantime.

View attachment 1584288

The image above pretty much shows my view of last night, this is where I spent most of the night led down trying to get to the oil filter. It wasn't that keen on budging by hand and no set of pliers were really getting around/to it, so I had to result to a bit of butchery. From this angle and from the dipstick side I could get a flat nose screwdriver and hammer in and put it through the filter and rotate it enough to twist it loose, a ballache but not too bad.

View attachment 1584291 View attachment 1584292

New oil in, new (primed) oil filter on and then also all the coolant drained and refilled, it takes 5ltrs with no matrix so nice and simple, just need to run the car up to temp at lunchtime today.

That is almost all of the jobs to sort before using it again. I had a fair bit of cleaning up to do of the arches after the CV boot at the front and butchering the tyre at the rear so have sorted that. When doing that I realised that the arch lips had actually gone back to bare metal with the rubbing so that is being sorted, they have been cleaned up, primed and I am now waiting on a match spray can from RS Components.

View attachment 1584294 View attachment 1584293

Once that is done (later this week) I will be dropping it back on its wheels and rolling it out on April 1st.
Can't wait

4th of April Thruxton?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Nafoff

ClioSport Club Member
UPDATE:

Last few bits are sorted on the car. RS Components took an age sending the paint, bit of a joke to the point I am unsure I would use them again really, but the arches are now painted again.

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and with everything checked over the car is back on the ground.

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With that done on Friday night the thought was to tax it for April, but I have a busy looking diary over April and the weather seems pretty pants too so I may just wait until May and then also look at another Castle Combe track day.
 

Nafoff

ClioSport Club Member
UPDATE

It has been a little while, not really much has happened with the car. I have been using the car out on the road, making sure it is all ok.
Life is serving me a sh*tty hand again so a lot of focus has been on that, it may effect the car/storage or possibly even whether I keep it or not, we will see.

That brings me up to yesterday. I booked on the Cooksport track day at Castle Combe, I then invited @Daniel to come along.
The past week I have been checking the car over and getting the spares together.

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The day started with persistent drizzle through the morning, the track was pretty slippery in places and I matched my spin at Quarry from the last day with a near identical spin...and then @Daniel got behind me.

I wanted to push on a bit in an effort to test myself with Dan behind me. That was a little silly and clearly shows my lack of experience and especially on a wet/damp track. Coming into Camp a little too hot and braking later than normal (apparently) I found the back end on its way as I exited the corner, I managed to catch it, but then it stepped again with a bit more bite - I caught that with a stamp of the throttle to bring it straight.... BAD IDEA. I should have let it just spin to the infield, instead I was now pointing across the track towards the pit wall. I managed to scrub speed across the track and rumble strips and when I got onto the grass I was just a passenger.

I manage to turn the car enough to just touch the back against the wall. I was expecting a fair bit of damage... but was very very lucky.

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Luckily it didn't hit the wheel so the car was straight and with some tape on the rear light I continued with the rest of the day.
The rest of the day was great and with a dry track in the afternoon the car felt so much better and planted, night and day from the morning.

When I got home I got into seeing what I may need to do with the car... I was pretty surprised. (before and after)

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A new rear light is on the way, a new numberplate light is needed and the bumper will need some paint at some point. I got off very lightly.

A summary - The car performed faultlessly, the driver not so much.
 

Andropidis

ClioSport Club Member
It's a shame you met Barry R but it looks like you got off very lightly. Hopefully I'll see you at another track day soon.
 

Nafoff

ClioSport Club Member
UPDATE:
Well the car has been in the garage since the last trackday at Combe and I have been sorting the damage out.
I really wanted to get in a second trackday this year but life yet again (there is a theme in this thread) wasn't letting me. I have a lot of personal sh*t going on at the moment and I don't need the extra stress of things happening/going wrong etc etc - as much as I want to enjoy the car.

The bumper was first to be repaired. It isn't perfect but it is pretty god for a rattle can job.

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I am for sure not a painter and this seemed to tale a fair bit of work to wet sand back and polish up. I have also picked up a spare bumper just incase.
Next up was the rear quarter, I wanted to use the bumper as a bit of a test before I tackled the rear quarter. This didn't go anywhere near as well.

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For some reason on the rear quarter the paint seemed to be a lot lot darker where I had painted it in (seen in image 2). I appreciate it is a track car but I really wasn't happy about it. It has taken a lot to get it back to the last picture and now I am debating my next steps but in places is back to the metal, do I try and rattle can it again or do I just get it blown in at a bodyshop...thoughts?

The car has now been sorned for winter, hopefully life will have sorted itself out, I will have a new house and I won't have to sell the car.
 

Nafoff

ClioSport Club Member
UPDATE:

Well it has been a fair few months since the last update. A lot of change has happened...

As previously shown/mentioned I really wasn't happy with how the rear quarter had come out so I have had to re-look at that. I thought it was worth 1 more attempt myself before I sent it to paint elsewhere. The car was properly masked up again and then I set about wet-sanding almost the full panel back, prior to primer covering the worst area's, followed by paint (all out of a rattle can).

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I was picking and choosing my days as this was now into winter, and cold so I was needing to give decent time for the layers to dry.... did I say dry...
This was when a pipe decided to burst in the garage coating everything in lots of water....

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Everything needed a good amount of time to dry out, all the carpet floor tiles came up etc....
I then didn't do anything for a long time... WHY?

Because life... the same reason I am now loosing the double garage sadly. I am going through a divorce and it has certainly been a journey with some pretty emotional moments for various reasons. The family house has been sold and in 1 weeks time completes. I am gutted to not have the double garage space anymore but at least I have a garage in my new rental.

Because I will loose that space I needed to finish the car prior to moving it (for ease). Last night I set about wet sanding and polishing up the rear quarter before then refitting the bumper and testing the lights.

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All done and ready to move. The paint is ok... It could be better... But for a rattle can in a garage its alright.
I am looking forward to getting this properly back on the road asap....
 


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