BIGASH/FF-Racing X85 Clio Cup Racer Project

[BIGASH]

How did you find the heated screen? Did it work well keep it clear in wet conditions?
Thinking about ditching the heater in mine in favour of a heated screen.

I only used it once in the wet before it broke but yes it was very good in at Snetterton on Monday and it will be wet so will let you know how I get on.

Basically when the heated screen is installed you have to seal around the edge of the glass to seal the element I instructed the people who fit the first one to do this however they chose to ignore me so it was ruined in a matter of weeks! I don't know why the screen company don't do it themselves but anyway.

I don't think he had it working as it was damaged when fitted, but I am sure he will be along to confirm it.
:grinning:

Still haunting me all this time and and hurting my wallet

 

[Tony Hunter]

I like having my heater.

 

[shiftspark]

I only used it once in the wet before it broke but yes it was very good :smile: in at Snetterton on Monday and it will be wet so will let you know how I get on.

Basically when the heated screen is installed you have to seal around the edge of the glass to seal the element I instructed the people who fit the first one to do this however they chose to ignore me so it was ruined in a matter of weeks! I don't know why the screen company don't do it themselves but anyway.

Still haunting me all this time and and hurting my wallet 😧

Oooops sorry :rage: :smile:

 

[Adam G]

Aircon racing FTW

 

[Jamie86]

I Just have one of those 12v heaters aimed at the screen :/

Well and no rear or boot Windows haha

 

[mitsiman]

How did you find the heated screen? Did it work well keep it clear in wet conditions?

Thinking about ditching the heater in mine in favour of a heated screen.

Mine worked perfectly at Oulton, shame I wasn't looking through it in the race!

 

[BIGASH]

Did Snetterton yesterday in the Clio as a bit of a last minute trackday, the weather looked rubbish so thought the clio would be most suited! Since Silverstone in the wet the week before myself and Porkie decided we needed some proper tyres for wet weather so we’ve gone halves on a set of proper dunlop race wets and a set of Avon road tyres.

Upon arriving at Snetterton the wets were definitely going to be getting tested. The circuit didn’t open till nearly lunchtime due to high volumes of standing water. I went out and the Dunlop wets were great so much grip and that was even without working them hard and building up temperature. Unfortunatly there was a lot of standing water to the point that on the sighting laps I said they should cancel the day but they wouldn’t so seeing as how the money was paid we wanted to get some track-time. Unfortunately hit a big patch of standing water going into Agostini and the car just locked up, did everything I could... Cadence braked, tried turning in to scrub some speed and increase my distance from the barriers but it just wasn’t happening. When we then went on the grass I presumed it would start slowing down and we should get away with it but sure enough the car just sped up on the grass and built up speed until we hit the tyre wall. Apex Motorsport Lee was in the car with me and we were pretty much at everything I tried to do just wouldn’t slow the car down and then we just sat around and waited for the inevitable hit. We went in quite hard and felt harder to me than Cadwell tyre wall incident so probably around 40MPH but the tyre wall did quite a good job of dampening the speed. It sheared the rad mounts off and damaged the core of the rad and has twisted the front cross member and obviously done the front bumper, headlight and bonnet but thankfully I hadn’t got around to swapping them after Cadwell so not really the end of the world.

We got the car patched up and did a few more sessions but it wasn’t really enjoyable being veered all over the track on standing water so threw in the towel early and went home pretty much in one piece thankfully!

So plan is to get the engine out this week and fit the stronger clutch and then needs a few panels at the front, bit of wrapping and geo and then hopefully its good for the Birkett

 

[Russ Rallye]

Sorry to hear about another fender bender James. Those dunlop sp wets are what I used to run on the Leon and are awesome, the amount of water they disperse is rediculous.
Good luck in the birket, who else is in the team?
Russ

 

[dmallett]

That sucks!

I was down the road ( in bury st Edmunds) and was thinking of you and how wet it would've been! It was wet out to say the least

 

[sonny172cup]

Sorry to hear that mate, good luck in the Birket

 

[Cub.]

Because dodgem iirc.

Did Lee squeal like a little girl?

Joking aside sorry to see another tyre wall has been visited bud, at least it wasn't worse Tyres look good!

 

[BIGASH]

Sorry to hear about another fender bender James. Those dunlop sp wets are what I used to run on the Leon and are awesome, the amount of water they disperse is rediculous.
Good luck in the birket, who else is in the team?
Russ

Thanks Russ

Yes pretty impressive but the standing water just got too much in the end

Organised by a guy I know who races a Caterham with CSCC not sure on team entries yet will post up details when I know next week

Because dodgem iirc.

Did Lee squeal like a little girl?

Joking aside sorry to see another tyre wall has been visited bud, at least it wasn't worse Tyres look good!

Haaha

Only a bit nah we were pretty much just having a convo waiting for the hit!

 

[BIGASH]

Tonight's view!

Engine coming out for new clutch going in

 

[BIGASH]

Clutch fitted but oh my days the pedal is so stiff! I’ve got a feeling it might snap the clutch cable but will have to see.

Finally 3 and a half years into the car and forgetting the old key for the fuel cap I’ve got a non locking cap! Seriously nearly everytime we take the car anywhere I turn round to go back and get the key lol!

 

[sonny172cup]

Good idea regarding the fuel cap, is it a Renault item?

 

[Kenny.s]

What rating of pressure plate did you go for James?
I did wonder how a proper clutch would affect the pedal when I bought the AP one for mine. I was going to go for the one rated at 305lbft but I was advised that AP generally under rate the stated torque capacity so the one I went for the 191lbft.
Yet to try it mind you so could still be mega heavy lol

Good idea regarding the fuel cap, is it a Renault item?

The cap from a Mk3 clio has no lock and fits perfectly.

 

[sonny172cup]

Thanks Kenny

 

[BIGASH]

What rating of pressure plate did you go for James?
I did wonder how a proper clutch would affect the pedal when I bought the AP one for mine. I was going to go for the one rated at 305lbft but I was advised that AP generally under rate the stated torque capacity so the one I went for the 191lbft.
Yet to try it mind you so could still be mega heavy lol

I went with the lowest one that helix do which I think was 210Ib/ft it does feel like it's either going to snap the cable or bend something in the pedal assembly.

Apparently these really stiff clutches also knock out the thrust washers in the engine very quickly which won't be good if correct

 

[Kenny.s]

Depends how the clutch is used though?
I've stripped engines where folk have had a habit of sitting with the clutch in for too long, the thrust faces were completely wiped out, through to the copper or even the steel backing.
Any thrust bearing will take a bit of a beating when the clutch is in, obviously exaggerated by having a heavier pressure plate but wouldn't have thought the F4R was any more susceptible than any other engine.

 

[neil a]

Would it be worth converting to hydraulic activation James, with a external slave we use to do that on the cosworths to give better paddle clutch life and made them alot more drivable

 

[BIGASH]

Depends how the clutch is used though?
I've stripped engines where folk have had a habit of sitting with the clutch in for too long, the thrust faces were completely wiped out, through to the copper or even the steel backing.
Any thrust bearing will take a bit of a beating when the clutch is in, obviously exaggerated by having a heavier pressure plate but wouldn't have thought the F4R was any more susceptible than any other engine.

Yes completely, I will make sure I'm not holding the clutch unnecessarily and hopefully be okay. As you say can't see f4r being worse than any other but I know of someone with a similar clutch who wore through to the backing very quickly.

Would it be worth converting to hydraulic activation James, with a external slave we use to do that on the cosworths to give better paddle clutch life and made them alot more drivable

I will be going hydraulic when I do the sequential box with turbo as they only sell the box with hydraulic clutch. The clutch on that will be even stiffer lol

 

[Hoofy]

Sorry to hear about the bump at snet....Looks like you've had a similar impact to what Ryan managed in quali for yesterday's tin tops race. He ripped the bumper skin off, it's currently cable tied in place!

We're doing Birkett next week too, really looking forward to it. We're team no.66, the entry list and instructions are on the 750mc website now.

Which Dunlop tyres are they that you're using for wet running? We've got some Nankang NS2R's, but they're only good when it's quite wet...so the normal Dunlop DZ03G's are still our intermediate tyre essentially.

 

[BIGASH]

Sorry to hear about the bump at snet....Looks like you've had a similar impact to what Ryan managed in quali for yesterday's tin tops race. He ripped the bumper skin off, it's currently cable tied in place!

We're doing Birkett next week too, really looking forward to it. We're team no.66, the entry list and instructions are on the 750mc website now.

Which Dunlop tyres are they that you're using for wet running? We've got some Nankang NS2R's, but they're only good when it's quite wet...so the normal Dunlop DZ03G's are still our intermediate tyre essentially.

I did wonder what had happened as I looked on TSL and saw you guys had only managed 6 laps

Yes should be great and yes I saw you guys on the entry list I think you are only a few garages down from us!

They are just a cut slick for wet that dunlop do so not suitable for our kind of racing. Me and a friend bought some for our winter track days so the rain doesn’t stop the fun

 

[Apg100]

So, I've thrown the key away for the car, after fitting the button start! Never even thought about the fuel cap!

Luckily, I used to be a car thief, so will pick the lock and get in!

 

[sonny172cup]

Doesn't the key have to be near the instrument cluster in order for it to work? (unless you have it disabled). Im sure I remember a few ppl having the key tied to the inside of dash when using a starter button.

Sorry for going of topic James.

 

[Toastfrenzy]

Hammer a large GS into the lock... turn..... you now have a fuel cap that can be operated with any GS, if you're stuck.

 

[Apg100]

Yes Sonny, we took the chip out and fixed it to the column, but three the rest away!

 

[thedjse]

Brillaint thread really good read will be watching this one

 

[Hoofy]

The fuel cap can be opened with almost anything that can fit in it! We took a little bit of steel, filed it in to an approximate key shape with a handle and have left it in there!

James...see you Saturday! I'm well excited

 

[C l a r k e y]

Hope to see you there guys, cars on the rollers Friday morning.

 

[Tony Hunter]

I'll be snooping around on Sat, so behave yourselves.

 

[BIGASH]

Hammer a large GS into the lock... turn..... you now have a fuel cap that can be operated with any GS, if you're stuck.

What on earth is a GS Pete?

Brillaint thread really good read will be watching this one :smile:

Thanks

Hope to see you there guys, cars on the rollers Friday morning.

Hope it goes well Dave!

I'll be snooping around on Sat, so behave yourselves.

If you get bored i’m supposed to be testing Friday

 

[LeeP86]

I'll be snooping around on Sat, so behave yourselves.

Bring your chefs hat!

 

[Tony Hunter]

I'll pop in on the way back from work Fri

 

[BIGASH]

Bring your chefs hat!

Food on the mind again

I'll pop in on the way back from work Fri

Do a session in the car if you can get a drivers band out of Silverstone and if you fancy it

 

[Toastfrenzy]

GS - General Screwdriver.

 

[BIGASH]

Wrapping the car today to make it look a bit more presentable albeit I've done it in a very pikey/temporary way!

Patchwork quilt

@LeeP86 being helpful

Just waiting for the new bumper and bonnet arriving from CMComposites this afternoon and then wrap those

 

[dmallett]

Loving how easy you patch this up !

 

[Cub.]

Good work.

Lol at Lee "prancing".

 

[sonny172cup]

Nothing wrong with a patchwork quilt lol