I have mine in bits at work, the bearings are in and the tube is painted....


But then I look at the arms and think I should renew the wheel bearings and blast them, you know, do a proper job?

I'm betting I just press the new shafts in and reassemble

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Red Rallye - Rolling "restoration"

Wishbone Polybushes available

Suppose i'd best do a little update on this.

I've had some AP 4-pots lying round for months which i've been intending to fit for a while, after the last trackday last year when i used the last of my pad material i decided it was one of this winters projects to properly sort the brakes out.

I've looked over other big brake threads in the past and always get put off by usually having to go to bigger wheels, i'm a tight northerner so having to buy other sets of wheels and more expensive tyres didnt appeal to me.
Fortunately a few others have squeezed decent size discs under 15's, which inspired me to have a crack at it. Enough waffling on, i'll let the pics to the talking.

First off i needed some 28mm thick discs to suit the calipers, using info from other threads i knew i wanted a minimum of 300mm and the maximum would probably be around 315mm for getting inside the pro race 1.2's, so i bit the bullet and ordered some 310mm discs from hi-spec.
I went for the ap racing copy version with a 46mm swept area, meaning the eye diameter would be slightly larger so i could offset the disc further back and have part of the balljoint inside it, meaning the wheel wouldnt need to be spaced out quite so much.

Once i had the discs i got some scrap steel and did some PCD drilling so i could see how far i could offset the disc before clearance would become an issue.

IMG_2091 by Steve Count, on Flickr

I have a spare 16mm hub with the balljoint still in it in the garage, so i used that to keep offsetting the disc then give the balljoint a good wiggle to see if it would touch the disc, i think i managed to get the offset to 15mm before things got tight.
Luckily i then decided it would be worth the time and effort of taking the setup out to the car and double checking, it was as on there with the 18mm balljoint the disc was hitting the ball cup.
I moved the disc until clearance was fine and ended up settling for 12mm offset.
I don't know if its the size of the balljoint that affects the clearance, or if its just different balljoint manufacturers that make the cup part to different sizes.
Either way, i'm glad i checked before i went ahead and made the bells.

IMG_2098 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2102 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Once happy with the offset i could work out the dimensions for the caliper brackets.
I knocked up a temporary bracket out of an offcut of ally angle to check i'd got it right. I had.

IMG_2118 by Steve Count, on Flickr

I had to buy another set of wheels since i'm pretty sure the xantia steelies i've been using for the roads wont clear the new setup, fortunately some 1.2's came up for sale on here, 15x7" et16 just like my current set so i snapped them up.
I then used these to check the clearance before i went ahead and made the brackets and bells.

IMG_2149 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2149 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2151 by Steve Count, on Flickr

The wheels wouldn't fit if i kept the bell 8mm thick, so i had to space the wheel out slightly. I just kept shimming it out until it would rotate freely, once i knew how much i'd shimmed it out i added a few mm for extra clearance and set about making the drawings.
I was going to incorporate the spacer into the bells but decided in the end to make the spacers separately.

Next step was to order in the material and get it machined.

IMG_2157 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2160 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2163 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2176 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2177 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2162 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2168 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2175 by Steve Count, on Flickr

I gave the calipers a good clean.

IMG_2184 by Steve Count, on Flickr

They are now at the powdercoaters.

I want all the aluminium hard anodising, so to make the most of the minimum order i stripped pretty much anything aluminium from the car ready to take to the anodisers.
I also thought ahead on how the tyre seems to have rubbed on the wing with the standard spacing and thought about the wheels having a slightly wider track and decided that adjustable topmounts were the solution. They are now on order.

I haven't seen the top mounts yet but i know that due to KW being awkward using 60mm springs, 2.25" spring cups wouldn't fit so i'd have to make my own. Cue more aluminium turning.

IMG_2187 by Steve Count, on Flickr

They're pretty heavy, but i'd rather them be like that than too weak and fail on me.

I also took the time to remove excess material from my poorly thought out droplinks, they now look suprisingly like someone elses.

IMG_2167 by Steve Count, on Flickr

I also made a couple of other bits for when i get the topmounts.

IMG_2190 by Steve Count, on Flickr

I'm pretty sure there wouldnt be enough thread after the spherical bearing to make use of a nyloc, so i made my own and i'll just use a drop of loctite on it.

I took all the ally parts to the anodisers today, should be ready next weekend all being well.

I've got new caliper pistons, seals, bell mounting bolts, pads and a few other things on order, all being well they will be delivered next week so i can make a start on building it up, conveniently i've got most of the week after booked off as i had to use my leave up at work.

I should at this point say thanks to Phill for being helpful whenever i've had any queries.

I think that's about it for now, it's taken an insane amount of time, effort and money getting to this point, hopefully now i can ease up on the spending for a while.

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Goldie the track car.

Nice progress Steve! You seem very handy with making custom parts for goldie
Looking forward to see you and the others this sumer on the Ring.

PS Get me a pic of your assembled self made droplinks please... Wouldn't mind some for mine

Nice work

What colour anodising have you gone for?

And how much has it cost?

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Red GTB1756 powered Fabia VRS daily driver,LBSC Gti6 eater........

Mac1 ZR R1 kit car build in progress.

Getting it all hard anodised in black.
Guesstimate is £50-60+VAT, but they may get some parts polished first for a better finish at slight extra cost.

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Goldie the track car.

Great work Steve

So, do you want to make me some brake brackets the same as the Welly ones so I can buy some Wilwoods?

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Chris
1999 China Gti6 Supercharged [Fun car] >>Project Thread<<
2000 Bianca 306 Diesel [Work runabout]

Little update from the easter weekend:

Fitted new bridgecraft topmounts.

IMG_2210 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Collected all the ally bits from the anodisers.

IMG_2196 by Steve Count, on Flickr

And the calipers from the powder coaters.

IMG_2199 by Steve Count, on Flickr

The new pistons, seal kits and various other bits arrived ready for assembly.

IMG_2200 by Steve Count, on Flickr

I drained the old oil out, and got the oil lines off the two coolers. I noticed one of them had started to weep a little so i marked up the hoses and took them to a mates to have some ferrels crimped on, much better than relying on jubilee clips.

IMG_2221 by Steve Count, on Flickr

I then spent a few hours rebuilding the calipers, using a fine layer of rubber grease on both the seals for each piston.

IMG_2223 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Loctited the stainless helicoils into the caliper brackets.

IMG_2226 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Built up the bell/rotor assemblies.

IMG_2227 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Eventually slapped it all on the car.

IMG_2228 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2232 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Nice and tight.

IMG_2233 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Just need to wait for my new pads to arrive now, then i'll get the brakes bled through, then i'll need a new set of tyres and tax and it's ready for some tarmac abuse.

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Goldie the track car.

WOW! Grat work! Don't you wanna sell me those lathe chucks?

What kind of aluminium did you use for the bells and brackets?

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VTS
best 60' : 2.272
best 1/8 ET : 9.375 @ 74.42mph
best 1/4 ET: 14.603 @ 97.047mph

Team Trackday™

Just managed to have a scan through this Steve, some nice work you'll be happy with the brakes, I've got the same calipers on one of my 205s and they're fecking brilliant!

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www.bridgecraftmotorsport.co.uk

Facebook

Great work Steve, brakes look the tits

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Chris
1999 China Gti6 Supercharged [Fun car] >>Project Thread<<
2000 Bianca 306 Diesel [Work runabout]

Forgot to add a couple of pics, i've had to buy more cage padding as i'm under the impression that the new rules at the nurburgring dictate that if you can touch your roll cage it needs padding. I've gone over some bits with some PVC tape to try and give it a bit more durability when scraping over it getting in and out.

I've also had to buy two new bucket seats since the bloody krauts have also decided that my old bucket seats with the surround part for my head is not acceptable for TF days. :&lt;&lt;
They aren't a patch on how comfy the older seats are so i'm just having these as my 'ring seats from now on.

New vs. Old:

IMG_2330 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Both new in:

IMG_2333 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Padding so far, could do with another metre or so.

IMG_2334 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Also treated myself to a GoPro, so should hopefully get more reliable trackday footage from now on.

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Goldie the track car.

Another small update, nothing great really just a bit of preperation for it's anual trip to the 'ring.

I sorted out a mount for my go pro, did a bit of triangulation between the roll cage and roof skin to prevent it from flapping about as much as it did using the go pro pivot arms alone. It also allowed me to drop the camera down a bit so it doesnt just look in the rear view mirror and forwards a bit so the A pillars are at the outer edges of the video.

IMG_2411 by Steve Count, on Flickr

I stuck my euro trip headlights in (a spare set with the beam deflectors stuck on, i'm too tight to keep on buying them each year and they are a pain to remove the sticky residue afterwards, hence the dedicated pair of lights )

IMG_2415 by Steve Count, on Flickr

Then i decided it was about time to try and make the rear bumper a little less scruffy with the patch of missing paint. I'll let the pictures of that do the talking:

IMG_2409 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2410 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2412 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2413 by Steve Count, on Flickr

IMG_2417 by Steve Count, on Flickr

With these skills i should be working in a bodyshop.
To be fair it was a very lazy attempt at it, using halfords rattle cans and my only intention was to make it look less noticable than it was, which i think i just about achieved.

I'll probably just buy another blaze bumper in the future and stick that on when i get the time, i'm just trying to cut down the spending on the car at the minute whilst i work on getting myself on the property ladder.

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Goldie the track car.