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Mar 26, 2024 14:35:15 GMT
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Went up Santa Pod on Sunday for some pre season testing. Tom picked up where he left off, which is better than last year and probably because he’s driving on the road now. A clutch of low 18s runs and a new pb by 0.02s… but these things matter Steve with the baja had greater gains, now running baby Dells instead of Kadrons and ran about 1/2s quicker than his previous pb We had a good day, and it felt good to be winding up for car season again…. I’m taking the good weather on Sunday as an omen of good weather when needed
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Mar 18, 2024 20:38:22 GMT
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Good to see you at VolksWorld, didn’t want to disturb conversations Very enjoyable day out, my favourite was this Today we dropped the Fugitive at Cotsweld Race Cars in Cheltenham for some frame work to fix rust etc and make it eligible to drag race. Will update thread when something happens
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Probably time for an update here too I’ll start with the Black lupo, last time it had an engine management light for egr Ady and DarrenW popped over one Saturday and sorted that for us And then it stopped locking, which seems to be, as I found out afterwards a common issue with microswitches. It also started to randomly drop the windows… the first fix was to pull the fuses and then at Christmas, in the day I had available I swapped some bits. But incorrectly I’d bought genuine VW locks secondhand rather than cheap Chinese replacements. Which was wrong! So we did what we could, and sorted some broken wiring And for a week or two it was ok-ish And then it wasn’t, so Ella popped back for a night and we swapped for new cheap bits…. Which seem to have fixed it Then the green one, Harold It got MOTed in October and passed with just the usual cheap cat replacement Tom passed his test, so we did a roadtrip involving the motorway We also swapped the pop-out windows for some spares we’d got in readiness… so he could drive around without race numbers and stickers Which made it look too normal after it being stickered up for the last two years, so Darren made some small Harold names for it Since November Toms been driving it, and it’s done a few runs up north to see friends. We’ve made a ‘stage brake’ to lock the ratchet on the handbrake when racing. Then pull the pin when back to the pits and it works like normal. Hopefully he’ll be able to hold it at the line better and improve his reaction times this season It got serviced this week Few more weeks until we are hoping to get a RWYB in at Santa Pod and then racing starts in April
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Well, it’s been a while! Not been much to update on the actual van We had a change of plans for various reasons, and as a consequence I sold on the white van as a roller with no engine. Also sold the tuned Isuzu motor and the octy estate went too Also sold off a load of old accumulated bits and had a general clear out. I did get the engine and box hanging in the van on some engine mounts, but needed to spend money to move it forward and that would split priorities etc Have a plan with the Fug, not a huge investment in the grand scheme of things, but wanted it to happen by only sacrificing other projects. As once we get into it everything will be on the back burner again for a good while anyway, but more on that in the Fug thread soon. Sold the 3 spoke corsa sport wheels (because they are easy to sell) and fitted the irmscher wheels that were fitted to racevan, but will be back on steels soon. Other than that the van soldiers on, it had another service yesterday, the water pump has a bit of play in it, so ordered one of those. Owned it for just over 4 years, engine swapped the isuzu about 3 years ago, and mileage is at about 160k miles now.
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Went to Vintage Stony on New Years Day. And having a Hardcore clear out to do bigger things in March/April, so the 2nd Astravan went last night, the biggest lump to clear out gone.
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Done! Thanks for heads up
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Here is my ‘94 Astravan. I was swapping a VW 1.8t into it, it was a slow burn project around drag racing etc… but something has changed and we are going all out with that. Meaning realistically I’m not going to look at this until at least next year,and then it’ll need custom bits making/buying… so rather than storing (and paying for the privilege) and then splitting cash between this and that. I’m being ruthless and moving it on It sold for £200 over the Christmas break, but to a 0 feedback account that hasn’t responded. Need to clear the unit, been messed about twice so was going to weigh it in which is a shame as it’s mostly a solid shell (rear arches are bit crusty, no surprise) but I welded it up and got an mot on it in ‘22 and then started doing bits It’s a roller, got manual rack, new suspension arms, bilsten front dampers, 40/60 lowering springs, brakes all work, if you put a battery on it the electrics work (but there’s no battery tray) Needs lots of bits doing, hasn’t got a drivers seat, airbag stuff has been removed, obvs needs an engine and undoubtedly some other bits that I’ve forgotten I was going to rape it of bits this weekend and get it collected next, but need to move it on Sunday so this is its last chance of salvation Buy it as a roller, or if anyone needs bits let me know, or come pick the shell up next week for £50 or a slab of beer or something… It’s a shame, but can’t save them all… but this might be me sending another Vauxhall over the bridge
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Nov 22, 2023 16:45:02 GMT
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Tom passed his driving test today! And then got to do a grown up thing and pay for insurance. Which was an eye watering amount
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Oct 29, 2023 21:44:36 GMT
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The black one, sold one friend to another in 2011 Then owned by friends mum, who replaced a mini But it’s a well travelled car that’s been to Germany in holidays Hopefully it’ll be as appreciated by Ella, but she’s loving it so far (and such modern niceties as cup holders )
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Oct 29, 2023 21:33:59 GMT
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And the other update. A deal was done on a replacement for Ella’s corsa, another Lupo This one has been owned by mates since 2010 and passed about a bit. Ended up in Cornwall gifted to a nephew. Not sure the story, best to forget it and carry on.. But it wasn’t as anyone expected when we got to collect it. So we’d driven to Cornwall, dragged it out of a field, sorted the a-frame, loaded up and dragged it home in a red-weather warning with floods and all sorts on the motorway Got it home, and it needed a lid of bits, and had a load of corrosion underneath, seized brakes, snapped springs etc But friends basically gave Ella the car, but didn’t want it to be broken or scrapped… which meant that I threw a bit more money at it than I possibly should. But it got; Rebuilt rear brakes Discs, pads Callipers Flexies Bottom arms Ball joints Track rod ends Drop links Rear springs 4 new tyres Replacement stereo Some lamps Then a service, and we swapped the gearbox oil And it turned out OK after some cleaning Ella and boyfriend Arron were coming down to Santa Pod for the National Finals, so original plan was to swap cars whilst she was home, but with the extra needed that didn’t happen So ended up swapping cars in a services off the M6 near Nantwich, the following weekend And for the hard work, was rewarded with an engine management light about 1/2 hour after we left, it’s the egr hopefully
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Oct 29, 2023 21:01:02 GMT
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Last build thread to update, and probably the one that’s been most active. Not actually a lot of work done on Toms lupo We started getting some hot oil smells, and noticed it puffing a bit whilst running in the lanes. Diagnosed for us as the PCV valve, so had a look Yeah, that’ll be it… sourced a new one, and the hose and fitted We fitted the a-frame, so we could tow the Fug to a couple of rounds. The janky bumper wasn’t the prettiest, but free is free Tom got the hang of burnouts Earning the title ‘burnout king’ and a mysteriously delivered sticker in the post And in the back half of the season things started to come together, with some good runs hitting his dials. At Greenlight Nationals he qualified #1 on the Saturday even Got a run in at Bug Jam RWYB with the L plate pyramid And after all this abuse, it flew through the mot with only a bit of jiggling to get the cat hot. It has had 2 tyres this year, one as a consequence of hitting a pothole And a slow puncture and a damaged sidewall just before the MOT So in spite of all the burnouts, all 4 tyres have over 5mm of tread on them still… the 2 newer tyres are on the front, but I have rotated them during the season Engines a little smoky, but not excessive (oil consumption is within VW range) so for all of the abuse it gets, it laps it’s up! Driving test soon, fingers crossed it goes well after the wait. Has been a cracking year, the racing has been great, and really look forwards to race weekends! Darren made some awesome workshop banners with all of our cars on It’s going to be a looooonng winter waiting for the first round of 2024!
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Oct 25, 2023 20:55:17 GMT
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Not a lot been done, so not been much updating Had a knock from the front earlier in the year, so had it on the ramp and swapped top mounts, ball joints, track rod ends, discs and pads and a few other bits… Then took it to Stony Classic, where it caused a bit of an outrage for not being old enough And in the afternoon on to the RR meet up at Weedon Bec It has had another service, and got MOTed again, with no real issues, looking at getting some lanoguard and treating underneath again Not taken many photos, until today when I saw another mk3 van working Be due another engine service in a couple of thousand miles, and is currently at about 153000 miles.
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Oct 25, 2023 20:25:32 GMT
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Oct 24, 2023 11:55:38 GMT
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Went to the last RWYB of the year with the Fugitive (having barn found it first ) The question now, having seen DarrenW photos, is did it lift a wheel? Because if it didn’t it doesn’t look like so by much Sadly it wasn’t me driving either, was Tom
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Oct 23, 2023 20:50:30 GMT
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Went over the rainbow weighbridge this afternoon
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Ella’s 1999 Vauxhall Corsajohnthesparky
@johnthesparky
Club Retro Rides Member 6
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Oct 23, 2023 20:24:03 GMT
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So, end of the thread After 5 1/2 years and about 26000 miles the Corsa went over the rainbow bridge today. Ella finished her degree in the summer and is currently working full time in home care, still in North Wales. The car was getting tired, using a fair amount of oil and smoking and generally starting to cause a bit of worry. Biggest problem was that it’s 200 miles away, and she needs a car full time for work. So we got hold a replacement, a lupo, which I’ll add detail in the lupo thread. Then at the start of the month met halfway between Bangor and home, swapped cars and returned. Tried to move it on, but the price of scrap and the Facebook marketplace selling hassles meant that it went over the rainbow bridge today. Needed it gone before the end of the month as no point paying an extra month. So with about 6 weeks MOT left it went for one more drive, and drove as well as ever. It needed jump starting because the battery got swapped, was pretty clattery in the top end but drove fine. The fuel light only came on in the last couple of miles. Genuinely upset to see it go like this, it’s been a cracking car and never let her down, but there we go
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Remember this! Still got it! It’s been sat in the shed since VW Action ‘22 whilst we’ve been busy with other stuff, Tom racing the Lupo, sorting Ella a ‘new’ car, and general life Not updated, because other than draining the tank and turning it over every now and again very little has happened. The carbs went on holiday for a bit, to try and help diagnose running faults with another aircooled VW, but since that needs new rings, we got the carbs back and prepared the Fug for a RWYB Mostly the prep consisted of an oil change, sorting the carbs, welding a hole in the exhaust and fitting this… Which for a grown man, I was far too excited about We hopefully have plans brewing for the Fug, which would mostly involve changing some of the tubes and replacing with 3mm instead. There is some corrosion to some of the tubes, and probably some rust inside, so it’ll need looking at properly and decisions made as to how much needs repairing, but that’s for later Fitted the carbs, and a new working fuel pump, a bit of tweaking and it fired right up Finding the air leak in the exhaust wasn’t too hard Just patch over the bits the flames were shooting out of Not pretty, but temporary so meh! Then fitted the line lock, which was relatively easy as the brakes are on a bias box already. Few more bits sorted, thought about wiring in some lights or making it charge, but ran out of time or something Then ignoring the weather and Storm Babet we trundled off to Santa Pod We took 3 aircooled; the Fug, Steve with his baja, and Ady with his ‘67 And waited…. And a bit more…. And then we went….. nope, we waited (that’s drag racing in the UK ) Finally the track opened, first run I messed up, and ran a 14.9 Second run was a lot better with a 14.06 Would have been nice to run a 13 with the belt on, and another run may have seen that. But Tom arrived after work and took over Got the hang of burnouts, though we need to do second gear ones we now know His second run was his best with a 14.68 And some great shots at sunset and night racing Ady ran a 13 in his ‘67 And this is why you burnout in 2nd And Steve was more focused on beating his fiancé, who was racing his TT A cracking weekend, park the Fug up again for a bit
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Photos were when I got home, I’ve not washed it. Need it gone this month, it’s still registered in Ella’s name (at home address) and is currently taxed. Can help with collection/delivery if needed I’d much rather it went to someone who wanted/needed it though, open to offers but I don’t think I’m being greedy so there’s not a lot of room Any questions, happy to answer
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This is my daughters car, We bought it in July 2018 It’s been rust treated, had brakes, it has 40mm lowering springs and new dampers. Had a top end rebuild a couple of years back. There’s a build thread forum.retro-rides.org/thread/204975/ella-1999-vauxhall-corsaElla lives in Bangor, and that’s 200 miles away, she’s working full time now and the corsa needs some love, but there’s a bit of a stalemate… I need it for a week and she then can’t work etc. So we sourced another car, with a slightly bigger engine (it’s a 1.4 lupo) went through it and then swapped cars last weekend. Spent a bit of money sorting the lupo, so with Ella’s agreed input, if I sell it for £400 I just about break even. Local merchants have offered me £315 so I don’t think I’m being unreasonable It has 2 months or thereabouts MOT, starts and runs, but top end is noisy, it smokes a bit too I’ve been told (but the 100 miles I drove back down the motorway I didn’t notice it) brakes could do with a bleed, tyres have loads of tread but are cracking in the treads Bodywork is a bit rough, it’s been lightly gouged both sides by her. Drivers mirror is manual, passengers is the wrong colour and the glass is shattered. The wheel arch plastics are tired and could do with replacement. But it looks ok from a few meters
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Sept 26, 2023 20:58:43 GMT
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The weekend was the last round of the VWDRC championship Tom qualified 6th, but went out in the first eliminations Steve with the Baja only went and won the round! Darren made some awesome banners (And there is still one hanging in the lounge currently ) And I’ve been fixing another lupo
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