James's Black Rallye (aka Rack)

Spiral one looks mint good job.

Norledge wrote:

Talk about patience!

Are you going to laquer them now??

Still need to get some special lacquer from somewhere, ordinary lacquer makes the pen run

An action packed weekend for the Rallye, started on Friday with a trip down to Llandow, which although only 10 miles from my house involves a 2 hour drive with a large bridge and a toll booth on the wrong side...

Anyway, after arriving there, I quickly got the track wheels on, now shod in new free Russian rubber, only the best of course

Did six sessions, so probably ended up with close to two hours on track. Initially, I was very wary of the tyres, especially as they are 185/60/14 and in the first corner it was like driving on jelly compared to my road tyres. After warming them up a little though and getting used to them, they didn't fare too badly. At the end of the day, they were still legal to drive home on too, which was nice, as the unbalanced steels are getting undriveable The 266mm brakes after a gentle lap to warm them up, are amazing, although a little scary once they've been allowed to cool down in the paddock for a while. I was finding that the valvers, whilst pulling away on the straights, were having to break earlier than me, so I still kept with them fairly well. Had one little moment, coming out of the bus stop, overcooked the corner and ended up slightly on the grass on the next corner. Just managed to hold it without doing any damage

I really enjoyed the track, whilst not the most technical, it still required a bit of skill and was good for a relative novice like me to learn my way. The car came away with a slight knock from the passenger side, suspected to be a driveshaft and a rattle from one of the bolts holding the cat to the mani. I'll be getting it all looked at in preparation for my next trip to Nurburg in October.







Having driven to my personal B&B for the weekend (my aunt's house in Gloucester), I set about cleaning the car for Pugfest on Sunday. It hadn't got too dirty at Llandow, but I still gave it the normal wash and dry, SRP and then a layer of Dodo Juice Purple Haze, which I now love!





My old car poking it's nose in the photo too :p





After the day of cleaning, and a barbeque, I headed out with RichHimself and Chris_429 to meet the guys from Rallye.nl and head out for a drive through Gloucestershire. Ended up with a massive convoy of around 15 cars, could see everyone watching in amazement as we drove through.



And then, Sunday arrived for Pugfest itself. I did a quick pit stop to put the clean steelies on, then gave the car a wipe over when I arrived. Did four runs up the hill with various passengers, really enjoyed it, and yet again the car went really well, other than the few knocks incurred at Llandow.

Just a few photos from the hill climb

cracking pics there james, it's wierd for me as it's my car with stickers

Car looks absolutely mint in those pictures James.

woz_106 wrote:

cracking pics there james, it's wierd for me as it's my car with stickers

I keep thinking that when i look at photo's.

The amount of times I walked up to get in Woz's car on Friday was silly LOL

It was when you were getting in your car for the club photo and I thought to myself "why is he getting in my passenger seat" lmao

Some good photos there

your pritty handy with the camera

As some of you may know, I'm back off out to Germany at the end of September, giving me 10 weeks to get the car in top shape. I've written myself out a 'to do' list and I need to get the car into the garage and give it a good check over.

Progress has started immediately and at quite a rate.

Done so far:

Steelies balanced (weights on the outside) - Ran the steelies for a few months with no weights after fitting the 266mm brake setup and not wanting them on the outside. This was OK until after Llandow, when something else a bit loose on the front end of the car was causing hell at anything between 55 and 75mph! They've now got weights on the outside and run nice and smoothly, which will do until I get back from the trip and can get to a garage I've been recommended to have them balanced on the back edge.

Nissens Radiator - Purchased this evening from 106parts. You may remember my issues with the temperatures from my trip over to Cologne earlier this year. I then lost a lot of coolant and chucked a bottle of Radweld in to sort it as a temporary measure. This has held up surprisingly well, though it's now time it ought to be replaced and the coolant system flushed though to get it into perfect condition. Hoping to see a reduction in the normal running temps too.

Pugsport (2" of course) - Also ordered this evening from 106parts. Have been wanting it for a while, and as my cat is knackered and tinny and the standard exhaust was melting my rear arch liner, I decided it was time to upgrade. Also bought the full fitting kit, may as well do it all properly!

Still to do:

Offside front wheel bearing (possibly on the way out)
Nearside rear wheel bearing (also possibly on the way out, both advised on MOT)
Discs and pads all round (unhappy with the OMPs when cold, and I think one front and both rears need replacing anyway)
Smaller steering wheel, probably looking like the OMP Trecento (which I had in my old 106, except leather this time rather than suede) need to look at some options from YB Racing and get a price off Mark

I also had a couple of issues, which I seem to have sorted out for now, though the car will be going into the garage for a full service and check over in the next month.

First was a creak from the rear when braking and turning right, which I thought sounded like the beam. It seems it might have been the exhaust creaking on something. My standard system is 'bodged' into place (yes the standard system doesn't even fit right!) with a hard yellow rubber and a black rubber, and had been sliding off the yellow one into an odd position. This has now been fixed with the 106 owner's favorite resource, a couple of cable ties, and I have to say I've not noticed the creak since!

On checking the beam and trailing arms I couldn't get them to make a noise and neither had any play. The noise only seemed to come having the car on it's wheels and bouncing it up and down on the back.

Also have a clunking from the front brakes now and then and I think I've found the problem here! When swapping the wheels round I checked the brakes to see if I could see anything. And I could! The top bolt holding the nearside caliper on was finger tight, I could just turn it round without the spanner! So, I've tightened it up best I could but I know what to sort out when I get down the garage now

More to come when the above parts arrive!

sounds good james, but waiting...from 106 parts, who would have thought it

I only ordered last night, LOL, don't expect it to be here this week

They've always been good for me, whether it's because I'm an RR member, I don't know, but nothing I've ordered from them has taken more than two weeks to arrive

That's a fair bit ordered! Should be in good shape for the 'Ring

woz_106 wrote:

sounds good james, but waiting...from 106 parts, who would have thought it

Rallye James wrote:

I only ordered last night, LOL, don't expect it to be here this week

Well, bugger me, by the time those replies were posted, the radiator was already sat in my cousin's kitchen!

Ordered 8pm Wednesday, arrived 11am Thursday!

thats because its ordered straight from nissens...try something made by OMP, good luck

Pugsport arrived today, still less than a week

Busy weekend coming up then!

crikey my pads took 3 weeks and then they were wrong

get fitting then james then our cars will be even more alike

Well, the Rallye now has a Pugsport yet again I had a grin on my face all day like a kid on Christmas morning! I forgot how good it sounds, absolutely suberb, not to mention the car feels noticeably quicker. All went on surprisingly well, took me 3 hours on my own, and that included getting the car onto and off of axle stands (and getting an axle stand stuck under the car ). The hangers on the new style Pugsport all lined up perfectly, the only slight problem being that the offside off the backbox hung too low on an angle. Nothing a few cable ties couldn't sort out :p It's now almost level (level enough for now)









Cable ties all owa!



Little vid of me chavving it up on the local industrial estate



Nissens fitting today, then I need to get some new discs and pads and an OMP steering wheel

Good job!

Quote :

Nothing a few cable ties couldn't sort out

And as this is B4T, I forgot to mention, it only took 30 minutes for the hammer to come into play, which can just about be seen in this photo along with my infamous pink pliers...

I think a hammer should be on our forum banner

Change the capital T in Track for one

now that is a fudging plan!

looks great though james although it was confusing enough before!

Rallye James wrote:

Change the capital T in Track for one

lol that needs to be done.

Ordered a new steering wheel which turned up today and was promptly fitted as soon as I'd gone on the scrounge for a T50 torx bit. I went for the Superturismo this time as I like the centre without the horn button. Would have gone for the same leather version that was in the car a couple of years ago, but it was unavailable, although now it's fitted, I'm glad I got the suede. Feels so small though, will take some getting used to! Also, my indicators self cancel now for the first time since owning the car :p



Going to see if it's possible to hook some wires up to the buttons for a couple of ideas too

Wheel looks nice, get a brush fom the suede to keep it in tip top condition as otherwise they flat quite quickly!
Your interior looks great

looks awesome that james, what size is it?

It's a 320mm. Had a 300mm in the old one, but I preferred the more simple shape of this, and the extra 20mm makes a difference when you're parking a non PAS car with the strut tops rotated!

NOS - fast and furious style lol

speaking of those buttons james, you going to wire them upto something?(other than the 2 bottles that you'll need by tonight obviously )

Knowing James they will be used to turn the stereo volume up and down.

if I brought a steering wheel with the buttons one would be used to have the full beam on or off.

but yeah I know what your saying huw, it's james they are bound to be wired into something

Hahaha, you guys know me too well

I've already got the 306 stalk for the stereo control. Going to see if I can have one as an engine start and the other either as full beam or a brake light switch (to let tailgaters know when they're too close )

Failing nos hook it to the fog light for that extra 10bhp boost

Controversial update time!

One of my Alpine speakers decided to destroy itself last Thursday, so I bodged it up with some superglue and then asked an audio guru mate for some recommendation for some new ones. Ended up coming home from Trax with these...



And impatience FTW, one side was fitted at Trax :p



Other side was finished off tonight and the tweeters mounted (quite smartly IMO) on the mirror covers.



I know proper audio is frowned upon in Rallyes, but it sounds brilliant :cool:

And in other news, it's now got brand new discs and pads all round (only OE as that's enough with the 266mm setup, for now at least) and red painted tow eyes as you can just about see here

Red tow eyes? It is just becoming woz's car.

Except the homosensual speakers.

They're just homosensual.

homosensual.

I can't exactly say it looks poopoo since its my car with the steering wheel on the other side

does look good though james it's coming together now

Long overdue an update in here!

Ever since I got the car, the steels days have been numbered. I was always keen to get a set of 15"s as I think they suit the cars better and having had white wheels on white cars for four years, I was eager to go for something darker to suit the black one, and to save looking filthy as soon as they've been cleaned!

I thought about a few options, but I wanted something that was both really different and suited the car perfectly. I made the decision back in the summer that I would get a set of Speedline SL434s and a couple of weeks ago, whilst I was staying in Wolverhampton, just 20 minutes away from Speedline's UK depot, I arranged to go and pick up a brand spanking new set in anthracite with a diamond cut lip

All in all, I don't think they were too expensive at just short of £600, considering they're new, and came with all the bolts and centre caps. A set of my favourite Kumho KU31s were added and the wheels went on the car last week.













So for now, that's about it, I'm almost happy with the car (aside from one mod to be done in the new year) and it's staying as it is (bar any repairs along the way), so I can save some money for a new car next year

looks stunning in this picture mate...



oh wait thats when it was on steels because it looked soooo much better! sorry mate, i'm not a huge fan it's nice but not as nice if you get what I mean.

Hello? Anybody there? Dare I utter the 'P' word?

Yes, I've made some progress, been a couple of months since I've done anything

With a day at Llandow just around the corner, I've been sorting some little niggles and getting it in form for a thrashing

Boring stuff: New dash bulbs, new driveshaft, changed gearbox oil, other things I can't remember...

Slightly less boring stuff: Fitted a Caged lower brace, was fine until the car was on the move and then I had some vibrating against the exhaust. Considered modding it, but just going to sell it on now (already taken, don't ask for it!). Also decided to give the XSi wheels a make over as I have some new free 185/55 tyres to go on them. They were covered in brake dust from the last Llandow day and I could neither wash them (would have wiped the pen off) or lacquer them, so I went for a new colour scheme Wheels will likely be for sale in a couple of weeks time, though the paint on them isn't the best job I just need to find the two missing bolts now

looks good!!

Preferred the wheels before

Still look cool though

Gotta agree with Stu on this one, although if you're selling them they'll probably fetch more in this state!

How did the whole thing with the driveshaft/bearing work out?

Driveshaft #1 turned out to be faulty, the end was machined wrong and wouldn't go through the hub.

Driveshaft #2 was the tapered one, did 20 miles on and found the wobble, think I got lucky as the bearing was OK.

Driveshaft #3 fitted and I think it's all OK now. Meant to jack the car up today and check it but it was wet and I forgot.

i do like the wheels =] And as chris said if your selling them will be easier how they look now.

French.....christ ain't many of these left

looks good James, the sharpie ones were better though!!

Update #1 - I now have a full complement of wheel bolts ready for Llandow. Picking up the wheels fresh from having had tyres put on them tomorrow.

Update #2 - Made 124bhp on Powerstation's rollers today. Chuffed

Update #3 - Mobile phone track cam is ready for Llandow after a bit of fettling with the mount. This test was shot in 420p as I had the settings wrong, will be on 720p for track. Win! I won have any music on either, so you should hear the car better!

nice mount for the cam James, where is it mounted too looks spot on?

On the windscreen, moved it to the left since this pic as it was quite wobbly and the first vid was a bit shaky! So now it slightly rests on the dash where it goes up for the dials.