Wheels Professionally Aligned

Objective:

Today the car got the wheels properly aligned. Called a tow truck to take the car to the shop. Drove from my garage spot to the street again to load the car on the truck.

The time spent on the car shop was mostly talking with the mechanics there, answering their questions, as this is not a common sight. The fact that I built it and I'm not a mechanic and did not study anything mechanic-related made it even more of a sensation.

In the end, these were the final values the car got. The "factory defaults" are for some randomly selected car since the machine HAD to have a brand and model selected to work (and did not know of locosts, caterhams nor the likes):

In English, "Sopé" means "Camber", "Avanço" is "Caster" and "Convergência" is "Toe In". I don't know how good these values really are. My gut feeling would have tried to match camber left and right a bit more and have less toe in on the rear. But the mechanic said the camber difference was almost nothing and this was a good setup. The track will tell!

In the process, received an improvement idea regarding the rear uprights: to replace the rod with a bolt in each end with a rod with a welded of cast bolt on one end. Idea is that, with usage, if the bolt near the toe alignment seizes, it will be a lot easier to loosen it.

Also got a contact of a company that does Porshe 356 replicas here and may know about legalisation and converting painlessly an UK registration into a Portuguese one.

The tow truck took me home and I did not have time to test or mess more with the car.

Fixing Throttle, Earth and More

Objective:

The first track day allowed me to understand a couple of things that needed fixing or changing. Wheel alignment being a main one but that I can't do on my own. That will be done next week at a shop.

Today I worked on small other things. First I drilled a new hole on the throttle peddle strut and, using one of the holes I drilled long ago on the peddle itself, I had the way to fix a spring. Last week I bought a couple different stiffness springs and fit the one that seemed more adequate. This spring makes the peddle a bit stiffer and helps with the return, that was based only on the carb's spring. Feels a lot nicer now (at least with the car standing still).

Then I dismantled the dash to tighten the high beam switch properly. Also placed some Nural 50 (threadlock fluid) on the nut to help it stay in place.

Since I had the dash out, switched the wires for the indicator stalk so that it works properly instead of blinking the side opposite to the desired one. Could not test because I forgot to take the car keys with me and the indicators don't work with the car completely off...

Enlarged an "O" wire terminal and replaced one end of the oil temp&pressure gauges earth wire with it. Then made that end go through the bolt that holds the spark controllers. This will ensure that earth will not go lose again.

Next week, besides the wheel alignment, I must open the tunnel to check the transmission bolts and then put some Nural 50 on the tunnel bolts as I tighten them again. Maybe also take a laptop to try to connect to the Digidash and enhance its configuration.

Estoril Experience Day - The 1st Track Day

The big day arrived! This will be the detailed description of what happened on the 1st track day. Lots of pictures, notes and more. The long post is divided into sections:

• Going to the Track
• 1st Leg
• 2nd Leg
• 3rd Leg
• 4th Leg
• Conclusion and Next Steps

Going to the Track

A bit before 7a.m. the tow truck arrived. The car was quickly loaded and we headed to a gas station.

The tank was filled to the top, plus a 10L jerrycan. The tires were filled up to 1,7BAR. Then we headed to Estoril. Under the main stand, the club shop was handing out the credentials to enter the track. After that was in my hand, the tow truck left me and the car behind the boxes and I headed to the briefing room. A quick explanation of flags, behaviour rules, penalties and where tires were placed to prevent us from cutting corners.

Estoril's circuit has the following disposition:

The track hosted many competitions throughout the years. Including F1, that set the record best lap in 1993 (Damon Hill) on the 1m14s859 mark.

The time for the 1st leg approached and I asked a person with a box to keep my bag of tools and the jerrycan.

The 1st Leg

I setup RaceChrono Pro on my mobile phone to save video while registering data. As I approached the entrance to the track (for those without a box), I noticed that I placed the phone on the stand in a way that covered the camera lens! Had no time to change that so I just took the phone out and placed it in my jacket's pocket.

As I do my first lap, I'm laughing and cheering inside my helmet. My car works! Four and a half years and it works! It has many quirks I'll need to fix, but it goes, it accelerates quickly and it brakes without drifting to a side! I was really happy! As I was doing the last corner before the main straight, I pressed the throttle a bit too early, the inside was still wet and the car started to slide. I turned the wheel, it shifted into going sideways on his other side. Put my foot on the brakes, the car spun and I ended up trapped in the sand. Yellow flags and a pick-up had to pull me back into the track. Lost a lap there. Nice way to start!

The rest of the 20 minutes went without issues. I was afraid to push the car too much, let everyone that approached pass me and just tried to understand the car, the gearbox and see if I noticed any problems. Did four laps, to a total of 21Km. The best time was 3m58s66.

When I left the track and was parking behind the boxes I saw a friend that also assembled an Aries and parked next to him. He was with another friend on a BMW M3. My friend's car was being used as a warehouse for tools and gas so I fetched my stuff from the box and left it there.

The 2nd Leg

Between legs spent some time looking for any bolts that needed tightening on the wheels, suspension and transmission. Amazingly, it was all perfect! I never expected it to be so resistant to the 1st track day. Also, looking under the car showed no spills of any type! Placed the mobile phone on the stand correctly and was ready to return to the track and have fun. I was talking with my friends when I look back to the car and the mobile phone was not there. I can't believe it (thinking I had been robbed). But no... Spent thousands on a kit car and saved on a chinese stand for the phone that fell with the phone's weight... The stand broke, the phone was well. Forgot about that and made my peace with the fact that this track day would have no inside footage.

On the straight it felt I could not shift into 6th gear because the engine sounded like asking for another gear but I found none. The Digidash is incorrectly configured because it displayed up to 20.000rpm when the engine's limit is around 11.500rpm... And it would erratically display some gear numbers that were not real and would even change just by braking or accelerating hard. The speed readings were almost equal to the GPS from the phone. I need to address the Digidash config...

(Photos by DJImagem - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Djimagem and João Ramalhete - https://www.facebook.com/joao.ramalhete)
The 2nd leg ended up being great. Had a bit more confidence and accelerated more. Made 5 laps to a total of 25Km. The best lap took 3m27s25. Had lunch, got photos taken with the car and didn't touch it in preparation for the 3rd leg. The only things that were not good were the main beam switch that fell off, some bolts from the tunnel panel and the headlights that were coming a bit lose. The car also had lots of sand, gravel and rubber on the floor, thrown by passing cars.

Let the 3rd leg come!

The 3rd Leg

Faster, more fun, more concern on trajectories. Still worried with other cars and always getting out of the way. I could not compete with them. Specially on the straight. Besides the issue with the gear, I also felt the car shake and my helmet seemed to want to jump and take my head with it.

I was told by my friends that the car's wheels were visibly needing alignment and that should be the reason for the shaking under speed. Made 5 more laps, to a total of 25Km with the best lap clocked at 3m17s81.

(Photos by Jessica Santos - https://www.facebook.com/jessy.bolinha)
On the parking, I tightened a couple of bolts on the tunnel, one of the bolts that hold the gear stick and had my friend help me fill in one front tire that was losing pressure.

The 4th Leg

This last leg went as the previous ones, without any major issues and me adapting to the car. Lost oil pressure and temperature readings due to the earth wire disconnecting from where it attached to the chassis.

(Photos by Jessica Santos - https://www.facebook.com/jessy.bolinha)
Made another 5 laps to a total of 26Km with the best lap clocked at 3m11s86. The day ended with the car looking dirty but great!

Conclusion and Next Steps

The car made 100Km, spent around 14L of fuel. The top speed was 150Km/h on the main straight and the best lap was 3m11s86. As a comparison, a Citroen Saxo from the Saxo Cup practicing there made 2m20s and my friend, with a similar car on track tires, had his best lap clocked at 2m05s. I still have a long way to go!

Next steps are to take the car to a garage to align the wheels. Configure the Digidash properly. Re-tighten bolts. Get a good spring for the throttle peddle. Buy a proper action camera to attach to the roll bar. Get new gloves (mine were too hard, besides feeling odd to hold the wheel, had my knuckles all scratched and bleeding).

I don't have much time! Next track day is on the 28th March!

EDIT: The best picture taken:

(Photo by Gonçalo Bispo - https://www.facebook.com/grbispo.photography)

Fire Extinguisher and Brakes

Objective:

Started another night session by marking the position for the fire extinguisher on the tunnel top. Removed the top, drilled, fitted the holder with a couple of bolts and job done! Put some Dural 50 (threadlock) to be sure the nuts would not fall into the tunnel.

Then I tried holding a spring I had to the throttle peddle to stiffen it a bit. Seemed to work.

Placed the charged battery on the car and it fired up 2nd time. Lapped the garage 3 times. Did some hard (relative, since I'm driving 20Km/h in 1st) stops and the brakes are finally good! No sponginess, no having to pump twice... It just brakes!

In the end, the throttle peddle spring made its work but is already breaking up. I have to see if I can find a nice proper spring before Saturday.

Brakes Issue Solved?

The objective:

Today went with the wife to the car so that she could help me bleed the brakes. Cutting more than an hour of work in few words... The front brakes are great. The rears had one nut not well tightened on the "T" piece that splits the pipe to the rear wheels. It was dripping. After tightening we bleed it more and seems to be good. Could not test because I failed to get the engine going. It was unused for some two months and the battery died before I could get it to run.

Also placed the Aries symbols on the hood and rear.

And defined where I'll be attaching the newly acquired fire extinguisher. It will be on the tunnel top, behind the handbrake. Handy but not in the way.

I guess this week I'll be working on the car every night until the track day. And it's a go, by the way. Put my name down last Friday.