Arosa 1.4 16v Sport - My Trackday Project - '09 End of Season Report from Page 29

[woop]

hey soo happy I found this as Ive been recently thinking of doing a project like this albeit over a longer time period, was first thinking of a mini then went through all the other small cars and a mk1 arosa sport is the answer, so Ive got lots of questions,

first of all where else could I find a 1.4 16v engine from the sport other than the lupo and arosa, would the 00-02 polo 1.4 engine go in just as easy, whats involved in putting it into a original 1L? like would there be much loom work, ecu,etc?

 

[ArosaRacer]

im building a diesel track car as well

 

[driveforward]

From Road Car to Track Toy in One Massive Weekend

This weekend was always going be a big effort, but the outcome would see lots of preparation and parts collection all come together.. and come together things have!

At 4:15 on Saturday morning I headed down to Kent and SCN's Stu's workplace in order to get the rollcage fitted.. We started work at about 8:00 and worked solid through to past 21:00 on the evening This allowed us to get the cage in for a trial fit, remove it, sort the mounting plates out and also sort out the seat mounts. The cage then went back in for it's final fitting. Sunday started at 8:15 (I was late, thanks to lots of frost and something I just had to take a pic of in the hotel car park - see my post in the general section!), and saw the fitting of door bars, finishing the rear turret mounts and the final fitment of the seat runners, side mounts, seats and harnesses.

There were a fair few fires along the way as the underseal caught alight, but none more spectacular than the one in a rear wheel arch where the CO2 extinguisher ran out, the powder extinguisher covered the arch, floor and me win horrid stuff that tasted bloody vile (!), but still ended up needing a damp rag and jacking the car up to properly control it!

Big thanks go to Stu for doing prep work on the cage after I had it delivered to him, helping get it into the car and then for all of the superb fabrication and welding that he's done Also thanks to Stu for dedicating his weekend to this work, and to his employer who provided the workshop and tools with which to get the job done.


Here's what you're waiting for, the pics!


Trial fitment:

"What the hell are we doing to this car!?"


Fitting:

Stu behind bars "How the **** am I gonna get out!?"


Seat Mounts:

 

[driveforward]

Finished:

I think you'll agree that the cage/seats look just the job, and being fixed into the car by the buckets and harnesses means that as a driver you can now feel everything that the car's doing. A top weekends work, that's really moved this project forward.. makes my deadline seem achievable!

 

[driveforward]

What do Chemix in Stourbridge charge for laser alignment?

Cheers

Think it was £60 mate - worth it tho

 

[ArosaRacer]

Next you'll need to paint it!!

Did you change your mind on the door bars!

 

[YIN]

Think it was £60 mate - worth it tho

Thanks for that.Cars looking good will keep an eye out for it.

 

[F2 Stu]

Next you'll need to paint it!!

Did you change your mind on the door bars!

I mocked it up what it would be like and decided a singular bar would be better

 

[ArosaRacer]

sprayed mine with rattle cans, took 2 large primers, and 6 colour cans plus a blast of clear coat

 

[driveforward]

I mocked it up what it would be like and decided a singular bar would be better

As I could only just get in, let alone my dad have half a chance!

 

[ArosaRacer]

Stu and I did say you'd change your mind

 

[F2 Stu]

This weekend was always going be a big effort, but the outcome would see lots of preparation and parts collection all come together.. and come together things have!

At 4:15 on Saturday morning I headed down to Kent and SCN's Stu's workplace in order to get the rollcage fitted.. We started work at about 8:00 and worked solid through to past 21:00 on the evening This allowed us to get the cage in for a trial fit, remove it, sort the mounting plates out and also sort out the seat mounts. The cage then went back in for it's final fitting. Sunday started at 8:15 (I was late, thanks to lots of frost and something I just had to take a pic of in the hotel car park - see my post in the general section!), and saw the fitting of door bars, finishing the rear turret mounts and the final fitment of the seat runners, side mounts, seats and harnesses.

There were a fair few fires along the way as the underseal caught alight, but none more spectacular than the one in a rear wheel arch where the CO2 extinguisher ran out, the powder extinguisher covered the arch, floor and me win horrid stuff that tasted bloody vile (!), but still ended up needing a damp rag and jacking the car up to properly control it!

Big thanks go to Stu for doing prep work on the cage after I had it delivered to him, helping get it into the car and then for all of the superb fabrication and welding that he's done Also thanks to Stu for dedicating his weekend to this work, and to his employer who provided the workshop and tools with which to get the job done.

Glad I could help, I find it all very enjoyable and its helped me take my mind off things latley, would of liked to have done a better job of welding the rear turrets but the stop/start/stop/start becuass of the fire(s) was unavoidable, still it aint coming off in a real hurry Ive flung enough weld on it lol

 

[ArosaRacer]

what you caused fires ??? Must be a Mk2 arosa problem

see the work was spot on again stu, now about that multipoint leon cage............................................................................................

 

[ArosaRacer]

was there much difference in the fitting between the two cars stu?

 

[F2 Stu]

Yeah the floors were slightly different and the arches tapered differentl

 

[ArosaRacer]

good job you did'nt take copies of the herbrosa then!

 

[Ant FR]

wow, that looks ths business, would liked to have seen a picture from the front qtr with the doors closed though, Did you get any strnage looks on the journey home,

Now seriously needs some graphics,

 

[Stu B]

Well impressed ........ Hmmmmmm

 

[driveforward]

wow, that looks ths business, would liked to have seen a picture from the front qtr with the doors closed though, Did you get any strnage looks on the journey home,

Now seriously needs some graphics,

I stopped counting strange looks about 1/2 hour into the journey home! Got even weirder looks on the drive into work this morning! (I had to give it a go without all the luggage/orig seat/tools etc in the back!)

Graphics.. Hmmm.. Wait and ye shall see

 

[driveforward]

Weatherproofing!

Today's main tasks were to get the cage painted and to apply fresh underseal to the car where the cage mounts have been welded to the floor and rear wheel arch - (as the underseal was burnt off). The cage needed spraying asap given some of the welds were already showing signs of rust build up.

Therefore, armed with 2 cans of Hammerite silver spray stuff, I removed the seats and harnesses (a ******* of a job), masked off various bits with newspaper and begun spraying. The end result, and nice silver cage

It now looks even better, but there are a few areas that will need re-touching and more paint applying.. I'll do this at a later stage when I've enlarged the rear wheel well (including respraying the roof to hide the glue marks, and the floor to hide the tar, wax and other crap). The main thing is, it's now protected and only another perfectionist like me will notice the bits that need more attention!

Next up I jacked up the car (..again) and ground off the long bolts that were used for the cage base plates and the rear ARB mounts. Then I cracked open a fresh tin of black, oily, brush killing underseal and slapped this over the effected areas. Job done

Then I had to put the seats back in (******* ******* of a job) and do up the harnesses.


Tomorrow, I'm fitting my in-dash cupholder unit - very racy and taking the rest of the day off!

I also have a new set of rear light clusters (thanks CL's tiernz) given I melted one of the original ones trying to rid them of condensation - which is still there in the one, so I've given up and bought a new set. Also, I now have my new high level third brakelight given the previous owners didn't notice the screws and tried to replace a bulb by prising it out, then if they wern't special enough, rather than simply unclipping the lens from the unit to get inside and change a bulb, they used a dremel to cut the thing in half and then loctite-ed the lot back together. Nice.

I also need the services of a photoshop expert, get in touch if you are such a genius )