Overall it was great fun apart from a few pillocks. I had to take an escape off the track to stop tailgaters hitting the back of my car at the end of the high speed complex.

Some people fail to fathom how if you catch someone it's because they are slower than you. So they will need more time and space to brake safely round the ninety degree bend at the end. They should be thankful I wasn't willing to put their £15,000+ cars at risk of damage hitting my £230 one. If I caught a car either on a warm up, cool down lap or generally slower I would give them plenty of time and space. Common sense and common courtesy isn't very common some days.

I'm incredibly pleased with the fasted lap time. Considering the level of bodge that went into my suspension and when the car was all but standard in March my best was one minute forty one.

The exhaust is back to stealth spec' with the middle boxes welded back in. It's dark when I leave in the morning for day shift and dark when I get home from nights so a little consideration for my neighbors is the least I can do.

Due to the bolts having to be cut I won't be able to put the back seat back in my Bravo. So I have been doing carpentry.



Floor leveling frame...



...held in place with coach bolts.



A bit of marine ply and some new carpet and I'll officially have a van.

Out of idle curiosity, where are the seatbelt pretensioners?

The rears don't have pre-tensioners. The belts, back seat and trim are all in the skip. The front seats will soon follow as I have the grey leather ones from Adrian's Bravo to go in.

It was the front tensioners i meant, lol!

Usually those are the bits that bolt on to the seats.

Interesting news for the Bravo. The 16V Coupe turbo powered Punto is being troublesome. Basically nothing fits. There's more space in the Bravo engine bay so when the Punto arrives I may be getting the tape measure out.

Another brilliant track day at Blyton Park today.

The conditions weren't playing ball but when it was wet my tyre treads worked, on the dry line later I was almost Summer quick but for the most part I was sliding around and drifting due to the surface being damp, oily and greasy.

I'll have photo's and a blooper reel of spins and drifting from yesterday later.

In the mean time...



...the Coupe' 20V turbo wheels are back...



...because they have more of a Winter tread.

[ame="https://youtu.be/idWTqDoPIik"]https://youtu.be/idWTqDoPIik[/ame]

:devil:

Decision time. Do I put the Bravo though it all again next year or get/build something quicker?

That was entertaining viewing... what was the problem with the track? It seemed like lowish speeds to be losing it, and you were on the tarmac rather than the paint.... Was it the tyres? Or is it the car itself that gets twitchy and unstable? I've had that problem a couple of times with my Brava though unfortunately not on a wide track with lots of runoff... one on the M6 and once on a country road!

I think the car is plenty quick enough for Blyton, especially if it's damp!

You could look for a Barchetta or Punto HGT 130HP engine! Nice easy swap....

bluejohn125 said:

You could look for a Barchetta or Punto HGT 130HP engine! Nice easy swap....

Click to expand...

It's the same engine.

The Bravo looses 15hp due to the power steering pump.

Oil and stuff on the track, tired tyres and super firm rear with stock soft front suspension.

As my car is now kind of a van I needed a rear interior light that illuminates the whole load space.

Luckily I had a DRL from a car I bought ages ago and refuse point blank to have them fitted unless mandatory.



I have also sold the OZ's and fitted the old Coupe 16's on with Winter (all year) tyres.

After running my poor Fiat Bravo this track day season I fancied something quicker for next year or at least a way of making my Bravo quicker. So I did a deal with a drift MX5 for a Fiat Punto GT with a 2.0 16V Turbo engine from a Fiat Coupe'.

Even if the Punto turned out to be a pile of rust (as it did) I could transplant the engine into my Bravo hoiking the old girl from 115hp (factory figure) to 200+ bhp.

Got the Punto home, started and ran for 15 seconds, thud, thud, stop. Hmmmm... Tried to turn it over but the engine was solid.

I thought (hoped) it was the crank as oil starvation is common with these engines if they have been stood about (also I have a mate restoring a 155 P4 who I could sell the head to). Today I did the autopsy.









Crud! :bang:

Number one valve snapped into the cylinder and vandalised the chamber in the head. Parts of the cylinder head were blown back into the inlet manifold and number two and three.

So the head is not salvageable after all.

The valve head did not go all the way through the piston so the block and crank should be okay. The bores are all good. I'll probably keep the fourteen and a half valve head as a display piece but everything else I have harvested will be going on a well known auction site later.

Remember that these engines are 20 years old by now, and they had pretty much reached the reliability limits of their designs when they were new. The 5-cyl 20V came in as a replacement for good reason.

Even 10 years ago when the Forum was full of Coupe enthusiasts the 16Vs were getting old and developing issues when pushed.

As regards the 1.8.... I'm still sure that the Punto HGT and Barchetta had a VIS head that gave the extra HP compared to the standard Bravo / Stilo version.

If you want a transplant then why not the 1.8 TS from an Alfa 156? Same basic engine I believe..

If I were to fit an Alfa engine it would be a V6. :devil:

The Coupe engine was a recent rebuild but instead of new valves the old ones were cleaned. Okay on 90% of engines but not really performance ones.

Number one valve got stuck and snapped by the piston.

Never mind.

I don't know what to do with the Bravo now. MOT is due in a couple of weeks and I am not confident she'll pass.

Time to look into alternatives.

Why don't you think it will pass?

She'll pass I bet!

Then it'll be deja vu all over again....

puntofan01 said:

Why don't you think it will pass?

Click to expand...

Rust.

Oh and rust.

It's not looking good under there.

I have hatched a new plan for next track day season.

Built vs Bought

Buy something with the money from the Seicento and turbo bits to set a bench mark in March, then build and develop something over the course of the season with the same budget.

How bad is the bravo underneath?