Punto (Mk2/2b) Budget Track Car Build Thread MK2 - Project SaladBoy

[davidandrews88]

Work had to begin quick to get ready:
Brake Lines - Blew out and had to be rebuilt the night before thruxton
Gearbox mount - Picked up from Fareham by a relative - not fitted :S
Tyres - Rear looked new and fronts not so good, so rotated them. We thought there was spare in a garage but were let down

 

[davidandrews88]

Thruxton

Early start that involved loading up the support car - Subaru WRX. As the car was still an unknown i had to bring as many tools as possible for mechanical and electrical repairs

First Job was to fit the gearbox mount, it put up a fight and wasn't moving even with a long breaker bar. This could of ended our day straight away. After soaking it in pen fluid for a while it eventually came off with an impact gun.

The car went straight through sound check and was given the ok to enter the track

 

[davidandrews88]

The support car drew alot of people over to chat, then they got a shock when we told them it wasnt entering the track (very lucky i didnt run it as the fueling was very far off). They loved the story and cost of the £350 car with 2 days prep

 

[davidandrews88]

Track Time

We went out for a few laps to see how the car handled and swapped over. It became clear that we had a slight misfire but we carried on. The car took the punishment and seemed to be ok coolant / oil wise. We began to notice a slight knock from the body that seemed to go away so were not too concerned

During the day the knock got worse, came in to find the air intake pipe flapping around so ripped that off

A few laps later it was obvious that power was going down and the car was getting louder.

Around 2pm we were black flagged as the exhaust flexi pipe was blowing out. The marshals were happy to let us go out again

Around 3pm the exhaust totally let go and the power was very down, black flag came out again. The quote from the track manager was "get that piece of crap off now". The marshals loved the car and were sad to bring us off. During the day we had been talking to them and they loved that we had spent so little and gone flat out. We had the slowest car but were not the slowest drivers of the day.

Lessons learnt
Need to fix missfire
Strip out all weight
Dont run with a full tank
Fresh tyres / spare set needed

 

[davidandrews88]

On the return to Basingstoke the max speed dropped to around 40/50 mph due to the misfire, the noise from the exhaust only got louder.

 

[davidandrews88]

A couple of weeks later

Coil pack was replaced and this solved the misfire, the car was vert responsive, even more so than it had been at the start of Thruxton, so we had been down on power from the start. We also found that we managed to crack two springs, both passenger side and a lowering kit was put on order

 

[davidandrews88]

A few more weeks later

Lowering springs arrived and car was checked, we were unable to fit as only had one jack with us, mine had collapsed

 

[davidandrews88]

Due to corona / brexit the orginal plan of having a ring car was looking less likely, its better to get some use and fun out of it / test it on uk tracks.

A plan was hatched, another mutual friend has a track day booked at castle coombe in october, this track is slower and more technical so should work to our advantage

One of us will take him down in Scooby/Evo and the other will hang back and bring the punto, then we reveal he is going out in the punto for the day

 

[davidandrews88]

After calling around and even making contact with Combe the name of the organiser was found and we were booked in for the 26th, work needed to begin to get ready this time.

The car was checked over and a list was made

Some Tyres needed
Fix Flexi

Suspension (not sure how we didnt die)
Strip out weight
Bucket Seats ?

 

[davidandrews88]

Some tyres were found for £10 each, new old stock

 

[davidandrews88]

Exhaust was fixed by welding in a flexi pipe and some other random bits of metal laying around

 

[davidandrews88]

A set of bucket seats were sourced ( 4 hour drive to collect from London) for £50, there wont be time to fabricate mounts and sort out harness and harness bar in the time left so this will be for the next outing

 

[davidandrews88]

Suspension has been finished off this week and now its all safe, the front shocks were replaced along with the bolts. Its now sitting at a much nicer height (ignore the **** box golf behind, the failed previous track car)

 

[davidandrews88]

Work has begun on the switch / radio panel. There will be a push start fitted along with various switches for fans / fogs / future things. Space is also being left for a 52mm gauge, there will be a AFR going in, not because its needed but because it has no real use

 

[davidandrews88]

A blank fascia adapter was sourced and the radio panel assembled

 

[davidandrews88]

Next on the list was to fix the air intake, it had begun to melt against the headers so i 3d printed an elbow and stuck a pod filter on, cable ties were used to pull it away from heat

 

[davidandrews88]

Weight loss something we had aimed on doing as power increase was not an option cost wise, so i began to tear it apart

 

[davidandrews88]

This gave me a massive issue, rust, rust everywhere..............

 

[davidandrews88]