[Mr drew]

Crappy lock down and winter meen I havent been doing much except for some CAD drawings for parts I need making and cant do myself. More on those when I have physical parts!
What I have been doing this last week is prepping the cam belt cover for carbonising, the standard design of clips and what not doesn't lend itself to replication so I'm using the standard back as the basis of a pattern and the front parts will be made from scratch. The standard set weighs a little over 700g, I should be able to half that...I think

gelcoated

First layer of glass on

Mould finished

Whilst I was waiting for the resin to cure I decided to lighten the damper reservoir brackets, no idea why..

before

after

6 grams total saving, for the pair. Now I think about it I probably have some aluminium screws laying around that could replace the steel ones and save another 6 grams.

 

[ozsubrosa]

A sort of vehicular anorexia you're getting, Mr Drew

 

[Mr drew]

A sort of vehicular anorexia you're getting, Mr Drew

As I was cutting the carbon I did think "you need help" then rationalised it with "that six grams you don't have to diet or exercise away"

 

[NathanD]

Love it as always! I seem to be adding weight quicker than you are losing it!

The cam cover will be awesome, is it designed to simply clip on how the old one came off? Are you allowing holes for vernier adjustment too, or will these be enclosed?

 

[Mr drew]

The rear will mount just as the stock one does, the front bottom cover will have a couple of extra screws to attach it, the top will use three screws just like the original.
They will be enclosed, putting holes in defeats the point of fitting a cover to keep debris out in my opinion.

 

[NathanD]

The rear will mount just as the stock one does, the front bottom cover will have a couple of extra screws to attach it, the top will use three screws just like the original.
They will be enclosed, putting holes in defeats the point of fitting a cover to keep debris out in my opinion.

I agree - all though you get scene points for seeing them spin - the last thing you want is a tiny stone flying in there... Especially given how you will be using yours!

 

[Mr drew]

I agree - all though you get scene points for seeing them spin - the last thing you want is a tiny stone flying in there... Especially given how you will be using yours!

Exactly.... an acquaintance of mine had a westfiled that he used for sprinting, after installing a very powerful, very expensive 2.0 xe decided he would drive it to its MOT, no belt covers at all to save weight. Ended up having to drive on a piece of road where they'd resurfaced with chippings.... One got on the belt, Not pretty!

Original, if slightly tatty and chopped about cover

roughly trimmed rear, not a bad saving when you consider..

That compared to the original it is 'full depth'...

So when the front parts are made they will be shallower and therefore proportinaly lighter than the originals.

Now all I need is my dummy engine to bolt it to so I can make the front covers.

 

[Mr drew]

Retrieved my engine block over the weekend and continued trimming the back cover.

Here I set up a laser cross level that was parallel with the bottom of the block then used the vertical line to trim the front true, you can see the cut edge on the right of the image is green where the laser catches it on the way past.

As I left it, I'm now waiting for a delivery of pulleys and a water pump so I can finish trimming where the idlers fit and then start on the front parts of the cover.

 

[NathanD]

Absolutely love it! So much easier to fit trim, refit etc etc when the block isnt in the car too!
Here was me thinking just the front of the cambelt cover, how silly of me!

 

[Mr drew]

I thought you'd have known me better by now Nathan...
So the cam belt kit arrived and the pump and pulleys were thrown on with the engine mount.

Trimmed to clear..

This looks wrong but its similar to the stock backplate, its so if the back plate moves the teeth of the belt dont touch

Then I roughly cut a piece of wood to make the front cover pattern and grabbed the router with a tracing bit, really I should have ordered a larger bearing but as I didnt have much to do I just taped it up to increase the diamter

so that the outline of the front cover piece..

Would be larger than the back..

and therefore overlap when the finished part is made.

 

[rad_brad]

Have always wondered what a timing cover would look like on one of these, now I will get to find out.

Amazing work as always, if only could get you to work on mine

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Mr drew]

I had a little play in the steering rack so ordered up a recon unit and replaced it, wont bother with any pictures , its just a rack and not even a corsa one so it wouldnt help anybody. Anyway, Once fitted I got out the scales and the strings..

and did a full geometry set/check, 0.5 deg camber on the rear, 1 deg on the front and 2mm toe out at both ends. Unfortunately our scales were right on the limit so I couldnt corner weight the car. Total weight was 932kg with 10kg fuel on board. 615.4 KG on the front axle, 313.6KG on the rear.

I've also done a little more work on the pattern for the lower timing belt cover.

 

[corsaz22se]

How come the toe out at the front? Usually on a front wheel drive you would have toe in? Is that because it's a track car?

 

[Mr drew]

The toe out just sharpens up the initial turn in. With toe in on the front, any amount of toe in, the steering has no feel around straight ahead and gets very darty under power.

 

[NathanD]

Love it! And yes, silly of me to assume you would do half a job (hangs head in shame)

Front cover is looking good!

I must say, thats more to out on the rear than i'd expect - but i can imagine it would make the rear very compliant?

My car is currently half set up, i need new tyres in order to complete the geo - currently i have 15 mins toe in on the back, with 2.5 degrees camber... So i'll be going steady at Brands next week! Or, if i commit, i'll remain committed!

I also have 4 mins toe out on the front, with 1.5 degs camber either side.

I bet you can run better castor angle too, with those turrets!

 

[Mr drew]

The 2mm toe equates to 16minutes, not much but you do have to make sure you don't close the throttle on roundabouts as the toe out and plate diff makes the rear try and overtake the front. The front suspension doesn't lose camber in roll as quick as the stock car which is why it's only one degree, it might need a smidgen more, we'll see. I forgot to measure caster
🤦‍♂️

 

[Mr drew]

Finished the mould for the lower timing belt cover.

Made a cover

Original.

Not a bad weight saving

Trimmed and test fitted

Need to get some fasteners and then I can move on to the top cover.

 

[NathanD]

Love it, a great fit too!

 

[Mr drew]

When I fitted the top front idler pulley and then tried to fit the cover I realised I'd made the cover a bit too slimline by literally two millimeters! So, I removed the standard bolt.

and fitted a low line hex

problem sorted.
I also ordered some standoffs to allow me to bolt the front cover on, but I'm going to have to make some replacements as they weigh 17grams each, not exactly light.
And to finish a couple of pictures with the cover and cam sensor bolted in so i can start on the top section.

 

[Mr drew]

Got some more done with the timing covers, didnt take pictures of the pattern and mould making, but its the same as everything else!
Top cover roughly trimmed.

When you make the patterns they have to have a draft on them ie, they are wider at the back than the front otherwise they wont come out of the mould, I've slightly overdone it on this part so rather than starting again i've put some 1mm thick foam on the inside edge to seal the gap, it doesnt look as bad in person as it does in the photo.

Just need to add fasteners

Original set weighed

New set, a 400g saving isnt bad