peepin_eyes

Another question came up. With how much torque (Nm) should you mount the big nut that holds the outer cv joint? Forgot to ask the people when I picked the parts up today...

Problem solved... A wellplaced hit with a hammer made it loose, some kind of spring-thing in the end. Wish me luck tomorrow with buying and replacing the rest. ;-D It was the outer one on the left side by the way.

Hi, last week I was at a trackday with my gti 02 (see thread in readers rides section for other info on the car). The day started of fine but after lunch the brakes started to feel very bad(!), I tought I had got the brakefade of the universe, the pedal almost hit the floor when I pushed it. So I drove the lap round the track and got the car parked, started searching for what could be wrong. It turned out that the nut that locks the hub to the cv joint/driveshaft was loose, and not a little either! This is a common problem on older Golfs like the mk1 & mk2 during trackdays, I've heard many Golfowners with this problem... Anyway, on the Golfs the just tighten the lockingnut up then it works again. So that's what we did on my Lupo as well, and after that I went out on the track again and took some laps, it worked great until lap 7 or something when the brakes felt terrible again... Went in again and the bolt was all gone, and the part of the cv joint with the splines too, like 1cm or something missing!!! So here I am, away from home and with a car that have a wheel that's very loose! We got the car home the 120km's and I've removed the driveshaft. I've also ordered a hub, wheelbearing-kit and a cv joint! The only thing is that I need to know how to get the cv joint removed from the driveshaft! I can't find any locking rings or something, so what's the plan? Will I have to use a hammer and knock it off the driveshaft??? The plan is to get the cv joint traded in at my vw dealer for a new one, they have some kind of tradesystem on these parts here, but for that I need a loose cv joint. The plan for me is to go get the parts tomorrow so quick replies would be very nice. //Peter.

Thank you very much!

The 29th of September we went to another Swedish track, this time it was a for me new track. It was the Swedish Volvo Turbo Perfomance Club that invited other cars to their meeting. The weather was very bad all day and it was really windy and it rained the whole day! But the track was very fun and must be great with better weather. Some pics of me with the car then... I'm being chased down by an old Volvo 242 and later on by a 744. Photo: Jösse Out on the looong straight. Photo: Jösse Photo: Jösse I drove over 260km's on the track this day, a good day with a lot of driving!

Next up was Kinnekulle ring the 23rd of September, still one of the favourite tracks of mine. Organizers was the Swedish Opel Sport Club and the GTi Club. Before this trackday we changed the brakefluid on both my Lupo and a friends Skoda Fabia RS, Motul RBF600 was the choice since it's 'cheap' and has a high wet boilingpoint, and that is important when you use a car on trackdays to avoid brake fade... We noticed that the rear right brake caliper was a little loose, I guess the things that holds it in place is worn out, the bolts was tight and it won't fall apart from the car. A few pics then. Photo: Briander Photo: Figgz Me chasing an Opel Kadett (thats what they're called in Sweden), a very popular trackday car among the Opel guys... Photo: Figgz Under the bridge, a scary turn in 170km/h Photo: Jani Photo: Jani The car feels pretty light around this corner, this is the place on the track that the beginners in their rwd cars spin off up on the grass... Photo: Jani

The next trackday was the 13th of September at Falkenberg racetrack in the westcoast of Sweden. It was very sunny and with the sun standing so low some corners became a bit dangerous so the trackday was shortened down one hour. The car felt great, but a little rattle from the rear brakes when I go hard onthe breakes from high speed have occured, and it's not such a big deal, just that it's the first time I've noticed it. Some pics then. Me chasing a Toyota MR2, later on he got some issues with the oil return from the turbo and lost all the oil. Photo: 'TPR' This is from when I pass a real tidy example of a Dastun 240Z, the three Weber carbs hooked on to the straight six engine made a really good sound. Photo: 'TPR' Later on that week we was back for revenge at the track in the park in Gothenburg, this should be the day that the 1.39.xx-time should be there! After four passes the best time was a whopping 1.40.25-time, fast but not a 1.39-time! There will be a loooong wait until next year for me to try to reach that goal, I have no idea on what to do either. On pic from the day. Photo: '1275gt's' dad

Next up, a trip abroad to meet our Nordic VW-Audi neighbours! My friend Mika and I planned to go to Norway to their autumn trackday at Rudskogen in the south of Norway, this is not along trip since we live pretty close to the border. We have something like 220km's to the track so that's not so far. Anyway, I've talked of doing this trip for years but my there has always been some other things to do that weekend, but this time I talked to Mika and he was very interested in doing the trip since he wanted to try his Corrado 1,8T (former G60) after the conversion... So we left home in the early hours, it was a very cold morning for being September, cold and very foggy. We took the small backroads to the the big E6 that leads us to the border, watch out for elks running out from the forest. It got colder the closer we got to Norway... But a cold and foggy morning usually turns out to great weather later on. Time to fill up the Corrado, Mika drives it on E85-fuel, a very popular fuel here in Sweden and great for performance engines aswell. You need a higher fuel pressure and the engine will often need more fuel, but the fuel is much cheaper per liter. Most guys who mount an standalone (like Mika here) tune it to run on E85, the bad thing is that the Norwegians don't have the E85 fuel everywhere as we do (no problem in finding places that sell anyway), this could have something to do with Norways production of oil? Anyway, a full tank of fuel and 60L in the luggage space will do the trick... We got to the track early, both Mika and I have been here several times before on the (I guess you have read about them i magazines as many uk magazines have been there), great fun but the little Lupo is no good for these kind of events, thats why we choose to ride with VW-Audi club Norwegen, great guys with great cars more similar to ours. The trackday started with an meeting with the organizers telling us what to do and what not to do, an instructor helped the drivers that was unsure how to get along with the track, always good to have someone looking on your driving. After that we looked at some of the cars that now filled the race-depot, the place was filled with both trackcars and showcars, this mk1 Golf looked great, Öhlins suspension, 1,8L 8v with Weber carbs made some great noise. Porn! Clean but usable, perfect. Rat-Jetta mk2. A mk2 Golf Diesel. Well, time for some trackpics then! To get you an idea how the track look like from a drivers view (or passenger), is a in car movie from VS motor, the car is their E34 M5 they have treated with some bpu... The first corner of the track, a very long tire-shredder of a corner. Photo: Böllerides The same corner from another view. Photo: NiMe Here we are no the small straight right outside of of the depot. The little Lupo kept up great with many of the cars on this trackday even tough they had several hundred of hp more. The GTi was never sold new in Norway either btw, and there were not many Lupos sold new there either. Photo: NiMe The brakes had to work hard to slow the car down for this corner... Photo: Tyskerstuk So then, back to the other cars I took photos of. I had a great time chasing this Swede in his mk4 R32, these cars turned out to match each other great! The Haldex 4wd worked perfect out of the slippery corners. Next year I don't think it will be that easy to keep up with him since he is going to mount a EIP stage 3 (450hp?) turbo kit... Project 'rustfrei'. This guy and some friends of his builds some great looking (and shiny) mk1 cars too. Yes it is LOW! But he uses it and drives it everywhere, and the Norwegian roads is not the best in the world, very bumpy sometimes... Ready for takeoff! What happens if you put a 5-600hp engine in a family estate. Awesome sound! A pile of clean RS2 avants... A good looking mk2. The avant cars has always been popular in Norway. S1 copy, but with an engine to match or even more... Some service between the runs here. TS Racings A3. Then it was time to go home again... Mika had everything that he needed with him in the Corrado. All the pics I took from this event is HERE.

Long time since this thread was updated... The 25th of august I wnet to 'Parkbanan' in Gothenburg to drive a sprint race again , this was sprint number four in the little cup they run during the summer months. This was the first time i tried the new Toyo R888 on this track, and they sure was great! I also removed the rear seats as usual but aldo the passenger seat this time. The first time of the day was 4 seconds faster then the time I got then driving the course in May! I did a 1.40.64-lap, that made the little Lupo the 7th fastest car that day, an I was amazed to see the little car be faster then a lot of quick cars. The cars that were quicker was two Caterham sevens, two Mazda mx5 and a very fast Z3 M-coupé and a 2,7L (300+hp) BMW motorsport M3 E30. And some pics of the hooligan shoppingcart. It rained a little the first hour of the race, that made my times a little better aswell... Photo: 'PDE' Photo: 'PDE' Parked next to certain cars the Lupo GTi looks like a huge car... This is Stellans Renault Alpine A110, a great little car, Stellan drives a Lupo too, a 3L.

The Compomotives with the Toyo R888-tires looks great, great looking car aswell! Make sure you have the wheel angles right so the tires last a little longer, I think the 2,5 degrees negative camber with 0degrees toe works great, and the tires last quite long. The downside is that the car is a little 'nervous' during roaduse on roads with bad surface... I've used a set of R888 (and a set of Yokohama A048's) this summer and the R888 works really great on the gti's. Here in Sweden the 195/50-15" R888 cost £57/each, well worth the money when the costs is similar to the streettires that gives poor grip for trackuse!

The last pics, these are from this aftenoon. Ok show and shine guys, look away. This is the bottom of the housing, I later painted the alu-plate flat black so it will last a little longer. A temporary sollution until I find a better place to mount the ballast-box. The thin cables are 12v & - in to the box. The thick cable is what comes out to the D2S xenon bulb 23000v if I understand everything right... And the car is out again, nice to hear it roar again.

And yes, it worked! The ballast is the box close to the light, I will get better pics of it tomorrow when I'll try to mount it, if the silicone is dry by then that is... I guess that thing is a real pain in the *ss to mount also since I have to place it outside the lamphousing...

Thanks for all your help guys. I took a look on the 'guide' from dxg while doing the job, and if I remember right you don't need to loosen all the bolts in that guide (but almost), you don't need to remove the bumper completely... I removed the ones you see when you open the hood holding the lights, and the three per side in the wheelwells, three under the grille, one under each plastic cover down below the numberplate on the sides... The worst ones must be the bolts at each side that holds the bumper and fenders together, they really sucks! Before and after pics maybe? No use to remove more then necessary... I almost threw up when I opened the cover to see how much junk there was in there in the housing. Here is the part that was broken in my car, 12volts in, 24000volts out or something... In Sweden they call it Ballast, might be the same word in english? Made in France, makes sense, thats why they don't last more then a few years then... EDIT: So I had to buy a new ballast, the one from the VW-dealers were expensive (but would have been much easier), so I bought a universal ballast that people uses when they want to convert their non-xenon cars to xenon. The thing is then that there will be a little fabrication and modifications to the electrical system and on the housing. And that is what I'm going out to do now, hopefully it work when I get back...

The rideheight don't have much to do with the tyre wear, but of course if you slam the car when you use to have a correct setting the car will have something that is called toe in. Think of your feet when you stand up, put your toes in towards each other and your heels from each other. When I have my car aligned I always say that I want 2,5 degrees negative camber and zero degrees toe, when the wheels roll straight the tyre wear don't get that big. The reason for the big camber in my case is that the tires I use on the track needs more camber so they'll have more contact with the track when cornering... If you don't have a lot of camber on the trackdays the front tires don't have any outsides left sort of as some of you might have noticed. On a car that you only use on the street with street tires I would use a little less camber, perhaps 1-1,5 degrees neg camber, but still with a zero toe in/out... Here is a link: http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/align.html

I've tried the H&R bolts before on a Clio Sport where you can't adjust camber without them (grinding up the holes is another way on that car)... You just mount the bolts (on on each side) in the top hole of the two that holds the shockabsorber. My guess is that the 'spacer' is there becuase the kit could be used on other cars too?!? I still don't understand why you need the camber adjusters since you allready can adjust camber on a stock car, I drive my GTi with 2,5 degrees negative camber (0,0 degrees toe) and there was a few degrees left to adjust but I didn't need more than that with my tires I thought...