Alberto's lupo 1.0 - My spicy daily

[amgeriz]

Time for some revisions...

After the caster change I drove it harder than ever, and I noticed some imbalance between left and right corners and during hard braking. Both was caused by the same thing, differences in height left to right. It was spot on while parked, but not right in running order. Maybe I should have gone to a shop to cornerweight it, but instead I got three 30 liter drums, filled with water and putted on the driver seat, to measure and raise driver side without going too crazy (measurements from the ground to the center of the arch)

Coilover height:
FL: 81mm  FR: 75mm
RL: 5mm  RR: 0mm

Without driver:
FL: 556mm  FR: 552mm
RL: 574mm  RR: 569mm

With driver:
FL: 547mm  FR: 551mm
RL: 560mm  RR: 563mm

Problem solved.

Another issue with the extra caster was that it had some rubbing between the control arms and the wheel weights on full lock. So I change them to adhesive ones on the barrel.

Here with some cousins.

Edited November 16 by amgeriz

[amgeriz]

There was not much time left before Nürburgring trip.

I managed to do all the important maintenance things on the garage, and I leaved to do outside the brake refresh and the last alignment to have it ready.

So I went to a flat floor to test for the first time the new camber gauge and measured before adjusting to the desired one, this time with and without driver weight. 

Camber bolts are going to be very tight, and only have the oem lift, so I measured subframe clearance to the floor and buyed a 10cm wood cube to rest the car on.

Lift the car, zero the gauge, loose the bolts, add the camber needed and tighten again.

Then I used my new string kit for the first time. Was a pain on the arse to set it, but easy to adjust the toe, even at this low.

Perfect, now was time to test the car!

And the result was, a total failure...
Left transmision (short one) didn't want more camber, CV joints were fully compressed and they were knocking badly in hard cornering to the right (then I remembered I felt something very subtle there before, without knowing what was)

I took out small amounts of camber in 0,1° increments until knocking dissapered, trying to retain some, but I ended at the starting point I was before touching anything...

I adjusted the other wheel to be equal and do the alignment, again.

This was the result:

Camber without driver:
FL: 1,8°, FR: 1,6°
RL: 1,1°, RR: 1,4°

Camber with driver:
FL: 1,7°, FR: 1,7°
RL: 1,1°, RR: 1,6°

Toe (equal on both):
FL: 0mm (87/87mm), FR: 0mm (87/87mm)
RL: 0mm (78/78mm), RR: 0mm (78/78mm)

At least I tried.

Edited November 16 by amgeriz

[mk2]

Hey, we're all learning from your experiments here. So thank you!

Yeah @cj1 also had so many problems with the left side drive shaft and CV joints. I think the solution was to machine a different groove (for the spring clip) on the splines. Then grind off some of the end off the shaft. That moved the inner CV joint away from the gearbox flange a bit- it was the inner one that knocked.

[amgeriz]

I solved it on a different way, using what I have on hand, plus gained some front axle width. But that is a propper one, I thinked about that. The reason for this problem is a mix of bad control arms angle do to lowering, that goes worse in compression reducing gearbox to hub distance (camber loss too), plus 'soft' suspension. 

And yes, I try to show all my fails possible, to save time to others haha.

So the conclusion is: with stock caster equals to 2 degrees max camber, and with 'wrong' caster equals to 1.8°/1°50' max camber, both without modifications.

Edited November 17 by amgeriz

[amgeriz]

Time back I removed the spare wheel and tool kit from the car, I couldn't say no to a 15kg of free weight reduction haha, and I throwed the wheel to the junkyard, because the tyre was really bad.

The thing was that the car was on his second pair of front Nankangs (first ones lasted 9000km), and only the trip is going to be 4000km of motorway plus 10 laps, and wanted to came back house safely. So I buyed two cheap wheels to use on the front, I left them half decent, as they were rusted, and put some rubber on them.

I bought two cheap wheel covers too, to storage them in the hotel room in a respectful way.

Did the last hard test to be sure all were like it should and swiched to the spare wheels to not touch it until the trip. I was really exhausted. I hope it's worth it.

Edited November 17 by amgeriz

[amgeriz]

The plan for this trip was to do it on two days from where I live in Galicia, driving during the night until hotels check-in time, take a nap in the middle of France, and continue to Adenau, where I booked for four days. But nothing went like I planned, because I was so excited I couldn't sleep until night...
So, I started at 20:30, and started to fall asleep at 7:30, with no hotels oppened until 15:00, I slept a bit on the back seat, and decided continue driving. Somewhere in Luxembourg I managed to book for that same night in the place I was going to pass the week, so I continued to the end.

24 hours later I was finally there.

Edited November 17 by amgeriz

[mk2]

Awesome pic! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[amgeriz]

I decided to be there from monday to thursday, thinking it was going to be less busy, but it was busy anyway, being only two and a half hours open a day. Next year I will try to be on weekend too. 

I went to Brunchen in the morning too see some trackday action. The inclination changes of the track were really impressive on live!

And after lunch and studying the racing line a bit, was time to do the first lap. I decided to film the laps to share on youtube, since the inspiration came from there watching slow cars driving fast on the track. But first day was only for me to enjoy the experience. So lets go there!

It was a big WOW!
Was like a rollercoster more than a circuit hahah. I didn't know in what corner I was, or which gear, or even what was my name! Too much adrenaline... I went to the parking to calm down a little, check tyre pressures, and went for another.

My reference time lap was from this 60hp seat mii video (11:15 btg), and I ended the day with a reasonable 11:50 on my second lap.

Tyres definetly went hotter than ever before, and catch some rubber from the track.

I was really surprised on how well the car performed, I didn't feel the suspension wasn't good enough. But something I didn't want to repeat was to overdrive like I did on some corner entries, trying to not block faster cars. I cooked the brakes and tyres needlessly.

Edited November 23 by amgeriz

[amgeriz]

The place were I booked was O&W Ferienhaus, and was a really nice place to stay, with private parking, pool, a shared kitchen and barbecue, at a very good price. I will return next year for sure. 

I found my actual room in their booking page.

I did this one when I was there.

First day I was alone there but second one I had neighbors with good taste.

On this second session I kept learning the track, tried different gears in some sectors, tried to be less stressed too, and at the same time to deal as best as I could to be the traffic to others. 

I managed to do a 11:30 this time. Definetly the videos don't do it justice, but now is great to have them to remember the experience.

What a place.

Edited November 20 by amgeriz

[amgeriz]

Third day was an intense one. I made a stupid mistake without knowing it, as you can see in min 03:50 on this video.

It was my fault, because seconds before I putted the indicator for the Megane and forgot to quit it, and the yellow BMW driver thougt that I was letting him to pass. I was watching how he was going to pass over me and I made that move to the outside without realizing why he did that. After watching the video I understood why. So it's better to simply be on the right when it's possible, and if you use the indicator, remember to quit as soon as you can.

I lost my patience in this lap too. In the previous lap, an impatient S2000 driver flassed me from far behind on the last corners before gantry, and overtook me on the main straight having letting him the outside of the last corner, okay... Both went on the left lane to do another lap, and he stopped on the side before barriers. Second lap, same place and again flashing... I let pass fast drivers as soon as I can, but not just for having some ponies under the bonnet, if you want to pass somebody, just overtake!

I felt less grip in these laps. I checked the pressures again and were fine, maybe tyres started to get tired... Even so, I went for the last of the day

And with a less busy track I made the best time on this trip with a 11:09, so happy with this one.

I celebrated it with a cold Bitburger and a schnitzel for dinner.

 

Edited November 20 by amgeriz

[mk2]

It's great seeing a club lupo member on the Nurburgring again! Thanks for updating us on the latest. Excellent. 👍🏻

I wonder how often you see any Lupo or Arosa doing laps these days.

[amgeriz]

Surprisingly I counted 6 lupos in Adenau, but none of them on the track. What I saw interesting on my last day was this.

 

[amgeriz]

I went to the boulevard for some souvenirs on last day and with a empty parking I couldn't resist taking a photo. 

Last three laps were okay. I felt faster, but tyres wasn't happy at all. I had a small off-track due to understeer on first lap and a gear selector bush pop out in the second one. I tried to beat my time on the third, but it was yellow flag in the carousel... I tried to not loose too much speed, but my squeaky tyres angered the marshall that was there (not proud of it) 

I had a bonus lap, but I prefered to stop there, celebrate the experience and come back home in one piece. Next year I will bring the car setup properly and maybe with grippier tyres.

Was time to put again my spare tyres, load the car, have dinner and take a nap to stay fresh at night. Return trip was on two stages, it was still long, but much better like that.

Some motivation added to my work toolbox.

Edited November 22 by amgeriz

[amgeriz]

I passed some time thinking how to solve the driveshaft issue with what I have on hand. I ended buying a pair of suspension balljoints, a 8mm tungsten carbide burr bit and modified them, making it slotted. This make more room for the shaft, gain camber from the bottom, and 8 milimeters of front axle width, without worsening steering geometry (scrub radius).

I took advantage to modify my alignment tools. I cutted the big ones to suit the limited room I have on the wheel arch, and instead of buying a long spanner for the camber bolts, I made it myself welding two of them to the lenght I wanted. 

I also made an 'extractor' for the balljoint. Its a 14mm tall bronze disc that fit between the driveshaft cup and the thread, so when you unscrew the nut forces it against the cup, moving the balljoint down. Some taps to the hub with a hammer and it's off with ease.

I adjusted the steering balljoints outwards the same 4mm of the lower one to have something near straight wheels. Then I did the camber adjustement and aligned the car.

Camber without driver:
FL: 2,2°, FR: 1,8°
RL: 1,1°, RR: 1,4°

Camber with driver:
FL: 2,0°, FR: 2,0°
RL: 1,1°, RR: 1,6°

Toe:
FL: 0mm (84,5/84,5), FR: 0mm (83,5/83,5)
RL 0mm (78/78mm), RR: 0mm (78/78mm)

With this, the car is finished. I'm very pleased with the end result. Now it's time to enjoy it, see if all the things I did are bulletproof, do some maintenance, try better tyres, and start to search for a 1.4 16v. 

Edited November 23 by amgeriz

[mk2]

I wouldn't put any force on the drive shaft "cup" when trying to push out the threaded part of the ball joint. You can damage the wheel bearings.

My method is to tap the side of the hub with a hammer, then pull the track control arm down, by tapping the body of the ball joint with a pin chisel and hammer. The ball joints can take about 2000kg of reverse force without damage. If you don't mind replacing the seal, you can also use a slotted ball joint wedge removing tool (when really stuck).

[amgeriz]

Mine where brand new, I didn't want to damage them and know they weren't stuck. With this I only needed to put some load, and then tap the hub until bronze got loose. To make easier for next time some copper grease can be applied to the cone.

Edited November 23 by amgeriz

[amgeriz]

Little update.

After two years my battery is dying... I measured voltage both stopped and running and were fine, 12.4V and 14.4V respectively, but it doesn't have power at all. So I received this today.

The recomended one for the lupo is 45Ah or above, but with 340 cranking amps is more than enough being the starter 0,9kW.

I = 900W / 12V = 75A.

It's not a huge weight saving, but the less the lead the less you pay. I payed less than 50€. For example an Odyssey PC680, weighing 7kg, cost more than 130€ plus specific mount.

Edited December 5 by amgeriz

[amgeriz]

Fresh rubber for the front again, they lasted 10000km this time. Rears are still half life after 22000km. 

I don't rotate them because although being in Spain, I live in the rainest region, and putting cooked tyres on the back would make the car unpredictable. 

P.S. New battery works fine!

Edited December 4 by amgeriz

[mk2]

What tyres are you using?

[amgeriz]

They are Nankang NS-2R in 185/60R13 size.

Edited December 5 by amgeriz