Hampton racing today

[bulldog]

Awesome day yesterday at Hamptons. About 70 cars there, lots of oldschool and new school.

We had all four Lynchbuilt chevettes there. Will have some better shots coming.

Some pics












Some vids

www.youtube.com/user/bulldogbrock

[zep]

Awesome and oh wow! You already got the Silver one done!!! That was fast. I want a four-link, now!!! Gotta come up and get those springs this week I think.

[dannyboy]

dude that was such a great day, i think it has been a while since there were four chevette on a track. That vid of the two of us is cool and i am loving the pic of me and the Porsche , oh for one more lap!!! I bet they didnt expect a rear mirror full of a little ole chuvette.lol

[bulldog]

The best part about the track is that you can harass faster cars in the twisty technical bits if you're game enough. I love the track. It was a freakin awesome day, one of the staff said he hadn't seen 4 chevettes together since the late 70s. Let alone ones going as fast as ours

Dan what do you think I should do about more power? I don't know that working the snot out of the XE is the go, I have visions of regular rebuilds if I do the work for 250bhp. Very tempting to head down the s2000 road also. WIll just drive it for a season first or Tony will kill me.

[dannyboy]

It would be hard for me to advise agaist going down the honda track, it is not cheap but neither is building a 2.0 to be 250 hp! It has taken me a season to get my car starting to handel and yesterday was the first day I havent struggled with seviour understeer but you have seen yourself how well it is starting to go. As with yours the set up of mine is only getting better with more time on the track, you can see in the pics of us all coming around the same corner ( slighty different angle/postion ) but I am way flatter. You get that sorted and you will be a lot faster.
the other thing is if you did get 250hp out of the xe how well will it really go? if you compare Tony's and mine, I am 15hp less and way down on torque but with the extra revs and and extra gear in the box I can run lower diff ratios and drive right on by.

It will really come down to what you want to run in, you need your engine to run in your class.

[bulldog]

If they accept me into AES I could be winning the class which would be a laugh as you know they're all handicap races. I think a few bods will be upset that it isn't the proper engine and will put me in Arrows because of it. Watch this space. Lots to do before thinking about more power. Hard springs, trailer etc etc etc $$$

[gordo]

Apr 6, 2010 13:20:22 GMT 12 bulldog said:

The best part about the track is that you can harass faster cars in the twisty technical bits if you're game enough. I love the track. It was a freakin awesome day, one of the staff said he hadn't seen 4 chevettes together since the late 70s. Let alone ones going as fast as ours

Dan what do you think I should do about more power? I don't know that working the snot out of the XE is the go, I have visions of regular rebuilds if I do the work for 250bhp. Very tempting to head down the s2000 road also. WIll just drive it for a season first or Tony will kill me.

Damn, the silver one looks grouse! reminds me of the rally spec' cars, back in the day - what's it running?
They've got 250+ hp race XEs doing three or more seasons between stripdowns - use a good oil and air filters and you'll be fine!
BTW, did I tell you I picked up another XE - that's a total of three now - shame I'm in no position to do anything with them for a while!

Come to think on it, how easy to swap the fuel pump for a EFI one - could be interesting to fit my TB setup on your engine as an experiment - should be worth 15-20hp - maybe a little more if still running the 40's - and a bit more mid range?

[dannyboy]

Apr 6, 2010 15:22:40 GMT 12 bulldog said:

If they accept me into AES I could be winning the class which would be a laugh as you know they're all handicap races. I think a few bods will be upset that it isn't the proper engine and will put me in Arrows because of it. Watch this space. Lots to do before thinking about more power. Hard springs, trailer etc etc etc $$$

exactly, a track like that and hp is not everything! A trailer will make it much easier to get there and harder springs and some fine tuning with the set up will make it much more enjoyable to drive. If you can get into AES then it would make for a great season next year.

[bulldog]

*yoda voice* "wise are you.....yes".

Gordo I was quite happy you bought that as I was going to buy it also. What is does mean though is that I'll be knocking on your door when mine pops.

[mikuni]

Apr 6, 2010 13:20:22 GMT 12 bulldog said:

Dan what do you think I should do about more power? I don't know that working the snot out of the XE is the go, I have visions of regular rebuilds if I do the work for 250bhp. Very tempting to head down the s2000 road also. WIll just drive it for a season first or Tony will kill me.

Are you a member of MIG and some of the other Vauxhall/Opel tuning sites? Good, reliable horsepower isn't too difficult to get out of an XE, as you are probably aware, but you are certainly right in saying that it will be quite a large initial cost to get it out of there, especially 250bhp. Not to mention once you go breaking stuff it will mean replacement parts, including the more hard to get items, like blocks and heads.

I'm still looking seriously at the XE for a race engine, just because it is so good but I can see the logic behind going down the Honda or Toyota path, with massive horsepower available from a 2Litre engine literally straight out of the box.

A wise man on oldschool.co.nz who has been involved with motorsport for many years has said he regrets the money he has poured into building race engines when he now see's what you can get out of the F20C in factory form.

I think you'd probably be better to continue with yours for now, tickle it up with cams and possibly injection to get ~220bhp out of it and then after a few more years of fun competition and saving you could look towards something better.

This will give you a chance to hone not only your skills on track, but also the setup of the car. It sounds as though theres a few areas that you can still gain a second or two with regards to suspension setup. Plus this will mean you have the car on the track and having fun, rather than starting the project all over again to repower it already.

[gordo]

Apr 6, 2010 16:10:26 GMT 12 bulldog said:

*yoda voice* "wise are you.....yes".

Gordo I was quite happy you bought that as I was going to buy it also. What is does mean though is that I'll be knocking on your door when mine pops.

I assume you've ARP'ed the rods? If you have, you should be looking at another 50k+ kms out of it - as long as you try and keep it under 7k5 rpm!
If you'd let me know you were interested, I'd have backed off on the engine - on the SB, I'm running at a net loss, even without these impulse buys!
However, the bloke was a damned good chap - engine, gearbox, wheels and some other bits and pieces - $700 delivered - what could I do?

[bulldog]

DOn't worry Mikuni, I'm over being impetuous and going off on tangents. I must stick to one project and get it done right. The main question was if it's worth working the XE and I think it is but it will have to wait another year until I can afford it. Still need to buy trailer, harder rear springs amongst other bits and bobs. PLUS, I can now go racing in an already quick car.

Gordo, yep ARP bolts are in and in current trim isn't worth revving past 7k anyway as power drops away.

I can definately see me buying one of the engines off you later Gordo as I'm after a spare.

[gordo]

Third one IS my spare!

Give me a PM if you want to try the throttle bodies - I won't be doing anything for some time.
They're set up for stock cam's so should be a fair improvement.

[bulldog]

[bulldog]

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