Cue Ball, the S40 Cheap Race Car.

Spac

So the Laser is great fun, but we wanted to take the next step and be among the fast cars.

With some huge thanks to Philia Bear, I obtained a NA S40 from Sydney. It isn't the 2.0 that the seller said it was, but the 1.8 with VVT on the intake goes about as well as I hoped the 2.0 would.

I've driven it to work all this week. First impressions:

Peak power feels like it is only slightly more than the Laser, but the peak is definitely much broader - more down low, peaks earlier and signs off much later. It pulls the 2nd to 3rd gear change much more strongly.
But it's still no T4!

It also corners much flatter than the Laser. I've got a set of Konis and H&R(?) lowered springs to go in, hopefully this weekend.

I'm not going to get stuck right into it until the rego runs out this time next month.

Philia_Bear

wheel bearings!

Spac

Oh, yeah.
There's at least two crook wheel bearings. The howl at 110kph is pretty serious.

Also, there's something weird with the stereo. It gets a horrible buzz through the front speakers. Here's where it gets weird: it only happens if you've given it a big rev OR have gone over 90kph; it happens even when the stereo is turned off.

familyman

Separate amplifier being turned on due to a short circuit only at certain speeds/vibration maybe?

Get to it early just in case. I had a short cct happen on a long steep downhill winding road on a mountain with cliffs either side and a semi tailgating me - nowhere to pull over - no way to slow down... Just had to watch the smoke, while trying to pull fuses from the driver's seat.

jamesinc

Something something alternator

Philia_Bear

Dodgy wiring as well

bowie

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah to all those things.

Look at those pimpin' wheels also.

Looks very tidy. I'm sure you'll have fun :)

bowie

Oh your grey crappy bumper bits have been painted! Was that a factory thing?

And I'm a little bit jealous at that black exterior trim stuff. Mine is grey and crappy. Yours is black and noice.

Spac

Sorry, only just saw your comments, Bowie.

It's all to do with the bodykit, AFAIK. I'm pretty sure the bumper inserts have been painted. The grey plastic is missing off the doors too.

Spac

So, fired up by the outing yesterday and unmotivated to fix the Lancer, I put some time into Cueball today.

Along with scoring $13 in change, I've removed 158kg from it so far - and that's not including the spare wheel. Admittedly, it will need weight put back in - stuff like a steering wheel and a seat will make a lot easier to drive...

Still to remove the aircon, ABS module, those crazy weights on the struts, some heat shields, lighter battery, blah blah. I'm think a net weight loss of 180kg isn't out of the question, but 160 is more likely.

Next step is to get the guard off (the skirt is attached to it with lots of Sikaflex) to bash out the dent.

I also need to work out what's involved in removing the dash, so I can get the heater stuff out.

Philia_Bear

The sound absormption stuff is seriously heavy
Removing it could save you another 20kg+

I also spy a ton of bracketry that can be cut out for further savings

sucksqueezebangblow

Holesaw weight reduction?

Spac

Holesaw attacks aren't within the rules, and you just don't lose that much weight anyhow.

Philia_Bear;89962 wroteThe sound absormption stuff is seriously heavy
Removing it could save you another 20kg+

I also spy a ton of bracketry that can be cut out for further savings

The floor tar in the Lancer was ~3.5kg per front floor, so 20kg would be about right. It's a turd of a job to remove it, and I'm just not that motivated. It will probably happen later, but I've got three weeks so it can stay for now.

Removing welded in brackets is a bit questionable, but some will disappear. Plenty of bolt-in brackets and wiring will also disappear yet.

The weights on the struts are freaking me out a bit. 1.8kg of unsprung weight each, which just sounds like a really bad idea. I can only assume is there to compensate for some condition that the standard shocks can't cope with. Neither of my sets of Bilsteins have the weights, all of the genuine Volvo shocks do (regardless of what spec the car is) and they've been fitted to these Konis.

The RVD on the NSW RMS website says a manual 1.8 S40 weighs 1208kg. Assuming that number is accurate (and I'm always highly sceptical...) I'm down to about 1035kg currently when I include the spare wheel in that calculation.

Roughly speaking, the weight still to come out will not-quite equal out the weight to go back in. I think 1050 is a realistic number to aim for - but a sub-1000kg figure is a mighty tempting target...

Spac

I'm overly obsessed with weight loss right now.
A decent race car - even a CCC race car - is about lots more than weight.

But this is the "weight loss" part of the build, so that's what I'm focusing on.
Brakes and suspension and safety gear and doing what we can to maximise the power output are all to come yet!

Philia_Bear

The weights are interesting as all of the post 2000 US spec S40's i've owned do not have them....

You decide on brakes yet?

PaddlerEd

How much scope is there for driver weight loss? 5-10% there might be some easy wins in the longer term

Spac

Hardware has to stay stock, so the only real choice is pads and ABS delete.

I'm going to try QFM pads because a mate can get them cheap. The TRWs we ran in the Laser have been good, but Paulie managed to cook them last time out - it was weird, actually. He was no faster or slower than normal, and no faster or slower than the rest of us, but only he cooked the brakes.

Anyhow, if the QFMs aren't up to the task, the fall-back position is to spend the money on Ferodo DS3000s.

Philia_Bear

Spac;90013 wroteHardware has to stay stock, so the only real choice is pads and ABS delete.

I'm going to try QFM pads because a mate can get them cheap. The TRWs we ran in the Laser have been good, but Paulie managed to cook them last time out - it was weird, actually. He was no faster or slower than normal, and no faster or slower than the rest of us, but only he cooked the brakes.

Anyhow, if the QFMs aren't up to the task, the fall-back position is to spend the money on Ferodo DS3000s.

I dont remember... are the NA brakes and Turbo brakes the same spec?

AshDVS

Spac;90013 wroteHardware has to stay stock, so the only real choice is pads and ABS delete.

I'm going to try QFM pads because a mate can get them cheap. The TRWs we ran in the Laser have been good, but Paulie managed to cook them last time out - it was weird, actually. He was no faster or slower than normal, and no faster or slower than the rest of us, but only he cooked the brakes.

Anyhow, if the QFMs aren't up to the task, the fall-back position is to spend the money on Ferodo DS3000s.

Yell if you need any QFM info.
The A1RM pad is about what you'd need as a minimum. We are a QFM dealer now, but happy to help with info, regardless of where you buy from.
There are a couple of other compounds that might suit and we can arrange to have a pad made in another compound (should you need it) that may not be available off-the-shelf.

Spac

Turbo & NA brakes are the same. The early cars (pre-98?) had 256mm brakes, all later ones had 281mm.

Cheers Ash.