Valeries 1st autotest

[volvosneverdie]

gud luck then pal, sum pretty cool cars there like scimitars are class like luv t essex v6, ive jus had ma scooter when i was 16 but tuned it so it dun 70mph lol, then a mk5 fezza 1.25, then a 05 reg mg zr which sadly died on boxin day due to a 1 litre suzuki swift then ma zetec s and the 340, had a 1.6 nissan sunny coupe when i was 16 for the fields and a mk4 escort but they got made in2 coke cans after the sunny set a field on fire oooops lol

You like the essex v6 engine?! -its a boat anchor and an underpowered one at that! 138bhp from 3.0l iirc...

I'd have settled for that!
mine was about 56bhp.

[Chris_C]

Turnbull, welcome mate always good to see a new car on the site. Firstly, try to stop the text speak, we have a lot of guys on this forum for whom English isn't their first language, the spread of 300 knowledge is slim at the best of times and narrowing your chances of help is never good

For what you want... depends on what you want to spend. The fact you were looking at a scrote means you should have about £3k difference burning a hole in your back pocket, so can afford to do everything properly Dai does custom front springs at about £60, and adjustable rear dampers for somewhere around £130. Take the rear springs to a smith or proper spring shop to be re tempered, odds are yours have lost temper through work over the last 20 years. However, to give you a clue, mines running stock 20year old front dampers, 20 year old front springs, 20 year old rear springs, and a set of gas dampers on the rear that I put on there... about 3 years/45,000miles ago. Are the autotests you're looking at short twisty, or long sweeping, and on what surface? I find tyres make the most difference, and am currently on 195 Eagle F1's and Potenza RE720's. Most of your time will be lifting the inside rear wheel and loosing power there, through bad front suspension and lack of slipper, can be cured partly by implementing the poor mans slipper (jab the handbrake on whilst it's doing it)

You'll find you won't be shown up tbh, I've been told I look like a hamster in a wheel trying to get the 4.5 turns lock on, but that lock is impressive compared to most cars out there. The 8V ness will give you a lot of low down as well which'll help for tests but fail for solo's. Having said that, I've got a couple of trophies here from autotests and slaloms, best thing to do is hit a few, feel what you don't like, and work out what to do about it. If you listen to what everyone tells you to do, rather than finding out for yourself, you'll not get far .

[turnbullj]

where did u get that air filter from and do u have a part number for it as i cannot find one anywhere

just to let you know its defo a rc-9000 halfords will sort you out

[turnbullj]

Turnbull, welcome mate always good to see a new car on the site. Firstly, try to stop the text speak, we have a lot of guys on this forum for whom English isn't their first language, the spread of 300 knowledge is slim at the best of times and narrowing your chances of help is never good

For what you want... depends on what you want to spend. The fact you were looking at a scrote means you should have about £3k difference burning a hole in your back pocket, so can afford to do everything properly Dai does custom front springs at about £60, and adjustable rear dampers for somewhere around £130. Take the rear springs to a smith or proper spring shop to be re tempered, odds are yours have lost temper through work over the last 20 years. However, to give you a clue, mines running stock 20year old front dampers, 20 year old front springs, 20 year old rear springs, and a set of gas dampers on the rear that I put on there... about 3 years/45,000miles ago. Are the autotests you're looking at short twisty, or long sweeping, and on what surface? I find tyres make the most difference, and am currently on 195 Eagle F1's and Potenza RE720's. Most of your time will be lifting the inside rear wheel and loosing power there, through bad front suspension and lack of slipper, can be cured partly by implementing the poor mans slipper (jab the handbrake on whilst it's doing it)

You'll find you won't be shown up tbh, I've been told I look like a hamster in a wheel trying to get the 4.5 turns lock on, but that lock is impressive compared to most cars out there. The 8V ness will give you a lot of low down as well which'll help for tests but fail for solo's. Having said that, I've got a couple of trophies here from autotests and slaloms, best thing to do is hit a few, feel what you don't like, and work out what to do about it. If you listen to what everyone tells you to do, rather than finding out for yourself, you'll not get far .

sorry about the text talk i even get wrong for it on my e-mails at work lol
so is your car pretty much standard for the auto testing? what size of wheels have you got on am i best to keep a chuncky profile? the stuff im goin to be using it on is a bit of everything mainly tight + twisty tarmac tho (any pointers)

yeah the amount of lock you have to use is takein some getin used to after the mg havin havin hardly any turns lock to lock, still had the volvo on full lock round a very wet tradein estate + just used the lil amount of power to pull it back round thought i had lost it tho lol

also how do i get rid of the chrome strips round all the windows was going to just pull them out but then thought they might be there for a reason so should i just paint them?

[Chris_C]

You'll find the 300 is excellent at self centering, or when sideways self correcting the steering.

As you can see in my avatar, I used to run stock 175/70 13s, and even running at 10psi above stock was having huge issues with sidewall flex. I'm trying to find the big version of that picture but can't atm, this one shows it too though


I'm now on 195/50/15s, these are at lot less fun (my sense of fun is having a car playing, without feeling ridiculously over tyred) but I have a huge amount more grip, and with the decreased sidewall flex it doesn't break traction as early. However, unlike before, when it breaks traction it's not anything like as progressive as it was, it snaps and you really have to force it back which isn't great for tight tests. I'm interested to try 195/60r14's, I've tried 185/65's but only Pirrellis, which I don't get on with anyway.

Other than that, yes, my car is standard. There are some videos around of it doing tests and on the haynes track before I got it running well too. Grass tests, I either use knobblies if they are allowed (normally they arn't, see pic below for damage they cause to fields) or drop the pressure on my 15's to about 15psi.


The field went from this


to this in 2 hours


Seriously, just go out on some tests and play. You'll find what you don't like about the car, then we can try and help you fix them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skrd5uuHweo

That was on the old tyres (13's) and on a banger track with big armco's, so was taking it carefully. You can here from that though that your main problem is going to be lack of a slipper. Still got 3rd in class that day, beating an XE engined mk1 scrote, astra GTE (who then offered to buy Fake) and some equal stuff

[turnbullj]

cheers for all the tips bud, think i'll jus keep it pretty standard for the now unless i find some cheap alloys but just see what i all wanna change after a few tests, i'm going to have to try + kill some of the bodyroll as its not what im used to on the road all my other road cars except my 1st fiesta have never moved in the corners also need to get a new clutch in because its slipping when changeing gear and you can't keep the power there

[turnbullj]

Just thought I would add a few new pics after my rear windscreen smashed thanks to some crazy masking tape, but now got a nice new red one big thanks to filthy john his brother and VND for fitting it too, apart from that ive just been paintin little bits and pieces to try and get it looking a bit better, now on the look out for some bucket seats, steering wheel, alloys should also be getting it lowered soon and hopefully a new clutch

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[magnumpi]

Don't know how i missed this first time round.

You are clearly a man of great taste, what with having a grey 3dr and all, i think it's the second best colour on 300's after black.

[volvosneverdie]

Don't know how i missed this first time round.

You are clearly a man of great taste, what with having a grey 3dr and all, i think it's the second best colour on 300's after black.

Yeah dude, i dig the shade as well. Looks even smarter up close. Tidy like number. Probly gonna make a good autotesting ride to, if mr t can aviod the sniper thats stalking him.
This time, a rear windscreen.
Next time, could be a tyre.
We just dont know.

[turnbullj]

Don't know how i missed this first time round.

You are clearly a man of great taste, what with having a grey 3dr and all, i think it's the second best colour on 300's after black.

Yeah dude, i dig the shade as well. Looks even smarter up close. Tidy like number. Probly gonna make a good autotesting ride to, if mr t can aviod the sniper thats stalking him.
This time, a rear windscreen.
Next time, could be a tyre.
We just dont know.

yeah just been primeing the boot the now and ive learned to keep a eye open when applying masking tape so done a quick scout of the perimeter to make sure there was no one hideing behind grassy knolls or anything, all seems to be quite the now maybe he only strikes under the cover of darkness!

[turnbullj]

not updated this in a while mainly from workin and drinking too much and times have not been going too well with my little volvo, my front downpipe snapped off on the way too work the M.D. was less than impressed , my rotor arm fell too bits and i was stuck at the side of the a1 for 7 hours then towed home by a Rover 75 , then took her for a drive and ended up on top off a 2 foot high roundabout in the pissing rain

however things are looking up gave her a good service and shes running amazing, had my 1st autotest 2day and she ran very well only let down by my driveing skills
came 4th in rwd class , 1st was a £20k mk2 escort, 2nd a £7+K MG midget, then a mk2 escort 1600 then me beating another mk2 1600 the chap was less than impressed , if it hadn't been for all the penalties I picked up i would of been 3rd and about 5th overall, so has been a very good day with no damage but plenty of sideways action (non of which my girlfriend got pics off tho)

next to do is sort the suspension out and some wide wheels as geting off the line on the lose gravel was a major issue, anyhow a few pics off her in her current state

[volvosneverdie]

Good testing dude. Just master 'not braking it' and you'll be a superstar.
Still looking good too.
Despite the hammering it's getting.

[Chris_C]

Good to see someone else getting into autotesting... pics are required!

[turnbullj]

there would of been pics but ma lass kept just getin the sun instead, yeah i don't really want to dent it or owt even though i drove throu a hedge 3 times but only put a couple of t-cutable scratches on her, one lad with a 1600 suzuki that i kept wasteing was asking how much i wanted for it but i love it too much to get rid of her already

also jus got my -2inch springs and blocks the day, cheers dai, will hopefully get them fitted this week cant wait to kill some of the body roll

[Chris_C]

one lad with a 1600 suzuki that i kept wasteing was asking how much i wanted for it but i love it too much to get rid of her already

I've had this a couple of times, one bloke with an Astra GTE offered me 1500 which I was stupid to turn down. Some people seem to think that the car is the only thing that matters sometimes