Rolling Road Day

[Kitch]

As you know I am definitely up for it, but preferably not until the GT is OTR, which i'm aiming for early June (for the Simply French day).

Cor, £20 is a bargain! Cheers Kitch.

We could have a GT competition! if Tim and Kitch's dad (who is not arctic steel!) come in their GT's, then best running/most powerful GT owner gets a drink bought for him by the other two??

Not for me chaps, no intention of blowing my car thanks theres LOTS of youtube videos of exploding engines to make me cautious. I would be a little careful Tom, you cars been off the road for a long time.

Yeah, it's not a good idea if your car isn't up to the task chaps. Better to play safe than sorry.

[saintjamesy89]

I did have doubts but as the astra will be going anyway I thought i'd see how the GT was doing nearer the time. It's only done 60000 miles and will have all service items possible sorted, so should be ok!

And as you said Kitch, you have a bloody gert cooling fan there.

[Kitch]

I did have doubts but as the astra will be going anyway I thought i'd see how the GT was doing nearer the time. It's only done 60000 miles and will have all service items possible sorted, so should be ok!

And as you said Kitch, you have a bloody gert cooling fan there.

If it was going to go bang, it'd do it on the trip down. Change the cambelt, change the oil, flush the coolant and put at least 300 miles on it to build up confidence in it.

Like I said before, the conditions the rollers impose on a car is no worse than a car gets on the public road. If anything it's better as there are no bumps, there's no wind resistance and no sudden braking. There are people who don't understand mechanics who will says it's dangerous. Let them think that, that's all I do.

[Tim Leech]

Each to their own of course, but its a 27 year old car thats probably been "cosseted" all its life, I just think putting it on a rolling road and driving it as hard as possible may show some mechanical weaknesses.

[Kitch]

Each to their own of course, but its a 27 year old car thats probably been "cosseted" all its life, I just think putting it on a rolling road and driving it as hard as possible may show some mechanical weaknesses.

Firstly, any weaknesses shown on a rolling road are weaknesses that would be present on the road.

Secondly, if I had a car that had a mechanical weakness, I would want to know about it before it broke down in the middle of nowhere one cold rainy night.

Thirdly, most cars don't get 'cosseted' all their lives. Their over-protective owners may think that's what they're doing, because they don't know any better. It's highly likely that they're actually doing more harm than good in many cases. Engines need to be cycled through all the operating ranges, not just nannying around at 2k revs because you "like to look after it."


To put it another way, I know a chap who worked for BAE Systems. Because of the scale (and nature) of their business, they had a couple of Paxman V12 diesel lumps (not Valentas but probably something similar) bolted to the ground and connected to a big electricity generator. In the event of a power-cut, these engines would spool up and power the internal grid while the power was off, meaning production of missiles and other nice things didn't stop.
To keep these engines commissioned, they're fire them both up once a month and leave them running a few hours. They didn't strain them, just a little bit faster than tickover. They had to disengage them from the gennies as they'd be putting juice back into the grid if they didn't, which could have got them in shit.
One day, one of the engines throws a duck fit. Call a Paxman engineer out to have a look. Once on the scene, he finds out they haven't been hooked up to the gennies, which would load the engine up a fair bit, just like loading up against a piece of tarmac (or rolling road). His response was pretty blunt and went along the lines of "oh no no no no!" (I think he was northern). Anyway, he insisted the engines needed to be run under load, they needed to be run hard and they needed to be run a damn site more than they were. The fact they hadn't is why they'd thrown their toys.

Sounds a bit like a car wrapped up in cotton wool in a garage to me. Some cars work as they should because they're used as they should be. Some don't.

[docchevron]

never a truer word spoken!

[Kitch]

never a truer word spoken!

You're coming, right? Between you and Fenwick I reckon you could paint the back wall of the workshop sooty black

[docchevron]

If I'm around yes certainly, although the TD doesn't have the stupid tuned engine anymore, it's a stock unt now, and probably not anywhere near the full 90BHP!

I wonder if the bus would fit on the rollers??

[MULLEY]

It'd be interesting to see how many of my supposed 71 ponies are left in my txd

[Kitch]

If I'm around yes certainly, although the TD doesn't have the stupid tuned engine anymore, it's a stock unt now, and probably not anywhere near the full 90BHP!

I wonder if the bus would fit on the rollers??

Hmmm....I know they've got a HP limit, but had neve thought about a weight limit

[docchevron]

LOL, it was only 211BHP when new, and I suspect a few of those horses have long since gone to the glue factory, but it did weigh 8965KGs, and by the time it's finished, it'll almost certainly weigh more! I'm game if they are!

[Kitch]

I think the issue would be getting it in the door thinking about it

[Mike E (uk)]

If your car can survive the Alps Tim, a quick spell on a dyno will be a stroll in the park for it.

[Tim Leech]

If your car can survive the Alps Tim, a quick spell on a dyno will be a stroll in the park for it.

Lol I wouldnt be using the TZD on a rolling road, think it would be a waste of time on a 1.9D!

[Mike E (uk)]

I know what you mean.

But if you only have a few hp to start with, you have no spare so its important to have them all.

When I had a 1971 998cc Mini, every single hp was needed to get up the hills.

Just regapping the spark plugs would give a noticeable improvement.

Mike