The Croctavia, Outofthi5world's Octy track car

[Outofthi5world]

Update on the situation today...

whoops:

 

 

You can see here how the pad has bent, the seal round the piston is gone and the paint has melted on the caliper:

 

 

Break fluid sprayed in the wheel arch liner, also all over the wheel:

 

 

So yeah, the red-stuff lasted for a half hour country road bed-in drive and 67 miles on track before they put an early end to the day just before dinner. Had they not have taken the caliper with them I could have put the original pads back on but instead this had to happen. So I drove it home steadily using the handbrake to slow down, swapped wheels back over between that and the Monte and took the Monte back to Croft so if Phill and the guys wanted to go out after then I had something to take.

I lost it a couple of times, put a couple of wheels in the gravel and went off onto an escape road but after everything tat happened I haven't hit anything and the car is back home. I have a spare caliper that can be used so all I'll need now is fluid, pads and a bleed kit.

[Rustynuts]

That half hour country road bed in would be you driving down the hill towards Brokes at about 6.15 this morning I guess?

[Outofthi5world]

That half hour country road bed in would be you driving down the hill towards Brokes at about 6.15 this morning I guess?

 Quick trip to Leyburn and back then off to Croft.

[petrolbloke]

It's brake fluid, not break fluid :P

 

Are the pads down to the backing plates?! If so you must be either braking way too much or the pads were made of cheese.

 

Strange for the pad to bend. Did you clean everything up when you fitted them? If they were a snug fit then maybe the metal of the backing plate expanded with the heat and wedged the pad in the carrier. Painting that area without masking it off might not have helped either.

 

Not sure I would have risked driving it with such a serious brake issue on the road. Don't you have breakdown cover?

[Outofthi5world]

It's brake fluid, not break fluid :p

 

Are the pads down to the backing plates?! If so you must be either braking way too much or the pads were made of cheese.

 

Strange for the pad to bend. Did you clean everything up when you fitted them? If they were a snug fit then maybe the metal of the backing plate expanded with the heat and wedged the pad in the carrier. Painting that area without masking it off might not have helped either.

 

Not sure I would have risked driving it with such a serious brake issue on the road. Don't you have breakdown cover?

Pads aren't down to the backing plates just yet, they have about 1-2 mm left and they were made of cheese.

Has bent probably at least partly due to the paint but I'll have to have a closer look.

Only 12 miles or so on country roads going slow, I know where all the junctions and tight corners are so gave lots of time to slow down. It has a great hand-brake by the way, really effective.

[petrolbloke]

Wow, very cheesy pads! My DS2500s lasted much better and hardly wore the discs either.

 

Does it have drums on the back? Handbrake is a bit pants on my VRS (which has discs on the back). Still wouldn't have risked it, you could've been in a spot of bother if you got pulled over. Your car stands out a bit from the norm too which would increase the likelihood of getting stopped.

[Outofthi5world]

Bit of an update regarding the brakes, I think they are worn out:

 

 

I've taken a few photos from different angles that show some bits better than others:

 

See it's worn the whole pad out so it must have bent because of the heat rather than the paint on the sliders:

 

 

 

Piston came straight out of the caliper, there was no internal seal left at all:

 

 

Here you can see how it's just melted the metal and folded over its self:

 

 

 

So all in all not too good. But still, I like it. It's like a piece of modern art.

But anyway, I have a caliper waiting to go on and just need some pads and fluid.

 

In other news, this happened:

 

 

Special thanks to Phill for giving me his old wheel, it's a lot better than the old one that was crumbling and had split from the frame. Now I just have that damn airbag light on again...

[FlyingGecko]

:o

[Paul thornton]

Never seen a pad bend like that before

[Outofthi5world]

Never seen a pad bend like that before

Neither have I, but it has and it will remain like that for the rest of eternity.

 

On a brighter note the video has uploaded:

 

[andy68]

Do the diesels have ASR,if it has are you switching off, won't help with pad wear if left on.

[Outofthi5world]

Do the diesels have ASR,if it has are you switching off, won't help with pad wear if left on.

Does have it, and it does get switched off every session.

[Outofthi5world]

So, I came to a realization today...

 

The brake calipers off the Monte aren't the same ones that are on the Octy. It's the old Fabia that shares the same calipers. However my theory is that the hubs on both Fabias will be the same therefore the calipers should, in theory fit the Octy if I swap over the carriers as well. This will mean I have two Monte calipers instead of the Octy ones, giving better braking performance than standard.

 

Another realization I had today was that chalk board paint is fun:

 

 

 

 

I'm going to see how well that paint stays on the car and I might ditch the red and paint the whole car chalk board instead.

[Outofthi5world]

On tonights episode of Croc Gear, a man points at a Skoda:

(1:50)

 

Edited 13 August, 2016 by Outofthi5world

[Outofthi5world]

Well I offered up the Monte calipers today and there's no chance of them fitting, the Octy carriers are integrated into the hubs whereas the Monte ones are bolt-on and the calipers don't fit without them, so that's that idea out for now anyway.

A trip to the scrap yard and we now have an FSIII caliper to match the old one off a Golf and I got some ATE race fluid on the way home. I'll have to get round to fitting that at some point and get some pads ordered. Apart from that I put another patch or chalk-board paint on near the filler cap to see what it does.

[Outofthi5world]

Learnt something today that I kind of thought would happen. Rain washes chalk off of chalk boards really well. I wonder what sort of effect it would have if I drove a fully chalk-board car covered in chalk through some light drizzel? Streaky?

[Outofthi5world]

Just a quick update with pictures from Croft on the 10th:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So yeah, as usual a tiny bit of lean in some of the corners...

 

It was great fun though despite the brake failure mid way through the day, didn't end in a massive crash so all was well.

[Outofthi5world]

Right, so the time has come where I need to start thinking about moving the Croc forwards and thinking about what is actually going to happen to the car during autumn and into winter. I think the plan now is to retire it until all major work is done including fixing the brakes, lowering and doing them rear wishbone bushes. I'm in two minds on the colour though, the original plan was to paint it with a bulk buy of ebay special rattle cans and have it in red. The colour is pretty close to standard Octavia red and anyone who saw the spoiler at Croft this time round, that is it. The other option is chalk-board black, I quite like this option as A. you can draw on it and B. going by the amount of paint left in the can after I did the test squares on the doors they'll probably be enough in the tin to do the whole car so I may buy another tin just in case but think I'll probably get away with one, either way this'll be cheaper than the spray can option.

The car will be sanded over quickly just to allow the paint to stick better but won't be perfect in any way shape or form, the sanding, a on the roof will be slightly visible through the spray, and while not the case with the black there will be some brush marks unless I find an alternative (roller?)

 

So, I've added a poll in the first post, let me know what you think.  :yes:

[Rustynuts]

We paint steel oil tanks with a soft foam roller mate. Ideal for your project as well.

[Outofthi5world]

We paint steel oil tanks with a soft foam roller mate. Ideal for your project as well.

Will have to test that one then, thanks.

[@Lee]

who took the pics above? ^^^

[pip_vrs]

who took the pics above? ^^^

Robert Baxter (friends with me on FB if you was after him)

[Outofthi5world]

Soo...   I tried to insure the Croc permanently today, all was going well until they asked what category it was when written off, I said I don't know, looked on the log book and it just said "This vehicle has been salvaged because the estimated cost of commercial repair was more than the value of the vehicle" They said this wasn't enough info and they needed to know the category, I asked where to find it they said what did the insurance company say when it was written off? I said I don't know, I didn't own the car. They told me to contact the DVLA, so I did, they told me they don't hold that information and that I'd need to send off a form and £5 to get the info in around 4 weeks time. F*** that. I'm not giving the government a fiver to tell me what class of write off the car was, and I'm not f****** around either. So this project is currently on hold with the possibility of a new car and the croc may end up on the back of a wagon, or some of it anyway.

[petrolbloke]

According to AutoTrader it's a Cat C.

[TrevorB33]

Do a my text check I'm sure that tells you