Trailer Modifications - Mover and Winch

I've been having some issues with the trailer and my driveway being at the top of a hill and the driveway itself being on a good slope.  I find it difficult to move the trailer around on its own on the slope, if I slip it will go rolling down the hill and I won't be able to stop it.

I am currently loading the car down the road. Some of the trips I have planned I will be leaving at 5-6 in the morning which isn't going to be practical. Reversing up the hill with the trailer on the back of my tow car with the car loaded is too much to put on my tow car.  I nearly killed a clutch before trying it.

My Father is into his caravanning and has a mover on his caravan. Its basically just two motors that push onto the tyre and are used to move the heavy load around with ease.

Ordered up and delivered.

 Being early January its freezing and the trailer is freezing cold.

My Father had to come and help!

All fitted and it works!

The control module is normally housed inside a caravan so I had to find a waterproof box to mount the control module electrics in.

Electric winched turned up.. 

Had to order a winch mounting plate from Woodford trailers.

 Ended up mounted on the left hand side of the trailer. All the electrics were mounted under the winch mount to protect it from the rain.

I won't be leaving the battery on the trailer all the time, it will travel in the boot of the car and I'll connect it up when I need to use the mover or winch.  I have used Anderson connectors with some waterproof covers to protect it from the elements. 

My battery box is a designed for a electric outboard boat motor but its perfect for the job. Got a cigarette lighter and USB charge module also lol.

Here is the trailer in action.. Life sized remote controlled car. 

How to corner weight your car for under £100...

I've wanted to get the car corner weighted for a while now. Keep reading loads of how to guides and its seems like its possible as a DIY job. Ringing around a few motorsport garages its a good £300 for a corner weight session.

The cheapest motorsport set of scales I could find were £899, a no go. A set of 4 industrial scales off ebay were £100, this was worth a try.

My new baby boy helping in the garage.

Quick setup to make sure they would take the weight of the car without breaking.

Quality China copy of a Panasonic battery, these went straight in the bin.

All four wheels up on the scales, nice the car is light enough to push up the ramps.

Right now time to set it up correctly. The scales on the carpet in my garage were not giving accurate results compared to the solid concrete floor.

Each scale foot had a hole cut in the carpet.

Then I used a laser level to make sure each scale was level with each other.

The laser beam just hits the top of a standard level so this job is made easy with a standard level.

The floor under one of the scales was much higher than the rest of the floor, to the point the adjustment on the standard scale feet was not enough so I had to make my own shorter feet. 

All ready to go..    The car weights 508kgs without my fat arse in it. This is with a full tank. 

Corner Balance Calculator
https://robrobinette.com/corner_weight_calc.htm

Starting results

Originally I was running 14 PSI upfront and 16 PSI at the rear, sounds like these pressures are more suited to the track so I have increased to 18 PSI all round.

Final weight in before any changes made.

Without Driver

FL 114.7      
FR 119.3
RL 144.6      
RR  129.4

With Driver

FL 117.7      
FR 142
RL  184.2    
RR  184

Here are the calculated results. Its not all that bad, the front left is pretty far out. This could explain as to why I appear to get the sensation its throwing me left off the road on the humps and bumps. 

I need to start with the lightest corner, so here the front left (117.7) and increase the ride height by adding a couple of turns to the shocks.  The increase I make here will also make increases on the diagonal corner and also decrease the other opposite corners corners. These natural results will help make my adjustment easier as I need to increase front left and rear right and decrease the other diagonal corners. 

Current

FL 117.7  - Increase    
FR 142 - Decrease
RL  184.2  - Decrease    
RR  184 - Increase

Target

FL 125      
FR 135
RL  176.9    
RR  192

First Change - Two turn increase Front left 

Results - Strange results as this should have increased FL and RR.

Without

FL   114.0    
FR   120
RL    145.9
RR   128.7

With

FL    114.7  
FR   144.3
RL   187.4  
RR  181.9

Second Change - Two more turn increase front left

Results - Closer to target, working as it should now. 

Without

FL   118.8
FR   114.7
RL    141.8
RR   132.4

With

FL    116.3
FR   141.9
RL   186.l  
RR  182

Third Change - One more turn increase front left. 

Results - again closer to target, don't really want to increase the ride height further here so will more to the right rear next.

Without

FL   118.8
FR   114.3
RL    141.5
RR   132.1

With

FL    117.8
FR   140.5
RL   184.6
RR  183

Fourth Change - Increase 4 turns to right rear. 

Results - Over target now, reduce right rear to see results. 

Without

FL   127.9
FR   105.2
RL    131.7
RR   141.8

With

FL    130.8 - Decrease
FR   127.8 - Increase
RL   171.6  - Increase
RR  194.8 - Decrease

Fifth Change - Decrease by 1 turn to right rear. 

Results - Getting so close to target, last change for this corner. 

Without

FL   125.3
FR   107.7
RL    134.4
RR   139.1

With

FL   127.8 - Decrease
FR   130.6 - Increase
RL   174.8  - Increase
RR  192.6 - Decrease

Decided to run the results again to check my new targets.  Next was to change the front right to make a final change.

Sixth Change - increase by 2 turns front right. 

Results - Done!

Without

FL   122.5
FR   111.2
RL    138.7
RR   135.6

With

FL   124.9
FR   133.4
RL    177.7
RR   190

Target
FL   125
FR   133.5
RL    177.6
RR   189.7

Think I am going to struggle to get them any closer than this.

The final results, pretty happy with 49.7% cross weight.

Those were the results on paper, the telling is how it drives on the road.  Straight out for a little blast up the road, initial feeling is it feels more balanced and less likely to want to throw you into the ditch. 

Really pleased I went for the cheaper DIY option and glad I did it myself. 

New air filter MWR

So apparently the standard Honda paper filter is pretty restrictive. Was told to replace it with a MWR foam filter. They offer three versions, a road version which cuts down on induction noise, a road race version which doesn't have the noise reduction. Both of these can be cleaned yearly. Then a full on race version which can't be cleaned and is throw away.

I went for the road race version.. Its literally just alloy frame with a oil covered foam filter.

It better perform better than it fits.. :)

Need to get the duct fitted soon..