Daewoo Lanos Rally Car

[benzino]

yes I agree that setup is better for rally use, however it's not exactly legal for road use...

[Red_LaNOS]

What part isnt legal for road use? Having said that, next year the lanos is bing stripped out and a roll cage is being put in, so it will no longer be comfortable or practical as a road car, ill be replacing it with a Ford Focus XR5 Turbo as my daily driver.

[benzino]

Hydraulic handbrake and bias control that can't be locked is illegal (at least in NSW). An xr5 huh... That's a big jump...

[Red_LaNOS]

Ok so its been a while since posts, i have done quite a bit on the car and now i have a lot to write about! What i will cover is basically how we did what we did, why we did what we did and finally any complications that we ran into.

[Red_LaNOS]

Daewoo Lanos 2002 Sport 1.6 Modifications:
-Gearbox
-Front Struts
-Rear Shocks and Springs
-Spark plug
-Ignition Leads
-Fuel pump
-Fire Extinguisher mounted near drivers seat

Gearbox:
The Daewoo Lanos uses a D16 gearbox, some people believe this to be a close ratio gearbox. This is true however it is not very aggressively ratio’d. The stock D16 gearbox from a 1.6 Lanos Sport has a close ratio 1st – 2nd – 3rd gears but a tall 4th and 5th to allow for better economy and emissions on highway driving situations. The modification that we carried out here was to swap the Lanos D16 gearbox with an Opel Cavalier SRI F16. The Opel Cavalier was an import car from the UK that was not manufactured or sold in Australia. Being an SRI variant the gear ratios are much more aggressive than that present in the Lanos (including the 4th – 5th gears) which is why we swapped the boxes.

The D16 and F16 boxes share the same housing and both have the exact same bolt holes and positions however notable differences are the fact that the D16 uses a hydraulic clutch whereas the F16 uses a cable clutch. The hydraulic system runs off the same hydraulics as the brakes. Perhaps for the sake of rally it is best to use a cable clutch simple because a failure in the brakes will also mean the loss of the clutch with this hydraulic system. The Cable/Hydraulic mechanisms are both external to the gearbox and can be bolted onto the gearboxes during the swap without any modifications. Another difference is the fact that the D16 gearbox bolts to the sump in order to cover and protect the clutch, whereas the F16 gearbox uses a aluminium cover plate to hide the clutch at the bottom. The D16 gearbox also transmits to the speedometer electronically (this works in your favour) whilst the F16 does it mechanically via cable.

The Lanos being a front wheel drive vehicle means that the removal of the gearbox does take some time. You MUST remove the left front strut to allow the drive shaft to be freed from the hub. It is probably also a good idea to remove the right front strut as well so that the gearbox can be removed from the engine with least resistance. After this is done you must find a way to support the weight of the engine, after which you may start unbolting the left hand side engine mounts. These mounts will bolt directly to the gearbox and must be removed, at this stage it may help to remove the battery for better accessibility.

You will find that the F16 gearbox in the Cavalier SRI will mount to the chassis in different locations to the D16 in the gearbox and will utilise different engine mounts. However there will be unused bolt holes on the F16 and some of these holes will be used by the Daewoo engine mounts. After removing the gearboxes, it’s simply a matter of switching them and remounting them. At this stage you can either switch the drive shafts as we did or keep them with their respect gearboxes. We kept my original Daewoo drive shafts and simply inserted them into F16 gearbox as they were in better condition at the CV joints than the Cavalier drive shafts. Before you switch the gearboxes you must remember to switch the speedometer sensors in the gearboxes and keep the electronic one with the Lanos.

After changing gearboxes, the speedometer will no longer be accurate at all. Mine was off by about 40km/h throughout the range. You will need to utilise a Speedo Corrector:

http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=KC5435

The Speedo Corrector can be purchased as a kit from Jaycar. Calibration and assembly instructions are supplied with the kit.

Front Struts:
For the front struts we simply swapped in Calibra front struts from a 2L variant of the car. Any of the suspension components are compatible between the Lanos and the Calibra provided the car is a 2L variant and NOT the V6 variant. The reason for this swap was simply because the Calibra is a heavier car and so would provide more stiffness when the struts are applied to a car that is lighter by approximately 200kg. This however is an interim solution to allow for some racing to be carried out while the original factory Lanos struts are converted to adjustables with VL Commodore Calipers and Peugeot Rotors/ Hubs.

Rear Shocks and Springs:
The rear shocks are after market Ultima shocks, these were simply a direct aftermarket replacement for the OEM shocks. The Rear suspension on the Lanos is such that the spring is independent of the shock. This has both its advantages and its drawbacks. The original springs were replaced by rear springs from a Calibra once again.

Spark Plugs: Bosch Platinum-IR Fusion
Ignition Leads: NGK ignition leads

Fuel Pump:
The stock Daewoo Lanos fuel pump has been causing me some problems recently, so we replaced it with another stock Daewoo fuel pump. The procedure for replacing this is very easy. The fuel pump comes as a module with the fuel gauge sensor also housed with the pump. You must simply remove the rear seating from the car. There will be a plastic cover plate that can be removed using a screw driver. Underneath this is the fuel pump. You simple disconnect the fuel lines and cables and remove the pump and drop in the new one. It is best to remove the fuel filter under the bonnet and bleed the fuel lines a little to alleviate pressure and prevent fuel spilling through your car.

Recently I have also purchased a Bosch-044 racing pump. The general idea for the future is to create a small 2-3L reserve tank in which the racing pump would be placed. The stock Daewoo pump would pump fuel constantly into this reserve tank and the Bosch-044 racing pump would supply the injectors. We will also need to change the fuel pressure regulator when making this change.

Rear Swaybar:
I eventually will get a rear swaybar from a Saab 9000 and custom brackets made to fit it to the Lanos.

As far as noticeable performance, I am speechless to the gains we have made without actually modifying the ECU or engine itself. The DOHC engine has so much to give and is seemingly restricted in so many ways. The next step would be an ECU upgrade!

[PrecisionBoost]

As far as noticeable performance, I am speechless to the gains we have made without actually modifying the ECU or engine itself. The DOHC engine has so much to give and is seemingly restricted in so many ways. The next step would be an ECU upgrade!

Lotus performed engineering tests on the 1.6L DOHC engines and managed to make just a shade under 150hp with 10.5:1 compression pistons, better cams and more aggressive management.

As usual, GM decided fuel economy was priority number one, leaving us with the pathetic 106hp lump we see in the Lanos.


SBD Motorsports in the UK made 241BHP @ 9200RPM with their naturally aspirated 1.6L DOHC, here is a link to the upgrade kit in case your not familiar with SBD :

http://www.sbdev.co.uk/Taper%20Kits/New ... 0range.htm

[PrecisionBoost]

Front Struts:
For the front struts we simply swapped in Calibra front struts from a 2L variant of the car. Any of the suspension components are compatible between the Lanos and the Calibra provided the car is a 2L variant and NOT the V6 variant.

Lanos is on a GM-T platform ( also known as the GM2700/GM3000 )

Also keep in mind some of the part compatibility of the Saab's which were built on the same GM2900 Chassis as the Calibra
1994–1998 Saab 900
1999–2002 Saab 9-3
1997–2009 Saab 9-5

Newer Saabs also have compatible parts, Here is a good link to pictures of the suspension component for the 2003+ front control arm, which looks identical to the Lanos/Astra stamped steel control arm:

http://www.carpartswarehouse.com/carpar ... l_Arm.html

I haven't actually tried the aluminum control arms, I do however remember a few guys on migweb.co.uk with conversions to aluminum controls arms sources from junkyard Saabs.

One of these days when I get some time I am going to drop down to a local supplier and compare the steel stamped Lanos control arms to the 2003+ Saab ones just to make sure there is 100% compatibility.

[Red_LaNOS]

So that upgrade kit is compatible with the A16DMS engine?

[benzino]

same engine pretty much...

[benzino]

I believe the D16 box in the 1.6 is pretty much exactly the same as the F16CR in regards to ratios...

......F16CR v2..D16CR
1st...3.545......3.545
2nd..2.158......2.158
3rd..1.609......1.478
4th..1.121......1.129
5th..0.886......0.886
Final.3.72.......3.722

ref:http://www.opel-infos.de/getriebe/f16_5.html and lanos service manual

so according to those specs, only 3rd gear is shorter and the daewoo box actually has a shorter 4th gear

[Red_LaNOS]

That lower 3rd makes a world of difference seeing in rally i seldom leave third except for the straights. My Service manual reads:

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th
3.545, 1.952, 1.276, 0.971, 0.763

I searched those numbers, and found this site also agrees with that:

http://www.vibratesoftware.com/html_hel ... htm#6sptxl

and same here

http://www.daewootech.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=318

[benzino]

you're right, but you are also wrong... if my manual is to be believed.
The ratios you posted are for the D16WR found in the 1.3

Here's what my manual states:
http://i45.tinypic.com/2331h3.jpg
but I guess what's in the manual and what's actually in your car could be two completely separate things...

[Red_LaNOS]

Well i dunno, it is the service manual for this car that i have and the stuff i seem to find supports this. Plus the acceleration is much better and thats the only meaningful thing we have changed so far. So im not entirely sure. Next stop is an ECU upgrade.

[benzino]

do you remember what your redline speed was in the first 3 gears with your old box (and new box?)

with my 1.5l D16 box it's 1st= about 50kmh 2nd= about 80kmh 3rd= about 120kmh and then maxed out at just over 170kmh in 5th

[Red_LaNOS]

No i dont, damn that would have been a good idea. However i do know that at 110kmph i sit at 4000/3900 RPM whereas in my original box i sat at 3700/3600 RPM