New Car (Hint: Suitably Gay) - and probably ongoing tinkerings too.
- Thread starter Gaijin
- Start date
So, a bit of an necro/update for anyone who cares:
Nearly been a year now and here's what I've done so far:
Some fun stuff:
I had an issue where when I was sat at lights, if I put the car into gear with the clutch down, it would raise the RPM by 1000. Nothing mega but it irritated me.
Some investigation resulted in discovering that the clutch switch was disconnected - reconnecting it solved the problem. However, whilst fixing that, I removed the steering column cover and found this bunch of loveliness:
Essentially a poor attempt at a kill switch and some other mess. Further investigation and tracing some of the spaghetti discovered this:
Essentially a fob-based cat 2 immobiliser wired by someone rather incompetent. I was never given any fobs so it obviously wasn't working.
I left this for a while, deciding to sort it out later, but then the car started to do some odd things - namely, randomly not starting and eventually the windows and wipers failed. I suspect that I disturbed the wiring somehow and it decided to come back to life occasionally. Essentially my hand was forced and so I had to get stuck in.
Less than an hour later and it was out.
Still baffled as to what the installers mindset was and I really hope no money had changed hands. Everything was local to the harness, easily identifiable, poorly spliced/insulated, poorly mounted and easy to remove - I had never worked on car security before this and so I imagine any thief would be able to get around this very quickly.
Anyways, onto some more properly fun stuff - picked up some very cheap Koni coilovers for the car from Larkspeed over the summer.
Didn't take any pics of them in the box but here's a press shot:
Now, these are supposed to retail for between £900-£1100. Anyone who pays that is an imbecile for reasons I'll go into.
I took a bit of a punt with these, bit of an impulse buy as well as Larkspeed had them on clearance. Koni have a good rep so what could go wrong? Well, a few bits:
The springs are progressive and have a reputation for being a bit on the soft side. Not essentially a bother for me - irish roads are awful at the best of times. This will have a negative impact on the track though, so it's a bit of a compromise.
What is rather more irritating is that these coilovers were obviously an earlier design and don't have independent ride height and preload adjustment. I didn't realise at the time - bit disappointing but more on that later.
What was the biggest pain in the back side, was that they did not come with top mounts, you either have to use your originals or buy new ones. Pretty shocking for a coilover set that is allegedly selling for a grand.
I left these in a box over the summer as I had a lot going on, but Autumn arrived and I figured that I should get these fitted as I didn't fancy doing them at -3 degrees with no light in the winter (Lesson learned from the clutch change on the Evo).
Had a bit of grief with the ball joints and ended up going with the "long bolt" method to get the struts in and out. Much easier.
Here's where the lack of top mounts was a pain - I essentially had to disassemble the original Bilstein struts and re-assemble the Koni's with the top mounts, which aside from busting my hands and arms with spring compressors, added about 2 hours to the install.
Some pics:
Strut removal and disassembly:
Rebuilding the new one:
New one installed:
How the car currently sits:
Despite the negativity above, the ride is actually lovely. Firmed up a good degree from the OEM Bilstein's, removed the roll and lessened the ducking under cornering and braking, and the grip level is higher despite the fact I haven't done the geo yet.
I'm actually really pleased and a bit surprised although I still think it will suffer on the track. My friend has bought a MK1 and has bought Meister R's, so it will be interesting to compare.
Still to do:
TLDR: Did stuff - still gay
Nearly been a year now and here's what I've done so far:
- Awful rear cluster covers removed
- Headlights polished to remove haze
- Finished drying the car out after it's leaking issues
- Finished cambelt service (water pump, camshaft end seals, crank end seals, replaced oil)
- Re-tensioned cambelt approximately 100 times.
- Changed gearbox oil and diff oil with Millers CRX 75w90
- Replaced roof with a mohair job with heated rear window (fun times - not)
- Replaced slave cylinder. Really don't recommend the pattern replacement from MX5 parts - doesn't fit well at all.
- Re-lubed the windows as they were making a racket and taking ages to go down.
- Replaced upper (DoctorMX5) and lower (OEM) shift boots as they were mullered.
- Replaced two tyres with Federal RSR's
Some fun stuff:
I had an issue where when I was sat at lights, if I put the car into gear with the clutch down, it would raise the RPM by 1000. Nothing mega but it irritated me.
Some investigation resulted in discovering that the clutch switch was disconnected - reconnecting it solved the problem. However, whilst fixing that, I removed the steering column cover and found this bunch of loveliness:
Essentially a poor attempt at a kill switch and some other mess. Further investigation and tracing some of the spaghetti discovered this:
Essentially a fob-based cat 2 immobiliser wired by someone rather incompetent. I was never given any fobs so it obviously wasn't working.
I left this for a while, deciding to sort it out later, but then the car started to do some odd things - namely, randomly not starting and eventually the windows and wipers failed. I suspect that I disturbed the wiring somehow and it decided to come back to life occasionally. Essentially my hand was forced and so I had to get stuck in.
Less than an hour later and it was out.
Still baffled as to what the installers mindset was and I really hope no money had changed hands. Everything was local to the harness, easily identifiable, poorly spliced/insulated, poorly mounted and easy to remove - I had never worked on car security before this and so I imagine any thief would be able to get around this very quickly.
Anyways, onto some more properly fun stuff - picked up some very cheap Koni coilovers for the car from Larkspeed over the summer.
Didn't take any pics of them in the box but here's a press shot:
Now, these are supposed to retail for between £900-£1100. Anyone who pays that is an imbecile for reasons I'll go into.
I took a bit of a punt with these, bit of an impulse buy as well as Larkspeed had them on clearance. Koni have a good rep so what could go wrong? Well, a few bits:
The springs are progressive and have a reputation for being a bit on the soft side. Not essentially a bother for me - irish roads are awful at the best of times. This will have a negative impact on the track though, so it's a bit of a compromise.
What is rather more irritating is that these coilovers were obviously an earlier design and don't have independent ride height and preload adjustment. I didn't realise at the time - bit disappointing but more on that later.
What was the biggest pain in the back side, was that they did not come with top mounts, you either have to use your originals or buy new ones. Pretty shocking for a coilover set that is allegedly selling for a grand.
I left these in a box over the summer as I had a lot going on, but Autumn arrived and I figured that I should get these fitted as I didn't fancy doing them at -3 degrees with no light in the winter (Lesson learned from the clutch change on the Evo).
Had a bit of grief with the ball joints and ended up going with the "long bolt" method to get the struts in and out. Much easier.
Here's where the lack of top mounts was a pain - I essentially had to disassemble the original Bilstein struts and re-assemble the Koni's with the top mounts, which aside from busting my hands and arms with spring compressors, added about 2 hours to the install.
Some pics:
Strut removal and disassembly:
Rebuilding the new one:
New one installed:
How the car currently sits:
Despite the negativity above, the ride is actually lovely. Firmed up a good degree from the OEM Bilstein's, removed the roll and lessened the ducking under cornering and braking, and the grip level is higher despite the fact I haven't done the geo yet.
I'm actually really pleased and a bit surprised although I still think it will suffer on the track. My friend has bought a MK1 and has bought Meister R's, so it will be interesting to compare.
Still to do:
- Get geo done
- Re-align PPF and Gearbox (Getting a lashy noise on overrun)
- Change brake fluid and pads (pads are fine but want some better than OEM)
- Buy and fit roll bar
- Preventative rust treatment
- Take it around Mondello
TLDR: Did stuff - still gay
Caporegime
What about the car?
What car?
I'll PM some pics later buttercup
Meanwhile, there's half a leg and a boot in picture 7 to get hot and bothered over.
Don
Single seater? YOLO
Really want one of these, look like a great way to learn.
Really want one of these, look like a great way to learn.
Soldato
What method did you say you used to lower the lower arm? On the mk1 you just separate the bottom of the hub upright from the lower arm and then you can stand on it and get it down far enough to get the struts in. Pretty simple and I guess it's all the same on the mk2.
Ha, can't believe you're the first to notice
Believe it or not it wasn't out for "mental weight savings blud" - as mentioned on the OP the interior got drenched due to a leaking roof and I was drying it all out. Hence why there is similarly no carpet on the parcel shelf etc.
Not sure where you mean Howard? I loosened the lower arm pivot bolts but it wouldn't even come close to being enough clearance
The long bolt method was ridiculously simple though. Remove ARB saddle bracket and remove the long bolt through the top wishbone pivot. Drops the lot instantly as you can see in one of the pics.
Do you mean the bolt near the lower brown component?
Soldato
I mean the little bolt that holds the 'tongue' of the lower ball joint to the wishbone - right by the bottom of the shock. Take that out and you can pull the bottom of the hub, with the ball joint still attached, clear of the lower wishbone and then lower the lower wishbone enough to cram the shock assembly in. I didn't have to touch any of the wishbone bolts.
Edit: Yes. You can't see it in the diagram though. It's in there:
Edit: Yes. You can't see it in the diagram though. It's in there:
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Ah I see - that I didn't try. I'll pass that on to my mate putting the Meister's on his MK1 - thanks.
Also, whilst I have your attention Howard:
Also, whilst I have your attention Howard:
Caporegime
GONNA TAKE YOU A SWAY BAR!
ehem
ehem
Soldato
niceee! i was going to make some comment about how drying the car out should be easy with all the hair dryers you should have 
looks sexy though! mate had one very similar and never failed to put a smile on my face when going sideways plus hat off for buying it with the aim of doing as much work as you can yourself
looks sexy though! mate had one very similar and never failed to put a smile on my face when going sideways
plus hat off for buying it with the aim of doing as much work as you can yourself
Soldato
Ah I see - that I didn't try. I'll pass that on to my mate putting the Meister's on his MK1 - thanks.
Also, whilst I have your attention Howard:
- Joined
- 4 Jan 2013
- Posts
- 3,783
Tax must be a real killer on that! 
edit: 1.8 not 2.0 still tis a hefty whack at 636 euros.
edit: 1.8 not 2.0 still tis a hefty whack at 636 euros.
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Tax must be a real killer on that!
edit: 1.8 not 2.0 still tis a hefty whack at 636 euros.
Yep, it costs three times more than my Evo to tax which is crazy to say the least.
Look at all that space!!
Yeah, one of the wonderful things about this car - that said, there's obviously no radiator, fans or pipework in that pic. Access is still very good with the rad and fans in though.
Man of Honour
Which is why shoving FI is so easy in them!
Unknown. Should have been a torque wrench in hindsight.