Noble M12 GTO3 (R32 GTR replacement)
- Thread starter GhostWKD
- Start date
We'll see about the PS3 - to be honest they're going to be for road anyway and once have a few safety mods done (cooling & extended sump) I'll look to a set of track rubber on spare rims for trackdays etc 
Thanks Rainagul, certainly stands out in the work car park
Today I got the 3R wheels tyred up and fitted Not sure if the originals would look better if they were silver, but these will do for now.
Edit: iPhone camera really does this car no justice
Thanks Rainagul, certainly stands out in the work car park
Today I got the 3R wheels tyred up and fitted
Not sure if the originals would look better if they were silver, but these will do for now.
Edit: iPhone camera really does this car no justice
So bit of a non update but still figured worth giving a little update on how I'm getting on with it.
Last tank of fuel it did 21.5mpg which I'm pretty happy with overall given my commute is B roads mostly
Hopefully it'll be even better with the manifold fixed. That tank included a mway run or two though, normal commute it does about 18mpg.
The heat reflective material from underneath the IC has all come apart and basically looks older than the car So picked up some Nimbus G2 heatshield sheeting to go underneath the IC (which is directly above the rear turbo!) - will need to take the IC box apart to fit though which I'm not looking forward to.
Also I need to replace the front manifold with the spare I've got, moving house in 2-3 weeks though and can't risk the car being off the road (or worse, stuck at the current house) so will swap that afterwards.
In order to take the car off the road for repairs and not worry about rushing stuff back together relying on the car for work etc, I've bought a BMW 325ci (e46) which I'm picking up tonight Plan is to still daily the Noble most of the time except for really bad days and winter when at the very least I need to take the Noble off the road to replace all the floor
Apologies for the somewhat crap update (bar the fact I did over 20mpg!) hopefully have some more interesting stuff soon Will get some more pics of the car up soon too, infact need to investigate aftermarket exhausts as that supposedly is the biggest single bottleneck of the engine.
Looking forward to moving house as I'll have a nice big double garage to do all my work in. Step 1 is fitting a whiteboard (must find one...) to the wall and getting a to-do list together
Last tank of fuel it did 21.5mpg which I'm pretty happy with overall given my commute is B roads mostly
Hopefully it'll be even better with the manifold fixed. That tank included a mway run or two though, normal commute it does about 18mpg.The heat reflective material from underneath the IC has all come apart and basically looks older than the car
So picked up some Nimbus G2 heatshield sheeting to go underneath the IC (which is directly above the rear turbo!) - will need to take the IC box apart to fit though which I'm not looking forward to.Also I need to replace the front manifold with the spare I've got, moving house in 2-3 weeks though and can't risk the car being off the road (or worse, stuck at the current house) so will swap that afterwards.
In order to take the car off the road for repairs and not worry about rushing stuff back together relying on the car for work etc, I've bought a BMW 325ci (e46) which I'm picking up tonight
Plan is to still daily the Noble most of the time except for really bad days and winter when at the very least I need to take the Noble off the road to replace all the floor
Apologies for the somewhat crap update (bar the fact I did over 20mpg!) hopefully have some more interesting stuff soon
Will get some more pics of the car up soon too, infact need to investigate aftermarket exhausts as that supposedly is the biggest single bottleneck of the engine.Looking forward to moving house as I'll have a nice big double garage to do all my work in. Step 1 is fitting a whiteboard (must find one...) to the wall and getting a to-do list together
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So haven't updated this in a while and most of the picture links have died (good old facebook for photo storage!)
Since the thread was last updated;
e46 325i was sold for a S3, sold that for a Z4, sold that for another S2000
Got the itch to lose the S2000 and buy a 335i Touring (e90), something about a fast estate is calling me
On the Noble since last update, probably lots I'm missing but essentially;
Replaced the floor, replaced all coolant pipes with silicone versions, fitted a spare non blowing front turbo manifold, replaced the alternator (a second time) had a new exhaust built from cats back, fitted a Proalloy intercooler, had a baffled extended sump fitted, fuel pump given new power feed & Remapped to 408bhp.
I've done about 14k miles in the car now and been just about everywhere from the north of scotland, to south coast of england and even used it as my wedding car. Want to do a euro trip sometime in it, but the wife doesn't travel light and there isn't much luggage space
Done lots but lots still to do
Also got one of my favorite photos of the car so far when I was spotted in York last year
Since the thread was last updated;
e46 325i was sold for a S3, sold that for a Z4, sold that for another S2000
Got the itch to lose the S2000 and buy a 335i Touring (e90), something about a fast estate is calling meOn the Noble since last update, probably lots I'm missing but essentially;
Replaced the floor, replaced all coolant pipes with silicone versions, fitted a spare non blowing front turbo manifold, replaced the alternator (a second time) had a new exhaust built from cats back, fitted a Proalloy intercooler, had a baffled extended sump fitted, fuel pump given new power feed & Remapped to 408bhp.
I've done about 14k miles in the car now and been just about everywhere from the north of scotland, to south coast of england and even used it as my wedding car. Want to do a euro trip sometime in it, but the wife doesn't travel light and there isn't much luggage space
Done lots but lots still to do
Also got one of my favorite photos of the car so far when I was spotted in York last year
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Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 8,617
Lovely lovely lovely thing! I'd love one of these, mental power for such a like car too.
How was ownership been in general? As much fun as I'd imagine?
How was ownership been in general? As much fun as I'd imagine?
Pretty much fun all the way to be fair, I use mine a lot more than most (at 60k miles my car is considered high mileage) and it's had a lot more ups than downs.
Issues I've had are; Coolant hoses splitting (hence replacing all with silicone), relay melting for the cooling fans (rewired by Jetstream, still has a niggle though, plan over winter is to rewire the fuses/relays just incase the issue is there)
Otherwise it's been great, much more positive reaction from the public than my old Skylines/RX7 etc ever got, had smiles from Young/Old, Male/Female which is a good feeling. I don't mean that in a showoff way, but it's nice to think the car brings a smile to peoples faces.
I've still not mastered the reply to 'Nice car' and the like yet, feel too smug saying "Thanks" and nothing more but a bit of a prat saying "It is when it works" given it's always been pretty good to me. First world problems.
Off to Beaulieu tomorrow and no qualms about the car doing the miles (touch wood) more worried about working out the time to clean it before heading down.
Got some smaller number plates today too, they're 410mmx89mm with 64mmx44mm font size, the car doesn't have EU type approval so import font sizes *should* be 100% legal. Going to see how it looks before deciding if to use them or not.
Underboss
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- 20 Oct 2002
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- Oxfordshire / Bucks
ive seen them without the wing, they look horrid without
but taking it off really does make a difference to the down force in these cars!
I'm guessing its functional as its a genuinely sporty car.
Soldato
- Joined
- 2 Mar 2004
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- 11,919
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- SE England
As an aside, what did you make of the R32? Keep looking at them, but not sure whether I'd enjoy it or just end up treating it with kid gloves.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 5 Jun 2003
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- Falling...
I disagree. On some cars, totally, but this car is designed to have wings like that on it. Completes the look IMO.
On the wing, I think it makes next to no difference aerodynamically actually - the air doesn't dip back down on the clam and with it being quite low down it has minimal affect. Some fit longer legs to bring the spoiler up to the roofline and that apparently has a good effect on things. That said I do like it and don't like the cars without the spoilers.
R32 - I drove them properly and tried to use them for a lot more than most mileage wise but had quite a lot of problems along the way. Didn't rate their handling very highly but off the line there's nothing like it.
Noble went to Beaulieu on Sat as part of the Supercar Weekend, starting to worry about one of the turbos though as the exhausts are separate and one is smoking a little when the other isnt. Dead happy with the new slightly smaller plates though
R32 - I drove them properly and tried to use them for a lot more than most mileage wise but had quite a lot of problems along the way. Didn't rate their handling very highly but off the line there's nothing like it.
Noble went to Beaulieu on Sat as part of the Supercar Weekend, starting to worry about one of the turbos though as the exhausts are separate and one is smoking a little when the other isnt. Dead happy with the new slightly smaller plates though