I haven't updated this thread in ages, because, well, the car has barely moved! I think it's been on the road twice since the service it had last August. Since the last time I had it on track (summer 2019!) I've started a new job, Covid has happened, house hunting and subsequent move and basically real life stuff has got in the way of wanting to go on any track days. I was close to booking Spa for this October however I really can't be sure of how the EU will be with us once the Covid dust starts to settle. Anyway, that's boring so enough of it.
For a few track days I have noticed that the car will crunch going from 3rd into 4th when giving it all of my inches. It's fairly common for the synchromesh on these gearboxes to go at some point in their life as the original 4th gear and synchros are prone to failure. The synchro has been revised once and the gear itself has been revised twice. It started getting bad on the last track day, so much so I started to really ease of for the change. It started looming at the back of my mind and in reality, I've used all of the RL excuses above to probably cover up the main issue hence it's not been out on track in nearly two years. In addition, there is still a god awful front end rattle since fitting the Meister R's which I've not got to the bottom off, despite it being given a full bill of health. So I bit the bullet and booked the car into Performance Autoworks for the following work:
- Remove 'box, inspect and replace synchros as necessary
- Inspect and service Kaaz diff
- New Exedy Racing stage 1 clutch (not needed but makes sense while the ‘box is out)
- Replace front LCA with hardrace items
- Fine tooth comb check of everything mechanical
- Replace front pads with XP12's - the RS29's are on their last legs
I picked the car up earlier and I'm very happy. Not only has the front end rattle all but gone which I guess must have been the LCAs, the car underneath is in great condition and the clutch/gearbox work has done wonders. The new clutch while heavier feels superb as does the gearchange. The general feel of the front of the car is much improved too.
One thing which was picked up is that my 6 pot calipers had been fitted incorrectly. With multi piston calipers the smallest piston should always be the leading piston with the largest being the trailing. This is done that way to prevent/reduce the significant offset wear pad wear. The orientation of these calipers (the way they have been Brembo factory set up) would be for a car with calipers mounted at the rear of the wheel which would make the small piston the leading piston. Mine were mounted at the front hence I've had really bad pad wear and my £500 odd RS29's didn't last anywhere near as long as I was hoping. The garage have swapped the calipers around for me so I'm hoping the replacement XP12 pads should have some longer life. They are still at the front, but at the other side of the car now.
Now that it's back I'm going to look at doing a day at Castle Combe soon.
