What have you done to your car today?

Soldato
Joined
25 Jun 2007
Posts
22,027
Location
Downtown
My exhaust and it's rusty appearance was letting car down, so I decided to spruce it up by emptying a can of gunmetal VHT paint on it. I painted the towing hoops and sill under the bumper while I was there.

A stop gap until I get my hands on a tasty HKS or similar.

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And after...



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.
 
Last edited:
OcUK Staff
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
38,330
Location
OcUK HQ
Hi there

Tonight I fitted:-
Carbon fiber plenum
GT3 throttle body (76mm upto 82mm)
X51 carbon fiber dual air intake

Installation was a bit tight but easier than expected, took my time to prevent any potential air/vacuum links. Made sure to disconnect battery etc. So ECU fully reset. :)

Connected back up, left for 30s so throttle body could sort itself out, started car and no idle issues, left it to idle for 5 minutes.

Went for a drive, throttle seems a little less responsive which is to be expected as at present air box has a pair of old stock paper filters in it and the right hand side intake does not have a hold cut yet in the decklid for cold air feed. Felt similar to the stock filter in the regular Airbox would do, as high flow panel filters really improve throttle response. :)

So jobs to do:-
1. Cut hole in deck lid so cold air feed works.
2. Fit performance BMC filters, due end of week.
3. Extend MAF wiring so can route maf cable neatly under Airbox and not over it.
4. Maybe buy shorter oil filler tube, as stock one is too long, but does fit.
5. Fit new plugs, current are 20k miles old.
6. Change oil to Millers Nano oil.
7. Go back to dyno. :)

A picture of course:-
B5D7C46C-9716-4E69-A89B-BD51C3F09E02-1721-00000525CA31BA9B.jpg


Glad I did it myself, always more enjoyable, though only when it goes well. ;)



Oh and finally the good point, no infact the sensational point, the noise OMG the noise, no word of a lie past 5000RPM it sounds like 10000RPM, sounds like a CUP car, I'd go as far as saying the noise in the cabin is GT3 beating. Seems to pull better too, but sure improve more with second hole cut along with fresh performance filters. :D
 
Associate
Joined
27 Oct 2008
Posts
1,905
Location
Gloucester
I fitted a new dump valve on my car tonight. Just another recirculating one but a metal one off an EVO 9 this time.
I doubt if my old one lost me too many horses at the rolling road day but it was annoying knowing it was leaking.

New suspension to fit next. Replacing my shot to bits coil-overs. If it ever arrives that is!
 
Associate
Joined
13 Mar 2010
Posts
503
DVD Changer was telling me "No Disc" so removed the changer from the boot, opened it up, used a cotton bud to lightly brush the lens clean, put it all back together, re-installed it and it's just like new again :D
 
Associate
Joined
23 Mar 2009
Posts
2,014
Location
Peterborough
Run mine down to my local alfa indie as I've got a bit of rumbling going on so suspected wheel bearing. Nope turns out both my rear tyres are out of shape but other than that and some really squeaky brakes it got given a clean bill of health. I hate having no tools and nowhere to work on my motor at this new place. Luckily i was planning on replacing them around August anyways. Time to buy another pair of F1's I suppose. This next two months is going to be ridiculously expensive with tax, mot, insurance and servicing due. Thank god for 0% credit cards to spread the load.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Jul 2007
Posts
16,316
Location
South East
I'm getting a bit frustrated here, can anyone offer any insight?

So I changed my brake pads the other evening for some proper OEM Ford ones, to cure the rattling. The new pads have two little round "nipples" on the outside face, I presume to locate the piston over or something. I had to gently persuade the caliper back on with the pads in place, using a lump hammer and a piece of wood. Not hitting it hard, just enough to get it over these little protrusions.

Did all that and put it back together and hallelujah, the rattling is gone.

However the nearside one appears to be binding slightly. Not enough to cause smoke or even for the wheel to get hot, just enough for the wheel to get warmer than the offside wheel, and enough for the car to bring itself to stop on the absolute tiniest of inclines (i'm talking literally barely moving, but still noticeable, if that makes sense)

Jacked it up this morning and you can turn the wheel fine with your hand but there is definitely a bit of resistance.

So I tried to take the caliper off to investigate / double-clean everything, but I couldn't get it off over the aforementioned nipples on the pads. Gentle application of hammer in the right places didn't do anything.

So it's back together now as it was before.

Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to wait for the pads to wear down a bit before being able to remove the caliper? Is a little bit of brake binding normal with brand new pads with lots of meat on them?

The pistons retracted absolutely fine and the calipers don't feel or look seized :/


I'm going out shortly so will see responses later this afternoon.
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Oct 2002
Posts
27,525
Location
Boston, Lincolnshire
I'm getting a bit frustrated here, can anyone offer any insight?

So I changed my brake pads the other evening for some proper OEM Ford ones, to cure the rattling. The new pads have two little round "nipples" on the outside face, I presume to locate the piston over or something. I had to gently persuade the caliper back on with the pads in place, using a lump hammer and a piece of wood. Not hitting it hard, just enough to get it over these little protrusions.

Did all that and put it back together and hallelujah, the rattling is gone.

However the nearside one appears to be binding slightly. Not enough to cause smoke or even for the wheel to get hot, just enough for the wheel to get warmer than the offside wheel, and enough for the car to bring itself to stop on the absolute tiniest of inclines (i'm talking literally barely moving, but still noticeable, if that makes sense)

Jacked it up this morning and you can turn the wheel fine with your hand but there is definitely a bit of resistance.

So I tried to take the caliper off to investigate / double-clean everything, but I couldn't get it off over the aforementioned nipples on the pads. Gentle application of hammer in the right places didn't do anything.

So it's back together now as it was before.

Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to wait for the pads to wear down a bit before being able to remove the caliper? Is a little bit of brake binding normal with brand new pads with lots of meat on them?

The pistons retracted absolutely fine and the calipers don't feel or look seized :/


I'm going out shortly so will see responses later this afternoon.

Did the pads drop in no problem? If they are stiff you might need to wire wheel the brake dust off the carriers. This could be causing them to drag.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2004
Posts
10,631
Location
Kent
Greased the sliider pins on my brake calipers that were stuck solid.

Brakes worked fine, but it needed doing - hoping it might give some improvement like better MPG :)
 
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