Man of Honour
Doing it wrong, I had another pair of AD08R put on the rear today, there is no other choice of tyre for an MX5 @ScoobyDoo69 can attest to how well it grips
What have you done to your car today?
- Thread starter mattyprice4004
- Start date
Doing it wrong, I had another pair of AD08R put on the rear today, there is no other choice of tyre for an MX5 @ScoobyDoo69 can attest to how well it grips
Soldato
Yup, got to agree, they held on great!
Caporegime
These were like £35 each though as opposed to £70 each. 
Associate
Cars is at BMW today. Just had the phone call to let me know the cause of almost death was a seized passenger side caliper. Total cost with out warranty 1.5k+. That's the warranty paid for twice over this year already....
And the biggest issue with it is...... it needs a new bulb in the number plate holder
And the biggest issue with it is...... it needs a new bulb in the number plate holder
Soldato
Stop skimping!These were like £35 each though as opposed to £70 each.
Caporegime
Soldato
Stop skimping and turbo it. 
Caporegime
I'm chucking money at the other money pit at the moment.
Soldato
The MX5 Turbo Conversion is running! Map is all over the place and is trying to idle at 5k rpm! Having no exhaust is making life difficult in playing with settings. However launch control out of junctions is... entertaining!
Last night so not technically today but, meh...
Annual cleaning of the engine bay completed. I'm not one for engine bay detailing so a liberal dosing of AG Machine Cleaner, a cheap paint brush to agitate it a bit and a hose down was the order of the day. Gave the black bits a spray of back to black and a bit of detailing spray to sort the inside of the bonnet.
In related news it turns out said back to black spray melts plastidip so I need to respray my headlight surrounds
Annual cleaning of the engine bay completed. I'm not one for engine bay detailing so a liberal dosing of AG Machine Cleaner, a cheap paint brush to agitate it a bit and a hose down was the order of the day. Gave the black bits a spray of back to black and a bit of detailing spray to sort the inside of the bonnet.
In related news it turns out said back to black spray melts plastidip so I need to respray my headlight surrounds
Soldato
What have I done to my car today? More than I think I've ever done before
Picked it up a couple of days ago after a long delay due to a bonnet release issue: the seller found it was opening only intermittently, so put it into Jaguar which involved them replacing the entire mechanism. When driving it away, the first thing I noticed was that it felt quicker than my old one: I'm fairly sure it's been remapped / had a pulley upgrade or similar as it pulls really hard through all the gears.
I also noticed a few issues. The first one was that the folding mirrors didn't work. This happens to basically every X350 XJ, and it's caused by the mechanism getting clogged up with road dirt. A 5 minute clean later and they were fixed. Cost: £0
The second issue was the heater was only blowing warm on the left hand side of the car. This is another issue I had with my previous XJ, and it's caused by a blocked heater matrix. I flushed the heater matrix and it's working fine now. Cost: £20 for some coolant
The third issue wasn't an issue per se, but I noticed that the car was still running it's original battery. These cars are incredibly sensitive to battery condition, and often the car will start perfectly fine on the battery but then throw up all kinds of bizarre faults, the most difficult of which involves the car getting stuck in park (ask me how I know..... ) So I decided to spend £100 on a brand new Bosch battery as a preventative measure.
This morning I took it in for a service. Annoyingly, my favourite specialist was busy, as was my local main dealer, so I ended up going to a "specialist" in Surrey who actually charge more than the main dealer for a service
But they did get me the radio code for free and fit some new wipers so I guess I can't complain too much.
Finally, I swapped the 20" Sepang wheels for some mint 19" ones I had lying around. My own ones came with 2 Pirelli tyres with around 7mm tread depth and 2 Hankooks which were almost finished. So, I paid £340 fitted for a pair of CSC6's. This has made an enormous difference to the car - the seller had just fitted new tyres to the old wheels for the sale and unfortunately had gone for Acceleras which were "interesting" in the wet.
So, total cost so far is £4000 for the car, £320 for the service, £340 for the wheels, £100 for the battery and £20 for the coolant, which gives a total of £4780. I should be able to get £700 back for the old wheels, bringing the total back to £4080.
Bar a few minor cosmetic marks, the car is pretty much spot on now. When I get back home I'm going to adjust the bump stops for the bonnet as it sits a bit high since the mechanism was all replaced and remove the R badge on the grille and then it should be perfect. I've got a few long trips to Italy, Switzerland and possibly Croatia coming up, so I think I'll keep it for a few months and then sell it on - I'm hoping I should be able to easily get €8000 for it which would be nice.
A few pics of it in it's current state:
Picked it up a couple of days ago after a long delay due to a bonnet release issue: the seller found it was opening only intermittently, so put it into Jaguar which involved them replacing the entire mechanism. When driving it away, the first thing I noticed was that it felt quicker than my old one: I'm fairly sure it's been remapped / had a pulley upgrade or similar as it pulls really hard through all the gears.
I also noticed a few issues. The first one was that the folding mirrors didn't work. This happens to basically every X350 XJ, and it's caused by the mechanism getting clogged up with road dirt. A 5 minute clean later and they were fixed. Cost: £0
The second issue was the heater was only blowing warm on the left hand side of the car. This is another issue I had with my previous XJ, and it's caused by a blocked heater matrix. I flushed the heater matrix and it's working fine now. Cost: £20 for some coolant
The third issue wasn't an issue per se, but I noticed that the car was still running it's original battery. These cars are incredibly sensitive to battery condition, and often the car will start perfectly fine on the battery but then throw up all kinds of bizarre faults, the most difficult of which involves the car getting stuck in park (ask me how I know.....
) So I decided to spend £100 on a brand new Bosch battery as a preventative measure.This morning I took it in for a service. Annoyingly, my favourite specialist was busy, as was my local main dealer, so I ended up going to a "specialist" in Surrey who actually charge more than the main dealer for a service
But they did get me the radio code for free and fit some new wipers so I guess I can't complain too much. Finally, I swapped the 20" Sepang wheels for some mint 19" ones I had lying around. My own ones came with 2 Pirelli tyres with around 7mm tread depth and 2 Hankooks which were almost finished. So, I paid £340 fitted for a pair of CSC6's. This has made an enormous difference to the car - the seller had just fitted new tyres to the old wheels for the sale and unfortunately had gone for Acceleras which were "interesting" in the wet.
So, total cost so far is £4000 for the car, £320 for the service, £340 for the wheels, £100 for the battery and £20 for the coolant, which gives a total of £4780. I should be able to get £700 back for the old wheels, bringing the total back to £4080.
Bar a few minor cosmetic marks, the car is pretty much spot on now. When I get back home I'm going to adjust the bump stops for the bonnet as it sits a bit high since the mechanism was all replaced and remove the R badge on the grille and then it should be perfect. I've got a few long trips to Italy, Switzerland and possibly Croatia coming up, so I think I'll keep it for a few months and then sell it on - I'm hoping I should be able to easily get €8000 for it which would be nice.
A few pics of it in it's current state:
Soldato
Love that Jag.
Guessing there was a rear silencer in there before?New zorst
Caporegime
Enquired about part exchanging my car but only got offered £950
Generous for a Vauxhall.
Soldato
New tips from a Z4 forum member, installed them yesterday and do like the more aggressive fit! 
before..
before..
Soldato
I love how you can pick up a Jaguar XJR for 4 grand. Sounds like you've done some good little jobs on her. Any more planned? Does the car have any common flaws which strike sooner or later?