dome

Should've bought an L322 m9

Excellent purchase. And one of my favourite alloy wheels of ever 👌

Jeep First up I changed the plugs in this a month or so ago. There was no history of these getting done and I spotted the correct platinum plugs on Rockauto for about £30 posted so snapped that up. It was a bit of an arse getting them changed but was worth doing for peace of mind. Here's the old ones. A few were a bit worn but thankfully they were the correct plugs👌 This was then dropped off with a transmission specialist in Glasgow to fix the noisy rear end. He had experience of these and diagnosed and fixed noisy diff carrier bearings for me. Definitely glad I farmed that out! I've also changed the blacked out(badly painted) grill for a standard one. As an Overland it would've came with a fully chromed grill but they look a bit gash so I got a standard one. Now onto the rear suspension. I have a bill for over £2k worth of work to the front of it from last year. This included Old Man Emu(well known in off road circles) springs, Bilstein shocks as well as brakes and balljoints. All good, however the back end is, well, tired. At this point I should probably mention I stuck it in for an MOT last month to make sure it was worth spending money on. The tester confirmed it was a decent example but have some advisories, mainly on the rear end. So, I now have sitting here for it Rear OME springs and Bilstein shocks to match the fronts. A full set of new trailing arms with bushings Drop links New rear discs and pads. New steering damper 2 new* calipers (cheap off eBay as I snapped a bleed nipple on one of mine while trying to bleed the brakes up) So, let's crack on then. It's lived by the sea for 8 years, how bad can it be? Actually, not that bad! It's at this stage just now. Everything old is off it and I've fitted a new caliper and disc to one side. The old springs were definitely passed their best, with the weight of the car on them there was a noticeable bend in them. They had this "hockey puck" lift which consists of runner spacers to jack it up. As the new springs have a 1.5" lift to match the front they're a bit longer. Might be fun getting these in. That's where it's at now. I've ordered a new brake line to replace the really crusty one in the pic above. In this pic you can clearly see the problem. My old stealth bomber was rusty.

Ok, I guess it's time for an update. 911 I finally managed to align things with the use of Clio Stus workshop and mate Craig being free to give me a hand to get the engine out of this pile. Bearing in mind it had been out 5 years and 7k miles ago it put up a bit more of a fight than we expected, mainly around the exhaust. The bolts in the manifold came out no bother, the bolts holding the silencers on to the car we're an absolute nightmare though. We got there in the end with a combination of swearing, grinding, recip saw and more swearing. Bastard things. You can see them in this pic, they hide behind the bumper. From the rear With those off the next thing that we struggled with was driveshaft bolts. They were toit, and again didn't look like they'd been off for a while. Once it was ready to drop we used a high tech engine stand to drop it on to. And out it came! And loaded in to the Kangoo to be taken to my lockup. It's off to Hartech in a few weeks for them to do their thing. It's not going to be cheap but they are probably the most respected Porsche specialist so having a receipt from them will make selling it easier😳 To get it to Hartech I'll most likely use the Heep. As long as it's back together in time...

Biannual. https://dirtfish.com/rally/r-a-c-rally-2023-the-preview/ Last running coincided with storm Arwin(?) and left competitors (including Chris Harris) stranded in their cars overnight. Hopefully this one will be a bit less eventful.

Am off to marshall at Kershope on Sunday. Can't wait 😁

No, it's similar though. Mine was the same colour but a J reg 3.2.

911 engine removal day today. I'll update my thread at some point but here's a couple of pics for now of how the day went.

They've done a good job getting the stickers off

You can't just tease us with this, tell us more!

I'd be interested to hear more, I keep thinking of a 2 or a 3 as a modern* mile muncher. I did see a 3 GT for sale locally to me cheap with a steering fault. Turns out it was a rear wheel steering fault 😬 Run away!

Not all disabilities are visible 🫣

We used to borrow one exactly like that to tow our autotest car back in the day. It was slow as fuck but a very comfy old thing

Well, what a week that was! I've been caught staring wistfully into space a few times in the last week since we got home. Ironically I think what made it better was the fact it wasn't one of my heaps that we took as I worry far too much about stuff like that normally to be able to enjoy things. Oh and the fact that my only experience of track driving is me mincing around Knockhill in the MR2. Not much chance of me taking Eau Rouge flat except as a passenger. Anyway, both cars made it home safe. Here's some stats from the Clio. We never bothered calculating things based on fuel fills, neither of us could be arsed. The trip was reset before Stu left home and here's the final stats. Bearing in mind that this includes the track time I'd say that was pretty damn good! The wee thing never missed a beat and was surprisingly good to drive long distance-Stu specced it pretty well with full polybushes, lowered but not stupid springs and rebuilt standard shocks (The fancy Sachs ones that everyone raved about when the Trophy was new) The factory Recaros definitely helped. It was only when we got back on shite UK roads again that it felt a bit harsh. Anyway, let's have a fleet update BMW Selt. Away tae fuck. Porsche Still Fucked. Engine removal will happen when things align. Filed under ignore Kangoo Going well, turned 119k miles last week. After driving a well sorted 182 it's going to Stus at some point to get some upgrades-new bushes and a general poke around. Jeep I'd ordered some service parts up which were waiting for me when I got home. First up, rear axle. I wanted to try a fluid change to see if it'd quieten the rear end. Correct fluid acquired along with the correct friction modifier needed for the LSD I got stuck in with my Lidl oil pump. TLDR it's shite. it eventually drained the old stuff out but took an age to pump the new stuff back in so I fucked it off and used my big syringe. The rear end is a bit quieter, it might still need a pinion bearing though but that's a job for A. N. Othercunt. I cured* this by fitting a new stereo to replace the standard one which cuts out. No pics but it's got a Sony thing now with DAB and bluetooth Next up a new Aux belt which was a bit worse for wear. THis was a piece of piss, helped by this on the slam panel Today I got under it and gave it a poke around. Grease nipples Greased! For probably the first time ever. Note my Bilstein shocks, because RaceHeep It also got an oil change-handily I had 5w30 in stock and my Halfords trade card gets me Euro Crap Parts stock at bargain prices-£7 for a Mann filter was pretty good. The transfer case has a leak and the fluid level is low so I've ordered up the correct stuff after cracking off both fill and drain plugs. The power steering doesn't feel great so I've ordered the correct fluid for it to flush the system out. I've a hunch it's had ATF put in it which it shouldn't have. Other than that it's not bad underneath with nothing obviously fucked. It feels a bit vague to drive but I have been mostly driving pointier stuff recently so I guess that shouldn't be a surprise. I might get alignment done as the wheel is off centre. It does drive straight though. The MOT is until January so I'll let it earn its keep a bit and get it through a test before doing too much else to it. A brake fluid flush and new rear springs and shocks might happen, as might some new bushes to tighten things up. There are none particularly bad but most of them look original. Long(ish) term I'd like something like this on fleet. I'd also quite like something dare I say it modern and turnkey reliable to lug me and bikes about. We'll see.

And we're back on a boat. Rammel! Dempsey's here too.

So happy you have a pass now! Relax and you can work away at it over winter👍

Nurburgring: done. Traffic was bad Megane doing it's thing from the Clio. I'm kinda lost for words as to how epic it was. The fact we were drinking til 4am this morning doesn't help. Did 1 lap in the Clio and 1 in the Megane. I was definitely a bit nervous but both Stu and James know the way round it. The Megane did it in around 8m20s in traffic and with a yellow flag slow zone. Not bad for being built in a shed in Fife😎 Sadly we couldn't get on the GP circuit as it was rammed, also the museum is shut while we're here. Guess I'll just have to come back🤔

I'm happy to be a passenger with someone who knows where he's going. All 3 of the guys I'm with on this trip are fucking good drivers. The wee Clio is a cracking car but its a road car at the end of the day. The Megane has race buckets, full cage, 3" belts, foot rest and a roof vent so I can brace myself and get some fresh air while we're hurtling round. It's actually a more pleasant place to be, even though my insides are being rearranged! But me driving? I get lost going round Knockhill, I'd be screwed here😳

Spa, completed. I'm running out of words to describe how amazing this trip is. I've been through Eau Rouge flat in the Mighty Megane 😳 The circuit is fucking awesome. We're at a village a few km from the 'ring. Big boy pants required for tomorrow, and I'm just passengering 🫣

Zandvoort done! Track is amazing, definitely a bit better than Knockhill 🤣 Had my first run in the Megane today. Running a fairly mild 300bhp(for now) but the chassis setup is absolutely spot on. James also knows how to drive. I'm very impressed with both him and Stu. They both did very well for their first time here and the locals seem impressed at the crazy Scottish people 🤣

It's with RSZ, they organised yesterday at Assen too. Similar idea though

We were shown pictures of a very young Max Verstappen in this green Clio. I guess it was his dads. It's used daily though which is cool.

Pit stop today at a Dutch Renault specialist for some discs for the Megane. Guys were ace and gave us a tour.

We saw this little Daf rock up and thought, aww that's cute. Next thing he was on track going flat oot. Don't think it's stock😁 https://youtu.be/VoNNW7form0?si=jrLTENU-0JDuDvn2