Suj's Nimbus Clio 197 and E36 328i Trackcar

You will love the b14's for sure.mine is not ridiculously lowered..thank you..yeah hope Trev can get it work now with no long delays...:thumb:

As it's my daily, I still like to drive it on country lanes / go over speedbumps, so will be sensibly dropped :smile:

It will be fine now, the wait will be worth it, midrange torque cruising! While we sound like we are ragging the crap out our car to get close by :tongueout:
 
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Nice purchase Suj, can't go wrong with Bilstein, great addition to a nice car.

Thanks Ben, yeah I cannot wait to get them on.
I hope yours is done soon, DN is going to be so good!
If you can get passenger laps in cars like Nige in his MK2 Golf (you'll see it), it's another level of fast!
 
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My car started overcooling, at first it was sporadic, sometimes fine, somethings literally stuck open.
Unfortunately when I went to get one, it was Good Friday, so everything was closed....

Finding a 75 degree stat was proving hard, I was mainly finding 89 degree ones.
I could only find a Circoli one, I didn't want to use that, I then managed to get a Gates one, but I was told it didn't come with a gasket....oh joy, but then I got a gasket from GSF while my mate picked up the thermostat for me. It bloody did have a gasket haha.

So I went to change it, most time spent was removing battery and tray (fiddly job, more than hard to do).

So I took the thermostat housing off to be greeted to a pin....I took this out and was worried.

I then took out thermostat and it was broken, i've never seen it like this ever, changed a few thermostats now :-/

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I looked at the "puzzle" of parts and it looks like I have all the bits, so hopefully nothing has been eaten by the waterpump, but it is worrying!

The part looks like a genuine thermostat (I have it at home, so will look for markings), but it says "made in france" or something similar IIRC.

I bled the system (ran it with cap off, 27 degrees set on heaters, no fan speed), then drove down to the gym and back, then left it to cool for 6-7hours then topped up the coolant, driving to work today it has been a steady temperature reading, so hopefully it stays all ok.

I am not gonna lie, I am now paranoid as hell, I hate when cars do this, stupid things lol haha.
 
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I know the feeling mate. Once that seed of doubt is planted it's there and there's not much you can do about it. Hopefully all is fine and in a few months you'll have forgotten all about it.
 
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I know the feeling mate. Once that seed of doubt is planted it's there and there's not much you can do about it. Hopefully all is fine and in a few months you'll have forgotten all about it.

Haha yep, and i'm already a paranoid car guy, even a little noise (normally a song that makes a weird noise at the same time of doing something, like yesterday a pothole at the same time a "ping" noise on the track I was playing....I thought a spring snapped....).

Will monitor it with paranoia for a few days, hopefully it will be ok :smile:
 
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just wonder how the thermostat could break like that..hope the new one sorts it out...
 
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just wonder how the thermostat could break like that..hope the new one sorts it out...

I know Pav, that's the worrying thing!
I don't like to just fix something, I want to know the cause, to potentially stop it ever happening again, guys at work think it's just bad luck, as even the best manufactured parts still have a percentage of failures.

Thats incredible. And scary suj.

Was this an original or genuine Renault part ?

It looks to be a genuine part, but not from factory.

It's been running great at the correct temperature the past couple of days, so I hope it continues!
 
it looks quite in a good nick too..shouldnt fall apart like that..hope there arent any bits left in there somewhere..
 
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it looks quite in a good nick too..shouldnt fall apart like that..hope there arent any bits left in there somewhere..

Yeah exactly, it doesn't look all that old, so a bit worrying.
Like I said earlier, I put the "puzzle" pieces together, and nothing is missing, so hopefully I have got everything!
 
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I went about finally washing my car, I used some of @nickisokay Nick's Glossstar Gloss Spray, I was really impressed with it, it buffed off very easily and left a lovely shine, I got loads of compliments for the shine on my car! Only pic I got after it was clean at the time as I was in a massive rush!

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My mate Jase with his mate Will (both Uni friends of mine, but I know Will less, Jase is a very good friend for many years) own Stuttgart Classica (link) and they decided to do a "Cars and Coffee" meet (link, more will follow).

So a bit of background, Jase bought a shell and totally restored a 1984 Guards Red 3.2 911 (link to his build thread), he is fastidious as hell, if you look at the thread you'll see it too.
When he was restoring it, he was struggling with certain items, so he either had to source it, make it or rebuild it. So noticed a niche in the UK, so his friend Will who also was restoring a 911 (link to his build thread) decided to start up the company.

So it was to showcase their cars and their ever growing inventory (unfortunately Will's was still at paint :worried: ). So it was mainly for 911s but as many of us Uni friends love cars and have some cool cars we went along to help out.

It was in the Cotswolds (Moreton in Marsh), so we convoyed down through some lovely roads, the location was this cool (massive) unit with loads of old boys and their businesses, which I love as it was a perfect setting. Weather was amazing too, couldn't have asked for anything else. I didn't take masses of pics as I was helping out / talking to people i've not seen in ages, loads of people did so I will try and grab some more.

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So here is Jase's 911, with my mate Ash's M3.
Jase uses his car, which is great, it is used on the road and track, setup so well and all the credit goes to him (we have been going to trackdays for a while, including many Nürburgring trips).

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The M3 is a great spec and hiding something under it's bonnet....yep....that's a LS3 so 6.2 litre, wilder cam, custom exhaust manifolds, Emerald ECU, CAE Shifter, KW Clubsport coilovers setup by Schirmer in Germany and much much more, running 550bhp....yeah it is slow :tongueout:
(link to build thread).

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I invited two of my best mates with me (both brothers), so we convoyed from Brum to meet the others at the start, elder brother has a Nissan 350z that is totally standard but soon to be on HSD coilovers all adjustable arms and some wheels.
The younger brother has a Nissan 180sx TypeX, a genuine one also (which is rare, as most are replicas), it is such an amazing car and i've had the pleasure of changing many parts on it, it is as clean underneath as it is on the outside! The spec is massive (they were Jap only, so it was imported 2012 and a weekend / sunny day car in the UK so it is so clean), being a Jap import the original owner spent so much on good bits, we may have finally found a decent place to refurb the Ohlin coilovers it came on (I had to swap out as they were knocking).

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Now some self-whoring of my car:

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After the meet we went for some lovely food and this is a great pic summarising the weather and what cars and friends are all about

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great write up..really enjoyed reading it..that's how I feel after each meet..it's all about the friendship and cars..get together and talk cars (ladies too in my case) :tonguewink:
those cars look amazing..some work went into them..lovely stuff and thanks for sharing this with us..
taht's what its all about
 
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great write up..really enjoyed reading it..that's how I feel after each meet..it's all about the friendship and cars..get together and talk cars (ladies too in my case) :tonguewink:
those cars look amazing..some work went into them..lovely stuff and thanks for sharing this with us..
taht's what its all about

Thanks Pav, no problem.
Yeah many of my friends are massive petrol heads and have some epic cars!
Agreed, cars brings so many different people from different aspects and locations of life, I think it is great (I am actually not a massive "Meet" person, more of a track person, but I used to help the Cov Dub Meet when I was at Uni, and it was good).

PS not forgot about your PM, I'll reply tonight dude :smile:
 
So I had to go away with work last week, but I dropped off car to the garage I have been using for years for my MOTs to do a quick pre-check.

It was MOT'd, just two advisories
* Front tyre tread low (was already booked in last week for 2x Eagle F1s)
* Corrosion on front nearside spring

He said on the phone when I rang that he thinks my main cat might be gutted by one of the previous owners, which was news to me.
But when I went to collect it I had a look in the pit (first proper time under the car) and it actually has a Milltek sports cat haha, he is an "old boy" so doesn't know much about mods, so that's a nice surprise as i'm sure the last owner didn't even know, as I had to clean the plaque to see Milltek written on it.

Ironic thing is, I picked up the car going home, I went food shopping and turning right I heard a "ping" from the front left, so I had a quick look in the arch couldn't see anything, ride height looked the same.
Got home and jacked up the car and the spring had snapped right at the bottom end (the rubber covered part), it is so near the end that is why it drives the same / same height.

So now I have an excuse to hurry up the fitting of the Bilstein B14s :smiley: lol.
 
Ha, now that's a bonus!

:smiley:

Looking forward to seeing the B14s on mate. You'll love them.
 
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So I had to go away with work last week, but I dropped off car to the garage I have been using for years for my MOTs to do a quick pre-check.

It was MOT'd, just two advisories
* Front tyre tread low (was already booked in last week for 2x Eagle F1s)
* Corrosion on front nearside spring

He said on the phone when I rang that he thinks my main cat might be gutted by one of the previous owners, which was news to me.
But when I went to collect it I had a look in the pit (first proper time under the car) and it actually has a Milltek sports cat haha, he is an "old boy" so doesn't know much about mods, so that's a nice surprise as i'm sure the last owner didn't even know, as I had to clean the plaque to see Milltek written on it.

Ironic thing is, I picked up the car going home, I went food shopping and turning right I heard a "ping" from the front left, so I had a quick look in the arch couldn't see anything, ride height looked the same.
Got home and jacked up the car and the spring had snapped right at the bottom end (the rubber covered part), it is so near the end that is why it drives the same / same height.

So now I have an excuse to hurry up the fitting of the Bilstein B14s :smiley: lol.

Lol on the newly-found sports-cat Suj. Bonus !

And that's exactly where mine and many others springs have snapped. Whether thats a pressure point; or if moisture gets inside inside the rubber and help to weaken the spring i cant be sure. But very commonplace and a very common place for it !

The B14's on order buddy ?
 
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Ha, now that's a bonus!

:smiley:

Looking forward to seeing the B14s on mate. You'll love them.

You and me both Mes, can't wait for the handling changes, also sitting a bit lower (don't want it really low, a little bit more than my old cup setup would be ace).

Lol on the newly-found sports-cat Suj. Bonus !

And that's exactly where mine and many others springs have snapped. Whether thats a pressure point; or if moisture gets inside inside the rubber and help to weaken the spring i cant be sure. But very commonplace and a very common place for it !

The B14's on order buddy ?

Haha I know right, I was like bugger I hope it wasn't bodged / fail emissions.

I already have it Shuv, was on the last page, I just now have an excuse to go quicker haha.
Yeah I was thinking the same, the rubber holding in moisture.

I'm also thinking of doing bits like ARB links, anti-rotation links etc while there.

Also I need to do a sanity check on the battery / alternator, as I've noticed a sluggish start when I go gym after work and come out to start the car.

It's fine in the morning weirdly, could be a starter problem like overheating I guess?
 
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