Shuv + Mini Shuv's other Frenchie track 'weapon'.......

sevenfourate

Devotee of OCD
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Take the humorous title with a large pinch of salt. A tarmac ripper this will not be. Alot of very cheap fun it will be....

5.30am Sat 12th May 2018. The alarm rings abruptly and off i head for Lowestoft train station on route to Sunny Wolverhampton - rubbing my eyes to try to awaken:

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Getting from Liverpool St to on the tube to Euston with no time to work with was a friggin joke !

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Into the Birmingham area we head....

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Car was all i expected, deal was done and the near 4 hour / 220 mile drive home was negotiated without issue.

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Original untouched engine bay.....(Which as a buyer is what i'd like to find)

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It's got 51k on the clock with just 2 previous (lady) owners. The last for 11 years. Cambelt, w/pump etc done very late 2015 at 41k and the DVLA MOT history checker shows its passed the last 11 MOT's without a single advisory ! Came with the original bill of sale, 20+ service receipts, 12 Citroen stamps in the book, original key-card and more paperwork / receipts than you could shake a stick at.

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First job this morning was a near 8 hour session on the interior. I wanted to at least make part of it mine before i go away on holiday and i'd already bought some new mats and a couple of other bits:

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*Gearknob was horrid, so i've removed it while i was in there and a new Aluminium one is on the way.

Oversize aerial binned and renewed :flushed:

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And as the GT version doesn't come with a spare wheel of any sort; a fresh can of tyre foam was tie-wrapped under the passenger seat.

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First impressions ? Very good for what it is ! Engine is strong, g/box feels sweet, no clunks from the suspension at all so far, it rides well, brakes straight and true and starts on the button.

**Front wheels need balancing badly along with the tracking needing doing. And the wheels "need" powder-coating and let it down externally. I may go 'Bronze' with this sort of shade......

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Plans after that are:

15mm hubcentric spacers all around.
35mm Eibach Lowering springs.
Uprated front pads of some sort and some decent brake fluid.

I'm not sure we'll do anything to the engine; and as far as stripping it goes i'm in two minds. It's so tidy and original i've got a half a mind just to remove rear seats for any off-road days and leave it all alone. A couple of buckets and some harnesses would be nice though......


May see some of you chaps on track / at Santa Pod somewhere later in the year :sunglasses:
 
LOVE this mate!

As I said before, what an amazing way for a father to spend quality time with his eldest!

Red on bronze / gold wheels always looks bloody awesome to me, definitely go for it!

As for stripping it, don't get sentimental, remember why you bought it, do it mate!!! Get every single bit of weight out of it you can. Shave the bolts down and everything!

:smiley:

Hope you and your lad have many fun hours in it. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.
 
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Great fun cars mate, i had a c2 vts before my clio 200. Fun little cars.
One thing to keep an eye on is the inlet manifold bolts which work their way loose and can snap.
Tell tell sign is a whining noise!
P.S these were the days where i cable tied a tow strap to the bumper :ban:
View attachment 124138IMAG0007 by james simpson, on Flickr

Thankyou.

Fingers crossed it’s ‘enough’ to be fun, without junior getting above his inexperienced station !
 
Keeping a progress thread going for future reference :smiley:

Holiday over and man-time begins today ! Mainly just me being me and 'tidying' a few bits up i didn't like the look of..... :sunglasses:

Wheels powder-coated. 4 new tyres fitted, tracking / camber / toe etc adjusted and set.

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Was going to go matte....But HTF would i ever be able to polish them. so went Gloss; Bronze :tearsofjoy: Not sure if i made the right decision on colour if i'm honest. Too late now.......

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Hubs cleaned, mating faces lubed along with wheel bolts ready for the refit: (Which didn't happen quickly as after collecting from the coaters - i then had a 60 mile round trip to get them balanced as the wheels have a 'centre-less hub' and not many place can balance these wheels) :anguished:

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Not the best pic or representation of the wheel colour ever. But i was primarily trying to do a few jobs !

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New gear-knob fitted along with new mats:

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New Rocker cover badge; and dipstick painted yellow to begin some colour-coding under the hood.....

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Bought some yellow silicone hose for the coolant overflow:

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Whacked some wheel nut covers on.........New Wheel centre caps not arrived yet :-(

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And fitted a new set of plates for good luck.....

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And while i wait for a few other bits to arrive - i'll be tackling the outside tomorrow and Monday.

Next on the agenda is lowering the car and widening the track, along with spoiler and side strip painting.
 
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Starting to come up really nice that mate...
I do like the bronze colour just not on the car, I would have liked to have seen black or white! Granted the white would’ve had you cleaning a lot longer after use :smile:
I hope your son is contributing to this car as much as your are hahah :smile:
 
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Starting to come up really nice that mate...
I do like the bronze colour just not on the car, I would have liked to have seen black or white! Granted the white would’ve had you cleaning a lot longer after use :smile:
I hope your son is contributing to this car as much as your are hahah :smile:


Nice to see you with a project on the go. Slightly jealous if I’m honest!

How’s the sons input levels? Zero if he’s anything like mine:grinning:

Sprogs financial contribution so far = £0
Son's 'shoulder to lean on' partnership level so far = zilch
His overall interest = none. (And waning....)

I think his interest might pick-up when he finds the rev-limiter up the Pod though :tearsofjoy:

It's great having another project Ben. I feel i've got a bit more go all of a sudden and something to keep me occupied. What it is isn't important as such. Just nice to get amongst it.

Yes wheels in retrospect wouldn't be my first choice again colour wise Beany. In bright light they are a little bit Halfords Gold Chrome. They looked awesome on the example at the coaters. And still do off the car. Against Red though it's not my No1 choice looking back. Still - seeing yours a few mins ago; i have to say i'd have had a much darker Orange. It's one thing looking at a colour chart, seeing a few wheels in display etc - quite another having 4 done (Other than a bog standard black etc) and knowing exactly how they'll turn out against the paintwork. **I do think with the Black spoiler and door strips i'm imagining in the near future - it might bring it together a bit more. Its a bit 'slabby' - certainly dead side on - with too much red at the moment imo, which makes the wheels stand-out more than they need to.

Anyway. With a few hours to kill this avo - i've gone from this:

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To this:

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Which leaves the rest of the weekend for the exterior.

**Excited....but also dreading the effort i know i'm about to exert !
 
My thoughts on the wheel colour Shuv? ATM not sure but honestly think it's down to the pictures. I think it could be an option that works in the metal! Whatever, the car should be enjoyed on track for fun & nothing else matters!
 
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My thoughts on the wheel colour Shuv? ATM not sure but honestly think it's down to the pictures. I think it could be an option that works in the metal! Whatever, the car should be enjoyed on track for fun & nothing else matters!

Absolutely Jon. There's no question of revisiting colour. Its fresh and tidy and that's that.....



So much to do to car to get ready for track - even on a minor scale isn't there. I've been here with 2 wheeled vehicles; but not with a car before:

1./ Tyres have been refreshed and the tracking sorted already.
2./ Clutch has highest bit point of all time; which to be fair is a trait of these cars. IF it's on the way out - it will be first thing to go i'm sure; so i will replace with an LUK item.
3./ Brake fluid will want changing to something with a higher boil point / refreshing - at the very least to start with.
4./ Although a pretty firm ride - it will want lowering / stiffening i'd have thought to at least try to exploit its handling. Again at the very least. H+R do springs for these cars which might be on-point. I'm about to research.
5./ Roll cage - should i really be getting a half cage. Is there actually any point to that (?). You don't do your flies halfway up, you don't eat half a nice meal. So as this is a supposed to be a cheap 'off-road' car - should i forget that completely if a full cage cost is prohibitive ?
6./ And once there (?); there's the whole 'stripping' issue - and how far do i then go with that. But thats in the future for the moment.
7./ And of course i will refresh oil, filter, plugs and gearbox oil before hitting the track / santa pod.


Apart from the above...........anything else i'm desperately missing out on immediately ?
 
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Brakes... you’ve mentioned the fluid but what about the discs / pads?

If your wanting to keep the interior then fitting a full cage will be difficult. Partial strip of the rear with a half cage would be ideal???
 
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Brakes... you’ve mentioned the fluid but what about the discs / pads?

If your wanting to keep the interior then fitting a full cage will be difficult. Partial strip of the rear with a half cage would be ideal???

I'll see how the standard discs / pads fare first - they are all in good nick as i saw that with my own eyes yesterday. Fluid - who knows; hence the change. Plus thats cheaper than discs and pads a this stage with alot on the table....

Yea - the strip and cage idea was an all in one combined scrambled brain thought. And hence why the stripping came with a (?) after what happens regarding a cage. I realise one likely can't happen without the other. But if a half cage is a waste of time and effort [And were talking in terms of safety here], then i still have the option to leave in road trim. If a cage of some sort does go in; i may aswell then strip, or of course be forced to.
 
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If you’re doing the pod first to give him experience I wouldn’t bother yet with the brakes and half cage.

See if he likes it and gets the buzz.
Cage adds more weight than you’re likely to strip out. But does add kudos and drama! I’d only add it if you don’t feel safe:grinning:
 
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Shuv when you got the wheels powder coated did they do the centre caps too?

They usually wet spray those - lad at work had his wheels p/coated and centre caps wet-sprayed during the week. Being plastic (Normally) you can't powdercoat the centre-caps......

I've bought some new / different ones so didn't have them done. What you see in the pics is the centre of the wheel.
 
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Think this is brilliant Shuv. Fingers crossed Shuv Jr enjoys it and follows in your footsteps!! Quite like the wheel colour myself, made me chuckle that the yellow hoses have come out already.

Enjoy it for what it is. Father-son time more than anything. Was just a few weeks ago me and a couple of mates were talking about one of their dad’s and how he was fit as a fiddle and a legend of a bloke, only to find out yesterday that he died of a heart attack and an underlying (never found) heart problem. Don’t want to drag this thread down because it’s absolutely awesome but it’s so important nowadays to remember life is too short to hang around. Get in that driving seat and rant the balls out of it!!!!

P.S. black badges required ASAP.
 
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Think this is brilliant Shuv. Fingers crossed Shuv Jr enjoys it and follows in your footsteps!! Quite like the wheel colour myself, made me chuckle that the yellow hoses have come out already.

Enjoy it for what it is. Father-son time more than anything. Was just a few weeks ago me and a couple of mates were talking about one of their dad’s and how he was fit as a fiddle and a legend of a bloke, only to find out yesterday that he died of a heart attack and an underlying (never found) heart problem. Don’t want to drag this thread down because it’s absolutely awesome but it’s so important nowadays to remember life is too short to hang around. Get in that driving seat and rant the balls out of it!!!!

P.S. black badges required ASAP.

BLACK BADGES. Now there's an brilliant idea ! :sunglasses:

Once we get a few bare essentials done; and are on 'track' - i'm positive he'll love it. I hope so anyway buddy - cheers. Hopefully we'll meet-up somewhere along the line......

Had a fairly mammoth (15 hours all in) exterior clean yesterday and finishing early this morning; with the normal: De-tar and iron-out, snow-foam, wash and dry, clay-bar, SRP, two coats of wax, tyres treated, wheels sealed and trims done.

And i'm clearly better at detailing than photography. Because with many tries with three camera's the pics are still fairly shoddy; and i still can't properly capture the wheel colour [2nd pic about as good as it gets]. It's growing on me though. Definitely not 'f**k me - thats amazing and i need it in my life' colour-wise. But not offensive either. Imo :smirk:

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Your a mad man and throughly dedicated to cleaning... think your username should be changed to “Mr Clean” lol
I think the 3rd pic shows of the wheels better but needs some lows and spacers...

I’m with Ben that it needs black badges to the front and maybe full debadge the rear?
 
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