2006 Deep Black Track Shed BudgetBoltOnBuild

[Helpimonfire]

2 potential colours...



I think the blue would look odd against a black car. The original green I was looking at is a bit too dull and lifeless. Yellow is looking to be a winner at the minute...

We do have a few others but we'll see. Also, if the car passes the MOT on Tuesday I'll be treating it...

More spaces to be watched

 

[Chris]

Yellow is always a winner!

 

[sevenfourate]

Think hard on the shade of Yellow though IMO. Being quite involved in H+S on an everyday basis - the above shade shouts hard-hat, safety barrier, machine guarding of some sort or protection post to me.

Maybe a slightly darker 'Mustard' type shade ?

Just an opinion

 

[///M]

Yellow mate. Looks brilliant on a black car!

 

[Helpimonfire]

Think hard on the shade of Yellow though IMO. Being quite involved in H+S on an everyday basis - the above shade shouts hard-hat, safety barrier, machine guarding of some sort or protection post to me.

Maybe a slightly darker 'Mustard' type shade ?

Just an opinion

Funny you should say that... That's the colour they paint all of the safety guards, barriers etc...

My original idea was green, but it's not close enough to Kawasaki green as seen here...


There's another shade of blue and also a nice red...


Decisions decisions...

 

[///M]

Yellow. Still yellow. Give it a good few top coats of clear coat and black Brembo logo. Will look mint.

 

[Helpimonfire]

My second hand calipers are red and it's giving me the horn... I think yellow is the way forward though!

 

[Big Ben]

Safety barrier yellow or a sexier name that for the life of me I can't think of...!

 

[sevenfourate]

Safety barrier yellow or a sexier name that for the life of me I can't think of...!

JCB Yellow. "Built to last"


***Cough.

 

[Chris]

Canary yellow!

 

[Helpimonfire]

So the brake paint and refurb, along with new wheels are on hold right now. Turns out my calipers weren't knackered, it was a pair of seized handbrake cables and crap stuck in the handbrake assembly on the calipers. Good thing I suppose as the second hand calipers I bought, both have knackered bleed nipples! Oh well. More bad news too...

My manifold has gone from a bit trumpy to morning after an evening on curry and beers.

On the upside, I'm now booked with Engine Dynamics for a manifold change and remap on the 18th. Looks like I'll be getting my bike out for a few weeks in the meantime as I've got an MOT to fail tomorrow!

 

[///M]

Win some lose some eh mate?

Manifold issues, feel for you, having the same. But when it's fixed and the remap is done you'll be happy as Larry.

 

[Helpimonfire]

So my MOT has been and gone.

Failed.

On the handbrake which I knew it would. I've got new cables being delivered tomorrow afternoon from @renaultpartsdirect and then onto the retest on Thursday!

The car scraped through emissions, does help I'd shown the tester my confirmation from Engine Dynamics of a new manifold being fitted, he was lenient on me which is nice.

 

[Pav]

that bloody handbrake!!glad its being sorted

 

[Helpimonfire]

Update for tonight... No pictures because my hands were covered in brake dust, oil, grease and other nastiness :shocked:

Anyway. Handbrake cables changed without much drama, other than having to rebuild my exhaust heat shield after it fell apart in my hands. I now have a working handbrake! And it releases too!

Next up was a service. It was a little overdue (by about 1,000 miles). Used a genuine Renault filter, Elf Evolution 5w40 as recommended and a new set of spark plugs, now this was interesting... I put in a set of NGK Laser Platinum at a cost of around £45 which I don't mind paying, obviously the previous owner took offence to the price and put 3 different kinds of plugs in! No wonder it was running a bit rough at times!

Solved now, running smooth and after cleaning the coil packs up, it's also made the dreaded flat-spot less noticeable at 2.5k RPM.

Roll on tomorrows MOT retest!

 

[sevenfourate]

My fingers are crossed for you.

I'm sure the effort today will be worth it. 'On paper' and not. Literally !

 

[Big Ben]

Good work getting your hands dirty!
Amazing how people skimp on a spark plug!!
All this needs doing in time for your re-map as you know. Onwards and upwards

 

[Helpimonfire]

Upon closer inspection of the old plugs there were only 2 different types. Rather than the 3 I'd originally thought. But still...

The newer of the old ones we're done up finger tight and the old ones (possibly original, most likely from the 36k service - 63k miles ago!) Were stupidly tight. I think I may replace the ignition coils before my remap. They look like they've seen better days.

Any suggestions on coils?

 

[tcw]

Update for tonight... No pictures because my hands were covered in brake dust, oil, grease and other nastiness :shocked:

Anyway. Handbrake cables changed without much drama, other than having to rebuild my exhaust heat shield after it fell apart in my hands. I now have a working handbrake! And it releases too!

Next up was a service. It was a little overdue (by about 1,000 miles). Used a genuine Renault filter, Elf Evolution 5w40 as recommended and a new set of spark plugs, now this was interesting... I put in a set of NGK Laser Platinum at a cost of around £45 which I don't mind paying, obviously the previous owner took offence to the price and put 3 different kinds of plugs in! No wonder it was running a bit rough at times!

Solved now, running smooth and after cleaning the coil packs up, it's also made the dreaded flat-spot less noticeable at 2.5k RPM.

Roll on tomorrows MOT retest!

For future reference - always check RPD for stuff like plugs - they're just £26 delivered off there - apologies its a bit late now.

 

[Helpimonfire]

So. Today was the big day.

I set off at 6am to head down to Kelvedon, Essex to see a man named Andy. He was kind enough to charge me much less than Renault wanted to, for a better service. He took off my old exhaust manifold and replaced it with one he made earlier (he needs a job on Blue Peter if that still exists!). The new (remanufactured) on has new flexis and the pre-cat removed. This was done and while the subframe was off, he replaced a couple of ARB droplinks and a anti-rotational link too.

Then came a power run to see where he needed to do some work.


Here's a closer look at the offending area.

Crikey.

Anyway, we made 187.5bhp and 152.8lb/ft torque. Considering the car is 11 years old and is rapidly approaching 100,000 miles (currently on 99,680) I'd say it's done well!

2 hours of power runs, fettling and fine tuning he ended up with...


That's better! 197.2bhp and 159.3lb/ft torque. More importantly though, the flatspot has gone and the second flatspot at 4300rpm isn't noticeable at all.

Well worth the £800 I paid him!