2006 Deep Black Track Shed BudgetBoltOnBuild

Yep. That’s the one :tearsofjoy:
I had eventually upgraded to an RS in the end. House purchase soon necessitated selling it though :sleepy:
 
  • Like
Reactions: J18NYR
Ive had 3 mk2 ST's and 2 mk2 RS's the 5 pot is very very addictive, the way they build speed is effortless I have a huge soft spot for them.

Get ready for drive shaft problems when going too low.
Oil filter housing blows, volvo part.
RS clutch and fly wheel if not done already or your not upping the power.

Anything you need to know gibe me a shout.

I'm sure I'll be sending you loads of daft questions in the coming months! It'll only be a small drop, 30/40mm I reckon. I've read there's a lot of extra work involved when pushing 300+bhp so we'll stay below that for the time being. The aftermarket support seems endless so I can't see any real issues arising!
 
Hopefully! My old 6 pot BMW was good but it just lacked something. A turbo perhaps...



Looks good! I think mine will end up similarly modded (looks wise anyway). Set of coilovers and she'll be good to go.



Oi! You've got no leg to stand on after the stunt you pulled on Facebook Benny boy! :ban:
Looking forward to seeing at least one of them on track soon mate:thumb:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Helpimonfire
I'm sure I'll be sending you loads of daft questions in the coming months! It'll only be a small drop, 30/40mm I reckon. I've read there's a lot of extra work involved when pushing 300+bhp so we'll stay below that for the time being. The aftermarket support seems endless so I can't see any real issues arising!

No problem.
Just keep an eye on them once it's lowered.

Yes lots of work to go above the 300/310 bhp figure. However the aftermarket options are endless.
 
163394920_10159411874045746_7909875394248309084_o.jpg163424365_10159411874455746_7446549719903102135_o.jpg163510248_10159411873380746_5709417259276304659_o.jpg163568584_10159411873015746_8260994332249510224_o.jpg164059494_10159411873520746_4887161141223296595_o.jpg

This happened! It's got a nice soundtrack and it's really tidy for the age. It's replacing the Clio as a daily for multiple reasons, main ones being heated seats, heated windscreen and working air conditioning :tearsofjoy:

You can see the Clio in the background so that's safe. I can't ever see myself parting with the Clio unless I try my best at putting it through a tyre wall or something.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: Sean197 and DS197
No pics today but work has been done! You'll have to take my word for it...

Eibach springs taken off and replaced with Cooksport. Stud and nut conversion done too, I'm still dubious about this for some reason so when I go to track I'll take the standard bolts with me just in case things feel a little sketchy.

As to be expected it didn't all go to plan. I dropped the diffuser off to replace the rear springs and in doing so, both studs for the front of the diffuser snapped clean off so the mounts had to come off (Thankfully they didn't put up a fight!), the snapped studs had to be cut and punched out and replaced with some stainless M8 bolts. Not ideal but it'll do for now.

Front pads were replaced too, out came the OEM Brembo pads and in went a nice set of Ferodo DS2500. I was going to change the brake lines all round too but the stock ones are in good condition so that can wait. I will however change the fluid out for some RBF660, I just ran out of patience this weekend with things snapping, suspension being a pain in the arse and the sideways snow. Also had to take a trip out to Halfords as my cheap and cheerful eBay special trolley jack finally gave out. I wish I'd bought a decent jack sooner, thing new one makes life SO much easier! It actually lifts the car and doesn't feel like it's going to kill me at the first chance it gets.

Curborough sprint circuit on Friday 16th with the RSUK guys on Facebook, hopefully be a fun day out! I'm going to book Thursday off for final prep and brake fluid change so I might take some pictures then!
 
Also had to take a trip out to Halfords as my cheap and cheerful eBay special trolley jack finally gave out. I wish I'd bought a decent jack sooner, thing new one makes life SO much easier! It actually lifts the car and doesn't feel like it's going to kill me at the first chance it gets.

Two of the best investments I made for working on cars was a low profile trolley jack from Halfords for about £120 and an impact driver.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Helpimonfire
Not too much of an update, only minor things to report.

RSUK sprint day at Curborough was an absolute hoot. Ended up shaving over 3 seconds off my previous best time around the lap that we use for the group. Only marred by 2 things...

1. I've got a leak from one of my front calipers. One of the seals has gone so I think I'll be sending them off to MS Engineering for a rebuild and a repaint in yellow along with the rears. Depending on price of course. I spoke to Matt at Supreme and although the price for the fronts is decent, I couldn't stomach paying the same again for the rears.

2. My own stupidity. Part way through the day I was getting a knocking from the front right. As these balljoints hadn't been changed as far as I'm aware in the 15 years and 121k miles, I assumed it was this. Turns out when I'd tried to undo the ARB droplink I'd actually succeeded a little and the bottom nut was slightly loose. Sorted that today and it no longer knocks.

Happy with the new Cooksport springs and the difference between the Eagle F1s on track to the NS2R was amazing. The car feels more eager to turn in and holds on a lot harder. Proper looking forward to the next sprint day and then Snetterton over the May bank holiday.

No photos of any oily bits but I'm mega happy with how the car is sitting now.
IMG_20210418_160935.jpgIMG_20210418_160947.jpgIMG_20210418_160950.jpgIMG_20210418_161012.jpg
 
Cheers Ben!

Been eyeing up seats and harnesses too lately, the run at Curbs really showed how the seats may feel supportive but in reality I was being thrown around like a ragdoll.

I assume that when I take the plunge, I'll need to be budgeting at least £1200 for a cage, seats and harnesses plus the other fittings and fixtures... At least the missus is being supportive now :tearsofjoy:

I've been looking at the Bimarco seats tonight, no idea if they're any good but they seem fairly good value. I'm sure I can get the car kitted out for less than a set of the Recaro Sportster CS seats anyway...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Big Ben and Beany
So on the last sprint day at Curborough I found the OSF caliper was losing a tiny amount of fluid from the seals, so I was going to rebuild them myself with new seals but looking at them, they're looking very old and sad. So I've whipped them off today to go off to Max at MS Custom Engineering for a rebuild and paint job. I decided to send him the rears too as they're a mix of new calipers and old carriers, plus it'd look daft if I had the fronts painted but the rears were a mix of silver and red.IMG_20210502_163408.jpgIMG_20210502_163412.jpgIMG_20210502_171332.jpg
As you can see the fluid is looking a bit grim too. That's going to be changed out with RBF660 and a set of new HEL lines throughout.
IMG_20210502_171344.jpgIMG_20210502_174809.jpg
End of the day it's looking like this. Rain stopped play and I didn't fancy getting soaked just so I could clean the arches a bit.

I've decided on a colour but that can be a surprise for when it gets put back together.

Next job is to take the front end off, remove the AC and change the high beam bulbs to LED.
 
Been a moderately disastrous few weeks since my last post in here.

Max at MS Custom Engineering stopped replying to messages, someone said he was mega busy so he'd basically been ignoring all messages. Handy. So I put out the feelers and found a few other options, I ended up speaking to Tom at BTT Motorsport and got the calipers off to him last week. I'd asked for yellow and he duly got them painted, thankfully he checked I was happy with the colour before rebuilding them.

I wasn't. He tried a new yellow and that also looked crap. Seemed really washed out and didn't pop at all, it's going to be the only colour on the car (being black on black) so I wanted it bright and vibrant. So he's gone for a 3rd attempt which is from a RAL colour chart rather than a colour you can get on a car, hopefully this will be right! Tom has gone above and beyond so fingers crossed. I was hoping he'd have them ready and back with me by today but they were being rebuilt today so I doubt I'll see them until Tuesday now. Which brings me onto the next problem.

I've got a sprint day with RSUK at Curborough on Sat 29th and Snetterton on Monday 31st and this only leaves me evenings to get the brakes back together, new fluid in and the system bled and tested. This could pose a massive problem as I've had the calipers off the car a while now and as a result there's only a tiny bit of fluid left in the reservoir (I've changed the lines all round for HEL braided which thankfully all fit with no issues!) so I may need to use CLIP to purge the ABS pump. I don't have access to CLIP nor do I know anyone local that does.

I hate cars.

EDIT - I should also add that all we've had for the last week is rain, rain and more rain. The front of the car is in the garage so that needs putting back together too, I need to put the arch liners back on the car along with the bumper, headlights, core support and several other parts.

Also found that my other wheels won't fit properly as the bolt holes are too skinny for the wheel nuts I have. So in the event of rain next weekend, all I've got are NS2Rs :sweatsmile:

EDIT 2 - Also while trying to fit the LED high beams, I found out you can't fit them as the hole is offset and at an angle so the heatsink on the back of the bulb won't go through the hole!
 
  • Sad
Reactions: Big Ben
So I was given a few options of shades of yellow, from various pictures I settled on Renault (keep it in the family!) Sunflower Yellow, the pictures I saw online looked like the ideal colour. As you can see from the photos Tom sent, it was very washed out. They're going to be much closer to the radiator brace that he had powdercoated in the photo.

187450566_482014779798163_2555268717423260385_n.jpg186534273_1063508134179578_9030074202107998739_n.jpg

Next job now will be to change the tyres on my other wheels across to my original 197 wheels even though the paint is absolute shite, I'd just like some grip if the weather is as bad as it has been!