My LY 200
- Thread starter petercronin
- Start date
petercronin
Paid Member
Well another little update, rear discs are all painted and lovely. They’ll be fitted along with some newly refurbished rear callipers when I get them done in my spare time at work. Thanks to Eddie on here for sending me his used ones. So far I’ve stripped most of the paint and corrosion but I’m probably going to need to find someone who can blast the remaining areas I can’t get to. I’ve also removed the pistons and seals and loosened the bleed nipples so bar a polish with some finer sanding discs to remove the scratches they’re ready for paint (not sure what colour yet) and rebuild.
Also, I didn’t really want to spend this coming up to Christmas but it’s such a good deal and I was planning on it at some point in the new year anyway so.......
Also, I didn’t really want to spend this coming up to Christmas but it’s such a good deal and I was planning on it at some point in the new year anyway so.......
petercronin
Paid Member
petercronin
Paid Member
So a further update, the calliper stripping and prep is still ongoing in spare moments at work. I’ve taken to sanding the paint and corrosion off carefully with a Dremel and tiny abrasive bits to get into all the little awkward areas as I want the new paint to have a good surface to stick to.
I was at RS Tuning yesterday to have the Akrapovic Evo system fitted and a remap. All was going well until Paul tried to fire the dyno up for the first time since just before Christmas - it didn’t want to play - back to work blues for the dyno I guess! So he spent ages trying to figure out what was wrong and eventually found something had burnt out which powers the front roller. With no spares for it it was looking like I’d have to come back another time but he suggested that he might be able to run the dyno in reverse. So that’s what we did, those who have been will notice my car is the wrong way.
He had some issues with the car slipping on the rollers, I didn’t know this but a dyno has a slippy rotor and a grippy one. Because my car was backwards it was trying to drive the slippy wheel rather than the grippy one. He’s said that this is the reason the power figure is very far off where it should be and from everything he could see he expects a proper run to be in the normal range for what I have done to the car. I’m glad he took the time to explain this because before he did I was gutted when I seen the screen.
There was also a few other issues with running backwards, lack of a big fan which he tried to get around with by using smaller ones (seemed to work) and lack of proper extraction which he couldn’t get around so the room was a bit smelly during each run.
I was at RS Tuning yesterday to have the Akrapovic Evo system fitted and a remap. All was going well until Paul tried to fire the dyno up for the first time since just before Christmas - it didn’t want to play - back to work blues for the dyno I guess! So he spent ages trying to figure out what was wrong and eventually found something had burnt out which powers the front roller. With no spares for it it was looking like I’d have to come back another time but he suggested that he might be able to run the dyno in reverse. So that’s what we did, those who have been will notice my car is the wrong way.
He had some issues with the car slipping on the rollers, I didn’t know this but a dyno has a slippy rotor and a grippy one. Because my car was backwards it was trying to drive the slippy wheel rather than the grippy one. He’s said that this is the reason the power figure is very far off where it should be and from everything he could see he expects a proper run to be in the normal range for what I have done to the car. I’m glad he took the time to explain this because before he did I was gutted when I seen the screen.
There was also a few other issues with running backwards, lack of a big fan which he tried to get around with by using smaller ones (seemed to work) and lack of proper extraction which he couldn’t get around so the room was a bit smelly during each run.
petercronin
Paid Member
So the caliper overall is finally done, it’s took forever doing it in spare moments at work. All the old paint and corrosion removed, new pistons and seal kit fitted plus a few coats of VHT red paint (including the obligatory wind the Mrs up by using the oven) and they look good. The finish isn’t perfect but I’m happy with the result considering it’s the first time I’ve done it. One things for sure though - I’ll be paying someone next time. 
Fitted them yesterday along with a full fluid change from RBF600 to RBF660, first time I’ve used one of those pressure bleeders and it was a nice surprise to find how easy it is. Only issue is there must be some air in the system still as the pedal is rather long. So the plan is to try a manual bleed later if I can borrow somebody to help.
Fitted them yesterday along with a full fluid change from RBF600 to RBF660, first time I’ve used one of those pressure bleeders and it was a nice surprise to find how easy it is. Only issue is there must be some air in the system still as the pedal is rather long. So the plan is to try a manual bleed later if I can borrow somebody to help.
petercronin
Paid Member
And old fashioned style bleed done, managed to get a few large ish bubbles out of both the rears. Quite nice to have brakes again. Next on the list rear discs and pads sometime this week and also investigate a small metallic type creaking noise from the rear that’s just decided to start today!! Any suggestions anyone? Shouldn’t be springs as they’re fairly new. Bushes?
Superb job on the brakes. A right good going over that ! Are you available for hire 
Had my daily's brakes stripped, cleaned and lubed today to get rid of some winter 'binding'.
Good luck with your "noise"......
Had my daily's brakes stripped, cleaned and lubed today to get rid of some winter 'binding'.
Good luck with your "noise"......
petercronin
Paid Member
Superb job on the brakes. A right good going over that ! Are you available for hire
Had my daily's brakes stripped, cleaned and lubed today to get rid of some winter 'binding'.
Good luck with your "noise"......
Thanks - I’d love to yes and start a little side business but honestly the amount of time it’s taken I really don’t think I’d want to do it again. I should have found somebody with a blaster and had them stripped that way but once I’d started by hand I was too stubborn to give up haha.
petercronin
Paid Member
Do you have a link to the paint you used? I did this recently on the fronts and I used caliper paint and it literally just rubs off and goes sticky when warm
I can’t comment on how it’ll last but a lot of people have recommended it so fingers crossed. It was this stuff:
https://www.vhtpaint.com/high-heat/vht-caliper-paint
av4625
Paid Member
petercronin
Paid Member
Well it’s turned out to be a nice cheap fix for “the noise” - boot hinges lubed up and it’s sorted. For now at least! Also managed to get new rear discs and pads fitted earlier. Just the fronts to check over in the next few days (they should be good though) and it’s all ready for the first track day of the year, Croft on the 1st of March if anyone’s going.
petercronin
Paid Member
So the first track day of the year went well with nothing really to report other than I want a diff. Had a mate there in his Integra DC5 and you can really tell how much work the diff does. So.....decisions decisions, over to you lot to do what you do best and spend other people’s money - Quaife / Wavetrac / Gripper I can’t decide?
It was a really really busy day full of proper race teams obviously getting ready for the season. Because of this I spent a lot of the day having to get out of the way of Clio Cup Racers, Radicals, Ginettas, Caterhams, Atoms, Ultimas, Pragas etc with some of the closing speeds being quite frankly ridiculous. Can also say that I managed to regularly overtake proper race cars but I’m not sure if C1 racers really count though..... First track day I’ve been on where Renaultsport road cars have been a minority, me and two 182s was all I counted.
Here’s a little video to show what I mean it doesn’t quite show the cornering speed difference but you get the idea......
It was a really really busy day full of proper race teams obviously getting ready for the season. Because of this I spent a lot of the day having to get out of the way of Clio Cup Racers, Radicals, Ginettas, Caterhams, Atoms, Ultimas, Pragas etc with some of the closing speeds being quite frankly ridiculous. Can also say that I managed to regularly overtake proper race cars but I’m not sure if C1 racers really count though..... First track day I’ve been on where Renaultsport road cars have been a minority, me and two 182s was all I counted.
Here’s a little video to show what I mean it doesn’t quite show the cornering speed difference but you get the idea......
petercronin
Paid Member
If you can go for the Gripper without any doubt it’s far far better than those others. It’s not an ATB like a Quaife but has adjustable plates so can be set to your requirements.
I feel your pain. For various reasons I spend a lot of time at circuits. 5 years ago the advent of race cars on track days was small. Now drivers are favoring track days over test days. This is some what in part to do with Palmers Track Limits which effectively narrowed the tracks and so more issues happened but also because they shut the track frequently to put floppy markers back and that they are £400+ for 4 to 5 30 minute sessions which frequently get cut short because of the above. It however generally not the faster cars but the Caterham's and any other cars that have turned up on mass that are treating it as a full test session and don't want to slow down for anything and their 5 mates line astern who don't want them to get away that are the big issue. And while I shouldn't moan as I have raced C1's, it has become so popular that everywhere you go now there are at least 3 of them practicing
petercronin
Paid Member
Thanks I know it’s the best and have heard they’re ok for road use but the main thing putting me off is how long it’ll last before needing a rebuild and what happens when it does wear out - I’m assuming the plates just don’t grip and it slips like a clutch would.
The car does get used on the road but it’s only 10 miles of country roads to work and other than that it’s pretty much a toy. If I went for this I’m guessing I’ll have to get it set up as a balance between road and track to stop it being undriveable.
I didn’t spoil the day by any means, just took a bit of the shine off I suppose. I still enjoyed it but I think it was probably the worst track day I’ve done having to constantly be checking behind and there was also a fair few red flags when the marshall’s had to dig Caterhams and Cup Racers out of barriers. The C1’s were well behaved actually it was the Caterhams drivers who were the ones being naughty. I had a mate there having a drive of my car and they were hassling him a fair bit into corners, almost diving up the inside at times and there was also a couple of overtakes on corners! Should have really reported them straight away but they seemed to calm down a bit after a while.
