My RB 197

[massivewangers]

The overhaul has begun!

Managed to find a set of Cooksport springs for a good price, which turned up a couple of days ago. Seemed silly not to give it a bit of a drop if I was taking it apart anyway. The 200 Cup front shocks, new top mounts and new lower arms arrived from RPD earlier this week.

Yesterday afternoon I thought I would do the rears, as well as giving the brakes a lick of paint.

Crappy standard spring:



No spring:



Comparison:



Cooksport fitted:



I noticed that one of the rear brakes was sticking a little, so I took the caliper off for a look. Both rears were replaced by the garage before I bought the car last summer, so I didn't think that was the problem. It looks like one of the sliders in the carrier has seized up. I couldn't get it to budge, so have ordered another one.

Anyway, back down and Speedlines fitted to the rear:



The offset fills the arches perfectly:



Started the front this afternoon, but haven't got that far yet. It's a bit of a ball ache compared to the rear. Whoever decided that pinch bolts were a good idea at the bottom of a damper should be shot in the face Should look decent when it's done though.

 

[Daniel_S]

Great update!

 

[massivewangers]

Minor update. Hadn't done much for a couple of days, as I had been doing other things and don't really need the car at the moment. Anyway, thought I should probably get on with it. I stripped the front left side, which took absolutely ages unfortunately. Had to fight a few bolts, particularly the main damper to hub bolt.

I decided not to order new bump stops, as the ones on the car looked ok. Bad move. When I tried to strip the old damper assembly, the top of the damper split, so I couldn't undo the top nut. Ended up cutting the spring off and then cutting the damper in half

Anyway, this afternoon I have put the new bits in. It's all only finger tight in the pictures:



Got to say, it was a bit of a ball ache to be honest. Pinch bolt hubs are a bit stupid at the best of times, but it took an awful lot of effort to get the older damper out and the new one in.

Hopefully the right-hand one will be a bit easier, and I won't have to cut up the old damper A shame really, as it looks like it already had Eibachs on the front, unless the factory springs are Eibach too?

Once the suspension swap is done, I'll give the brakes a bit of paint and some new stickers. Waiting for the new rear caliper carrier to turn up, and also Powerflex inserts for the upper torque mount, as I have the dreaded exhaust blow to investigate once this lot is done...

 

[massivewangers]

Update time. Fitted the new bits to the right hand side. This came apart much more easily than the left thankfully:



Also fitted a Powerflex upper torque mount bush:



And back on the deck, with all four Speedlines on for the first time (albeit in need of a clean):







I repainted the front calipers and put some new stickers on. They're far from perfect but look better for now. Might get a spare set to refurbish properly at some stage.

Really happy with it now. The Cooksports have taken the edge off the ride height, and hopefully it will drive a bit better with all the new bits on it.

Need to fit a new caliper carrier to the right rear, and sort a battery clamp, as I discovered it doesn't actually have one. Will take it to get the alignment checked next week as well, and ask them to take a look at the exhaust while it's there, see if they can see where it's blowing from.

Until next time....

 

[RSRowe]

Looks so clean on the speedlines. Wonder how long they’ll stay white haha

 

[massivewangers]

Looks so clean on the speedlines. Wonder how long they’ll stay white haha

Not very long at all I suspect! I'll be fine so long as this Corona business keeps going and I don't have to drive it

 

[G8RSH]

Wheels look insane!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[massivewangers]

Wheels look insane!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! In a good way I hope

 

[massivewangers]

Time for an update. First up, now it's all settled and done some miles, I must say I'm really happy with how it sits on the Speedlines and Cooksport springs. It's just what I wanted. It's a touch stiffer than I hoped it would be, but you can't have everything I guess. Need to fit new rear dampers at some point, but putting it off for now.



I've got a Toyosport manifold to go on, hopefully in a couple of weeks, as I'm fed up of the standard one blowing. I would have liked to go down the Ktec/PMS route, but redundancy is looming, so that was off the menu unfortunately. This will stop it blowing at least, which is something. I might get the ARB bushes done at the same time, as it makes sense while the subframe is coming out.

As you may have read earlier in the thread, I bought an R3 Maxi air box to fit but, with the job situation, I decided to sell it on. A shame, but need to be sensible really. Anyway, I still wanted some more induction noise, but I now didn't have an R3 air box, and wasn't going to fork out for the Ktec induction kit. Instead, I decided to go all Blue Peter and fashion something myself.

I ordered a 70mm 90deg alloy bend, a posh Ramair filter (it was reduced and was the right size), some flexible ducting, and got to work.

To try and reduce potential heat soak, I decided to make a heat shield too. Really this should have been aluminium, but I ruled that out, partly because I had a load of 1mm steel sheet, and also because I can't weld aluminium. I don't think this setup really weighs anymore than standard, so it's all good.

I knocked up a basic heatshield, and added a port so that I could utilise the existing cold air feed:





I then painted it black, along with the (extremely) cut down alloy bend:



For final fitting, I removed the battery tray, and fitted some of the flexible ducting over the standard cold air feed:



I then loosely put the heatshield in, so I could attach the ducting:



Battery and tray refitted, air filter in and hey presto, one custom induction kit:







I've not been out to test it yet, but hopefully it will work ok. I'm sure it will have basically zero impact on performance, but if it adds a bit of extra theatre to the driving experience, then it's done it's job. And it owes me fifty quid, rather than over £200, so I'm cool with it I've left the acoustic valve in place for now, as I'll see how this setup works out first but, if it's ok, I'll get rid of it.

Next job is a gearbox oil change before it goes in for the manifold.

 

[massivewangers]

Just taken it out for a spin. Sounds ok. Don't think it's quite as loud as the Ktec kit by virtue of the standard intake hose, but it's definitely added some much needed aggression.

 

[RSRowe]

I had a noisy boy cone on for a while, but went to absolutely no effort in comparison to yours
Definitely sounded much better. Looking forward to getting the box on though!

 

[massivewangers]

I had a noisy boy cone on for a while, but went to absolutely no effort in comparison to yours
Definitely sounded much better. Looking forward to getting the box on though!

My inner child loves a cone filter it sounds pretty good actually. I'm going to be jealous of the R3 airbox still though!

 

[massivewangers]

Had the rear wheels balanced today:



Had the fronts done a couple of weeks ago as, ever since I fitted the Speedlines, there was a bad vibration through the steering. The fronts were 50g and 20g out and, while having them balanced improved it a lot, I could still feel some vibration through the car at 60-70mph. The rears were, unsurprisingly, out as well, so it turns out that National made a pig's ear of balancing the wheels when the tyres were done. Better now anyway.

In other news, a picture of it with my mate's 197 and another mate's 987 Boxster:



Also, it's going in next Tuesday to have the Toyosport manifold fitted, along with some poly ARB bushes. Will be nice to finally be rid of the blowing exhaust.

Booked a track day at Snetterton on the 1st of December too as it was only £89.

 

[massivewangers]

Car went in this week to have the manifold swapped out:



New and old:



Evidence of a previous repair:



It's better, but I do wonder if there is a bit of a blow from the join. Sounds a bit odd with the windows down. Will see how it goes for now. The guy at the garage said to just pop back in if need be.

They fitted Powerflex ARB bushes while it was apart too.

Bit of a flat spot too (obviously), but will put up with that for now. Need to have a look at the air con or alternator really, as there's a bit of a whine. Don't really fancy buying a new compressor though lol.

 

[John Gordon]

Love this. I come from North Wales and have done a few road rallies and was a mashal/stop watch monkey on many a cold morning/evening.

I'd probably be doing that in a Clio now if I was still back there. Miss the lanes.

 

[massivewangers]

Not much has happened with this lately. Losing my job has put a stop to me having too much fun unfortunately. Decided to tick off a couple of jobs this weekend though.

I bought some 200 Cup dampers from RPD a while ago, but only got round to fitting them today:





Also finished sorting the dash trims. They were a bit scuffed and worn, so I repainted them into a similar-ish metallic grey. I hadn't fitted it all as I was also messing about with the head unit, which I had to replace after the old one packed up. Since doing that, the steering column controls hadn't been working, but it turns out that the plug was just slightly loose. Sorted that and refitted all of the trim:





I am going to redo the bit above the glovebox at some point, as the finish could be better, but it looks better than it did.

I really need to clean it inside and out, as it's pretty grim. I also replaced a number plate light bulb, but noticed that one of the lenses is cracked, so might try and sort some new ones.

Not much else planned at the moment. Waiting for new front/pads/pins to arrive from RTR, so will do them. May have to look at the alternator at some point too, as it's occasionally throwing up the low battery warning. Joy.