Zubans LY RS200

[Zuban]

Bought this car late 2015. Its a FF cup, recaro's, yellow interior pack, already came with KW v3 Coilovers and Geo setup by Mark Fish.

Since then its mostly been a van whilst the other half surprised me by moving into my house and wanting the garden done....


Thankfully Van duty is now over, and I can get on with getting this thing ready for some track days.

 

[Zuban]

Had a couple of issues, first was the front springs snapping, replaced with a pair from cobra. I cant help but think of curly fries when I look at these.


Next I had the good fortune of defeating the odds and managing to get a tiny stone wedged between the radiator fan cowling and the radiator, causing the coolant to pee out everywhere. So new rad was in order. My pet mechanic was keen to lend a hand. I removed the aircon at this point as it was pathetic.

 

[Zuban]

just before Christmas last year one of the o2 sensors packed it in, the car was due an mot early Jan so I decided to ignore it for most of winter and walked to work, I've now shifted the mot date so its not just after Christmas, and I can actually get to doing things. First job has been to change out the steering wheel for the one off my previous track car, and change the seats.

Holy F**k that's yellow is the usual reply, but its awesome to sit inside, and saves a fair amount of weight. The carpets are out getting cleaned and the inside is gutted while a rear cage with harness bar is to be installed in the next couple of weeks.

 

[Cossers]

Holy f**k their yellow! Lol, love the sand, cement and bricks that made me laugh

 

[sevenfourate]

Glad I've got sunglasses on reading this. The pics should come with a warning. Certainly a bright interior....

Bet it handles well with the Mark Fish treatment. Very nice.

'Van duties' pictures make me cringe. Glad your over that stage !

Enjoy your car my friend....

 

[Big Ben]

At least you never went whole hog with the van duties and stuck a roof rack on
Nice car. Hope you get her on track soon.

 

[///M]

What a great start to a build thread!

That first photo is absolutely fantastic!

 

[Zuban]

Because the floor is fairly flat at the back and with uprated suspension its suprising what you can fit in there, I had a cement mixer in there at one point lol.

 

[Jimmy]

From those first photos, you could definitely say this is a 'build' thread

Sorry, no more terrible puns... LY and that stance make for a fantastic looking 200, very nice. I like those seats as well, full on sunglasses spec!

I had a feeling @sevenfourate would flip out when he saw that payload in the back

 

[Zuban]

fitted a powerflex torque mount, that's quite good isn't it! I felt like the stock mounts were way to soft, could be age? but its far better now with that mount alone. I have the upper gearbox mount and lower mount to fit, will leave the last engine mount stock.

The interior is currently gutted ready and waiting for the cage and harness's being fitted next week. Its a bit too much to put up with long term with just the bare metal, so carpets and some sound deadening will go back in after the cage is fitted.

Also have lightweight crank pulley to fit as well as the powerflex mounts, how much hassle is it to fit these? the garage will have the car on the ramps to fit the cage and harness plates, would it add much for them to pop these in aswell?

 

[LOCKE]

I'm still in shock seeing the bricks in the back of your car! :shocked:

 

[Pav]

like the fact that the car gets used for all sorts..looks great with them seats..

 

[Zuban]

Got the car back from the garage after they fitted the cage and harness's. They commented on how hard the floor was when drilling it which was interesting.

The father of the owner was getting ready to eat a really tasty looking roll with square sausage and egg, I was well jealous, I wanted one... I should have realised at this point I wasn't going to be able to do up those harness's. And I was right, serious sweat just trying to get the lap belt done up!. time and giving into temptation too many times hasn't improved my figure so I've ordered some of the schroth extensions for the lap belts. They are actually fine once done up, its just right on the edge of adjustment, so a bit of wiggle room is needed. Lots of setting them up still to do.

Next job is to get the car re-carpeted and start to look at anything that's still rubber in the car suspension wise. I've found that with the cage the balance has a changed a bit and i'm able to put a bit more energy into the car whilst cornering, interesting process.

 

[nutnutwelshman]

Love it I love the Bee seats just enjoy it my friend

 

[Zuban]

Thanks, getting used to people having opinions on the choice of colour, "its a theme" was the latest soft comment lol. Its fine to not like it or think it too much, I love sitting in it and when you are all buckled in its a great experience.

Its now 10 years since I was last out on track in my celica, it was a superb car, i'm just looking for a similar experience from the clio. My celica at combe 10 years ago

 

[Zuban]

Have been making some slow progress. After finding the cage had not been fitted correctly and a trip back to the garage they have done a pretty tidy job of it. The mounting blocks that go behind the front seats were not fully bolted in, basically the guy I trusted to do the job went off on holiday and left it to one of his mechanics, who despite the various phone numbers and contact details for safety designs, mark fish, and myself.... just guessed at it and got it a bit wrong..

anyway after a word they quickly sorted the bolts not done up and some not even in the car at all...

moving on..

Took the car to my local show and shine and it was well received, lots of love for the yellow look, and a weird moment where a woman was convinced it was wrapped and not paint.
lovely beading


I've been working on the interior a bit this week whilst on holiday and been keeping some notes on the weight I've removed, I haven't worked out yet what will be going back in but should be a lot less. These weights were taken with a set of luggage scales mostly so just ballpark figures. If anyone knows the actual weight of a pair of recaro's please let me know.

Item Weight (KG)
Curtain airbags 2.3 Pair
Seat belt height adjusters 0.9 Pair
Front carpet 3.4
Tailgate plastics 1.3
B pillar plastics 0.9 Pair
Cardboard from roof 0.3
Roof lining 1.83
Under carpet foam 3.1
Rear quarter plastics 3.2 Pair
Rear quarter plastics upper 1.6 Pair
Assorted parts of trim part 1 1.2
Mid carpet 2.5
Foam under gearstick 0.1
Front seat belts 3.6 Pair
Rear seat belts 2 Pair
Front speakers 0.5 Pair
Rear spearkers 0.5 Pair
Roof Tar 2.8
Isofix bracket 3
Reat seat back passenger side 5.37
Rear seat back drivers side 8
Rear seat bench 4.5
Air con pump 5.4
Air con pipes 0.75
Air con radiator 2
Recaro seats (estimate) 51 Pair

 

[Zuban]

Managed a couple more tweaks today despite wind and rain! fitted a powerflex gearbox mount, and painted the inlet manifold and throttle body.

 

[Yiannis197]

Bloody hell Ian were those springs the one that came with the KWs? Shocking!

How do you find the powerflex torque mount? I've got the lower mount Powerflex insert but I'll be removing it shortly as it gives vibrations (mine is a weekend car).

 

[Zuban]

Yeah it was the original kW springs!

The torque mount is great it has taken almost all of the engine movement away, there is some extra vibration, it is not too much for me though. I now have the gearbox mount and cannot say I noticed anything other than the gearshift feels a bit better. The lower engine mount is still waiting to be fitted!

 

[Zuban]

Been a long time since I updated this thread, the car's been off the road since sometime in 2018, and is currently in the final few jobs before getting a fresh MOT. I only intended to take it off the road for a few months, but the arrival of two children, getting married and some of the busiest years at work I've ever had has meant its protracted and the plans changed a bit along the way.

I sent it for an MOT last week but it was too low at the front for them to test it properly, but it did give me a chance to test all the changes, and get some input from the tester as a lot has been changed since its last MOT where it was still standard bar a set of kw v3's. I'll be making some adjustments and sending it for a test in the next few weeks so fingers crossed.

Before it was taken off the road, I had just installed the seats, harness and half cage and changed the steering wheel. The reason to take it off the road is generally I do as much maintenance and any upgrades myself as I enjoy it and would rather spend the money on the tools than pay someone else when it comes to my hobbies which I'm fortunate enough that this car falls under that category. I thought it would be three months work, not three years!. The car needed the timing belt changed, the exhaust manifold flexi's had failed and the upper ball joints on the front suspension were creaking so needed changed, so I set out to do those jobs, and this is what happened.

September 2018, pulled the front end apart, my now wife came home to find the front bumper in the living room.. she still married me.


Engine and gearbox in the shed ready to change the timing belt and water pump etc.




This is where things went a bit off plan... the timing belt, inlet cam phaser and water pump was changed, along with a Megane 225 solid exhaust cam pulley (700grams lighter roughly iirc) and lightweight alloy crank pulley.

ARP rod bolts in case the rev limit gets raised at some point.


Took the gearbox apart and fitted a Val Racing LSD, having never dealt with a gearbox before I found this job particularly, umm, interesting.




New val racing diff, new bearings and seals were all installed.


New slave cylinder.