Forgot to mention when they tested the hazard light button they pushed the whole button out of the console lol, thankfully the lights worked and he let me off as long as I got it clipped in properly right away.
I was a bit concerned about getting the car tested, as with this level of mods to the car its all down to tester discretion and i've had problems before with testers writing huge lists of stuff because i've taken the rear seats out, not really a problem if your getting the car prepped by a garage or tuner as they will know where to send it, but if doing it all yourself like me, its best to talk to a few garages/testers so you know which ones are dealing with track/motorsport cars and have a conversation with them about the car, I had to make some fairly minor changes to the cars ride height, steering wheel etc before the car went in for a proper test and everything went smoothly in the end with minimal fuss, I found out who does some of the local rally cars and they told me what they would be happy with in terms of cage, airbags and so on, they've also recommended me somewhere to get my geo setup done so really pays to just have that chat with them.
Got a proper shakedown drive tonight, got a to do list building of things to do.
1. Exhaust must be close enough to the body somewhere to touch at certain rpm/circumstances which is annoying but cant need much to sort.
2. previously mentioned geometry setup needed, Whole front end rebuilt with castor bushes etc so not surprised about that but not bad given I did a string job on a not totally even driveway.
3. somethings moving enough to bang at the end of extreme braking to a stop. Need to figure that one out, braking is savage with the ds1.11's.
4. Possible tyre rub in the rear under full compression, not a big deal.
5. Few rattles in the rear, mostly think its just securing some parts of the loom better now that the interior is gone.
6. Exhaust noise when cruising is pretty boomy, I have some lightweight motorsport carpet that i'll try at some point to see if it takes the edge off. its awesome at full chat lol.
Positives
1. The way the nose moves around is a good step up than before when I just had the coilovers, cleaner response, less inertia, feels like less roll even though I havent done anything to the rear end, limits moved up again but have work to do before I can explore them.
2. The LSD is awesome, the chassis was already great, but the diff elevates it to another level sucking you into the corner with the rear just rotating gently behind the nose, I cant wait to fully explore it.
3. The lightening of the drivetrain, during my first drive prior to the MOT, I noticed a lack of torque low down in the rev range, sub 3-4 thousand rpm compared to before, this worried me in terms whether I'd setup the engine timing right as it felt down on power, I think now I need a remap as the pre-cat is gone, and I have bogging issues below 3000rpm, but from 4000rpm onwards its great, 4th pulls like 3rd used to, at least from my memory, I'll need to find a mapper close to me but it pulls to the redline with a much more present sinking into your seat feeling than before. The combination of several kilo's taken off of the engine rotating assembly, flywheel/cam pulley and crank pulley seems to have worked, along with the 16 inch wheels, 6.7kg each (£111 each) and the 5.8% shorter gearing seems to have paid off but until I can get it verified I wont know, but the old Butt dyno says yes.
