I took some time off work, was supposed to be doing some sensible stuff round the place. Kind of got side tracked, but said side track may of more interest to this forum.
Following from previous threads about camber adjustment amongst other things.
Day 1 Permagard treatment. http://www.permagard.info/
Not cheap though, £305 for exterior, windows and interior. However they did do a very nice job. I waited whilst the work was done (5.5 hrs..) a good book on fly fishing meant the time flew by. I did look up a few times, the two guys who did the car showed impressive attention to the small details, which adds up to a very nice overall result. Actually looks quite a bit better now than when brand new; not bad considering it has >21,000 under the wheels. Gave it the once over with the jet wash after the antics over the next couple of days, come up an absolute treat. Feels smooth as silk literally
Day 2 Mark Fish Motorsport - Camber adjustment and brake mods. http://www.markfish.co.uk/
Unfortunately for my wallet again not cheap, £421 all up. 5hrs for everything, including some pauses.
Camber adjustment was accomplished by machining away some material from the castor which attach to the bottom of the damper. Meaning the damper was left completely untouched and it was also unnecessary to resort to the (thinner (12mm)) camber adjustment bolts which I had thought would be required for 2' of negative camber (0 toe out by the way).
(Incidentally the car was at 1.5' negative front right and 0.5' negative front left at the beginning, backs were both 1.75' negative; front therefore way outside tolerances whilst back was 0.05 out (so left alone), go figure...)
Brakes, some Goodridge braided hose, AP600 race fluid and Mintex 1177 pads.
Results wise..... left Marks (very nice chap by the way, I felt like I had someone who was more than qualified for the bit of work I wanted doing, which is always reassuring (by the by he won the Renault 5GT championship in '85 about which he was very modest when I bought it up during our long chat (I also waited while this work was done)) heading north for a Cadwell Park track day...
Day 3 Cadwell Park Track day
http://www.motorsportvision.co.uk/cadwell-park/
I booked with http://bookatrack.com/ (who were very well organised) £175 for the day.
Arrived 07:30 registered and briefing complete by 09:00, offered the chance to go out for sighting laps behind instructor to show us the basic line. Having been quite organised got down to the assembly area to find I was first in the queue, right behind the instructor so got a very interesting close up of the line; if not the braking points as we were touring round. A nice introduction I thought.
Then the day started in earnest, hadn't been to CP before but was aware of its nickname (Mini Nurburgring) and it reputation... Whilst it very tight and basically rather dodgy in places (you will be very lucky not to bounce between Armco type stuff...) it is very enjoyable. It is however rather hard on the brakes being a combination of fast stuff and some great twisties. Up over the mountain then up through the trees was an absolute hoot. Did I mention the Gooseneck, and the downhill section into Mansfield again very memorable. Whilst I gave the brakes all the abuse I could, within the confines of not being in a race, they were excellent, reaching the end of the back straight I was braking hard from about 115mph for Charlie 1, they were nothing but reassuringly solid (no change/fade at all) over 25 lap 'stints' by which time I was ready for a drink! The most impressive part about the brakes was the initial bite, quite savage if you are able to exploit their full capability (i.e. on track) when compared with the standard brakes which I have used previously at the Nordschleife. They are a bit squeaky but I don't mind that so much. Also quite a bit more brake dust, which is rather non wheel friendly if left on for days at a time, but I like to take good care of ruby so that isn’t an issue. (Noise and dust were mentioned by Mark before doing work by the way)
Camber changes were also to very good effect; it now feels pointier; the back end feeling like it was now more mobile on track assisting with turn in. Torque steer and tracking in road ruts being very slightly more pronounced.
All in all a great few days, the car didn't miss a beat. It looks great and drives better than new.
Now then; time for those jobs I mentioned, but as I am on holiday I think some fly fishing first wouldn’t be too much ask would it?…
Following from previous threads about camber adjustment amongst other things.
Day 1 Permagard treatment. http://www.permagard.info/
Not cheap though, £305 for exterior, windows and interior. However they did do a very nice job. I waited whilst the work was done (5.5 hrs..) a good book on fly fishing meant the time flew by. I did look up a few times, the two guys who did the car showed impressive attention to the small details, which adds up to a very nice overall result. Actually looks quite a bit better now than when brand new; not bad considering it has >21,000 under the wheels. Gave it the once over with the jet wash after the antics over the next couple of days, come up an absolute treat. Feels smooth as silk literally
Day 2 Mark Fish Motorsport - Camber adjustment and brake mods. http://www.markfish.co.uk/
Unfortunately for my wallet again not cheap, £421 all up. 5hrs for everything, including some pauses.
Camber adjustment was accomplished by machining away some material from the castor which attach to the bottom of the damper. Meaning the damper was left completely untouched and it was also unnecessary to resort to the (thinner (12mm)) camber adjustment bolts which I had thought would be required for 2' of negative camber (0 toe out by the way).
(Incidentally the car was at 1.5' negative front right and 0.5' negative front left at the beginning, backs were both 1.75' negative; front therefore way outside tolerances whilst back was 0.05 out (so left alone), go figure...)
Brakes, some Goodridge braided hose, AP600 race fluid and Mintex 1177 pads.
Results wise..... left Marks (very nice chap by the way, I felt like I had someone who was more than qualified for the bit of work I wanted doing, which is always reassuring (by the by he won the Renault 5GT championship in '85 about which he was very modest when I bought it up during our long chat (I also waited while this work was done)) heading north for a Cadwell Park track day...
Day 3 Cadwell Park Track day
http://www.motorsportvision.co.uk/cadwell-park/
I booked with http://bookatrack.com/ (who were very well organised) £175 for the day.
Arrived 07:30 registered and briefing complete by 09:00, offered the chance to go out for sighting laps behind instructor to show us the basic line. Having been quite organised got down to the assembly area to find I was first in the queue, right behind the instructor so got a very interesting close up of the line; if not the braking points as we were touring round. A nice introduction I thought.
Then the day started in earnest, hadn't been to CP before but was aware of its nickname (Mini Nurburgring) and it reputation... Whilst it very tight and basically rather dodgy in places (you will be very lucky not to bounce between Armco type stuff...) it is very enjoyable. It is however rather hard on the brakes being a combination of fast stuff and some great twisties. Up over the mountain then up through the trees was an absolute hoot. Did I mention the Gooseneck, and the downhill section into Mansfield again very memorable. Whilst I gave the brakes all the abuse I could, within the confines of not being in a race, they were excellent, reaching the end of the back straight I was braking hard from about 115mph for Charlie 1, they were nothing but reassuringly solid (no change/fade at all) over 25 lap 'stints' by which time I was ready for a drink! The most impressive part about the brakes was the initial bite, quite savage if you are able to exploit their full capability (i.e. on track) when compared with the standard brakes which I have used previously at the Nordschleife. They are a bit squeaky but I don't mind that so much. Also quite a bit more brake dust, which is rather non wheel friendly if left on for days at a time, but I like to take good care of ruby so that isn’t an issue. (Noise and dust were mentioned by Mark before doing work by the way)
Camber changes were also to very good effect; it now feels pointier; the back end feeling like it was now more mobile on track assisting with turn in. Torque steer and tracking in road ruts being very slightly more pronounced.
All in all a great few days, the car didn't miss a beat. It looks great and drives better than new.
Now then; time for those jobs I mentioned, but as I am on holiday I think some fly fishing first wouldn’t be too much ask would it?…
