Arch

iTrader: (59)

Almost up to date now Had a couple of days off after Alford and then back out to Athens for just short of a fortnight. I had managed to arrange a shorter trip so that I got back for the British round at Kames on the 31st July - 1st Aug.
I arrived back home late on Thurs 29th July so only had one day to sort out my shift bar and get the car ready. I had ordered some long high tensile bolts while i was away and decided to bite the bullet and fix it properly once and for all. I used some fairly heavy duty alluminium plate which I cut and shaped to it on top of the tunnel to act as a level mounting point for the rear support. I then rivetted this to the top of the tunnel. I then marked out my holes and drilled through the double skinned section of the tunnel and into the transmission tunnel below. I removed the prop to get access and then used two 10mm bolts to secure the rear mount straight through the double skin portion of the tunnel. It wont move now





Right Kames, last one of the year and a round of the Brirsih championship as well so lots of interesting cars entered and some serious single seaters.

Surprise surprise not the best turn out again at Kames in class A3 just myself, Davie Coutts and Jac. The weather was also doing its Kames thing, one minute sunny ish then pouring then sunny - bizarre.

The practice runs were a mixed bag with the first being dry and the 2nd wet. Davy Coutts was sitting 1st after the two practice runs with me 0.29 secs behind him and Jac 4 secs behind me.

The timed runs pretty much followed the same weather format, the first run was dry with Jac sitting first and me 0.25 secs behind and Davy a further 3 secs adrift. I made a few mistakes on the first run so was quietly confident of taking some time out of my first run but as is always the risk at Kames just before we went back out for our second run the heavens opened and that was that wet track and no chance of improving on the time. So it was a first win over me since Jac started racing and its a case of taking the chance when its there, Davy finished 3rd on the day. It wasnt a huge issue for me as points wise it worked out fairly well for me.





Picture of one of the English lads who comes up north regularly for the British rounds of the Sprints and Hillclimbs, the noise this thing makes is awesome.



Picture of Les Mutch in his 600bhp Dax rush, this thing is just mental pretty much the same as Les Les and I are currently in a bit of a tussle in the Lowlands Championship.



Sunday saw a change to the format with the circuit now running anticlockwise. After the 2 practice runs there was nothing between us at all Jac was sitting first with me 0.04 secs behind and Davy another 0.7 behind me. I had over cooked the last corner on the 2nd practice run and slid over the line and right of the track taking out the timing gear and narrowly missing the tyre wall. The car had taken a fair buffeting and I wasnt convinced everything was ok.
I spent the next hour with the car jacked up wheels off and generally going over the car with a fine tooth comb. I borrowed a digital Clinometer and checked the camber and caster angles at all 4 corners and fortunately nothing seemed amiss - result Did manage to destroy the front splitter but to be honest it had led a charmed life and for me it had definately lasted longer than most others

After the first timed run Jac was again sitting first with me 1.5 secs behind after an awful first timed run, I came out of the hairpin the first time and went for 3rd nope managed 5th thought F*** how has that happened, well it did but there isnt time to look down so plodded on taking 5th another twice. Came into the paddock well hacked off as I was sure i had solved the issue. Looked down and I had bent the bar like a banana I had hit the bar so hard coming out of 2nd that the mounts, which were now solid, just transfered the load to the next weak point which was the bar. oops run killed again because of the bar My fault hadnt factored in agression and frustration into my calculation of the strength of bar required

Well surprise surprise just before we went back out for the 2nd timed runs it absolutely chucked it down, my how I laughed. Jac decided he had done enough and elected not to take his 2nd timed run. I thought ah well in for a penny ... I decided just to go for it you just never know. Having straightened the bar I just sat in the car on the line and thought just how fast can you throw one of these round the track in the wet, well i almost done it and must admit it was quite an adrenalin rush as the car was right on the ragged edge but I just failed to beat Jac's personal best dry time with my wet time which was a shade under 0.8 secs slower than jacs winning time in the dry cant be unhappy with that i thought Davy didnt have the best of days and finished 1.3 secs behind me. So a double win for Jac, but all in all not a bad weekend got decent points and learned a lot about the car in the wet.

Pic before weight reduction at the front



Pics After wait reduction at the front





Picture of Ross and Roy Napier who double enter the big Gould, this is amazing to watch and is beautifully prepared.





Again love watching Stuart and Jim Sugden in this seriously quick mini.





Big thanks to Stephen for some cracking puics as usual

After Kames it was back out to Athens for a few weeks which meant I would miss Fintry and Forrestburn. A change to the Hillclimb championship rules for this year stated that you had to compete at least once at every venue, this ruled me out of the Hillclimb championship as I was in Athens for both Fintry events so missing Fintry and Forestburn really made no difference to me.

Jimbob

iTrader: (13)

Awesome thread, have a headache now from reading it all.

Just a daft question tho, whats the black thing bolted to your bumper??

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Timing strut breaks the beam off the line and again when you cross the finish line thats what gives you the time

Jimbob

iTrader: (13)

Sweet, thought it would be something like that, but didn`t see any on the other cars.

Looks sweet, glad to see one being used for what it was made, rather than being broken for parts.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Well about time I updated this not much going on today just sitting in the 25 deg sun with a cold beer .

After Kames it was straight back out to Athens for pretty much the whole of August so again no time to do anything with the car other than park it up. I have not been at all happy with the way the car has handled all year. It has been lifting the inside wheel under entry and exit of corners which has been a real issue. On my return from Athens I decided to have a look at a few things and noticed that when turning the prop the rear wheels contra-rotated which they should not do as I thought the rear diff was plated. Quick call to Stevenson motorsport help line and my fears were confirmed.
I pulled the diff out and opened it up and found a bizarre plated diff of sorts but not at all what I expected and it definitely did not work as a proper plated diff. It has a plate unit on one side and a normal open diff arrangement on the other side so it would appear to work as a plated diff under load but when a wheel loses drive it acts as an open diff, result for me significant amount of drive lost being sent to the wheel in the air losing me traction, power and time.





I thought I had a spare plate unit, which I had bought a while back but it turned out to be an open diff, another scoobynet scam! So diff back in and another item added to the shopping list.

So decided that I needed to try and get to the bottom of my handling issues once and for all as it had probably ruined my season, especially at Kames where the car was so unstable coming down the straight on the clockwise circuit that I expected to come off every time!

I gave Kenny Brown a ring down in Hillington, knowing how busy Kenny normally is I knew it was a bit of a long shot given the limited time I had, but Kenny kindly agreed to have a look for me before Golspie. So car on the trailer and off down to Hillington.
Kenny had the car for 2 days and identified a number of issues, to the extent that he said after driving it that it handled very badly! He is polite is Kenny and not the words I would have used. Main thing was to get the roll bars and dampers working together and then corner weight the car and a few geometry tweaks using Kenny’s experience and it was done. Kenny tested the car and said it was much better and could be pushed from understeer to oversteer at will and felt much more balanced. He did point out that with some changes he could have the car handling much much better but given the time constraints it was the best we could get.

So with the car back and only two days before Golspie it was looking good until I noticed I had 10 bar of oil px at idle. Didn’t think it could be a correct reading as the pump would be struggling to produce that at revs never mind idle so had to be indication. Quick trip to Stevenson Motorsport HQ to borrow John’s sender unit but managed to knacker it taking it out oops. Phone call to McGill motorsports over in Kirkaldy and 2 new gauges and senders ordered, can’t recommend them highly enough very helpful. Gauges arrived Fri morning, sender fitted – nil fix still the same. Decided to pull the dash apart and wire in the new gauge again still the same. Decided it had to be a wiring fault, it was getting into the afternoon so gave in headed off to Golspie with a nagging doubt in my head. Pretty quiet drive up the A9 for a change but arrived at Golspie in the dark. Decided to do a few more wiring checks and put the dash back together, couldn’t find the fault without a further strip down so decided to go with the oil temp gauge and px switch as indications. Did end up looking like I had been attacked with a red marker pen as the midges had eaten me alive – not impressed.

Well Saturday morning 11th September arrived and the weather was rubbish wet and very overcast. The event was run and organised by Caithness Car Club and would be run on the Littleferry circuit for the Saturday.


The entry again was of a really high standard in A3 with 5 Evo’s, a Honda Prelude and myself. I went out in the first practice with a very slight worry about the oil pressure and did take it easy along the first straight off the line, didn’t have any massive explosions so thought must be ok and went for it. The track was very wet and a bit slippy, I was still feeling my way as I wasn’t sure how the car would handle after all the changes Kenny had made but ended up 2nd in class 5 secs behind Martin Willox in his Evo which was promising as I knew I could go quicker. The car was handling well but it was very difficult to tell just how much the changes had affected things due to the conditions.





The 2nd practice was a fair bit quicker. 5.5 secs quicker but Martin didn’t have the best of runs and both Jim Kelly and Tony Ellrick spun off killing their runs. So after practice I was still 2nd in class but only 0.6 secs off martin’s time.





The first timed run went ok but was slower than the 2nd practice run but I still retained 2nd in class but Martin had pulled out an amazing run and was over 6 secs ahead again with Jim Kelly over a second adrift of me.




Half way through the 1st timed runs for the single seaters one of them had a massive engine failure dumping oil all over the main straight and half way up the infield straight. As a result the event was halted and it was so bad they had to get a sweeper in with proper detergents to clean the track. I decided on a bit of a social call to Alan the commentator that ended up with me pretty pissed on a few large Drambuie’s. I had assumed that the Sun morning would see the rest of the 1st timed runs completed and then the Sun event started so I went off happy, well pissed and happy at a 2nd place finish in class in the wet – result.

Next morning was still overcast but not as wet, the track was still damp and most of the oil was cleared but there was a large area at Beeches that was still being cleaned when I arrived. I also learned that while I was socialising the Clerk of the course had decided to do the 2nd timed runs for the Saturday event on Sunday morning then do 1 practice and 2 timed runs for the Sunday event. I knew that would change things as the drying track would allow the bigger power cars to get the power down on the straights and that would be an issue.

Well off we went 2nd timed run for the Saturday cct, I was far to tentative on the first lap feeling my way on the oil spillage bits and by the time I confirmed it was ok I had lost to much time and went from 2nd in class to 5th my worst placing ever at Golspie. To be honest I wasn’t really fazed as I didn’t need the points and the main object of the weekend was to see how the car handled before Doune. On this run I did manage to push the car more on the 2nd and 3rd laps and found it was very neutral and much more planted than before, it turned in early and really drove out of the corners. From what I was told the rear inside wheel seemed to stay in contact with the ground and was certainly in contact on exit so that was a result.

So after a quick break and a change of the track layout to the Kylestrome cct we were into the Sun event. I particularly like this cct as there is a large hump right in the middle of the infield straight where you can get all 4 wheels off the ground, the problem is you then need to brake straight away as soon as the car goes heavy to get round the corner, keeps the heart going.

First practice went ok with me still pushing the car on bit by bit. The track was drying but was still damp in Places.





I was sitting 4th in class behind Martin Willox, Tony Ellrick and Jim Kelly. I was just over a second behind Jim, which again was promising.

The track was drying all the time and this meant that both Martin and Tony would be able to use their superior power, which would make it difficult to catch. I was aiming at reeling Jim in a bit and start to push the car on to see how it handled.

The first timed run went well and the car really felt good, there were still some feelings of instability under heavy braking but other than that it handled superbly, even when I got an entry to a corner wrong there was no understeer just a neutral feeling and a little hint of the back end moving while powering out but never going into oversteer.







After the 1st timed runs I was still sitting 4th but was only 0.6 sec behind Jim, which was closer than I had been in the dry all year. Martin and Tony were 2.5 and 2 secs ahead which to be honest was expected.

The 2nd timed run was not the best I bogged the start and lost time but had a really good run after that and the car really did handle and I pushed it as hard as I could. I still ended up 4th in class with a 77.07s still 0.6 secs behind Jim, 2.7 secs behind Martin and 2 secs behind Tony. Interestingly on my 2nd timed run, which apart from the start I knew was quick, I was only 0.5 sec slower than Martin Willox after the split time and quicker than Tony and I was exactly the same time after the split as Tony’s quickest run so I now know the car can be competitive and know where I am losing time.







All in all it was a worthwhile event with a lot learned about the car and what is needed to move it on to where it really should be.

Next up is Doune in a week’s time.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Well next up is the last event of the year for me it’s the Doune Hillclimb held on Saturday18th and Sunday the 19th Sept, organised as always by Lothian Car Club. As well as being a round of the Scottish Hillclimb Championship it is also a round of the British Championship which brings a good selection of cars up north from the British rounds. It is a sight that has to be seen watching the big single seaters coming round oak tree and up garden gate.

The short trip up to Doune was fairly quiet and the weather wasn’t looking to bad, at least it was dry. I hadn’t touched the car since Golspie other than a quick run on Fri night. The format of this event is slightly unusual, Saturday is all practice with 3 practice runs, then a single practice on Sunday morning followed by two timed runs and top 12 run off’s for the British Championship.

This event was particularly important as I was in a strong position chasing the Lowlands Championship. I needed one more scoring round and needed to collect decent points and score higher than Les Mutch in his 500+ Dax Rush and John Roddick in his Citreon Saxo. I held a 2.5 point cushion between myself and Les and 5 points between myself and John. The classes are slightly mixed up at this event due to the Nat A Licence holders being in a separate category to the Nat B holders. I wasn’t overly concerned about the A3 class win but did have my eye on trying to beat my class record of 50.04, I also expected a strong challenge from Donald Ross in his EVO as he is always quick here. Jac was also entered along with Davie Coutts and Jim Gray in their EVO’s attending Doune for the first time.



The way the classes were organised had placed me 2nd on the entry list – deep joy.
Well the first run was uneventful, steady and more of a sighting run to be honest. I recorded a time of 54.42 which was ok and stress free. Donald was quickest in the A3 class 0.9 secs ahead of me, Davie and Jim were 3 and 4 secs respectively behind me and Jac was some 5 secs slower than me. Les and John also had steady runs well if any run Les does is steady lol.






At the end of the days 3 practice runs the times had come down and I was happy with the way the car had handled, I had used lines on the hill that I had not used in the past and the car just did not react so I was sitting a very comforatable 1 second slower than my track record so things were looking good for lowering my track record on Sunday. Donald was a half second quicker than me, Davie Coutts 1.8 secs slower, Jim Gray 3.5 secs slower and Jac 5.5 secs slower. Davie and Jim were going well considering it was their first outing at Doune.
Things were on track to take the points I needed but given it was only practice it was impossible to take anything from the times other than the car definitely felt much better and more stable than I remembered from June.






Well Sunday morning and the weather couldn’t have been different it was raining and it didn’t look like it was going to be an easy day.

The first and only practice of Sunday was a bit of an unknown as I had never driven Doune in the wet so had no idea which bits were the worst so it was a case of taking it steady and have a good feel for the bits that I thought would be the worst. As it turned out the first half of the hill felt not to bad but Garden gate was interesting and coming across the meadow was an experience, got the car sideways and on he grass but managed to correct it and again the last bend before the finish straight was very slippy and it is very tight with the Armco anyway.
The times were all slower than the sat times due to the weather and everyone feeling their way up the hill in the wet. Donald was 0.6 secs quicker than me then Davie Coutts 0.6 secs behind me, Jac was 0.7 secs behind me then Jim Gray a surprising 3.5 secs behind me. All in all apart from Jim’s cautious run there was very little between the A3 cars at this stage. Looking at the pictures its obvious how tentaive i took this run as i am right in the centre of the track when I would normally have been much closer to the armco.





I had been looking at Les Mutch and John Roddick’s times and if things remained the way they were they would not be able to close the gap in the Lowlands Championship. I made the decision not to go flat out on the first timed run and ensure I got a time in that was there or there abouts score wise. If I failed to score any points I would have handed the championship to Les or John.

The weather had improved a little and was now showery but to be honest in terms of grip on the hill the damage was done. I set off on the first timed run and decided to push it on the first half of the hill which I thought was less slippy and be more cautious on the 2nd half. It seemed to work ok and I finished the run with a very comfortable 54.20 although this was 4.2secs off my record it might have been just enough points wise to pip Les and John.

In A3 Donald wasn’t hanging around and done a very quick 52.54 to take the lead in the class. Jac and Davie Coutts were tied on 56.07 with Jim Gray on 56.09. So a pretty successful and conservative first run for me.



Having seen Les’s time and John’s time I knew I might need a little more so decided to have a go on the last timed run. I had not used the high boost setting all day due to the weather but thought ah well worth a shot. I was sat on the start line waiting to go and off went the horn. Joanna had come off in her saxo so a little delay as the barriers were checked so just a little reminder of what Doune is all about. Off the line the car felt good round the first corner no grip issues so nailed it all the way to garden gate then big twitch as I came on the power, still slippy then. Coming out over meadow I had to back off as the car was sliding off the track so probably lost a little time there. The rest of the hill up to the esses seemed fine but again I got well sideways coming through there so I backed off a touch, round the last corner and just missed the outside Armco with the rear end as the car stepped sideways as I tried to get the power down, it was then foot down and across the line in 51.58 which I was quite happy with given how slippy parts of the hill were and it was only 1.5 secs behind my record which was done in the dry. This time does make me now realise the 50.04 will not be hard to beat in the dry and the changes to the handling of the car have obviously improved things a fair bit, Jac managed a 53.93 on his run straight after me. Next up was Donald in his Evo, at the split time Donald was 0.4 of a second quicker which wasn’t unusual as he seems to be slightly quicker to garden gate then I make time up on the 2nd part of the hill. I was standing at Garden gate watching and heard a bang just as the commentator said Donald had come across the line in 53.77 then he said that Donald had come off. I didn’t think much apart from hope its only a scratch. There was a delay with the clerk of the course going up the hill then returning a while later, this is normal as they have to check the course so I assumed Donald had clipped the Armco on the last bend before going across the line. So next up was Davie Coutts who was noticeably slower through garden gate where I was watching and his time was 56.42 I thought he must have a problem with the car then came Jim Gray who again seemed slow and recorded a 55.94. I then walked down the hill and only then realised why davie and Jim had been slower than I expected, the news had filtered down to the paddock that Donald had rolled his car after he crossed the line and it wasn’t good. Fortunately
Donald wasn’t badly injured but his car was in a bit of a mess. I hadn’t realised this as the car was still in the upper paddock, this news had obviously affected Davie and Jim’s thinking hence their times. I managed to get a chat with Donald and he seemed ok which given how bad the car was amazed me.







Jac taking up his normal position way behind me

Well not the best end to the event but as we all know when we enter Doune it is a possibility, there really is no room for error at all. This year in two outings at Doune I have seen 2 cars written off and several badly damaged it’s a very difficult hill to go fast as your body wants to press the brake even when your brain says accelerate. After my off at the first corner on my first Doune event , the next time I went to Doune I swore blind that I did not brake before the first corner it wasn’t until I was shown a video that I realised I did, every time and I didn’t even know I was doing it!



Picture of an Impreza from down south that was running in the modified class it was a very nicely prepared car wish I had some btter pictures as that one does not do it justice. I cant remember its times but dont think it beat my 51.58.

So it finished up I was quickest out of the A3 cars I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t manage to get a shot at my record but the conditions just didn’t allow it.
I did manage to do enough to secure the points required to win the Lowland Championship outright which is pleasing. I also managed to take 2nd place in the class in the Scottish Sprint championship. So not the worst end to the season but its one of those if only scenario’s. If I had realised how badly the car was handling earlier in the season how much of a difference would it have made? Would I have caught Jim in the Sprints, I am not sure, but it would have been much closer that’s for sure. That said Jim has been consistently quicker than me all season and thourghly deserves the win. I have not been quicker than him at any event so hats off and congratulations to a worthy winner.

Must say a big thanks to Alyn at AS Performance for all his help and advice throughout the year, Andy Forrest same reason invaluable experience and a massive help wouldnt let anyone else map my car, John at Progrip for pulling out the stops all the time to get the Geometry perfect, Kenny Brown for his last minute intervention and massive amount of experience which has transormed the car cant wait to see what Kenny can produce next year, Graeme Bremner for his support all year and also John St for constant help and advice - thanks guys Last thank you to my two boys David and Steven for helping out all year even late at night in a freezing garage, but David your still not driving it next year

So next its a month in Athens and a chance to reflect and plan. I already know what I need to do to move the car on to the next level its just a matter of funding it.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Well done

Great read. It certainly gives an insight to hillclimbing, something I hope to do next season

Arch

iTrader: (59)

It is a great sport and a lot fun but expensive and a massive commitment time wise. I hope you do go for it

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Well cant believe its almost 6 months since updating this thread. Partly to do with work commitments and partly down to taking some time away from the car.

The season ended on a fairly successful note I managed to win the Lowlands Championship outright which was very pleasing, I only managed runner up in class in the Scottish Sprint Championship which was a disappointment having won it for the previous 2 years, but saying that I was fairly and squarely beaten by Jim Kelly in his EVO. Jim had a cracking year and I just couldn't catch him so it was a well deserved win Also picked up the class win in the EACC championship so not a bad haul for a year which wasnt the best in terms of time at home and set up of the car.



As for this year well decided to have a relaxed year and the car will be out when I get round to it. Picked up a few parts along the way. Decided the brakes needed a tweek so these arrived, new rotors required but other than that they are pretty mint condition.



Definately needed to make the car handle better so these have returned from EXE-TC after a full overhaul and some info on custom settings to make them work for me





Decided on a change of lateral arms so sourced these.



Lots of other things happening with the handling side but we shall see how that works out

Also got another rear diff which is being tweeked to suit, but may well go down a totally different route rear diff wise.



Many more things going on behind the scenes that would be just rude to post up so will wait and see where the year takes me.

trails

iTrader: (41)

congrats on the win and good luck this year...Hard Race rear arms?

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Thanks Yes they are hardrace ones but the ones that utilise the standard drop link set up.

JohnS

iTrader: (1)

Best of luck for this year Archie. Are you coming up for Fintray in a few weeks time?

trails

iTrader: (41)

be good to get some feedback when you fit and run them...it's Hardrace or Whiteline for me too

Arch

iTrader: (59)

No wont be up John, cars not ready yet

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Not much happening this year due to initially looking to move house but in the end decided to stay put and do some building work so decided a year out would be the best idea. That gives me time to sort things out with the house and at the same time take a step back and look to move the car on significantly.

Decided to strip some bits of f the car but before doing so done a compression test of the engine and was quite shocked as the compression was quite low on 3 cylinders but worse was to come when I took the turbo off.









The turbine wheel is badly damaged as can be seen by the pics, sorry for the poor quality. This explains a lot, the combination of the turbo and the poor compression now makes sense of why I wasnt happy with the car. I didnt feel there was enough of a difference in performance between the 20G the year before and the GT30 last year but think the reasons are obvious.
The Turbo was being replaced anyway and the engine was due to come out so neither are a problem but I have now changed my opinion of rolling roads. Had I put the car on a Dyno at the start of the year I would have known there was an issue but hey such is life. The good thing is it doesnt change the plans for the car going forward
In fact taking the year out makes it easier to sit down and make the right decisions for the car without any time pressures that have constantly led to corners being cut.

Dazza9t9

iTrader: (2)

Awesome thread, great read!

Arch

iTrader: (59)

frayz

iTrader: (7)

Best of luck with the rebuild Arch, awesome car

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Thanks but a few levels down from your car tho

If things go to plan next year will see a totally different package

frayz

iTrader: (7)

Least yours works mate lol

Mine hasnt workd for nearly 3 years

yellowevo

iTrader: (25)

Excellent reading ,a very well put together thread and car .

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Thanks appreciate the comment - not much happening this year due to some building work going on at home and been working abroad a lot. However parts are starting to mount up for next year and itching to start getting car sorted but need to wait until the garage extension is finished

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Well its been a while since i have updated this with any progress on the car.
I had already decided that the 2.5 had to come out to be refreshed and had weighed up the options of going back out with the 2.5 refreshed or taking another route given that the 2.5 was prob at the limits of what a SCD block can take. The rest of the engine was always good for more power and boost but the block was the weak link.

In the end the decision was made for me when i stripped the engine down.
I removed the LH head first and found the bores were in excellent condition with the honing still in good condition which I suppose given the actual mileage of the engine could have been predicted. It was when i took the RH head off that things were decided. I found No1 bore was cracked at the 11 oclock position which would appear to be common on these engines when they are pushed to the limit. Not the end of the world really as the rest of the engine was on the whole in good condition.







I had a spare block and had contemplated using that but in the end decided a change of direction was required. So this was sourced.



Sorry think the wrap makes it a little awkward to see the engine

So decided while the engine was out that it was time to do some tidying up in the engine bay. So went from looking like this







To this. Some cosmetic tarting up and some things to move around but not going mad as Gucciness doesnt make it faster and hurts more if things go wrong.





Still some more work to do in the engine bay in terms of tidying and decluttering but suppose it would have been rude to not start on the inside.
It now looks like this.









So the car has started its diet for next year with a healthy start to the weight loss program from this lot.





This is just the start of what will be a long and labour intensive winter to get the car where i want it for next year. I am hoping I wont have to make the compromises I have had to over the last few years but ultimately budget will dictate that.

Next up for the diet is the rear end it def needs some attention.



Thats for next week tho.

trails

iTrader: (41)

bummer about the block but I guess at least it takes away some of the umming ans ahhing...good luck

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Thanks, to be honest it pretty much made me make the decision i was already leaning towards.

frayz

iTrader: (7)

Best of luck mate. Will be following with interest

stockcar

nice one Arch, if you did want to do something with your spare block we have just about got an interesting "fix" sorted.......

speak soon, alyn

frayz

iTrader: (7)

Agent Alyn, international man of mystery??

Lmao

stockcar

ssssccccccchhhhhhhhhh

Arch

iTrader: (59)

I am sure we can have a chat about that Alyn