VIN 4494 - UK Legal and on the road!

[Chris Williams]

Quote:Oh well, I can act as a case-study for their UK longevity I guess!

Yes it is interesting as I have not been told of an issue yet in the UK of the gas leaking and with the first of them coming up to 7 (crikey where does the time go) years old I would have thought a few issues would have started now. Hears the very first thread on them: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1818
As I say I really do wonder if it's either very hot or very cold states that are having an issue, certinally there does seem to be an issue with them now.
Chris

[jwrayth]

Update time! I had to delay the MOt by a month... then by a weekend... but it finally caught up with me today. Passed without advisories, so taking that as an endorsement for my hard-work

Though the pictures have all the detail;


Trailing Arms just needed some rust and flaking epoxy treated


LCAs boxed with new ball-joints


Clutch Master rebuilt. No time to pull the pedal-box, so just a quick clean-up and paint for now.


Rear-end came together nicely!


Front-end too!


To celebrate the hard-work and MOT Victory I took her for a 200 mile drive until I literally ran out of road. Fun-stuff!

All in, the jobs completed are;

• New Shocks
  
• New lower ball-joints
  
• New front-wheel bearings
  
• New tie-rod ends
  
• New poly-bushes all round (other than Trailing Arm bushes)
  
• Made and fitted new battery cables to replace the stock ones (my battery finally fits in the compartment again!)
  
• Ed's LCA braces fitted
  
• Rebuilt clutch master cylinder
  
• Fitted new clutch slave cylinder
  
• Fitted DPNW Radiator bleeder
  
• Brake and Clutch systems flushed
  
• Coolant Flushed
  
• Lots of cleaning, paint stripping, painting and detailing

[Chris Williams]

All looks very nice, you will have to let us all know what you think of Ed's LCA brackets I keep pondering on these!
Chris

[jwrayth]

After a busy day of driving for a Wedding I was able to snap a few shots in the fantastic weather we had up north today;





As for Eds' braces, it's a bit hard to tell since I replaced all the bushings, shocks and ball-joints at the same time. I've put about 260 miles on the car with them and everything certainly feels a lot tighter and more responsive.

I had to do one emergency stop at the weekend when a sheep ran into the road and it felt a lot more controlled than before I had the braces. So my review so far is that there is a perceivable difference, but unsure it's worth the ~£260 asking price. Certainly worth tackling the other elements of the front end first if there is anything else needing focused.

I'll update my review as I go though, as I need to put some more serious miles on her!

[88mph]

Just seen thread update, liking the pics.
I think a D looks arty either shiny in an industrially setting or dusty and used in the dirty. Just like the look.
From your write up, did you not fit the DPNW anti-rollbar kit? I've been told this makes the biggest difference to handling. Although also pricey.

[jwrayth]

The side-long view on the dusty road is my favourite picture of the car, I have it set as my desktop background at work

As for the DPNW ARB kit I didn't cover installation of that here as that was something the previous owner had already done. So I just refurbished the bar along with other hardware then re-installed.

[Chris P]

Looks a great job well done!

[Rich Hanlon]

Coming late to this discussion - and great work, by the way...!!


... whereabuts are the OEM Griling shocks available from please?

[Domi]

Very good job on the car, and an amazing picture with a beautiful landscape

[Chris Williams]

Quote:whereabuts are the OEM Griling shocks available from please?

I got a set of rears to tied me over in the spring. About 80euro IIRC NOS so no warranty
Chris

[jwrayth]

Rich Hanlon Wrote:Coming late to this discussion - and great work, by the way...!!


... whereabuts are the OEM Griling shocks available from please?

Thanks! Though I'm not sure on the girling shocks, my new ones are SPAX. I only found out about the bad reputation after purchasing them... But no problems so far!