Search results

A couple of hours spare this morning so tackled the heat shield beneath the exhaust manifold. I knew it was an issue as I’d spotted it a few years ago when doing my ARB bushes, but it’s pretty hard to locate and fix. Held on by one bolt, which was loose, and a cable tie by previous owners. It...

Out with the old. In with the new. Engine all done, ready to go back in. Learned so much from the experience that the next one I do will be in a different league. Now to tackle the engine bay.

Thanks Dave. As you know, b***s deep into engine now. It's funny how i see my own car in terms of its value and yet other people, who know the car and follow it's progress, see something entirely different. I value it based on the things i know it needs, to be near perfect that is, and yet...

If it's not affecting anything then i guess just leave it. The leak on mine was starting to work it's way onto the exhaust. Nothing worse than an oily smelling car after a journey. I think the problem with a lot of garages is they take too much on, so everything is a rush job. On saying that...

Autumn Red. Beautiful!

Last bit of work on the daily before I focus my attention on the track car and Croft on Monday. Got a really good TTV Lightweight Flywheel off a good friend who races in TDT. He fitted it, tested it at Donny and didn’t like it. Karma in action right there. Got it fitted - new bolts of course...

Thanks Andy. 4 years ago I’d never changed a spark plug, let along whip an engine out 😂. But I’ve been screwed over that many times by careless so called “specialists” I thought I can’t really do any worse myself. I don’t do all my work though. Mark Mayfield did my gearboxe and i’d leave...

Slow progress over the last few days but progress non-the-less. Current gearbox looking a bit weepy, which is to be expected at 131,000 miles so it's going off for a rebuild. In the interim i'm going to use my spare gearbox from my Black Gold track car, which i removed at 79,000 miles when i...

WIN! WIN! Definitely worth having a chat to them. Ask if Craig's still there as he was the main man, but everybody there knew their stuff. Good luck and hope you get it sorted fella.

I paid £175 for full suspension set up including corner balancing. He also picked up on a few other things which i'd overloooked and fixed for free. Ran the car for two seasons (around 12 trackdays) and it was gold. Took it to Rob Boston Racing enroute the Cadwell and he charged me £250 for...

I think specialist is an over used term these days. As i said try some body repair centres. Our bodyshop has a guy who's been there 20 years and all he does all day is make them go in a straight line. There was a guy called Craig who did mine at Track Torque racing in York, not sure if he's...

@FPummell Never done Donny in the Clio before but yeah, I’m up for it.

Ended up replacing 3 gaskets as a precaution including sump, thermostat housing and crank oil seal. Sump was easy thanks to an online workshop manual. Thermostat housing not too bad once I tilted the engine back to stop a small flow of oil seeping from the block. And finally the crank oil...

.

A few satisfying jobs tonight correcting a few bodges/incompetencies from Renault “specialists”. I dare say there are very few. So when I pulled the engine I immediately noticed a few missing bolts on the timing covers. How I never spotted it before is beyond me, but it is a little tight down...

Never liked my standard wheels on my BG daily but yours look amazing for some bizzare reason :confused: They seem darker than OEM, so maybe that's why.

Had this on a few of my road cars. Back and forth to tyre places like Kwik-fit, Tyre-Spot, ATS-Euromaster et al. Same as you, never felt quite right and the steering wheel slightly out of line. Same old excuses. In the end a friend said have you taken it to a body repair centre. The thought...

Great wheel/colour combo. Very nice!

Thanks fella 😀

Put a shift in today correcting all the years of corner cutting by previous keepers. Can’t wait to see this finished and back in the car.

Just helps not getting filthy when working on them. Have you decided on pistons, cams, etc....?

If only Fred. The detergent soak was to soften the grime as some of it was proving difficult to remove. In the end i couldn't get it all out and the pitting was pretty bad in some areas. So i went back to my guy to discuss aqua blasting it. He's a top notch bloke - check out aquablastinguk.com...

Began cleaning up the engine and brackets this week. 17 years of filth and grime right there 👇 Actually taking the engine and box out has been a real eye opener for me, more on that later. Super happy with how these turned out though and can't wait to see it all back on the engine and car...

I’m running EPAS on the track car in conjunction with A040/52 tyres, 15” Pro Race wheels, roll centre correction kit, -3.5 degrees of camber. Took a bit of adjustment to get the feel right, but I wouldn’t go back to HPAS for track. Other advantages, as pointed out above, is accessibility to the...

Is that Smeathorns Road on the way to Castleton?

Began stripping and checking parts from the engine tonight. A bit of cross threading going on with this gearbox bolt. Thankfully still available from Renault. Whipped the sump off as it would be mad not to and began cleaning it up. Agitated it with a stiff brush and some B&H surface HD...

Not car related but similar theme. Swapped my 1978 Gibson Flying V for a "trendy" Charvel Grover Jackson with a Floyd Rose tremolo in Candy Red. Thing died after 2 years. Go try and buy an original 1970's Gibson Flying V. I also had a white RS Escort, Sierra Cosworth 500, 205 GTi, 309 GTi and a...

Hmmmm...Solid red LED means the key is valid and authorised to start, but there is obviously something else at fault. A proper diagnostic check will say for sure. Have you tried removing the crank position sensor and given it a clean? Cleaning it won't make a faulty sensor work of course, but...

And it’s out. Whipped gearbox off, clutch and flywheel and it’s fairly obvious where it’s leaking. It’s proper manky in there as well so looking forward to giving it a good clean up

Half a day preparing to remove the engine and box. Just need to assemble the engine crane and it’s ready to come out. No major dramas and everything seemed to go to plan. I’m going to be doing quite a lot over the next month as it’s the only area I’ve never really tackled, apart from...