Coupe/Defender V8
Hi Guys,
Being that this is the first car I've spent any real money on I think owe it a project thread – over the past year I’ve built up numerous changes to the Phase 1.
I purchased the car in the first quarter of 2009. It had spent most of its life up in Scotland, where the typical weather had taken it’s toll on it. Fairly bad bubbling on the rear arches and a gritty underside but the cars overall condition had been kept pretty pristine.
The car up until its very last lady owner, at which point it had roughly 66k on the clock, had been kept fairly standard. 40mm apex springs, colour coded side strips, black badges & PH-QUICK stickers were about it.
A couple of thousand miles after ownership, the driveshaft bearing was completely shot, and on closer inspection of the gearbox it definitely was in need of a rebuild (although a portion of the damage was what was probably down to a sheered engine mount ignorantly driven on for 20 miles by moi) the general wear on the box over the years was obvious once the box was out. Courtesy of the chaps down at RBS motors and £600 later the box was out and back in fully rebuilt.
A month or two went on and I was slowly growing more attached to it. From there on in it’s been a barrage of changes both big and small.
The standard back-box had died at last coming completely away from the centre pipe.
After fishing for approximately…one day, I came across a second hand K-Tec Stealth on ebay.
The aluminium bonnet had a couple of dings in it also, so I went about buying K-Tec’s carbon fibre option.
Was fairly happy with the way the car looked at this point.
The top mounts were fairly knackered along with the original shocks so I began to weigh up my options. K-tec had literally that weekend announced their new coilover kit. I jumped into the first 5 kits for discount and shot on down there to have the kit fitted.
Things turned for the worst one morning that week however – on the way through town cylinder 3 blew out a plug.
First worst fears were that something had hit it – HARD. But on closer inspection the BOSCH Super 4 plugs clearly just weren’t up to the task. They had been put in recently just before the car had been passed over.
The thread thankfully remained intact – I was travelling down through 3rd at probably less than 30mph at the time which I’m thinking was largely in my favour
Thankfully with a new set of Magnecor leads, NGKR plugs and oil flush the car seemed un-phased.
Then came my first visit to K-Tec Racing. The KTR Coilover kit, 428 Cat Cams and braided lines on my shopping list
For the £300 price tag –the KTR Coilys are a cracking buy. 5 months on and these are still probably the best purchase I’ve made. Living in the depths of Surrey the road surfacing is fairly diabolical, and with that in mind I find the ride to be acceptable but none the less firm enough on the B roads.
The Cat cams I was especially surprised with. Although very mild as far as options go, they gave the car a nice bit of top end and midrange grunt and noticeably quicker through the gearing. Chuffed! Group N engine mounts also play a good role in increased response. I’ve read a lot of complaints about the excess cabin vibration but after a couple of days I no longer noticed it.
I then went to work on the Rust. Local specialist to me – and a charismatic bloke to say the least. Usually specialises in classic motors. Needless to say I think he was a bit surprised when I turned up in a ratty looking Clio
Both sides were suffering on the rear. Can only blame it on the terrible northern weather
The car was in the shop for about a week.
Here’s one I made earlier.
OZ F1 15” Refurbishment. Job done by Wicked Wheels in Crawely.
New Brembo Max Discs up next – chucking away the mintex pads for Pagis blues.
Impressive pads and was impressed with how hard they bit - extremely sharp
K-Tec’s guru Andy Kutler (Formerly known as Prince I mean GDI) went about removing my aircon – it hadn’t been used in centuries – the condenser was literally held together by rust and you could probably punch right through it. Even repaired in my hands it was dead weight - so out it went.
Later on I was let loose in Bex’s Phase 1 on the omex with Jenvey ITBs and was impressed with how responsive it was.
I went away for a little pondering….
Few inbetweeny things – met up with my mate who at the time had a stunning R26.
Even with a love bond to the Clio, I can’t help but feel attracted to the R26
It’s now December and the car is again down in Dorset waiting to be Jenveyed up (I’m aware that’s probably not even a word.)
Wow. I can safely say that the power delivery from this kit is fantastic. Pulls hard through-out the revs and with tremendously noise. When driving up past 3k revs I keep forgetting that there is no need to be on the redline any more to get the car to respond. Mr Kutler at K-Tec has done an amazing job at mapping the car. Torque smooth all the way through up to a peek of 162ftlbs
So far the car hasn't missed a beat - even with the freezing conditions of the week up before Christmas and sub zero cold starts.
I still use the car on a day to day basis and every day it makes me smile. The throttle response and what can only be described as savage acceleration over the standard engine makes this kit the missing piece on the clio IMO
A little vague for over a year it seems looking back at it - but most of the memories I've had have been of simply driving it - and that is where it's at :approve:
I’m over the moon with the progress so far, and we’ll see what 2010 brings. There are a few things in store still yet.
Thanks for looking!
Being that this is the first car I've spent any real money on I think owe it a project thread – over the past year I’ve built up numerous changes to the Phase 1.
I purchased the car in the first quarter of 2009. It had spent most of its life up in Scotland, where the typical weather had taken it’s toll on it. Fairly bad bubbling on the rear arches and a gritty underside but the cars overall condition had been kept pretty pristine.
The car up until its very last lady owner, at which point it had roughly 66k on the clock, had been kept fairly standard. 40mm apex springs, colour coded side strips, black badges & PH-QUICK stickers were about it.
A couple of thousand miles after ownership, the driveshaft bearing was completely shot, and on closer inspection of the gearbox it definitely was in need of a rebuild (although a portion of the damage was what was probably down to a sheered engine mount ignorantly driven on for 20 miles by moi) the general wear on the box over the years was obvious once the box was out. Courtesy of the chaps down at RBS motors and £600 later the box was out and back in fully rebuilt.
A month or two went on and I was slowly growing more attached to it. From there on in it’s been a barrage of changes both big and small.
The standard back-box had died at last coming completely away from the centre pipe.
After fishing for approximately…one day, I came across a second hand K-Tec Stealth on ebay.
The aluminium bonnet had a couple of dings in it also, so I went about buying K-Tec’s carbon fibre option.
Was fairly happy with the way the car looked at this point.
The top mounts were fairly knackered along with the original shocks so I began to weigh up my options. K-tec had literally that weekend announced their new coilover kit. I jumped into the first 5 kits for discount and shot on down there to have the kit fitted.
Things turned for the worst one morning that week however – on the way through town cylinder 3 blew out a plug.
First worst fears were that something had hit it – HARD. But on closer inspection the BOSCH Super 4 plugs clearly just weren’t up to the task. They had been put in recently just before the car had been passed over.
The thread thankfully remained intact – I was travelling down through 3rd at probably less than 30mph at the time which I’m thinking was largely in my favour
Thankfully with a new set of Magnecor leads, NGKR plugs and oil flush the car seemed un-phased.
Then came my first visit to K-Tec Racing. The KTR Coilover kit, 428 Cat Cams and braided lines on my shopping list
For the £300 price tag –the KTR Coilys are a cracking buy. 5 months on and these are still probably the best purchase I’ve made. Living in the depths of Surrey the road surfacing is fairly diabolical, and with that in mind I find the ride to be acceptable but none the less firm enough on the B roads.
The Cat cams I was especially surprised with. Although very mild as far as options go, they gave the car a nice bit of top end and midrange grunt and noticeably quicker through the gearing. Chuffed! Group N engine mounts also play a good role in increased response. I’ve read a lot of complaints about the excess cabin vibration but after a couple of days I no longer noticed it.
I then went to work on the Rust. Local specialist to me – and a charismatic bloke to say the least. Usually specialises in classic motors. Needless to say I think he was a bit surprised when I turned up in a ratty looking Clio
Both sides were suffering on the rear. Can only blame it on the terrible northern weather
The car was in the shop for about a week.
Here’s one I made earlier.
OZ F1 15” Refurbishment. Job done by Wicked Wheels in Crawely.
New Brembo Max Discs up next – chucking away the mintex pads for Pagis blues.
Impressive pads and was impressed with how hard they bit - extremely sharp
K-Tec’s guru Andy Kutler (Formerly known as Prince I mean GDI) went about removing my aircon – it hadn’t been used in centuries – the condenser was literally held together by rust and you could probably punch right through it. Even repaired in my hands it was dead weight - so out it went.
Later on I was let loose in Bex’s Phase 1 on the omex with Jenvey ITBs and was impressed with how responsive it was.
I went away for a little pondering….
Few inbetweeny things – met up with my mate who at the time had a stunning R26.
Even with a love bond to the Clio, I can’t help but feel attracted to the R26
It’s now December and the car is again down in Dorset waiting to be Jenveyed up (I’m aware that’s probably not even a word.)
Wow. I can safely say that the power delivery from this kit is fantastic. Pulls hard through-out the revs and with tremendously noise. When driving up past 3k revs I keep forgetting that there is no need to be on the redline any more to get the car to respond. Mr Kutler at K-Tec has done an amazing job at mapping the car. Torque smooth all the way through up to a peek of 162ftlbs
So far the car hasn't missed a beat - even with the freezing conditions of the week up before Christmas and sub zero cold starts.
I still use the car on a day to day basis and every day it makes me smile. The throttle response and what can only be described as savage acceleration over the standard engine makes this kit the missing piece on the clio IMO
A little vague for over a year it seems looking back at it - but most of the memories I've had have been of simply driving it - and that is where it's at :approve:
I’m over the moon with the progress so far, and we’ll see what 2010 brings. There are a few things in store still yet.
Thanks for looking!
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