Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Are you going to go with the T8?

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Sentinel still has this: http://www.sentinelcars.co.uk/used-cars/7104186-volvo-v90-2.0-d5-r-design-235bhp-powerpulse-awd-auto/

Saw it close up when I went there for a service interval. Was very DO WANT.

They want strong money for a second hand car, I would say?

Chris Achilleos.

This 😍

Just arrived home to find my new rear exhaust section, I think I misinterpreted the listing. Thought it was 2.5" all the way including the tip...

It is not.

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Now that's a Scooby exhaust. Did it come with a free vape?

ha!

Someone poor sod has to take me all the way back to London from just outside Edinburgh. I shall mostly be sleeping, although I do have control garmin update laptop, so may watch Harry Potter.

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Charcoal canister delete and washer bottle relocation I approve, but I reckon you'll miss air con. If I didn't have a throttle bodied car I'd car I wouldn't have gotten rid of air con. I technically shouldn't have power steering either as it's a parasitic draw on throttle response.

Track was good, it was good to shakedown the car.

We discovered the steering rack is not centred on the car so I couldn't get a proper alignment done. The drive to Wales was sketchy AF, the wheels had no alignment at all, my new proper semi slicks hadn't seated on the rim properly so I had to stop at every services to top up one of the tyres (luckily the other 3 got hot enough to pop on), it was chucking it down, so as well as wandering all over the road the steering wheel was immensely grabby as each front tyre independently did a micro aquaplane, and I had to also keep adjusting the tension of the throttle cable because it would either stick open at WOT (terrifying) or be too slow to return.

Kwik Fit in Bridgend managed to get the front wheels vaguely pointing in the right direction after discovering the steering rack issue, so I headed back to the track to try out the brakes which had been iffy so far.

Even with all the issues, the car was massively capable. Jumping kerbs seated the last tyre, but I was getting heavy scrubbage on the front right when cornering hard into "Bus Stop". I didn't want to harden the suspension any more because it was on the verge of getting skittish and I was getting some understeer but inflating the rears some more helped that right out and I was able to properly steer the car with the throttle mid corner.

It took me about 10 laps to get into the groove of the car, and then it was just back like it used to be, it felt the same, but different. It took me about 20 laps to remember how to change gear from 2nd to 3rd quickly, but once I got the hang of that again it wasn't an issue. Unfortunately I ripped the upper shift boot in the process, so don't buy a Jass Performance shift boot, I had to modify when it was new to get it to fit, and according to the service/modification schedule I keep, it's lasted approximately 1,000 miles. Given that it's more expensive than an OEM part which should last about 50,000 miles, it's a bag of shit.

I am reluctant to roll my arches to accommodate the 8" wide, low offset wheels, as the car is so original and mint, but it may be inevitable. Now I've had a taste of how close I can get to a sorted forced induction MX5 on track, I'm too competitive to take a step backwards with narrower wheels.

Oh the brakes finally came alive on track, the Carbotechs that were on the car when it was sitting still for 7 months were dead, in terms of meat on the backing plate, they looked brand new, but they had "gone off" and just wouldn't grip the discs at all. So on the Thursday when I picked the car up, we swapped them for brand new EBC Yellow Stuff pads which Skuzzle Motorsport had on the shelf, they didn't really do much either at first, but I drove home riding the brakes with my left foot and dragging the handbrake at times, and repeated that the day after on the way to Wales. As soon as I'd done a few laps on track, the hard braking got the Nitrac grooved discs and Yellow Stuff pads properly up to temp and I think it wiped off the old Carbotech deposits and transferred a decent amount of Yellow Stuff onto the discs really improving bite and feel. The pedal has gone a tiny bit longer after the weekend so a bleed is required, plus the initial bite is still quite hard so I'm wondering if there's a vacuum/servo issue.

You won't be home before midnight. They're limited to 60 I think and regular rest stops mean it takes forever. It took over 7 hours to do Sandbach to Hornchurch (Essex) when my clutch gave out on the M6.

It's possible you'll be swapped over mid journey too.

how big a deal is the bigger tyre? honest question. I know on the b that I struggled to get the 195s hot enough, so the additional benefit from the bigger tyres was moot...

Not so bad, I (and 3 passengers+a bike) had to be taken from Fort William back to london when my coil pack died, it took 4 different recovery trucks, 2 hotel rooms and a courtesy car.

I can definitely get the tyres hot enough, the DMack Trackday tyres actually come up narrow compared to the Yoko A048R and the Nankang AR1 which are proper bulgey and wide, so I probably wouldn't lose grip going down to a 7" wheel.

I could try getting some cheap wheels and trying them out before committing.

Nah just come obnoxious stickers

Someone poor sod has to take me all the way back to London from just outside Edinburgh.

Get him to drop the car off in Coalville, book a cheap train ticket for Leicester - London?

in other news, I have a bit of a decision to make. as I have posted, the racer is a rust bucket and after several weekends of stripping, welding, cutting and grinding, my partner in crime has admitted (in his own special way) that the path we are on is not going to work.

he has said to me that the car is mine, if I want it, and that I can sell it and trouser the money. it looks like the green b is going to pastures new (someone we all know and love), which means that I have a decent wad of cash which was destined for the brm ds fund.

do i: a) let the racer go and put more in the ds fund; b) put the money into getting the bodywork sorted on the racer; or c) put the money into a well used mgb race car that isn't fia eligible?

I do want a race car. really do. but my wife is due in 3 weeks and the car is likely to not get used for prob 2 years. a used racer - the same. a ds - the same again, as there needs to be some saving. a citroen ds provides the second car that is likely to increase in value, for the same cost to finish the racer, plus leaves me with a pot of money in a few years time to buy an fia racer. a cheap (non-fia) car allows me to race the soonest, for £0 outlay.

I'm just riffing, but I have a pretty serious decision to make.

You could go halves on the DS with someone, share the costs of the re-furb, then hire it out for weddings (seriously, there's meant to be good money in this) over the summer on the weekends when you don't have plans for it

Appreciating asset that also brings in enough money to pay for it's upkeep, and you can drive it.

As a family man now, I reckon I'm going to sell my M3 and buy a Skoda Yeti. Haven't advertised it yet, PM me if anyone seriously interested. Its an '04 E46 manual coupe with about 68k on the clock. Will try to get some current pix over the weekend.

the problem is that I would just buy a good one and drive it as much as possible. were I to go halves with someone, it is likely that they would want to have the entire car repainted when a stone chip appears, or have the entire drive train rebuild upon discovering a misfire...

... and no racer...

@NurseHolliday Charcoal canister removed last night but AC doesn't work so don't think I'll miss it too much. I've come to the conclusion a convertible in England is a suitable candidate if ever there was one. Funny you mention power steering, before buying my Eunos I read a lot about whether it's a positive or negative but glad I have it as the car will spend minimal time on track in reality. Having said that do love the idea of minimising all parasitic draws.

Sounds like a right adventure you're not likely to forget in a hurry. Glad the shakedown was useful and you've got a good idea of what needs further improvement. Good to hear positive reviews on EBC Yellow Stuff too, got these on my list for next year before any track action.

Apologies for the novice question, but will rolling the arches affect the external profile? Had always presumed it was a minor mod but think I read somewhere respraying after rolling the arches can be required.

If you're not in a bind and have time in advance, I'd recommend the "Rodders" pads from Roddison Motorsport over the EBC Yellow Stuff, they're a similar price.

I wouldn't get rid of my power steering, I like it too much! The non-power steering cars also have a slower rack so ideally you want to "de-power" the power steering rack which is a PITA. Power steering comes in handy when crossed up out of junctions behaving like a total hooligan, so it's staying in for me.

Rolling the arches won't affect the external profile massively, the respray is because some people don't heat the arch up first with a heat gun, and are quite aggressive, which cracks the paint. If you heat the arch up consistently and are slow and smooth with the roller, there shouldn't be any issues.

Thank fuck, I can't believe how much time was spent on that shell.

So right now you've got the Austin Healey and the Golf MK5? Sounds like DS and then a race car in a couple of years is pretty sensible!

£?