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

What holds the front end of this up? Bilston b4 + fwd r springs have been horrendous to me, way too much low speed compression and way to little rebound of any sort (think springs are too much for them, Bilston disagree). Been about 2.5 years and their toast, mostly thanka to Glasgow roads.

I was not far off giving up with my v70 abd "getting something newer" but having worked on a load of cars that I liked the idea of recently and every one has been a horror story of seized /sheared bolts and bad design (for a mechanic) that im back to sticking with the x70 cars again.
Need moah stance and actual suspension performance though, suspect I'll need adjustable as don't trust the mftr to get it right

Koni adjustable shocks and Eibach springs, I found it a little stiff when I first picked it up but I backed the adjusters off to fully soft and it's much more compliant now, picked up some grip too.

any recommended BMW garages in the Woodford area?

Not sure it's near, but there's a good place on the North Circular near Mill Hill I okonw of. If it is let me know and I'll dig out the name and address.

No worries, she went to her parents place in Chelmsford in the end and we've got some good contacts there. Just hoping we can get booked in at short notice as our usual place has a week waiting list.

Soon

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Spread betting on how long til you notice something wrong with it.

First choice, should the units be days, hours or minutes?

Also, what's your budget?

It’s going for an MOT today, which means it needed the old wheel re-fitting as the MOT tester refused to test it yesterday with the Porsche/Momo one. I’ll collect it tomorrow, go to see my parents and then onto Simply Porsche in Beaulieu first thing on Sunday.

I sat in it today- they’ve done great work on the seat, I can see all the clocks now, with the wheel the correct distance from me, and the seat the correct distance from the pedals. Really happy with that.

Excellent that is good news!

On what grounds did she refuse to test it with the MOMO wheel? Seems a bit contrarian.

Anyone bought from - https://www.volvopartshop.com/ ?

the MOT tester refused to test it yesterday with the Porsche/Momo one.

Any specific reason for this? Looking forward to seeing photos when you get it back.

Ninja edit: beaten to it

go to the no win-no fee place in deptford - they pass anything

Get an old MG, they don't need an MOT any more.

I'm a gonna cowboy up.

i said that to neil. imagine how anal he could get doing a concours restoration? correct fuse colours, oem radiator caps, rear embossed chassis plates - i think his head would explode.

If you get an MOT pass with the old wheel, then turn it back are you 'covered' by your MOT? I assume that you need an MOT for insurance to pay out in the case of an accident etc - would they continue to cover you.

For example, if you had an MOT with road legal tyres, then changed them to slicks (or something illegal) for the rest of the year what would be the consequences?

The wheel thing is a question of interpretation of the new rules that came in on May the 16th.

As-is, the airbag light comes on, then goes off again - indicating that where fitted the bags all pass the vehicles diagnostic checks and should therefore fire in the case of an accident.

This was enough for a pass previously.

Now, however, the tester says that as the (Porsche) steering wheel has no airbag, but he believes that the car would have been fitted with one when produced, he can't pass it.

Entertainingly the tester round the corner from him said, when phoned, "just don't tell me you changed it, then I'll pass it as OEM, it says Porsche on it which is enough for me", but he doesn't have an MOT slot until next week.

So the old, airbag wheel is going on as I type this, and will come back off again as soon as the car has an MOT, and then to sit on the shelf in the garage again.

The place testing it today (that would not test it yesterday) said that if there was no passenger airbag he'd have passed it - as that would be "racing specification". I'm not sure I agree with his logic there, but whatever.

I did initially think of keeping my car bang on OEM/concours, then the thought of a 9,000 rpm redline became rather too seductive.

I'd like an exhaust note not quite as rude as these, but as close as we can get and still acceptable as a road car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmmBxopZcDg&t=172s

Switchable exhaust? Silenced for town, cruising, not waking the neighbors and then a bypass for waking the dead.

On that note, probs shouldn't admit to it, but if ever needed I have a guy who will pass literally anything. I don't condone driving unsafe cars, but if we're talking about shit like this steering wheel issue, then I personally see that as a different matter.

Switchable exhaust? Silenced for town, cruising, not waking the neighbors and then a bypass for waking the dead.

Could do, I'm going to see where we end up with the following first:

• Long tube, 1.75" diameter primary, equal length manifold
  
• 2 x 200 cell catalytic converters in an X-pipe configuration
  
• Cargraphic sports exhaust
  
  

At the moment I've got stock manifolds and stock cat-section, apparently just the move to 200 cell cats makes the system a lot louder, the equal length manifolds will also change the tone and potentially release more noise.

I may end up trying to tone it down a little - if it drones at a cruise then I'll definitely be making changes.

= I want to be able to listen to Radio4 whilst pootling along, and yet have it howl like one of those rally cars when using more of the throttle.

Interestingly the engine designer (who had previously opposed ITB's) said that it might actually make sense to use them with the cam profiles he now has in mind, given the move to solid lifters and (this looks a little silly seeing it in type) a rev limit 2,200 rpm above the current one.

In associated news, the engine designer has also started calling this "Project ridiculous", as it's going to be a somewhat unusual engine to find in the back of a stock-looking cabriolet.

Hehehe. I like it!