Well, its massive update time people!!! As you'll see below, things have progressed rather a lot over the past few weeks - mostly thanks to Mike (Budgie) and Ollie i might add ...
Firstly, rear brakes, well after the 1st MOT, it was clear by the brake test that i didnt really have any! So after half an hour or so of swearing, Mike and I had cleaned up the calipers and fitted a brand new set of Mintex 1144 pad's & Maxtorq Grp N discs. As with the front end of the car, overkill is the way forwards – especially when you consider than saxo rear brakes are a bit like clio cup's, ie rather pointless!!
Before:
After:
Soooo, now the brakes were fitted & the system bled, it was MOT time!! Despite the frankly ridiculous ride height i might add ...
The following Saturday it was booked in for the MOT, & obviously after all the superb work by me & the team, it passed 1st time
so off i trundled to get some Tax, whoop, whoop!!
As it happens, the chap who did the MOT also runs a 106/saxo tuning company so whilst i walked to the Post Office, he started to lower the torsion bar & fit the rear Bilsteins – yummy! 4 hours later (it was a bit stuck!) he moved to the front end, stripped down the drivers side front shock, pulled it all apart, went to fit the locking nut to the new Bilstein strut and .... oh bugger, there isnt one ... feck (bought off that dodgy CS member Budgie i might add!!). So we go to fit just the spring (so im not 45mm down at the back & standard on the front) and well, shortened Faulkner spring plus standard damper = fail. Back to standard & a rather naff drive home to say the least, handling akin to a boat iirc.
So on the Tuesday, after Mike kindly offered to lend me his Bilstein strut locking nut, Mike, Ollie and I set to work (well they did, i made the tea), as per usual much swearing ensued, but after a couple of hours, the drivers front had 'got low' ...
After a gourmet meal of KFC, whilst sat on a myriad of parts in the garage, we moved onto the passenger side & nearly got it all apart, but well, 10 year old drop link + rounded bolt (the last one) = fail. It was most certainly angle grinder time, but not at 11pm .... so we gave up & went to bed. Separate ones i might add.
Then Saturday came and my little ginger friend (Mike) re-appeared & worked his magic, despite having a humongous hangover i might add – serious dedication to the cause!! Although i was slightly scared when the angle grinder came out .... one brand new drop link later (we did the other side as well) and the passenger side was now running a Bilstein/Faulkner combo as well – awesome!! I even did some work myself ...
After that, it made sense to give it a little clean, in preparation for some much deserved whoring. Enjoy.
Mmmm, dish:
CS standard-issue Bimarco seat:
Corbeau Sprint (no fatties allowed):
Stripped (cage going in this week):
Needs tb's & cams:
Got low:
Driving wise, its absolutely blooming brilliant, soooooo much fun!!!!! Looks wise, it would probably look better a bit lower at the back, but that would compromise the handling, so thats not happening, ever. Handling wise, I havent really pushed it that much so far, but 1st impressions are that its a fantastic setup, loads of grip, super flat, but very adjustable on the throttle, the back end is certainly happy to offer its help when it comes to changing direction as well ... speed wise, its alright, certainly not going to set any records, but it pulls well enough & sounds flipping ace!! Braking, well, it can lock the wheels at 70, i think that says it all really ...
So, again, much thanks to Ollie, Mike & everyone else who's helped out with the build, I just need to service it and fit the cage now!! Then its off to Llandow on the 25th March ...
