tozerman

Not really a fan of non OEM but they do look good

heymynameismark

heymynameismark

At the weekend I took a trip I've been wanting to take in the car for a while.

I headed from Garlogie to Aboyne, Ballater, Braemar, Old Military Road to the Pitlochry, Killin, Crianlarich and up to Glencoe.

Absolutely stunning scenery all day, the sun was shining and it was a fantastic mix of road.

New tyres and wheel combo was fantastic. The car has never felt so positive with grip and response - I thought it was great before! Bridgestone RE050 (MZ) fronts and S001 rears.

Now for some photos...
















































And of course, I became James Bond...

heymynameismark

She's finally sitting the way she should!

My Spoon springs arrived from Japan through Spoon Sports EU (Burn! Motorsport) earlier this week.

Excellent service and price from them.

I took Friday off work and fitted them in the morning.

All in all, easy process. Even with some stubborn lower shock bolts. These are always my only worry doing suspension installs - they get exposed to everything down there.

Penetrating fluid, impact gun, breaker bar and patience is always the way.



I was really happy with the condition of all the bolts once out too.



I need to get to some refurbishment work though - arms, shock bodies, etc.









The dreaded N/S rear shock tower access... wasn't that bad at all. Carpets out the way, loosen filler neck to allow a little wiggle room.



I had made the mistake of not correctly pre-loading the front end when I first fitted them. The front was definitely not sitting like it should have - too high! Back was spot on. I ended up having to go back the next morning, loosen lower arm and upper arm bolts, preload correctly and re-torque. Sorted it right out.

Really chuffed with the drop and ride so far. Perfect.

Some photos:





Then I went and took some night shots with my buddy Kyle in his Fake-Tan Nissan:

macky_6

some great pics there! Wheels are looking awesome, really suit the car. Drop has made all the difference

Fatbloke

Simple and tasteful. Very nice.

heymynameismark

Thanks, guys!

noodels

Removed filler neck nuts on mine,pipe pushes through and moves out of the way completely
I also put a rag in the neck to stop fumes
The condition of my rear damper rods were not so good and worn through plating

Love the wheels

heymynameismark

Aye, I had a rag stuffed in there as well. Haha.

Thanks!

heymynameismark

I did a CV bucket swap at the weekend.

Car is at 85k for the record.

Straight forward enough job. I chose to remove the lower ball joints, keeping the axles where they were and just remove the buckets from the car.

• Cotter pin removal (punch and drill required for one stubborn one)
• 17mm castle nut removal
• Grease up ball joint splitter so no tearing of ball joint boots, pop them up and out
• Undo each nut and bolt for both CV buckets to diff
• Squeeze CV boot band together with long handled pliers to release
• Carefully slip off buckets (taking note of roller bearing orientation - basically the subtly stepped side faces out from the joint to the bucket)
• Take note of which side is which (so I didn't bloody put them back where they were before)
• Use 2540ft of kitchen roll cleaning old grease out of boots and buckets
• Place buckets on the ground, pressure wash them cleaner
• Refill each bucket with 5.6oz (~160ml) new CV lith-moly grease
• Use a little grease to hold roller bearings as you slide buckets back on
• Re-use Honda CV bands by pulling together with hands and then pinch together again with pliers
• Tighten / torque everything back up (with some grease on appropriate points and threads)

As you'll see from the photos, only one (passenger side bucket) had the expected pitting. I was experiencing vibration under heavy acceleration.

Results of this work are perfect - no more vibration. Silky smooth!

I also removed the MAP sensor and cleaned it with some contact cleaner. Wasn't experiencing any issues, but for something that CAN cause problems with carbon build up and poor connection, I thought I would just do some preventative work.