MOT passed with no advisories and trackday booked for the 25th - hope the weather warms up a bit by then! I would like to get some road miles before then but not with amount of salt that's on the roads at the moment:rolleyes:

Good news is my driveline vibration seems to be gone so looks like the CV cup swap has fixed that and overall the car seems a bit more eager than I remember. I need to reserve judgement on the Ohlins until I've had a proper play with them though as at the moment my MX5 with cheaper Meister Clubrace coilovers rides better:smelly:

I’ll be abroad on 25th so will miss this, have a fun day.

Jumping back a few posts - did you have any rear arch rust and if so how did you treat it? Did you spray into the cavity of the rear arch from the boot?

thanks!

The outer arches (and lower sill area) had been cut out and replaced before I got the car so are good, albeit maybe have a lot of filler in them! When I was preping the underside I didn't go right out to the lip of the arches as they were coated ok, you can see where I went out to here:

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After the MOT I was hoping to get some road miles in before the trackday but with the weather still being crap - ie salty roads that didn't happen.

I then went to fit the decat pipe and cue a last minute panic days before the trackday, I found a bit of coolant leaking from the lower radiator hose so a set of silicone hoses was quickly ordered, thankfully they turned up quickly and the lower hose went on with only mild swearing (it seemed a bit short), the upper hose would require a lot more swearing so I've left that for another day!

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The decat was fitted with a new lambda and extender to hopefully avoid the engine management light coming on:

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With that done the OEM wheels and track tyres were fitted, then no time was left to try the car before the trackday... frustratingly on the drive down the horrible vibration was back above 70mph, this wasn't there with the Advan wheels on so another balance check of these might be required.

The track was wet initially but slowly dried throughout the morning, so initially I was taking it very steady. I picked up the pace as it dried out but was never fully comfortable with the handling as the rear kept trying to step out under braking and felt pretty loose. It is however much quicker on the straights, I'm now hitting 106mph on the main straight instead of 100mph which is a massive difference so I think the exhaust has maybe free'd up some horses and there's also a bit less friction with the refurbed brakes and bearings etc

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Frustratingly I was just starting to get more comfortable after a tweak to the ohlins when the brakes started to feel very grumbly, back in the pits it was clear why - the front driver's disc being cracked in 3 places. So that was the end of the day for me.

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And of course more melted paint on that wheel:

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My very last lap was the best of the day, a 63.42. I was hoping to go quicker and there is definitely more time there as I've only really gained on the straights from the last outing however that is down to the handling not being quite right, or me not getting the most out of it! After a bit of head scratching I think I have the rear pre-load on the ohlins too high, I went with the recommended settings of 10mm but that's for the standard 7k spring, with the 10k I have it should probably be a lot less which will lower the rear more, that forward rake is probably the reason for the back end being loose with the excessive pitch under braking -

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One other big irritation was the car popping out of 3rd into the first corner just as I selected it, this happened almost every time unless I held it causing a lot of distraction.

Video of the best laps here:



So the plans are new plain front discs, a fiddle with the Ohlins, a shifter rebuild and then some road miles. I think the next track day will be May, until then I'll be playing in the MX5 sprint car.

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Inevitable with drilled discs,seen it many times on here, nice driving :thumbup:

word of warning about it popping out of gear, this happened to me with 3rd and not long after it popped out and would never go back in again.
Ended up buying another gearbox as third grenaded itself, not bad enough to stop the other gears working but enough to have no drive in 3rd :)

As for discs, I have had best results with c hook and plain but on two piece. For rear I just normal c hook from MTEC brakes which seem to be durable.

Yeah I've read plenty about cheaper drilled discs cracking - and now seen it first hand! Went out to the workshop last night and the passenger side is cracked now too. These were on the car when i got it so plain discs are going on now.

Oh dear, I hope that's not going to happen! It doesn't pop out any time other than braking into that first corner so I'm hoping it's something to do with the weight transfer and maybe it not going in fully or a worn mount causing it to pop back out.

Judging by the heat being generated from the standard brakes I may need a bigger brake kit sooner than I thought!

Not sure if <gearbox >Denent springs might help for now ?
Not sure if you have brake ducts yet,but would look into it if not.

In that case it sounds like worn engine and trans mounts.