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The Car Thread


MadManMike

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I watched about 10 seconds of that before I thought "f**k that!". I wouldn't do that in a million years with just those lights! You must have to have a lot of faith in yourself that you 100% know the course!

The course is different every time, we have two runs to get to know it. Knowing the track helps, but it's at the chicanes and areas off the track where you win or lose. Those you can't learn by heart, there's a bit of guess work going on. After each run you remember roughly where you can go faster. Also the visibility is a lot better than on the video obviously :) Perhaps if I used a pro camera it'd be better, but this is a compact Sony.

I guess it's actually normally for some of you car people to also enjoy buzzing bollards and walls? :P

Lots of cars got totalled that night. And during the morning runs too. We kept getting delayed because someone hit a tree / fence or something else.

Anyway, after the morning runs I won the whole competition. I was quicker than a chap in a 400bhp Evo on 3 runs, then his centre diff packed up and he had to pull out. I managed to get a 1 minute lead (on a total of 40 minutes of driving) over another M3 driver who usually wins my class. For the first time I was really enjoying myself, something must have unlocked in me because I never drove that car as fast as yesterday. Usually there's 3-5 drivers (including me) fighting for the podium in the same class and we're all neck and neck, this time I was even 10 seconds faster per run than the 2nd in class.

Some pics for those interested:

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Shamelessly copied off ASN.

Prawn has come home, which means the A3 is back as well as my Miltek.
This poor backbox has done SO many miles, as well as loads of track days and a 140mph crash on the ring. The exhaust tips were welded on by Prawn back when he couldn't actually weld, the center box was stoved in when the car was crashed and the rear beam bent, all the hangers are split from the impact as well as the entrance to the back box.
Cleans up alright though, and it sounds SO SO good.
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Shiny car -
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Prawn taking Phil out -
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Phil was rather excited about getting strapped in...
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VAG club -
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Robins Scirocco -
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An update! :)
It's cold and wet and miserable, but I've still been cleaning the car three times a week haha!
Soooo I was booked into Audi for the coilpack recall; I thought it was easy and I would turn up and have a cup of coffee and then half an hour later I would get my car back with four new coilpacks. How wrong was I.
First of all the reason I was booked in for the coil pack recall was because a coil pack went down and I phoned Audi to get a price and they mentioned I was due the recall, they told me I would have to wait 14 days to be booked in. So I borrowed a coil pack of Phil and drove around with it, until another coil pack went down and then I borrowed ANOTHER coil pack off Phil.
So I went into Audi and was greeted by the snotty receptionist with a clipboard thrust in my face asking me to write down every detail about my car, mileage, condition, any valuables etc. She went out and cross checked it and took the keys. All very abrupt and rude.
Service manager comes out half an hour later and says that because my vehicle had been so extensively modified the "warranty" work wasn't going to be honored and I was told to get on my way. I asked the service manager to explain why my modifications would put the coil packs under any extra stress or strain and for him to justify why my vehicle wasn't work for the recall.
He couldn't because he was a total muppet, so they agreed to do the work.
Half an hour later the service manager talks to the receptionist and then goes off to deal with another customer, the receptionst comes back, "we can't do the work in full because two of the coil packs are not original so we cannot do all four."
I explained that the two original coil packs were on the drivers seat and this had been explained to the receptionist. So she goes off to relay this information to the service manager, and told him that I wanted to keep the original recall items. Fail!
Then the warranty manager made a comment to the customer he was with and rolled his eyes, instantly looking very embarrassed when he realised I was looking right at him, and I was neither deaf or blind.
Service manager tells me it takes half an hour to swap the coil packs and I will need to pay 0.5 hours labor at £75 an hour. So I asked him to step out to the car so I cold ask him about the work. The car hadn't moved from the customer parking bay I had left it in. I don't think he was expecting me to open the bonnet and swap both coil packs within 20 seconds and simply hand him the keys back and say "that's what I think of your thirty minutes labor." I placed the coil packs on the drivers seat and walked off.
Another half an hour later the receptionist comes back, the work was completed. I got into the car and only one of the coil packs was in the center console.
I was a bit ****ed off, but at this point I was an hour and a half late for work due to their incompetence so I thanked them and left with my four new coil packs.
I got back to work and decided to just pop the bonnet to see the difference between the old and new coil packs; I was greeted by this -
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Heroic work Plymouth Audi; you have truly excelled yourself in quality of workmanship and courtesy.
-
On the plus side, the new coil packs have improved my fuel economy by roughly 10% as well as the car being much smoother on part throttle with a much more stable idle. So yey for that :)

A small update, but an update none the less.
Old parcel shelf was minging and stained and horrible. One of the straps was snapped and it made me cry thinking about it being all wonky when I lifted the boot. Weirdly it smelt too.
So I hosed it down, sprayed it with interior shampoo and hoovered it off.
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Used a lint roller to pull all the bobbles off and shaved it like you do alcantara seats.
Then I sprayed it satin black with a rattle can.
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It came out really really well, so I'm going to do my side pillars tomorrow.
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There will be a fairly major interior update soon. :)
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A few weeks ago my warning light came on on my Focus, I did a scan and it came back with a code and from a list on google it's come back as "9318 (B1318) Battery voltage low (less than 10V)" .

I've noticed a few times when driving along the lights will dip ever ever so slightly.

The car cranks over fine, battery doesn't seem like it has a lack of charge.

Would it be right to presume there is something wrong with the alternator if it's doing this? Any ideas?

I've also noticed lately it's down on power and judders when coming out of junctions which I think is the clutch dying :( ?

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Test the battery and alternator with a multi meter, at least then you can see if either has issues

It might just be a placebo effect but since changing my battery, my car seems to run better-perhaps the dogy battery was causing some ecu problems...I know 9-3s get loads of other electrical gremlins when the battery is shot

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Had a play in the workshop :)

Firstly I needed to modify my bike roof rack to fork mount as my suspension is too long for the racks arms to reach the downtube! I'm fed up with having to get the Saab mucky inside after muddy rides

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Far stiffer now, I will remount the arms now so the bike is held on even more securely and so it can be locked on. Still got the other rack to do as well.

I also got a chance to play with the Commer today. I decided to scrap my first attempt at making an outer step, it was super messy as it was made of loads of bits of sheet welded togther, the angles weren't right and I just wasn't happy with it at all. I started again by making a cardboard template which helped me get my head around the folds and make a good chunk of it in 1 piece. The logical sensible way you might say...

The 3 drivers outer steps (original, 1st attempt and start of new attempt)

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Clamped roughly in place, it fits!

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Then it was time to get the fluted part made

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And see how it looks against the old one

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The lower part isn't finished yet, the curves near the back aren't correct and I need to neaten up the edges as well as getting the bends in. The step still isn't great but its 100x better than my original and hopefully with a bit more fettling I can get a pretty reasonable end result that only needs a thin skim of filler to hide the hammer marks!

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Weirdly, my car just cut out randomly, driving to a restaurant. The warning lights flickered with no reasonable pattern.

I unhooked the battery for a few seconds and it started straight up again.

I think my car decided to immobilise itself. There's a light on the dashboard that's on because the VIN number isn't programmed in.

Any opinions?

Edited by Revolver
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Was above 0C today so i washed the M3 and clayed the bits which had tyre marks on them. Car is pretty battered, the front bumper is cracked, things are falling off. Also put on the front R1R wheels, apparently they are really good tyres. Always thought they were shit so I haven't used them since building this car. Dropped front end by 2cm, put spacers on but I think they're too wide.

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Fiddlesticks. Jacked the E46 up and thought I had the axle stand under the steel mounting... turns out I wasn't paying enough attention and it was the alloy diff brace, which mixed with the jack sometimes being an awkward sod to control the speed when going down, ended up in me cracking the differential brace. Now to find somebody breaking an E46 locally for a replacement before I go back to uni

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On the plus side, I sucessfully replaced both the rear springs and the rear trailing arm bushes using my home made pressing tool, although one of them was so seized in I ended up using the sabre saw to cut the bugger out. Now to get the back end aligned (toe and camber) and hope the tyres dont wear wonkily again as dad's getting a little frustrated with how long they last! Also, why is the E46 so nasty compared to the E36 in every possible way? Such a nasty car in comparison and really doesn't live up to the BMW quality image

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Yeah, unfortunately my limited experience of E46's makes me agree about really not living up to the quality you expect. I helped fit coilovers onto one a few months back and pretty much every bolt that could snap did. And we'd even soaked everything in a proper penetrating oil and wire-brushed the threads clean. They're quite nice looking but otherwise give me an e36 anyday.

A mates just got an e60 525d which is a lovely thing to be in, massive car though.

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