Prawny Baby Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 Everything needs a splitter! Totally transformed mine Does look pretty gay anywhere other than on track though.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boumsong Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 How much of a lip do they need to be effective? I could laser something in ally at work easy enough.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prawny Baby Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 Alloy not ideal really, proper splitter is massive, goes back to the front subframe and further. Quite a big task fitting one really Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*gentlydoesit Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 why is everyone I could help out so f**king far away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 (edited) why is everyone I could help out so f**king far away! Pretty much my thinking too, I'd be able to help/advise a lot more if you (jake) were local! Be careful of the welding, being good to deal with when servicing a modern car has basically nothing to do with being good at welded repairs, and they're something that's much harder to rectify when done wrong than a bodged mechanical repair. Hopefully they're a decent place, but if your shoes I'd show my face there fairly early on and check they're doing a decent job of it. Alan, try lowering the front a touch, a little rake will help the front end aero. When I first got mine it did what you describe, but it was level/nose up, after a while I adjusted it to sit slightly nose down (basically because I prefer how it looks) and it's perfectly happy and stable feeling at high speed. Other-wise, as Nick said a splitter's the best bet, but a bit restrictive on the road. I'd be tempted to compromise and just do a full under-tray under the engine bay. Edited January 18, 2014 by RobinJI 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TROYston Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Boumsong was it you who was going to make a ally steering wheel? I'm looking for a new one in the very close future!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boumsong Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 I am indeed. Just waiting for a quite day at work so I can spend a half hour with the programmer and turn my scirbbling into a proper drawing. It'll end up being 325mm with 90mm dish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pashley26 Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 My old scirocco was floaty as f**k, totally all over the place. The steering was so light I thought it had PAS haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TROYston Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 I am indeed. Just waiting for a quite day at work so I can spend a half hour with the programmer and turn my scirbbling into a proper drawing. It'll end up being 325mm with 90mm dish. Fancy making me one for a bit of wonga? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forteh Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Car failed the MOT on a dangerous track rod end, worn front lower arm bushes on one side, stuck handbrake on one side and corroded rear brake pipe. Would I be best to get a new pair of lower arms and drop them in with new track rod ends? That would cost about 90 quid from ecp but how much hassle is it to change the arms considering I only have a trolley jack and axle stands? The garage can do the brake pipe as I have no tools to do it, they can also retrack it before the retest. Thoughts on the above Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*gentlydoesit Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 (edited) Car failed the MOT on a dangerous track rod end, worn front lower arm bushes on one side, stuck handbrake on one side and corroded rear brake pipe. Would I be best to get a new pair of lower arms and drop them in with new track rod ends? That would cost about 90 quid from ecp but how much hassle is it to change the arms considering I only have a trolley jack and axle stands? The garage can do the brake pipe as I have no tools to do it, they can also retrack it before the retest. Thoughts on the above a pic of the bottom arm and bush? If you have a vice, normally the bushes can be changed easy enough, using sockets to push. changing the whole thing shouldn't be difficult either, and the way I'd go personally as youd need the whole thing off to rebush anyway. Have you had a quote for the work? Edited January 18, 2014 by *gentlydoesit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forteh Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 The bushes are non replaceable (or at least not available separately), a complete arm with bushes and ball joint is 35 quid so I figured that would be simplest. Not got a quote yet but I'm saving for the wedding in June so spending less money it's priority! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Shouldn't be a hard job to do, just give the nuts/bolts a good soak in something like plus gas first to help ensure they're not seized. Only vaguely specialist tool you may need's a ball joint splitter, if the old arms going in the bin then the fork type's probably easiest, but I've split plenty of ball joints with nothing more than a lever bar and a hammer in the past. Make sure you get half decent parts though, nothing more frustrating than replacing the same bit again the next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boumsong Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 A quick throw back to the mpg thing a little while back. The highest I've seen the mfa read since I started driving it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 My economy's been crap the last few weeks, pretty sure my exhaust smashing incident's killed my lambda sensor, just waiting to get paid to replace it. I'm kind of curious to see what I'll actually get over my new commute once it's sorted, it's bloody steep and a bit too fun to get particularly good economy. The best I've seen with the 1.8t in mine's been 42mpg on a few motorway trips, I was averaging 36ish with and could easily get 40 on any trip over about 10 miles if I was being sensible/careful. Since smashing the exhaust I've been getting high 20's regardless of whether I'm sat on the motorway or flying down back roads. Really hope I can get this MX-5 at the end of next month, already been playing with colour changes on photoshop. Not really sure what I want to do with it looks wise. Oh, and our first competitive rally of the season's next weekend at Brean Stages. Really looking forward to it! We should have both a GoPro and Sony Actioncam on board, the GoPro will go on the cage looking out the front in standard 'on-board' fashion, but I'm not sure where to put my Sony. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forteh Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Shouldn't be a hard job to do, just give the nuts/bolts a good soak in something like plus gas first to help ensure they're not seized. Only vaguely specialist tool you may need's a ball joint splitter, if the old arms going in the bin then the fork type's probably easiest, but I've split plenty of ball joints with nothing more than a lever bar and a hammer in the past. Make sure you get half decent parts though, nothing more frustrating than replacing the same bit again the next year. Plusgas is already in place, love that stuff, been using it for 23 years now I was looking at getting these lower arms from ecp: -http://www.eurocarparts.com/mobile/ecp/c/Ford_Focus_1.8_2003/p/car-parts/suspension-and-steering/suspension/suspension-arm-and-suspension-joints/?615590380&1&f70f57c799bf9edfc5f5310e65634562f2e5e15f&000320 Saving for the wedding so the less money spent, the better! Would you consider these cheap parts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Today I set out to open my bonnet. I was pretty sure, after reading up on forums and whatnot, that it was a simple case of the cable coming unseated inside a little splitter box. I knew I was going to have to ruin my grills to get in there so I'd ordered another set, slightly different than there were as I've seen them on another CS and liked them. So all I had to do was get it done. Ripping the grills out was easy obviously, and then I had to cut away some plastic to be able to get at the locking pins, which needed to come out. Drivers side was fiddly, but was out soon enough. Passenger side was an arse. I think it was rounded before I started, but if not it certainly was soon after. Due to it being so fiddly in there, I didn't actually notice as my rachet was acting normally. D'oh. Next up was trying to force a torx bit in there, which seemed to work but I couldn't force it in enough so that rounded too. So I was about an hour in, and getting fairly frustrated at this little bugger: Then I remembered I'd bought a set of 'easy outs' a while ago and not used them. Easy was not the word in this case, as I had nothing I could get on the end of them to help me out... Persevered with a weird combination of sockets and allen keys, moving about a 1/16th of a turn each time, and it finally came out. No pics, from there on in as I was just happy to have it open and the ones above were only taken for me to get a bit of a look at what I was working on. Good news was that I was right about the cable, so I just slotted it back into place and stuck some zip ties in there to hold it. Works fine now, which is nice. It's also definitely a straight 6 in there too, which is good to know. Happy with that, I decided to wash it. Magifoam, Citrus Pearl, couldn'tBeArsedToPolish, Project 32 to seal. I like the new grills. I don't like that the other exhaust exit is about to come off. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Sadly Q-drive are a bit cheap and not overly cheerful, if you're saving then fair enough, they'll fit fine and work alright for a while, I just wouldn't expect them to last more than an MOT or 2. If there's a higher quality make for a sensible amount extra I'd go for the nicer ones. Kind of linked to this and the subject from a few days ago of locking nuts, I bought a new SKF wheel-bearing for the Scirocco last week, (bought from ECP having gone to GSF only to find they could only get a Q-Drive one.) and I was pleased to see it came with replacement nuts for the track rod end and lower ball-joint, which are both of the 'k-nut' style squashed top half type, and a sachet of assembly lube. (As well as the hub nut and the cir-clips to hold the bearing in the hub, which I'd expect anyway). Nice touch, I do like high quality parts, well worth the extra £8 over the Q-drive one when you consider the bearing its self should be much better quality too. You can see how the top section's off-round to make them deliberately bind: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisRider Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Yeah from what I have gathered Q drive are fairly poop, Lemforder are decent for the money though! Fitted my upgraded headlight loom today, made a world of difference! Now to figure out why my rad fan won't kick in, it's been playing up for a while but I never sit in traffic so the car always stays plenty cool enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forteh Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 (edited) Ecp have lemforder and ocap arms as well, the lemforder are almost twice the cost and the ocap are comparable. I don't do many miles, probably about 5k a year so perhaps the cheaper units might last a bit longer? The car has done 140k so far and is ten years old, got some bubbling on the rear arches so will probably need to get some welding sorted ( although if I have practised enough with the tig welder that should be tool much of an issue) in the next few years. Edit: should I be avoiding the eBay specials that do both arms, rod ends and arb links for 65 quid? Edit2: a mate of mine has put me in touch with a bloke who works at the local Ford garage who may be able to sort me out with some bits Turns out I used to ride bmx with him ten years ago! Will see how his prices fare Edited January 18, 2014 by forteh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trials owns Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Been driving my car without the steering angle sensor connected due to it being faulty, Im new too driving, How much of a difference will this have made? It feels awfully twitchy and all over the place at 70mph+ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pashley26 Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Loads! What car is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Those on my Facebook will have expected this post... So, Friday morning I set off at 6:45am, heading to London on a MegaBus. I arrived as expected, around 11am. Hopping off the bus I headed for the nearest tube station, bound for Heathrow. I arrived in Heathrow to meet my friend, who I was buying the new Leon from. He gave me a lift down to Hastings and we exchanged cash, paperwork and keys, all good so far... Called my insurance company, paid for the cover and left with a big grin on my face. The interior was shabby so I took it to a nearby vacuum to tidy it up a bit, whilst there decided to change the plates over to the shiny new metal pressed ones. All being well, I drove up the A21 to my friends house where I was staying the night. The next morning we did a couple more bits to it, fitted a new stereo and went to buy an alternator belt (Which I didn't get time to fit). It got to 2pm and I decided to start heading back to Bristol, as I had a night out / dinner planned at Sheryl's family place. Heading up the A21 all was well, other than a slight clutch slip in 4th and 5th, so I took it quite easy - I knew the clutch needed changing, so was prepared to go easy on it. I had planned to get it done in March. Doing around the speed limit in 6th gear it was running fine, gently cruising past vans in the left lane, until all of a sudden the power dropped to 2,000RPM. To compensate, I put my foot down a little harder. Still nothing, it just wouldn't go above 2k. At this stage I'm slowing down considerably, to the point where I'm side-by-side with a van on the left and an Audi is impatiently flashing me to get out of the way behind. I dropped it into 5th and floored it, again, no power. By this point I'm down to 40 mph, the Audi pretty much touching my bumper. Hazard lights on, I get into the left hand lane and drop into 4th. Realising my car isn't going to go anywhere, I put it in neutral and luckily glided into a nearby lay-by. Rang the AA and waited for an hour and a half, as soon as he got there and fired up the car there was thick clouds of blue smoke and no oil left in the engine, plus plenty of rattling coming from the turbo. As soon as I saw the blue smoke I knew it was game over. So, one turbo down and one car towed to the middle of nowhere, with me stranded by it. My AA policy is "to the nearest garage or 10 miles", so I had no choice, unless I wanted to pay the £320 towing fee back to Bristol. I managed to get a lift back to Hastings and crash at a friends house, where I got my head back together and worked out a plan. A guy from Hastings is going to go back up to Sevenoaks, trailer the car back down to Hastings and fit a new turbo, oil feed pipe and gasket as well as change oil and filters for about £650. Not an ideal way to start with the new car and it means I have another week at least in Bristol without a car and have to get back down to Hastings again once it's fixed... But it could have been worse, there was no harm to anyone other than hunger, thirst and a bit of chill and stress. I'm here to tell the tale so I'm thankful for that. That said, a few choice words were shouted when it happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisRider Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Unlucky dude, that really sucks Is that £650 including a brand new turbo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King C Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Thats pretty gutting to happen after travelling all that way. Hopefully it won't ruin your experience of the car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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