The journey of one man and his Mule(s)

[alan_uk]

phil sell me your mirrors please

[stephano]

Phil id be more than happy to mate tyre art out of them

ill even post them back free of charge

On a serious note those wheels are fantastic

[Magic Beans]

Love those wheels Phil, very nice indeed!

I'll have carbotechs on for Lemans so you can clean my wheels after every mountain.

You're going Carbotech too?

I'm not so obsessive about cleaning it these days. It's a car and not a trophy in a cabinet, so it needs to be used and used hard (after an appropriate warm up of course )

[Magic Beans]

phil sell me your mirrors please

No can do I'm afraid sir. Mainly because getting something else to replace them would be a nightmare, as it's not a straight forward colour to paint

[craig]

Love those wheels Phil, very nice indeed!

I'll have carbotechs on for Lemans so you can clean my wheels after every mountain.

You're going Carbotech too?

I'm not so obsessive about cleaning it these days. It's a car and not a trophy in a cabinet, so it needs to be used and used hard (after an appropriate warm up of course )

Yep, going Carbotechs.

Good man, so you leaving the support valeting van at home now then?

[Magic Beans]

Phil id be more than happy to mate tyre art out of them

ill even post them back free of charge

On a serious note those wheels are fantastic

What a kind offer Steve, I'm touched

[Magic Beans]

Yep, going Carbotechs.

Good man, so you leaving the support valeting van at home now then?

Nothing more than a couple of cloths, to stop it looking ditched next to all the big money Ferraris etc

They're great pads and to me made more sense than replacing the calipers etc. The fact the skin nearly came off my face the first time I experienced their power was enough to convince me

[ashley]

it needs to be used and used hard

Amen good brother!!

[craig]

The fact the skin nearly came off my face the first time I experienced their power was enough to convince me

Good enough for me.

[Magic Beans]

Well, it's back on the ground Before that though I wanted to tidy up the front calipers, as they looked a little tired.





The arch liner (drivers side only, due to having two the same ) isn't causing any issues so far. I'll need to see how things are on full lock, as with the old tyres there was little rubbing on the inside of the wheel well.



Back on the ground





Wheel nuts torqued up (nearly forgot ) the only remaining thing to do was to check the pressures and adjust to suit.

Fronts (Excuse the poverty spec gauge, I was given it )





Rears





Next up is to identify the cause of my oil leak. I'm pretty sure it's the oil sandwich plate, as it was taken from the old engine so I guess the O ring is shot. That or the sensor ports

Might even get to test run it, depending on the weather. We'll see if the 60 mph (only) steering shake is finally solved. Badly balanced wheels and tyres previously me thinks. Another inherited treat..

[ashley]

The new tyres still fill the arches nicely, looking sweet

Seriously though- get yourself a real tyre pressure gauge

[Magic Beans]

Thankyou sir

Not a trace of issue with them fouling the struts. I did the old trick of trying to move it forwards and backwards just by pushing the rims. Nearly ended badly as it tried to make a bid for freedom and headed towards the (closed) garage door. Thankfully I know this car well enough by now and left one of the old tyres in it's path. I'll never forget the day when after having had it for a couple of weeks (v1 Mule) and it having not moved for days, I go into the garage, stand next to it and it rolled onto my foot! How the hell it did that, considering it's on a foam floor and had made it's grooves by then?! Swine! I should have know what I was buying into then Stubborn as a... hence the name

I think something a little more premium is in order. Although isn't analogue the new digital?

[Magic Beans]

Today I grabbed a few minutes and checked to see if the rubbing on full lock was solved. The good news is that the tyre no longer fouls the inner wheel well, which was a massive issue in my eyes. However the tyre does slightly catch the arch liner, so the only way forward is to fabricate low profile custom liner pieces. To be honest I'm quite glad, as anything short of an ali piece in there would have felt like a short cut. Time to order some sheeting me thinks. Not sure of the thickness I'll need though

While I was in there I remembered there was one little job I've been meaning to do since the engine transplant. That being the removal of the last tiny bit of red vacuum hose, which feeds the centre console boost gauge, via the opening in the left side of the engine bay. It's been bugging me every time I look in there, so out you go sir







Na na na na na na na na hey hey goodbye

Not the most exciting of updates I know, but for me it's momentous

[alan_uk]

lmao mate you are a perfectionist crazyman but car looks awesome

i need to do my callipers as winter seems to have taken its tole

[Magic Beans]

lmao mate you are a perfectionist crazyman but car looks awesome

i need to do my callipers as winter seems to have taken its tole

Haha, it does seem a little overly analytical I know but things like that bug the hell out of me

You can spruce your brakes up easily enough. Pop them off, clean them down, a touch of Hammerite Smooth or similar and they're ready to go. Always a good opportunity to check the sliders etc whilst you're at it, as brakes often seem to get neglected and they're quite important

[ashley]

Nice update- damn those mis-coloured hoses!

The gauge I've got on my FPR came with the warning that it was not designed as a permanent install whilst driving, just for use when setting up. Not sure if yours is the same, but if so you might wanna pull it out and use the screw in plug for the resulting hole

[Magic Beans]

Good call

Just been reading the manufacturer's (Mallory) docs and can't find anything referring to having to remove it. It came from Rob B's car (the one I should have bought ) and he ran it in situ. I'll do some more reading though, just in case.

You run an Aeromotive don't you? Is it oil filled?

[ashley]

My FPR is aeromotive, the gauge is a Sytec jobby

Not sure what it's filled with, liquid of some description

[Magic Beans]

Ahh yes, I think mine's a Sytec too. It all comes flooding back, like remembering what it was your were supposed to be doing at the start of the day, at the end of the day.

[alan_uk]

Evening all

It's been a while since I put any words in this thread, so I thought it time for a quick update.

No real changes to the car to report on really. There's a few things in work but nothing finished, so they can wait for another day.

I have now got around to getting some proper camera gear, in the shape of a GoPro Hero 2 Motorsport kit (birthday present from Adrienne) and a Canon EOS 650D (birthday present to myself ). I've been trying to get to grips with how it all works, which has taken longer than hoped (GoPro wise) due to the lovely weather we've been having Although today was a nice clear day, so we decided to go out for a drive and get some video footage. Alas that will have to wait for a day or so, as it all needs compiling into something a bit more special than a few clips. Plus the files are huge (300mb+)

We did take the Canon with us though so grabbed a few photos en route, which I thought I'd share. I'm still learning and it was an ad hoc shoot, so bear with me

It seems to be perpetual dusk these days

















If a car could contemplate, this is how it would look



This is who we are



Better had splicing a video together then eh. When did I become a video editor?!

phill do you know what your arches are on your car and any idea on what size spacers i may need to fit them to mine ?

cheers