The journey of one man and his Mule(s)

[ashley]

Hope the weather's better down at SRR than it is here or else the road test will be "interesting"!

Good luck chap

[craig]

Hope all went well at mappers mate.

For everyone else, Phil's boot carpet cutting skills for Chargecooler swirl pot hoses and brackets:

[ashley]

[andya24]

This ^^^^

[Magic Beans]

So then, yesterday... It was certainly an interesting day, in many ways, as you'll see later on...

I set off for the journey down to SRR, with the weather being as evil as ever I've tried to make a point of never driving the '2 in the wet for a couple of reasons. No 1. It takes that long to clean it afterwards. No 2. Most importantly, because these things can be evil in the wet and it's just not worth the risk. In this instance I didn't have any choice.

Not the best of conditions to be taking a newly modified car to be tuned in



As advised I drove it down there almost completely off boost, as if it was an NA instead of a tubby. As a result it only took half a tank to make the 155 mile trip


Arrived safe and sound, met Ryan (great guy!) and popped onto the dyno


A quick vid of SRR in action
http://s1072.photobucket.com/albums/w37 ... GA0798.mp4

Tuning began. No idea what was being done here


Setting up AFR I'm guessing?


Running without the EVC, so the 1 bar limit of the wastegate


And another


EVC on it became apparent something wasn't quite right, as it was shooting up to near 2 bar!


A bit of meddling by Ryan later we were back on track. However it became apparent that something else wasn't quite right, as power was coming in then dropping off, but with a load of torque (circa 370ft/lb!). Out came the spanners, off came the cam cover and sure enough they were slightly out Disappointing however the end result i was more than happy with, espeically the torque figure


Took it out for a very wet test drive and it pulled like a damn train! Ran a few diags and the end result was the engine was rock solid and healthy Ryan reckons that after dialling in the cams i should easily see 400bhp+ with similar torque to the current set-up.

I left a happy camper, very impressed with Ryan and his work. The car felt sublime, a whole new Mule was born There's very little lag, which Ryan also commented on (larger pistons? ), it feels solid and my god it shifts! And so began the long journey home..

The weather was hideous! To the point where you start to feel unsafe driving a modern German diesel, with all driving assists, let along a freshly tuned mid-rear weapon


And so the story shifts into something less cheery..

Crept my way down the M40, down the A43 and was coming around the bend which leads up to the M1/A43 junction. Was presented with a huge pool of water half way around the bend, 0 grip, car aquaplaned, back end came out, corrected (too much), back end flicked back, up the curb, hit a metal fence and bounced back into the road! Luckily nobody was around, so no other dangers and nobody hurt. I knew things were bad as when I pulled off the back end was fishtailing around Luckily I was right at the entrance to the services, so pulled in to see how bad things were


















The results


Front bumper damaged, NS front wing damaged, NS door scratached, NS rear wing damaged, NS front fog damaged, NS side lights damaged, NS headlights damaged, NS tail lights damaged, both NS wheels buckled badly, NS rear wheel pointing in the wrong direction so probably suspension of wishbone damage?

Sat in the services for 4 hours waiting for recovery and feeling sorry for myself, eventually got home at 2am, moved the car into the garage, went to bed around 2:30am shattered and pretty sad.

Spoke to a few people yesterday after it had happened and got some great support

Right now I'm off out to see the scope of the damage. Then it's time to decide where things go from here I guess.

Sad times. I had the car I'd been working towards for a total of 80 miles, before fate took it away. Sad times people, sad times

[ashley]

Sh*t damn f*ck f*ck f*ck

G U T T E D for you mate (and I can relate to how you must feel)...

Still- it has to be said: thankfully you are OK


Sh*t

Let me know if I can help you recover it

[ashley]

...what size are your wheels- I have a couple spare Te37's...?

[Rob B]

You'll be fine Phil. The damage does'nt look too bad. Ash's car looked much worse and now look he's got the best one on here

If Ash has the wheels and I have the rear suspensions arms ect to give the rest will be cosmetic.

[matt-mr2]

sad times m8 hope you get it fixed soon

[craig]

Phil. Mate. I'm extremely gutted for you. That's sickening! After all that hard work as well!

I wish you all the best in getting her back to former glory bud

[Moo]

That is so sad to see after all your efforts Gutted for you Phil, I really am

Glad you're ok. Hopefully the damage won't be too bad and you can get the mule back to it's former glory.

Chin up mate

Guessing you're fully comp? Maybe get it done on the insurance?

I know it's early days but if the damage is repairable and you need spares I can donate you a set of headlights. I've also got a set of amber triangles you can have if that's all that's broken on the rear lights. Wish I could help you out more but that's all I've got that would be any good to you.

Your wheels will be repairable if Ash's don't fit. Mine are currently being refurbed at this place.

http://www.rimtecrefurbs.co.uk/

They can repair all sorts of damage, including buckles, dents, missing bits etc and do refurbs too.

If i can help you out in any way let me know

[riot68]

So sorry, that certainly is an ar$e! Still hopefully all repairable as folks have said...

Here to help too chap if I can, plus bonus you have experience of front bumper removal and replacement now too ...

[stephano]

noooooooooooooooo!

i feel your pain.

[alanmr2turbo]

bummer

Looks like a lot of work putting that right or even a re-shell is the way i'd go

[Magic Beans]

Thanks for your kind words guys, really appreciated

Just given the car a good look over and it's not pretty but it's not as bad as it could have been.

The fog currently resides on the passengers seats


I only fitted these a couple of months or so ago


The fight I had to get this sodding thing back on just the other day!


Repairable? Looks pretty far gone to me


Front wing


Just a few scratches


Flanks


Rear end and lights






This would explain why the rear wheel is on the p1$$


Scratched pretty badly, with a bit of a buckle


OS front has a puncture for some unknown reason?!


Bumper bar sticking through. Any obvious damage?


This, this bit is a titan. The heart of The Mule still beats and it beats strong. It wants to live!


So all in all not as bad as it could have been. Anybody got any Carib Blue import panels lying around?

[Magic Beans]

...what size are your wheels- I have a couple spare Te37's...?

I'll be honest and admit I'm not a wheel expert in any way. This is the sticker on the NS rear

[Magic Beans]

That is so sad to see after all your efforts Gutted for you Phil, I really am

Glad you're ok. Hopefully the damage won't be too bad and you can get the mule back to it's former glory.

Chin up mate

Guessing you're fully comp? Maybe get it done on the insurance?

I know it's early days but if the damage is repairable and you need spares I can donate you a set of headlights. I've also got a set of amber triangles you can have if that's all that's broken on the rear lights. Wish I could help you out more but that's all I've got that would be any good to you.

Your wheels will be repairable if Ash's don't fit. Mine are currently being refurbed at this place.

http://www.rimtecrefurbs.co.uk/

They can repair all sorts of damage, including buckles, dents, missing bits etc and do refurbs too.

If i can help you out in any way let me know

Thanks Paul

I'll pay for the work, as with cars like this the insurance will try and find a get out clause for sure. It's all (well most of it) stuff I was looking at doing eventually any way.

The lights etc would be great though please

[ashley]

Sorry mate- different sizes

[Magic Beans]

So sorry, that certainly is an ar$e! Still hopefully all repairable as folks have said...

Here to help too chap if I can, plus bonus you have experience of front bumper removal and replacement now too ...

Three times in a week, so I'll have it down to a tee

[Magic Beans]

Sorry mate- different sizes

Unless I can source two more the same?

Are yours 17s?