October 2005... The end of an era?

Winter is drawing in and the show season is in hibernation. I started to think whether or not I wanted to continue to modify the Saxo, or whether it was time to archive all of my memories and move on? After thinking long and hard, I decided that I'd invested too much time and effort into modifying my Saxo to call it a day. I realised however that sometimes I wasn't able to enjoy the car as much as I should. After all this was my daily driver and if it broke it caused me a hassle getting to work and back with no car.

So, the decision...

May 2005... Time for a facelift

With the winter months well and truly gone and the long summer evenings on the way in, it's time again to start modifying in preparation for the season, which lies ahead. I often think that the front of my car looks a little strange... sometimes I dont like the full-face intercooler look?

In an attempt to try something fresh, I bought a pair of Ultra Angel Eye headlamps from G.S Motorsport. These are actually quite a good bit of kit and are supplied with ample fitting instructions. The light units themselves seem like very good quality....

November 2004... More fried Electronics?

With the car fresh from it's rolling road tune, it was due to make a trip down to Donington for the Saxperience Meet! On the morning of the meet I took the car for a spin to make sure everything was OK... unfortunately it wasn't?? The car wouldn't rev above about 2.5k rpm and when it did it would retard the ignition and backfire?

It sounded like an ignition timing fault. This was really bad timing and meant that my car couldn't make it to the Donington meet. Gutted!

After a couple of weeks I found enough spare...

November 2004... 190bhp at the wheels!

Whilst my car was at GMC Motorsport with the gearbox in pieces, it became evident that the AP Racing clutch cover, which I had fitted a couple of years before was on it's last legs! The end tips of the pressure plates had worn to less than 1mm in thickness. It made sense to fit a new clutch whilst the gearbox was off the car, rather than take the gearbox off the car again in a few months time.

The choice of clutches, which could cope with the power the engine was producing was not too extensive. The simplest options were the...

September 2004... Shafted?

After getting the car back from Sabre Auto Styling, I had to travel upto Glasgow the very next day. I had noticed a clunk/shudder had started to happen, but only when I accelerated HARD in either 1st or 2nd gear? Odd, I thought...

Just before leaving for Glasgow I noticed a small puddle of oil/grease on my driveway. A quick look under the car showed that I had managed to burst the inner CV gaitor on the passenger side driveshaft! Gutted.

I left the car for a week whilst I was away then ordered a replacement driveshaft upon...

Just a quick update, with the rolling road day coming I'm trying to motivate myself to get the car sorted and tidied up a bit... due to the weather though, it's been the last thing on my mind.

Also a contributing factor to the delays is the landlady of our house has decided she wants to sell up. this left Nic and I with a problem: Do we A, Stay until she sells and in the meantime save as much as we can. Or B, get out asap. We have decided for option B. The reasons for this became reinforced when we started to look at similar size houses to the one were in. Basicly the place were...

The wheels are now on let me know what you all think, i wasnt to sure about them going with yellow at first but its growing on me an im liking them... almost crashed other nite to on black ice because the council down my way are so useless and dont grit the roads despite tht bit of road being lethal for days..rant over..

Spare of the moment thing i have decided to break my vts for spares. Got sick and fed up of trying to maintain 3 cars. Get rid of the track car and make some money. Will also save some money by not doing as many track days anymore.

Hope i dont regret this

August 2004... Time For A Change.

With the new suspension working great, I started to enjoy the ride of my Saxo once more. I decided to focus some time on sorting out the bodywork, which had been finished in a MAD rush to get my car ready for the Saxperience show stand at the French Car Show back in May.

I wanted some after market mirrors, as the standard items didn't look right with the modified body styling. I had re-fitted my standard mirrors after selling my old M3's, then I ran out of time before the car show! A quick phone call to Garreth at G.S Motorsport sorted...

July 2004... New Suspension.

My suspension had been creaking, knocking and banging for quite a few months now. I think the problems accelerated after I fitted the Grp A engine mounts, as it made everything so much tighter and also caused quite a few vibrations! The car also seemed far too low... it was only lowered 40mm at the front on Pi springs, but it looked more like a 90mm drop! The suspension must be on its last legs I thought?

I fancied the idea of fully adjustable suspension, height and damping rate, but the kits on the market at the moment seemed a bit expensive...