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...

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...

May 2004... Mission Complete.

A huge amount of work had been completed in such a short amount of time.. especially considering most of the bodywork had been done in our spare time, after work! Special thanks again to DannySp8 and Salvo!

The arches look pretty cool and really stand out. I like the angular look! There are still a few things to finish off, mesh to be added, paintwork to be tidied up in places, but that can wait for a short while - I've earned a rest!

I'm not sure if the full face intercooler look is quite right, but it certainly stands...

May 2004... Sabre Auto Styling (Phase 3)

With next to no time left before the French Car Show, a huge amount of effort was needed to finish preparing the bodywork and fully re-spraying the car! To help out as much as I could, I took some time off work and worked at Sabre's bodyshop, for 3 days solid... working between 12 and 16 hour days!

After preparing all of the body panels with fine filler, the primer was applied. Salvo stayed up until 3am two days before the show to complete this! Thanks very much!

The morning after, I began to flat all of the...

May 2004... Bodywork Prep' (Phase 2)

With the arches now firmly in place it was time for myself and Danny to get stuck in... Danny really is good when it comes to body work, so he did all of the fiddly bits, but I managed to get stuck in too! Out came the fibreglass, metal filler and umpteen other bits we needed. We worked on the car every evening until it was too dark to continue!

Whilst Danny was busy smoothing the new arches into the original bodywork, I started to fit the new front and rear bumpers... not as easy as it may sound! The bumpers had to be extended...

May 2004... The Project starts! (Phase 1)

I'd managed to lose a wheel arch extension last month, so it was a good opportunity to start the work I had been thinking about doing for many months! The project included fitting steel wheel arches in place of the standard plastic trim, removing the rear spoiler to give a smoother look, removing all door trim panels and filling the holes exposed and fitting new front and rear bumpers... so it was only a small project

The arches I had decided to use were from a VW Golf... Myself and DannySp8 were going to do all of the...

April 2004... Petrol problems.

Things were going to good to be true! Whilst driving home from work one evening I got a whiff of unburnt petrol coming from the engine bay. It wasn't anything major so I carried on driving until I got home. When I arrived at home I popped the bonnet to see what the problem could be.

With the engine still running, I could see a tiny jet of petrol escaping from one of my steel braided petrol hoses... a simple thing to replace! I took the hose off and had a new one fabricated the following day, re-fitted it and... the petrol pipe next to...