Im okay behind the wheel. Don't get as much of it as i would like these days but kids have a habit of burning money. Plus my job means i have a nice leisurely life but money? Doesn't provide me with a heck of a lot which is a shame as preparing cars requires lots of it!

I am aren't I :hug:

The good, the bad and the ugly today.

The good:
Got the new rear pads on. 3 of the 4 had loads of meat on, but one was virtually down to the backing plate. Just some Mintex road pads that I had in stock - about £12 delivered, from memory.

Got the tracking done, the two T1R that I had in stock popped on the rims, all balanced up and good to go. One of the old T1Rs had a screw in it! :shock:

I've not done the high speed run to confirm that the mild high-speed vibration from Goodwood has gone, but it only really became apparent at and indicated 110 - 115mph, so I'll save that one for when I'm feeling lucky.

The fault codes from Goodwood were checked, put down as stress related and cleared. The £8 delivered from China fault-code reader seems to work well.

The bad:
The CV boot has come off, again. And picked up some damage this time. Comparing left to right, the drivers side one, the one that has come off, looks considerably shorter than the passenger one. I guess that is the problem them. Undecided whether I'll tackle the replacement myself.

The ugly:
I have a lower strut brace to fit, won on eBay. Apparently it is the one to have. Went to fit it, and it appears to be incompatable with my after-market exhaust as they all want the same space. That will be going back up on eBay and / or the forum.

******

No pictures I'm afraid. I was going to take some, but decided that the rear brakes were boring to look at and having messed around with the CV, during which my glove split, I was too mucky to touch the phone / camera!

******

So the to-do list gains some and loses some.

Anything with a * is a must do before Brands in Dec

To do:
Do a high-speed run - confirm that balancing has solved high-speed vibration experienced at Goodwood*
Fit new CV boot*
Buy and fit braided hoses
New brake fluid for the above (obviously)
Acquire 1 or 2 bucket seats
Fit to the seat subframes that are on their way, then fit to the car
Acquire final part of the gear change linkage
Fit new linkages
Book in and do the cage fitting with G*
Decide whether I'm happy with harnesses with a 4 point cage (was happy with that in my Caterham, so probably will be)

Live with it for now:
Look at electric mirror switch (prob needs replacing, can adjust mirror externally anyway)
Coolant flush

Ive got some bottles of brake fluid I dont need now. Pm me.

Thanks for the offer Joe, but my old man works for a motor factors, so I can probably get it cheaper from there than it would cost to post it from yours!

I rarely, if ever, turn down stuff that I'm offered but in this case - and I do appreciate the offer - I think that I've got that base covered for less.

No worries I have a pile of parts now as im getting a 172 .

Given up on the pink one then?

Was gonna take too long and I needed a better daily driver anyway. With the Clio I can sort of have both (its a non cup) Use it on the road and take it on track. Taken me ages to find a decent one!

I will have some brand new condition cobra buckets and harnesses to sell
kam racing gear linkages
filters oils etc
brembo front and rear discs and pads unopened.
upper strut braceetc

I really like RenaultSports. Always bought something else instead though!

PM me a price on a harness (inc type) and the F+R discs. Might be able to do a deal.

Had a couple of hours on the car this morning.

Did the CV boot. Hopefully that's that.

Got the headlining out, used a very useful guide from this forum. Saved approximately 0.000000001g doing that. Frenchies weigh feck all and come apart very easily.

Cleaned up some contacts on the alternator to stop the battery light flickering - a common Saxo issue as the connector wears and fatigues over time. Looked at options for lock wiring it in place. There doesn't seem to be any. Shame.

I'll probably pull the rest of the carpet and pax seat out ahead of fitting the cage at Gareth's.

I have a Motordrive seat for this now. It was cheap, but has some MG related badging. Meh. I also have some Sparco tailored frames, but no side mounts as yet, so that is a non-starter at present.

I have some Goodridge lines on their way, so I'll try to get them on before Brands.

All go in Saxo land!


******

So the to-do list...

Anything with a * is a must do before Brands in Dec

To do:
Do a high-speed run - confirm that balancing has solved high-speed vibration experienced at Goodwood*
Fit braided hoses
New brake fluid for the above (obviously)
Get some side mounts
Acquire final part of the gear change linkage
Fit new linkages
Book in and do the cage fitting with G*
Decide whether I'm happy with harnesses with a 4 point cage (was happy with that in my Caterham, so probably will be)

Live with it for now:
Look at electric mirror switch (prob needs replacing, can adjust mirror externally anyway)
Coolant flush

Sounds like you are enjoying it! Good stuff.

So some more Saxo action today folks!

So these arrived, new and cheap enough off someone on here.



I managed to get some side mounts off a chap on another forum.



I was a bit concerned that the bolt spacing on my Motordrive seat might preclude me from using the more commonly available Cobra / Corbeau / Sparco mounts. The spacing on the Motordrive seat is 7mm wider.

Good news; it's tight, but it works:



The other positions are a bit more generous on spacing too. Good news.

And this bad boy arrived too:



Yeah! 90s-audio-tastic. Good enough to get the iPhone working through what is left of the stereo.

More to follow...

So decided to rip out what was left of the carpet. It would only be in the way when we came to put the cage in. Used the guide on this forum, and it was all relatively easy.

Pax seat out and staying out. Quite weighty. At last, I've removed something of significant weight from the car! Hurrah! The other good news, is that the carpet weighed a decent chunk too. It seemed to be fibreglassed underneath? Anyway, definitely more than just a bit of shitty carpet should weigh.

I was pushed for time (lunch break / working from home) so there is still some more sound deadening to come out, some airbag related wiring which can come out, etc. but chucked it all together for now:



Tidy! Or not... Anyway, bolted in one of the Sparco tailored subframes that I picked up cheap SH. Seem to fit and work well. I'm not planning on putting a pax seat in, but will leave this subframe in. It is not heavy and I was bored of it being in the way. Plus if someone is desperate to pax (unlikely) they can find a seat too! I'll probably bolt my fire extinguisher to it. Both those subframes need a lick of paint, but so will the cage once it has had an extra bar in it, so I'll save that all for one big painting session.

Have the matching one for the driver's side, but I'm a few bolts short. Will order up some high-tensile jobbies over the weekend. Oh, and there is another little problem:



That is, or was, one of the driver's seat mounts. One of the front ones (there are 4 in total, 3 now). **** knows what happened to that. It wasn't me! I actually looked at it closely and the edges are rusty, so it definitely didn't happen today and the seat was always a bit 'rocky'. Must have been like this for Goodwood :shock:

Advised Gareth that we need a bit more welding done when the cage goes in, and he assured me that it was reparable... Which I assumed was the case anyway, based on what I've seen achieved on various restoration projects.

So I just need tidy up some of the mess inside, load up and get to Gareth's next weekend. The main hoop of the cage is already loaded up. I got that in a few days ago, just to make sure that it fits.

The thick mat behind the dash weighs a fair amount too. But you have to take the dash out which on a 106 is a ballache so assume the same for saxo.

Ballache? It's a piece of piss!

I'll probably wait until I have to pull the dash for something else, tbh. Lazy, I know!

Your version of piece of piss and mine are clearly different! When I want to do a job I don't expect to fight through 55 steps to do it!

Or "5 bolts" as I prefer to call it.

Are you talking saxo or 106? Im sure there was a lot more than 5 bolts!

Its probably not as bad as I make out. Im just borderline ocd and nearly had a fit when I saw what lurked behind the dash for the first time on a car!

A bit of a long day...

So where to start. Quick recap, the cage came from a friend back in the summer, it then lived in my Summerhouse until now. I promised myself that all late season mods will be done by Oct to save ****ing about in the dark and cold. That did not work out!

I pulled nearly all of the interior, carpets, headlining, etc. ready for the Sat 15th Nov; cage day.

To be honest, the strip was a bit quick and dirty in places:



But I didn't have time to tidy up because I fell properly ill in the week running up to the 15th and that was that. Cleaning up the wiring, bits of sound deadening, etc. is very much on the to-do list.

I loaded up the car well in advance, found a nice full tank of fuel the night before (Gareth thanked me for that when we thought we might need to pull the tank) and had an uneventful drive down to Gareth's. Got there nice and early, but then we talked bollocks, drank coffee, saw other cars fixed, cleaned, come and go before really getting stuck into mine near lunchtime.

With the front seat whipped out and the car on the lift, we offered up the cage a couple of times. Looks like it was all going to fit, which was a relief. A bit of massaging around the sunroof frame (hammer). Some wiring was in the way, easily removed. The fuel lines, which wanted to run under the cage feet less so. Fortunately Gareth got them released, blocked off and out of the way.

First up the main hoop.

The car came without a decent fitting kit... It had some random old rusty bits, suitable for templates, but not much else. Gareth got some 3mm plate out and got cutting and banging. Gareth kept it old school with a hacksaw. I thought he would be there until about 2063 with a hacksaw, but Gareth and the Snap-On blade beasted it at an astonishing rate. Need to get one of those Snap-On hacksaws and blades! The plate needed bending and Gareth just hammered it right, whilst I tried to catch everything falling off the workbench, so no photos of this stage, but the results are here:



The front plates are in two parts, the bent base and the side. Obviously this is the finished article, drilled, welded, bolted, fuel lines re-routed, etc. This is the story of how we got there.

The plastic fuel tank was massaged out of the way. And some spare sheet metal used as an additional barrier.

Time to get welding! Good news. Olly, Nick's son was out on fire watch. Car did not catch on fire. Well, it did a bit, but Olly did his job. I went outside and talked bollocks. Gareth only made occasional gripes about the thickness of French metal... Needless to say, I've used thicker johnnies.

I think that this is the only photo of work actually happening:



Low and behold, the footplates were both in.

Gareth then drilled through to the underneath of the car and we got on with bolting in the main hoop. Only challenge was the brake lines running near the bolts, but we got there...



I'd like it known that I gave Olly a break and did the bolting up myself.

The cage took a little tickle around the seatbelt mounts, but nothing that G could not sort. No pictures, but the cage anchors to the seatbelt mount on the b-post.

So main hoop in!

Next up, back stays. More footplates made, but these are simple flat affairs.

Peered under the driver's side arch... Lots of gubbins there. Did the passenger side first. Olly and Gareth were in the car, with Gareth talking welding to the lad.



I was on fire duty. Fire came and went, plates were welded in. Note that the nuts are on the inside, to keep the intrusion into the wheel arch down.



To the other side. Not, what could possibly be in the way? Just the plastic fuel filler and a fuel return. Helpful. This was massaged out the way, covered with a fire blanket and my fire watching just got more exciting!

Gareth really wanted to block off he open fuel filler before starting welding - fuel vapour + welding = bad. Nick suggested using cloth. It was pointed out that a wick was not desirable. We couldn't find anything else that fitted (the filler itself was well inside the inner wing at this stage), so it was a piece of cloth inside of a rubber glove. So Nick was sort of right! He was pleased.



More welding, one small fire. I got it out, but I shit you not, a little bit of wee came out...

For anyone interested, fire was put out by blowing on it. With an airline.

Bolted the cage in, that was all four points bolted in. Whoop!





We then got the fuel filler back into place. Gareth started this job, but then he met Mr. Spider. Then it became my job! In reality, it took two of us because the cage bolts stole some room off us and it took a bit if massaging back into place.

Phew.

By now, Olly and Nick had left us. Olly did a top job, without complaint. Nick was not allowed near such a fine motor vehicle and just failed to complete various jobs on his Lolvo project. This was for the best.

Next job... Diagonal.

We discussed options, and settled on it running up to the main hoop, as per the finished item. Back in the day, Safety Devices took it leg-to-leg to keep it removable. This was sub-optimal and didn't look hard enough. Sorry, safe enough. But it does look hard.

So position B in this diagram:



Gareth did the shaping and welding. It involved a toilet roll. I occasionally followed instructions. Well pleased with the end result.







Cage in. Boom.

Gareth is at pain to point out that he would normally take care of painting, underselling, etc. but time was against us on the day and I'm 110% happy to deal with that.

We then got the fuel tank and other bits and pieces all back in place.

There is more to come, but that isn't written as yet... Oh and apologies for a few continuity issues in the pics and no grand unveiling... That will come in due course.