Toad's Lifeline - Saxo Cup front suspension purchased!

[jpsaxo]

Whats wrong with the brakes mate? remind me?

tbh i'd get it up to John at GMC, get yourself a standalone, fuck the boddies idea right off, just get the damn thing running right and have some fun / free milage before doing anything else

Seriously mate, thats what i'd do....

[fairoS106gti]

and infact i even took my whole fucking heat sheifl off all the way along because it was poo.. but i wouldnt suggest it as the exhaust runs under the fooooookin fuel tank lol

[Toad]

The brakes...

2 symptoms:

1) Braking hard from 80+ mph - The car dives to left fiercely. It feels like the rear is stepping out on you.

2) Braking hard from 40 - 60 mph - The car feels extremely skittish, and you go side to side.

If I brake gently it's absolutely fine. I've had it at an MOT testing station on the rollers, and the braking efficiency was reported to be spot on. With perfectly equal left / right braking. I've had 3 different garages look at the brakes and they can't see anything wrong. There's absolutely no play whatsoever in the suspension. The only thing odd with the suspension is the front right has about 5mm more ride height than the front left. I've got less negative camber on the right, and also more positive caster. Each about 1 degree difference than the left. Go figure...

[Toad]

Originally Posted by fairoS106gti

and infact i even took my whole fucking heat sheifl off all the way along because it was poo.. but i wouldnt suggest it as the exhaust runs under the fooooookin fuel tank lol

LOL, you nutter!

[Toad]

About the GMC visit thing... What's the hurry to get to GMC? It's running well at the minute. Certainly better then it's ever ran before... If I'm going to get the KMS standalone, I'd be a numpty not to get the bodies at the same time. Getting the standalone installed and mapped will be more than half the cost of getting the full monty. As soon as I can get all the problems out the way, I'm definately on my up north!

[dannygti]

1 degree out is a lot mate. could you not buy new top mounts?maybe some roller bearing ones?

[Toad]

I can indeed. But why would I change them? I could end up changing loads of things and get nowhere.

[jpsaxo]

Strange about the braking, does yours use a bias valve or the electronic thing to determine how much braking the rear does?

Checked pads all round, calipers ok?

You say get everything sorted, you seem to be picking up more issues than your solving (no offense just saying it how i see it), hence why you should go to gmc, get everything running great (no jerking, no oil consumption, a spot on perfect map on standalone etc) espcially as its your daily runner. Before having boddies i'd personally be spending that 1k on a cheap run around anyway....

I've always said it, and will say it again, dont do anything to your car unless you've got everything running sweet IMHO. i.e. what if you get boddies and its still jerking and using oil?

Then all you will have achieved is a huge dent in your bank balence and no money to get the car running right....and no car to go to work in....

As i said, you seem like a very geniune guy, i'm not being picky, i'm just saying it how i would do things

[Toad]

I changed the rear pads a week ago, they were evenly worn. I haven't looked at the front pads yet as they are still too new to tell. I'll give it just a little longer. If the front pads not evenly worn, then that will tell the story!

It uses the electronic braking thingie, so I can't manually adjust the rear braking bias. I put some much better pads on the rear, so in theory, I should get some better braking at the rear, but I haven't noticed the problem get worse or better since the change.

I'm not offended mate, not at all. I think the jerking is down to the map. Seems like a few peeps on here have noticed it after having a map from Wayne. The way it happens is definately fuel orientated I'm sure of it. I'm pretty confident a different intake, a different map, and different injectors would sort it. If not, it's not the end of the world, as it doesn't make the car undriveable, it's just tough at slow speeds... But running a stage 4 head, you wouldn't exactly expect it to run sweet as a nut in traffic and the like...

I take on board what you are saying about going to GMC, but honestly, if I'm going to spend over £1500 on a new ECU, loom, map etc... I might as well just get the bodies at the same time. Anyway, this won't be done until all the problems are out of the way. Mainly, I've got to solve the braking issue, see what's exactly going on with the suspension too and that's it. There's no major issues looming over at present.

[jpsaxo]

Originally Posted by Toad

I changed the rear pads a week ago, they were evenly worn. I haven't looked at the front pads yet as they are still too new to tell. I'll give it just a little longer. If the front pads not evenly worn, then that will tell the story!

It uses the electronic braking thingie, so I can't manually adjust the rear braking bias. I put some much better pads on the rear, so in theory, I should get some better braking at the rear, but I haven't noticed the problem get worse or better since the change.

I'm not offended mate, not at all. I think the jerking is down to the map. Seems like a few peeps on here have noticed it after having a map from Wayne. The way it happens is definately fuel orientated I'm sure of it. I'm pretty confident a different intake, a different map, and different injectors would sort it. If not, it's not the end of the world, as it doesn't make the car undriveable, it's just tough at slow speeds... But running a stage 4 head, you wouldn't exactly expect it to run sweet as a nut in traffic and the like...

I take on board what you are saying about going to GMC, but honestly, if I'm going to spend over £1500 on a new ECU, loom, map etc... I might as well just get the bodies at the same time. Anyway, this won't be done until all the problems are out of the way. Mainly, I've got to solve the braking issue, see what's exactly going on with the suspension too and that's it. There's no major issues looming over at present.

Very strange about the brakes, yeah as you say give it a bit more time and miles before you take them off and have a nosey

Fair enough about the standalone, thats what i did with mine, wanted to save on mapping costs and just get it done in one go.

With the suspension i'd change top mounts, have you got powerflex (or similar) bushes? why not go for a total refurb for the front suspension, drop links, bushes (if you havent already done them) and top mounts, while everythings off check your wishbones, it wont cost too much and then at least you know the whole of the front end is sorted

[Toad]

I have a bad feeling that a wishbone could be the problem, as they can bend if the car takes a knock. The bushes are poly Powerflex ones, I've had then in only about 8 months, so no probs there. I can change the top mounts... The garage who last looked at the car said they could do that for me, as that's the only thing they can think of. Everything has been measured up and there's nothing obvious causing the problem. Trust me to pick a shit problem like this.

Thing is, there's no play in the front suspension. So I think that something must be bent, and the wishbone is the only thing I can think of. But it looks fine!

[dannyhall]

If the wishbone is shagged, will it cause vibrations? I needed a wishbone on my old Zetec S, and that used to vibrate like a chunt when I was accerlating and braking?? But once it was replaced, ran perfect again.....?

PS, love your car mate. Dont usually like sliver cars and white wheels, but yours is gorgeous!

What power output you looking at once the remap and the TB's are on?

[Toad]

The vibrations would more than likely be to do with the wishbone's connections into the suspensnion being bust. But if it's upsetting the overall dimensions of the car, it could easily vibrate I would imagine.

Thanks for the comments on the car. It's running around 160 brake at the moment. Hopefully looking at around another 10 at least with the bodies...

[Toad]

I little word of advice for you guys... I had no idea that the Pugsport exhaust would alter the performance of the car so much as it has. I'm getting so much more power in the mid to upper rev range it's fantastic. I thought my clutch was slipping since the exhaust when on, but it's actualy the wheels spinning! Obviously the fact that my previous exhaust was blowing most of the time has got a lot to do with it as well, but damn... :d

[dannyhall]

Originally Posted by Toad

The vibrations would more than likely be to do with the wishbone's connections into the suspensnion being bust. But if it's upsetting the overall dimensions of the car, it could easily vibrate I would imagine.

Thanks for the comments on the car. It's running around 160 brake at the moment. Hopefully looking at around another 10 at least with the bodies...

Yeah could well be, sounds dodgy either way! LOL

160bhp, nice! Wonder what bhp that is per tonne? Bet you can surpise I fair few people with that?!

[Toad]

I haven't had it weighed yet. I'm just going to fit the fibreglass bonnet and remove the sunroof first. I'm expecting around the 800kg mark. That would give me somewhere around 200 BHP / tonne. So yes, it suprises a lot of people.

[vtr130]

I fink im going to be getting a carbon bonnet, boot!! But then im also cosidering cutting out the inner skins off the doors and the boot, removing the dash and the heated windscreen aswell as a few secret ideas!! Want to get the car below 800kg's with the cage in

But then again toad instead of pointless strippage for like 1kg's lose some weight or bye a romote control setup for your car like top gear tht would make it alot quicker pmsl

[Karl]

/agreed, if your a podgy fucker than this affects how a car drives too.
You're not a fatty are you Toad?

[vtr130]

I fink toad looks like fat bastard lol

[Toad]

LOL. Fat Bastard is an ugly fooker. I'm not ugly, nor am I fat!