A few pics until I sort out some full posts

So my 'new years resolution' is off to a flying start! Well, I am going to sort this blog out over the weekend but in the meantime here are a few pics to show some of the changes.

New wheels!

They are 16" Team Dynamics with a polished lip. Another eBay bargain costing £150 with brand new tyres!

Flared arches

This reflection on this shows off the new flared arches really nicely. They are actually from the BTCC racer.

New Powerflow exhaust

Well, it's used but being Powerflow is stainless steel and lifetime guaranteed! It's a full catback system finished with 5" slash cut back box. It sounds sweet and should be even nicer when the Cold Air Intake goes on :)

New years resolution: Update my blog :)

So it's been 5 months since my last update... urm, whoops.
Loads of changes to the car but I am very lazy about blogging so my new years resolution is to get that sorted. I will get some photos at the weekend and do a few blogs about my new wheels, wide arches, rattling rear view mirror, PC problems and upcoming engine mods.

Happy new year

Cracked it!

But not in a good way. While driving to a uni reunion a couple of weeks ago I made the mistake of parking front-in at a service station, something I've deliberately not done since getting lowered.
There was a sickening crack as I realised the kerb was too high and I was too far forward! The bumper was pushed at the bottom enough to crack along the line from the number plate (picture to follow). Fortunately, nothing broke off and the crack isn't too long so Demon are going to repair it and respray the whole thing for 100 bones.
So, a reasonable outcome in the end and the bumper does have a couple of scratches from some little gits who play in the car park outside my house so they will get sorted at the same time.
This is all scheduled for 12th September so hopefully it'll all be ready for the NPOC Peterborough meet on the 16th

In other news, I finally found/made the time to relocate the USB DAC from under the seat with the PC to the boot. The USB cable runs neatly under the carpeting and since the majority of the audio transfer distance is now digital, it is far less suseptible to interference. There is notably less engine whine (completely inaudible below about 4k rpm) and I have still to fit the engine grounding kit which should kill it completely.

Japfest 2007

On Saturday May 19th I went down to Castle Combe with my car and the NPOC for Japfest. We had a good turnout on our stand (about 20 cars) and the weather, after a shakey start, was good. We saw a lot of track action including some drifting, club runs and a few nasty incidents (an NSX rolling over and a highly modified impreza catching fire!).
I managed to finally pick up a clay bar kit from the Meguirs stand and got some good photos too. They can all be seen here
After the show we went for a Chinese and a few pints locally and stayed in a nearby B&B in Yate called Englands Guest House (highly recommended and very cheap). I then drove home in convoy with a few, more local NPOC members. All in all a great weekend :)

Prepping for Japfest

Show season is properly upon us again and this weekend is Japfest in Castle Coombe. I have been trying to iron out a few issues and get things sorted in time which has meant a few evenings out in the rain repainting the brake calipers, a weekend trying to find dry time to wash and polish and a few hours researching some bugs on the PC.
I was having a problem with the CarPC where the pointer would start jumping around the screen and clicking at random points. I have resolved this thanks to the registry fix suggested in this thread on mp3car. All that I need to do now is:

• Hoover out and clear the interior (Friday evening)
  
• Wipe over the plastics with some dashboard wipes (Friday evening)
  
• Get the tracking checked (Going in to the garage Friday)
  
• Replace the cracked headlight lense (Mechanic will do this while its in for tracking)

Hopefully the weather won't completely suck but it should be a top weekend anyway.

Low rider!

I am now running on KYB AGX adjustables with H&R 35mm lowering springs! I drove up to York on Monday to see Kev. It was a good day and fortunately the rain just held off long enough to do the job. We (and by we I mean Kev and Dave while I looked on and occasionally removed or replaced a wheel) swapped my suspension onto Kev's scrapper and put his lovely red shockers onto mine. It took about 3 hours plus obligitory tea and biscuit breaks!
I nearly left my bumper on his drive reversing out due to my new height but the drive back was lush. The ride is no where near as harsh as I was expecting but the handling is infinately better, zero body roll!

Lowering

A friend, Kev, from NPOC is getting rid of some Koni AGX adjustable shocks and H&R lowering springs from his track car. I'm off up to York on bank holiday Monday to fit them and swap them for my standard set up!
I am a very happy boy cos I have been looking for new shocks anyway and these are a bloody good upgrade. The springs are a 35mm drop so enough to improve the ride and look without being uncomfortable.
I'll post up the before and after (and probably some in between) photos next week.