New bits

[jardon]

Evening all,

my car has been at Tims this last week:


XP10s and 8's - proper brakes at last! Bit squeaky but nowhere near as bad as I expected, as good as stock when cold and crazy when warm/hot - you have to experience them to believe how good they are (my DS2500's were wooden by comparison). Removed all heat shields.

Gripper - fitted after a tweak at Dave Mac props to reduce pre-load (and therefore the amount of noise on lock). 40/65 ramp and 30lbs preload. NO noise on lock (even on my steep full lock driveway) and it absolutely won't allow the inside wheel to spin up - I experimented by launching out of a few junctions. LOVE IT. Pulls the car where I'm aiming for. Well worth the money.

Intercooler - lower IATs and improved MAF. Will log in summer.

Pink ****ted the subframe mounts and O/S engine mount. Engine doesn't wobble any more.

New transmission tie bar polybushes to replace the fiesta of cable ties padding out the old rubber bush.

Walbro fuel pump - reduced IDC even though MAF is increased.

Actuator - the surprise of the day. Tim thought it felt a bit flat last week so we took the actuator off today. I needed 5.5 complete turns of pretension to acheive 1.4 bar. With the actuator off we could pull the rod out very easily compared to the other old TD04 actuators Tim has. He had a brand new Forge unit that they have just finished fabricating a bracket for so we fitted that with a green 5psi spring - wouldn't make more than 1 bar even when adjusted to 8psi. Fitted a 13 psi blue spring and hey presto the power is back! Still builds boost progressively but the new found mid range oomph immeadiately slipped my new paddle clutch that had bedded well up to now. Boost fades less up top. The actuator must have been going soft for quite a while I think.

5 puck CG clutch and TTV SMF. Still bedding in - slips when cold but the same abuse when it's hot and no slip. A bit like performance brakes I guess and the man at CG said the last part of bedding in should be "abusing" it. Not too aggressive but then I hated the soggy stock setup of sprung hub clutch AND sloppy DMF. A little gearbox rattle when the oil is hot but again not more than I expected. Running Redline Heavyweight shockproof and the gearchange is smoother than with the "proper" oil.

Catch tank - a nice chavvy blue one!

Replumbed Aquamist kit with the pressure switch now tapped into the manifold directly. Pump bolted to subframe rather than cable tied!

Neat engine bay - HID ballasts hidden away and aquamist cables rerouted where my DIY had been an epic fail.

New meile drop links and N/S ball joint.

I really think I'll be done once the coilovers are on as it drives so nicely bar the ****ty FSDs. We tried bouncing the front of mine, his and chiumans cars and mine just keeps on bouncing!!! I guess that explains why it bottoms out on speed bumps, crashes over potholes and wallows at speed. Such a mismatch with lowering springs.

My highlights - actuator, diff and carbotechs. As always Tim takes an evidenced based approach to all this and we logged/re-logged before being happy with the end result. It definitely feels more hardcore than before but pootling home around Swansea this evening it's still a nice daily driver. Thanks to Tim for letting me call him constantly since I started buying the hardware last summer and for ringing me each evening this last week with progress updates.

Cheers mate - you really are a star :thumbsup:.

I've probably exagerated because I'm excited but the ability to put that power on the floor and then stop properly are a joy.

[JelT5]

Sounds excellent mate. Must be a joy to drive :)

[jardon]

Sounds excellent mate. Must be a joy to drive :)

It is - I need to decide on walking the dog or going for a spin this evening. I had grown a bit bored of it recently but the fun factor has returned.

Edit - I'm referring to the car not our dog.

[JelT5]

It is - I need to decide on walking the dog or going for a spin this evening. I had grown a bit bored of it recently but the fun factor has returned.

Edit - I'm referring to the car not our dog.

I kinda guessed LOL! :D

[Alan M]

Are those ramp angles and preload settings best for your model V70 or would you think they can be applied to an M56 in an 850? Was the noise from the gripper quite evident before having the settings altered?

[jardon]

Are those ramp angles and preload settings best for your model V70 or would you think they can be applied to an M56 in an 850? Was the noise from the gripper quite evident before having the settings altered?

There was no noise on my car as it never got as far as the gearbox before being adjusted. However, a diff from the same batch went in somebody elses car and that was noisey - they are having it adjusted same as mine then refitted. That was an 850. There is no need for high preload - people win races with low preload but the lock comes on slower apparently. You have 3 choices for ramp angles - 30/65, 40/65 and 45/45. I haven't driven anything other than 40/65 but Gripper say 30/65 is unsuitable for a road vehicle as it will lock twice as aggressively as a 40/65 under load. The 65 figure refers to coast/decel lock - you don't want too much lock on coast in a fwd car so avoid 45/45. All the people I know who have quiet Grippers run 40/65 with low preload.

I made a rubbish video to show how awesome these diffs are - even with a wheel on wet grass it locks the diff and spins the wheel on tarmac too! It is most impressive in corners - more power equals less understeer :wow:.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ77du3YrPQ