Black LCR 1M stage 2. nurburgring!

so castle combe was yesterday. left home early with a mate and cousin, mate driving an ep3 type R and cousin driving an DC2 integra type R. enroute a few pics were taken, have to admit i love these pics.









get to the circuit which was booked through the T5D5 forum, a volvo performance forum and also some subarus.

been to combe quite a few times and my quickest lap was a 1.25 in my accord type r on coilovers and other mods. that was when i was with no pax and i was pushing hard (was trying to catch a mate in a 400 bhp volvo 850 on slicks. i didnt)

anyway, now i know its a trackday and laptimes are irrelevant but i'm interested and it's only me checking the times afterwards on videos that i've recorded. with a passenger, although not a heavy one, i managed a 1.24.2 in the cupra and that was on michelin pilot supersports which were screeching away on every bend. i'd assume (hope) i'd be a little quicker on some semi slicks.

anyway, the main thing is the car performed brilliantly and i enjoyed myself immensely! i do have vids but i talk too much shite so dont think any will get uploaded.

some pics

cheers, yeah the car performed really well, the rear anti roll bar really helped turn the car in, back end moving around nicely but the damn esp was kicking in way too much. got very frustrating at times. other then that i'm happy, even the tyres which i thought i'd melt held up very well.

few more pics.




got past this surprisingly. dont worry, its not an ego thing, plenty of cars went flying past me!

sounds like you know what you're doing. not sure about future plans, maybe get a few more wheels and put some better track tyres on them and maybe renew some of the bushes.

probably get a steering wheel refurb done at some point as well. Basically i'm not gonna go crazy with this car otherwise the next mod would simply have to be a diff.

Hi, no, the esp was switched off but still cuts in. I think when it's switched off the traction control may get turned off but the esp is always there and because it's braking wheels the brakes get hotter then they should as well.

If I was to get forged rods my brain would say there is absolutely no reason not to get a bigger turbo! With bigger turbo comes injectors cos these are on the limit and then mapping and I imagine all sorts of other stuff.

On track tbh while more power would be nice I reckon the ability to get the power down earlier is more important as I was already having to feather the power and manage the understeer but I'm not going down that road. The cars at a good and enjoyable level right now, just gonna maybe do a few little bits here and there.

Just uploaded my quickest lap on to youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuzdsS0skOI

Minor update, just a few things.

Bought some 17 track wheels but still need to get some decent rubber on them.

Got a puncture but couldn't do anything for a few days so rather then just getting the puncture fixed I got a new michelin pilot supersport. And then I thought, well, if I'm buying one why not get two, put them both on the front and have the spare wheel with a supersport as well

Then today passed a milestone and remembered to take a picture.



Also found a nice spot for a photo.



Should have another update next week.

Minor but worthwhile update (in my mind at least), fabia rear wiper.

Before. Manky.






After. Much better.

Well yesterday was a very interesting and productive day. Went up to a mate who works on my car in Leicester. Ever since the nurburgring the car, especially when cold would chug, sounded like it was the manifold and after reading info on here it looked like a common issue.

So ordered a manifold off eBay and got it sent to Leicester where my mate would do a small amount of porting/polishing. Wasn't looking for any gains but if it's being changed then it makes sense.

Anyway, get up there and once the manifold was off I was told there was actually nothing wrong with my old one! It was just the egt probe that had come loose!

But tim (my mate) knew that if he had just screwed it back in I'd still be paranoid about my manifold and how it's a common issue and it'll need changing at some point. He knows me too well!

Thought I'd relay the above in case it's useful for someone.

Anyway, some pics. Side by side.




Other side was done as well, just a little mind, think there was a slight lip that needed grinding but that's about it.

The S4 oil cooler I fitted needed a little fettling with a dremel.

New oil dipstick fitted

Pollen and fuel filter changed. Think the pollen filter was overdue.




Cars driving so much better now, slightly down on boost (2 psi) so looking in to that. Probably n75 valve so will get that once I know it is that.

update.

passed recent MOT with no advisories which is nice.

earlier today i thought i'd try sprucing up the calipers. wasnt gonna do a whole refurbishment, just a quick rubdown and then some high temp lacquer.


before. had actually rubbed it down at this point with some wet and dry 1500.



after



the picture is a little flattering but overall i'm happy. i wouldnt have otherwise been bothered enough to go for a full refurbishment as the car will see some track action and high temps. this only took maybe a couple of hours including jacking the car up and taking the wheels off.

so another nurburgring trip is looming and need to get the car ready. had a list of things to do so went to my mate in leicester who does everything on my car.

firstly, engine oil, filter and gearbox oil. as always used silkolene pro s and this time used reline gear oil.



the gearbox oil was changed last year so was quite nice to see it coming out a colour other then black.



bought some secondhand cast wishbones and put some superpro bushes in them. also painted them with some poris stuff. the ones that haven't been fitted yet are the extra castor bushes and needed pressing in which i couldnt do.



not the best pic but now fitted



then the rear main beam bushes. done a lot of reading about these and how the rear axle needs to be taken off and how people have struggled so was a bit worried. that was one of the reasons i got the superpro because theyre meant o be easier to fit.

the old one





taken off, nothing actually wrong with it



and fitted



then onto the front strut brace. again, done a lot of reading on this site and know that people generally go for the audi s3 one but took a little risk and got a wiechers one. was supposed to be a straight fit and was thankfully!



then onto the 42 draft designs shifter bushes, following a guide on this site didnt take too long to fit and makes a nice difference.



fitted



last thing was a brake fluid flush. again, it had only been done last year and went with the same fluid.



problem was, after it had been repeatedly bled, no pedal. brakes work but the pedal goes a long way down. anyway, got a text this morning to say that the master cylinder will need bleeding and that i dont need a new master cylinder (hopefully) so the plan is to go back up and while thats getting sorted, also change the rocker cover as thats leaking round the back of the engine.

if the brakes dont get sorted then no nurburgring trip for me so a lot is riding on this

Happily for me, master cylinder bled, brake pedal back to normal, no need to cancel any nurburgring plans. Phew!

Forgot to take the flipping rocker cover gasket up but it's not too big a deal, next time I go I'll take it.

Just need alignment doing and I'm thinking of changing the rear pads. There's enough meat on them but would rather have ds2500s on the back which are £99. But I've seen some pagid rs4 for the rear which are £130.....

Cheers, no, there was actually nothing wrong with the shift before tbh, just wanted it a little tighter and that's exactly what it's done.

Rear main beam bushes, bear in mind it wasn't actually me that done it so very easy for me to say do this and that. But when my mate done it, he loosened the 4 bolts to drop the beam a little giving enough room to give the bushes a thwack. Quickly realised that they weren't gonna move so got the heat out. Heated the metal on the outside otherwise fire on the bushes themselves would cause a lot of flames and it's close to the petrol tank so not ideal. After some heat a little tap and they were out. Cleaned up the metal with a dremel and the superpro bushes went straight in.

Have to admit I was a little paranoid so I did stand there with a fire extinguisher but thankfully wasn't close to being needed. But that's why I mentioned where the heat was applied.