J@mes' LCR OEM+ Rear ARB Fitted :)

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
Small update

I'm having one of those Looks V Ride dilemma's... i love the way it sits at the moment (on its arse) but i'm not so keen on the way it deals with bumps in the road. Bumpy B road and motorways are the worst culprits.

In an attempt to improve the ride i will be raising the suspension 10-15mm (ish). If i am going to keep up the stance (pun intended) that the LCR is a suitable family car, i really need to improve the ride.

Not sure whether raising it will improve it much.. if at all, but i thought it was worth a try.

If raising the suspension doesn't yield the improved i'm after then i will potentially be looking at a replacement suspension kit, either dampers and springs or fully adjustable coilovers, a friend recently purchased a KW street comfort (adjustable kit) for his Oct VRS.. yet to have a drive, but intrigued to see how it rides.

I am also considering swapping the front wishbone bushes for OEM rubber replacement, this may reduce some of the harshness.

The ride is pretty much the only thing which bothers me.. other than that im pretty happy with it.

Also... sometimes on WOT i noticed that the boost pulses above 3K, after doing some reading the N75 looks like a likely culprit. Will stick that on the ever growing shopping list. ;)

In more positive news, DK is making me a carbon fiber heat shield. :D Currently i have a badger 5 heat shield, which was always a short term solution. I will also fit a cold air feed to compliment the new shield. Will be probably be collecting my heat shield it at the AmD RR day.

Once the expense of xmas is out of the way i will start spending money on the motor in preparation for my Euro trip later next year.
 

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
Got nearly new vreds on the front and odds on rear (sport contact 3/p zero). I will put vreds in rear in january.
 
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jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
P zero are a hard wearing tyre so road comfort is poor. Raising up car should make a nice difference. Doubt bushes will help that much. Remove strut braces if you got any.

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t0m

LCR 225
Apr 29, 2007
8,133
7
Kent
Or just man up a bit :p

Only joking mate ;) I would say raising it will really help, just trial and error really with how much and also keeping the stance you want, but with winter setting in I wouldn't worry too much about shows and looks now but rather function as IIRC yours is a daily? Mine would no way be as low as it is if I had to drive it every day. It's far too harsh, but I embrace it when I drive it once a month or so now!

If the overboosting is going way over to around 2 bar or so the N75 is definitely the culprit IMO. Mine went and did exactly this and would go nuts from around 3k mark also. Ebay is your best bet for them at around £45, 2 min job to swap over :) I wouldn't run it too long with a knackered N75 just to be safe.
 
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J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
P zero are a hard wearing tyre so road comfort is poor. Raising up car should make a nice difference. Doubt bushes will help that much. Remove strut braces if you got any.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk now Free


The rears will get changed for some Vred at point soon, that'll hopefully help a bit. I've got a front s3 strut.. will probably leave that on as it seem to work really well. :)


Or just man up a bit :p

Only joking mate ;) I would say raising it will really help, just trial and error really with how much and also keeping the stance you want, but with winter setting in I wouldn't worry too much about shows and looks now but rather function as IIRC yours is a daily? Mine would no way be as low as it is if I had to drive it every day. It's far too harsh, but I embrace it when I drive it once a month or so now!

If the overboosting is going way over to around 2 bar or so the N75 is definitely the culprit IMO. Mine went and did exactly this and would go nuts from around 3k mark also. Ebay is your best bet for them at around £45, 2 min job to swap over :) I wouldn't run it too long with a knackered N75 just to be safe.

:lol: Yeah it's a daily drive/family wagon, good to hear it's more than likely to be the N75, it's a nice cheap and easy fix.. unlike the below...

Small update:

whilst attempting to raise my suspension i managed to round off one of the plastic adjusters, there was no moving it as it was properly seized. Cleaned it up but it still wouldny budge. Fortunately this is fairly common and Weitec do sell replacements (£20 each). Pretty annoyed though as now i will have to remove the strut and fit new adjuster before i can change the height.

Went out for a drive later in the evening and it was pretty cold (8 degrees).. was just cruising around and a 3rd gear overtaking opportunity presented its self... it's been a while since i driven it in anger and it genuinely shocked me how quick it felt, i honestly forgot how much quicker they are in colder conditions. Instead of heading home i ended up driving around for the next hour enjoying the extra power the cold air gives you. When i finally arrived home i was grinning like a mad man. :D

When ever i have one of these great drives i kick my self for not making the effort to get out more and drive my car for no good reason. All my journeys of late seem to be to and from work and while the little one is in the car.

Been having a think about the next phase of mods in preparation for my trip to Europe next year, it's a combination of fixing things and improving how it drives and feels.

- Oil leak on cam seal (boring zzzzzz)
- Carbon Heat shield (DK Special)
- N75
- Replace strut adjusters and raise height 10 - 15mm
- New top mounts - maybe lower profile rubber option (need to find the link). This would allow further suspension travel without raising the ride height.
- New track rod ends
- Drop links
- Front and Rear ARB's
- THS engine and dog bone mounts
- Short shifter
- New steering wheel - 225 or R32 wheel

I will probably collect all the handling mods over a few months and then fit it in one hit, once its all on i will then get the height fine tuned at AmD, followed by a 4WA.

This should tie everything together nicely... After this i may look into going stage 2, but to be honest it feels plenty quick enough for the road, i'd rather have more handling than power.
 

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
After a long break from modifying the car i finally started the ball rolling again, early this morning i headed over to DK's to collect my carbon heat shield. Had a fantastic drive down there with a lovely clear road and a sunrise.


Once i got there DK wasted no time in getting stuck in, as expected from Darren he was really thorough, he really took his time trimming and cutting until it fitted perfectly, you really cant beat a custom fit, far better than a one size fits all template.

Here's a few pictures of it being fitted...


To finish it off i will get a 45° bend and extension so the filter is pushed further over to the wing. It definitely seems to reduce the heat, after a 1hr 30 min drive home the end of the filter was cold.

Big thank you to Darren, you legend :thumbup: i'll definitely be come back soon for another installment soon, just tell the OH ;)
 

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
Thanks guys, really please with it. Sorry for late reply, things have been super busy recently, plus work have blocked SCN on the internet. Strangely it's not blocked today hence why im writing this ;)

Nice to see you again today James, it's been a long time :)

It was good to see you too pal :) Thanks again.

SMALL UPDATE:

Got some handling mods lined up for the new year, i'll be having EL's Hughes rear brace and Neuspeed 25mm ARB. :)

Only got a standard front ARB at the moment, will probably fit the rear ARB and run it for while until i can buy a 25mm Neuspeed front ARB.

I plan to get the LCR well and truly sorted in time for the euro trip next year, i think 2014 is going to be fun year :)
 

EL

Forever Alive
Mar 17, 2008
2,931
1
Bickley, Bromley
James I was running a Golf R32 23mm front anti roll bar on mine. Handled very well and recommend this thickness with the 25mm rear ARB
 

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
@ EL.. That's good to hear the R32 ARB works well, it's cheaper too. I will definitely consider it. :) Will have a good think about what set up suits me best.*

@ DK... That would be awesome buddy, weather permitting of course. :) That would make for a great drive home. Will let you know when i go to collect it.

Properly excited about the thought of get the handling finished off. Been giving a LSD some serious though, the clutch will need doing at some point (its fine now) and i thought if i was going to fit an LSD there would be no better time than when the clutch is getting done. Having a LSD is far more appealing than going stage 2 at this moment in time. I might go stage 2 after all handling mods are done ;)

Having a trip to Europe next year has definitely given me focus to get this project back on track. :)
 

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
I now have a Hughes rear strut brace and 25mm rear anti roll bar in my possession. :)

Yesterday i drove to Bromley to meet fellow SCN member EL Turko. It was good to catch up with EL again and a great excuse to give the car a good run. As always when we get together we end up talking about cars, at one point we were so deep in conversation that we were standing outside in the rain talking for at least 5 mins before we realized it would be better to standing inside the garage. lol As always It was great to catch up with you buddy :)*

DK being the legend that he is had kindly offered to fit the strut and ARB but the weather was shocking so we had to call it off. Thank again for the kind gesture, it was much appreciated.

Currently i still have the standard front ARB fitted, i need to do some research and decide which size to fit on the front. There will be a delay between me fitting the rear and the front ARB's, so i will set the rear ARB to its softest setting.*

I wont be fitting the front ARB my self as you really need it up on ramp so whilst that is being done i will have the suspension raise 15-20 mm. It definitely wont look as good but it will certainly ride and steer better. I intend on driving it a lot more this year so it needs to be function over form. With the ARB's and struts its going to be pretty stiff anyway so it definitely needs to be raised.

Long term plan include possibly fitted a diff when the clutch is replaced. It still has plenty of life but if i intend on fitting a diff it makes sense to do it when the clutch is done, i imagine this will be some point next year. Maybe this year if i fancy doing it early.

Got another potential purchased lined up for next month, just waiting to hear back. Thats it for now, thanks for reading.
 

D.K

LCR 225
Oct 24, 2007
6,408
3
se london
Let me know before you fit the RARB mate, if the weather dries up I'll do it for you, the Neuspeed brackets can be a pig to get on if you dont know how ;)
 

EL

Forever Alive
Mar 17, 2008
2,931
1
Bickley, Bromley
Great to catch up mate. We are such car nut losers standing in the rain talking random car stuff :)

As Darren says, those clips can be a right pig to get on so would recommend getting a hand with it.
 
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