Yesterday saw me head down to Kent to pick up my new Shortie! :D I got on the motorway to come back home about 4pm.

 

At 9pm, I was safely tucked away... on the hard shoulder of the A1(M) near York with a grand total of 1 wheelnut holding my rear passenger wheel on!!! The other 4 studs decided to shear off while I was in the outside lane - there was an almighty bang, the back-end of the car went completely loose so I had no choice but to dive for the shoulder! :(

 

The recovery truck arrived at 11pm and I slowly edged my new tripod onto the flatbed, before we headed off back to mine.

 

Spoke to Mr F this morning and he's ordered me 10 new rear studs, so my new car is currently undrivable. Seems it had cheap slot-on spacers on the back, no spigot rings and the end result was 4 wheelstuds missing.

 

Gotta love Zeds, eh...?!

Edited December 4, 201411 yr by Mondo

Shouldn't there be lots of options from the US as all their TTs come swb? Or is it still costly with import tax

Shouldn't there be lots of options from the US as all their TTs come swb? Or is it still costly with import tax

 

Shipping kills it. Weight and size will mean shipping and duty effectively adds another £300 to a £1000 system. Even cheaper ones will still weigh the same making it uneconomical.

I considered buying the whole system "off the shelf" but it was going to turn out more costly than getting one made, Pete.

 

This way, I at least get to decide how I want it all to look, so that's a plus for me :)

 

I agree, plus it's nice to keep it local (ish)

 

What look are you going for, or is that top secret at the moment?

Infinity Exhausts do make nice systems. Quality materials and workmanship unlike people such as Powerflow etc who manufacture dowdy systems with low-grade materials.

I agree, plus it's nice to keep it local (ish)

 

What look are you going for, or is that top secret at the moment?

 

I genuinely haven't made my mind up yet. I don't think I'll be going for quad tailpipes though... I'll see what their selection is like when I get there, I guess.

 

Infinity Exhausts do make nice systems. Quality materials and workmanship unlike people such as Powerflow etc who manufacture dowdy systems with low-grade materials.

 

That's my thinking. There are companies far closer to me who "do the same job" as Infinity, but they're unknown quantities to me. I've heard nothing but good things about Infinity and they've been really helpful with all my questions, so I figure it's worth the £100ish fuel bill to go to them :)

I'd say! I've seen a couple that they've done on Zs when I've been at Jim's and they both look very good. They can tune the sound pretty much to your heart's desire too rather than have to put up with cheap-sounding boomy exhaust.

I'd say! I've seen a couple that they've done on Zs when I've been at Jim's and they both look very good. They can tune the sound pretty much to your heart's desire too rather than have to put up with cheap-sounding boomy exhaust.

 

That's good to hear, as I'm still debating just having the whole system be 3", rather than tapering to 2.5" partway down the testpipes....

Well, I've just placed the order for a pair of 3" expansion downpipes...!! :scared:

Well, I've just placed the order for a pair of 3" expansion downpipes...!! :scared:

 

Eeeeek!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3" expansion downpipes have just arrived!

Which turbos (4 bolt flange) are you going for?

Which turbos (4 bolt flange) are you going for?

 

GT525s, Andrew. Though I have no idea when that'll be...!

Just booked a Travelodge in Shrewsbury for Monday night, in case the work being done at LA Autos spills into a second day :)

Off to Lee Dent's at daft o'clock tomorrow morning, so I thought I'd better give the old girl a good clean:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to a lengthy drive in her, catching up with Lee and Sam (and giving Lee his interior back!) and getting some niggly issues sorted out. Should be good fun! :yes:

Wishing a good trip, hope everything works out as expected.

So I'm home (last night) after an eventful and productive couple of days at Mr Dent's. :)

 

I travelled down through the night on Sunday/Monday and got into Shrewsbury at about 6.30am. Having had zero sleep, I was pretty whacked but couldn't get comfy in the car so ended up in Tesco at 7.30 to wait for the cafe to open so I could get some breakfast.

 

Managed to grab literally 5 minutes sleep in the car park there afterwards and headed over to the unit to await Lee and Sam turning up.

 

Once Lee arrived, the Zed was straight in and his new interior was handed over. He seems very happy with it! :biggrin:

 

My car was hoisted into the air and he set about removing the old Hicas arms and balljoints, ready for the shiny new ones to be fitted. While he did that, Sam swapped my starter motor for the new recon one I had with me.

 

Once all of that had been done (no quick task, I might add!), the front bumper came off and Sam and I set about fitting the SMIC ducts I'd bought from Japtek. It turned out that they were actually designed for the 99 Spec front so didn't fit straight out of the box. A little creative chopping and reriveting from the two of us saw them fitted though.

 

Lee put some rad flush in and installed my radiator fan shroud and that was pretty much that for Monday. Brand new spark plugs fitted too - the old ones looked to be in good health so we're taking that as an indication that my engine's in good health as well. He dropped me off at the Travelodge at around 9pm, I checked in then rang the missus, then thought I should probably get some tea.

 

Got to Burger King to find it deserted, but thankfully not shut. Had a bite to eat, went back to the hotel for a well-earned shower and then passed out in bed!

 

Now, I usually only manage about 5 hours' sleep a night, but I went off around 10.30pm and only woke up the next morning when the alarm went off at 8.45am! Seems like I'm getting older in all ways...! :(

 

Hit Subway for a breakfast sandwich, then Lee picked me up for Day 2.

 

Got to the unit and he set about aligning my rear wheels by eye - I have to say, they seem pretty much bang on to me. The car went back on the floor so I could take her for a spin to get the flush around the whole cooling system, ready to be drained. The new starter is super-fast and seems to have cured that 'orrible problem I intermittently had, so that's a win!

 

Back to the unit, back in the air and the coolant was drained then refilled with water, run for another few minutes, then that was drained and new coolant put it. The ABS unit was bled, then all four calipers - none of the old brake fluid was left in the system at all. :)

 

My exhaust leak was traced to the pipe that pumps air into the cats. As I have no cats, they were redundant anyway so they were capped off and voila, no more exhaust leak!

 

Engine oil and filter were changed next, so I now have 10w40 semi synthetic in, rather than the 5w30 I had in previously.

 

Zed back on the floor, wheelnuts were torqued up and the Conzult was connected to make sure that all was well. Aside from a slightly dodgy plug on the Fast Idle Control Valve, everything checked out :biggrin:

 

Hands were shaken, goodbyes and thanks were said, money changed hands and that was me ready to head home.

 

The main thing I can say about Lee and his operation at LA Autos is that he knows his apples when it comes to these cars. The passion he has for working on them and seeing them put into a good mechanical order is massive, and it seems that nothing is too much trouble for him. My wishlist of jobs kept growing whilst I was there and he never once grumbled; he and Sam just got on with things and ticked them off one after another!

 

I can't fault him in any way. A genuinely nice guy with a huge knowledge base! As I've said before, I'm more than happy to travel for 4.5 hours to take my Zed to him and can only recommend that others do the same! :thumbup1: Between him and Jimmer, I'll get my Zed exactly where I want it :biggrin:

Edited April 13, 20169 yr by Mondo

A busy few days Si and well worth it mate. Now get some rest :biggrin:

A busy few days Si and well worth it mate. Now get some rest :biggrin:

 

I wish! Got a 1940s Humber Snipe front seat to finish, then straight on to a Supra Aerotop...!

Busy couple of days Si!

Thanks for sorting out the brake pipes for me. I'll try and pop round this week to pick them up.

Busy couple of days Si!

Thanks for sorting out the brake pipes for me. I'll try and pop round this week to pick them up.

 

They're here waiting for you, mate :)

You may give up all that junk food mate, Burgerking for tea, subway for breakfast :nono: :scared::biggrin:

Today, I went and parked in a field at Thorseby Park in Nottinghamshire:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A classic and "modern classic" car show. I tagged along with the Celica Club and it's been a good day, most notably for not winning anything in the show ring (quelle suprise!) but then talking at length to a couple of guys who wanted to buy the Zed and even went so far as to say that she was their unofficial Car of the Show!

 

I love hearing things like that! :biggrin:

A classic and "modern classic" car show. I tagged along with the Celica Club and it's been a good day, most notably for not winning anything in the show ring (quelle suprise!) but then talking at length to a couple of guys who wanted to buy the Zed and even went so far as to say that she was their unofficial Car of the Show!

 

I love hearing things like that! :biggrin:

 

Great interior Simon! What did win top prize then?

Great interior Simon! What did win top prize then?

 

A Nissan Cube, of all things!

 

Anyway, yesterday saw me tagging along with a load of Ford boys and girls and heading to a show in Hurworth, near Darlington. I went here last year so, seeing as she's been resprayed, retrimmed and rewheeled since then, I thought I should attend this year too.

 

There was a good cross-section of vehicles there; from old-school Fords to genuine pre-50s classics, American muscle to 90s Japanese, bikes and Bond Bugs! Pretty much all tastes were catered for and the attendance (from both exhibitors and general public) was massive.

 

The weather genuinely couldn't have been nicer and I'm sunburned beautifully! The Zed got polished up and looked very out of place amonst a big line-up of Fords :lol:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of positive comments were made and it was fairly rare that there wasn't a decent crowd of people around her, taking photos. :biggrin:

 

A thoroughly enjoyable day of chilling out and relaxing, with some good mates and some lovely cars. If only all Sundays could be like that!

Looks fantastic

 

I really like the detail of the slightly smoked fogs. I will have to copy that off you :-)

 

The interior is top notch as always, where is the cup holder from?

God I love your interior. I can't help but think that cup holder would be really useful in an auto, but not so much in a manual!