Quavey

Ah my tension rod bushes have failed, i have new ones ready to fit... lack of time so far. I'll go easy on the old girl for now then. As long as its not going to drop to bits on me!

Yeah i am. I shall be there bright and early, im heading down tomorrow morning and spending the day down there with my lass, then going early in the morning!. Its pissed me off has le mans tbh, i was looking forward to going and the road trip down was going to be great... but now i just know the trip wont be fun... I was going with the wrong group of mates tbh!

i was going up until tonight... But ive pulled out of the trip. Could see it ended in disaster... Nothing worse than going in a completly unsuitable car, which is owned by one of the group and is worth quite alot (to us young un's anyway!) So ive told my mate to sell my ticket and have a good time...! Cant stand making plans with people and then it suddenly being changed without even being asked!

Right, typical im due to set of in 9 hours to head south for jap fest, thought i would make a weekend of it. So i went to fuel the Zed and on leaving the drive i heard a bit of a creak. Nothing too unusual and it did do it once or twice the other day. Now i thought at the time and at first it was one of the targas moving a bit so i pulled over after a mile or so and refitted them. However the creak didnt go away so i went into town, filled her up and pulled out of the petrol station and thought i better investigate so i headed home and pulled up into the front of the garage to have a look. I cant see anything amis but when ever the left hand side spring is compressed this creak occurs, it is up and down thats creaking (lol) not any other direction. As best as i can see anyway. So what do we think this is? Is it safe to drive? Or should i be leaving it at home? Help guys!

lol youve got to admit that he did well to get 30 miles in a people carrier!

I Disagree to a certain extent, especially with the convertibles. Most of those tend not to be owned by the guys who screw the nuts of them. The coupes are the worst for that. I know what your saying, but its the same as any performance car. They are built to be driven, and as long as its been looked after it wont come to any harm. In some cases the high milers tend to be the better cars, mechanically anyway.... alot of the M cars are bought by sucessful people (lets face it mid to late 20's and 50k in your pocket what else would you buy??) not to stereotype too much but tht type of person probably does a fair few miles for work so most of the miles on the high milers will all be motorway work. However the disadvantage there is that they tend to get a bit tatty paintwork wise. Although i know what your saying, same with any fast car (and to a certain extent any car on the road, i know i drive my run abouts far harder than my zed!) no point in having 300+bhp under your foot and driving it like a 320d!

The later evo version of the E36 is a great car BUT has some issues, first of those is the VANOS units, the bi VANos on these engines is not the most reliable and often needs replacing, if its been done recently then that is a bonus. There was an option of an SMG gearbox on this model, nothing wrong with it just make sure its in full working order it can get VERY expensive if not looked after. There is also a school of thought which do not like the 3.2 version, 321bhp when it was new but they seem to reguarlly de-tune them selves down to around the 270 to 280bhp (obviously that pwer is still in there, just requires work to get it back again) In contrast the earlier 3.0 @ 286bhp seems to stay bob on the money. This was from an article in a magazine i once read which rolling roaded two M3's which they had borrowed to test, the 3.0 was about 282bhp where as the 3.2 was down to around the 275. However the facelifted E36 has a few nice features about it, some of which are the better side repeaters (clip instead of screws which rust and eat the wing!) and the more firmly built dash. Although you have to remember the E36 is getting an old lady now, first released in 1991 its design is showing its age! If the convertible part isnt so important for what you'll pay for a good E36 convertible M3 (8 to 10k), you can nearly get an E46 M3, which is reported to be a much much more reliable car!

I think a 320 or 360 with some work would be better than the 400, i had a friend who had a 320 at an even 400/400 (ish) same as the FQ400 (there or there abouts) yet it was rediculasly fast, no lag at all and just the same as the normal evo, never missed a beat. Twas a good day, spent all day either answering questions about the zed, or watching people look around the car and have a guilty look at the back of it to see what it was hehe

thats the american spec on, jack shit compared to over here http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/evolutionx/range.asp I should have looked first really, 300, 330 and 360's all with either the SST sequential box or a proper manual

they come as 300's, or 360's IIRC. Doesnt take much to get them higher though, Mark's 300 is now an even 400bhp and 400lbft, after a remap of the standard ECU (including a boost increase), exhaust, decat and some hard pipes up front.

Ha, one of my best mates dads runs a mitsi garage so we brought that out, created alot of interested. I have a friend who does have one, but apart from that one and this one ive not seen anymore. Fair quick things though, its the way they handle is just out of this world. Its a world away from the 6, 7, 8 and 9 which were all very similar really. The 10 is amazingly smooth, even at high speed of a crap road surface it doesnt really feel like its trying hard. Build quality is much better this time as well, not quite up to German yet but certainly a nice place to be... unlike the earlier ones!

Not sure if this is of much interest to people, but on sunday i showed my car at the CumbriaN RSOC show and here are the pictures. My zed attracted alot of attention (i think it was a refreshing change to the endles rows of pristine cosworths, mk1 and mk2 escorts etc etc lol)

http://www.biggred.co.uk/ is where i got mine from. Quick service and competitivly priced. I rebuilt mine about a month ago now and it seems to have improved things although i did couple this with a fluid chance, new pads and discs and also a set of braided lines. It was fairly easy to do. Remove the metal clips around the dust seals first I then used a set of mole grips to grip the piston around the top (where it contacts the pad) and twisted gently and pulled until they came free. I then used some "brake cleaner" stuff in a can basically, to clean up the pistons, out side of the clipers and the cylinder bores (and removing the old seals from inside of course) When i rebuilt them, I bathed the inner seal in brake fluid before refitting into the caliper and also rubbed brake fluid around the piston to make them easer to slide back in. All of mine slid easily back in. However one word of advice, i would not push them in all the way until you have refitted the dust seals, which can be a pain. And also the new clips can be very awkward to fit.

Saw you with the roof down going out towards melling from hornby, red convertible on a K plate... Ive been told there is one around before but now ive seen it for my self. Looked nice! No response to my wave though! I was in the Grey LWB going into hornby.

because im incredible! google is your friend LOL

https://www.horsepowerparts.com/index.php?content_id=175&product_id=273

oh no maybe not, mis listed part. checked the part number out in google and seems to be for 90+ 2960cc vg30, as fitted to the 300zx and maxima

i would say they are for a Z31... being for a VG30DET (single T)!

A friend of mine has just had one put in his S14, i'll try and get the diagram from him for you mate.

First things first its engine out to get to the root of the problem!

It would be interesting to see how much more it restricts the air flow... tiny electric motor with blades in the way of the inlet... I love the way theyve made it look like a turbo as well! haha Actually, having had a think about it i bet it would make quite a bit of difference to smaller non turbo diesels (Puggy partner 1.9d anyone?, or Shitron Paxo 1.5d i wouldnt be suprised if it helps quite alot on those non turbo diesels!)

are you sure that its bad or you were just putting people of so youd get it for a low price ;) I admit it looks lovely on the pictures, shame when they are shitters when you get up close... Bit like mine really! Nice from afar, but far from nice!

im sure i typed a post saying siezed caliper?! Weird must be loosing it My thoughts too, what are the pads like? Possible that they have worn to the rear backing and youve got metal on metal... but you should really have heard that. Also does that one have ABS? could be a solenoid sized in the abs unit stopping fluid flow to either the front or rear brakes? (Ive devised that from my understanding of how it works but im probably wrong!)