fastorquer

Leaving at about 5 yesterday - Black lwb with aftermarket kit and black/polished alloys!

I have a pair of second-hand ones from my car available for £20 + postage, if of interest to you, mate? Other than that, new items should be available from MJP and possibly DTA on here or possibly one of the suppliers from the States - http://www.Z1motorsports.com or http://www.conceptzperformance.com (I don't believe they're listed, but may be available if you contact them). After market adjustable ones will also be available from various places including DTA, Z1 and conceptz already mentioned. HTH

Happy Birthday Dave!

I'd avoid car covers if you can, mate! The garage I recently had my car resprayed at told me that a customer of theirs had gone as far as spending £1200 on an all-singing-all-dancing cover for his Mercedes and it still damaged the paintwork! The fact is materials in the cover harden over time/get damaged/worn away, and dirt and grit etc. are either on the car when it's covered, or get under the cover when it's blown around and all this means abrasion to your paintwork.

Yes indeed - I do!! To be honest mate, I'd go for a dedicated coilover set-up. The reasons being that although the ride quality and handling are very nice (the KYB AGX seem to do a great job of the damping, too, with these springs), the Ground Control set-up isnt as 'complete' or refined as a coilover one. The springs themselves are shorter than the total extension of the dampers (no matter where you set the ride-height) so for peace of mind you'll want to put helper springs in, costing over £130 new, otherwise you'll run the risk of the springs becoming disjointed from the dampers if an axle goes light. Also, there is always a bit of squeeking/spring noise from them which spoils the refinement somewhat. By the time you factor all of this in, it's just as cost effective to buy some brand new coilovers, or even better to get some second-hand ones from Japan - without the downsides! I'm running 5.5kg/cm front and 4kg/cm rear spring rates which I personally find much better than the normal 8/6's you get as standard as a minimum on most coilovers (although, again, you can specify lower rates in most cases when buying brand new), plus the ride height, and rear damping (with KYB's) is very easy to change in comparison to some/all coilovers. HTH, Simon

It's a long way off, but I'd definitely be up for going come the TT next year! Always fancied going over, camping and watching a bit of that crazy sh!t they do on their bikes!!

Do you have any pictures with the t-tops removed mate? Interested to see how it looks that way, too :)

That's the same place I bought mine from. I believe there is just the one mould in urethane (ie this'll be the same bumper you can buy from Z1 Motorsports, amongst others, too!) and it does require some work to get it 'perfect' - a little trimming on the edges, some smoothing and sanding (my bodyshop spent 14 hours in total on mine), but it is a pretty good mould and looks brilliant when fitted properly! And, naturally, with the piece of mind and flexibility of urethane! Definitely worth the time and money i.m.o. ;)

My connectors pretty much did the same thing! I've got so many in 'not the best' shape to some degree or another that I ended up buying a new loom (still to fit). I also bought new coolant temp sensors and I was literally shocked at how much tighter the fitments are with a new loom! Definitely a worthwhile investment, methinks! With a bit of leaning and some groping (just like a visit to a lap-dancing club!) you really should be alright taking it off - I still had the IAA unit in place when I removed mine, and still found enough room to do it (nope - I haven't got girly hands!!). Both units are easy to take apart (I did find the gasket on the air reg to be brittle, so had to reseal it with a liquid one) and clean. As long as the springs haven't gone weak and the solenoids work, they should end up as good as new with a squirt of gunk! Good luck, mate

Ps.Just remembered - unclip any connectors (there's the left side o2 sensor and another one next to it) which can be moved out of the way and this helps :)

It's okay mate - I used a 1/4" drive with a long 10mm socket and you can feel around for the bolt head and undo it - Not much room, but it will come out gradually! A bit of grease or something in the socket itself (after you've loosened it!) will help the bolt stay in there and not drop into the unknown abyss which is the zed engine bay! I think I also removed the reg to plenum hose first to give a little more room for manoeuvre :)

That was Rich - Borderzed!

Hope you have (have had!) a fantastic day, Mike!

Look in the FAQ storage area of this site, under 'engine' and 'curing erratic idle' and you'll find a great pdf document on how to do this :) You'll need a small socket set and a small flexible set of fingers! Just kidding - they are quite fiddly to get off, but do-able with a 1/4" drive and short and long 10mm sockets. A 10mm ratchet spanner helps if you have one. I'd also order the ficd/aav unit gasket just in case yours breaks - Should only be a few quid.

Have you taken the air regulator and fast idle control/auxiliary air control valve assemblies apart and cleaned them? If it's just hesitating on start-up/warm-up that should narrow down the problem possibilities!

I mentioned using an engine flush to Luke at the Zcentre way back when I first got my zed, as it was always something I'd done to my cars and remember he was pretty much horrified when I did! If I remember rightly, I think his concerns were down to the viscosity of the oil being too thin for the turbo seals and causing damage to them? It's been a long time since the conversation, but remember it was enough to scare me into never running the risk! I still have that carton of engine flush in my garage! :)

There should be some rubber o-rings sealing the balance bar, mate - It's been a long time since i removed mine, but from memory, one large and one small on the left hand side (from the drivers seat!) and one large on the right! These are the only 'gaskety' type of things you have there :)

Twas not me, bud! I've been a workin' and at the moment I'm performing a little mechanical surgery on the gal! The one with wheels, that is......... :)

Sounds like symptoms of sticky pcv valves mate - I believe you can clean them up, but for the cost of them, you may as well buy new ones!

Sounds similar symptoms to mine after it had been off the road for 2 years mate! Mine was starting very poorly, and basically missfiring, and we just couldn't work out why - I ended up changing the battery because it died just before I had to take the car to the bodyshop - The car ran perfectly for about 20 miles, until I'd got it literally around the corner form the bodyshop where it started to missfire again. I then suspected the alternator - but apparently (so I've been told today, as I'm picking the car up tomorrow!) according to the multimeter, the alternator is charging the battery! I still think it could be an intermittent fault and possibly regulator related, and I will be keeping a close eye on it! In short, my problem is definitely electrical voltage related, so I think the battery/alternator would be a good place for you to start. Other than that, the usual suspect - ptu - but it just sounds so similar to my problem, especially as your car's been off the road for a while, too! Let me know how you get on, mate, as anything you find may help me, too ;) I'll do the same for you! Cheers, Simon

I've got a UK spec st205 mate - It's actually the front suspension (usually the figure of 8 joints and lower arms) that wear at between 60 and 80,000 miles. The banana arms at the front will also wear, but they usually last a fair bit longer. Cost-wise you're looking at about £600 for the parts, and they can be fitted yourself if you've got some decent tools - but bear in mind the balljoints on both the figure of 8 and lower arms can be absolute pigs!! My lower arm ones eventually gave when I used a 10 ton hydraulic balljoint separator on them!! You need to listen for any knocking or clunking from the front end - especially on fast take-off or over bumps as signs of wear! I've also found the pins in the front calipers can be almost as equal a nightmare to remove - Mine had to be drilled very carefully on a proper pillar drill in the end. They're great cars and very easy to live with - Even giving it some stick, mine easily returns 25-28mph on a run, but to be fair, not much more than that if you try to be frugal! Insurance is cheap and performance is good - the 2lt 16v does feel very flat compared to the zed until you thrash it! they cover the ground in all weathers really well, but in my opinion, they don't excite like the zed does - although good looking, not exciting like the zed in looks, the engine isn't as much fun as the zeds 3lt, and the 4wd feels far safer, but just isn't as much fun! In short - a great choice of car, but if I had to choose, I'd always pick the zed! As long as I had something else to run around in when things go wrong!!! Try http://www.gt4oc.net for any info

If your rear steering is jumping around too much, mate, it's probably because you've got some worn ball-joints back there. Fitting the hicas lock bar won't solve this until you've replaced any worn joints as well :)

I know it's like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea, mate, but I'd stay away from car covers if I were you! I think they're fine when there's no wind, but as soon as it starts getting breezy the cover will just rub against your paintwork and wear it away. I used to have one on my zed, but it almost completely went through the paint in patches on my wing mirrors and left other dull patches on the car! It was only a Halfords cover, but did have a smooth, felty type of inner lining - I don't know if there's anything better out there, or if it's just that the one-gloss finish on the zed and other cars is more susceptible........

Okay mate - My email addy is sjt_21@hotmail.co.uk Cheers! Simon

I have a set of standard ones from my swb available if of interest to you? £35 plus delivery?