well I'm bored, so decided to make a thread as I think my car is worthy of being shared with the world now.
this I ended up with after getting bored of the awfully sensible (read common as muck) k11 SR. got it off ebay sometime in the autumn, it came with loads of bits: GLT spoiler, set of clocks with a rev counter. 3 superlites in flourescent colours (wish it was 4) and a pair of minilites.
I got it looking like this:
then promptly removed the wheels as the fronts had a maximum of 3mm thread holding them on (god knows how it was used as a daily like this, I thought I was going to die on the drive home from the violent shaking) plus it didnt look good imo.
the fitment is great with the superlites - nice and flush with the rear arch.
came with a drift wheel aswell - absolutely transforms the experience of driving, would recommend to anyone, only downfall is how cold it is to hold.
the car was already lowered when I got it - it had -3" springs on the front and 2" blocks on the back. so I cut half a coil of the front and left the rear till later.
when cutting springs I always have zipties to hand, but they're not strong enough it seems as they broke days after. but not to worry ive got coilovers in the making.
so then it sat like this:
the dent in the door came with the car when I got it and really lets it down. it is otherwise immaculate and has 0 rust anywhere . was owned by a vicar for most of its life, then got laid up in a shed after only covering 30k miles, iirc its on 45ish now ( I do a lot of driving)
then decided to fit up the spoiler:
I liked it, so it stayed! however, this is probably its most useful feature:
then decided to black up the lights, a common mod on these, makes a heck of a difference!
during some time of ownership also sorted hte running issue out - it had no gaskets anywhere between the intake mani and the carb
gave it a clean too, pointless as its covered by a huge airbox. but it was fun!
then in need of new tires after the snow melted (no prizes for guessing why)
my friend sold me his from the micra he has, but the garage wanted to charge too much to put the tires onto my steels, so I'm currently borrowing the alloys off my friend as they're surplus to him atm. also painted the grille black, and it doesnt look half bad I think, this brings it up to date:
now I will bore you with pictures of the coilover progress - (these are taking ages because its a tech project for my course at college so can only be done during workshop sessions)
take a pair of golf/polo 6n coilovers (originally bought for my micra - the rears were sold to a friend to lower his bready)
surgically remove the mounts:
then disassemble the volvo struts, butchering the damper housings in the process (saved these for later, just incase I need the screwin top bits for future projects) :
then I began the tedious task of getting the bottom part out of the hub/carrier assembly
and thats as far as I got - its half term this week so no progress till next week on them.
i've also done a half arsed job on making a parcel shelf/boot install/whatever you want to call it. its not finished yet as I'm going to use half of the standard parcel shelf to finish it off, then wrap it in black mat, but thats for when its warmer out.
heres a picture of it on the superlites, not sure I like the colour, too bright. I believe the whole less is more saying, but havent decided on what colour scheme to go with them yet, and I look forward to your suggestions!
as you can see with a -3" (-half a coil off) drop, with low profiles theres loads more space to go lower. so thats whats going to happen. its currently got 3 fingers worth of clearance between the subframe and the ground, which is an issue on the softer springs as it bellies out on country roads, but once the coilovers are on the ride should be stiff enough for that not to happen - ill cross that bridge when I get there, and also the back will be going onto 3" blocks and ill look into tampering (bending the ends a little bit so they sit higher into the car) with the leaf springs to get more lows - if anyone has any pointers on what to do/how this would be much appreciated.
anyway, thats about it now.
hope it was of interest to you!
future plans are:
Welded diff (do around 600 miles a week atm due to college so would be too unreliable to do it now)
then not crash it/trash it
and hopefully in a years or two time 360 running gear with either a 2.3 turbo or a 2 litre turbo from a 740 wentworth, if I cant get it insured by the time I'm 20 (18 now) ill use it as a track/drift car untill I can and get something else for a daily - ef civic saloons are very appealing to me right now but I'm sure my mind will change on that
also I need to fit the clutch kit ive got in my garage as it is slipping but its too cold/dark to do it now as I'm at work/colege during daylight hours
this I ended up with after getting bored of the awfully sensible (read common as muck) k11 SR. got it off ebay sometime in the autumn, it came with loads of bits: GLT spoiler, set of clocks with a rev counter. 3 superlites in flourescent colours (wish it was 4) and a pair of minilites.
I got it looking like this:
then promptly removed the wheels as the fronts had a maximum of 3mm thread holding them on (god knows how it was used as a daily like this, I thought I was going to die on the drive home from the violent shaking) plus it didnt look good imo.
the fitment is great with the superlites - nice and flush with the rear arch.
came with a drift wheel aswell - absolutely transforms the experience of driving, would recommend to anyone, only downfall is how cold it is to hold.
the car was already lowered when I got it - it had -3" springs on the front and 2" blocks on the back. so I cut half a coil of the front and left the rear till later.
when cutting springs I always have zipties to hand, but they're not strong enough it seems as they broke days after. but not to worry ive got coilovers in the making.
so then it sat like this:
the dent in the door came with the car when I got it and really lets it down. it is otherwise immaculate and has 0 rust anywhere . was owned by a vicar for most of its life, then got laid up in a shed after only covering 30k miles, iirc its on 45ish now ( I do a lot of driving)
then decided to fit up the spoiler:
I liked it, so it stayed! however, this is probably its most useful feature:
then decided to black up the lights, a common mod on these, makes a heck of a difference!
during some time of ownership also sorted hte running issue out - it had no gaskets anywhere between the intake mani and the carb
gave it a clean too, pointless as its covered by a huge airbox. but it was fun!
then in need of new tires after the snow melted (no prizes for guessing why)
my friend sold me his from the micra he has, but the garage wanted to charge too much to put the tires onto my steels, so I'm currently borrowing the alloys off my friend as they're surplus to him atm. also painted the grille black, and it doesnt look half bad I think, this brings it up to date:
now I will bore you with pictures of the coilover progress - (these are taking ages because its a tech project for my course at college so can only be done during workshop sessions)
take a pair of golf/polo 6n coilovers (originally bought for my micra - the rears were sold to a friend to lower his bready)
surgically remove the mounts:
then disassemble the volvo struts, butchering the damper housings in the process (saved these for later, just incase I need the screwin top bits for future projects) :
then I began the tedious task of getting the bottom part out of the hub/carrier assembly
and thats as far as I got - its half term this week so no progress till next week on them.
i've also done a half arsed job on making a parcel shelf/boot install/whatever you want to call it. its not finished yet as I'm going to use half of the standard parcel shelf to finish it off, then wrap it in black mat, but thats for when its warmer out.
heres a picture of it on the superlites, not sure I like the colour, too bright. I believe the whole less is more saying, but havent decided on what colour scheme to go with them yet, and I look forward to your suggestions!
as you can see with a -3" (-half a coil off) drop, with low profiles theres loads more space to go lower. so thats whats going to happen. its currently got 3 fingers worth of clearance between the subframe and the ground, which is an issue on the softer springs as it bellies out on country roads, but once the coilovers are on the ride should be stiff enough for that not to happen - ill cross that bridge when I get there, and also the back will be going onto 3" blocks and ill look into tampering (bending the ends a little bit so they sit higher into the car) with the leaf springs to get more lows - if anyone has any pointers on what to do/how this would be much appreciated.
anyway, thats about it now.
hope it was of interest to you!
future plans are:
Welded diff (do around 600 miles a week atm due to college so would be too unreliable to do it now)
then not crash it/trash it
and hopefully in a years or two time 360 running gear with either a 2.3 turbo or a 2 litre turbo from a 740 wentworth, if I cant get it insured by the time I'm 20 (18 now) ill use it as a track/drift car untill I can and get something else for a daily - ef civic saloons are very appealing to me right now but I'm sure my mind will change on that
also I need to fit the clutch kit ive got in my garage as it is slipping but its too cold/dark to do it now as I'm at work/colege during daylight hours