S2IM

Aye. Lets get it done...and booked. I would be quite happy with Bedford again as last time was in the S2000. Be interesting to see how this compares.

Most of them will be rusted now. Mk1/2 just at various levels (some sills, some chassis legs). You need to budget for that work on them unless its been done and even at that point, a receipted well done job. I have around £600 worth of rust/rot to sort out but as above, it will get done as its now 70% of the way to becoming a well sorted car. Enough has been spent on the bodywork, hood, brakes, suspension and servicing.

I know mate. I am well past that point now on it as it owes me way more than its worth. Especially once it gets its sills done.

Had the CRV done 2 weeks ago through Admiral. They tried a repair but i wasnt happy so ended up costing £75 for a new screen. Its £25 for a repair but depending on how hard it hit, you may need a new screen. Our stone hit was in the lower corner out of the way of the wipers but it cracked the inner layer of glass as well. Chap said it would pass and MOT but I just couldn't help it looked terrible. Just as bad as before. Outside looked ok but inside the car it was bad.

You are - normally have to pay £10/£20 I think. Not sure when we are doing one next but hopefully April. Steve? I would look for one with them Rich, financially viable that way! Only thing is you wont know the condition or if it was all installed properly. Remember, thats what really took time for me to get my head round. Spending the car's value on one thing! Hence keen to make sure it all works as it should.

Damping adjusted down to 7f and 5r today. I think that is the ideal setting now for a daily drive. Instead of the banging around I was getting a few days back, you now get a satisfying "ffft ffft" as you hear the dampers working over the bumps The way its driving now is brilliant. I can get to all 4 corners easily so no need. There is only a metal plate in the way of the passenger rear and I can get my hand down the back ok. Good idea though. Joe mentioned a drop link going so will get a set of those ordered in and book up to get them fitted in the next few weeks. See if we can get it measured and dropped by 10mm all round as well and I think that should be the ride and look all sorted. From what I am feeling, not sure it needs any more preload but again time will see.

Thanks. Will have a read of that Quite interested in learning how it all works together as this is the first set up I've had that's been adjustable.

So the car was raised 20mm all round up to 335mm. It had initially dropped 10mm to 315mm from the initial ride height set at 325mm. Preload was measured and added. According to BC preload is set out of the factory but 3-5mm has to be added. This was done (4mm) all round and the car is now not bouncing around or hitting the bump stops. A completely different drive with all the harshness gone. Even with the damp settings set to medium its now more than comfortable for the road. Setting it to full soft I think will take it back to stock in terms of ride quality. Only thing is its lost that sharpness it had in turning into corners/bends where you could kind of feel the front dive in. So perhaps once all has settled again over the next few weeks, will measure it again and see if we can take it back to 325mm all round (so no additional geo is needed as its only a 10mm drop plus after initial install the mud guards and speed humps didn't really catch). Hopefully that will give it the squirt and point feel back again. But we are getting there! So preload - adding this seems to have stopped the bouncing/harshness . Can someone explain to me what adding the 4mm has actually done to the set up as it is night and day. Would raising it stopped the bouncing as well as from what I have read above, the ride height shouldn't have affected the ride quality on these units.

I think you're just unlucky mate. All the Japanese cars I have had haven't really had any brake issues apart from the Civic and that only took 10 minutes to sort out by Joe. Probably to do with the little mileage you do/don't work the brakes hard enough?

They confirmed it isn't set but gave the ideal of between 3-5mm. And yes that's what they said about the height adjustment.

Car is going back in Thursday to be checked over and the suspension raised. It'll need at least 15mm to clear the bumps I have to deal with daily. So this will take the ride height to around 340mm. Out of curiosity I rang BC to have a chat about the rear jumping around and the chap was very helpful. He mentioned it sounded like pre-load and it might need adjustment. He also advised ride height should have no bearing on the damp settings as I thought I might have been too low. Not sure what the pre-load was set to on install so will ask Thursday but he seemed to think around 4mm was a good setting for a new install? How is pre-load measured?

Ok cool. If your free next week at some point we can meet up for a run and comparison. Ill try them on full soft next week and then a lot harder to get a feel for them at differing levels of damping. In theory with the lower spring rates I should be able to tune them for a comfy daily drive. I remember when you took me for a blast last year on uneven roads ("that" back road in Chesham) the car felt similar to how mine is now with big dips. But ill let you have a drive and see what you think. The only other thing is Ill need to trim the mud guards/take them off as they scrub round hard/long bends! Did it earlier and made me jump Or raise it!

Initially when we went out it was on 4f ad 2r. Pretty low and that is still firm on bumpy roads. Upped it back to 10f and 8r to see the difference and I dont think I can leave it on that setting for too long. My back would give in. They should be the lowest spring rate which is 5/4Kg/mm Haven't ran them all the way down on full soft yet but I cant see the last couple of clicks making it as soft as stock. Wonder if the level its been lowered has anything to do with it? Would raising it a little soften it up a bit as well? Or is the height irrelevant with the BC's and the amount of damping that can happen? (This is the bit that confuses me) Steve - what spring rate did you go for on the meisters and how soft do you run them for normal driving?

Thanks Tony. Just been out and checked them. Currently on 11 clicks from soft front and 7 clicks from rear soft. What would be a good number for front and rear? Dont get me wrong.. car feels good. Just crashes over the smallest of pot holes/drain covers.

Indeed. Not planning on selling it at the moment. There is a garage for it to live in once the shed is built!

Didnt do much with the car between the last post and November but stepped it up a little recently. First thing was to sort the soaking i was getting thanks to the old vinyl roof that has shrunk exposing the seals. Organised a replacement hood from hothoods and the chap came out to my work and fitted a lovely new mohair roof with a replacement rear window. Car is now water tight and the mohair looks a bit nicer on top. Car was then MOT'd after Xmas and I had advisories for the brakes all round, suspension that was rotten and rear sills that need a bit of welding done. Up to WIM then, new disks and pads fitted all round 2 weeks ago. Pagid OEM replacements and working well. Suspension, umm'd and aah'd about this for quite a whilst reading reviews online etc from owners clubs. Decided to take Joe's advise and go with the BC's. Choice was between those and the HSD's. So up there today and he got to work whipping the old stuff off and replacing with the new kit. Then a full geo. Had a 20 mile drive to do to work so decided to take it down the lanes after the dual carriageway to see how it got on. It certainly handles a lot better, body roll reduced! More to the point where you can enter a corner quicker and upon exit you notice how it is more composed. Coils were set to 325 on the ride height all round from the standard 310f and 320r out of the box. It was too low with the default settings. Speed bumps I have to take with care now but I think Ill see how i go for the next 1000 miles. If they start becoming a problem ill get it raised a little. Only thing I need to do is play with the damping settings as I think they may be a little too hard for some of the potholes that I have to deal with on the way to work. (unsure of the out of the box "clicks") Car looks great now with a new hood, shiny new brakes and a decent ride height

The tried and tested approach. BC Such a shame these guys went under. I was lucky enough to spend the day with them at Silverstone a couple of years back with full hospitality. The tech involved was immense. They were all really good chaps as well and I hope they found employment within the other teams.

Dammit. Just ordered some coilovers from Joe. If I knew this was happening I would have held of

Whilst shopping for car parts this eve I came across this video and guess who makes an appearance at the beginning! Supercharged Mazda MX-5 (Miata) MK2 vs New Porsch…: Nice to see WIM on there! 😀

I've got dashcommand and a wifi ELM reader on the iPad. It reads all the sensors so can help you with that if you want. Used it on the MINI for measuring boost and intake temps. But I would wait to see if the car dpes it again personally. It seemed fine after it started tonight and the fuel smell disappeared after 30 seconds.

I think the cover allows for recovery to a garage of the AA's choice or your own if its no further. I always use Japex as you know but the AA might be able to let you know what the issue is or even fix it. Ill whatsapp you to sort it out mate.

If you are completely stuck Rich I can come over and have a look. If no luck we could maybe call the AA out as I am a member. Its the member covered not the car. So could log it that your car wont start. Think I get 5 call outs in a year FOC and only used one on the old Civic when that wouldn't start! (Battery)

When the brakes binded on the rears of our old Civic the handbrake lever went floppy. Only once the brakes freed up the lever grabbed again so sounds like the same thing.

That was the first garage I took the Corolla to. They had the car 5 times (3 times in one day when the brakes kept on setting on fire!), cleaned it, adjusted etc but it was never right until I got it serviced and the other garage (who knew more about the car being ex Toyota mechanic) sorted it FOC. Smallest adjustment was all it needed where as the other adjustments were too tight or too loose. Good to hear its still fine especially after all the faff you had with it and then I had back and forth.

Nope... it needed adjusting. Took the garage all of 15 mins to sort Our Civic was doing what your accord is. Joe sorted it in 15 mins as it was something to do with the wear indicator mechanism holding the inside pad on. Caliper was fine (thought it was a binding caliper)