Latest Incarnation

[scouk]

Serves me right for taking two weeks hols..

Note: this post and the following 4 replies are a bit of a read... but probably worth it

Started off with good plans to give the car a good going over and get the underside and wheel arches all cleaned up and get a few bits and pieces sorted..

As some of you may of read last week, that started off poor after finding a broken spring on the first wheelarch.. argh! So here's the list of jobs done

1. Cleaned out all wheelarches and waxoyled for protection

2. Got all prodrives springs replaced under warranty (had car on blocks for a couple of days )

3. New battery (for the winter.. last one was struggling on cold mornings / short jounrneys) Put old one on charge as a spare

4. Removed front o2 sensor after removing the front part of the exhaust and getting it on a bench and LOTS of heat to remove old sensor..

Now for the mods:

5. Installed new HID kit into the dipped projectors - (More Info)

6. Swapped out the pink grille badge for a colour coded one - (More info)

7. Fitting of Some new Hella Supertones behind the grill - (More info)

8. Installed new driving lights after fabricating brackets - (More Info)

Still to do:

9. Oil Change...

Been a busy week, but the car seems to sit better on the new springs and the change in o2 sensor has already made the car feel smoother

Unfortuantely I've sorta gone over the scooby budget for this year so fingers crossed not problems for the next few months

See next few posts for piccies and more details of mods

Edited November 19, 2008 by ScoUK

[scouk]

HID Install

Well first off got the 4300k kit from a group buy from "the other place".. Good quality kit with a much thinner ballast than normal kits making it easy to fit to a sensible place!

Easy enough to wire up... Had to cut a larger hole in the back of the housing cap to fit the connectors through but not much of a problem everything is pretty much plug n play.

Installed the ballast in a sensible place using sticky pads (sort used to hold rear view mirrors on.. It aint going anywhere!)

Some piccies in daylight...

I was really skeptical about how much of an improvement HID's make... But after seeing OxBig1 with the HiD kit at the last meet It was pretty obvious as how much much crisper the light is over standard lighting.. Even with the Xenon style bulbs I have fitted.

Sorry no pics of night time yet, but it's made a HUGE difference.. I've heard people say you don't need full beam with Hid's on dipped.. well that's tosh! Yes they are very bright and such a wide field of view, but they are dipped.. and therefore should be pointing at the ground some distance ahead.. so as not to dazzle on coming road users, so you do still need high beam to the longer distance.. With both on, things are pretty bright now and can see so much more of the short/mid range of the road..

[scouk]

Always liked the idea of re-painting the standard badge...

The pink one was getting the odd strange comment along with the vinyl one not looking as good as the standard badge due to the flat stars, the standard badge is more 3D.

Was toying with with the idea of doing either the scottish saltire (copied from Higgy) or just try colour coded in red mica.. Ended up deciding to go for the red mica.. So on a rainy morning, dug out my old badge and set to work sanding off the backing with some wet n' dry paper:

When cleaned off all the black.. Gave it a quick polish to remove 90% of the fine scratches and gave it a quick wipe over with meths to clean the surface of chemicals before painting.

Took about 3-4 light coats of paint, and here's the finsihed product along side an origonal badge

Final Product... Lookin good! . o O (even if i do say so myself)

Finally all fitted.. From a distance it's toned down the front, but the supertones behind the grille make up for it

Edited November 19, 2008 by ScoUK

[scouk]

So the supertones... Why? Erm... ok I admit, I try to make all my mods serve some "practical" purpose, like better aerodynamics, performance, safety e.t.c. But erm.. Ok I like the look of them.. Simple as that...

Always fancied them but only avaialble from outside the UK generally.. When buying the Driving lights from a Hella reseller in the US I asked if he could do a deal with a set of supertones as well.. And sure enough I bought both.. Oh well.. May as well fit them then...

Should really take more photos for this.. But fitting was easy.. at first I redid the wiring with a seperate relay e.t.c but in the end realised the standard horns were wired in the same way anyway and the wiring isn't too bad. So ripped out my wiring and reused the origonal while adding a couple short extensions and an earthing wires..

Mounting was more of an issue.. REALLY wanted them behind the grille.. Fortunately for the passenger side it was pretty easy just used the holes at the front of the frame where there are holes for the bonnet release cable! Perfect.. Added a few washers to space it back a bit so it's fits snugly behind the grille without hitting the radiator.. Wrapped the back in in tape anyway just incase it does impact the radiator.. Shouldn't.

Driver side one was more of an issue due to the bleedin power steering cooling element.. tried a few ways at first but the space wasn't there.. So looked into relocating the cooler.. (I was really desperate to get the look of the twin horns behind the grille.) But nope relocating wasn't going to be so simple..

In the end, I decided to bend the brackets for the cooler just enough so the horn fits just snugly in there.. it's a tight fit but at least there's no pressure on the cooler.. again the back end of the horn has been wrapped in tape for protection it if it does come in contact with the cooler.. Will have to keep an eye on this incase it does start to impact the cooler...

Anyhoo some piccies:

Looks good from certain angles.. But really need to change the mesh, it's too dense.. and I've also clearly blocked off part of the radiator, so new mesh is in order.. Ive been on the lookout for the similar style mesh that is on the Hawkeyes.. Thin square/diamond with medium size holes.. In black.. Cant find the stuff anwywhere.. ANyone know where I can get a sheet of the stuff?

P.s. Oh they are loud... VERY loud... Pretty quiet from inside, but stand infront of the car and yeouch!! No really.. it hurts!!

[scouk]

Finally driving lights..

After some humming and haying on the location.. decided to go for replacing the fogs... Other main option was up by the front grille. but few things put me off that..

1. Disturbing the airflow for the scoop

2. Getting a SOLID securing point

3. Location (along with supertones) would block a LOT of air from getting ot the top of the radiator

4. Would require all new wiring.. Was doable but not worth the hassle especially when 90% of the wiring exists.

First step was to get the fog light swich only activating the fog circuit when the full headlights were on (in order to make it legal) I spent ages ripping the front dahboard to bits (both sides) trying to find the bleedin relay for the full beam.. Could I find it? No.. Peed off, decided the next day just to take the feed off the blue full beam lamp on the dashboard.. No ideal, but it'll do the job.. So got that wired up and tested with the fogs in place.. Worked first time WoohoO!

Second step was the wiring to the driving lamps.. Ideally wanted to keep existing connectors to they coulg be swappable but a dealers wanted £35+vat per connector! Sod that!! So got some cheaper waterproof connectors and put a join in the loom just before the fog connector so the lights can still be swapped quickly while keeping existing wiring

Next step.. Brackets.. wasn't too bad.. Got inspiration from other piccies on the net and went for a copied design.. However put a full back plate on with a gap for the cable to pop through.. before painting the whole lot black (paint was still a bit tacky when installed but shouldn't cause any damage to the plastics..)

Almost looks like a professional job

The hella 500FF lamp in place.. WIth a set of Philips Blue Vision bulbs for as much light as possible without upping the wattage...

I have to admit the lamps do look a little cockeyed.. But it's just an illusion with the curveyness of the bugeye.. They are pointing straight ahead.. Does look a bit silly but it's right enough..

And finally:

That's generally 330watts of light power.. Infact with the HiD's (which are said to give 3-4 time the light output) thats effectively over 550watts of light. Yeow! Just got these installed today so havent had a change to try them in the dark yet... Cant wait

The covers look a bit iffy IMHO but necessary as I don't fancy breaking one of these things I have to get them from the US again..

[C_WRX]

Loads to scroll through there....quite enjoyed that wee read though !

Hat off to you though for the amount of work you do on your own rather than paying someone to do it for you, I don't have that much confidence in my own abilities that's for sure !

Now, after the oil change, is that it for a while ??

[scouk]

Yeah it is a fair read... But I know there's some guys on here that like to see wee projects and how they are done.. Hopefully it will inspire some folk

$

Now, after the oil change, is that it for a while ??

Hopefully

Although still want to do something with the handling.. rear ARB is a must for starters..

Also working on a InCarPC project...

need to find a wideband sensor for fine tuning the ECU map.. (more for my own learning than getting more power from it)

& the car is just gagging for a new set of wheels..

All getting quite pricey now though, so no immediate plans... Just as and when....

[pmacFTO]

I have the same Hella horn that you have there - Al took it off the car when he was selling but I bought them back from him - still in the garage!! lol I'm not keen on messing with wiring in cars - thing is - they have been fitted before so it's probably easy!

[scoobysailor]

The cars looking the dogs B**locks, Al.

It's making me feel lazy reading all the stuff you done yourself!!

[cullenmin]

Nice write up Al, things are fairly coming along with that scoob of yours.

Set of alloys and it'll be sorted on the exterior

Rich

[marky.t.s]

yip!,got to agree,a well put together write up Al.Top work all round mate.

[paul555sti]

Nice write up. The lights look a huge improvement, i remember how crap my bugeye light were.

[gus the bus]

Nice work Al . did the badge "thing" a few weeks ago myself and its so simple but very effective.

[scooby222]

looking good Al! planning the hid kit myself when funds allow-xmas,bah humbug!

id have a go at making up some clear acyrlic covers for the spots- still havent replaced my cracked one from the highland fling as its 80 quid for a lens

[thefastone]

Mmmm I do fancy doing the Grille badge... was same mind as you, to do the saltire, but now seeing it mica Red... job for laters anyways...

Also been pondering HIDs for a long time, Might get round to that one at some point too.... You mind me asking how much you payed for yours? I dont imagine that they would be massively different to the set for the classic fitment...

[scouk]

Also been pondering HIDs for a long time, Might get round to that one at some point too.... You mind me asking how much you payed for yours? I dont imagine that they would be massively different to the set for the classic fitment...

They were £89 with a group buy on Snet..

Don't mean to preach the safety book but with the standard classic lamps they would be quite illegal because the light off the bulbs gets scattered everywhere You'll either need a projector style lens (round eyeball type one) or a dedicated HiD refelctor and bulb to make it more legal.. Although you could get away with it on high beam as they shouldn't be in use with oncoming traffic anyway...

In saying that mine isn't "strictly" legal for two reasons... NO automatic hight adjustment and no headlight washer system.. Apparently those are legal requirements for HiD's But from a safety point of view, due to the projector lamps the light fromt eh bulbs are controlled and pointing in the right direction..

Might be worth checking our what options there are before buying the kit..

id have a go at making up some clear acyrlic covers for the spots- still havent replaced my cracked one from the highland fling as its 80 quid for a lens ohmy.gif

Yeah not a bad idea .. would prefer a clear cover just as protection rather than the white OEM covers.. Got some clear perspex lying around I can maybe use somehow..

[Guest]

Glad you got the suspension sorted mate

you should get the anti roll bars done and maybe next year you will be able to stay on the track at Alford

only jesting.

How big a job was it to fit the HID's?

[drb5]

That looks gorgeous fella, good work!

Not a great fan of the grille mind you, but it still works well. Nice to see a bugeye looking smart and not all tarted up to the heavens.

[scouk]

Glad you got the suspension sorted mate

you should get the anti roll bars done and maybe next year you will be able to stay on the track at Alford

only jesting.

Err yeah... . ARB should definately sort out some of the handling... Never been happy with the initial turn in of the car..

In true driving excuses style I should point out that the the tyres on the car at Alford were only 3 days old and only really did the journey to Alford and not pushed.. My theory (*coughs* [excuse mode on]) is that putting load on the unscrubbed edge of the tyre on hard(ish) cornering meant it was really slippy and got very little grip on the smooth surface.. Soon as the front of the car hit the grass got LOADS of grip, (fortunately) We'll that's my excuse anyway..

End of the day I f***ed up.. Should have been more aware of it and adjusted accordingly.. Fortuantely little damage to the car.. just a wee scratch on the splitter when gettign back off the grass.. But being the weekend after the RR incident it's was nothing.... More embarassing though

Keen to get some track experience under my belt sometime...

How big a job was it to fit the HID's?

Very easy! No splicing of wires, or re-wiring... THe kit replaced the standard H1 bulb.. So it was a case of unplug bulb, plug lighting loom into one side of the Hid Ballast and the other end into the new Hid Bulb and slot it in!

That's the wiring side of it anywya.. As for hte rest, finding a suitable place to mount the ballast (put mine under the headlight unit.. This kit has such a small ballast it was easy to fit in with plenty space to spare.. Only real mod was as mentioned above.. Had to cut out a larger whole in the back of the cap of the hadlight unit where the normal wires pop through.. Drilled bigger hole and used the provided rubber seal which fitted in snugly.. into the new hole. then just put hte cap back on as normal..

Much easier than expected...

That looks gorgeous fella, good work!

Not a great fan of the grille mind you, but it still works well. Nice to see a bugeye looking smart and not all tarted up to the heavens.

Cheers mate...

Have tried to keep it lookign "sensible" mostly standard as possible but with little bits here and there that make it look slightly beefed up.. THe driving lights are only there for a safety aspect.. I start work at 7am weekdays and it's pitch black.. also my journey takes me down B roads and rarely meet any other road users. So they will get plenty of use and it's nice to be able to see as much of the road ahead as possible.. Ideally I'd like a couple of lasers attached to the car to vapourise the deer but somehow I don't think I'd get away with that.. So the lights will have to do.

Gotta watch any future cosmetic changes as it will become OTT.. I agree with the grille... The style has changed a few times the past couple of years... Still not 100% happy with it..