Mileage Limit Exceeded

For the first 3 years of owning the car I had an Insurance Policy with a 3000 mile/year cap.  I thought that was more than enough.   Unfortunately not so.   This year, with 6 weeks to go to the end of the Policy, I had only 100 miles left.   Luckily a quick call to the Insurance Company and £30 on my Credit Card and I had another 1000 miles added.   Now to make the most of them.

Air Filter

When he was building her the original builder had the sense to bring the air filter forward into the nose cone instead of attaching it direct to the throttle body.   That meant she was getting nice clean air instead of the hot, dirty air from the back of the engine  (This engine was originally designed to be transverse, across the car, so in that case the air filter was already in front, in clean air).

This worked well, but all he had available at the time was an 80cm diameter tube and the throttle body diameter was 70cm.  So it has been 'scrunched' up to fit.   I had always intended to replace it and some 70cm tube arrived while I was away.  So fitted that this morning. 

I had also recently realised the air filter was the original one from 2008, whereas they are normally replaced every couple of years, so decided to treat her to a new one at the same time.   Bought a universal one to fit any tube between 65 - 80mm and fitted that 

So now she looks like this (nose cone hinged up):

Took her out for a quick run to make sure she was breathing OK.  Didn't expect to see much difference.  Boy was I wrong.  Absolutely amazing transformation.   She's always been fast, but I found it next to impossible to keep to the speed limit.   Just a slight pressure on the pedal and she leapt forward like a scalded cat and I was passing 70.   

 

 

Engine unbelievably crisp and growling beautifully, revving so much more freely than before.

Who would have guessed a new air filter would have made that much difference ?    Am now thinking that I should split the pipe in two and use half of the 80mm pipe at the front as the filter will still fit.   That would act as a ram air system and force more air into the engine.   A very cheap supercharger

Windscreen Wipers again

At this blog post I described how I swapped the windscreen wipers over so I had an 8" blade on the drivers side and a 7" blade on the passenger side.  But it was still not ideal and I really needed a couple of 9" blades.   But that size blade with the correct mounting fit (7mm bayonet for those interested) were just not available anywhere.   Closest I could get was 10" blades, actually off a Bentley    But they were only £6 each so I bought a pair with the intention of chopping of 1/2" from each one.

Fitted the driver side one and had a pleasant surprise, it actually sweeps beautifully and just misses the top of the windscreen.  So no need to trim it.

But it turned out that I couldn't fit a new blade on the passenger side as it clashed with the driver one in the park position.   So I now have a 10" blade on the drivers side and a 7" blade on the passenger side.    




Which is fine.  Perfectly legal and I never carry a passenger in the rain anyway.

And I also have a spare wiper blade now:-)

Bonnet Louvres

Now the temperatures are warming up and the engine is running at a proper temperature I found I was sweltering when I got back from a run yesterday, the temperature in the cabin was showing 32C !!
So time to give the hot air somewhere else to go apart from up my trouser legs and I have at long last fitted the louvres to the bonnet.

I'll have to see what effect they have, if any.  Meanwhile they look rather good

But that was the LAST thing on my ToDo list, what do I do now ?

Grill Guard

Although I have never had a stone damage the radiator, it was probably only a matter of time as the grid is very open.   So having seen a lot of the cars at Stoneleigh that had mesh guards I decided it was time.

So a quick purchase on E-Bay, cut it to shape with the angle grinder, attached with cable ties and now she is properly protected.

Smart !

Spare Wheel Cover

Having been instrumental in helping a friend buy another Superspec car l asked if I could have his spare wheel cover.

The car has always been known as the 'Tiger' so this was too good to miss :-)

The problem is the number plate obscures most of it, so I need to redesign it to use a single line plate.