Sounds good. Be interested to hear how you get on with the brakes. For me the brakes are the one weak point on the car I don't like, other things are forgivable. Like you the previous owner of mine looked after them and upgraded pads and disks however compared to more modern vehicles they are still lacking when 'pressing on'.
Personally I find Brembo brakes to be overrated, perhaps they have improved but I had them on Ducati bikes back in the early 90's and they all benefited from a master cylinder upgrade (pity we cannot do that on the Coupe) before they had true bite. Conversely my Qwaker with Nissins could lift the rear wheel with just 2 fingers on the lever.
I agree, my description of the stock brakes is that the feel is wooden and also feels almost non servo assisted. Coupled with not much threshold before they cook themselves with a bit of spirited driving
Anyway I'll post my progress and views once I've done the work
When I got mine, stock brakes were wooden, check braking in motorway traffic was non-existent. Completely solved with decent pads. Currently using Brembo discs & pads and they're good, plenty of stopping power. The pedal still needs a bit more pressure than most modern cars, but I prefer it that way.
I'll be interested to know how you find the Eibach springs. Mine is on supposedly standard spec springs. I don't feel the need for harder suspension, but it does look a bit too tall imo.
As I plan some track usage I wanted something a bit lower than OE for ride height, as I find the nose dips when you brake heavy, which in turn unsettles the car.
A word of warning when removing the fuel tank, the plastic connectors on top of the swirl pot become brittle with age so take great care when disconnecting
Re the sump bolt Jamie, the technique we used on iour project car - which hadn't turned a wheel in at least 13 years - was a 600mm pipe over the socket driver using very slow rocking leverage.
Naturally we had soaked it in penetrant for days and yes it was a two-person job with one under the car holding the socket in place.
When it comes to the rear trailing arms, you might want to think about replacing with new (bearing included) to avoid the hassle of a refurb that still might end up with the arms looking like a scabby mess. Around £120 each from AutoDoc (I bought 2 pairs at less than that each, but quite a while ago)
1996 Portofino 20vt & 2000 Pearl White Plus 2008 Ferrari F430 & 2017 Fiat 124 Spider
My visual appraisal at present is they will clean up quite nicely, but if in reality they are scabby then I'll buy new, albeit I have bought the new bearings from Joe already
In other news today, turbo is being rebuilt as the piston ring and shaft is worn. From what the turbo guy told me it looks like when Owen developments did the job originally they machined the housing out to try and deal with shaft wear. Anyway its getting built with a new 360 bearing and staggered seal to stop the oil seeping through
Also on checking the manifold more closely (as per my pics yesterday), the mating face was quite badly warped and is probably why it's cracked again
That looks like the radiator bracket... I did exactly the same with mine. Used a wheelie bin on it's side with the solution and electrodes. Worked well.
One thing I’ve found with the electrolysis tank is you need to really clean the points where your copper wire touches the parts you’re trying to derust. Otherwise you don’t get all the rust removed.
So this morning I’ve done some additional cleaning and put the bits back into the tank to carry on the clean up
no I just made one after looking on youtube for the basics of how to set it up
cost me about £10 in total
I might take a look at this as I've spent most of this week scrubbing rust off my horn (oo-er) and bonnet release mechanism and leaving them in white vinegar overnight. Absolutely mind numbing stuff but it's 95% there now.
