Upgrades, mods, jobs and stuff.

[Roy Kemp]

Hi all,

We've kinda hit quiet time of the year for Autotesting as clubs get stuck into organising rallies and things like that instead, so I've revisited a few of the things I'd like to develop on the Phaeton.

1. Double width triple ARB kit - Bought ages ago but not fitted. You may remember I had to scrounge some bushes from a guy to do an event as I noticed the bushes were stuffed the day before, and he only had double width ones. So I had to fit these in single-width brackets. They did the trick at the time, but I noticed yesterday that one has come out of the bracket completely. So, I'll be getting this done properly, including a crossbar between the chassis members to hold the third mounting. Should clear the radiator, just!

2. Corsa Power Steering conversion. I got as far as buying a column from the scrapper, figuring out what I'd need in terms of electronics, and that's it. Not actually offered it up to the car yet. Want this done soon as it'll be a hell of a lot easier to manoeuvre at low speed.

3. Adjustable bottom arms. Bought, offered up, then realised the ones on the car have had extra brackets for the Dutton bottom shock mount, so they went back in the box and have been there ever since. Will give to welder / fabricator chum of mine to replicate brackets. A bit of extra camber should help with the nose-pushing I've been experiencing when braking with a bit of steering lock on.

4. Competition bodywork.Bought a nosecone off Adrian ages ago with the arches cut off, with the plan of making a 7-style nose. Also bought cycle wings, but need to make up brackets. Simply a matter of pulling one's finger out and getting on with it.

5. Autotest gear linkage. My latest brain-fart idea. Simply put, I'm too cack-handed to successfully get from reverse, all the way across the gate and into 2nd (best forward ratio) during a j-turn. So, I've got my genius fabricator mate to look at the MT75 linkage and see if he can modify it,so I can choose between 2nd gear (stick forward) or reverse (stick backward). He's not allowed to mess with the box, just the linkage so the car can easily go back to standard. Let's see what he comes up with!

There's a million other little things I'd like to do, but I'm not buying any more bits until the above items are bottomed out!

[Roy Kemp]

Oh, I forgot to add:

6. Gently kick my transmission expert mate for an update on the rebuild status of my 2.4 turn quick-rack.

Will DEFINITELY need the power steering before that goes on the car! 

[Steve Kerswell]

And what will you do next weekend ?  :-)) good luck with that list, I never write list, I'd put it down and forget where, better I just muddle along, collecting problems as I go :-))