Janosh's VXR8

[Chilli Sauce Pete]

Hi Janosh,what's the BHP now after Mr Magic tuned the Motor ?,cheers Pete

[Janosh]

After the recent mechanical TLC I treated her to a proper wash, stills scrubs up great

[Lincsls1]

Very nice indeed.
Like the smaller rear spoiler. Prefer it.

[Janosh]

It’s pretty quiet here these days but I thought I’d update my ownership journey.

We spent this weekend up in Scotland for a wedding so it would be rude not to take the R8 for a road trip:



We stopped in the Peaks in the way up and once North of Glasgow found some amazing roads.

I was driving with a friend in his M3 and I was pleasantly surprised that the old HSV kept him honest in a straight line. I’ve got a little under 500bhp now thanks to Luis Sola, 3rd gear on a twisty road is absolutely brutal.

I drove the M3 and it’s amazing how precise it felt in the bends so next up is a suspension refresh and most likely some coil overs....

She’s not going anywhere anytime soon

[Janosh]

As we head into my 4th year of ownership, here’s a quick summary of 2019, probably more as an ownership diary for me than anything else...

Luis Sola engine and gearbox maps
Pedders XA coilovers
Disks and pads all round, including upgrade to split piece at the front
A/C condenser and overhaul
Major service: Filters, fluids, plugs, etc....

It was an expensive year but in fairness she hasn’t cost too much in previous years so deserved a bit of tlc and is now pretty close to my perfect spec.

Running great at the moment and ready for some more road trips

[mr nosiris]

Always thought it was cool that a monaro had iso fix in the back. Worst part waiting for the seats to move forward enough to get the baby seat clipped in when it’s raining lol.

Very nice vxr8.

I would consider buying an 07 plate R8 if someone on here could point me in the direction of one like that.

That’s got to be one very cool new mum been a while since I’ve heard of a new dad getting to upgrade the engine size

[mr nosiris]

I should really start reading the thread before I start typing. I thought this was a new topic. Doh! Your like one of the monaro trail blazers on here.
You even had AP’s while I was still watching top gear colonials on the beach vids on you tube lol. I only got my first AP’s last year.

Does anyone know if bob Todd AKA Wellfans is still a member?

He stays pretty close to me but couldn’t get hold of him a while back.

[bigwheel]

Bob rarely posts here now. I was at a couple of dinners with him last year. His Monaro was off the road then, awaiting a fix.

Try and PM a message to him.

[mr nosiris]

Yeah I’ll give that a try see how he’s getting on. Think I met you at knockhill a whiles back. Im sure my profile pic for this forums from that very day lol.

[Janosh]

Another little update as we’ve just got back from another Euro road trip, although not entirely successful...

It started well:





Then about 30 miles from Adenau we developed a misfire and got MAP / MAF error codes. The car went into ‘safety mode’

We stayed the night in a local village as had managed to order a new map sensor... which didn’t help



We limped to the garage in Adenau where the trouble shooting began and eventually (with help from Carl and Luis - legends) lead to a broken spring:



That was the end of the driving.. but we still watched some racing and got excellent mpg on the way home





She’s now waiting for Carl to fit dual valve springs and hopefully we’ll be back in fighting form ASAP...

Edited by Janosh on Wednesday 5th August 09:57

[Janosh]

The culprit



Lovely new BTR dual springs and pushrods fitted:

[SturdyHSV]

The upgraded springs and stiffer pushrods should give you better high rpm valvetrain stability, just need a cam now to take advantage of it

Are there any concerns about the lifters now that the pressure on them has been upped?

It does look like you were pretty fortunate with where that spring broke, still enough in there to keep the Mr Valve away from Mr Piston

[Janosh]

Yeap! I was very lucky that the valve didn’t drop.

I’m already running a mild cam, the (broken) beehive springs were fitted when the cam went in but it turns out that they don’t last long!

Currently just under 500bhp (at SRR) so happy enough with the power

[SturdyHSV]

Janosh said:

so happy enough with the power

Said no-one, ever

Glad it'll be back on the road soon though

[Janosh]

Treated the OTR to a bit of a clean this afternoon... ready for a road trip to the Peak District next weekend:



I’m impressed with how effective the K&N recharge kit is, helped flush out the debris and almost looks like new again.

[Janosh]

Running perfextly and holding her own in the Peaks today:

[Janosh]

One thing that became clear over the run out in the Peaks, was the quality of the coilovers. I’ve had them for a while now but rarely get the chance to drive as hard as I did on Saturday.

For day to day driving, they’re a great kit. Height and damping is fully adjustable giving lots of options to dial in the looks and comfort you want but when really pushing on a B road, they have completely transformed the car, in a good way!

It’s now much more composed and confidence inspiring, happy to keep pace with my friends in cars that are more suited to B road blasting. Happy days.

[SturdyHSV]

Janosh said:

One thing that became clear over the run out in the Peaks, was the quality of the coilovers. I’ve had them for a while now but rarely get the chance to drive as hard as I did on Saturday.

For day to day driving, they’re a great kit. Height and damping is fully adjustable giving lots of options to dial in the looks and comfort you want but when really pushing on a B road, they have completely transformed the car, in a good way!

It’s now much more composed and confidence inspiring, happy to keep pace with my friends in cars that are more suited to B road blasting. Happy days.

That's good to hear, how do you find the ride with the coilovers compared to what you had before (if you can remember!)

How many miles have you done on the coilovers (looks like April 2017 you fitted them from the thread )

[Janosh]

The ride is perfect, can be setup from anything that’s potentially softer than stick to rock hard!

There’s 30 clicks of damping adjustment and I think I’m running +7.

I’ve only had them on about a year (few thousand miles), I procrastinated a lot before having them fitted!

[Janosh]

Another clean MOT pass, the upgrades are almost paying for themselves

Edited by Janosh on Thursday 17th December 13:45