Surreptitious upgrades
Discussion
My girlfriend has absolutely forbidden me to spend any money on upgrades to the Griffith, despite the absolute necessecity of Willwood 4 pot brakes, Nitron suspension and a few engine tweaks! (aluminium and pedals already in place). Fortunately, she is completely clueless regards anything mechanical, getting the finances past her may be a bit more difficult though!
Is this a common problem?
Is this a common problem?
yep, repairs are the way to do it!
my "soft" front shocks turned into a FULL Nitron kit front/rear, with new wishbones, polys and corner weighting.
tappy cam became a 404 cam with solid lifters etc etc (now even more tappy
)
slight concerns over mpg (honest!) became rolling road test with mark adams...
not been too reliable over the last year or two
andy
>> Edited by guillotine on Monday 5th May 18:59
my "soft" front shocks turned into a FULL Nitron kit front/rear, with new wishbones, polys and corner weighting.
tappy cam became a 404 cam with solid lifters etc etc (now even more tappy
) slight concerns over mpg (honest!) became rolling road test with mark adams...
not been too reliable over the last year or two
andy
>> Edited by guillotine on Monday 5th May 18:59
victormeldrew said: Repairs is the way. I crashed mine just so I could fit new suspension, and hell, there is no point fitting original shocks and brakes, they obviously don't work properly!
How I am going to get an ACT triple throttle plenum past her is another issue.
Them Triple Throttle plenums certainaily look and from what i hear perform like the .... if only my Insurance would of paid for them too BB
victormeldrew said: Repairs is the way. I crashed mine just so I could fit new suspension, and hell, there is no point fitting original shocks and brakes, they obviously don't work properly!
How I am going to get an ACT triple throttle plenum past her is another issue.
you could say you took the air filter out to clean it, forgot to refit it and your Griff 'ingested' a small dog
>> Edited by apache on Monday 5th May 22:10
Although I am not known for my clairvoyancy(?), I can sense a problem occurring with the brakes at Cadwell, following this incident, I will be advised at Croft that the shocks are shocking. With Aries being mounted by Leo and Capricorn rising, I sense a cam problem just prior to Oulton Park requiring an ACT plenum and ECU reprogram.
Mdme Treevor.
PS Snooker is getting exciting.
Mdme Treevor.
PS Snooker is getting exciting.
Take the girlfriend out for a ride in it and as you approach a junction (at speed) start screaming that 'the brakes aren't working! The car's not slowing!' combined with suitable expletives... She'll sh1t herself, upon which you will absolutely have to take it to be looked at. And oh dear, it seems the brakes are shot and need replacing... And while they've got the wheels off, it would make sense to replace those badly worn shocks - cheaper labour and they really need doing anyway 'for safety reasons'.
It's amazing what scaring the sh1t out of someone can help you acheive
It's amazing what scaring the sh1t out of someone can help you acheive
Ok Ok... what exactly do all these goodies do!!?? Mine is so far pretty standard, and it does jump about like a cat on speed over my local Pennine country roads - are there some shocks that will give the car less of a hammering without losing out on the handling? (er, and without damaging the bank account too much!) Any other fairly quick, simple and financially painless mods that can be done to increase the fun factor? It doesn't go on the track.
Top tip for keeping the other half happy - every grand you spend on the car, buy her a £100 pair of Diesel jeans - works every time!
Top tip for keeping the other half happy - every grand you spend on the car, buy her a £100 pair of Diesel jeans - works every time!
Ok Ok... what exactly do all these goodies do!!?? Mine is so far pretty standard, and it does jump about like a cat on speed over my local Pennine country roads - are there some shocks that will give the car less of a hammering without losing out on the handling? (er, and without damaging the bank account too much!) Any other fairly quick, simple and financially painless mods that can be done to increase the fun factor? It doesn't go on the track.
Top tip for keeping the other half happy - every grand you spend on the car, buy her a £100 pair of Diesel jeans - works every time!
Top tip for keeping the other half happy - every grand you spend on the car, buy her a £100 pair of Diesel jeans - works every time!
Ok Ok... what exactly do all these goodies do!!?? Mine is so far pretty standard, and it does jump about like a cat on speed over my local Pennine country roads - are there some shocks that will give the car less of a hammering without losing out on the handling? (er, and without damaging the bank account too much!) Any other fairly quick, simple and financially painless mods that can be done to increase the fun factor? It doesn't go on the track.
Top tip for keeping the other half happy - every grand you spend on the car, buy her a £100 pair of Diesel jeans - works every time!
Top tip for keeping the other half happy - every grand you spend on the car, buy her a £100 pair of Diesel jeans - works every time!
Ok Ok... what exactly do all these goodies do!!?? Mine is so far pretty standard, and it does jump about like a cat on speed over my local Pennine country roads - are there some shocks that will give the car less of a hammering without losing out on the handling? (er, and without damaging the bank account too much!) Any other fairly quick, simple and financially painless mods that can be done to increase the fun factor? It doesn't go on the track.
Top tip for keeping the other half happy - every grand you spend on the car, buy her a £100 pair of Diesel jeans - works every time!
Top tip for keeping the other half happy - every grand you spend on the car, buy her a £100 pair of Diesel jeans - works every time!
Financially painless - nope don't think so. Level interior mods would make it look prettier for not much cash. As for suspension, you could replace the standard dampers with AVO's, which are relatively cheap and an improvement on the standard items, but for a few extra quid you could get a much bigger improvement. Having said that, a few more quid extra on top of the extra few quid and you'd get a superb handling car etc etc etc. It's a slippery slope, then you'll want brake mods, then induction, then a tune up with Mark.... financial ruin will soon follow unless you're careful
What do they do?
I have had 283mm discs and 4 pot calipers fitted (Peninsula). It is perfectly possible to lock the fronts at 80mph on a bone dry road. These brakes are phenominal, bordering on overbraked. My rears need upgrading now for better balance, but nonetheless these are immensely powerful and controllable brakes.
In combination with the braided hoses, I haven't yet got used to the immediacy and sheer power of the braking. Illustrated yesterday on the M6 when an idiot in a big white van in the outside lane with only one working brake light nearly caused a shunt. I was two cars back watching a BMW swerve half onto the central reservation to (just) avoid him, when I realised I was stationary already, and in danger of getting shunted myself. I had hit the brakes a fraction after the BMW - I stopped, he sailed on!
Nitrons? Not completely sorted yet, I still don't get a controllable ride on bumpy B roads, but the ride on A roads and motorways is much improved. Traction is incredible, it is much more difficult to break traction with the Nitrons. The car sits lower (this is adjustable), and has much more pronounced lift and dive. The dive help with the braking I'm sure, and the lift probably is contributory to the traction improvements. Mine are original "MK1" Nitrons, and they are noisy. They whistled for a few weeks (mostly on rebound), but this disappeared eventually, but the rattling remains. You get used to it, but it does sound like something is broken.
Handling and braking sorted, now for more welly!
My car also has a Speed 12 conversion, which just looks cool!
I have had 283mm discs and 4 pot calipers fitted (Peninsula). It is perfectly possible to lock the fronts at 80mph on a bone dry road. These brakes are phenominal, bordering on overbraked. My rears need upgrading now for better balance, but nonetheless these are immensely powerful and controllable brakes.
In combination with the braided hoses, I haven't yet got used to the immediacy and sheer power of the braking. Illustrated yesterday on the M6 when an idiot in a big white van in the outside lane with only one working brake light nearly caused a shunt. I was two cars back watching a BMW swerve half onto the central reservation to (just) avoid him, when I realised I was stationary already, and in danger of getting shunted myself. I had hit the brakes a fraction after the BMW - I stopped, he sailed on!
Nitrons? Not completely sorted yet, I still don't get a controllable ride on bumpy B roads, but the ride on A roads and motorways is much improved. Traction is incredible, it is much more difficult to break traction with the Nitrons. The car sits lower (this is adjustable), and has much more pronounced lift and dive. The dive help with the braking I'm sure, and the lift probably is contributory to the traction improvements. Mine are original "MK1" Nitrons, and they are noisy. They whistled for a few weeks (mostly on rebound), but this disappeared eventually, but the rattling remains. You get used to it, but it does sound like something is broken.
Handling and braking sorted, now for more welly!
My car also has a Speed 12 conversion, which just looks cool!
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