My 650s jounrey - The Start!
Discussion
Jim82 said:
Paza3 said:
Thanks guys for the kind words.
Well its been a super start with the car and am absolutely loving it, the speed is actually quite ridiculous its so quick! Not had a proper drive in her yet in a "dawn raid sense" but it keeps surprising me. I keep finding reasons to go into the garage , then lose 5 minutes looking at it and wonder out... then forgot I needed frozen peas from the chest freezer!
Well I've done two changes to date, the first one is a simple one I hard wired to trickle charge to the battery as opposed to using the cigarette lighter in the boot. Speaking to a few purist this appears to be the fail safe approach as the batteries seem to be one of the biggest cause of complaint for niggling issues and keeping the voltage spot on seems a cause in a lot of cases.
Pretty simple job a 1/10 skill level, I took my time and watched a useful McLaren Ascot video on YouTube to tackle it prior. I tucked the worse under the metal section and kept it neat to the side so it still fitted flush.
Then it was time to tackle another job, I had wanted the carbon paddles for my 650s however MSO parts second hand were circ 1-1.5k which seemed a bit punchy for some tiny carbon parts. So I took a chance and ordered a set from the US which came to about £180 all in. The fitment is pretty good and felt the carbon weave was close too so have been please with this first modification and for me really transforms the wheel! no more mice ears!
|https://thumbsnap.com/W1xU2jNM[/url]
Nice one - could you send me the link of where you got the paddle extenders? TaWell its been a super start with the car and am absolutely loving it, the speed is actually quite ridiculous its so quick! Not had a proper drive in her yet in a "dawn raid sense" but it keeps surprising me. I keep finding reasons to go into the garage , then lose 5 minutes looking at it and wonder out... then forgot I needed frozen peas from the chest freezer!
Well I've done two changes to date, the first one is a simple one I hard wired to trickle charge to the battery as opposed to using the cigarette lighter in the boot. Speaking to a few purist this appears to be the fail safe approach as the batteries seem to be one of the biggest cause of complaint for niggling issues and keeping the voltage spot on seems a cause in a lot of cases.
Pretty simple job a 1/10 skill level, I took my time and watched a useful McLaren Ascot video on YouTube to tackle it prior. I tucked the worse under the metal section and kept it neat to the side so it still fitted flush.
Then it was time to tackle another job, I had wanted the carbon paddles for my 650s however MSO parts second hand were circ 1-1.5k which seemed a bit punchy for some tiny carbon parts. So I took a chance and ordered a set from the US which came to about £180 all in. The fitment is pretty good and felt the carbon weave was close too so have been please with this first modification and for me really transforms the wheel! no more mice ears!
|https://thumbsnap.com/W1xU2jNM[/url]
Jim82 & macdeb
These are the guys I used, for the money am very happy gents.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284124357488
"Carbon Fibre racing", pretty decent delivery time
These are the guys I used, for the money am very happy gents.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284124357488
"Carbon Fibre racing", pretty decent delivery time
Well guys it's about time for an update:
So, I decided that when I bought the car as much as I liked the 5 spoke design, I adore the super light wheels. I knew it was a "must have" for myself so started the search for a set of alloys. They are trading at quite strong money but a member on the MOC said he had a set for sale at a very reasonable price.
They were in need of a refurbishment which was of no concern, platinum alloys in Swindon did a great job giving a factory OEM match and I would always recommend these guys if anyone was in the market for a refurb.
I took the opportunity to change the TPMS sensors as the original ones were still working but reaching the end of the life cycle. I decided to try an after market solution and opted for Euro car parts who have a subsidiary, UK Car parts direct. The long and short of it was these did not work very well at all and I think Thorney is right when he said he's tried every after market part and none seem to work that well. I might have just been unlucky but I did not take a second chance I popped the original OEM ones back in and it worked a treat. Platinum advised they looked like a generic part and advised as well against use of non OEM parts. So now in the process of getting this refunded, I felt it was worth a punt, however, on this occasion it did not pay off.
I decided that I wanted to fit spacers at the same time, and after speaking to a number of owners it appears that the Mac runs a basic Audi fitment. There are plenty of reports this improves the 650/12c and Thorney also has his own version, there maybe some weight benefits but not enough to justify the price difference was my feeling.
Did this mean no Mac tax? well I can happily report this is the case, I purchased a set of 12mm front and rear spacers with additional longer bolts from Bimecc and they worked a treat! At £129.99 I am very happy with the change and they sit lovely and flush at the front and the rear is a vast improvement too. Not sure I can feel any obvious handling improvements but visually it's a win.
I also took the opportunity to use some Gtechniq C5 on the alloys wheels while it was convenient to do so, a 15ml bottle was sufficient for all 4 wheels, however, you do need to be frugal.
Link to the place I ordered from:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323982223725
However not all is golden in Mclaren ownership world... my first issue has happened which I was epexcting as these first few hundred miles were going to be the shake down after limited use 12 months prior. It's going in next week hopefully it's a minor issue but I will know more in the next week.. wish me luck! :/ as I took the decision to self warrant.
So, I decided that when I bought the car as much as I liked the 5 spoke design, I adore the super light wheels. I knew it was a "must have" for myself so started the search for a set of alloys. They are trading at quite strong money but a member on the MOC said he had a set for sale at a very reasonable price.
They were in need of a refurbishment which was of no concern, platinum alloys in Swindon did a great job giving a factory OEM match and I would always recommend these guys if anyone was in the market for a refurb.
I took the opportunity to change the TPMS sensors as the original ones were still working but reaching the end of the life cycle. I decided to try an after market solution and opted for Euro car parts who have a subsidiary, UK Car parts direct. The long and short of it was these did not work very well at all and I think Thorney is right when he said he's tried every after market part and none seem to work that well. I might have just been unlucky but I did not take a second chance I popped the original OEM ones back in and it worked a treat. Platinum advised they looked like a generic part and advised as well against use of non OEM parts. So now in the process of getting this refunded, I felt it was worth a punt, however, on this occasion it did not pay off.
I decided that I wanted to fit spacers at the same time, and after speaking to a number of owners it appears that the Mac runs a basic Audi fitment. There are plenty of reports this improves the 650/12c and Thorney also has his own version, there maybe some weight benefits but not enough to justify the price difference was my feeling.
Did this mean no Mac tax? well I can happily report this is the case, I purchased a set of 12mm front and rear spacers with additional longer bolts from Bimecc and they worked a treat! At £129.99 I am very happy with the change and they sit lovely and flush at the front and the rear is a vast improvement too. Not sure I can feel any obvious handling improvements but visually it's a win.
I also took the opportunity to use some Gtechniq C5 on the alloys wheels while it was convenient to do so, a 15ml bottle was sufficient for all 4 wheels, however, you do need to be frugal.
Link to the place I ordered from:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323982223725
However not all is golden in Mclaren ownership world... my first issue has happened which I was epexcting as these first few hundred miles were going to be the shake down after limited use 12 months prior. It's going in next week hopefully it's a minor issue but I will know more in the next week.. wish me luck! :/ as I took the decision to self warrant.
macdeb said:
^^^^ 
agree.
PS; I got the paddle extenders thanks, though I had to pay import tax on delivery which took them nearer £240, but really good quality and the weave and finish matches perfectly.
Ahh nooo I never paid any? ... hmm I say nothing! agree.PS; I got the paddle extenders thanks, though I had to pay import tax on delivery which took them nearer £240, but really good quality and the weave and finish matches perfectly.
Thanks for the advice and kind words guys.
So gents,
I have the prognosis back from the garage!, overall not a bad outcome. Ricky at REperformance is a pretty handy chap and diagnose both issues quickly and efficiently as ever and has yet to let me down. They were mapping a stunning 720s that made an incredible 870 on the dyno!
Anyway back to the issues, issue one was a TPMS sensor came loose in my wheel, so it was making a terrible noise at slow speeds as naturally everything was wizzing around inside the wheel nut and TPMS! Lucky it’s still working fine and was an easy fix.
I was deeply worried something terrible had gone wrong. So it was a relief when the issue was explained by Ricky, I was a bit frustrated with Platinum Alloys, but these things can happen it’s a fact of life. Although charging me labour to resolve it did not seem the fairest outcome all things considered in my view. (As I initially provided the TPMS+values)
However, this was nothing compared to the second issue, I periodically check under the car when I go into the garage, I could see spots of oil under the diffuser and on the garage floor. I wiped these up and more came back the next day, my immediate thought was that the gearbox had exploded or something equally terrible.
So it was explained late last night that the left drive shaft seal on the gearbox was weeping, thus spraying gearbox oil around as it rotated. The Tiger king meme came to mind "I will never financially recover from this" every gearbox rebuild thread I'd read came flooding back too, I was about to put it on collecting cars and cut my losses!! Ahahahaha
This morning was much better when I found out it was a serviceable item and a gearbox rebuild was not required! and it’s actually quite common to weep and need replacing. Furthermore the seal is £43.67 + VAT to replace. The labour time seems to be reasonable too (2-4hrs depending who you speak too) so should be a sub £500 job to resolve!
So it appears that it should be a simple fix, however I still be a bit happier when it’s all fixed and I don’t have a leaky 650s.
Interesting point to mention, Guildford McLaren suggested that putting the spacers on might have contributed to the failing of the seal. As the wheels would be at a slightly different angle as a result of the further distance. Who knows? A worthy point to consider especially if it was already weak.
I report back once its complete!
Hi guys
Well good news the leaky 650s is no more! The leaking drive shaft seal has now been replaced and theirs is no longer gearbox oil on my garage floor!
I spoke to the usual options to do the job, however the house favourites we're exceptionally busy due to the time of year it was and in some cases I will be looking at mid-August before the work could be completed, which makes complete sense due to the time of the year.
So, I decided I would call V Engineering who had just started out in the supercar maintenance arena. I remember reading a number of posts recently about their experience and offerings on the owners club as a new option. They are so new that I was officially there first retail paying customer!. One of the reasons why I wanted to explore what they could do was their positioning along the M4 motorway meant that they were only around 40 minutes or so away and would be a convenient future option for other maintenance or service requirements. I also felt as this was a relatively straight forward replacement job this would be a really good test without taking too much risk.
The facilities themselves are very modern and fresh in appearance and there was a nice collection of P1’s and Ferraris including an Enzo in for work which of course is always a reassuring sign when you're bringing your own pride and joy to an untested independent. Throughout the process both Paul and Steve were very professional and polite, and you got a real sense that working on supercars or hypercars really was a vocation for them and it simply was not just another drive shaft seal on a car.
Within a short period of time the knowledge and experience that both men had really was obvious there was a deep understanding of the cars and their history. This is backed up of course as both guys worked for McLaren for over 10 years so I suppose that USP is the fact that they have 20 years combined Mac knowledge. I was lucky to be showing the whole process and appreciate in normal trading conditions this almost one on one experience won't be replicated however the fact Paul and Steve generally enjoyed the process was great to see and I wanted to take a moment out to recognise good work a newcomer is bringing to the Mac Indy family.
I suppose the $1,000,000 question is would I go back? The answer is yes without hesitation.
Whilst in for the drive shaft seal Steve recommended that we do a complete gearbox oil change at the same time which we completed normally due at 30k miles , mine had done 21k. I also notice on the way down that my air con did not seem that cool and asked if they could test it, and thankfully they had a brand new machine that had the ability to test the whole system and top it up as it dropped around 200 grammes I believe.
So to the costs, I felt that the costings were very reasonable for the amount of work that was completed. I was originally quoted 2 hours to complete the drive shaft seal plus parts was about £360 ish. This ended up taking closer to three hours due to some stubborn bolts. the guys obviously completed the gearbox oil change and the air conditioning which took around about an hour (So around 4hrs all in). The gearbox oil is not a cheap product so I believe this was a roundabout 70 pounds inclusive of VAT, and we agreed on three hours labour at 120 pounds plus VAT. So labour was £360 and parts £140 so plus vat £601.34 all in.
I hope this helps anyone with a similar fault in the future, until the next update.
Well good news the leaky 650s is no more! The leaking drive shaft seal has now been replaced and theirs is no longer gearbox oil on my garage floor!
I spoke to the usual options to do the job, however the house favourites we're exceptionally busy due to the time of year it was and in some cases I will be looking at mid-August before the work could be completed, which makes complete sense due to the time of the year.
So, I decided I would call V Engineering who had just started out in the supercar maintenance arena. I remember reading a number of posts recently about their experience and offerings on the owners club as a new option. They are so new that I was officially there first retail paying customer!. One of the reasons why I wanted to explore what they could do was their positioning along the M4 motorway meant that they were only around 40 minutes or so away and would be a convenient future option for other maintenance or service requirements. I also felt as this was a relatively straight forward replacement job this would be a really good test without taking too much risk.
The facilities themselves are very modern and fresh in appearance and there was a nice collection of P1’s and Ferraris including an Enzo in for work which of course is always a reassuring sign when you're bringing your own pride and joy to an untested independent. Throughout the process both Paul and Steve were very professional and polite, and you got a real sense that working on supercars or hypercars really was a vocation for them and it simply was not just another drive shaft seal on a car.
Within a short period of time the knowledge and experience that both men had really was obvious there was a deep understanding of the cars and their history. This is backed up of course as both guys worked for McLaren for over 10 years so I suppose that USP is the fact that they have 20 years combined Mac knowledge. I was lucky to be showing the whole process and appreciate in normal trading conditions this almost one on one experience won't be replicated however the fact Paul and Steve generally enjoyed the process was great to see and I wanted to take a moment out to recognise good work a newcomer is bringing to the Mac Indy family.
I suppose the $1,000,000 question is would I go back? The answer is yes without hesitation.
Whilst in for the drive shaft seal Steve recommended that we do a complete gearbox oil change at the same time which we completed normally due at 30k miles , mine had done 21k. I also notice on the way down that my air con did not seem that cool and asked if they could test it, and thankfully they had a brand new machine that had the ability to test the whole system and top it up as it dropped around 200 grammes I believe.
So to the costs, I felt that the costings were very reasonable for the amount of work that was completed. I was originally quoted 2 hours to complete the drive shaft seal plus parts was about £360 ish. This ended up taking closer to three hours due to some stubborn bolts. the guys obviously completed the gearbox oil change and the air conditioning which took around about an hour (So around 4hrs all in). The gearbox oil is not a cheap product so I believe this was a roundabout 70 pounds inclusive of VAT, and we agreed on three hours labour at 120 pounds plus VAT. So labour was £360 and parts £140 so plus vat £601.34 all in.
I hope this helps anyone with a similar fault in the future, until the next update.
GT3Mark said:
With regards to your wheel spacers (which make the car stand even better!) did it come with the correct type of bolts? I ordered a set based on the link but they've come with tapered bolts instead of the radiused seat on the McL bolts? TIA 
Hmmmm I can't remember now, when in the garage recently there were no concerns about the bolts, same steel construction too. I need to check and let you know.Gassing Station | McLaren | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff