Papps Black R26 Standard to Fast Road & Adventures along the way......

Finally got Steve's strut painted - went for anthricite to kind of match mirrors and interior. Its turned out well, hopefully get it fitted at the weekend...

Next step, get some carpet fashioned out of something to cover the rear seat bases

 

Managed to get round to fitting the Strut, and half made a rear carpet and false floor using some acoustic carpeting and velcro.

Quite happy with the results

 

Sure, here's an accountants guide and a few more pics of the fitting:

1. Remove carpeting from the rear arches, very easily slips out of the plastic casing....



2. Once exposed you can see the Black rear seatbelt fixer - this is where the bottom part of the strut attaches, but first remove the plastic casing above it (the casing for the parcel self), just a couple of screws.



3. Once the plastic casing has been removed the 2nd bolting point for the strut is more visible and accessible

4. Fit the strut in place (Steve1's strut's are made to a very high standard and do fit perfectly in place)Tighten bolts back on and (if you want to use the rear seats) attached the black seatback clip over the strut before screwing and full functionality of the rear seats remain.



5. Cut a slit in the side carpet so strut fits neatly around it, I also used a knife to take a little shaving off the bottom of the plastic casing to allow a flush fit

 

I am currently only using it on the road, and the temperatures where I am are very low at the moment, so impossible to give feeback on the difference: however, Steve1's strut is made to a VERY high standard, fits absolutely perfectly, so hopefully physics just takes over

 

No problem

 

Temps finally starting to come above 4 or 5 up here so decided to go for a good spin - this is near Moffat in Dumfries & Galloway....

 

Time to get the thread back on track haha....here's a couple of a very dirty meg during today's outing...

This is near Gleneagles in Perthshire...

 

Another day, another outing.....this one really put a smile on my face....

Here's the tune for the trip: Chase and Status - Blind Faith [video=youtube;24uOXjb392E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24uOXjb392E[/video]

What a tune...... you're welcome

Anyway here's a few of phone pics of the outing, a mixture of drizzle, sunny spells, and a fair amount of agricultural waste on the roads made for really rewarding driving conditions...

 

The photos don't do it justice as well Steve - not going to stop the car when its warm for a pic haha

Yeah, these roads are golden, its a 20-25 mile trip to get there, but thats nothing really.....the arches get peppered with stone chips, but they are already. This is near where EVO did the car of the year this year.

 

Haha yeah, the borders region has bits that look a lot like the welsh valleys - need to come and check them out one of these days!

 

Todays weather up here was looking like the best its going to be for a while temp wise, and even though it was pissing it down, I was going for a spin regardless....

-Jamie- gave a cracking heads up on a road near Glen Coe in the Highlands so that was me set.

Its a good time of the year as the caravan traffic is yet to fully start again so means many parts of the route on the way can be enjoyed fully.

The trail sees you go through windy forrest sections, roads the hug the shore of the hundereds of Lochs about, and passes that take you high up into the Ski resorts - the scenary is fucking spectacular, there will be points that your jaw literally drops (these are places I've been a fair few times before and they still have that affect on you).

The route does have a fair few long straights but these are great for appreciating the scenary before the next twisty section presents itself, and also allows for safe picking off of the tourists.

Once I arrived at the road to Kinlochleven heaven awaits you (as if the drive to get there wasn't enough) - it was that good, I did 2 full loops of it in the end....

Here's the Loop...



and a couple of phone pics by the loch...







of course like any good driving roads, these need to be treated with respect, especially if you're not used to the signage protocols in these remote areas - very few nasty bends are pre warned.


Glen Coe is one of the main skiing hotspots in Scotland, and the route takes you right through the Glen Coe mountain range, this is near Rannoch Moore at a height of around 1,200Ft




This pic doesn't do this justice at all, this place probably one of my fave on the route - this is near a place called Lochearnhead, and is truely spectacular.... so I remembered to stop on the way back






Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the pics and that you get a chance to take your meg up this way one of these days - you won't be disappointed. It was a great way to use 3/4 a tank.

 

Yeah, that sounds good, pm me when you have a break between contracts and we'll get something organised

 

Cheers mate - yeah hard to believe its the same country sometimes haha, look forward to going back when the sun is shining soon hopefully

Looks like the good areas are written off this week due to snow sadly

 

Been considering this for a while and decided over the last week or so to do it, so today I took off the bumper decals, the renault f1 wing decals, and the wreath stickers on the rear windows as well - only leaving the roof, and door checks...





suspension next.........car on 72k now and feeling the body roll on turn in a fair bit.

Front tyres are 3.8mm ish and rears 4.1mm so time to start thinking rubber, probably go for PSS's

 

So noticed the intake temps were +25 degrees above ambient air temp when out on a good drive so time to upgrade the intercooler.

Went for a black airtec in the end...



and had it fitted at Rentec in Edinburgh...



The hooligan in me kinda wishes I had AIRTEC in sliver writing on it lol.....

The difference, VERY noticeable, the pull above 5,000rpm seems to be a lot freeer and stronger if that makes sense. One of my fave roads has a 4 or 5 mile section of constant twisty incline and the car was behaving like an utter animal - happy days

 

Good question.........

I would try cooksports if I knew when they would be likely to be available, I'm keeping a keen eye on the feedback people are giving on BC coilovers as they seem pretty damn good value for money, would be really nice to get the car a proper geometry done etc

Are you thinking of changing up yourself?