Just a quick belated end of year/new-year update to keep me right.
We managed a road trip last September. France, Italy, Austria and Germany. Just under 3 weeks.
I haven't covered it anywhere. I'll try to post some pics, maybe on here or maybe on its own thread.
It was a bit last minute. Two weeks from deciding to go, to actually setting off and I only decided to take the GT3 literally the day before we were going.
So before I headed off I thought I'd fit my standard air box back on, as I do think those un-shielded cone filters run the risk of sucking in water. My mate Craig on here previously had bother with an Evoms one he had.
So anyway, standard filter back on and away we went.
I'd like to say the car was faultless on the trip and it almost was, but that Alcon disc I had bother with the year before, came loose again, so they're for the bin. :frustrated:
It sounded horrendous. The most horrible knocking sound like the front wheel was going to come off. It was constant too, any faster motorway speeds would set it off and slower speeds through towns and villages had it rattling badly, over bumps.
I had it checked out by OPC Turin quickly, as I passed and also more thoroughly by OPC Cuneo too (I had no tools to self check) and they confirmed it was safe, but like I say the noise was very disconcerting.
Nothing worse than having a question mark over your brakes when you're about to start enjoying mountain roads.
So anyway on my return I removed the Alcons and fitted a set of standard discs. I'd bought them a while ago and I had almost taken one on the trip as I just had a funny feeling about that Alcon. Always go with your gut instinct. Nevermind.
Next up was another issue that had been bugging me since I bought the car. Every so often I get an engine management light saying post catalyst fuel trim lean, bank 1. It's quite rare but on the roadtrip it began doing it every few days, due to the more regular use I guess. :frustrated:
Over the years I've owned the car, I've fitted new lambdas and even added lambda spacers as we figured it must be the 200 cel cats on the Cargraphic exhaust upsetting the lambdas.
Anyway, over time I had gathered all the components to make a full standard system, so on my return the car went to Jamie's (Nelson Porsche).
It needed to go to Jamie's anyway for the brake fluid change I had forgot about at its service earlier in the year. So I just let Jamie fit the discs too and then he removed the exhaust system including manifolds and fitted the standard parts with titanium head studs (from String Theory Garage) and all new gaskets, etc.
We still aren't sure why the Cargraphic exhaust was throwing EMLs. As I've explained before though, it fits together more like a bike exhaust than a car one. The parts slide together and are held together with springs.
Those joins were never totally air tight, so perhaps a slight blow may have also been sucking in a small amount of air and upsetting things.
The mixture is always fine when checked so whatever they issue was, it was minimal/borderline but enough to upset the management light.
So that's about it really. It has been a year of inadvertently returning the car to factory spec.
The airbox and exhaust are all factory spec again (although I much preferred the sound of the Cargraphic exhaust, so watch this space)
and the braking system is all standard now, bar the SRF fluid and RS29 front pads which have loads of life left and provide amazing bite, so I've kept them on there.
I know strictly you should change pads and discs together, but I'm not going to bin a perfectly good £300 set of pads. It's worse to fit new pads with old discs. Not so much the other way round.
The only mod on the car now is the Manthey KW suspension. This will be coming off at some point though as I've a set of Ohlins to go on, off Danny on here. They've done 20-odd thousand miles, so I may want them rebuilt first (although most people I’ve spoken to suggest they shouldn’t need it) and I need to speak to Chris at Centre Gravity about the best spring rates. I want the car to be as nice as it possibly can be on bumpy roads. I don't track it so the goal is ultimate suppleness.
This will I imagine, mean raising the ride height a smidge which I'm not against but I don't want to lose the look. Yes I'm a bit vain like that, but I'm also getting more sensible as I get older and I want the car to be the absolute best it can be on bumpy roads.
So that's it, just keeping my records correct.
As I say I may cover my trip in the roadtrip thread or I might stick it in here. It's to do with the car obviously, but I don't want to fill this thread with holiday snaps as it's a maintenance log really.
Anyway, that's all for now. Cheers. :thumb:
Oh I'll end with one pic from a great morning on our trip.
Up before dawn to drive the Grossglockner pass in Austria. A great road and it was totally empty at 6am.
We timed it perfectly for sunrise as we got to the top.
Once we got back off our trip, we were into October, so I sent the car back to Michael at Lusso for a post roadtrip/pre-winter clean.
On it's return I took it down to the car storage facility I use and dropped it off for winter. I doubt I'll get it out until 1st May as I've loads of DIY on until then plus I've got my old bangers that need fettling.
On the plus side I could now squeeze my 205 and my R1 into the GT3s Carcoon.
Cheers. :thumb:
