Lauren

Nice. Looks like it's been lowered, is it on coilovers? Also non-stock exhaust though it looks like the rear valence is designed for quad tailpipes.

As Jeff points out, any change to ride height will affect the toe and camber so you will need to get an alignmnent done afterwards.

It's only an exhaust, they are all much the same. Just make sure you have the gaskets you need. But any competent garage can do this kind of work.

It will likely be a raised (sintered) bit of pad. Mine do this. It comes and goes. I've learnt not to worry about it. You can grind the pad down to remove the raised section. Changing pads normally will sort it. There's no real point or need to uprate the rear calipers, you'd have to do the fronts in unison anyway, which would work out a lot more expensive.

I am having significant problems with the wiring connectors to the coil pack on my car. It is currently at RRG again. All the coil packs have been replaced over the last three years or so. RRG say my loom is brittle which is disappointing on a car that although has high mileage at 143K miles is not yet seven years old. I am starting to think that we may all start to experience this problem as our cars get older. I am not the only one it seems to have problems with the connector on the coil packs when they have been on and off a few times. Maurice has had the same. Unfortunately unless someone can tell me different it does not seem possible to buy the connectors separately from the loom. This could potentially mean a new loom at a cost of £650 which I’d obviously rather avoid. The problem is the loom is seemingly fragile and though RRG have bypassed the loom for one of the coil packs, the problem seems to remain which may well point to the connector itself I think. On later cars, I think 2017 on there is a revised connector which has a 'triangle' pattern more like a three pin plug than the three terminals in a row on earlier cars. So these are less likely to be an issue. Someone else has suggested replacing with the later terminals though that would mean a new loom plus all four coil packs as long as the loom is interchangable of course. That is an expensive solution though!

It's the connectors to the coil pack itself.

What do you mean by water on the rear window? Condensation? If so that will just be due to it being sat. The cabin is pretty small on these cars so you have to run the AC all the time to keep the windows clear.

I don't think the manifold goes anywhere near the loom really. It's been on for 43K miles, so not the life of the car. I've spoken to Gary today he's going to have a better look at it mid next week and will come back to me then. It may be that I have to replace the loom. We shall see. I may have to wait till Richard gets back from his hols, so will be rocking the auto Aygo for a couple of weeks by the looks of it! 🤣 It doesn't matter though, I can get around okay which is the main thing.

I wouldn't worry about it. A coil pack is not a big issue even though it is a tediously annoying recurring issue. I did the same at Donny back in January, though my coil pack failed on the way back. Have changed them all now, after the last one going after a sprint at Snett a couple of weeks ago. There seems to be an issue with my loom which is being looked at presently. It may be the connector to the coil pack. We shall see. You should have no issues doing trackdays. I've been sprinting and tracking mine for getting on for 7 years now. Had the recall done back in March and 18K miles ago now.

You may want to add whether it's had the valve spring recall done or not. Also whether it's had the fuel filter changed at the 80K mile service as that's an expensive one.

Pics of my DC2 in action in 2006. Fond memories indeed.Top pic at Cadwell, bottom three wheeling at Anglesey.

Welcome aboard. I owned a DC2 back in 2006. I do sort of agree with the similarities, though the DC2 was far more hardcore, in the right way. I'll always have a soft spot for a DC2. Any plans for the car?

Most likely your auxillary belt needs changing. I do mine every 70K miles. They just stretch a bit over time.

Earlier car spring rates around 2/3kg. The spring rates on later cars are a bit lower, though IIRC they increased the ARB's to compensate. The better ride and especially the refinement is affected by the chassis reinforcements to later cars which reduced NVH. Probably a couple of hundred for installation and around £100 for alignment. It's not really an upgrade and you may want to get the ARB's as well.

Around 90-100C. I've noticed it's quite easy to get it to 120C with spirited driving on the road. I have found on track it will get over 125C after a couple of laps. Really you don't want to go over 130C, but it does seem to stabilise around 125C. If you're going on track an oil cooler is a good idea, on the road I'm not convinced it's needed.

1.6mm is the legal minimum whatever the tyres. No requirement to run winter tyres in UK. I only said 4mm so that he would have plenty left to drive home on. 3mm or more is better when it comes to clearing water as a wet trackday is likely this time of year.

If you have over 4mm of tread you won't be under the legal limit by the time you drive home. Expect to lose a couple of millimetres off the tread if it's dry, warm and sunny. If it's wet you'll hardly get any wear. At this time of year I would be suprised if you go through more than a millimetre of tread. I've been driving on track for 20 years, never have I thought to take another pair of wheels with me whether it was 30 miles away in Oulton or 400 in Spa. As long as you have adequate tread to start with you'll be fine.

I can't see why you'd bother. As long as you have at least 4mm of tread on your tyres you'll be fine on the day. Grip levels this time of year are pretty low anyway so you will get far less wear than you would on a clean track in warmer temperatures. If you put the stock tyres on the front then you will increase understeer particularly so if mixing Primacy tyres with grippier tyres. In summary, it would be shite. Don't worry about it, just enjoy with the same size tyres all round.

Go for it. Pick a venue/place or event and post it up via the calendar section under social meets and see what interest you get. Pub meets are a good option, meet for lunch etc. We really are lacking something regular in the north.

It should have had the spark plugs changed at the 60K service. So get them done when the recall is done. You may want to check whether your local garage missed changing the diff oil too. For the recall I can confirm they will change oil, filter, coolant and recharge air con refrigerant. You can ask them to check the clutch. Probably worth changing whilst the engine is out, though I'll bet it's barely half worn.

An IMDB rating of 8.0 is pretty good. I'll wait for it to appear on Netflix.

Everyone with a manual will say it's better. All those with an auto will try to convince you that it's brilliant. There aren't many naturally aspirated RWD manual coupes you can buy these days. Make the most of a manual gearbox whilst you still can. The auto removes a level of involvement that you get with the manual.

It's nothing like a full engine rebuild! This is at best misinformation and at worst, scaremongering. They don't even take the heads off to change the valve springs. Things like this can never be 100% successful but that's just probability for you. 3505 cars in the UK are affected. Most have no issues and the bonus is that if you buy a car car that is a 2012/13 car most owners will have had the plugs changed and a new clutch as part of the deal. This saves money in the future. For cars that have problems post recall, pretty much all of these will be in the first 50 miles of driving the car away. I wouldn't see that as a reason to be put off. Also factor in that the coolant will have been changed and the aircon recharged. The recall is a big free service really.

It's not anything like a full engine rebuild, in fact it's nothing of the kind. They don't even remove the heads to replace the valves. Sure the cam covers come off and the cams have to come out, but that is all really. Due to the laws of probability nothing generally is 100% successful. But what is important here is not to spread over hyped scare stories when a lot of us have had the valve spring recall done with no problems at all. I would not be put off buying a car second hand if it had the valve spring recall. All I would do is make sure it's done a bit of mileage afterwards. Any failures and there have been very few in the UK will have resulted in the first 50 miles post recall. Also it's worth remembering that if the OP bought a car that has just had the recall done, then it will have a warranty for a year on the engine.

I think a picture would really help!