Stan Hawrylak

I have the pulleys and the flywheel and have no issues with idle. I wouldn't say the improvements in acceleration are massive though. Noticeable a more appropriate way to describe it. Haversack

Might as well be Lauren, fully paid up member of sheep shaggers anonymous, or so I'm told :-) Haversack

Sounds amazing Keith - apart from the 'Scurvy Grass'... Thanks for the advice, will definitely try to avoid those 2 places :-) As for our reputations, you've got me concerned now. Most of my family and friends think I escape to the hills so frequently for one reason only, secret liaisons with the locals..... Haversack

Thanks for a great evening Keith you bloody legend! Lovely to meet Rachel and Roz too. Hope to see them next time we're in the Lakes. In answer to your question of why we walk up hills, we might as well set our heads on fire (!) here is your answer, we saw this last Sunday from Coniston Old Man.. Haversack

Sounds good to me, 7pm, see you there. Unless I hear you first.... Haversack

Sounds good mate, look forward to it. Let me know where to meet up - name of pub and postcode would be perfecto. Great roads round here - A593 from Coniston to Ambleside is a cracker and perfect for an 86. Although the locals not keen on my exhaust note, at all :-) Haversack

Yes that is a rather amazing coincidence and too good an opportunity to miss! Could meet up for a beer Friday night? You travelling up Friday?? Haversack

Keith, I'm in the Lake District this week. Staying in Coniston so not too far away. Could poss do Friday eve - will check and let you know Haversack

Fine choice Gregg. Here's a Golf R demonstrator I saw at my local dealer last weekend, just to whet your appetite.... Did you go for 18 or 19in wheels? Haversack

It's good value for the performance but I can't get past the looks. Horrendously ugly motor car. It's worse even than the first one series and that's saying something... Haversack

Great write up Jay. And so pleased for you that it was a good outcome. Whether you were paying attention or not this is very easily done. I've lost it a number of times on the road, funnily enough when I was your age, but not so much recently... It's experience gained, the hard way, but at least you learned something, about yourself, about some people that really stepped up and pulled out the stops for you. The guys at Toyota, RRG and Richard in particular, I've never known that kind of support with any other manufacturer. It reminds me of my recent experience with the cam plate and the unsolicited help I got from Nigel Charman, people going the extra mile. We've got some good guys on our side :-) Haversack

As of this moment, I fully intend to keep it for life. It's a journey, to watch it gradually transform over the years as funds allow, into what exactly I don't know. The idea of what it might be in 5 yrs time is something I'm interested to discover. Almost certainly FI by then, possibly stripped, with cage, who knows. The main focus with the car for the foreseeable future will be TSS. Maybe one day give Adrian a run for his money! I know, it's never gonna happen, need to find about 7 secs per lap :-s If I was forced to have a rubbish daily car then it would be much more difficult to keep the GT. I've never been able to stand a dull daily driver for long before I start getting really twitchy. Fortunately the wife (bless her) pays the mortgage so I'm able to run something half decent to mooch around in. I did once have an Impreza RB320 for fun and a wanked MK2 Golf 1.6 Driver for daily duties - the contrast was fun for a while but it was all a bit silly. As for what I might replace the GT with if I was forced to sell, if we're talking similar budget, then I'm struggling. I've looked and looked through car listings, and there's really nothing to compare. It needs to be something new or nearly new however. As Jay said, if you go 2nd hand rocketships, the running costs get mental. I'm done with money pits. Apart from the GT of course ;-) Haversack

Yes this is the one I have. M Factory 4.67. The other interesting benefit, that I hadn't really anticipated, especially if you have the remap, is the almost turbo diesel - like flexibility in top when cruising. On the 'power map', you can just brush the throttle and it simply surges forward in a way you just can't with the standard setup. Overall I'd say it's a better cruiser than before in fact.... bet you weren't expecting to hear that! I'm sure the standard ratios were chosen for "environmental performance" reasons. They're far too wide. It comes at the expense of driving enjoyment in my view. For anyone on the fence, just do it. You won't regret it :-) Haversack

Just for info I can tell you 85mph equates to 4k almost exactly. So perfectly ok for cruising imo. Did the run from Kent up to Croft couple of weeks back and honestly it's no problem. It's just so much more fun to drive and I'm sure it's worth a chunk of time on track as well. Surprised more people haven't had it done.. Haversack

Great news Keith! Let's hope the blunt instruments and horses heads do the trick!! Sincerely hope you make it mate.

Keith, I'm sad you won't be at TSS for remainder of this year. Would be great to see you at Holiday Inn on 1st Nov for a drink or 3? Glad for you everything going through on warranty although it's a frustrating wait and bad timing in a sense with the season almost done. Hope to see you back on track soon at some other event perhaps. As for choices on susp/braces etc. Thx will consider the rear brace given the 2 front braces going on. Certain more reaction and feel through the steering would be appreciated. Although the point with the wimp stuff is, I'm happy to drive like a tit in the slow/medium speed stuff, but when it comes to the really quick corners such as the ones coming up at Croft, any setup that leaves me guessing on what the rear's gonna do will just kill my confidence (and laptime). I had the back come round at nearly a ton at Blyton.... fun in retrospect let's say. And not very fast. As always with these things it's a question of try it out and see. Hopefully I'll learn something on the Sat at Croft - assuming that Adrian can fit me in before then - by no means certain. Another factor: had some smoke and fluid leaking from near the alternator yesterday. Left the car at the dealer for now. Hopefully just a split hose. We'll see. Anyway mate, thanks for the advice. See you soon Stan Haversack

Thanks Keith. Yes the top brace was always on the shopping list, should've mentioned. As for the poly bushes... when you say not for wimps, I am a wimp, but nonetheless an intrigued wimp, please explain why. Also, if I tighten up the steering response without any changes at rear, can I expect it to be looser at the back? I already decided against fitting a rear roll bar in fear that I'd be losing traction, making the handling much looser, or both. There's some other options with the rear one of which I'm considering is Rear Swaybar reinforcement bars: http://www.fensport.co.uk/Parts/Model_108/Category_2/4648 Not sure what effect it will have. I saw a pair on Jordan's car ar Snet. Do you have them? I do feel as though I should develop front and rear simultaneously since it seems reasonably well balanced at the mo. Thanks Haversack

Hi Keith, sorry to hear about that mate. More dramas, the last thing you needed. Hope you can get it fixed up quickly now. Very useful to know about this issue anyway, thanks for sharing. Will keep an eye out. I do wonder if there's any reason to be concerned about my motor the frequency with which I'm hitting 8k at sprints with the engine relatively cool. Before anyone says, changing up sooner not an option :-) Maybe I can justify the turbo on the dubious grounds of "saving the engine" :-) Quick question for you Keith. You mentioned at Snet about the bottom brace that worked really well. Was it this one: http://www.fensport.co.uk/Parts/Model_108/Category_2/4579 Or this one: http://www.fensport.co.uk/Parts/Model_108/Category_2/4578 Thanks Stan Haversack

Will that's so sad. Hope to see you around. Good luck with your car plans and enjoy the ST Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk