A long time coming

Last September I ordered a new set of shocks for Lily. After much reading and discussion I settled on trying the Bilstein komfort shocks on standard springs. Finally after only 7 months they arrived and Nigel in Otto let me know they were available. Picked them up on Saturday morning and as soon as I got a chance I set to putting them in. With minimal head scratching and a quick phone to someone "in the know" (Cheers Tom) I managed to get the rears in and do a quick shake down over the weekend between some other jobs. Considering how light the 02 is in the back they didn't make a huge difference but she's certainly more planted to the road and I'm looking forward to getting the fronts done. The old rear shocks were completely shot as Tom and John had suspected and didn't recoil at all when I compressed them by hand. Essentially they were only functioning as check links to stop the training arms deflecting too far and the car was riding on it's springs.
Old vs. New

Shocks fitted.

It hasn't been a year has it?

God time flies!
Hopefully the updates will be a lot more frequent soon. I have my car away getting a bit of welding work done in the rear arches so as soon as it's back I'll post up again.


-Prepping her for the trip to Kerry

Stu

Classic Cars Live!

Great day over at Mondello on Sunday, lovely weather and a great selection of cars. I'd say there are some very crispy people out there today after getting way too much sun. Pity I didn't make it over in the 02 but it's a great incentive to have her properly ready for next year. How much are those Koni Shocks....

Anyway Fair play to BMWCLASSICSIRELAND for making it over, think there were seven 02s there. John's Verona Tii, Miles's Tii, Tom's (Formerly Dave's) Chamonix touring, Killians red 2002, John's blue tii racer, a slightly crusty 2002 that belongs to Geoff and a peach of a '67 1600 Alpina that belongs to Robin. Tom has informed me that Geoff's verona is running a NK 2000 Ti engine on twin solexs and is poly bushed up front, looks can be deceiving! Robin's motor is an absolutely fantastic car, would defo give Tony's Tii a run for it's money. Left the factory as a Ti with twin carbs, 5 speed box, LSD and leather recaro seats. Also spotted an 1800 that I think belongs to someone in the IVVCC.

Chamonix 1800


Robin's 1600 (what a car!)



Spot the Testarossa in this one, not hard.

Here's a quick video from my phone, it gives an impression of how scarily close the cars get!

Why I like cars

Point in question: you can visit friends in them.



Always nice to see friends on a sunny Tuesday evening after work, especially when the motor that gets you there is a 2002.
Pictured here on Sean's road with Sean and Dave, that's the closest that jersey will ever get to rugby tackling someone :D

Jay Leno's 2002

5:08 into this clip, right hand side. Same colour as mine. Apparently he is a big fan of the 2002 and has written a few articles on it. The search is on..

150 Km and loved every metre

Had an absolute blast this weekend burning about the place in the 02. Managed to put about 150Km under my belt over a sunny Saturday and Sunday. No breakdowns or complaints. Discovered that one of the springs on the throttle linkage is possibly a bit weak and doesn't quite send the linkage all the way home. Will clean it or replace it if necessary. Nothing major though :D

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photos courtesy of Gail's mam Ann.

Taking it up

Managed a longer spin in the motor last night. Did a few laps of the block and got her up to 50mph. I have to be seriously careful as I have a bit of a heavy right foot. Might try a quick motorway dash tonight and go for the 60mph. Hopefully she'll be fine. I reckon she's capable of a fair bit more than that too.

More to come...