Pete's TDi North/Grinspeed tuned NHB CTR & BMW 335i Coupe
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C4Doc
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Weird thing is that my front strut was a pain in the arse to fit and TGM even struggled but got it on in the end. might be a case of Ultra Racing FTW.
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Grinspeed Visit 05/02
Big day today up at Grinspeed with Stevie and Lee, had to be up at 5:30am so that I could make the 2 hour journey up to Leyland and get there for when they open up at 8:30am.
Fortunately it was a good journey up on the M6, despite a bad accident involving two lorries on the Southbound carriageway meaning loads of rubberneckers slamming on their brakes and causing a bit of congestion near junction 15.
I arrived at the new Grinspeed workshop for the first time too which was great, a much bigger unit with a second hydraulic lift installed allowing them to work on two cars simultaneously if needs be, despite only moving in a week or two ago the workshop is absolutely spotless (literally could eat your dinner off the workbench) and everything already has its own place as you can imagine from Stevie.
After a brew (what turned out to be the first of many haha) Stevie and Lee cracked on making a start, draining the coolant system, removing the Teg M/intake hose and undoing a number of the bolts holding the gearbox in.
Once the coolant was drained the front wheels and subframe where removed, before the last couple of bolts holding the gearbox in where slackened off and out dropped the box.
Stevie and Lee then worked together fitting the MFactory final drive and MFactory carbon lined synchros, Stevie spotted that my box has dual synchros which he said is something found more predominately in DC5's but also do crop up in EP3's from time to time but with no set pattern in terms of age.
He also mentioned how solid the condition of the box is in, which is always reassuring to hear from someone with his expertise.
Whilst Stevie sealed up the gearbox Lee installed the MFactory lightened flywheel (massive weight difference compared to the oem part) and refitted the clutch, before they both reinstalled the rebuilt box and subframe back onto the car, they had finished all of that by 1pm and just baffles you when you are sitting there watching them work together, I would of still been looking for the bolts to loosen off the gearbox at 1pm
Stopped for an hour then to have a bit of lunch, yet another brew and a good natter together before letting them crack on with the rest of the days job card.
Lee started by removing the front bumper, old radiator, thermostat and hoses whilst Stevie put the Teg M and associated bits back into the engine bay, the old radiator definitely had seen its best days, even though it wasn't loosing coolant or overheating the massive whack it had taken at some point wont have done it any favours so having the new one installed is piece of mind for future years.
Lee got the new radiator, thermostat and JS Performance hoses all fitted before putting on a new auxiliary belt (again had seen better days as had started to crack in certain areas) and refitting the front bumper.
Stevie then fired up the car to make sure that we had all gears (thank god we did, it would have been a big job for them to take everything back off again) and to bed in the cooling system swap over, bleeding out any air trapped in the system.
Last little job was to replace a rear drop link which Lee had spotted was on its way out before they cleaned up the workshop and we all headed off to the pub for a very well earned pint after a hard days graft (well a hard days graft for Stevie and Lee anyway haha).
Stopping over in Leyland tonight so haven't been able to give the car a long run yet but I can already feel a massive improvement, the car accelerates ridiculously rapidly now, the gear selection feels a lot stronger and the final drive is also giving off an addictive whine like a lot of the straight cut designs usually give off which I wasn't expecting, Stevie did say the final drive design has been slightly revised so from memory its now something like 5.41 as opposed to 5.46.
Massive thanks to Stevie and Lee for all of their hard work today!!!
Some photos of the day below:-
Big day today up at Grinspeed with Stevie and Lee, had to be up at 5:30am so that I could make the 2 hour journey up to Leyland and get there for when they open up at 8:30am.
Fortunately it was a good journey up on the M6, despite a bad accident involving two lorries on the Southbound carriageway meaning loads of rubberneckers slamming on their brakes and causing a bit of congestion near junction 15.
I arrived at the new Grinspeed workshop for the first time too which was great, a much bigger unit with a second hydraulic lift installed allowing them to work on two cars simultaneously if needs be, despite only moving in a week or two ago the workshop is absolutely spotless (literally could eat your dinner off the workbench) and everything already has its own place as you can imagine from Stevie.
After a brew (what turned out to be the first of many haha) Stevie and Lee cracked on making a start, draining the coolant system, removing the Teg M/intake hose and undoing a number of the bolts holding the gearbox in.
Once the coolant was drained the front wheels and subframe where removed, before the last couple of bolts holding the gearbox in where slackened off and out dropped the box.
Stevie and Lee then worked together fitting the MFactory final drive and MFactory carbon lined synchros, Stevie spotted that my box has dual synchros which he said is something found more predominately in DC5's but also do crop up in EP3's from time to time but with no set pattern in terms of age.
He also mentioned how solid the condition of the box is in, which is always reassuring to hear from someone with his expertise.
Whilst Stevie sealed up the gearbox Lee installed the MFactory lightened flywheel (massive weight difference compared to the oem part) and refitted the clutch, before they both reinstalled the rebuilt box and subframe back onto the car, they had finished all of that by 1pm and just baffles you when you are sitting there watching them work together, I would of still been looking for the bolts to loosen off the gearbox at 1pm
Stopped for an hour then to have a bit of lunch, yet another brew and a good natter together before letting them crack on with the rest of the days job card.
Lee started by removing the front bumper, old radiator, thermostat and hoses whilst Stevie put the Teg M and associated bits back into the engine bay, the old radiator definitely had seen its best days, even though it wasn't loosing coolant or overheating the massive whack it had taken at some point wont have done it any favours so having the new one installed is piece of mind for future years.
Lee got the new radiator, thermostat and JS Performance hoses all fitted before putting on a new auxiliary belt (again had seen better days as had started to crack in certain areas) and refitting the front bumper.
Stevie then fired up the car to make sure that we had all gears (thank god we did, it would have been a big job for them to take everything back off again
) and to bed in the cooling system swap over, bleeding out any air trapped in the system.Last little job was to replace a rear drop link which Lee had spotted was on its way out before they cleaned up the workshop and we all headed off to the pub for a very well earned pint after a hard days graft (well a hard days graft for Stevie and Lee anyway haha).
Stopping over in Leyland tonight so haven't been able to give the car a long run yet but I can already feel a massive improvement, the car accelerates ridiculously rapidly now, the gear selection feels a lot stronger and the final drive is also giving off an addictive whine like a lot of the straight cut designs usually give off which I wasn't expecting, Stevie did say the final drive design has been slightly revised so from memory its now something like 5.41 as opposed to 5.46.
Massive thanks to Stevie and Lee for all of their hard work today!!!
Some photos of the day below:-
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Excellent. Just excellent. I know you won't be disappointed.
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Nice write up Pete but no need to whine on...........
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Nice write up Pete but no need to whine on...........
Haha thanks Paul, Stevie did say you where going to be gutted when you heard about my final drive
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So I've been living with the new drivetrain set-up for a couple of days now and I can't explain how much of an improvement it has made.
The car is so much more eager in every gear and because of that its so much more fun to drive with the feel of instant power as you plant your right foot, it even pulls amazingly strong in 6th when cruising along.
Along with the LSD and FRSU I would put this up there with one of the biggest improvements you could ever make, anyone contemplating getting this done shouldn't think twice get it done!! lol
I will try and upload an in car video over the next few days.
The car is so much more eager in every gear and because of that its so much more fun to drive with the feel of instant power as you plant your right foot, it even pulls amazingly strong in 6th when cruising along.
Along with the LSD and FRSU I would put this up there with one of the biggest improvements you could ever make, anyone contemplating getting this done shouldn't think twice get it done!! lol
I will try and upload an in car video over the next few days.
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Fantastic write up as always Pete, the car looks absolutely fantastic
Glad you are enjoying the new setup and I'm pretty sure you won't ever get tired of that 5.46 final drive!
This thread just keeps getting better all the time, the car is a real credit to you.
Engine bay looks awesome too, I'll have to get one of those Grinspeed stickers myself next time I see them :smt023
Anymore plans for it this year Pete?
Look forward to seeing this car again soon, I haven't got anything booked with TDI yet but I'll be sure to let you know when I do
Glad you are enjoying the new setup and I'm pretty sure you won't ever get tired of that 5.46 final drive!
This thread just keeps getting better all the time, the car is a real credit to you.
Engine bay looks awesome too, I'll have to get one of those Grinspeed stickers myself next time I see them :smt023
Anymore plans for it this year Pete?
Look forward to seeing this car again soon, I haven't got anything booked with TDI yet but I'll be sure to let you know when I do
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Fantastic write up as always Pete, the car looks absolutely fantastic
Glad you are enjoying the new setup and I'm pretty sure you won't ever get tired of that 5.46 final drive!
This thread just keeps getting better all the time, the car is a real credit to you.
Engine bay looks awesome too, I'll have to get one of those Grinspeed stickers myself next time I see them :smt023
Anymore plans for it this year Pete?
Look forward to seeing this car again soon, I haven't got anything booked with TDI yet but I'll be sure to let you know when I do
Cheers Ben
It really is a cracking set-up buddy, Stevie and Lee did another superb job.
Glad you pointed me in the right direction of getting the 5.46 final drive, its perfect for daily use without being too much for a road car, definitely wont get tired of it mate.
Thanks again mate, really kind of you to say - like you I have tried to look after it and carry out the 'choice' mods, if there is such a thing haha its probably not to everyone's taste but modifying cars boils down to the individual.
Lee had an envelope full of different style and colour decals so you will have a good choice to pick from
There probably wont be any big plans for the rest of this year mate although I will never say never haha, having said that Jimbo is designing a new centre console for me, I want to get a new 'H' for the grill, a set of bonnet pins and a couple of Goodyear Eagle F1's for the front.
Yes mate let me know when you are booked in with Paul at TDi and I will see if I can get the day off and pop up and see you.
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Remember not to set the ETD up too tight as it'll lower it's effectiveness. Conversely, don't make it too loose either otherwise it'll rattle like mad whilst stationary and make you want to set fire to your face. :lol:
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Thanks Karl
Lack of instructions doesn't help, but it all looks relatively straight forward, anything else worth knowing with regards to the ETD buddy? I was going to fit the strut and engine brackets first and then connect the ETD, guessing that's the best way to go?
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From memory, fit the ETD bracket on the engine mount first, then fit the strut pre-assembled (with loose fixings holding the brackets to the strut bar and the ETD attached firmly). Then tighten the brackets to the chassis and then the strut to the brackets. Then finally attach the ETD to the engine bracket once you have decided on your preferred "tightness".
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Bit of a miserable cloudy Saturday, but fortunately the rain stayed away so that I could get my J's Racing front strut bar and ETD fitted this weekend.
As expected compared to the Tegiwa strut bar I currently had fitted the quality/design is so much better, the Tegiwa strut brackets needed a lot of persuasion to get on and off, where as the J's Racing parts have been shaped to perfection and just drop straight onto the suspension turrets.
The ETD was a little more fiddly due to big hands in a small space (oohh eerr!!) and there was a squeaky bum moment when I managed to drop one of the nuts into the engine bay, must of been my lucky day as it landed on a ledge which was easy to recover.
Cant admit that I have noticed any difference with having the ETD fitted but on the plus side I am not getting any vibration that some people mention with ETD's and hey its J's Racing so who cares haha.
Just need to give the engine bay a good clean now...
Next on the list is a new centre console and door handle inserts which Jimbo has designed for me, a new red H for the grille and a set of bonnet pins.
As expected compared to the Tegiwa strut bar I currently had fitted the quality/design is so much better, the Tegiwa strut brackets needed a lot of persuasion to get on and off, where as the J's Racing parts have been shaped to perfection and just drop straight onto the suspension turrets.
The ETD was a little more fiddly due to big hands in a small space (oohh eerr!!) and there was a squeaky bum moment when I managed to drop one of the nuts into the engine bay, must of been my lucky day as it landed on a ledge which was easy to recover.
Cant admit that I have noticed any difference with having the ETD fitted but on the plus side I am not getting any vibration that some people mention with ETD's and hey its J's Racing so who cares haha.
Just need to give the engine bay a good clean now...
Next on the list is a new centre console and door handle inserts which Jimbo has designed for me, a new red H for the grille and a set of bonnet pins.
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Your car is epic mate, have you done a lot of work your self ??
There is still so much I want to do to mine just need to find the time and money first any recommendations on what to do first now that you have done so much
McSherryMan
There is still so much I want to do to mine just need to find the time and money first
any recommendations on what to do first now that you have done so much McSherryMan