nelmo

OK, what do you think of these wraps? To be honest, I'm not sure I like any of them but there is very limited choice in this country - numerous US websites but only decent one in the UK is wrapdirect.com - anyone know any others? (I don't want a company to do the wrap for me, i want to buy the wrap to do it myself).

Busy in the Midlands, innit?

Unfortunately, GBS want £60 for 1 wing so I'm going to try a fix with P40 first and then a vinyl wrap to avoid having to paint (always wanted to try wrapping anyway ).

What he meant was, you'd need about £6k of work to get it through IVA To the OP, as others have said, I wouldn't even go and look at something that hadn't passed IVA - it may look amazing and shiny but if you want to do more than stare at it sitting in your garage, find a registered car. A knackered old nail with a number plate is worth much more than an engineering marvel without one. And you mentioned keeping it for track days if it failed? Track days aren't cheap - you're looking at a minimum of £100 to be able to drive your car (not including the cost of trailering it to the track) for one day? You can hire a shiny, new Caterham for £400 for a full weekend (fri-mon)... BTW: get us some pics - we're all fascinated to see what this dead-cert-to-pass-IVA-first-time looks like

Call me Mr Cynical but - duh!! He's trying to sell, he'll tell you he thinks he'll win the British Grand Prix in it if he thinks you'll buy... Ignore what he 'thinks' - means nothing... Re: the re-test, mine failed and they only checked the failures during the re-test but, as Bob, said, someone (brumster?) had an extra fail picked up on a re-test.

Yes, I will be re-doing the other wing as well so I could just paint both - good idea. However, if GBS will do me one wing for £40 (£80 for the pair), then that's probably not much more than I'll end up paying for filler, paint etc. I also had a thought of doing a wrap in some weird pattern but that's more expense again and I'll probably end up with a dog's dinner of a colour scheme

OK, thanks guys - yes, I think a new part would be easier and produce a much better result. Just need to see if GBS will do one arch (they quote them in pairs)....

Following on from my wing-ejection event, I need to try and repair some damage, if possible. I've never done any such repair before so any advice would be helpful. Below is a pic of the damage. It looks like there is a thick layer of plastic over the fibreglass - is that right or is that how fibreglass comes out after buffing up? Is it repairable?

Yes, that is exactly what I had in mind...thanks...

Yup, good idea...

Yes, it did come away at the front first - and the rear only lasted a couple of seconds before that went as well. Very possible I didn't get the gunk in the right place but it was left for several days untouched with weight on it, so the gunk must have cured. I thought about different bolts but, as you say, I don't think there is space between bracket and tyre to fit one and I doubt I'll get a nut inside the tube (and anyway, I'd need at least 2 and one far inside). I think I'm going to go with a large sheet of ally, bent into a '-U-' -shape with wide and long wings and lots of gunk. Ironic that these wings are sold as 'sport' wings and supposedly provide some downforce - that can't be happening at all otherwise surely there should be much less (if any) upward force on the gunk to make it fail like this, no?

I've not examined it closely to see where it gave exactly (there's a pic on my blog) but I did all the roughing up of surfaces. Not sure about the gunk - it was just the black stuff that GBS sell.

After a spirited run today, one of my front wheel arches flew off. I had attached it with lots of black gunk (the stuff used to attach the panels) as well as some thin (too thin by the looks of things) wire mesh. I'm still very surprised it gave... seemed so solid. I'm tempted to just try bolt it on this time and live with the visible bolt heads but it's been suggested this can create cracks in future as the wing vibrates round the bolt. Another alternative is a piece of ally bent into a U shape and then more gunk but I'm wary of trusting the stuff now. Any other suggestions?

Is there any chance of getting the stickers as a normal sticker ie. that are sticky on the back and can be used on other surfaces? I want to collect them on the car but there's not enough glass :-)

Ah but the cafe was toasty http://cubeupload.com/im/Nelmo/sarum2.jpg

Thanks, will do...

OK, BIL has lived up to expectations and bailed on us, so should be able to make it (unless wife puts her foot down). I may be a bit late as I'm taking the scenic route... :-)

I'm a good 2 hours away (Reigate, East Surrey) but meeting at 10 - 10.30am is fine. I just thought if you were meeting for breakfast at 8, then that's too early for me. One of my favourite driving routes is out that way so I like any excuse to do it and added bonus of coffee and planes at the end In theory, my highly unreliable brother-in-law is supposed to be coming over but since he has cancelled his last 3 visits, I'm hoping he'll stick to form. I'll have to let you know but it may not be until Saturday I'm afraid...

Does anyone know of an android app that does GPS and speed tracking which can then be used with a video editor? The idea is to overlay a speedo onto video of a track day... I only plan on doing 1 or 2 a year so I can't justify spending a lot on a pro setup.

I'm just trying to get out of a family engagement - what time would you be looking at?

I used that exact mirror stuck on the scuttle and had no problem in my IVA - I had no rear view out of it either, just the rollbar and sky... I used the basic edge trim from GBS for my arches and I got it round the corners OK. I actually think it looks better with the trim on. At least he's not charging you for the re-test.... Almost done... hang on in there... :-)

I was worried about this because I had a couple of switches that didn't do anything obvious. Reading the IVA manual didn't really help as it wasn't clear. So I just labelled them, one with a fan symbol (I don't have a fan), the other saying 'turbo' (no turbo) and crossed my fingers :-) On the day, the tester hardly noticed them and didn't even try use them for anything. Having said that, my tester was pretty laid back but I think you'll be OK - the manual doesn't say you can't have switches that do nothing, it just lists what you MUST have.

Ah apologies, no I don't know anything clever - I thought if the gasket went, you'd always get water in the oil...

Out of interest, were they actually rubber on the 2B? The current GBS ones are plastic...

If it was the head gasket, you'd have emulsification in the oil - just open the oil filler cap and look for a creamy deposit. If the engine runs OK otherwise, sounds like you just have a basic over-heating problem. Sounds like the rad is ok (shrouded, ally etc) so is your cooling system OEM or something you made up yourself? Sorry, I know nothing about that engine...