JOM coilover review

If you have been reading my blog you will know that not so long ago I purchase a full set of JOM coilovers for a reasonable price of £168 Venom motor sport. Although I was unable to to fit them myself, this was not down to coilovers themselves but my lacking mechanical knowledge and tool box. They come a complete unit ready to be fitted, you will need the bearings for both front and back. If you don't intend to poly-bush them you can simply take the bearing off of your existing suspension and attach them to the coilovers. Which I what I asked my mechanic to do, the only reason I didn't poly-bush is because it is fairly expensive and I didn't have the cash. If you are building a car for track racing I would not scrimp on poly-bushes as you will find that you will wear out your bearings pretty quickly.

As for driving your car on the road with coilovers, it is a little be rough on the old bones but Winston now handles unbelievable well. For practical reasons I have not set my coilovers to the lowest they could go because I drive him on a daily basis so I don't want him so low I can't drive over speed bumps. The only Thing I have to complain about is the creaking on the rear axle but that's to be expected when you drop your car about 60 mm.

Fitting air filters in the rain

Not quite as fun as singing in the rain but just as, well no it's no where near as impressive as the musical song and dance. In fact the hardest part for me was actually ordering the right part, as you can see here. Well I got the right part delivered about a week ago, I just hadn't got round to fitting it yet. It is only a five minute job. A case of popping off a few clasps and bobs your uncle, or he may not be. Then all I had to do was pull out the old dirty filter and stuff in the new one. Well sounds simple but for some unknown reason it took a little more force than I expected to put the lid back on. I needed to use a spanner to get a bit more leverage on the last clasp but I manged to do it and don't think I have broken anything but we shall see.

More comic books

So I got a little busy with my comic books, I spent a fair few hours pasting these comic books to part of Winston. I think the result speaks for itself.

I am rather pleased with my efforts, Winston still has a faint scent of lacquer but that is starting to fade. Some of the lacquer has not completely but the last time I did it. It did take nearly a fully two weeks for it to completely dry but it did look good when it was finished. Well I would say that it was my handy work after all. I do think that's it now for comic booking I shall be moving stickers for the outside of the car.

The bits blowing out of my air vents

Since I have had Winston these little bits of Styrofoam have been blowing out of my air vents. It's more of an annoyances rather than a issue. But what I cannot understand is where they keep coming from?

I don't even understand what it has been packing, these a just two lumps I pulled out of my air vents this morning. I don't know how long they will keep falling out but I wish it would stop soon it is starting to get rather annoying. Have you ever encountered a similar problem?

"Brucie says you were right to go lower"

Look at him, he's practically sat on the ground. You may be surprised to know that nothing catches and he corners like a Daytona dream. Riding low and slow Winston has been turning head today and even had a guy offer to buy him while I was sat at the traffic lights. I declined obviously, he's my pride and joy plus I have not finished tinkering with him yet.

I still have to sort out his paint job, fit some smoked side repeaters and then select a few choice stickers. Hopefully I will be able to catch a few car shows and enter him in the show and shine just to see how he gets on. He might just be the next Marmite car appearing in Golf+ or more realistically he will be a head turner.

A better explanation

Well as usual with Winston nothing runs quite a smoothly as planned. So Kevin, my mechanic took him yesterday to fit the coilovers. The rear ones went on sweet as a nut but the the front suspension has a worn bearing which means that if he was to fit the new coilovers, they would get damaged as I drove Winston.

To give you a better idea of what Kevin is doing to Winston I found this extremely detailed walk through of how to lower a X-series Falcon. Although the cars are not the process of lowering them is very similar and it also shows you another way of lowering your car. I chose coilovers rather than springs just because I knew that if I was to use springs the suspension struts would wear out a lot quicker. Springs are cheap and just as effective as coilover but if the rest of your car is not up taking the strain of stiffer suspension they may cause more harm than good. That is just may experience of them with my Fiat Punto from a while back.

Coilvers were a fairly substantial investment but as you can tell from Winston I am not build a car that will appeal to everyone. I am planning on keeping for a decent amount of time, to be fair out of all my cars I have probably owned Winston the longest I have had him for over a year now. The shortest I owned a car for was 2 months (my Fiat Cinqucento) and I broke that hitting a speed bump to hard. So may be lowering Winston might not have been my brightest of ideas but we shall see, he just need to be low 'n' slow.

Bit of bathroom reading

I have been reading Golf+ for nearly two now, it doesn't just cover Vw Golfs it also covers some of the other cult cars in the Vdub garage. What I think is the best thing about this magazine is that it is more about the car culture rather than about woman, booze and generally being a yob *cough, Fast car, *cough. If you are looking for a forum, a car to buy or just wondering if you are ready to dip your toe in to the world of being a Volkswagen owner it is a fantastic place to start.

I love the way the feature not only the jaw dropping examples of Mk2 Golfs out there but the marmite cars. Those that you ether love or hate but ether way their out there doing something new and slightly off the wall. I mean for crying out load I have decked out the inside of Winston with comic books, which although is fairly tame it is on it's way to being different.

Saved my day

If you pay any attention to the other posts I have written, you'll know early this morning I had to refit that piss annoy battery. There is nothing wrong with it, the alternator works fit and the battery keeps charge but for some unknown reason when it gets cold it just dies on me. Which is what happened yesterday, so as the missus put it I kept it warm over night while it charged. The battery went in fairly easily, I had fitted all up and then noticed I had forgotten to fit the battery cover. So that was an extra 5 minutes my cold hands could have done without.

Any way to the real drama of today, the battery went in fit Winston started. Then I popped in my stereo fascia and there was no power, pulled it out checked the fuse it had blown at the back of the deck. I replaced it, still no power, checked the other fuses nothing else had blown just the one in the back of the deck. I was running late so it was the speaker on my phone keeping my semi sane on the way to uni. After I had finished uni for the day I swung by Audio Images in Bradford. These guys sorted out the sound system in the car the last time I had blew it up, so I took it back for them to check it out.

Turns out I have some how managed to to kill the permanent power to the stereo. I know how did I mange it? I wasn't even messing with the wiring last night, apart from cutting a plug to see if it fitted to the back of 12 volt point (it didn't, if you were wondering) other than that I hadn't done anything else. Well anyway it took a little bit of time and some head scratching but they fixed it and I now have music again which is always nice. The two things I love about Audio Images is that the don't judge you for trying to do the work yourself, they check it out, point out where you went wrong or what the problem is and fix it all for a fair price as well. The only thing I have to moan about is VAT, but that has nothing to do them. They have Winston's seal of approval.

Not on speaking terms

Today has not been one of the greatest days in mine and Winston's relationship. He threw a full on hissy fit this morning and would not start. So not only was I a little for work, when I get home I then have to strip out the battery and leave it to charge over night. I have to say you know when you are dedicated to your car, when you have to get up early to fit a battery so you can go where your going. Sadly this is not the first time I have had to do this. It was that cold snap last night that seems to have killed off my battery, so I am keeping it warm in the kitchen tonight.

I know I said I wouldn't

But I did. As I mentioned in another post nothing has gone to plan this week, I still haven't fitted coilovers to Winston, nor have I sorted out the peeling paint. I have also still not refitted the half of my dashboard that I took out yesterday. So to make myself feel like I have accomplished I fitted the P-slots. I have a sort of a reason for it, Kevin is hopefully going to fit the coilovers next week so he needs the wheels on to set up the coilovers up right.

As you can see the wheels look the mutts nuts on Winston, I am well chuffed £56 well spent. I thank you.

Tweaking the interior

Today has been a rather busy day for getting Winston ready to show off. I have stripped out the under shelves from the dashboard as well as the gear stick gator. I have then began the whole process of comic booking up the interior. I spray mounted the comic books to the plastic and then cover it in PVA and then all it takes a lovely thick coating of lacquer. Hopefully it will have dried by tomorrow night so I can fit them back in Winston for Monday. It shall be a rather interesting drive to work tomorrow morning with an exposed gear stick and all of Winston's wiring on show for the world to see but hi, he's my car and we all have our off days.

Leaving it up to the pros

These are all pin/peg tools.

Well as you can probably tell from the more recent posts, my amateur mechanics did not go to plan. So far this week I have manged to fit a new fuel filter and oil filter along with changing the oil. I hold my hands up and say I ordered the wrong size air filter, so I have got it sorted now and ordered the correct one. Well that other air filter will be a nice addition to my collection of car parts that I am amassing in my garage. It shall be keeping my full set of car seats company in the rafters, but hi soon I shall have a full set of original Mk2 golf suspension to go up there.

Like I said earlier things have not gone to plan so unfortunately I haven't been able to fit my coilovers to Winston. I need some tool called a peg spanner or as it is known in the modern world a pin spanner so I frequented my local car shops and a few of the more main stream car shops like Halfords and Machine Mart but nether had the tools I needed, so I gave up rather quickly. So I had a rather enlightening conversation with my mechanic Kevin and I reckon I have not got enough knowledge or skill to get the job done safely so I will leave it up to Kevin. I will show you the results after I have had the job the done.

Finally changed the oil

So as I mentioned in an earlier post, I was having a little trouble with changing Winstons oil. I handled it like a true man and throw a hissy fit. Yes, I said it I got all frustrated slammed my tools down and stormed off swearing. It fact there was more F'ing and Jeffing that day then work.

All that I need was a little advice and the right tool, an oil filter strap. I put on a spanner and then began to tap away with a mallet and sure enough the little bastard started to loosen up. It eventually came out and that wonderful black stuff came pouring. I wrapped that oil filter strap round the oil filter and eventually that unscrewed, it took a little time to figure out how that strap worked I did. I then put a new oil filter in and tightened up the sump plug and filled it back up with some Castrol GTX. Only the good stuff for Winston.

What I acheived in 2 1/2hours

So after jacking Winston up, popping him on axle stand, removing his front wheels and then spending an hour and half trying to loosen the oil sump then discovering that I have not got the right tools to remove the oil filter. I then took an executive decision to get on with removing the suspension struts but yet again I have discovered that I do not have the correct tool for the job. So a quick phone call to Kevin my mechanic, I think I am going to have to pull in a favor and borrow his tool and his expert hands. So hopefully By the end of this week I will have a lovely low Winston, if the missus has killed me by then.

Bollocks

Being the utter genius I am, I appear to have ordered the wrong filter size. As you I have ordered a slightly smaller air filter than Winston needs. So this small, easy job has now become a rather big pain in my arse. I shall be sending a rather embarrassing email to the ebay seller I bought it from. I will be keeping you posted on how that pans out, I have a slight feeling that it will involve more money on my part.

Ready to service

Well I have been having parcels arrive all week for Winston. They are all finally here, these are just the last few bits I needed to service Winston. Here we have a oil filter and fuel filter, replacing both of these should make him run a lot smoother. Which I think I may need the way the weather has been going.

I am hoping it picks up for next week, because I want to get his paint job finally sorted but if not I will have to settle for being very cold and giving him a good service and fit the coilovers. So we shall see how it all pans out, stay tuned folks.

Excited much?

I was super excited when these arrived. I was like a child opening these I cannot wait to fit them to Winston. The only thing I have to figure out is how the hell I am going to fit them to Winston. The only car I fitted springs to was my punto but I got someone else to do that. Hmmm I guess it will be a quick lesson in advanced mechanics for me then. I only hope that I don't loose all the skin on my knuckles.

The primer is finally here

So yes the primer has arrived, I will finally be able to sort out that paint work I have been whingeing about for the past two weeks. If all goes to plan, I'm off uni, have finished my dissertation and are back to working next to no shifts at MacDonalds. I have pretty much finished the move so if the weather allows I shall be spending my week off painting my beloved Winston. If I have time he will have also be sporting his new shoes and rolling lower than your grannies nipples. Oh and I will have performed a long awaited service on the poor guy. So lets how we see some sun shine next week.

Between me and 1 ton Winston

I finally own my very own set of axle stands, no more borrowing the ramps for the in laws. He has now offered me them but I have already amassed so much junk in my garage I am not sure where I'd put them or if I'd use them again. The big problem is you need two people to use ramps where as axle stands it only takes one to tango.

So as it is just me working on Winston and any one else I can rope in to help. On the odd occasion I've had my good friend Stu help out which was OK. The only problem with him helping is that he knows as little as I do. Well probably less now after my recent escapades, the other person I get to help is my little brother. One day I would like to build his first car with him but at the moment my Mum just about trust me driving the car and has banned from taking her grandson (my son) in Winston. I can't see why, well I can but that is besides the point. So to journey back from that tangent my brother is more like a apprentice to the shitest Jedi in the galaxy but at least I try, plus it keeps him off his Xbox.

Winston can breath easy now

This came today, a nice new air filter for Winston. It is just a standard one nothing flashy. I did want to go for a K&N filter or maybe some of the Green stuff but as Winston has a carburetor I am still not sure if I should remove his full air intake system and replace it with a open top air filter from K&N which I have seen. On the forums I keep getting mixed reviews so until I have made up my mind this is what he's going to have to live with.

Snowed under

Well as you can see if you turn your computer upside down, you'll be able  to see that I got over 4 inches of snow last night. I was a little bit of a challenge getting Winston off the drive this morning but we manged. He drifts rather nicely on fresh snow, but alas when I got home from work today I had to clear the drive. It is tough becoming an adult but I realized that I won't be able to get to uni if my drive is covered in ice. So I maned up and took one for the team and cleared all that fun, fun snow.

And the parts start to arrive

I might have mentioned that I went on a little ebay binge the other night. Anyway I ordered a fair few parts including these smoked side repeaters, which will be fitted as soon as I get the paint job I keep going on about sorted.

I know I keep banging on about it but I haven't got the primer filler yet or the weather conditions. It is currently snowing as I write this. Winston is sat on the drive with a liberal coating of the white stuff. I do have to say having no traction control or power steering makes drifting in the snow ever so easy. I am like a big kid when the roads get slippy, I just love getting my cars going side ways. The best car I've do this in is probably my estate, it was awesome. Back to my side repeaters, I only order these on Thursday night and arrived Saturday morning. Impressed with the delivery service.

Ice on the wrong side of the glass

For those of you who live outside of Yorkshire it hit -8 last night. Now I've been in London for the last three days so I have been running Winston. Admittedly I was worried when I came to start him up this morning the battery was going to be dead. Surprising it wasn't,  what did come as a shock was the ice on the inside of the car. With Winston being the first classic car I have owned I have not encounter this before and thought it was pretty funny.

What was not funny was frozen fuel lines, well I think it was because it took 4 attempts to get him started and most of today I have a problem with his performance. I think there was a lump of frozen petrol sat in his tank clogging up my fuel system. Which wasn't particularly fun on a national speed limit road I can tell you.

On a brighter note I have order all the car parts I need to get him serviced and tweaked to the way I want him looking. Oh and some more primer filler so I can finally sort out that nasty peeling paint.