The Big Timber Mancave & It’s... Chaser spam... 30-01-20

Please do. I'd love to some rust photos.

What they said!

Excellent workhorse!! Always best to get feline QC to sign off on it first tho' My QC/QA dept just seem to slide down panels with their claws out to test paint thickness grrrrr

So lets elaborate a bit more on what i started yesterday with a few pictures of my CR-X, the problem child and yet the apple of my eye:





The first car show of the year was too much for my brother in law, who gave great praise to Spectrum the CR-X's twin use as a parasol.



Through GYJDM we have been to a few cracking shows this past three months. I've always been more of a 'drive it hard and dirty' than a 'lets get shares in Autoglym' kind of guy but the shows are still a grand day out. The meet up for the Maccies breakfast, the convoy with a bit of cat and mouse, it's what summer is all about. I'm always overwhelmed by the amount of attention Spectrum gets. Despite the bad reputation a lot of Hondas seem to get, there is always a lot of love for the CR-X.

Next on the cards was some track action at Cadwell.

Working at RAF Coningsby on the tools puts me in with a group of generaly like minded car people which is a real blessing. One day we decided to book a track evening together at Cadwell with it being just down the road and have a bit of fun. I had the CR-X, my boss had his lovely little Caterham - 1.6 K series with perhaps 125 brake and middle of the road tyres, its a well balanced little gem you can really drive hard - and that left two of my work mates needing a track whip of their own. Cue the purchase of a mighty Italian Stallion, the fire breathing monster that is the Fiat Seicento Sporting...






With around 55 brake, close gearing and probably less than seven hundred kilos once we stripped all the interior out it was a delightfully rediculous sight on track and proof yet again that you don't have to spend mega money or have limitless power to have fun on track and improve your driving. By the end of the session they were starting to keep much more suitable cars in view and holding some genuinly impressive corner speeds. No overtakes though. The Seicento is currently sat on camp at Coningsby after having a service waiting for another dose of abuse, maybe next time around Blyton Park. Another short circuit to suit its little legs.


Around this time another black Honda made its way into the fold:








Now i have to admit there is a certain amount of hat-eating needs to go on here. I've always been critical of the EP3 Type R. This is mainly becuase it has never tickled my RR taste buds and more so the sort of stigma attached to them left me feeling really cold. I have been known to say they are only good for disgorging their mechanicaks to K swap lovely old Hondas like CR-Xs. Which is exactly why i bought this one. However. As soon as i took it for a drive i started to feel guilty about how dismissive i had been because these are genuinly good fun. Not fun for a modern or fun for front wheel drive but just a great drivers car. You sit lowewr than i first imagined with the dash and door windows seeming strangely high and the well spaced pedals have a lot of room around them - it is a wide car inside, spaciouse and airy. That daft gear stick poking out of the dash makes much more sense once you are down into the drivers seat too and the reach between it and the wheel is minimal. Its a nice place to be.
I orginially thought it was a bit of a dog eared example which is why i was happy to potentialy strip it for its K20 to go in the CR-X and then down the line the B series from that could go in my Mini. That plan hasn't been cancelled, just postponed untill an EP3 that is only good for parts crops up. Inspecting it showed that apart from a lot of swirl in the paint and car park dings it wasnt bad at all. Its' 116k miles is low for one of these, its an air con model which isnt all that common and it has a few nice goodies on it such as Eibach lowering springs, AEM intake and a Spoon N1 rep exhaust. When my mate Kev came around for look at it he offered to foster it for me so we have agreed to go twos on it so to speak and it currently floats between us as and when we need it. Its the sort of car we can both take on track days and i'd feel a lot less precious about it compared to Spectrum.

Ive also had a brief flirtation with a couple of modern, well, to my eyes at least VAG motors. The first of which was a late 2006 B7 Audi A4 Avant in top spec S line 170 brake manual diesel guise. They say never look a gift horse in the mouth and so when my boss offered it to me just for the money it had cost him to have the clutch and flywheel done i thought I'd best not turn it down.

Quite a handsome Hector in grey don't you think?



The problem with it was not a problem with the car at all, it was a problem with me. You see, we are all car people and wit that comes a bit of excitment and passion. The 'fizz' as James May is fond of saying. I feel a personal and emotional attachment to all my favourite cars which is probably why i choose to name them. The Audi didn't get a name. For one reason or another it inspired the same feelings inside me as my dishwasher. Competant and undeniably useful, but ultimately its just white goods.
I did a few jobs to it, full service and spruce up along with all new front suspension arms (a common failing and more of a pig of a job than it should be in my eyes) and then sold it on cheap again to another lad at work who just wanted something thats good looking enough to please his partner and big enough for his fishing gear. Perfecto.

Here it is on one of its last missions in my ownership. Useful but just too clinical.



My other Dub slice came in the form of this MK5 Golf GT TDI 140 4Motion - Mouthful much!?



Another one snaffled from a work mate. He had owned it for 4 years having paid an awful lot of money for it as a low mileage and top spec example, but then put on nearly 30k miles a year contracting at various RAF bases. So despite his fastidouse maintenance it was never going to be worth top dollar. It was a comfortable and well kitted steed with heated leather, upgraded integral Nav from a mk6 Golf and much VW scene points for its Ronal split rims but again, it might as well have been made by Hotpoint for all the passion it lit in me. One thing i will say is the 4Motion did make it handle better than any other modern Golf i have driven. It felt much more poised and less roly poly, but this was countered by the extra weight (almost 1600kg!) What the Lord giveth, he taketh away eh?
My friends wife took a shine to it and decided to do a deal on it with me for her gen 7 Celica VVTLI 190 thing.

But more on that later becuase I've got to go to work. I'm still nowhere near done with my catchup and i promise there is much more Retro content to come

Cheers

Thank you very much for that hotrodder I've got plenty left to catch up on and more in the pipeline so I'll keep it coming.

If anyone wants any more information on anything I've been dabbling with just shout out and I'll gladly oblige

Thanks for the encouragement paul Y I'm enjoying writing it so as long as you folks are interested I'll crack on.

They are a bit buzzy on the motorway aren't they? Even with 6 gears its getting on for 4k revs at motorway speeds if I remember rightly. They are undeniably naughty though. They have that Impish way of making you want to be a bit silly I find. I wonder if your old CTR is still around and what mileage it's on now?

As chance would have it, I'm in mine this evening on a late shift. That means I've got a nice drive through the Lincolnshire back roads past Cadwell Park at 3am. I'm looking forward to it too

Enjoy the spirited drive then!! but leave the "spirit" for after the drive.

Nice honda but where's the mini?

Well, have I got some automotive treats for you. I've got so much content to put up here I'm going to have to dedicate a full day to it! So to whet your whistle and remind me of what's what:

We have progress on the Mini

We have tales of such sterling service from Jean de Baton that a plan is formulating for his future

We have a story of mechanical failure and subsequent resurrection of the 'unbreakable' EP3 I jinxed

More mechanical woe from the other black Honda

The annual festival of arc eye and black bogies because the LDV Tramper Van has made a return for its MOT prep

And finally we have a new arrival at Lightyearman Heights, fresh off the boat...

Its all getting updated in the next 48 hours

PS, don't all rush at once; but the fabled trackday Seicento Sporting we run at Cadwell is up for sale at around £450. Sling me a message if you want any more details, it would be a delight if it stayed in the RR community so I'm sure I could get my mate to do a discounty deal