I've done around 100 miles in the GT since yesterday morning, 90 odd on the way home from Southways Automotive and 10 odd last night (or this morning rather...) dropping
people home after the ball. The GT is really quite a different car to drive now! It's much, much quieter, now the exhaust is properly sealed, even at full noise, it's quite quiet and also there is no more CV joint/bearing grinding noises and the suspension is much less crashy.
The ride is now magic-carpet like, rather than just wallowy, lolloping and crashy - it's not perfect yet but so much improved. The struts could do with a refurb and the tyres need replacing, the rubber is quite hard and they are an aspect ratio too big for a BX which doesn't help. This means it's a little bit fidgety over small road imperfections and bumps, anything else though and it's great!
Having a working speedo is amazing, this one's never worked! I think it's ended up with a MK1 lower (longer compared to the MK2 lower) and a MK2 upper (longer than a MK1 upper!) so there is some curvature to it, and initially the speedo wobble below 40 was quite comical! But driving it last night/this morning that had virtually disappeared, so im hoping with use it'll go altogether.
It's also great to know the engine temperature, I chose the 'TIM' guage because it looked unobtrusive and wasn't as expensive as some of the
really nice ones. However, the needle travel is less than 90 degrees, so less than a right angle from cold to nuclear (120deg) which when the engine is on the hot side means that there is very little travel from fans kicking in to potentially overheating, even stuck in traffic yesterday (was quite warm down here) it never went above what I guess is 98 or so degrees, just below the 100 degree line. I know the yellow light of doom doesn't work but the red does - only just discovered the MK1 dash light check button!). Running temp seems to sit at about 85 degrees, maybe slightly less.
Gearchange is improved, but still quite notchy and 2nd can be difficult to get, you have to be quite firm with it and push the gearstick as far to the left as it'll go before trying to get 2nd. But it won't be popping off anymore thank goodness!
Here her GTness is at home, just had her pre-ball clean.
The gauge, Rich put a green LED in too, so it matches the dash! Forgot to take night time pictures with it lit up.
There is to be a part 2 to the get-GT-as-good-as-possible plan. As previously mentioned the subframe needs attention, it has to come off to be refurbished as it was cracked and had corrosion to the lower skin. I am going to
attempt to do this myself, the GT will come off the road Winter 2018 and in doing so there are a couple of jobs to sort:
-Octapus
-Steering hardy disc
-Refurbish the gearchange system, something is bent or bushes are FUBAR'd etc
-New/refurbished struts to go on
-New downpipe
-New hockeystick pipe
Other projects for the future include:
-Window tints (it's a warm car inside so hopefully this will help reduce heat from the sun)
-Steel wheel refurbishment
-Original wheen trim refurbishment and painting to match steelies
-White wall tyres
-My husband has requested A/C so will look into that at some point, not sure if all the bits are available.
-It really needs some paintwork in the future, there are many scrapes and dings all over but especially the bonnet and sides.
Just a quick edited image to show the white wall idea, im sure there will be those that aren't keen but each to their own. Im really keen on the idea especially with when the steelies and wheel trims are refurbished and are a nice bight silver (brighter or certainly a different shade than those in the picture I think)
For now though, back to studying. Last exam is Friday 19th May - then it's challenge prep!
Would be interesting to see what model Dunlop, I can't remember the model I had, they were circa 2003 fitted so a long time to current tyre offerings though often basic tyre manufacturers traits remain. Like on bike tyres Bridgestones stick and stick, then let go very very suddenly in the wet - no warning. Pirelli and Michelin give loads of warning and grip just as well, though carcass construction changes influence ride behaviour especially banked on ridgy surfaces. Equally the profile I had on some Michelin bike tyres buggered the steering and handling - full stop.
