Trials and tribulations

It was supposed to be the grand finale of car modification, it would have been as well had it not been for amateur errors which have already cost and will continue to cost me to put right.

So we can break this down into two areas.

Things people got wrong.

1. No gasket on the cam angle sensor
2. The world’s worst map

Things no one will admit to.

1. Damage to the front pulley cover paintwork
2. Damage to the car paint work
3. Damage to the rear bumper
4. Exhaust badly adjusted in wrong position
5. Rear number plate deep scratch (how the hell did they do this!)

The camera never lies 

Melted Rear Bumper from badly adjusted exhaust

Front wing scratch

Rear Quarter Scratch

Rear Quarter Scratch

Initially I am going to try and have the rear quarter body panel 'touched up', as there is no magic repair short of a respray that can be done. The front bumper (for which the scratch is legendary) I will have sprayed.

The rear bumper is obviously knackered. However before I can replace this I will need to go to a specialist exhaust center to have the overall length of the back box shortened by about 20/25mm and lowered by the same. It could be that there is adjustment for lowering on the de cat silencer, however this will not shorten the overall pipe length which was probably affected when the new down pipe was made up. 

Funnily enough I was already working on the replacement for the rear bumper and side skirts before this, so do have replacements. However I was planning on enjoying working on the body in my own time and not having to make it a top priority (let alone the expense of spray work).

I am not in the mood to comment on Abbey Motorsport, Drift Street Imports and Auto Extreme at the moment. Although am sure that each will get a mention as I cover various parts of the correction and look at the actual results of the engine work.