J@mes' LCR OEM+ Rear ARB Fitted :)

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
@ Adam, cheers pal, yeah let me know that would be awesome. :)

@ Daz, I may well take you up on that :) Hopefully i will be coming by to see you at the end of the month anyway ;).

@ EL Turko, Yeah it was good to catch up and talk cars buddy, looking forward to get them fitted. Just need to decide whether to get the 23mm R32 or the 25mm Neuspeed front ARB, both of which are around £175 from Awesome GTI.
 

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
UPDATE - Rear Hughes Strut Brace Review

Well the rear hughes strut brace has been on for a couple of weeks now, i was unsure whether there would be difference as some people say it helped and others say it doesn't. In the interest of science i decided to fit the strut brace first and drive it for a while and then fit the rear ARB. Obviously fitting the ARB will make a significant difference to the handling.

I'm lucky enough to have a fairy enjoyable drive to and from work with a nice selection of long sweeping bends on super smooth tarmac. As i drive them every day i know exactly how my car behaves through these corners, so it seemed like the obvious testing ground.*

After a couple of weeks of sprinted drives to and from work i can definitely feel the back is tighter than before, its not a huge difference but it definitely seems to follow the front end with less hesitation. It certainly instills more confidence to lean on the suspension. This is all at relatively low speeds, and i expect once you pick the speed up it's effects become more apparent. Grip levels are pretty low at the moment so it may be more obvious once the roads are dry and i can really explore the handling. Dare i say there is less body roll than before. All in all it seems like a worth while purchase.

Now my experiment is complete i will fit the rear ARB, just need to wait for the crappy whether to improve. :)
 
Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
Nice review James. I wouldn't be without my rear strut brace and ARB combo. Like you, I'm toying with the idea of a front ARB too. It's the last item I could possibly buy for the chassis, but from what I've read, either a 23mm or 25mm upgrade over the 19mm seems to make a worthwhile difference to the turning charactorisitics; more so than the poly bushes alone, which I was very happy with.
 

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
Well it looks like the R is going to be relieving me of most of my hard earnt money over the coming months.

THIS MONTH:

- Road Tax

- Replacement wing mirror (some knob head clipped it and smashed the glass and outer casing just in time for my MOT)

- Purchase front ARB (drop links are starting to make noise)

NEXT MONTH:

- MOT

- Fitting front and rear ARB's

- Replace seized adjusters on front suspension strut so the suspension can raised 10 - 15mm

- Cam seal oil leak

- 4WA

The above are all must do jobs, in addition to this the following will also need doing soon:

- Front dent removal on front bumper (another knob head reversed into the front of my car while it was parked some where and left a lovely
* bullbar sized round dent in the bumper). While that's being done i will probably get pin sized dent in the door looked at too.

- N75 valve as its definitely on its way out

- Clutch kit need to do some research on suitable kits (it has started to slip in 3rd and 4th on WOT)*

- Wheel refurb x 2 due to slight curbing (got the OH to thank for that lol).

- Full machine polish detail once the body work is sorted.

I dread to think how much this will all add up to, but its going to cost me a lot of money. I suppose its to be expected on a 11 year old car, with all this money*
being spent i will almost certainly going to hanging onto the car for a while.
 

adam cupra 20vt

Built Not Bought.
Mar 31, 2005
6,162
2
Mud Hut
Smashed door mirror is only an advisory as long as you have 2 other mirrors (rear view and other side door mirror)
 
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J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
Cheers adam, thats always worth knowing. :)

Right guys.... Im currently undecided whether to fit a OE clutch and fly wheel kit or whether to get a uprated kit. From a quick look around you are looking at 900+ for an uprated kit against 600 for OE kit, this is before fitting so that needs to be added on.*

Bearing in mind that the original clutch has only started to show signs of wear at 80K, and much of its life its been mapped. It got me thinking whether i can justify an additional 300+ for an already expensive item. I may go stage 2 or i may not... totally dependent on how long i keep the car.

I would have bought the Awesome GTI uprated clutch kit as this was under £700 but they no longer do this now, not entirely sure why either.

So what is everyones thoughts on clutch kits for the LCR, should i just man up and dig deeper into my pockets and fit a uprated clutch or stick with a OE clutch?

Input much appreciated
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
Depends on what kind of stage tuning you have planned for the car
Are you keeping the DMf or going for a SMF?
I know there are a few kits out there utilising either flywheel that are good, was under the impression they were cheaper. My stage 3 southbend clutch and smf wasn't much more than youre quoting though
 

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
I think it would be ashame to stick in a super duper clutch and then get rid a year later. Thing is, they are great cars and the urge to change always there the older the car gets. What I realised is once you love a car, even when you buy BMW, Audi, Porsche and another cupra you still wish you had your mk1!
 

t0m

LCR 225
Apr 29, 2007
8,133
7
Kent
Tough call mate, really depends on if you want to track it and have something which won't break under heavy torque...

I'd go for a Spec from AmD if I could do it again as they offer SMF and DMF.. They rate them well above Sachs as they get quite a few problems with them.

No idea why the Awesome one isn't sold anymore.. I might call and ask soon, but mine has been fine.
 

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
Sorry for slow reply, i'm really struggle to have any spare time these days, being a dad is 24/7 sometimes. :)

To answer your question Ronnin i would like to go SMF set up if chatter was barely / not noticeable, but i'm open to a DMF. I've had a good search on the forum but i'm struggle to find many decent discussion on the subject. Most are about the awesome GTI kit which is no longer available.

At this moment in time Its hard to say how long i will keep the car, it could be 12 month or it could be 2-4 years. There is a chance i could end up with a company car at some point.

It's got to the point now where the value has dropped so much its worth a lot more to me than anyone else. If i kept it i will almost certainly go stage 2 later in the year / next year so it would be nice to have a set up which can deal with it.

What kit is you have on yours and how much did it cost?

@ Tom.. yeah i saw AmD has a kit, i will give them a call and have a chat about it.
 

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
mall update:

Earlier today i order a set of black tear drop mirror off ebay at the bargain price of £69 delivered, i thought about replacing just the broken mirror but it seemed like a perfect excuse to get some teardrop mirrors fitted instead. They are in the right colour too but they may need painting depending on what condition they are in, from reading the advert description its 50/50. Even if they need painting they are still a bargain, I may even get DK to carbon wrap them.

Next on the list this month is a front ARB. :)
 

t0m

LCR 225
Apr 29, 2007
8,133
7
Kent
please do not sell up............ you will instantly regret it.
i've regretted selling mine everyday for the last 2 years and 9 months

I regretted selling my first one and have to agree with this. I had to get another and now I don't know if I will ever get rid of it lol. :)
 
Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
I regretted selling my first one and have to agree with this. I had to get another and now I don't know if I will ever get rid of it lol. :)

Thankfully I think there's a few of us that would struggle to let go of our Seats. So many seem to be broken for parts these days! The only downside to any ageing car is that the 'to do' list gets bigger and bigger, but I think the rewards of effort is great with these cars IMO :)
Hopefully you get through that list pretty quickly James for some summer driving, but I totally understand where you're coming from with parenting - even the LCR gets put to the side for family time these days...
 

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
I think when it comes down to it have hot hatches really moved on that much especially when you modify an Lcr. Or another question is spending 20 plus grand on a new car gain you that much. I don't think so... I said to my Mrs if I had my Leon we wouldn't of bought a new one...

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 

J@mes W

Stage 1 Revo'd LCR
Jun 28, 2009
985
1
Colchester
Don't worries guys she's not going anywhere, i'm in for the long haul. Prices for LCR's are very low at the moment, not a great time to sell a nice LCR. I'm convinced they'll go up a bit in value at some point in the next 18-24 months, certainly for the well maintained ones. Loads of LCR's are going to end either in ditches, with blown engines or just poorly maintain. Mine has just gone over 80K, only doing 5k max a year so it'll stay low for a while.

Will be orderings some bits in the coming weeks, looking forward to getting stuck into it again. :)
 

t0m

LCR 225
Apr 29, 2007
8,133
7
Kent
Looking forward to upcoming developments mate. Glad you're sticking with the project!
 
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