Thanks Edinburgh!

Took the opportunity of a dry and warm Sunday last week to attend a local car show.

I'm not really one for showing the car- but this was on a more relaxed- roll in, and roll out when you want to. And it went quite well.

Mine was the only Coupe present, and in fact Italian vehicles were in the distinct minority. But she drew a fair bit of attention. I'd spent some dedicated time prepping her under the bonnet-first time in a couple of years and a really focused wash, hoover, polish and she looked good if I say so myself.

All of this is part of the shakedown tests for a mini UK tour starting w/o of 22nd June - off west to try and find the Harrys Garage Test route, and a few days away in that location. May pop by and surprise Joe at FCCS if I get that far up.

Annoyingly the usually reliable A/C has stopped. I've tried the "how to" guide, but no luck with fuses, wiring It was regassed just last year and stopped running. Then started again. And now again dead. I think I will try and get under the car this weekend to see if I can locate and check the pressure sensor at the bottom of the dryer is ok. If not may throw another regas at it...other then that I suspect its my turn for some expenditure to get it resolved.

Regardless - just to say should you see my Red Coupe making time in traffic- feel free to waive! I use the car far too little. A trip to route the EU was on the cards- but time was too limited so far this year to commit to something a little bit more exotic. So UK it is- and there is nowt wrong with that!

Hope your all making the most of your cars now the sunny period is (kind of ) with us!!

Regards

MM

Congrats on your new Coupe!

Looking forward to hearing more of this work and how the car progresses...given the price you would hope the list of work is not too endless.

Keep us all updated!

MM

From Jamiepm...

The patron saint of copying someone into an email.

St Francis of a CC

Yes indeed we are, we have to select 13 + images from our members for each year's calendar,

T'is my car now. Trying to rectify a number of niggles and restore it to it's former glory along with help of Joe and Flea

Hi all,

This might be a candidate for the Coupe projects area in due course but I am hoping to get a bit of forum input in advance.

My Coupe (and forum participation / membership) has been a victim of "life" in recent years and has been sadly neglected since 2020. What started as an initial SORN period because I was doing one trip a week to supermarket and didn't need 3 cars to do that turned into something longer term when I carried on working from home.

Now, however, is the time to return to the fold!

Whilst it isn't exactly a barn find as I have owned the car since 2003, I last started the car in 2021 and at that point to clutch cable had gone. On the plus side it started and seemed to idle at stable revs / pressure, etc. However 6 years since it was last driven is a long time so I'm expecting to need (or want) to change quite a lot of parts. And definitely won't be turning the key until belts have been done and everything has had a very thorough check. This all assumes in passes a basic structural integrity assessment once up on a ramp to check it hasn't rusted away of course.

Up to now I have kept the car relatively standard - aside from common sense swaps such as silicone hoses, HID lights and a stainless steel exhaust. Obviously there aren't too many of us left around now, so what is the general view of modifications versus OEM originality? My sense is probably that it is getting increasingly hard to get like for like replacement parts and therefore a certain level of substitution has to be accepted even if you're trying to keep things strictly "stock"? Things I'm particularly thinking about are:
- From reading posts when E10 first came out the suggestion seems to be the fuel lines should be changed but otherwise it should be OK. Is that still the view a few years down the line?
- Related to this point, I'd long planned to get a flea-map done - is he still around? Doesn't seem to have been on the forum in a while. If he is, is the general view that just getting it mapped to run on Super unleaded makes sense as it takes away the E10 issue, and you should hopefully then get the benefit of the extra octane?
- I seem to remember reading (around the time I SORN'd the car) that the MOT rules were changing and HID's would no longer be allowed - did that actually happen, or is it still a case of knowing what to say to the MOT centre about auto-adjusters, etc?
- the side bolster of the drivers seat has seem better days (obviously). Is there anywhere that repairs these, or are you looking at swapping in from a different car?
- Has any solution to the headlight lenses fogging up under UV rays been found, or is it still the hard work way to get back to clear plastic?
- Over the years I'd tried various brake / pad combos but always struggled with squealing when using anything other than the OEM pairing - is there anything around now that doesn't suffer from this?

And then the one that may be the big one - anything that people who've done a lot of work on the car in one go which they done whilst it was being taken apart? Or equally, anything beyond the basic replacement of worn / aged parts that people would suggest I should have on the list?

I'm hoping to get this back to be a really solid example that I can run happily for years so I'm not looking to cut any corners (quite the opposite). And then there is the not small issue of finding someone passionate about the cars to take it on - I'm hoping FCCS will be able to help but we'll see as it looks like he's had a few health issues.

Thanks in advance for any input - have missed being on here regularly and will hopefully be able to give a bit more time to it going forward!
Simon

Still exist - https://www.fcperformance.co.uk/ but it is run under https://www.sabre-tuning.co.uk/

Thanks for the suggestion. Think it might be a job for the off-season to think about a new turbo. ChatGPT has recommended a Garrett G25-550 as an alternative.

Is FC Performance still going? I have a print out from the previous owner when it took it down there circa 15 years ago, but my searches for the company were coming up blank.

Thanks, Andy