Natst8 Posted November 20, 2023 Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 So back in June I saw a very cheap mk1 sport up for sale all the way down in London. At the time I had just saved and fixed my neighbour's e87 BMW from the scrappy so asked if the guy would do a straight swap for it. To my surprise he agreed so drove down there the next day to get it. That beemer was probably the smoothest car I've driven on the motorway, except for my old TT, a proper commuter car. It was a little worse for wear and needed some tidying up but I was officially a Mk1 Sport owner. It needed servicing, new suspension all round, the passenger rear brake was dragging slightly, and the valve stem seals were very clearly gone. But absolute machine nevertheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted November 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 Rather than doing all that important stuff, I decided the first thing to do was to smash the windows and fit pop outs. This was partly because when I drove home it took 6 hours in 30 degree heat, and I found out that the window switch didn't work... Then fitted SE tails and removed the rear tint. Didn't even wash the car, just wiped it down to get rid of cobwebs. Took it to a meet at Caffeine and Machine with the Facebook owners club as was the challenge to get a hold of one before the meet took place. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted November 20, 2023 Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 Proper. 👍🏻 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted December 6, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2023 Next thing on the list was a matching plate to go alongside the golf. I do enjoy a short reg on a normal sized plate, something satisfying about it. I then got round to replacing the suspension, as you can see, it had a very poor alignment and was chewing the fronts pretty badly. I have no idea what was on it so I decided it was all going. So I replaced the front arms and ball joints, springs and shocks all round. Subaru impreza classic front shocks, corsa b rear shocks, and 5 inch race springs for a healthy amount of lowering. Plus a set of audi 80 speedlines which I saved from the scrappy for like 50 quid (had all the centre caps too!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted December 6, 2023 Report Share Posted December 6, 2023 The Imprezza shocks fit the rear of a Lupo/Rosa? That's good to know. You can use stock mk4 golf front springs (poverty spec) to lower a Lupo. And mk3 to go even lower... Were those small rear coils specific for Lupo/Rosa? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted December 7, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2023 8 hours ago, mk2 said: The Imprezza shocks fit the rear of a Lupo/Rosa? That's good to know. You can use stock mk4 golf front springs (poverty spec) to lower a Lupo. And mk3 to go even lower... Were those small rear coils specific for Lupo/Rosa? Ah no the impreza shocks fit the front, they have the same lower mounting point, then you can either drill out the turrets or fit lupo top mounts. And the rear coils are just some 2.25 inner diameter race springs of demon tweeks, nothing too exciting, though I may get shorter ones if I don't have to go over speedbumps at work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted December 7, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2023 Funny you should talk about mk4 springs, as I had a set lay around as I replaced the ones in my golf for mk1 tiggy springs as its lifted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted December 7, 2023 Report Share Posted December 7, 2023 A mk4 golf country (sort of)! Cool. Real or photoshop? Can't believe anything you see anymore! So the shocks fit the front. Exact same hub carrier mounting holes, spring plate height and shock travel. Interesting. I wonder if Imprezza hubs work. (Schedules next trip to breakers in diary...) Yeah, i dunno how Demon tweaks do their springs so cheap. Bought quite a few from them over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted December 9, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2023 On 12/7/2023 at 7:54 AM, mk2 said: A mk4 golf country (sort of)! Cool. Real or photoshop? Can't believe anything you see anymore! So the shocks fit the front. Exact same hub carrier mounting holes, spring plate height and shock travel. Interesting. I wonder if Imprezza hubs work. (Schedules next trip to breakers in diary...) Yeah, i dunno how Demon tweaks do their springs so cheap. Bought quite a few from them over the years. Real thing, quite a bit of custom stuff to get it where its at now, this is v3 of the rear suspension, v2 of the fronts requires machining out some hubs before I can go any further I wouldn't say the shock travel is brilliant on the impreza coilovers, as they're set up for a heavier vehicle, but yeah the lower mounting is the same, and then I just drilled 3 holes where I wanted to put the top mount so I could have the camber where I want it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted December 9, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2023 So this was how the car sat with all the suspension on, both before and after getting it on the ground, I finished the car at 11pm the night before Retro Rides which was about 2hrs away. Safe to say I didn't have much faith in getting the car there in one piece. I didn't have the front wound down as at that point I hadn't done a chassis notch or engine raise, however I knew that was on the to do list. Also no, I didn't roll the arches, surprisingly it was fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted December 9, 2023 Report Share Posted December 9, 2023 Both of those are insane! Love it! Big ups to you mate. what wheels and tyre setup have you on the Rosa? More like rubber bands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted December 9, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2023 13 hours ago, mk2 said: Both of those are insane! Love it! Big ups to you mate. what wheels and tyre setup have you on the Rosa? More like rubber bands. Cheers, they've both been taking far too much of my time and money😂 They're a set of 15 inch speedlines off an Audi 80 coupe. Had to get some adapters from Poland as they're an oddball fitment. 4x108 but still having the vw 57.1mm centre bore. Tyre wise they're a 165 45 r15, so a bit of stretch but nothing crazy as it's the daily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted December 9, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2023 Couple more pics from Retro Rides and then some from Tucked at the Circuit as well. Before going to Tucked I got round the replacing the discs and pads on the front, safe to say they were cooked. Unfortunately I found out about halfway to the show as to why they were cooked. Driver's front caliper gets stuck on, and that side gets very toasty... Limped it the rest of the way there, then the 3hrs home after as well, only used the brakes 5 times the whole journey, just to be on the safe side😅😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted December 10, 2023 Report Share Posted December 10, 2023 That is seriously low, and you're not on air like Ray or Pete. Any half shaft to chassis denting going on? You said you didn't notch, so that must be very close or you take speed bumps with extreme care! Yep, those pads look cooked. Happened to me a year ago too. One of the pads separated from the steel backer and spun into the gap between the pad backer and the caliper, like a wedge. Scary too as I was "enthusiatically" stopping at a T junc when my brake pedal sunk to the floor with a bang. Nursed it a few yards before checking, and all appeared to be fine because the caliper simply expanded with fresh fluid. Drove another 10 miles on an A road at 60 and when stopping the air filled with a burning smell... The disc was actually glowing cherry red. 😦 who is the blue one? Are they on here? Nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted December 12, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 On 12/10/2023 at 12:35 PM, mk2 said: That is seriously low, and you're not on air like Ray or Pete. Any half shaft to chassis denting going on? You said you didn't notch, so that must be very close or you take speed bumps with extreme care! Yep, those pads look cooked. Happened to me a year ago too. One of the pads separated from the steel backer and spun into the gap between the pad backer and the caliper, like a wedge. Scary too as I was "enthusiatically" stopping at a T junc when my brake pedal sunk to the floor with a bang. Nursed it a few yards before checking, and all appeared to be fine because the caliper simply expanded with fresh fluid. Drove another 10 miles on an A road at 60 and when stopping the air filled with a burning smell... The disc was actually glowing cherry red. 😦 who is the blue one? Are they on here? Nice Surprisingly it didn't rub, which means by sheer luck I guessed the correct height to run it before notching it. Though I did get stuck on the speed bump at work😂 Ah yeah that burning smell is horrible, you can tell its bad too when it makes just accelerating difficult Ah I'm not sure if he's on here tbh, met him through the owners club on Facebook, he's since now running the same setup as me so we cam be equally low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted December 12, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 So the car has been notched and has a hockey puck in to raise the engine. The engine raise has actually fixed the problems I was having selecting 1st so its worked out well. I then wound the fronts down more so the car now sits level, rather than having saxo rake, plus some 20mm spacers to get the fitment looking a little better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted December 12, 2023 Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 Looks most excellent. I like it a lot. Whats the front suspension travel like compared to standard? What I mean, is did you change the lower coil seat on the shock, or is the spring seat just a bit lower on the Imprezza (lowering the front). Only wondering how it deals with things like potholes and speed bumps. I've been wanting to lower one of mine (on air, but OMG the price...), but I want the same ride quality. Even with standard setup, when there's 4 of us in the car the thing bottoms out against the bump stops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted February 21 Author Report Share Posted February 21 On 12/12/2023 at 5:09 PM, mk2 said: Looks most excellent. I like it a lot. Whats the front suspension travel like compared to standard? What I mean, is did you change the lower coil seat on the shock, or is the spring seat just a bit lower on the Imprezza (lowering the front). Only wondering how it deals with things like potholes and speed bumps. I've been wanting to lower one of mine (on air, but OMG the price...), but I want the same ride quality. Even with standard setup, when there's 4 of us in the car the thing bottoms out against the bump stops. It's overall way shorter shock, there's 3 adjustable bits, damping that u adjust from the top of the shock Preload which is done by the spring seat And height which is done by the lower mounting bracket as that is also on the shock threads so can move up and down Can't get over speed bumps without hitting the floor, and potholes I often send sparks up behind me apparently.😂 As for actual ride quality it's very stiff but not bouncy like at set of JOMs, like I wouldn't want to drive say 10 hours but I'd happily daily it. No idea what it's like with more than just me in at the moment though, might need to roll the arches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted February 21 Author Report Share Posted February 21 The two outer ones are the fronts that ive used, you can see how its just generally a better way to lower it rather than effecting travel as you wind them down like all the lupo stuff available, that said, it doesn't have much travel anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natst8 Posted February 21 Author Report Share Posted February 21 Rather than fix the brakes I decided I wanted an open air roof, went an got one with a 6n front dam as it suits the mk1s better than the lupo air dam does. Found it was a really good idea to draw the lines and start cutting while still mildly inebriated from the night before, actually turned out better than the roof in the golf and is pretty much bang on😂😂 Drove it to Caffeine and Machine to meet up with some of the lupo owners on Facebook, only to drive home and hit a brick in the middle of the road. Smashed it to bits on the subframe and watched all the bits fly into the car tailgating me behind. Couple minutes later the car stank of fuel. Turns out the impact had actually broken the top of the fuel pump assembly where the high pressure line connects so was just leaking fuel, found it like a week after it happened as I couldn't find fuel dripping anywhere, so I decided to take apart the car to find it. Anyway got that fixed, put a new unit in so hopefully won't have that problem again. 😅 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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