aligned

For my last day off before I start work I took the opportunity to get a wheel alignment. Final figures are (in degrees.minutes'):
Front: L/R
Toe: 0/0
Camber: -1.07'/-1.14'
Caster: 4.17'/4.09'

Rear:
Toe: 0.09'/0.08'
Camber: 1.44'/1.46'


This was the max that could be achieved whilst keeping it symmetrical. Not much, but it's at standard ride height so far... and that needs to change!

The toe figures didn't change much between before and after, just more camber was added (and front caster was pulled back a little to achieve this).

Just need to find some good roads to pound now. The tyre man reckoned the fronts were good tyres (Dunlop DZ101) while the rears, which are new, weren't worth talking about (BFGoodrich something) - certainly they're easy to spin in the wet...

Home - and named

Well the deed is done, and she's all mine now! I haven't taken any photos, there's nothing new to see anyway. She looks great from afar, but the closer you get the more you notice the dirt. And it's only been one day of ownership so far! The rain last night and today didn't help.

The only things I've done so far are to tighten up the throttle cable, top up the coolant, clean out the junk from the bottom of the boot, clean the haze off the windows and scrape the dealer sticker off the back window. There will be more to come, but you can wait for that...

Observations? The suspension seems in very good shape - plenty of rebound left in the dampers. The spare tyre is completely bald! Also it was sticking to the underlay and slightly rusty, so some water may have been in the boot at some point. The battery is a bit lacking in grunt, but all NBs seem to have the problem of slow cranking to some degree. I'll have to get Sab in to tap some dents out of the door and straighten the fuel flap.

And I picked a name for her. I wanted something that fit the looks and personality: black, sexy curves, shiny bling, will probably be dirty, and will definitely be spanked regularly. So meet Tyra.

I got one!

With the club rules for motorsport, and my budget, being what they were, I thought that an early NB would be the best thing to get. A later NB8B is probably quicker and nicer, but a bit out of the budget, plus I don't like the shape as much as the NB8A. After checking out a few cars, I picked one that looked the best, and was well priced. An inspection at Tony's showed no major problems, so a deposit has been put down. Once roadworthy is passed (and the balance paid of course), it'll be all mine!!!

Here's some photos from the for-sale ad:







As you can see it has the polished factory wheels from a Heritage/10AE, looks very slick when the car is clean (which knowing me, it won't be for much longer).

I suspect that the rear bumper has been resprayed at some point (the plate is bent and the whole bumper sits a bit low), but structurally it all seems sound. Nothing too serious given the age.

Now I just need to control my spending on mods! Oh, and I need to find a good name for her.