Dexter

After a long drive on the highway, had a 5min stop. When i tried to start the car again, absolutely nothing happened. Even the headlights wouldn't turn on anymore, and the clock died soon. Luckily i had jumper cables and a young Polo guy gave me a helping hand and i was on my way. The car worked perfectly, sound system, cooling and everything electrical too. Close to home i stopped to fill the tank. As i tried to start the engine again, the exactly same thing happened as before. Jumper cables again. I'm charging the battery as we speak but the dial on the charger isn't working so don't know what's happening. I have a multimeter but not right here so can't check anything with that yet either. Battery is a 3 year old Optima Yellow Top. Distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs and leads are all pretty new. My guess is the problem is the alternator, but never had a problem like this before so don't know for sure. Any ideas? :-?

Congrats, man. You did a good job with the deck. Hope to see you buy another m some day!

I've got EG6 BC Racing coils on my deck and theyre wonderful. Look almost identical to Meisters too. Might be easier to source a set of those second hand than meisters, might be worth to take a look atleast?

I had occasional overheating issues for years and finally solved it by replacing the radiator. Visually it was fine but in the end it was either clogged up or broken. Anyways no problems after that. But it might be worth it to use radiator flush etc. on your system.

When you look in the bay, you definitely notice a difference!

Marvelous choice

1. Grant - MED - ZIPPPER 2. Grant - SML - HOODIE because I'm not manly enough for a bigger size 3. Philgor - 2XL - ZIPPPPER 4. UnicyclingTom - LRG - Zipper! 5. Powerofdreams - XLRG - HOODIE 6. CrazyMark - LRG - Zipper 7. Roj - LRG - Ziiiiiiiiiiipper 8. Chandler- XLRG- Zipper 9. Dr_broon - lrg - zippy 10. Dexter - MED - Zipper

Thanks Edwin, that clarified a lot! I was getting really confused. Now after driving a few days with 10mm preload and less damping the ride is heaps better than before.

Same here! Extra +10hp because red!

You actually only have to open the tiny screws on the top to gain access to the bulbs, not the large ones on the front. The small ones don't seize so easy. So give them a healthy dose of wd40/crc rostoff etc. and have a go with a correct sized screwdriver. I refurbed mine last winter and had to drill out the front ones, all except one were totally seized.

Makes a huge difference! I only had the front end polybushed some years ago and it definitely made the ride harsher. But better for hard driving, ofcourse . Wouldn't recommend it to anyway who's after comfort though.

Well can't really say what happened, since in addition to setting the pre-loads i raised the car by 15mm and changed tires from 17" to 15"... so too many variables! But i did notice one thing: before it was a bit front-heavy. After setting the adjustments now it's a bit tail-heavy, even though i raised and set the pre-load on each corner exactly the same. Maybe it's got something to do with the difference in the strength of springs front/back? Even though there's only a 2kg difference...

Hmm. I guess so. It just feels weird because with my old H&R's where the ride height was set by compressing/decompressing the spring, it sat higher the more compressed the spring was. Well either way i've just finished setting the pre-loads, gonna fit the wheels now and then i'll find out what happened!

Started thinking that why does it affect ride height? Isn't the ride height based on how long or short you set the whole unit by threading it into the lower collar? I guess setting the spring stiffer might adjust the height a bit, but in that case shouldn't it sit higher when the springs are stiffened up?

So do you think i have it too high looking at the picture?

Thanks man, gonna go with 10! No idea how much preload i have at the moment... factory set i guess.

Another question, how high is too high? The little peephole (mine's BC but i'm pretty sure Meister is the same) let's me see when the there's no more thread left. My instruction booklet is hidden somewhere in boxes (moving house at the mo) so can't remember what was the recommendation? On other words was it so that: a ) as long as you see some thread you're ok b ) as soon as you see the thread is running out you're going too high This is where i'd like to set it for now because track day. It's EG6 spec so otherwise it sits super low in the back. Whaddaya think??

BTW which way does the preload adjust the ride height? Is it so that with less preload i get lower ride height? Gonna work on it pretty soon so thought i'd ask first, there gonna be enough trial & error anyway...

Thanks @burbleboy for opening this conversation, going to change tires and adjust ride height today and thought hmm i wonder how to adjust the pre-load of my new coilies... but not wondering anymore, thanks to our awesome forum! Sure i could've googled it, but i rather hear it from somebody i know.

Thanks for the coments. My holidays just started and am in a hurry to get some track days in... so just picked up some aftermarkets and gonna install them today. Let's hope they last and if not, well lesson learned .

Need to replace my track rod ends for the first time soon so just wondering if there's any point paying for OEM or just going for the cheap no brand parts? My deck is a pretty low daily / occasional track car.

Are these necessary? I changed my pads and thoroughly cleaned the brakes last winter but can't remember that bit. I'll have to take a look today. But it looks like it's very thin metal, you might be able to bend it into the correct shape, well atleast you can do it to the little metal clips that are to the right of your part in the parts picture.

Nice! Now that's some proper stretch . And good pick with the wheels, like Dave said that's a first for M's. Defo looks better than the old ones!

Ooh they've made a new one! Heaps better than the old fast n' furious kit. But without the black strips on the bumpers it kind of looks a bit weird. Anyways interesed in seeing this fitted!

Nice view, man. Nice car too!