Snagglepuss Build Thread Lenny's New Whip

[Lenny]

I think, that is subtle enough not to attract the wrong kind of attention, while still retaining it's purpose and fun factor. Souhans do outstanding work and I wish I had the funds to get the exhaust done on my Focus. How was the drive to Mullingar? You could have popped over the hospital where I work to show me the car :P

Wait until you hear it :o

They done a great job today mate 275euro for the custom magnaflow catback with choice of tip,

Couldn't say no to that

The trip to mullingar was ok,

Had fun with the focus hangin on the redcow roundabouts bit of lateral G!!

Met the guy at lidl car park next to esso on the Dublin road at 08:12 then straight home, wasn't bad got home at 10:58,

Had i known you were close by id have dropped over to you no bother,

[Lenny]

Btw, Lenny, look what I found being dismantled for parts if you are looking for Focus parts:

http://www.findapart.ie/see_all_parts.php?car_id=17306

Thanks mate,

Since christmas theres a green and a white RS rolling around my area,

Mad to see one breaking in Cavan,

Thanks for the link but I've lost all interest in ford at this stage mate,

The Levin has become quite demanding since Christmas no room for spending on the focus,

[Hassen]

Next time you are either around Mullingar, Tullamore or Athlone, give me a shout as would love to see either cars you driving.
That is a very good deal btw for the exhaust given the amount of work gone into it. You think you will hold on to this for a while now or just change it after the NCT?

As for the RS breaking, real sad given how nice that car is. Wish again I had funds to go get the bodykit off it for my own car :D

[Lenny]

Next time you are either around Mullingar, Tullamore or Athlone, give me a shout as would love to see either cars you driving.

That is a very good deal btw for the exhaust given the amount of work gone into it. You think you will hold on to this for a while now or just change it after the NCT?

As for the RS breaking, real sad given how nice that car is. Wish again I had funds to go get the bodykit off it for my own car :D

Will do thanks,

Ive got the levin nct on the 25th

Ill be holding on to the exhaust but changing the standard cat to a 200 cell but if it increases the noise much more then ill fit the varex back box instead,

This system has no pre-silencer fitted

[martyntdci]

the levin has really come on dude, you deserve a pat on the back..... liking the look of the exhaust too, must sound sweeeet

[Lenny]

the levin has really come on dude, you deserve a pat on the back..... liking the look of the exhaust too, must sound sweeeet

Thanks Martin,

One would think its an all time therapeutic process but it is quite stressful at times, especially when mixed with 8 hour shifts and family life the process has been quite intense since Christmas, traveling country wide for parts and services, its my own choice to travel: i know and its fantastic to have all the parts within driving distance but it does tire ya out

Today I'm wrecked tired but working tomorrow to make up for yesterdays over spend

The exhaust is text book twincam rally style sound with the drone on lay off of the accelerator,

Id call it text book twin-cam sound,

I knew souhans would make it sound like it should because back when Darren (manager Souhans) was a young lad in the 80's the twin-cam corollas were all the rage, aswell as the escorts and the golf,

He grew up with this type of motor and living in county's Louth,Meath or Monaghan the modified scene is a huge culture, since i was 9 living on a country road we would hear the cars coming before we would see it, and there's a few distinctive motors that naturally give that "text book sound" you know without looking at the car Thats a...

Subaru Impreza as you well know :D

Toyota 4AGE twin cam

Mk2 escort

GT Starlet

Vtec Civic

And a few others

These engines naturally have a distinctive sport sound no fake exhaust back box with ball bearings fitted to make it sound good, it naturally had that distinctive tone,

perhaps I'm becoming old now but ya just don't get that anymore,

So now a grown man,

Gimme that country road with sweeping bends and a twin-cam 4AGE engine, brings back great summer memories keep your cds and your stereo im happy out with the natural sound

Really don't make that anymore and it deserves to sing like it should

I drove up to souhans yesterday on a quarter of a tank,

But i spent half a tank driving home

"do the hum mama"

Ill get a video up the weekend,

I know a hair pin out the country ill get Vicki to video

Windscreen washer jets and front headlights to be swapped out later this month aswell as glove box nothing interesting for a while.

[martyntdci]

just keeping on top of the maintenence...... i agree, old cars should be taken back to their former glory, with with a couple of up dated mods to suit..... id love nothing more than have a mk1 astra gte like my dad used to own back in the day that car was beautiful. my dad bought it from 2yrs old (1984) and was stolen when i was about 8yrs (1990) !Removed! broke his heart never found it thou.... its nice to see/hear about another car re-formed..... well done man

[Lenny]

Update:

Reinvested some cash from the sale of the chrome focus headlights and bought a set of badly needed adjustable aftermarket mist type windscreen washer jets on eBay last Monday and they arrived yesterday,

Fitted them today replacing the plastic chrome coated ones that were blocked.

There a little bit more chunky than the ford branded ones but there adjustable in width and height so they do the job nicely.

The old ones were plastic chrome coated,

The chrome coating went blue and began to peel on the inside of the jets, thus blocking the pipes inside the jet,

Would have failed MOT if not changed.

[Lenny]

Heres 3 videos i made earlier of the exhaust,

Click to view video

http://s575.photobucket.com/user/lennymanwoods/media/discussions/VID_20140310_161754_zpsvrry3eim.mp4.html

[Lenny]

http://s575.photobucket.com/user/lennymanwoods/media/discussions/VID_20140310_161845_zpsbsaje8ga.mp4.html

[Lenny]

.

[martyntdci]

sounds lovely, not at all a tad loud lol.... bet neighbours love ya.....

[Lenny]

sounds lovely, not at all a tad loud lol.... bet neighbours love ya.....

At the most that was 5000rpm and 4th gear not enough space to reach 9000

Im gonna swap it out for the varex remote one,

So it sounds like that but can be switched to standard aswell :D

Took Vicki and the kids in it on a 2hr 40min trip uo north Saturday and home yesterday

Constant 3000rpm drone from the exhaust for 2hrs 40min

As for the neighbours

Well they all know when lennys home or goin out

[martyntdci]

headache/migrains not much then..... well that was vicki's excuse for las night pmsl

[Lenny]

headache/migrains not much then..... well that was vicki's excuse for las night pmsl

And ive a pain in my left shoulder from workin the 6 speed short shift gear box

Should have bought a Levin 7 years ago

[mixmasterlooney]

http://s575.photobucket.com/user/lennymanwoods/media/discussions/VID_20140310_161932_zpseu3yvkfz.mp4.html

Dear Lenny, one does enjoy your video, please update your potato.

Regards

Kurt

[Lenny]

Dear Lenny, one does enjoy your video, please update your potato.

Regards

Kurt

Dear Kurt,

One doesnt understand the above term?

Please elaborate :p

[Lenny]

Found a friend in local tesco car park

Working tomorrow followed by parts road trip 6am start on Sunday morning,

Ill update on Sunday night with some pictures

[mixmasterlooney]

Lenny I meant that your camera video quality is terrible lol update it mate

Sent from my automated robot M1X-M4573R-700N3Y

[martyntdci]

ur missing the black boot lid arent ya lenny????? lol

[Lenny]

Lenny I meant that your camera video quality is terrible lol update it mate

What can i say Kurt,

I was driving at the time :p

The purpose of the video has been served though, can see and hear the car.

ur missing the black boot lid arent ya lenny????? lol

is it that obvious?

Management passed comment on the white boot the other day, aswell as asking if it was the cheapest car i could find on the market,

They clearly don't understand cars or realise what it is.

Im slightly feeling pressure to colour code it :D

[mixmasterlooney]

Sounds like my lady whenever I talk about a vw golf mk1, she thinks it's a cheap box with wheels lol

Sent from my automated robot M1X-M4573R-700N3Y

[Lenny]

Sounds like my lady whenever I talk about a vw golf mk1, she thinks it's a cheap box with wheels lol

She's rite too :p

Nah i like the golf, that image above is a premonition of what id currently look like had i gone for a golf id still have a different coloured boot panel :D

In other news..

I took the passenger side skirt off the other day to trial fit the AE101 Levin skirts,

Firstly surprised with the around 2kg of sand and dirt including bamboo leaves trapped inside, proper JDM carbon datable data there:

Second thing:

The AE101 skirts have the same underbody mounting points but different side body mounting points compared to the AE111 skirts,

Also when i pressed the pre-facelift skirt agents the body the AE101 skirt sits around 1" away from the body at the front fender initially i thought this ment the pre-facelift front fenders were wider, therefore i wouldn't be able to fit them after all,

But after talking to the Toyota forum moderator and fellow Levin owner whom sold me the skirts he has informed me that the AE101 skirts fit both AE111 coupé models and the 3 door GSR corolla they just need heat applied along the skirt to shape them close to the body then tiger sealed on to the side aswell as standard bolt underneath.

Bottom line,

There going up the attic until the rear lip is purchased and the car is being sprayed,

In mechanical news:

The feared head gasket trouble doesn't exist thank lord, i took the Levin on a 472mile round trip last weekend and no over heating or loss of coolant so all is good there and the scum build up on the oil cap was due to the car being lying up.

However

After watching this video on YouTube

I've learned my VTi pulley isn't performing quite as well as it should,

So its VTEC yo!

But not so much yo,

Replacement pulley is 375euro from Toyota but must be gotten to maintain the 168bhp status,

A good time to have it changed is when having the timing belt done,

Which still needs to be done, was supposed to be this month but due to the spontaneous purchase of exhaust system, headlights, bumpers and tail lights zapped this months missal anions expenditure :o

Future plans:

Road trip in the focus tomorrow collecting parts,

MOT booked for Thursday 20th March

Tyres now fine,

But the rear brake pads are down to the metal if not the actual calipers agents the discs,

And the handbrake isn't working,

But she's going in on the 20th and ill fix it in time for the retest

[Lenny]

Update:

Back home now,

Been on the road in the focus since 6am

Collected the parts, all good but a tad disappointed with the glovebox, i asked for one with no exterior scratches but its in worse condition than the one I've currently fitted lol

The indicator units that join on to the headlights both have broken top clips,

This was a known brittle part on the AE111 but replacement indicator units cost less than 40 euro straight from Toyota,

The headlights themselves are in great condition but in bad need of lens restoration, I've sent George a PM there, i know he can do a great job of headlight restoration and ill package them up, send them off to him for restoration.

The replacement seatbelt is in excellent condition compared to the frayed one currently fitted to the car,

Big job to change them over though, a lot of panels to be removed and refitted, I'm just getting lazy now lol

The car is almost restored now in terms of parts,

only sought after items remaining are:

Bonnet insulation with clips, ( standard fit from factory but rare)

Drivers side front inner wheel arch plastic

Genuine Toyota Front footwell lighting (rare like hens teeth)

Smoked side repeater units

Rear skirt from Russia with luv

Its been an intense process since Christmas,

today was the first time in two weeks driving the focus and I'm surprised how many times i almost put it from 5th to R expecting it to be 6th and missing the VTEC on acceleration, although very economical compared to the BZR and a lot quieter

Anyways here's some pictures of today's purchases

Rear bumper,

purchased because the clips are broken on the drivers side of the existing bumper, and in order to fit the rear skirt, the body has to be perfect.

Here's the existing defected bumper

Here's the mentioned broken indicator units:

Here's the headlights

The poor glovebox

And the lovely seatbelt:

[georgen]

Had to go and dig around you photobucket to see vids lenny, the handbrake turn wasnt that impressive but Ive just read it doesnt work so that will be why lol. its quite loud now mate. B)