The 2008/2009 round of improvements and repairs have begun!
It's that time of year again, and I've been threatening it for a while.. the Arosa is now in the garage and in bits (once again!), but more of that in a sec. Things should be a bit less pressured this year, however there's still a fair amount of work to be done, so let me begin by compiling a list
:
- IMP: Relocate battery - never got around to this last year
- IMP: Fit oil pressure/temp guages - didn't have time last year
- IMP: Remove more weight - best way to improve power/weight ratio!
- IMP: Fit lightweight alloys and new R888 boots
- IMP: Fit bonnet pins
- IMP: Fit rear pop-out windows to provide much needed in-car ventilation
- IMP: Source a full-size passenger wing mirror to improve cage-restricted visibility
- IMP: Investigate a LSD
- FIX: Damaged drivers-side sill
- FIX: Wonky front end and dodgy looking bumper
- FIX: Repaint interior floor-pan
- FIX: Re-underseal
- FIX: Rear crash bar after a muppet drove into me in a queue of traffic
- FIX: Visit a bodyshop!
IMP = Improvement
FIX = Wear/tear/mishap from 2008
First up, I have already been collecting a few parts..
- Lightweight Odyssey PC625 battery
- Mount for said battery
- Cable to relocate said battery
- Section of driver-side door sill cut out from a Lupo with much angle-grinding!
- Rear pop-out windows from a Lupo to provide much needed summer cooling whilst on-track
- New upper front-bumper
Right, time to begin! This weekend I have wrapped up my MKIII Escort so that I can free up the garage to work on the Arosa, so once it was in the garage, the front end was jacked up and the work commenced.
First I removed the rear bumper and crash bar, then the front bumper, headlights, crash bar and front panel including radiator..
Then the standard battery and mount were removed, before giving all of the visible chassis areas now exposed a good clean up to remove the wax and oil grime. At this point I decided to tackle the messy wiring in the engine bay, removing bits that were defunct and re-routing various parts of it. I also removed the CDA so that I could tackle the next task..
At this point I had created a nice void within the bay where the battery once was, this is going to be my distribution point for all positive feeds originating from the relocated battery:
Although hard to see, I have now removed the thick, heavy and given this is the muddiest Arosa known to man thanks to previous owners, dirty sound deadening from the back of the engine bay:
Below is a pic of the other side of the cleaned up engine bay, and the almost undone-wing (which is need of some beating!):
I'm off to screwfix tomorrow to obtain some much needed supplies..
.. however, below is a pic of the standard battery and my boxed up new one (the new one weighs less than half of the standard unit and is under a third of it's size!). In the background is the sill panel: