New stuff waiting by the front door - woo hoo!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-q...508_133110.jpg

It's alive!! and I'm going to call him the Z300 short wheelbase...

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/...psfbdvxyim.jpg

...but only because Bertini was already taken.

Important to have the before picture

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E...508_171111.jpg

And just because pictures can be deceptiver - measure things accurately
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w...508_171131.jpg

It is currently riding at 1 beer bottle spacing

Mmmmm- Black Sheep Ale. Now that's one good decision you've made lately.

Ian, you have to trust me on this. If I had described the Z300S before it was built you would have said it would never work.

You saw it and you bought it.

My only real ability in life is to envisage things others cannot.

Having said that, I do occasionally get it wrong. The anchovies and Stilton sandwich I had last night after nine Duvals was not improved by adding caper berries.

Yes, I am grateful to you for getting the idea off the drawing board, seeing was believing and Chris's pricing the icing on the cake.

Good luck with the conversion- I have to admit I have often thought about chopping a Ford Escort Mk1 and an HB Vauxhall Viva in half and conjoining the opposite halves...

Experimental recipes as well now...

Car lowering has commenced!

Well first I raised the front and stuck some concrete blocks under it so I could pop the wheels off to get to the struts.

Amazingly the first came off really easily. 3 bolts at the bottom, three at the top a slight tap with the persuading hammer and the rust welding broke free to release the strut. Clearly the new ones are shorter and smaller
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-c...509_131757.jpg

Second side had bolts held in place by Gods own hand and even when I had all six bolts out it wouldn't come free. There is a little 'dimple' that helps locate the strut that seems to attract rust weld. Multiple hammers and a long persuading stick were employed.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-b...509_131748.jpg

Eventually the git was freed
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-x...509_132504.jpg

Now I cannot get the sodding top off the old shock to transfer to the new shocks. they are staying like this tonight
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D...509_160259.jpg

And the car looks like this
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-G...509_132540.jpg

You need to increase the rideheight from the lowest it is in now....
Probably about 2cm.....

The shocks are as they came with no compression in the spring. I will adjust once fitted.

I will start with 2cm as you suggest and see how it looks.

Just realised that as well as not having the right spanner for the top of the old shock, I don't have a hook spanner to adjust the new ones. Oh well, more tools to buy

They should be in the box..........

That's what I was expecting but they're not :-(

I've never before seen a scythe used to work on a motor car. Further posts eagerly awaited!

Multifunctional tool. One day you are part of an angry mob the next you are levering the shock off.

Standard equipment in BMW technicians toolbox I believe

Haha, very good

I suspect that what you see is WCA's complete toolkit: hammer, three sockets, jack, screwdriver and scythe!
It does explain why some of the carpentery work we have seen was lacking in finesse, but a testament to ingenuity to be able to build a whole kit car without spending half the build cost on tools.

That tool kit help me fashion the wooden axle stands you can see holding the car up!

Anyway. All nicely lowered and definitely lower than before
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-p...510_140556.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-k...510_140605.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-C...510_141022.jpg


Okay, there was some slight wheel rub issues but I liked the stance
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-g...510_171355.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--...510_171408.jpg

now how to keep the ride height the same but stop the wheel arches rubbing? Easy with an angle grinder, just remove the wheel arches
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a...510_173043.jpg

Problem solved!

Looks ike my trolley jack will be getting less use from now on
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6...510_164126.jpg

Good job. I should imagine a little more trimming of the splash guard will be needed to allow suspension travel. Talking of which, what's the ride quality like now?

Looks good! I have TaTechnix coilovers on my mx5 and they're really quite comfortable compared to the Eibachs I had on my Rx8!

The quick blast I went for first showed they rubbed but a rerun after the angle grinder showed a reasonable ride and no rubbing. I will stick it on the ramps in a few days and check everything is still tight and then have a proper play

it's a bill hook...