Tinyflier

Upgraded to Torqen’s (most excellent) Monster brake setup so I now have my Brembo callipers (Hawk ceramic pads) and grooved Stoptech discs for sale. The callipers are OEM (covered approx 78,000 miles) but are in full highly effective (and clean!) working order and come complete with HEL brake lines. The discs/pads/lines were fitted by Abbey Motorsport in March 2014, have covered 10,000 miles with have plenty of life left. This has been a most successful combination, the Hawk pads are highly effective from cold, no squeal and very low dust. Currently the entire kit (inc fixing bolts) are at Kaizer Motors but can be couriered to the purchaser or collected/fitted from Sly (Rochester). Price for the entire lot £650, plus courier costs (estimated at £25).

I think you are being too gentle with your bedding in process Alan, they can be and I think should be bedded in much more aggressively by putting them through a series of heat/cooling cycles in a really short time period. 10/12 stops using 80% force in decelerating from 60 mph to 10 mph will get these through the point where the resins in the pads have been surfaced and cooked out and you start to get a good transfer layer onto the discs. A short run to let them cool (don't stop with foot on the brake though, if you absolutely have to stop, get down to lowest speed possible on footbrake and use handbrake for last few mph then brakes OFF), repeat the 10/12 stop process, let them cool again and job is done. I've always bedded in brakes (road and race) through this heat/cool cycle - takes perhaps 20-30 min (assuming you can find a good piece of road that lets you do this! Luckily the roads around Kaizer Motors (who fitted my Torqen Monster kit) are ideal as they are virtually deserted and there are a few roundabouts that let you loop around and go through the process with ease. David

I'll wait until you sell yours before I advertise mine... although if they don't sell it isn't the end of the world! David

Thanks for the update Tiny. I'm having these fitted today in conjunction with Eibach ARBs On the ARB's I've gone soft front, Medium Rear. Whats your settings? When you say Hard -10 does that mean you cranked it all the way round to its hardest setting then dialled it back 10 clicks? Yes that is what I did for damper settings and am running those same ARB settings.

Thanks Graham - much appreciated. David

I'd even settle for a less accurate answer ie "is the facelift front bumper longer (wider) than the pre facelift?" Yes? No?

I like - I was thinking of this lip too (although deep down I really want the GT lip) - good to see it on a (proper colour!) Zed. Good job with the rattle can. David

Remove the long plastic curved moulding that holds the rubber seal first, then pull the rubber seal off, then attach the kick-plate. Re-fit seal and moulding - job done. David

For what its worth, I was running this setup (on Brembo callipers) before I moved to the Torqen monster set up and can vouch for it being a superb combination. The Hawk pads are really effective, no squeal, great bite at all road temp ranges and also quite low dust. Great price too Adrian! David

Does anyone happen to know if there is a difference in the width of the pre & faclift front bumper when measured around the front from wheel arch to wheel arch. Also is the grille aperture the same or different widths? If there is, what are the size differences? David

Lowered mine by 20mm (we were aiming for 15 but it was towards the end of long day at Kaizers!). I would be reluctant to go any lower, at 20mm my sidesteps have rubbed sligtly on a couple of particularily vicious car park entry/exits - nothing major but it does make you wince!) David

Rear adjustor extenders not yet fitted as they are being redesigned by Torqen. Will let you know how I fit them once Adrian sends new ones.

Full set, package not even opened. Delivered price is £45

Black Zunsport grille recently removed (I fancy a change!). Is unmarked and comes with fixing screws and instructions. Delivered price is £75.

... by Sly on Saturday to fit a full set of coilovers and monster brake kit all from Torqen and what a great job he did as always. Thanks Sly for doing such a great job at such a great price. David

At the risk of boring everyone... some pictures of my most recent mods. Firstly we have my re-trimmed seats by Si at "Hide 'n Seat". Beautifully done by Si in leather and dark grey alcantara - both seata now sporting "anti submarining humps". Then I enjoyed some retail therapy on the Torqen forum site - let the pics speak for themselves. Fitting was done by Sly (Kaizer Motors) in one VERY long day as well as full geometry alignment. to reach this, I have commented on the brakes and coilovers on the relevant Torqen thread so won't repeat it here. Have also removed my Zunsport grille and reverted to standard bodycoloured (facelift) slats as I took of my Mines replica spoiler to fit a GT Style unit. David

As seen in the brake kit thread I also had a set of these lovely coilovers fitted along with Eibach adjustable rear camber arms, Am currently running them on setting 20 (hard - 10) and 20 mm lower than stnd. Need to play around with settings but initial feeling is the balance feels good (as much as you can tell on a quick road run) and the ride is pretty compliant over bumps and dips. I already had Eibach ARB and Whiteline drop links so car already cornered very flat, with these coilovers the handling is markedly sharper. David

Here are mine. Front - 8 pot with 380mm disc Rear - 6 pot with 356 mm disc You can also see my Torqen coilovers. David

Had my "monster kit" fitted by Kaizer Motors on Saturday - I will post pics and full comments in my build thread but first impressions are - GREAT. I did give them a good heat cycle on first fitting to get them properly bedded in (the roads around Sly's workshop are excellent for that purpose!) and have been very impressed by the feedback these brakes give. They are progressive in application but when you use them HARD you STOP in a very VERY short time/distance! Expensive - yes. Performance - terrific. Looks - drool drool... David

Fitting day tomorrow - - along with Torqen coilovers and Eibach camber arms - busy day for Sly!

Interestingly (or not...) I had Steelmate sensors fitted to mine by local Auto/Radio shop and the two inner sensors are just about where they appear on the picture in that instruction sheet but the two outer ones are above the reversing/fog light clusters. When I asked why - the techie said the crash bar was too close to the bumper to fit them lower. But he could have been yanking my chain! I would have preferred (from an OCD perspective) to have them in a single line but it isn't something you look at often! David

All my carbon dipping (see my build thread) has been done by Wicked Coatings. -first class company to deal with. One item was dipped in slightly wrong shade and they investigated what had gone wrong, corrected it and re-dipped as a priority item. David

Pretty straightforward although you can sparay in situ if you mask off ALL the nearby areas properly! Simply remove the centre console (there are multiple threads here on how to do that) and you have complete acesss to the securing screws for the cubby. Remove that and it is a doddle to take the door off. David

Can I throw in a (possibly irrelevant/unwanted) comment here. I am currently* running Hawk ceramic pads on my 350 (with StopTech grooved discs) and found them to be low dust but a very effective bite at all (road) temperatures. Whether that is true of other ceramic pads I know not! David. * Torqen Monster kit will replace current setup very soon!

Check out my build thread (post#76) for same wheels in steel grey which I fitted a few weeks back. David