{"id":2153,"date":"2026-01-26T10:44:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T10:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nickt.net\/wordpress\/?page_id=2153"},"modified":"2026-04-24T11:59:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:59:44","slug":"2026-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nickt.net\/wordpress\/?page_id=2153","title":{"rendered":"2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 24th 2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The weather has started to get better so getting out in the car a bit more. I have strengthened the chassis where the Audi subframe joins to add a bit more rigidity and today I take it for its MOT.. Those are the highlights \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The car just drives to beautifully, its a hard ride, does not like pot holes and turns heads.. what is not to like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Car meets so far: Porsche meet in Langley, Runneymede, Hellfire club – High Wycombe, and TSSC club meet in Old Windsor. This was posted in the TSSC Facebook group<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kind of cool seeing your car getting a big thumbs up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have also fixed the front suspension.. ChatGPT and I have been trying to get the ride just so, positive, not wallowy, and not skipping down the road.. So i have fitted 225lb front springs and made some shock extenders so I do not have to add too much shock preload, so far I am happy. I also adjusted the front splitter so it was pointing down a lot more.. I had no idea they were so effective, point up and the car lifts at speed. For the shock extender I 3d printed my prototype, and transferred to stainless steel.. very happy with the result. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oh yes.. I also added silicon bushes to the rear anti roll bar, just in case the ride was not uncomfortable already \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2026 (Jan Update)<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

A whole chunk of work has happened on the Spitfire since the last update. I finally got the front end sorted properly, and I\u2019m now deep into the rear brakes and suspension setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Front Suspension \u2014 Now Fixed the Right Way<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The front suspension needed a proper rebuild. The Gaz Golds I had fitted were perfect for a standard Spitfire, but being so low, they were the wrong length for my car, so I sent them back.
Gaz shortened and rebuilt the front shocks<\/strong> with the correct body length and stroke so they work properly with the travel I\u2019m targeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that done I changed the spring rates to something that actually suits the mid-engine weight distribution:
\u2022 Old springs were 185 lb\/in \u2014 way too soft now.
\u2022 New springs are 210 lb\/in<\/strong> and the ride height sits about right.
\u2022 I\u2019m running around 50 mm bump and 50 mm droop<\/strong> from the final shock setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Front ride and control are finally what they should be \u2014 no more pogo-ing or diving under hard stops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another mod was to move the front rollbar so it goes through the front chassis rails. I added silicon bushes and adjustable drop links. This has given me more clearance at the front and aligned the rollbar so it is horizontal to the chassis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quaife limited slip differential<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have now fitted a Quaife LSD, this was a really difficult bit of work and required machining my transaxle case! the bearings in the transaxle were too big for the LSD, so i had to machine a sleeve for the LSD to hold the bearing in place, that then meant that the diff was too long for the transaxle case, o OI had to machine the end plate 1mm to allow diff to rotate, i tested with engineer blue, and remarkably it all worked perfectly! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is by far the best modification i have made to the car, even in the damp I can now hold my foot down on the accelerator without is squirreling up the road.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Front Brakes \u2014 DONE<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The front brakes are now fully finished and working great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m running Porsche 986 rear Brembo calipers with a 130 mm bolt spacing on the front hubs (replacing the old BMW calipers i was running before). Designing and machining the adapters was a pain, I made the adapters out of 10mm black steel. They fit cleanly under the 17\u201d wheels with 300 mm discs, and the whole setup feels really sorted now. the adapter are made from 10mm <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rear Brakes \u2014 Work in Progress<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With the front done, I\u2019ve now switched attention to the rear brakes. I\u2019m planning a dual-caliper setup as Brembo do not make a multi piston caliper with built in hand brake.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m using Porsche Cayenne rear calipers, which have 136 mm bolt spacing<\/strong>, and the plan is:
\u2022 New adapter plates made from 10mm steel, running the Brembo caliper and for the handbrake Mk4 Golf rear calipers.
\u2022 Disc size going up slightly, I have removed the 285mm solid disc and fitting 300mm Audi A6 vented discs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the measurements and photos are taken, and adapter CAD work is now well under way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Caliper Paint<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Both front and rear calipers are going yellow using Halfords yellow caliper paint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 24th 2026 The weather has started to get better so getting out in the car a bit more. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2153","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickt.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickt.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickt.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickt.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickt.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2153"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickt.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2192,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickt.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2153\/revisions\/2192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickt.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}