I’d thought I’d start a little project thread to follow the work I’ve carried out, and am planning on carrying out, on YAY.
When I picked up YAY from Ed it looked pretty much like this. In my opinion at the time; perfect.
I’ve never been drawn to silver cars in the past most likely because when I was growing up we owned mostly silver Volvos; it must have been engrained in me that silver = boring!! When I came to consider Vee ownership I already knew I preferred the looks of the MK1 but finding them in anything other than silver was almost impossible. I’d just come from a Mica Red Rx8 so Mars Red was out and I didn’t even realise that MK1’s came in Blue, such is their rarity!! In the end I ‘settled’ on silver and set about finding a mint one. I got very lucky with YAY, she was a club car (7 out of her 8 owners) and was in pretty much perfect condition. Everything was present and correct, a deal was struck and late January 2010 YAY was mine.
I must say the drive back I previously documented on here remains the most special I’ve had and yet I felt that something was missing; noise, believe it or not. The car already had a K-Tec back box on it but my old RX8 had a Trust bespoke system that made the rotary yowl its way through to the 9,500rpm rev limit. The search was on then for a new exhaust system. I listened to all the main players and settled upon the Quicksilver Supersport. Call it what you may; brave or foolish but I knew I at least had to give it a go. So one day in April a large package arrived from Quicksilver and I quickly found myself staring at my reflection in polished steel
After reading the forum aftermarket exhaust fitting guide about 20 times and stressing that this was a step too far for a noob mechanic I decided what the hell and took the plunge. Up on axle stands, hands through the cut outs (thankfully the mesh was previously removed), off with the old exhaust and on with the new. It really was that simple. Relieved would be an understatement!!
Immediately I had the sound track I craved http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqVMM0Qrv9s
With the exhaust sorted I turned my attention to the thrones. Quite simply they were woeful. Everytime I took a corner quickly (I can hear the collective gasp!!) I found myself precariously balanced between the seat and the doorcard. This would simply not do. After searching high and low I settled on some Recaro Pole Positions. Or I thought I had. New, a pair with the appropriate subframes and sliders were close to £1.5k. Now although they’d be a handsome addition it was not a price I was prepared to pay. There weren’t any second-hand offerings immediately apparent either. The seat problem was beginning to diminish my enjoyment of the more frequent spirited drives summer allows so a solution needed to be reached. My compromise was to buy some, by comparison, budget bucket seats. These are in no way Pole Positions but then again at £400 for seats, subframes, sliders and delivery they were massively cheaper.
Again I read the forum guide to fitting aftermarket seats and, after my exhaust success, decided again that’s I’d give it a good go. Long story short the bolts by the transmission tunnel defeated me, I simply couldn’t get them out so it was up to my local Renault dealer to rescue me. Less than an hour later I was the dealership's newest fan and the relationship has blossomed since then. I digress...
I will remember the summer just gone for a run back from Silverstone I had with Nas. The M1 was buggered so we took the ‘cross country’ route through a basically deserted Milton Keynes. Roundabout after dual carriageway after roundabout after dual carriageway was despatched with neither the rear wheels of the Vee or my bum moving a millimetre sideways. It was absolutely fantastic to finally be able to feel what the car was doing beneath you and gave me the confidence to really press on (the almost empty, dry, wide roads also helped!!). The seats were an unbridled success. The only drawback was the rather unsightly Sparco down both sides of the seat. Unfortunately this is embroidered in but one of the winter plans is to have the shells re-upholstered with alcantara and leather which will remove these and, hopefully, add embroidered Renaultsport badges. This is an option I’ve yet to explore however.
So far so good then. I’d completed two reversible mods and the next was on the horizon. Having seen a couple of MK1s with MK2 wheels I decided that the YAYs arches needed filling that bit more. Also, the wheels currently on are immaculate and I was keen to keep them that way. Ebay was consulted and a few weeks later some rather tatty but genuine MK2 wheels turned up.
They would all need a refurb but for the price paid they were still substantially cheaper than new Renault items. I now just need the spacers, wheel nuts and tyre valves, which will all be sourced in the coming months. The original idea was to refurbish them in the same colour but then I took the decision that I shouldn’t be hasty. The jury’s still out what colour to refurbish them and a final decision will be made in the coming months. To go with the new wheels I bought the now almost obligatory rubber.
Fast forward to late July and I made a momentous decision. I was keeping YAY forever. Till January I had always kept my cars for a year, maybe two if they were particularly good, but then the itch for more - insert as applicable; power, comfort, handling, space etc etc - grew too much to bear and I looked for a new machine. YAY was different. It was never bought to be just a steed, just a method of transport, it was bought to be cherished, to be enjoyed, to be spared the onslaught of commuting, to be a weekend queen in the truest sense of the word.
With this in mind it dawned on me that as I was keeping the car forever that, what I term, irreversible mods were now possible. The sky is very much the limit. So we’re now at the present day. I’m going to use winter to do some major interior/exterior mods and hopefully this thread will be a way for me to map the progress and you all to give your opinions. None of the mods will be to the engine. That's for the long-term once I'm happy with the rest of the car. I won't divulge too much information as to what is planned as it is constantly changing and evolving in my head but the general idea is to have the car looking as 'factory upgrade' as possible. I'm not a fan of Max Power or The Fast and The Furious...
When I picked up YAY from Ed it looked pretty much like this. In my opinion at the time; perfect.
I’ve never been drawn to silver cars in the past most likely because when I was growing up we owned mostly silver Volvos; it must have been engrained in me that silver = boring!! When I came to consider Vee ownership I already knew I preferred the looks of the MK1 but finding them in anything other than silver was almost impossible. I’d just come from a Mica Red Rx8 so Mars Red was out and I didn’t even realise that MK1’s came in Blue, such is their rarity!! In the end I ‘settled’ on silver and set about finding a mint one. I got very lucky with YAY, she was a club car (7 out of her 8 owners) and was in pretty much perfect condition. Everything was present and correct, a deal was struck and late January 2010 YAY was mine.
I must say the drive back I previously documented on here remains the most special I’ve had and yet I felt that something was missing; noise, believe it or not. The car already had a K-Tec back box on it but my old RX8 had a Trust bespoke system that made the rotary yowl its way through to the 9,500rpm rev limit. The search was on then for a new exhaust system. I listened to all the main players and settled upon the Quicksilver Supersport. Call it what you may; brave or foolish but I knew I at least had to give it a go. So one day in April a large package arrived from Quicksilver and I quickly found myself staring at my reflection in polished steel
After reading the forum aftermarket exhaust fitting guide about 20 times and stressing that this was a step too far for a noob mechanic I decided what the hell and took the plunge. Up on axle stands, hands through the cut outs (thankfully the mesh was previously removed), off with the old exhaust and on with the new. It really was that simple. Relieved would be an understatement!!
Immediately I had the sound track I craved http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqVMM0Qrv9s
With the exhaust sorted I turned my attention to the thrones. Quite simply they were woeful. Everytime I took a corner quickly (I can hear the collective gasp!!) I found myself precariously balanced between the seat and the doorcard. This would simply not do. After searching high and low I settled on some Recaro Pole Positions. Or I thought I had. New, a pair with the appropriate subframes and sliders were close to £1.5k. Now although they’d be a handsome addition it was not a price I was prepared to pay. There weren’t any second-hand offerings immediately apparent either. The seat problem was beginning to diminish my enjoyment of the more frequent spirited drives summer allows so a solution needed to be reached. My compromise was to buy some, by comparison, budget bucket seats. These are in no way Pole Positions but then again at £400 for seats, subframes, sliders and delivery they were massively cheaper.
Again I read the forum guide to fitting aftermarket seats and, after my exhaust success, decided again that’s I’d give it a good go. Long story short the bolts by the transmission tunnel defeated me, I simply couldn’t get them out so it was up to my local Renault dealer to rescue me. Less than an hour later I was the dealership's newest fan and the relationship has blossomed since then. I digress...
I will remember the summer just gone for a run back from Silverstone I had with Nas. The M1 was buggered so we took the ‘cross country’ route through a basically deserted Milton Keynes. Roundabout after dual carriageway after roundabout after dual carriageway was despatched with neither the rear wheels of the Vee or my bum moving a millimetre sideways. It was absolutely fantastic to finally be able to feel what the car was doing beneath you and gave me the confidence to really press on (the almost empty, dry, wide roads also helped!!). The seats were an unbridled success. The only drawback was the rather unsightly Sparco down both sides of the seat. Unfortunately this is embroidered in but one of the winter plans is to have the shells re-upholstered with alcantara and leather which will remove these and, hopefully, add embroidered Renaultsport badges. This is an option I’ve yet to explore however.
So far so good then. I’d completed two reversible mods and the next was on the horizon. Having seen a couple of MK1s with MK2 wheels I decided that the YAYs arches needed filling that bit more. Also, the wheels currently on are immaculate and I was keen to keep them that way. Ebay was consulted and a few weeks later some rather tatty but genuine MK2 wheels turned up.
They would all need a refurb but for the price paid they were still substantially cheaper than new Renault items. I now just need the spacers, wheel nuts and tyre valves, which will all be sourced in the coming months. The original idea was to refurbish them in the same colour but then I took the decision that I shouldn’t be hasty. The jury’s still out what colour to refurbish them and a final decision will be made in the coming months. To go with the new wheels I bought the now almost obligatory rubber.
Fast forward to late July and I made a momentous decision. I was keeping YAY forever. Till January I had always kept my cars for a year, maybe two if they were particularly good, but then the itch for more - insert as applicable; power, comfort, handling, space etc etc - grew too much to bear and I looked for a new machine. YAY was different. It was never bought to be just a steed, just a method of transport, it was bought to be cherished, to be enjoyed, to be spared the onslaught of commuting, to be a weekend queen in the truest sense of the word.
With this in mind it dawned on me that as I was keeping the car forever that, what I term, irreversible mods were now possible. The sky is very much the limit. So we’re now at the present day. I’m going to use winter to do some major interior/exterior mods and hopefully this thread will be a way for me to map the progress and you all to give your opinions. None of the mods will be to the engine. That's for the long-term once I'm happy with the rest of the car. I won't divulge too much information as to what is planned as it is constantly changing and evolving in my head but the general idea is to have the car looking as 'factory upgrade' as possible. I'm not a fan of Max Power or The Fast and The Furious...
