Have you had chance to play thoughts about handling and maybe got ideas what is causing most of undesired characteristics in there?

The handling has been at the very back of my mind Jani, it's not something I can get excited enough about without driving the car as well so I can at least try to feel what I see in the numbers!

I have got some data logging stuff ready to drop onto the car, for the ECU to grab the OBD as well as for putting some sensors on the hubs etc. It's just I need the car first

Chris_C wrote:The handling has been at the very back of my mind Jani, it's not something I can get excited enough about without driving the car as well so I can at least try to feel what I see in the numbers!

I have got some data logging stuff ready to drop onto the car, for the ECU to grab the OBD as well as for putting some sensors on the hubs etc. It's just I need the car first

Car might be useful in that, indeed

Sounds good to me, looking forward of your progress

Chris_C wrote:Well, I hadn't posted this as it's still not sorted, but there is a reason I havn't been updating my thread.

On the 7th Oct, Fake was written off whilst stationary in traffic. I was very lucky to have the supportive seats I do, my neck got away with it pretty lightly, however my lower back not so much, I still have issues with it if I don't sit with good posture.

Officially she is a Cat C write off. She looks *very* ill from the outside. I have pictures, but until I finish sorting out the insurance issues they will not be posted. So, after 8 months of not having her on the road, she was there for 8-10 weeks before *someone else* broke my car for once.

It's likely I will rebuild a valver, however I havn't worked out if this will be for myself or for recouping some costs. I just havn't driven the car enough in the last 14months to remember why I enjoy it and infront of that it hasn't been right for much longer. The wheels, suspension etc make it significantly more grippy and faster than a stock 300, but it doesn't handle like I want it to, nor how a stock car does. Whilst the F7R is an awesome engine I'm just not sure it's suited to the 300, at least the level to which I will drive the car and the reliability I insist from it. Tbh, I just need to think it through, but even if Fake does come back, there will be some fairly major changes.

I'll put an initial idea of my wheels are likely up for sale. You all know what they look like, most preference will go to someone able to swap for Leo's along with something else, either pound notes or shiney things. How much soley depends on the condition of the Leo's. I have 8 in total, one has a fairly epic bend however so it would be wrong for me to sell two sets.

Might as well finish this post off. I'm guessing most of you have sussed where Speedy's wheels came from. Pictures from about 5mins after I was driven into.

Somehow I managed to miss your original post about the accident Although I had read something about you needing doors somewhere else so I was wondering what had happened. Sad to see what happened, surely not too bad to buy back and repair?

So, first thing I did when I got Fake home after work that day (yup, even bent she drove to work. The Hyundai was hi-ab'd away, it was impossible to move) was to get measuring and see how screwed the shell actually was. Took measurements across all suspension pickup points, used the laser pointer trick to project triangles to check that all points were not only in the correct place but also pointing in the right direction. Turns out they are all still fine.

However, the list of parts required for a fix isn't small. So, still a coin toss on having a DVLA registered 2L 340 shell (which was enough of a pain to sort originally, though I'm not sure if that was as no one had done it before, Speedy's was a lot easier) to fix verses rebuilding a new one. Say... a mk1. One of the major problems is the chap drove directly into my rear axle, scrapping my adjustable dampers, a very nice set of leaf springs, a fully re'conned 360 axle along with a few other small bits and pieces like doors. To give you an idea of the impact, here is one of the leaf springs. When I get round to it I have photos of the damper, which has imprints of the hub carrier (that sits 3" away) imprinted on it.





EDIT: Andy, I have bought it back, can't afford to loose the parts that are on it. The shell is straight, so it's do-able. It's just damn depressing after all the work that this things had.

Only just noticed how far the wheel is out in the photo's. I know how you feel, someone wrote off my previous transit just after I'd spent about £500 it in repairs. I bought it back, had it properly done up and still made a profit Looks like the spring took a lot of the impact, maybe better that than the body shell. I was expecting a full rear end shunt before I saw the photos, it still managed to do plenty of damage however

Dude, what can I say? Heartbreaking. Most of all, I really hope your back gets better. But I know what you're like, you'll get it done and Fake will be back.

What was the highndry trying to do?
Sneak up the inside of a single lane?!
Fuckn mongtard.

This sucks man.
Keep the thread updated as to what you decide.

Brake pad dust on huyndai tells that driver is not very good driver, brakes too late, brakes too hard, brakes too much, so overall one can conclude driver does not pay attention and plan ahead, also might drive like a twat.

Shame that such has to happen to your car, why it could not hit something modern crap


There is something in UK with 300 series cars, quite many of members on this board have gotten driven into, VND, you, I think it was Adam and his grey car once too, maybe someone else?

Oh and I was reversed into at parking lot once too, bumper saved from damage though, but somehow other drivers seem not to see these cars, it is worse than with other car models, with my french crap I have covered a lot more road than with 360, but never anyone has driven into that piece of junk, however everyone hits it with their doors, sides are like golf ball's surface.

If you had custom parts declared, you should get some better value from broken bits from insurance, I think at least, but you never know with insurance, suing other driver should at least give full expenses covered, it is not your fault being driven into so he should be one paying from that or his insurance, at least that is what I think would be logical.

I've been driven into the back of twice, so make that 4. I think it might have something to do with the amount of traffic jams in the UK

People don't expect to stop or something!

Chris_C wrote:8k VDO rev counter part 1 completed.

That is all.

Part 2 completed.

Spose I should update a bit more than that. This might be a long post. There might also be something like eleventy squillion pictures, but I'm hoping to prove this works and how accurate it is.

In the grand scheme of engines falling out, propshafts falling off, ECU's being a bit weird and Hyundai's driving into me I decided I wanted a fun project, not a "awww, I need to get the car back on the road again" project.

So, one thing I think late 300's suffer from compared to early's is the lack of an 8k rev counter. Why Volvo put an 8k counter on redblocks and B14's, then took it away when the B172 (the only one that can rev as standard...) will never be clear to me The main issue I have with it is I have an ECU rev limited on Fake set at just past 7,100 rpm. I've never hit that, but I have hit the stop before. This worries me. So, I thought I'd see what I could do.

Alongside this, a friend has been putting a Zetec into a Ford Pop and wanted a period rev counter that could also do 8k. That sounds enough of a reason for a scrappying, so we recovered a 400 series gauge set and a Mondeo rev counter and proceeded to the workshop (some people call it a kitchen... but it's where food and awesome is made).


Mondeo tacho removed from dash cluster and hooked up to a signal gen as well as a PSU, sillyscope and universal counter. The numbers on the counter are in Hz (things per second). Rev counters are in rpm's (things per minute), so if you take the number on the counter in the picture and multiply by 60, then it should be the number on the gauge. However, things are triggered by the coil in a car, which has to fire twice per revolution in a 4 stroke, so you divide by 2. Sooo, 31numbers on the screen means 31*(60/2) == 930 revs. So, ford are slightly over reading. No difference there then.

As I'm an electronics person, I only deal in numbers around base 2. So from 32 we go to 128. 126(60/2) = 3780, still over reading.

and onto 256. 7710 rpm


So. We have some test numbers that we can use to set up a gauge. Most electronic things have a calibration method, some way of making them more or less accurate. So, off to hunt to see if we can fiddle a mk3 VDO gauge to show 8,000 (or, as I didn't have anything to do maths to hand, 256 is easy for a test at 7680rpm sounds good enough. Ohh, found a thing to change. Manage to unwind it enough that 8,000rpm is hugely away from the end stop here.

And, with some precision adjusting, we can make it exactly the endstop, here

To prove a point, half of 256 is 128, so wind that onto the dial for 3840 rpm, yup, half way on the gauge sweep.

and same for 32

and 64 shows where 1920rpm would be


But, this is all a bit useless when the numbers show nothing sensible. So, time for new numbers.
I managed to get the rotation wrong though

And some greenery

First attempt. Orig gauge face at the top of the light box, new one below (looking like a sheet of paper...) The green glow is the wrong colour. Note the red tacho which will be for afore mentioned Popular.

OEM right, mine left

Different green glow

Oooh, more. And they are getting better. OEM bottom right, bad green glow top right. Bad glueing top left. Bottom left... that looks passable.

Screwed up to a VDO mech.

Two dubious ones foreground. OEM right, hopeful one left mounted with needle.

Not tried it in the car yet. Hoping that the green glow blends in with the other gauges at night, but daytime it looks really good, I'm very happy.

Nice work! That's what I'm talking about.

Hi Chris.
Great work mate.
Err what type of beer is that sitting in front of the chopping board?
Cheers Mark.