Few Styling Mods To My Mk1 Aygo Since Last Visit..

[Planemo]

Hello all,

Been a while but I have done a few mods and thought I would post them up.

1. Front bumper splitter. Got this off eBay and it's really well made. Looks right, fits right and took about 20 minutes to fit. Really happy with it. £90 delivered.

2. Fly-eyes. All lights inc fogs and side repeaters. I bought some of this and had a go at the front lights myself but despite my best efforts there was a couple of wrinkles in them. Not noticeable unless you were next to the car but it bugged me so I ripped it all off and paid a professional to do it. Not a single wrinkle anywhere and again, really happy. And legal too. £110 fitted.

3. Vinyl wrap the B pillars satin black to match the roof. Been meaning to do this for a while and some decisions have to be made on where you cut the top edge. Some said it looked better in line with the rear glass line, others said go slightly higher - to the top of the glass recess. Personal preference really but I went for the upper line as the recesses are, in most circumstances, darker than the surrounding doorframe. Although happy with the pillars when done, I then noticed that the door shut area behind the gap line stood out (still silver) so we put some more vinyl on that as well and everything looks great now. £60 fitted.

The only other styling mod in the pipeline is to 3M carbon the wing mirrors.

Try as I might to get used to the ride height (Eibachs) I just can't. It sits well, but IMO it just needs a bit more. I reckon around 15mm on the front and 10mm on the back. I've looked at various springs, even custom made ones, but the only real way out and to allow a height which I know I can get exactly the way I want is to go coilover. It was a hard (£400) decision to make but hey you only live once and I should have some Vogtlands at my door any day now.

Once the coilovers are on I will make a decision on whether I want to keep the wheels. I have no issue with the design etc, in fact they are perfect in every way except I just wish I had bought 16" instead. Damn! If I can get a good price for them s/h it might allow me to fund the 16's but at around £750 it's another big one to swallow.

Anyway, enough waffle, heres some pics :)

[MarkTM]

Splitter looks great and enough ground clearance too!

What are you going to do when you've got it the way you want?

Finally can you point me towards a post that lists your performance mods...and have you had it dyno'd? :D

[Planemo]

Hi Mark,

Probably going to be a long termer this one. The running costs are just too good to give up!

I haven't done anything re performance. Getting any worthwhile gains out of a modern small engine just doesnt work out cost effective IMO. The only thing I have considered (and would like) is a turbo conversion but it would be a big job to do right, even running standard compression and low boost. The other alternative is to fit some nitrous as I have a kit sitting around that I have had on a few of my cars (and bikes). It might suit the little engine quite well but I would only run 25bhp. Would be quite a laugh though and not a big job but insurers can twitch a bit. I may just leave it as it is and enjoy the car for what it is - a nippy, good handling economical little car. :)

[MarkTM]

Planemo, I remember modding an MX-5 15yrs back, spent upwards of £18k on it with SC running at 18psi, high lift cams, methanol injection and a nitros kit and Hayward and Stott quad zaust. Notwithstanding the interior mods and £3k of chrome, when I sold it didn't recoup any but was the joy of doing it.

Weirdly I lived in Essex at the time so am guessing a vagary of living there, have two cars capable of a sub 6 0-62 so the Aygo is just to embarrass my kids, so it will stay stock

[Planemo]

I know how you feel there bud! I had invoices for £25k for the engine work alone on my Supra. Sold the whole car for 18. Was fun though :)

[MarkTM]

No chrome caps for your fluid reservoirs...you should be ashamed!

[Planemo]

If it didnt serve a performance purpose it didnt get fitted! Things have taken a slightly different turn with the Aygo though... :(

[Planemo]

Had another day on the car today :) Wash, clay bar and wax. Nothing like feeling your hand glide across paintwork! First time I have ever used clay before and can't believe what I've been missing for 15 years. Takes off tar, embedded grit and even some spots of overspray I had from when I painted my boat recently! Amazing stuff and not a lot of effort either.

Got a leather steering wheel off eBay (£85 delivered) which went on today and I decided to paint the interior A pillar trims black as they stuck out like a sore thumb in that lovely factory beige. The wheel was used but it's in excellent condition and feels so much nicer than the plastic one. Took less than 10 minutes to fit as well.

The coilovers still haven't arrived, I am hoping they will be here tomorrow as I have another opportunity to get on the car for the day.

[MarkTM]

Great job, I've been claying for almost 20yrs now after picking up on it when I lived stateside in the 90's.

About 15yrs ago I bought a job lot of 180g bars from Halfords for 50p each as no one knew what they were

I usually try and clay my cars at least once a year, usually early Sept in time for winter, then followed by the meguire 3 step and then nano seal it all in. Have been amazed at how much crud is on even new cars off the production line, Also a clay bar is great for cleaning windscreens too!

Q1) Did you paint your pillars in place or did you remove them first?

Q2) Did you use a puller for the wheel or did you do it with BFI?

[Planemo]

50p! I think I paid a tenner for the block I got. I did do a bit of research though and it had good reviews, plus you can use plain water as lube whereas most seem to use a special fluid mix?

Meguires seems to be well respected but again I have never used it. I will look into the 3 step you mention. Also, whats the nano stuff all about?

Pillars came off chap, they are so easy to remove. Just pull back the door seal, pull the top of the pillar sideways and they come out. Only one pop stud at the top and the bottom is slotted into the dash. I did have to remove my tweeters though but they were only 2 screws each. I used satin black spray, I was going to get Plastikote but nobody had it locally so took a risk on 'regular' paint. Thankfully it didnt react and it looks fine. If it had of gone wrong I would probably have just got them wrapped.

The wheel was really easy, the centre nut wasnt overly tight and the wheel came off with a couple of rocks side to side. Wish I could say the same for my wing mirror glass!

[Planemo]

Whoops, deleted as duplicate post. Ruddy wi-fi.

[Planemo]

Well today was a busy day. Decided to do something about the horrendous state of my rear drums - flaky paint everywhere and what wasn't paint was thick brown rust. Wish I had taken a 'before' picture just to show how bad they were. Out came the electric drill and wire brush, bit of satin hammerite I had in the shed and job done.

As I was doing the drums the postie turned up with some shiny Denso Iridium plugs (£30) which although expensive are a very good plug. I have used these in other cars and they never fail despite serious mileage and abuse. Gaps were right out of the box so in they went. Glad I did because it gave me a chance to pull out the air filter which was covered in foliage from the cast-offs from my overhanging tree so that got a clean as well.

Whilst I was getting covered in mess, Mr. TNT turned up with the coilovers so whilst the back was up on went the rears. Thought I would err on the side of caution and setup the springs so there was about 20mm of drop in reserve. Bolted it all back up and it was about the same as the Eibachs so up on stands again to remove the lower shock bolts (you need to drop the rear axle to adjust the rear on this kit - bit of a pain) and took them to max drop. Came down again and it's just how I wanted it. I wouldn't say this kit (on the rear at least - see more below) doesn't 'slam' like some might want so bear this in mind if you want serious droppage.

The fronts were next - a lot more grief than the rears on these cars. Thankfully things came out pretty easily given that I had had them all apart not long ago to fit the Eibachs. I thought that I would again err on the side of caution and adjusted them with about 30mm left to drop. Let it all down and ***** it was low - arches just below the tyres - about 35mm less than the Eibachs. Thought I would spin around the block anyway and front right tyre rubbed so I bought both sides up 10mm, went for another spin and the front offside scrubbed just a tad on high lock/low speed. Had another measure and saw that the right offside was about 5mm lower than the left so I brought it up to match and things seem OK. Overall about 20mm less than the Eibachs which is bang on where I wanted it.

Needs a better roadtest as I was out of time and I had other stuff to do but the kit has given me what I wanted. It seems strange that Vogtland state 30 to 60mm drop on the front and 25 to 55 on the rear because that doesn't add up to me, comparing it to the Eibachs. I would say you are looking at up to 85mm on the front although the rear is about right. God help anyone that wants to run max drop on the front with this kit.

Took me about 5 hours on me tod, although like I say the mare I had getting the fronts off when I did the Eibachs saved me a lot of agg this time round.

Whilst fitting the kit, my acrylic blanking plug for the rear wiper arrived but I had run out of time. A job for another day.

I will get some better pics of the final ride height when I get a minute. The last pic is how I have left it for now.

[aygo_rory]

looking tidy dude! keep up the good work!

[Planemo]

Got the mirrors wrapped today with 3M carbon. Came out nice :)

Front offside still rubs a tad so have brought it up 5mm both sides. Will add a bit more if I need to.

[kkp0897]

Hi mate

Some lovely mods great job, what size wheels are they?

I'm thinking of going 16s or possibly 17s for my wife's new 2014 Aygo

[aygo_rory]

mine are 16s and id personally say thats enough if your intending on having passengers in the car!

[Planemo]

Hi mate

Some lovely mods great job, what size wheels are they?

I'm thinking of going 16s or possibly 17s for my wife's new 2014 Aygo

Cheers!

Mine are 15x6.5 with an ET38 offset. Theres not a lot of 16x6.5 wheels about (most are 7J) but I have found some I like and they are not too bad on price but with rubber it will still work out around £750. Theres no way I want to try a 7J wheel now that I have the coilovers as I have seen how close things get at the ride height I use which is currently set at around 15mm arch gap on the front (around 25mm lower than the Eibachs).

I don't see you having an issue with running 17" but you will need ultra low profile rubber and the correct offset. The tyres I run (195/45/15) give exactly the same radius as the stock wheels. To run a 17 at the ride height I have you would need ultra low profile 205/30 or 175/35. You might get away with 185/35 at a push but bear in mind your relatively limited choice of wheels and tyres at this diameter/width/offset.

Rory I have PM'd you about some Eibach springs ;)

[Mark15]

im not very good with computers to be honest...!!! i love the look of this aygo... is there a link to all the work done on it such as exhausts,front fogs etc? many thanks

[Planemo]

Mark, if you search my threads on this board I have documented most of the mods. If theres anything specific you need to know thats not covered just post your Q here and I will reply :)

One day I might get around to listing everything I have done in one post here, how much it cost and where it came from.

[Mark15]

Many thanks for your reply... I'm goin to try & get my platinum same as yours (copy cat me)!!! I've got the trd badges... Spoke to local guy about wrapping roof. Where did you get your wheels. They look great... That's next on my list!!! 😄

[Planemo]

See here bud, although I sorted out the centre caps and TRD badges myself:

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/160714-new-wheels-today/

[Mark15]

Great stuff... Many thanks. I love them wheels & I think they will b on my to do list 😄👍🏻

[Planemo]

Found an arty pic of the car and its been a while. Also we need something to break up the influx of Mk2 Aygo posts!

[unclefester]

Oh yes ... REALLY do like that!

[Planemo]

Cheers Fester! Front this time. Really must get some better shots in some scenery!