I'm finally getting back on track this year and curious to know what things are worth replacing completely after 3 years of ownership and what parts you'd want to upgrade? Obviously i realise this is highly dependant on keeping accurate lifing records - when I bought my chassis #645, other than engine and GDU, I had no records for anything else.
I do know that the previous owner had, shall we say, very little budget constraints, and was being maintained by highly credible teams - it had been raced for 2 seasons prior to me buying it.
Car refresh/lifing
I've done 1400km. Radical's tech bulletin from 2018 provided an update on component lifing and the latest table in the XXR manual has the same suggested lifing values. Leaving aside the engine and GDU, i'm unsure about the rest of the items.
- Calipers. How often do you refresh or replace the pots or seals? is this something you'd refresh each season or keep in line with the 4000km guidance? i know there's a DIY
- shock absorbers and driveshafts I believe are perfectly fine, I have the heavy duty shafts and regreased them prior to the last outing. I could get the dampers dyno checked, but what would the values be? Maybe radical can provide the answer here.
- Suspension bushes and rose joints - again is this something i should just go ahead and replace with new ones given the cars unknown history? The guidance is 4000/8000km respectively which seems like a long time.
- Front and rear uprights @ 6000km - i'm considering replacing these anyway with the newer design cast or billet uprights. Has anyone here upgraded and if so did you go for the cast or billet? I've asked Radical for a quote on both, would the Billet be worth the extra?
- what about the mounting bolts for the uprights? Should these be replaced regularly?
- Wishbones guided at @8000km - don't think i'll worry about these for a few years yet.
- Master cylinders guided at 8000km to replace - i assume these are the brake and clutch cylinders?
- what about all the brake system fixtures/fittings for the discs/calipers?
Looking at the Lifing sheet there really isn't a lot to seemingly worry about or replace annually or in shorter intervals - what else does everyone do and is there anything you replace regardless to ensure the car is operating at it's best?
Upgrades
There have been a number of contributions to the forum where people have done clever upgrades, it would be good to have a list in one topic.
- I'll be replacing my earls 'rock catcher' with the Tim Gray magnetic one.
- retrofitting the high steering column mod
- superfinishing GDU gears rather than going for the 2023 GDU upgrade package as it's too much for me at this point at £2.5k.
- also considering the new carbon front splitter, although we'll see how much Radical quote for that one!
anyone else done anything trick or outside of the norm on their SR3's that might not be official Radical but still a smart thing to do?!
