Word, hence why the LCR hubs have crept onto my list. There is no reason why bar the cage and seats my car can't be your car by January. Whats left to do?
Not a chance man.
Forgive my rudeness here J, but as I said last night, you've obviously forgotten about the ~£5000 and many HUNDREDS of man hours that represent the difference between where my car was 1 year ago (exactly the same as yours) and where it is today.
Just a few of the more notable things perhaps:
LSD + full gearbox rebuild - £1000
Front brakes with DECENT discs and DS3000 pads, £950
Proper tyres, £540
Epic 32mm adj Neuspeed rear ARB, £260
LCR hubs and wishbones, droplinks, going rate is £300 from a breaker
Uprated lcr front arb - £200 (adj eibach from DPM)
Thermostat + oil cooler setup, £140
That's £3500 right there, and they're ALL performance things you're talking about, nothing safety related at all.
Throw in £500 for the seats and some good 6pt harnesses, and £1000 for the cage, and there's your £5k, without even considering things like the steering wheel and boss, the fire extinguisher, helmet nets, and all that other stuff.
I certainly wouldn't feel safe driving a car that capable without all the safety gear.
Your car is awesome man, you know that, as a road car it's the ********. Just don't under estimate the amount of work required to turn it into a track car. it's HUGE.
Paradox: Difference with the LCR hubs and wishbones is geometry, the LCR wishbones are cast, not pressed steel, and they're slightly longer, and more forward set, they also have slotted holes on the ball joint plate for camber adjustment. This lets you run more camber, and more castor, which makes a massive difference to the handling. To quantify it, a standard LCR with no rear arb, drives like an A3 WITH a rear ARB, simply due to the improved front end geo.
As the for hubs, the LCR hubs have an element of roll centre correction compared to the A3 hubs, the lower section between the wheel hub and the ball joint is considerably longer, so it brings the wishbone down, making it flatter. rather than pointing up like an A3 wishbone does on a lowered car.
The track control arms on the LCR setup also mount under the hubs steering arm, again flattening them out, and reducing bump steer which is pretty apparent in a lowered A3.
J-rod: take your time dude, I'd sort the handling and brakes first if I were you, as it'll make more use of the power once the chassis is sorted. Then get an LSD so you can get the remaining power onto the ground, then, if you're still serious about track use, start looking at all the safety gear.