Southern Belle

[Petrus]

Had a look at König or Enkei?

Enkei RPF1... I love them so much.

Yes they dó look rather good:





and only 4,4 kg....

[Petrus]

Things are coming together, not.
Sofar things came apart.
So from a lardy OEM exhaust I am currently not exhausted. A lót lighter but not quite ready yet.
I need the welding apparatus to merry marry the car bits to the motobike bit ánd supporting hangers.

Same thing the wheels; my wishes are pushing reality and budget apart: Decided that the Rotas may be the more economic weight loss but I want to loose more and even the more costly option (which I got down 5€/kg.) is still cheaper per kilo than lightweight calipers.
10 days to go before I decide.

I have suggested taking the passenger seat out but the gf says she is nót sitting on a garden chair cushion so that is a no go.

For the rest the parts man is looking for the plugs in the steering housing, the airbag light is still on and the horn still not.

Mañana....

The Voltmeter and USB port are cool though. Does not do anything towards a better drive but still cool. I think I want a different shift knob.

[litr0m]

@Petrus Wich Wheelsize did you Chose for the enkei's with wich tyre Options?

Regards

[Petrus]

@Petrus Wich Wheelsize did you Chose for the enkei's with wich tyre Options?

Regards

I do not háve them yet!
I have a price negotiated but have given fate till the end of the month to make a set of Volks or Harts appear 

I would líke 15 x 6.5 but those are not available so I will be going for 15x7 ET35 front and rear. FL would be 16x7 rear.
Tires 195/50 and 205/50.
It will increase the scrub radius at the front but only 15 mm and it cannot be avoided.

Camber bolt are on their way as that I want to sort anyway.

[litr0m]

So good luck with your negotiation and thank you for the reply

[Petrus]

Meanwhile.....



..and the weight is staying under 3.5 kilos 

The noise... well keeping fingers crossed while mounting stuff is a bit tricky but you get the idea.
Worst case I will need to change back to OEM before the periodic inspection.

It looks áwfully cool btw and it´s a shame that it needs be covered up by the cat from below and heat shields on all other sides.

[Petrus]

Not finished quite yet and the no-longer-power-steering needs sorting before I can drive but without load it sounds like it sounds not too loud. Pffffff.
Quite sporty though, a bit raspy.
I am not handy with modern stuff and will ask my son if we can post a video.

Wow, cautiously optimistic but that would be just the ticket; not too loud better sounding and a júst over 10 kilo weight shave.

Right, time to cut the diaper because I want it looking as OEM as possible.

[Joesson]

I'm a bit concerned about the other parts, in the background/ on the floor, that you may have removed in your search for lightness 

[Petrus]

I'm a bit concerned about the other parts, in the background/ on the floor, that you may have removed in your search for lightness 

Well, yes, but I will have to put the gearbox and wheels back on 

The OEM to DIY muffler swap has reduced a bit more than anticipated so I am on 55 kilos less now.
Not much to be gained anymore. Wheels and that is it. Lighter calipers... cannot see it being approved. Lightweight bonnet, engine cover? Not realistic either. So, it will now have to come off me 

Íf I get lighter wheels, I will put the car on the weighbridge accross the road.
If not.... as well 

[Petrus]

Let the truth be told; you may not séé it, but it is definitely audible. On the outside it is not drawing the attention and and impressively low, on the inside however .... to be honest too loud to my taste but then I have not become accustomed to it.
I will have to measure the decibels but I fear that I need to change back to the OEM to pass periodic inspection.
It máy be below the 95 dB but it is definitely above the 2 dB margin from specs.







The no-longer-power-assisted steering has markedly improved with the loop on the rack itself. Am quite pleased with how it steers and how it looks now.





I canot say that I nótice the weight loss from behind/above the rear wheels as the increased sound level (read; noise!) is distracting me ánd the feel in steering has changed anyway.

[Joesson]

The above photo photo shows there to be little if any rust on the anti roll bar and front cross member, both parts being prone to rust in the UK. Testament to the dry weather your car has  suffered!

[Petrus]

The above photo photo shows there to be little if any rust on the anti roll bar and front cross member, both parts being prone to rust in the UK. Testament to the dry weather your car has  suffered!

Ok, to say the car has nó oxidation is calling the gods out over that but there is very, véry little.

Took it out for a longer spin.
One issue is that there is fluid leaking from one of the red plugs in the steering box.
The other is that the decibel meter app I downloaded it wáy off, so no useful méasured data. In perspective the wind noise with the hood closed is on the level of the exhaust at around 100 km/h and above that the wind wins.

The way the car drives is very much improved. The steering is more linear as I am no longer pumping fluid through the housing.
The exhaust, wow, thát I had not expected.
When I swapped the OEM precat manifold for a decat manifold I noticed nóthing in this department and barely anything in the noise. If you did not know you would not hear it.
Nów it is like literally having taken a plug from the exhaust. The car revs markedly more freely. Especially at the higher revs it feels suprisingly ´unthrottled´.
Anyone recognise this?

[shnazzle]

What did you put on? Having just fitted an aftermarket manifold I can definitely agree with the "wow".
It opened up the tap a fair bit more.

[Petrus]

What did you put on? Having just fitted an aftermarket manifold I can definitely agree with the "wow".
It opened up the tap a fair bit more.

Earlier I put a decat manifold on; see pictures earlier.
Did not feel much of a difference if anything at all. Thought it was just the slight increase in interior sound at wider throttle opening.

Now I swapped the OEM muffler for a DIY straight through absorbtion damper from a superbike. See pictures.
I used the in and out pipe stubs from an OEM pot.
There is zero obstruction in the pot; just 50 cm. of absorbtion damping.

Mán does it now feel different.
Oh and another observation: The exhaust pipe blows a lot stronger and it is coming out fast and the lack of back pressure is blowing a lot of crap built up over the years out.


Been faffing with the 3.3 Ohm resistors and the airbag light is still on. Tomorrow will check if the resistors are pushed in correctly and take the ECU-B fuse out, also AM2 to make sure.

Worked out the horn issue. The airbag housing has the ground contacts. Next a simple solution.

First the steering fluid leak though.

Will try do decibel measuring again too.

Bottom line is seems that with every step ahead I go one or two báckwards.
That is not even mentioning the camber bolts...
...or dropping into the inspection station centre about the registration plate.

p.s. read on Spyderchat about several dyno readings, all claiming power gains which I cannot believe.  Best not speculate; I am content with the engine revving a lót more freely.

[idnan]

Would love to see a pic of your lightweight designed exhaust Petrus

[Petrus]

Would love to see a pic of your lightweight designed exhaust Petrus

The welding in progress, the engine bay and from the rear are what I have.
Not measured it today; it is pretty loud though and it remains to be seen if the outer tube is heat resitant enough.

Today sorted the horn and tightened the plugs in the steering house with a bit of liquid gasket.

The airbag light is still beating me. Have the 3.3 Ohm resistors in, have the battery disconnected for half an hour but... stays on. Maybe the resistor pins are not long enough? They don´t go in firmly. Do I need to cut the yellow plug a bit back or

[Petrus]

Oh btw, the hospital visit yesterday was depressing.
Also visited a lady friend and a female acquaintance of the gf.
The former is going downhill slowly with no chance on recovery and the second is dying. Both younger than me.
The motorbike bloke is in bád shape. Basically his leg is shattered.
Good thing I have become a bit more boring, ....ooops responsible, but CARPE DIEM!!!

The wife of the bloke is like a frightened rabbit on a good day and now as shattered as his leg, laying awake scared most of the night in their lonely farm house. Can´t be helped though as even if we would offer she comes sleep at our farm the local Brit community they are part of wil make that into something worse for her than a few sleepless nights.

Also the above mentiong ´gf´ observed the same about living life and said ´what the heck if you want the wheels; it´s your money and having fun with it!´.
So looking at wheels again; 5 days to till the deadline I gave myself. The UK seller of the Volks is keepin stumm so am writing that one off; an unwilling seller is a loss.
Looks like RPF1´s will happen, still not liking the silver finish. Ah well, a luxury ´problem´. The airbag light though.... (:< >

[Petrus]

Since Enkei publishes that 1 kilo at the wheel is worth 20 on the car, I sent them the question how they arrive at that ratio 

[shnazzle]

Not sure whether to be pleased about the above posts or not... Sounds rather bad and I wish the best for them all. But then the positive... RPF1s are a go... Which is pretty sweet

[Petrus]

Not sure whether to be pleased about the above posts or not... Sounds rather bad and I wish the best for them all. But then the positive... RPF1s are a go... Which is pretty sweet

It is real life; every coin has it´s own inverse other side and that applies to good and bad alike.

Am going again Monday; it is a small efort and there are no second chances on things like that; when they are gone they are gone. Unlike golden opportunities on ebay or wherever.

I will ask the bike guy´s wife how far he is in the magazine-book a I have more and would be happy to bring him the next.
It is brainless ´reading´ you do not need a longt attention span for. Ideal for hospital. I know, been there, done that, read them several times 

[Petrus]

Today drove my son to Alameda for a science project.
Lovely drive through the deep andalucian interior; áncient olive country.
The country where legends have roots. One of the most fanmous it that of the bandolero Jose Maria Hinojosa Cobacho a.k.a. El Tempranillo.
His legend spans from 1820 till 1833.
There is sh@tload of tourist stuff around the bloke.
By 1833 he had turned sides and was killed in an ambush by part of his old band.
The site of this is an old cortijo in Alameda off the main road and unknown to tourism.
As such it is as a century ago. Not even a paved path to it!

So dropped off my son and went look for the old farm.
Ah, there it is!



It lies in an olive grove some 100 meters off a local road with a 2 meter wide track going past it.
The track was closed of but not padlocked so with a bit of creativity I gained access and carefully manouvred the car to the farm.



On the way back we did record the sound accellerating up a high(literally)way. It should be here as an attchement.

[Petrus]

Right, some more time to write.
Am in the mountains on the farm. Well, in the village at the moment; sunny, going to be 25 degrees, flirted with the post office lady (package with stuff for the MR) and now behind my laptop with a coffee.
Up here because my son is working in the mountains: It is a bank holliday here so there are lóts of people and he is earning good money as a climbing instructor.
His mom is at the coast, in recluse in a hotel to prepare Brexit info for the Brit expat pensioners.
Málaga can´t come up because it is her weekend to look after dementing granny.
Life...

Ok, yesterday, MR.

I started the day with




Sent this ´Flintstone car´ photo to my loved ones with the caption; ´Ok, what to take out next?!´
The reactions were immediate and hilarious.

Next however was my son trying out the LED light set we bought for under the side bars of his mums car. The argument was the panel with USB ports I mounted.
Looks very, véry cool indeed. I may buy one too and have red glow under the car 

Left the car in the sun for the hood to soften and later in the afternoon we went top down to Alameda.
My son is determained NOT to like my car as he thinks it is too childish for me. Hence his nickname for it too.
Anyway, some 10 kms up the road there is a series of turns and a passage trhough tunnel ....  :-)
He sat with a smile form ear to ear. ´Yes´ he observed ´that ís cool.´

Further on we had to go through Humilladero to get to Alameda. From the provincial road turn left on a roundabout into Humilladero.
The terrace on the right of that street was filled with youngish people.
My son was late with the instruction so I had to go left racther sharp, on the pedal to oversteer in order to make it, drifting rather angled and loud.
Standing ovation from the terrace.

Alameda is all olive business. Several press coops ín town, the worn shiney tarmac coated with oily residu.
There was no way to keep the rear neatly following the front; hónest 
The local youths again approving.

Dropped off my son and went tourist.
Picked him up at the agreed time and he was on the second!!
Three nerd friends behind him, gleaming at the car.
Son got it cool as a glacier. Narrow street so lots of sound and I had a bit of wheelspin because of the slippy surface; really.

Working our way out of the town had to round the square in front of town hall. Again no possibel way to avoid sliding; I really NEED a spoiler for more downforce 

Once out of the village we recorded the sound.
Up on the highway I had to ease off to pass behind a car on the right lane but by that time we were doing 160 anyway so enough anyway.

Back at the farm he said that yes it is a fun and cool car. Not yet quite convinced about a wing ánd I need something different than the baseball cap.

Ok, time to get some work done now.

[shnazzle]

Tell you what... Your life sounds horrible.

[Nvy]

^^ totally agree..

[jvanzyl]

Sounds like a great day!

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