Southern Belle

[Petrus]

Great day here, love is at the farm so we rolled out with the cabrio.
We too a longish drive. She is as ´atrevida´ as I can handle    so lóves drifting, speeding and, having fun with bulls:






and the adult version; NOT SUITEABLE FOR FAMILY OR OFFICE!!!
OPEN AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION


https://i.ibb.co/5KDG6Kw/Elda-Toro5.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/X7gx8Wc/Elda-Toro3.jpg

[Petrus]

This coming Thursday second revision of the titanium shoulder. Necessary but do not really have the time for that. Yesterday another curve ball; a sewage pipe burst. The mains from the farm to the system, halfway towards the entry of the land. Double sh@t as we have the harvest on the land and it blocks the entry for machinery.
The upside is that it delays me trying to get the soft top out. Even seats out it will be contortionist which I should not.
The high speed and drift rides with Adventure Girl dó motivate 
Concerning the Volks too. Not being able to delete the soft top quite yet makes the finger itch móre to push the button 
Too bad I see no way to get the hydraulic handbrake sorted in compliance with the periodic inspection.
Bottom line it réally is an added value to have charming company totally gétting the viceral experience.

[J88TEO]

Too bad I see no way to get the hydraulic handbrake sorted in compliance with the periodic inspection.

I am thinking of installing this though my handbrake is working fine 

[Petrus]

I am thinking of installing this though my handbrake is working fine 

Mine is as fine as it comes on the ZZW30 but not handbrake-fún fine. Hardly a complaint.

[Petrus]

Was looking at the effects of cooler intake air again. A bit ´frustrated´ at not being able to take the ´baffling´ around the fuel neck out.
Found a neat simple table illustrating the easy gains to be found for the otherwise not very responsive to mods  n.a. 1ZZ-FD.



Makes me rather pleased with the cool engine room temps I have achieved. Not heating up the inlet ducting under the lid adds up to the same thing.
Removing the baffles will be another small step to cooler and I hope also  a bit cleaner air.

[Petrus]

Ahhh what the H. It´s just money and the car só gratifying. Apart from a dog not much else is.
Currently on the road and when back in the village will drop by at both local garage and the tyre shop. Then push the button on the Volks 

[J88TEO]

Ahhh what the H. It´s just money and the car só gratifying. Apart from a dog not much else is.

Ya,,,just pieces of paper...if you have excess!

[Petrus]

Ya,,,just pieces of paper...if you have excess!

Excess that is quite another thing. Spending slush fund on fun things is however a gratifying balance against other únfun factors which also cost money. In two weeks need to renew passports p.e.. Mandatory by the State and you are ´allowed´ to pay through the nose for that after being made to jump through chicken & egg contradictory hoops. We will be spreading the cost over the three of us and than it stíll will be >250€ each not counting >two wasted days.
So carpe diem, memento mori, atrevete; la vida es bella too. Today, not tomorrow and as I observed with the itsiebitsie spyder at least you nótice the improvements for your money 

[Petrus]

words are superfluous:

[Gibla]

Was looking at the effects of cooler intake air again. A bit ´frustrated´ at not being able to take the ´baffling´ around the fuel neck out.
Found a neat simple table illustrating the easy gains to be found for the otherwise not very responsive to mods  n.a. 1ZZ-FD.



Makes me rather pleased with the cool engine room temps I have achieved. Not heating up the inlet ducting under the lid adds up to the same thing.
Removing the baffles will be another small step to cooler and I hope also  a bit cleaner air.

Without me ploughing back through this admittedly splendid(but lengthy) thread, and me being lazy .....Have you managed to sort out a cold air feed of any description, that gives some gains(something other than oem)?

[Petrus]

Without me ploughing back through this admittedly splendid(but lengthy) thread, and me being lazy .....Have you managed to sort out a cold air feed of any description, that gives some gains(something other than oem)?

Yes. Funnel shaped silicon inlet tube with aluminium bell mouth on OEM filter box. Photo post #868.

Result? Dunno; it is part of the chain and the total result is a definitely noticeable éxtra push from 6.5k till rev limiter. Mine does not run out of breath at all.
It needs be noted that I reduced the engine room temp considerably too. 

The next (last?) step will be removing the baffles as per @J88TEO ´s example as soon as shoulder/time/other priorities permit.

[Petrus]

Feed back the wheels... not happening for the moment. The adding lightness to the car has been relegated to a lower priority by the lightness of life. Sometimes life getting in the way can be a downer but the lighter side is welcome to.
Applies to watching Barcelona F1 too; was distracted by my gf 😇
Combining the two is a doddle; she will happily don all clothing to lighten both the car and the mood and then whó cares about a kilo off the wheels??!!

Were going to have fun  washing my cabrio yesterday but we took more time with the other two than expected and thén it was to chilly for a soapy Miss No T-shirt 

Will come round to wash & (some) shine myself on Wednesday. Combining Osborne Bull and leopard skin is planned for next weekend.

[Petrus]

Went out for a drive, see a Bull, see a scooter etc.

Parked at the local watering hole after a 180 degree whatsit





and the scooter (made an offer)








next the Bull and also sorted the leopard skin enigma (nudish alert)


https://i.ibb.co/ys6755j/Elda-Toro-Leopardo.jpg

[Petrus]

Meanwhile starting with the booster in the back as Plan B     The replacement should arrive early next week.
Also back to OEM power as fitted the OEM cat and muffler in prep for periodic inspection. No date yet as one and lees than a half arm only makes for slow progress.

Also meanwhile acquired a réd scooter. Same as the one above, 4 years younger, less kms and réd at same money 

Leaving for a scooter event this afternoon. Charming company on the pillion. Riding two up on a 125 means minimal luggage. Even less than with the MR2        She may pose anyway 

p.s. she did btw; pose. Several cute shots. Most with the scoot(s) and even with the MR2.

[Petrus]

phew that was along time ago
Had life distracting me.

Now sort of settling in into my new life.

Turned more attention to the neglected Belle.
Was also time for a new LiFePO4 battery and #1 son printed a fitting spacer.
Am seriously impressed with it all working, just starting and running like it simply skipped the time.
The ragtop needed some careful coaxing as I think it had not been up in over 18 months and low temps are not helping.
Pressure washed ALL, frump and engine room too. Again started upon first rev of the crank.
Über   car; properly sporty cabrio with Toyota reliability.

[inigopete]

Welcome back! I was wondering how life was with you and your new personal weight-saving titanium parts.

When you say you pressure-washed the engine room... do you worry about the electrics? Or water getting into vents or spaces where it shouldn't? Do you treat the area with anything afterwards? (e.g. WD40)

I've never done it with mine, and admired clean engine bays where everything is easy to see and identify, but am very wary of blasting everything with a pressure washer - I see regularly what it does to "waterproof" bicycle bearings!

[Ardent]

Same here, even with just tap pressure.

[Petrus]

all ok with the thírd ti prothesis; thanks for asking.
Am still ´recovering´ strenght but that is now going to where it was over 10 years ago. So still bother from the rotator cuff but that is because of me shifting boundaries back into time. Am mountain climbing again. Literally!

Another positive of the inverted shoulder replacement allowing for a way more active life style is:
1. I can keep up with the younger charming company.
2. So much easier to get back into shape; convert some baby fat into adult muscle and add lightness.
3. Both the above two interact quite pleasurably 

Yes the water pressure worries me so VÉRY careful and anxious; normally only demisting, not even keen on degreaser, but this was sort of emergency because the rats had taken the  ´rat look´ a bit too literally. Hot soapy pressure was a neccessity 
After the wash&shine tool it for a spin blowing and vaporising the water off a bit.
Fingers crossed it was dry enough for the overnight mountain freeze.

Currently contemplating to put the hard top up for some time as I need to park in the street but I bought a cabrio for a reason. The luxury problem of háving a hard top 

[Petrus]

This early morning even half fronzen started first turn.
Put it in the sun, nów WD40 in front and in engine room.

Too ccccold for the top to fold down without obliging so no hard top.
Fit the suction pad mirror and boy does that sit sturdy.

Regularly drive a WRX of a lady friend but this little spyder is só much more sporty spritely and enoyable because of nimble.

Ah and bought some extra bracings to add rigidity:

[Petrus]

Here is a snapshot of the intermediate life.
If it infringes forum rules then my apologies and by all means delete of course. It is just bullsh@tting about anyway 

p.s. removed it myself. Not worth aggro..

[Petrus]

Spent the best part of a day to prepare for ITV (the OCD brother of MoT).
Today had appointment at 09.42 and taken the charming company for personal entertainment as it usually is quite a wait.
At 09.39 had the ´approved´ sticker 

With lowish fuel had added 5l. of alcohol and beat the emissions test with flying colours.
The brake tests, incl. handbrake wer spót on.

Anyway, aok, so took charming for a top down spin. She was game too but I thought it too chilly for hér   

All the mods. do make a difference; the rear wing so much so that charming made an observation about the increased turbulence.
Thus plan to get it all ´back´ to my spec asap.
First more humdrum obligations, finances and paperword though but Belle has passed inspection for another year and stands ready to go 


p.s. stopped at the nearest petrol station to fill up and lower % of alcohol.

[pauls0212]

tell me more about alcohol and beating the emmisions please

[Petrus]

tell me more about alcohol and beating the emmisions please

´Compared with pure gasoline, the equivalent fuel consumption and the CO2 emissions are reduced by 0.95 L/100 km (10.6%) and 18.95 g/km (9.6%) in maximum extent by fueling M75, respectively. In the NEDC, the CO2 emissions of M30 are reduced by 5.46 g/km (3.7%) compared with pure gasoline. After blending methanol in gasoline, CO emissions increase, and the emissions of NOx, THC, and PM decrease. The acceleration time is shortened with the increase of blending ratio of methanol. The application of methanol reduces the combustion CO2 emissions by 10% and improves the pollutant emissions.´

- Effects of Methanol Application on Carbon Emissions and Pollutant Emissions Using a Passenger Vehicle
by Zhao Zhang 1,Mingsheng Wen 1,*,Yanqing Cui 1,Zhenyang Ming 1,Tongjin Wang 1,Chuanqi Zhang 1,Jeffrey Dankwa Ampah 2,Chao Jin 2,Haozhong Huang 3 andHaifeng Liu 1,*ORCID
1 State Key Laboratory of Engines, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
2 School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
3 College of Mechanical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China

Also:   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780323908757000083

[Petrus]

Wónderful clear blue sky today so this morning in t-shirt at the farm swapped the bonnets, removed the vanity frump plastics, refitted the tower bracce, swapped steering wheels, swapped the seats, some little things. About hour and a half incl. playing with the dogs.
All that´s left it take the interior mirror out a refit the fog lamps.
Tuesday I should be able to get her on the bridge for the de-cat and ti muffler.
Looking forward to spring & summah.

Back at the appartment, with the upcoming seasons in mind, also tackled the classic MotoVespa scoot. Some quite usafe, downright hazardous even, things I found, done badly by the/a previous owner.None too complicated, just a bit of a time consuming faff to get the correct bits for the year/model/period mods. It´s on both wheels again!
Fingers crossed the rain forecasted for tomorrow materialises later rather than erlier so I can go for a shake down spin.

[Petrus]

Btw, just to redraw attention to it ánd remind myself:
Adding lightness aft of the rear axle had a doúble effect on the f/r weight distribution.
It is not just that 20 kilos off of there shifts the % but ...
There is also a leverage effect: Rear crash bar, muffler, cat are on average easily well over 25 cm behind the rear axle.
This means that deleting 20 kilos also deletes a 2 kilo lifting effect on the frónt axle, restoring most of the balance shift.
Reducing MR² yet maintaining balance.
Lóve it 

Like aero. That can add/delete load on the axle; traction, while driving without adding weíght, mass.

The interaction of the two above is a game between tyre load sensitivity, load <-> mass, centrifugal force, traction.
Yes fun it is 

Btw. whenever something needs be addressed on the MotoVespa I go weight weenie too of course. P.e. 1 kg. off each wheel  :-) on a 90 kg scoot.