Southern Belle

[Petrus]

I didn't get hwy they weren't progressive

I sure am so Eibach Pro it will be 
Will check the rubbers/stops today.

[Petrus]

Cleaned the pcv-valve.
Simple job so .... sómething will go wrong.

The valve looke nicely clean, no crud, no oil but did not move freely; was stuck.
First wd40, chack rear gaiters.
Now spray oven cleaner.
Check front gaiters.
Clean the valve and presto; moving as new.
The lightest wipe of sealant and in it goes.

So what went wrong then?!
The rubber hose was split 
Cut it just beyond, so had to reroute it and ... it split again  (:< >
As it is a pita to change all the way, tightly taped it and it sits pretty again.

Ok, the shock gaiters.
Three ok, one split = all round change when I fit the springs.

[Carolyn]

Cleaned the pcv-valve.
Simple job so .... sómething will go wrong.

The valve looke nicely clean, no crud, no oil but did not move freely; was stuck.
First wd40, chack rear gaiters.
Now spray oven cleaner.
Check front gaiters.
Clean the valve and presto; moving as new.
The lightest wipe of sealant and in it goes.

So what went wrong then?!
The rubber hose was split 
Cut it just beyond, so had to reroute it and ... it split again  (:< >
As it is a pita to change all the way, tightly taped it and it sits pretty again.

Ok, the shock gaiters.
Three ok, one split = all round change when I fit the springs.

I'd advise replacing that valve.  Once they get old, the spring pressure goes off a bit and they just don't work as they should.
I know Dean at Rutland has some new ones and. I'm pretty sure Paul at TCB has some too.

[Petrus]

I'd advise replacing that valve.  Once they get old, the spring pressure goes off a bit and they just don't work as they should.
I know Dean at Rutland has some new ones and. I'm pretty sure Paul at TCB has some too.

I´ll send an email to the latter about springs & gaiters to possibly combine.

[Petrus]

Fínally 

A little BIG thing; the airbag light sorted. Phew 

[Petrus]

Seat mountings are in as is the belly brace.
Suffering from modding withdrawal symptoms and cannot have the bridge till Tuesday, so had a look at the seat mountings.

Quite good condition and easy to change from RHD to LHD.
Looks a feaseble mod. for the buckets too.
The back mechanism looks easy to remove and modify to reatin the belt buckle mounting hole.
Had forgotten about the driver seat incline mechanism so that is bonus! Better than faffing with spacers.

Quite héavy though at 6.5 and 7 kilos.
Luckily the back mechanisms look to be at least half of that. Makes sense as those need be immensely strong ánd have heavy duty springs on all sides.
I estimate that the seat swap maintaining OEM mountings will save 15-16 kilos.

[Snelbaard]

Suffering from modding withdrawal symptoms

That sounds all too familiar. Did the installation go well?

[Petrus]

That sounds all too familiar. Did the installation go well?

Allmost. The same as not done it yet.
Did put the car on the bridge today, but not untill late and first faffed about what to do with the springs/ride hight.
Then it was time to attend to the farm animals.
Mañana...

[Petrus]

....aaaaand.... dóne!

The brace was a doddle; the most complicated were the plastic clips.
No experience with the difference yet.

Also restored ride hight. Cut one ´coil´ off the front springs, half off the rear.  Cut 2/3 off the front first but it could do with a bit more off.
Belle sits nicely balanced pretty again.
No experience with the difference yet.

[Petrus]

OK, went for a test drive over the ´norm-route´ and a spin over the ´circuit´.

First topped up the oil and the gas tank = heaviest non-passenger mode.

The caution is that I changed twó things; the Snelbaard belly brace and the springs.
The belly brace is replaces two OEM bridges and adds an X-brace; an improvement; basically a marginal gains thing; a stiffer stiffener.
The slight shortening of the standard springs took the car down from higher than spec to slightly under spec with a slight stiffening as side effect; a marginal gains thing.
These two mods have effects which are impossible to completely distinguish on the test route/ circuit., though the change from higher than spec to a whiff lower is more noticeble than the increased stiffness.
Oh and a third thing: The spring mod is correcting a step báckwards, the car standing measurably higher on the springs because of weight shed.

The cool thing of the MR2 whch I mentioned before is that small changes are surprisingly noticeble when the car is pushed to the limits of tyre adhesion. This time too. As observed, marginal but there. Just that bit more direct feedback giving just that bit more confidence.
It did not come at any noticeable cost in comfort which makes sense as I only minimally shortened OEM springs.

Bottom line;
recovering from a small step backwards, with marginal gains overall.

[Petrus]

Today got some bags of horse feed from the coop.
I usually cart one bag, 40 kg., at a time to the feed chamber.
Today loaded two, thus 80 kilo, on the cart.
Thé best to experience the effect of that much weight: It is not much effort to keep walking at the same pace, but quíte another to manouvre or stop. It is no different laws of physics for the car.

[Petrus]

Belle VIP-parked behind the stands at the WC Superbike in Jerez today.
To crown the fun day, Dutch rider V.d.Mark won. A lóóóng time ago I shared the starting grid with his dad Henk :-)

At a stop on the way back, there was a bright red BMW Z1 parked. Looks even more kit car in the .... plastic than on photos.

Belle drove like a dream. I may have complained about ´mid corner float´ but we followed several sporty cars and there is nothing to complain about 
To celebrate that, gave it a bit of reign through a lóóng highway corner near home I know wéll; totally empty road between the horizons so 180 km/h. and... simply a joy. It keeps amazing me how little wind buffetting there is btw.
As it is currently set up it is just right for the roads here. Ground clearance included as it scraped once, júst, when leaving the above mentioned parking lot. Any lower would be impractical.

And a bonus ´problem´: My son complained big time about the seats giving him a sore back. 400 kms. today and he went to bed t stretch it as soon as we got home. At that home his mom echoed him. They gave me the perfect argument for ordering the fiber seats 

[StuC]

I haven't seen a Z1 for 10+ Years! 

[Petrus]

I haven't seen a Z1 for 10+ Years! 

They only made 8000, 6500 of which stayed in Germany and is is now 30 years ago so they are bound to be quite rare on the road.

[StuC]

8k is a tiny number.
Less than we have mr2's in the UK.

[Petrus]

It´s out.
Not a lot of work, nor complicated but not as simple as stated on Spyderchat, especially because old plastic of the various bits gets brittle.

Cleaning up now. First vacuum cleaner, then a wet rag and putting it together again...

[Petrus]

Got some ´red´ silicon stuff. Cut it to size and in it went:







It shoúld be 6 kilo lightness added but have not weighed it yet.
Does not look half bad either, I have to say, more bad @bumbum than just bad really :-)
Time to put the seats back in but first a break as it is réal hot here. REAL hot.

Weighed it; - the silicon that went in 5 kilos.
Worth it?? Nahhh. But as is was almost for free; cost me 5€ for the silicon matts and ís 5 kg. lees.  Also looks better imo.
Had to take the seats out anyway as the locking nut of the handbrake cable adjuster had been tightened silly tight.
So, would do it again but because of the 5 kilo? No.

[Petrus]

[Petrus]

I am amazed by the space, impression of space, gained. I mention both because though the carpet takes up a surprising lot of space, the surfaces now extending into de corners enhances an impression of space.
I am positively surprised.
To anyone who ever though about it I say go for it. Any weight gained is just a free bonus.

[StuC]

How is the noise level In The cabin?
Or
Have you just turned up the volume on your stereo?

[Snelbaard]

I'm still debating whether I'm as hard core as you. I don't think I'm quite there yet.

[Petrus]

I have not noticed any increase in noise level.
It would have surprised me too. For effective damping mass is needed and the carper is véry light.
Same thing the stuffing. In cars where it is used for damping it weighs 10 times as much.
The carpet is just there for aestetics and secondary for feet comfort of mainly the passenger.
This is supported by the fact that the suffing is only in the footwells. If it were for noise, it would be covering the wheel wells and as it is not even the carpet goes there.

Note too that there is no bitumen-like anti-dron material stuck to the floor like in just about any other car. Apparently the rigid design of the cabrio tub makes this unneccessary.

Because of some 5 cm of fluffy stuff gone from under your feet, you feel much more of the surface. You would think that reduced comfort but that is a common mistake; if anything the carpet makes sore heels wórse.
I have very small feet for a tallish guy; size 40/41 at 183 cm,.  and even I find that my feet fit the trottle pedal better. I can imaging that big(ger)foot will be chuffed to no end.

Well, don´t know Snelbaard, I am getting on in age; almost a collectors item it seems 
Imo it is just ´cold feet´ that those who lóve the MR2 for the way it drives, do not take the pas steering out p.e. Most things I have done are just as easily reverseble so why nt try it?
My car weighs under 920 kilos now and that makes a héll of a lot of a difference on the mountain B-roads over here.
I would say that the removal of the p.a.s and the small aero mods improved highway behaviour.
Apart from the bracing I´d put the p.a.s. removal high on the effective list.

Ok, the seats are now ordered. Going for dull black, black and black 


And... I really like the way it looks now. Imo it totally fits in with the retro dash design.

[househead]

Really enjoying this Reader's Ride thread Petrus! Nice one.

[Petrus]

Thank you!

[Petrus]

The bucket seats are still two weeks, at least away. Só looking forward to fitting them.
And to weighing the car again 
Would lóve to see it under 900 kilos, say 2000 lbs.

After that I will try make a summary of the mods and their effects for as much as those can be separated.