Papps Black R26 Standard to Fast Road & Adventures along the way......

It was a matter of time before things went a little pear-shaped, and they have done...one mod too far perhaps....


This will hurt the ego and the wallet, but the seats are ever so slightly too narrow on the thigh bone basically - below the waist line I'm basically pinned in, was stuck in traffic for 1.5 hours and it wasn't a lot of fun, also the more I was pushing on with the car the more it seemed like I didn't have the adequate reaction in my right foot to switch from throttle to brake pedal quick enough......


I'm in a bit of a catch 22 at the minute.....The wider Sabelt seat would fit my hips and legs no problem, but its not as 'tall' as the Large size I have, therefore it would mean that the shoulder strap slots may be too low for me......


I'm probably going to hold fire until I've physically sat in a seat I know fits me properly. The options seem to suit if you're either tall or wide - not both lol and this will end up probably costing a fair bit more than the retail on the seats I have atm.....


Oh well...these things happen with modding cars I guess.


From looking at the classifieds FIA seats do hold their value very well and don't come up that often - it may take me 2 or 3 months but I should be able to realise 85% of what I paid for them all being well.


Its put a bit of a spanner in the works for the cage now as well lol.


The other option I have is to go for a more snug fitting semi standard seat, with the option of running a normal belt for daily use. Believe it or not you can get the Trophy - R bucket recaros, and if you get them from Germany in the full leather they work out at 800 each, not cheap, but a lot cheaper than if £ denominated....not worth ruling out at this stage.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Recaro-Pol...item419d7afe0d


Commets and ego bashing more than welcome haha

 

Update time:

Got 1 Corbeau Sprint bucket in the XL size and had that fitted to the car - the Ktec subframe had to be drilled out to get it to fit - but its a very comfortable seat, one that I could easily sit in for 4 hours at a time.....The lower thigh exit in addition to it being a good 17% wider really makes all the difference...

They don't look as pleasant as the sabelts - but hey ho.



Had a fully welded rear cage installed by Scott McMinn Motorsport fabrication in Ayrshire up here - its allowed to harnesses to be run off the harness bar safely now - all I can describe how you feel when belted up properly now is that you don't feel that the harnesses are pinning you in at one particular point, but you are totally fixed in and can't move at all - its a very comforting feeling. The result is a cage that should be more rigid and lighter than the bolt in equiv, and it was a hell of a lot cheaper also.



Needed new track tyres on the red wheels as the R888s were totally shot - went for AD08R in the end, mainly for the value they offered, the jury is still out on them, need another trackday to be able to give proper feedback...they were very good at getting the power down and on the brakes in a straight line in the wet though....



TD at Knockhill at the weekend - and it was very wet to begin with for the 1st hour, dried out for the next 2 hours and then finally a dry line appeared at 3pm with about 1 hour let in the 4 hour session.....

It meant I got to experience the full range of conditions from wet & raining, to wet, to drying /greasy, to dry. It was a very steep learning curve, especially set-up wise on the coilovers and tyre pressures.

Shocker in his LY200T was there and also a chap with a very nice black 265.....



and a couple of pics of my meg in the wet.....





This is a good clip that shows how much the track conditions changed during the 20 mins or so I was out in this stint: The first 7 or 8 mins I'm being patient for track position, letting faster cars pass and building the temp in the tyres. Nice cleanish track appears at the 10 min mark.

This stint has a few hairy moments in it that are hot linked in the descriptions, almost losing it at 4:30, locking up at 14:12 and shitting myself at 15:21 lol

[video=youtube;OlncSY852i8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlncSY852i8[/video]

Was good to be able to get nearer the limits to learn more about the car......

Unsure if thats it for 2015 for track work, might well be it till Feb time now....

Time to lose more weight and tidy the rear interior.

 

Yes mate - they were removed by the cage fitter, and you can still keep the head-lining - the curtain airbags are like long tube sleave type things - be careful though with the explosive charge and all that :cool:

I'm probably going to try and put half of it back in so I can run the interior lights again.....

 

Cheers mate - just the question about keeping the wheels red and then making the cage red - or doing something a little different......

 

Cheers mate! - is this what you mean..........



guessing I should really get the wing mirrors done in that as well then? - It'll certainly help with presance for track position haha

 

The curtain airbags are about 3ft in length and maybe weight between 3 to 4kgs each - I'm pretty sure you'd be able to slip them out with only sliding half of the roof lining off its plastic covers, it depends on how they are fixed really. - but I didn't really see the job being done - I only saw the aftermath in my boot - he did get the lining all off in 1 piece in mint condition but it was too much hassle for me to drive it back - I'll be going to the scrappy up the road for another one most likely.

 

Hopefully getting this lot fitted next week............





Got some new Bosch Aero front blades incoming also.....

Car is well overdue a good clean - hopefully get that done soon as well

 

hahaha!

Yeah these will be pretty hardcore most likely - I have been in and driven a 172 with the vibra dog bone in it, it felt lovely, but it did have a lot of cabin vibrations on idle

 

Alright mate - its an upper torque link - located in the back left (drivers side) of the engine bay as you look in.

It was bought from racingflex.pl - I wouldn't recommend the service, some of the parts didn't fit at all hence the need for the vibra kit- myself and others have had to wait months after payment for delivery - up to you.....there's a feedback in the traders section.

 

Yeah they are fitted now.

I picked up the car late last week during the storm and it feels night and day - the cabin vibrations stopped after 10 miles or so - the main side effect of the mounts is increased engine and exhaust noise.

I was very very happy with the way the car felt, lots of smiling, some mild singing along while I was negotiating the 3ft puddles lol - I was having so much movement in the engine before that I wasn't really aware of.

The car appears to be far more adjustable mid bend on the throttle - the throttle response seems a lot better, no idea if this is placebo in my head.

I did pop an exhaust mount the other day so not been out in it for a while.

The car does feel very similar to my bro's 172 now.

KTec just slashed their prices of the mounts as well - would of saved over 50 by waiting a week. They are 350 from them now - cheaper than anywhere else I could find......

Just looking forward to getting on track and going through brake pads and rubber - but of a wait till Feb now though

 

Not at all mate: I fitted the 3 Vibra engine mounts, Upper Engine, Side/lower engine & gearbox (Ktec is actually the cheapest by £50 now for them, Ktec branded but exactly the same) http://www.k-tecracing.com/show_product.asp?id=3950&appid=12

The only racingflex mount I fitted was the shiney torque link - I think its the only uprated one of the market to replace the OEM part - powerflex don't do inserts for it etc

 

Not an update to the car - but had one of the trackday pics blown up to hang on the wall...

Mother isn't too pleased about the current storage situation at hers though lol

 

Haha cheers mate!

Yeah these threads end up getting pretty long over time!

 

Thanks mate!

Sure no problem - I'll try and take some for you, might be monday with the weather situation we have, and its a little tricky as I have the sound deadening and carpet back over it, no proper trolley jack to get under to show you either - but I basically had a spreader plate welded very near to where the base of my spine would be when seated drilled and welded into the chassis, it was a bit of a pig of a job for the garage as the fuel lines are on the Drivers side of the car - so they all have to be disconnected etc - also had protective sleeves put over the fuel lines at the point they are nearest the fixing plate for added piece of mind.

Ironically I only have a 4 point on the pax seat which would of been a lot easier to fit a crutch strap.

With the inner lap straps (outer lap straps used an eye on its own and the existing bolting position from the old seat belt point) they had spreader plates welded and drilled into the side of the exhaust cavity (no idea what thats called) part of the chassis, so exhaust and heat shield needs to come off.

Hope this helps.

Best technical reference guide I know of is this one - sucking eggs to a lot I'm sure - but worth a read on the protocol for fastening a harness properly even. http://www.schroth.com/installation-instructions/en/index.html

Getting on very well with the seats - a very relaxing driving position actually, but much much less lateral support than with the Sabelts - there's always a trade off sadly, if the Sabelt's had of been a few cm wider on the hip they'd of been perfect for me - very happy with these though, the 3inch/3inch 6 point sabelt harness doesn't take any prisoners and holds me very very firm in place.

 

Update:

Cage finally painted, went for anthricite in the end - maybe should of had more balls and gone for 727 Red - but I am happy with the way it is, and most importantly won't be rusting any more.

 

Thanks guys!

Was a really tough decision on colour - and still would of liked to have seen it in 727 Red - but would like keeping the roof decals and wing mirrors - so thought the anthracite would fit in well