My BEAMS baby

Took the front seats for renewing today. Actually it will be 100 eur, because the foam repair was left out from calculation. Still a good price. It's promised to be ready til thursday, I'm very excited to see the result

 

I'll keep the old ones, so I'll have the sizes if needed.

 

Soo, I've been quiet for a time now, especially about the seats. Well, the reason is, that the first version didn't looked the way I imagined. I just picked the wrong colors. The inner parts were grey, but it was too light grey and very sensitive to dust, the outer part was black with golden inserts, I thought it will look cool and harmonize with the roof and rims, but in reality, it did not fit the interior at all, and looked rather brown from a distance.

So, back to the planing table, and the original idea (two darker grey tones), and result is way better, I love them :





lone wolf: There are a bunch of parts that needs to be taken off the original carpet and put on / saw in the new ones, so sadly it's difficult to make one without an original set.

 

Other updates:
- parts arrived from the US, and they were fitted without problems
- the "new" CV axles I bought from axlestore aren't new, just remanufactured, hence the good price...
- the car made an awful noise in the past weeks, especially at starts, but sometimes at stop and in corners as well, but it is gone now, so it was either a CV axle or the steering rack
- steering rack changed, but my infamous clacking noise remained no options left, it must be the struts, they are the oldest parts in the whole front suspension at the moment (5-6 years old)
- alloy power steering pulley installed, old one weights 398gramms, alloy is 200gramms, so about half the weight don't know what real influence it has in performance, but steering got a little heavier as expected
- eibach springs, strut boots, camber bolts installed to the rear (bolts were installed to the lower hole, it's better in avoiding rubbing), car looks much cooler now, will post some pics shortly

We just changed brake fluid to a motul racing one, the previous fluid was measured and boiling point was at 145C, which is quite bad.
Tomorrow is trackday, I hope the weather stays clear and we can have a fun day

 

Thanks guys!

Steve: they are planned, but only next year.
Roy: sent you a pm!

Teaser

 

Thanks Mafix

As for the updates, firstly here are some more photos from the track day:











Pictures are not mine, I've gathered them from the internet, from different people who take them.

I really loved the car on the track, although I could only go a single run instead of the planned three (out of the max of four). Engine pulls very good, I was amazed how good, as I don't use it like this on the street (shifting around 6-7K, keeping revs always above 4K). It was a first time experience for me, so I didn't want to fight for every tenth of a second in lap times - actually didn't even rent a transponder. So, I was driving like to not kill my street tires and other stuff. We have changed brake fluid just before the track day, and my carbon-ceramics pads were doing well to, not like the front discs. They must be wavy because after 3 laps when they got hot, they were shaking insanely under braking. So I have to change them sooner or later, as they are ok for now on the street, there is no shaking there. My fiancée loved it too, she was smiling all the time on track

As you can see on the pics, I went there with one of my buddies, he has a completely stock ST162. He was there for the second time, and after the "warmup" lap, he disappeared in front of me after a couple of corners He was going really good, he knows car better on track and can squize out much more, so I was driving like a grandfather compared to him

So, the reason why I only did one run, is because my newly installed power steering pulley decided to throw down the belt. And because there was no proper service station there, we could not put it back, only at home. The reason I don't mind that much, is my front discs weren't any good and I didn't want to force the thing, to not make any more harm to the car.

A couple days after this, I was driving home in complete stillness, and the power suddenly goes away from steering, and some really frustrating noise starts at the same time. I stopped the immediately, opened the bonnet, and saw that the power steering belt was ripped apart, while alternator belt was missing... Great. I cut down the remainder of the steering belt, bought new from both, put the new alternator belt back, and only after that, get the car home (luckily it was just 2 blocks away from where we live). So last weekend we put the stock pulley back with my fiancé's dad, and since that it's okay. Worst part is, we didn't see any reason why the new pulley throwed and the ripped the belt. So I strongly recommend to anyone to not buy that thing!

 

Yea, I get that now and then But I'm okay with it, and if I ever repaint it, it will be red as the body.

 

Today we visited my grandma, and when we left I could not start up the car There was only a very quiet clack (not like the louder clack when my original engine did that back then). I checked for any loose cables, or broken fuses, but found nothing. We tried to push start her, but we did not manage. Then, after half an our she just started normally. When we arrived home and stopped the car, tried to start again, and it started again without problem.

She did this same thing about half a year ago (did not start, but only once). Furthermore, I felt a few times over the past year, that the starter motor does not react immediately as I turn the key, but some tenths of a second later.

What electric gremlin do I have!?

 

I think the starter engine would still try to start, if there were no spark.