Originally posted by wworm
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I put a hardtail on one about 10 years ago. Never finished it even though it only required a few final touches to get it roadworthy. Kinda glad I never did, cause it would have rode terrible and been way too loud. It sure was cool to look at though.
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Let's be real you don't hardtail a bike to ride it daily. Man they look cool.
Almost bought a XS650 for my first road bike myselfComment
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11236071_1444499212511784_1663322517_n by el_wormo, on Flickr
this was the guy I mentioned's daily. They do look amazing but anyone who dailies a hardtail probably had a pretty rough childhood haha.Comment
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So I pulled the trigger on new seat covers for the e21 Recaros. I ordered from zoomzoomzoom-ing and spent the extra coin for the German embossed material. I think the only major difference between these and the stock covers are the head rests. The stock ones are perforated and the ebay ones aren't. I'm kinda bummed about that, but oh well. As soon as I get the hog rings and pliers in I'll start putting the passenger seat together first.
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Seat covers look good! I didn’t know that the perforated material was an option. Any close up pictures of the material?Comment
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I'll try to snap some this weekend. Hoping to get started on the passenger side Saturday.Originally posted by Gkwan View PostComment
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So after removing the e21 Recaros again I decided it was time to consider some new mounts before starting to recover. Massive does some nice brackets that should do the trick but I can't bring myself to pay that kinda cash when I know they can be made in my garage. I bought some 2" angle iron, cut some here, drilled some there, and viola, I have some brackets. I still need to make the driver side, but that shouldn't take long now that I've figured out where everything goes. The cutout for the lever arm I am only doing on the inside seat brackets, the outside will remain solid.
I also managed to weigh my cloth and leather sports to compare weight to the Recaros. It's about a 3 lb. difference with the sports being heavier. Between the leather and cloth, the difference on scale wasn't noticeable, but it is a cheap bathroom dial scale.
As for the difference in how comfortable they are vs. Recaro, that's something I'm now changing my opinion on. The Recaros hold you better and the bolstering seems more substantial than I thought. I think because the seat pad is narrower on the Recaro than the stock sports? Also I just found the Recaro position to be better for pedal feel with it being a 1/2" lower than the stock location. It could be because I have just gotten used to them, but I can now say after a week of leather sports, the Recaros win. I can't wait to finish up and have them back in the car.
Here's way more pics than probably necessary.
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Yesterday I was planning to install poly riser subframe bushings, stainless brake lines, poly diff mount, and the coilover kit I've been putting together. Instead I decided to spend the day inside installing the Recaro seat covers.
Disassembly was super easy. Almost everything is held together with wires that clip under metal tabs with the occasional hog ring here or there. I wanted to do a full write up, but only took pictures of the seats before disassembly for reference. I had to patch a few spots on the driver side lower bolster, so I cut a few chunks out from one of the old seat backs and glued them in place. Otherwise everything went together rather easily. All in all I have about 4-5 hours total with some time spent researching sprinkled in there. The only thing left to do is trim the seat lever holes, bracket holes, and fasten the seam on the upper front to back area. The stock covers had a plastic locking trim sewn into them, but these don't. I think some nice looking screws should do the trick.
I promised a pic of the embossed perforation vinyl.
This is the area I'll need the figure out the seam fastening. It should be easy, I just don't want to rush whatever solution I choose and ruin all the previous work.
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So I gave up figuring out how to attach the vinyl where the upper seat panel meets the lower. I'll be dropping it by the local upholstery shop to finish that and hopefully have it back in a few days.
This Sunday is the first local autocross. Weather isn't looking great, but I think we will still run, and luckily the S Drives seem to do really well in the wet. I'm really curious to see how much difference the tires and camber plates make overall. A while back I reconnected the rear sway bar to see if it made any positive difference in handling with the new tires. Pure crap. I gave it every opportunity, in every type of driving possible, but it just feels so much more planted with it disconnected.
This next few weeks I'm going to attempt to reinstall the power steering pump and new A/C components. If this thing is going to stay my daily driver, I need the A/C. I know the racecar thing to do is keep the rack manual, but honestly I'd like to get assisted steering input. Maybe my steering wheel is just too small at 350mm?Comment
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I daily with an m20 with a (dying) ps system and a 350mm wheel. I'd keep the wheel and run ps. It's nice to have when you need it and running a smaller aftermarket wheel just feels too good to switch it out.Comment
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It does seem like a good size. If I drive the e30 for a couple weeks, the steering seems normal. As soon as I switch back to my Elantra I wish the e30 had assisted steering. I know the comparison isn't exactly fair, but it is nice to spend less effort trying to turn the wheel. If I'm thinking about it, then it's worth switching back.Originally posted by wworm View PostComment
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Yeah, I agree with wworm. The steering feel is heavy enough with a smaller wheel and P/S that I think it's pretty nice.
I was in a similar situation as you in the past, my plan was to go all out racecar with mine so I removed the AC and other non-crucial components only to realize that I was really enjoying daily driving it. With student loans weighing heavy, I decided to back peddle and reinstall the AC, radio, and all those bits I previously removed so that I could sell my daily at the time (Subaru legacy w/CVT, ugh).
No regrets, and I've come to terms that the E30 is just going to be a fun daily that can handle some motorsport!
AC and powersteering are nice ;)
Those seat brackets came out great by the way.Comment
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I've been contemplating getting a different daily, but the small amount of money it will take to just update the a/c and install the power steering is considerably less overall.Originally posted by zwill23 View PostComment
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Not a great weekend. I spent a few minutes maxing out my camber plates Friday and twiddled my thumbs waiting to race Sunday. I've never ran with this club before, but I've heard good things. For whatever silly reason they canceled the event at 2pm the DAY BEFORE THE ACTUAL EVENT for POSSIBLE rain. We didn't get a drop of water on the ground until after 6pm that day. It was a little chilly in the morning, but by noon it was a perfect day. Needless to say a ton of people that were planning to go to the event were pissed. I'm out of town the next two events, so no autocross until April for me now. Yay!Comment
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