Tom's single slammer - the piglet
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From: Floating around the AUDM
Vehicle: X3 Sprint, S-Coupe Turbo
That broken roll stop has caused me a LOT of grief.
-welding cast iron to steel is ghetto and doesn't really work well
-the shape of the mount means that the area being welded would really be very tiny and would most likely break
As this is my only licenced car atm, I've had to keep driving it with the busted roll stop. Well, the other day the engine rocked around far enough that it pulled the flexible hose off the clutch hydraulic line. So I couldn't keep ignoring it. I'm in the process of making an adaptor mount. Here's what I've got so far. Quick cheers to Joel at Percytech engineering - I cannot into welding.
So the idea is that I'm going to use the 95 cross member and roll stop, with the 99 mounting bracket - but bolt that assembly to the transmission like in the 96+ models. So this is just an adaptor plate. Hopefully there won't be too much of a twisting moment on the roll stop and everything will be dandy. I'm going to fill the front and rear roll stops with something stiff to prevent the engine from getting too much momentum, to further protect the mounts.
That's about it really. Just gave it the 252,000 kay service. Can't enjoy the results until I get the finishing touches done on this mount. Can somebody recommend some very decent tires? Ideally, I'd like some high performance road tyres (not semis, winter is coming) in a 13x5 or 14x6 sort of size. I can't find much in sizes smaller than 195/50/R15.
Double edit because I'm double retarded
-welding cast iron to steel is ghetto and doesn't really work well
-the shape of the mount means that the area being welded would really be very tiny and would most likely break
As this is my only licenced car atm, I've had to keep driving it with the busted roll stop. Well, the other day the engine rocked around far enough that it pulled the flexible hose off the clutch hydraulic line. So I couldn't keep ignoring it. I'm in the process of making an adaptor mount. Here's what I've got so far. Quick cheers to Joel at Percytech engineering - I cannot into welding.
So the idea is that I'm going to use the 95 cross member and roll stop, with the 99 mounting bracket - but bolt that assembly to the transmission like in the 96+ models. So this is just an adaptor plate. Hopefully there won't be too much of a twisting moment on the roll stop and everything will be dandy. I'm going to fill the front and rear roll stops with something stiff to prevent the engine from getting too much momentum, to further protect the mounts.
That's about it really. Just gave it the 252,000 kay service. Can't enjoy the results until I get the finishing touches done on this mount. Can somebody recommend some very decent tires? Ideally, I'd like some high performance road tyres (not semis, winter is coming) in a 13x5 or 14x6 sort of size. I can't find much in sizes smaller than 195/50/R15.
Double edit because I'm double retarded
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From: Perth, Western Australia
Vehicle: 1999 Elantra GLS Sportswagon
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From: Floating around the AUDM
Vehicle: X3 Sprint, S-Coupe Turbo
Basically summer tires. Our winter is, at worst, heavy showers. I'm after tires that are just one stop short of semi slicks.
Reasonable suggestions, although I hear federals are pretty hard and shitty. The good ECSTAs are reserved for 15+ inch sizes
Reasonable suggestions, although I hear federals are pretty hard and shitty. The good ECSTAs are reserved for 15+ inch sizes
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From: Floating around the AUDM
Vehicle: X3 Sprint, S-Coupe Turbo
What's my car doing on a hoist? Hmmmmm.
Federal 595RS-Rs? Don't mind if I do. Wheelspin isn't really possible anymore, nor are handbrake turns. The grip level is frankly ridiculous, and the best part about going from 205s to 195s is that the tires no longer rub on the rear trailing arms, and I can use full steering lock without scrubbing the inside of the tire against the chassis.
I'm tickled pink.
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From: Floating around the AUDM
Vehicle: X3 Sprint, S-Coupe Turbo
It's probably time for an update. Here's how she sits at the moment.
The semi slicks wore out after about 10,000 miles. They were still grippy-ish, but nothing like when they were new. I got a nice set of steelies and sprayed them silver. The handling has lower limits now, but the ride quality increased without having heavy wheels and narrow-sidewall tires sitting at every corner. It's still fun to drive despite the plebian rolling stock.
The dashboard is falling apart more and more. I give it two more summers before I don't actually have a dash any more. It's a similar story for the clear coat.
I rebuilt the trunk floor because the old masonite floor was utterly trashed after 20 difficult years on this earth. I wanted it to be tough enough to take car parts and heavy crates etc, so I opted for 3/4 inch MDF. The way it sits, I can convert the excel from being a 5 seater to having a completely flat cargo floor in about one minute. I can also put a mattress in the back and sleep in there on camping trips.
While I was in there, I remounted the spare wheel to sit face up so it's not such a piss around to check the air pressure.
I glued some rubber spacers behind the rear licence plate so it doesn't rattle around every time the hatch is shut.
The rear control arm arm has been rubbing against the exhaust pipe under hard left handers for a while now, so I got the exhaust shop to bung in an extra few inches of pipe so that there is more room.
At the same time, I raised the rear suspension by an inch, replaced the brake pads on all four corners, and greased all the poly bushes throughout the car. The ride improved, the handling became more taught, the brake pedal has become much firmer, the tendency for the car to dolphin-pitch its way through bumpy roundabout has been eliminated, and the reverse rake resting posture of the car has been rectified. Much better and only about $100 to take care of all that. I'm not certain, but I think the rear is now stiff enough to lift the inside wheel under hard cornering. I'm chuffed.
Before:
After:
Anyway, that's about it. I'm still not sure what to do about that dashboard. It's too trashed to even take a mould to make a fiberglass replacement or anything. Thank f*ck we don't have annual safety inspections...
The semi slicks wore out after about 10,000 miles. They were still grippy-ish, but nothing like when they were new. I got a nice set of steelies and sprayed them silver. The handling has lower limits now, but the ride quality increased without having heavy wheels and narrow-sidewall tires sitting at every corner. It's still fun to drive despite the plebian rolling stock.
The dashboard is falling apart more and more. I give it two more summers before I don't actually have a dash any more. It's a similar story for the clear coat.
I rebuilt the trunk floor because the old masonite floor was utterly trashed after 20 difficult years on this earth. I wanted it to be tough enough to take car parts and heavy crates etc, so I opted for 3/4 inch MDF. The way it sits, I can convert the excel from being a 5 seater to having a completely flat cargo floor in about one minute. I can also put a mattress in the back and sleep in there on camping trips.
While I was in there, I remounted the spare wheel to sit face up so it's not such a piss around to check the air pressure.
I glued some rubber spacers behind the rear licence plate so it doesn't rattle around every time the hatch is shut.
The rear control arm arm has been rubbing against the exhaust pipe under hard left handers for a while now, so I got the exhaust shop to bung in an extra few inches of pipe so that there is more room.
At the same time, I raised the rear suspension by an inch, replaced the brake pads on all four corners, and greased all the poly bushes throughout the car. The ride improved, the handling became more taught, the brake pedal has become much firmer, the tendency for the car to dolphin-pitch its way through bumpy roundabout has been eliminated, and the reverse rake resting posture of the car has been rectified. Much better and only about $100 to take care of all that. I'm not certain, but I think the rear is now stiff enough to lift the inside wheel under hard cornering. I'm chuffed.
Before:
After:
Anyway, that's about it. I'm still not sure what to do about that dashboard. It's too trashed to even take a mould to make a fiberglass replacement or anything. Thank f*ck we don't have annual safety inspections...
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Joined: Sep 2001
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From: Pflugerville, TX
Vehicle: 2000 Elantra
Giving a big fat + for the efforts to date!
The dash depends on your tastes. Easiest but worst for service later would be to fill with expanding foam. Maybe you could put some sticky tape or cardboard or something to hold it, to keep from filling the ENTIRE dash, and just lay in a few cm thick layer of foam, possibly reinforced with wire mesh?
I was thinking earlier today about how cars used to have metal dashboards, and it might be easier to make one for a modern car with a destroyed foam/plastic dash than to repair the dash. You'd have to bodge up mounts for all the things currently in the dash if you wanted to keep the same layout/configuration, but a fiberglass or metal replacement is one possibility.
The dash depends on your tastes. Easiest but worst for service later would be to fill with expanding foam. Maybe you could put some sticky tape or cardboard or something to hold it, to keep from filling the ENTIRE dash, and just lay in a few cm thick layer of foam, possibly reinforced with wire mesh?
I was thinking earlier today about how cars used to have metal dashboards, and it might be easier to make one for a modern car with a destroyed foam/plastic dash than to repair the dash. You'd have to bodge up mounts for all the things currently in the dash if you wanted to keep the same layout/configuration, but a fiberglass or metal replacement is one possibility.