Theduck's S7 Winter Mods 2015

[theduck]

So now that the car has passed IVA and winter is up on us, the first round of changes are starting. Well in truth they started the day I got the car home, but I wanted to save posting about them until I finished off the old car with the registration having been received.

 

There are a number of minor changes I wanted to undertake, and some larger ones. The basic list looks something like this:

 

-Remove god awful heatshield I made to pass IVA

-Swap silencer over from borrowed IVA friendly one to something else

-Change seats to low back ones that will sit me lower in the car.

-Swap IVA rear fog light for something better looking

-Replace ARB with tie bars

-Increase available steering lock

-Improve indicator switch position as hard to use in current position.

-Remove fixed boot cover and replace with suitable replacement so can use boot area

-Panel boot area as required

-Some as yet tbc other improvements

 

This is far from a definitive list, but is just an over view without letting any nice surprises out the bag. One item that is not mentioned above will (all being well and it happens as planned) end up as a boys in hoods exclusive next year, and so wont appear on the forum until after the magazine has come out, and trust me, you'll want to read it!

 

So, what have I done so far?

 

Well the first job was to remove the horrible heatshield. I am sure buy now you are wondering what I am talking about? Well don't go running back to the build thread to check what you missed just yet. I actually never posted a photo of it in there as after my initial pleasure about how amazing it was, I quickly realised it was fertiliser. So here it is for the first time, the terrible heat shield I made to cover the horrible brackets I made to fit my borrowed silencer to pass the IVA noise test

 

 

 

Ugly, isn't it? It was one of those moments where you think, "this will be brilliant" and actually, its a bit crap. So that had to come straight off revealing what was below it

 

 

 

A short while ago I had spotted a carbon fibre silencer on locostbuilders that looked like a suitable option, although it needed some cleaning up and a poorly made tail pipe extension off, it looked like it was worth a punt.

 

 

So I set to giving it a clean up and removing the terrible extension which had been welded on! I am happy to say though that with an angry grinder for the tail pipe and some elbow grease and the right choice of products to clean up the carbon, it now looks fantastic. Below is a quick video showing it cleaned up and a couple of revs to show what it sounds like.

 

 

 

As well as needing to replace the silencer, I had to replace the mirrors, as again they were borrowed for the purpose of passing the IVA, so back on with my carbon effect mirrors.

 

 

 

I was also keeping an eye on the forums for any parts I may need (the wife would say, want) and while I was working away a pair of seats the looked absolutely perfect came up for sale near where I was working, it would have been rude not to buy them!

 

 

With the runners on the seats they sat me at the same height as the current seats, but with them off they sit a little lower and I can use the same mounts we made for the previous Cobra seats, though I will be making a new one for the back of the drivers seat as due to the design of the base of the seat I can make a mount that will drop the rear of the seat even lower.

 

 

So thats it so far, the passenger seat still needs fitting and the drivers rear mount changing as mentioned above. I will keep this up to date with any further progress over the winter, and if we get any nice weather maybe even some photos of it out of the garage!

 

 

[Guest 2b cruising]

Won't you need another one of them for your secret winter mod. "not yet to be published" I truly hope so.

[theduck]

You'll have to wait and see ;-)

 

Just been out for my first drive since getting registration, quick trip round to the inlaws with the wife who throughly enjoyed it. Was going to take some pictures while we were out but it started chucking it down so didn't get chance so just one of it tucked back up in the garage

 

[Guest 2b cruising]

As long as you remember two times four equals eight. Not six.

[theduck]

So got a bit of time on the car today and now have two matching seats in the car

 

 

I have been doing some other bits as well but don't want to post any spoilers... Lol

Edited December 27, 2015 by theduck

[jaimo]

Very nice seats got to sort mine at some point when money allows lots of other stuff first mine are two different seats completely lol

[Bob Tucker]

I'm not sure, but the seatbelts going over the roll bar look a bit too high for those seats.

I did see that it passed IVA like that but the original seats had much higher backs.

I may just be talking rubbish.....it has happened before.....my wife points it out most days.

 

PS New seats look great.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Bob Tucker

[fry61]

As t'other Bob says; those belts look to be very badly positioned now that you have seats with-out head restraint. In any-thing but a direct head on crash it is likely your shoulder ( one or other or both ) will slip out . New seats look fine Stuart, but with the present belts ???

[Guest 2b cruising]

Agreed. Roll over and centrifugal force could easily slide you up the belts leaving your head ready to hit the hard stuf, or even a broken neck if still in any kind of forward motion.

Sorry for being a little graphic mate.

Is there nowhere to mount them on the seat back panel, or o weld some mounts to it.

I mean on the framework and not the panel of coarse.

The belts could come over the seats keeping you pulled down.

They would not be fowling on the seats when you sit in because your shoulders would be higher than the seat backs. (I think).

Edited December 28, 2015 by 2b cruising

[brumster]

+1. Belts need to come down now. I would just run them straight from the back; skip the crossbar. There's an assumption that they tie in at the back panel nice and sturdy with some welded-in angled plate. I can see you've got some little hoops to stop the belts splaying across the cross-bar but I still wouldn't rely on the layout working when they were needed - they are not designed to work at that angle. I know the MSA wouldn't let you race with them like that, put it that way!

[fry61]

May put the final stamp on your seats if you posted a picture of either you or your Mrs. belted in the replacement seat.

[theduck]

Thanks for the comments. I will get a picture to show how the belts sit with someone in the seat. The top of the roll bar is low though, actually too low but that's another issue, which makes the height of the bar the harnesses pass over look higher than it really is.

 

One of the other jobs on the list is to either source some head rests that work with these seats as they have the holes for them, or, to fabricate some other type of removable head rest.

[theduck]

This is a picture from the old thread, unfortunately once I got the seat in and mounted nicely it hasn't lowere me by vey much so belt angles will be the same.

 

[Guest 2b cruising]

It still looks a bit iffy to me Duck.

Unless you've got leg straps it would still be possible to move your body directly upwards leant your head in danger.

Hope I'm wrong on this.

[fry61]

Difficult to say for sure but is most of your upper body above your new seats ? It appears that there is no "new" seat much above your elbow in which case the belt cannot hold you firmly in place.