What did you do today to your 3/S?

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Originally Posted by j2k4

From what I can see, it looks great, Levi.

Seems you just extended each of them a bit?

Looks like you integrated them form-wise, but I can't tell for sure...

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by MDoe8

Looks great Levi! I dig the suede

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Thanks guys

I reduced the height of the sides on the seat bottom so I wasn't sitting down in as much of a bucket, and then I flared the side bolster supports outward. The seat bottom adjustment allows me to rest my right leg against the center console which is very helpful for any long drives. The trip to Bowling Green, KY last year made me realize how much I needed to make that change.

And the side bolsters needed widened as I have always had issues with them pinching my sides if I tried to sit in the car with a coat on. So rather than coming out straight like before the come out in a V-shape. I didn't have to extend anything but the whole process did involve a bunch of cutting on the stock seat parts.

I was worried these changes would hurt the ability of the seat to hold me in place but the results so far suggest that is not the case. I am really liking the dual texture of the vinyl and suede. I tried to get a little fancy with the stitching too. You can see in this photo the detail stitching on the seat back and seat bottom cushions. You can also see how bad some of the old material was.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...psoz0m6rta.png

Ah, I can see that much better - work PC leaves something to be desired, plus I'm going frigging blind. :p

Drove my 97 VR4 home today from C & A auto repair, Chai the master. New 3SX single pass aluminum radiator, upper and lower therma-flex hoses, thermostat, water wetter, cam seals, valve cover gaskets(old was leaking), OEM Plug wires, new plugs gaped to .28, TPS, changed out blue/red fuel rail loop for black one. Ran like a champ. Front bank 150/160/160, back bank 150/150/160 compression. Since I put it on the road in 2013 only did one hard launch on the stock clutch. I am a happy camper.

Test fit the interior. Put more than necessary together so that i could sit in it and make vroom vroom noises. Overall the clearance is fantastic, only a few changes.

1. Had to bend out the bottom of the metal bracket that holds the front of the passenger side tunnel carpet on to clear the trans tunnel. The result is the bottom of the carpet sticks out ~1/2". Nothing really and unnoticeable so i'm calling that a success.

2. The stock two piece radio bottom section will not fit, it hits the transmission tunnel. I have two options that i think would work. I can get a double din radio that is shallower on the bottom (cd is what gives it the depth) or I can just get a single din radio and put a storage thingy on the bottom. I'm going to look into oem double dins that are shallow enough.

3. The frame that mounts the center lower dash thingy (in between radio and console) does not fit. I will either have to modify that or just make a new one, i'm not sure. I may just put a couple basic braces on it and call it a day, I'm not too concerned about it. The only other thing i will have to address is mounting the rear tunnel carpeting as the stock console frame was used for that.

4. The gas pedal is the biggest issue, the rest is relatively simple and will appear oem 100%. The gas pedal needs more room because there is a big freaking tunnel in the way. I really only need to gain about 2" or so of width, but i'm not sure. I am going to likely take the clutch and brake assemblies out and bend them to the drivers side a bit. After putting them back in, I'll figure out the dead pedal, I may have to make a new one.

Very motivating seeing it mocked back up! Overall fitment is fantastic.


http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/x...psw2ohnpua.jpg

Test drove my 97vr4 today. The 3sx single pass radiator did its job, only did 140 or so and no leaks. Fast cool down time. Ready for west coast MOD on 07/09/16.

This last Friday my vehicle won a it's first trophy at Gary's Classic Car Friday's in Buena Park CA. It got washed and waxed recently as well. And today I got to replacing the hood pins on it.
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Gutted a rear pre-cat to get the 3SX rear pre-cat delete out of my car. By the time the machine shop got the turbo flange milled flat, the flange was about 1/8 to 1/4" thinner, and causes my Stillen D/P to make contact with my T-case.

http://i.imgur.com/lRuasr0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/zklH0Vx.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/YenwUl7.jpg

I finally decided to stop amassing parts for a bit and took my 91 TT to a shop today. I cant find a decent shop around raleigh/durham/chapel hill that wont jack up labor to scare me away because they really dont want to work on it but

but i did start calling around and i was led to a place called TCS automotive that is in greensboro, NC. they look like a mostly honda,acura shop but they do some work on subarus and dsm (mainly the evo and eclipse). but the mechanics knew enough of the 3S platform and when talking to them i felt comfortable having my car there.

first things first, i took it to them to install my megan exhaust system completely cat-free. simple job shouldve been done today but sure enough with a 108k mile car there were some hurdles. they let me know that the bolts on the turbos to the precats were pretty much fused and they didnt want to go into breaking them loose unless i was willing to accept the risk of breaking bolts and having to end up taking turbos off and adding more to the cost. but i said lets go with it...sure enough bolts broke off but good things come from it...

we made an agreement and included in the labor to actually remove the turbos (and everything involved) and they would put my build parts in for me when they put it all back in. new turbo feed lines (one was leaking and they actually do custom fabrication for braided hoses and whatnot), new crossover tube, heater hoses (possibly could be where my coolant is leaking) turbosmart kompact bov, MAFT with GM MAF, 560cc injectors, mishimoto silicon radiator hoses, and if possible i might get the 3rd gen lifters put in. they also would check my turbos and notify me if they are still in decent shape ( i get a little bit of humming noise when first spooling so hopefully they can find the problem there) . theyre also going to delete my EGR for me and drill out a broken bolt in my intake plenum. looking at about a $900 tab when all said and done but after 2 years its about time i actually put some work into it

the mechanics were straight forward and they seemed to really care about my car (the mechanic actually was on the fence about working on my stealth since so many that come in are beat to hell and not kept up and complimented me on the cleanest 3S he has seen). but the end result is where it counts and im actually thinking this could be a shop i can trust my car to go to and get my build up. the only thing they dont do is ECU tuning or have a dyno but i dont mind taking a 2 1/2 hour trip to 3sx and have them do it there. but TCS is a vendor for koyo, mishimoto, and alot of other companies to where they can get me same parts for cheaper.

sorry it was rambling but i do look forward to the end result and will be sure to post some pictures and give updates. looks very promising already

Gave the Stealth a good bath after the drive home from the NG. I got rained on in Kentucky, Tenn, and Florida. I started to assess the list of things the car needs done in my mind, it's quite a bit. The clutch needs replacing and so does the timing belt and water pump. My exhaust needs to be adjusted, my muffler got hooked coming off of Marks trailer after the ECG and now it's hitting something under the car. A rock hit one of my fog lights, breaking the lens. I've been thinking about swapping the HID's for LED's, so I guess now is the time. I also busted my front lip on a curb in Indy, so I guess that means a new RetroSpec carbon fiber lip to replace that. Already ordered a new MAF, the one in the car is original. Although it still works, it's noisy as hell when I accelerate. Radiator needs replacing, it's probably more than 15 years old. Oh, and I still haven't figured out what wrong with my cruise control. These 1200 mile drives are tough enough, not having cruise control makes it even worse.

nice and hollow. Why gut the cat though instead of just eliminating it? To give the emissions legal appearance?