Prawny Baby

that's the 'what you going to do about it?' tax Dan. Truthly, what ARE you going to do about it? after the moaning is over, chances are you'll man up and pay it, like everybody else, so yet again they've succeeded, and will continue to do so, as they can basically charge what they want!

yup! Happens a lot on cars that are freshly rebuilt too! Very often people trap / kink the vent hose when reinstalling the tank, and on the first few short test drives there is never enough vacuum build up to stop the engine, and by the time you next to go run it it's all balanced itself out, then the first time you take it out for an hour or more, it dies and you think somethings killed it, only to remove the fuel cap with a massive SUCK!

Jardo, I'll give you this one, you were right. Perhaps not the most tactful in the opening post, Dan can afford it seemingly, he just doesn't want to so is having a moan. Everything you say about affording / owning a car is right though. it does my f**king head in reading on SSS all the time how skint people are, and bitching and moaning about the price of mods and remaps and the like. if you're that f**king skint, you shouldn't have a sodding turbo'd Leon!!!!!! and you certainly shouldn't be trying to modify it! If you chose to buy a car that suits your income in the first place, you'd never find yourself in that situation. Not saying that situation applies to you Dan, but it happens a LOT on forums everywhere! Insurance is wank though, if they asked me to pay £1600 to insure a diesel focus, I'd tell them where to stick it and catch the bus.

So glad I tagged onto the back of the previous generation in terms of insurance! first year in the Mini was £450, went up to £990 after a crash in the first year, then back down to £600. First year in the audi aged 19 was £1500, and that dropped straight to £900 when I was 20, most I ever paid was £1600 for an M3 at 21. Bad luck mate, those prices sound very high to me. Dodgy post code perhaps?

yea, Evo's had clear lenses Anyway..... The parts collecting has begun! So far, I've got two sets of R32 / TT wishbones and hubs, one to throw on right now to get the car going again, and one set of early TT wishbones with the rare 30mm bushes (the type that defcon inserts recreate!), which I'll poly bush and paint up in time. I've got a TT convertible subframe with the extra brace, although it just looks like the S3 lower brace to me. Still, happy days. I've got a pair of new driveshafts, the CV has popped on mine on the damaged side so I'd rather replace the whole lot. Suspension is in hand, with help from Ben at Parsons Performance, but that won't be sorted for a few weeks yet. No hurry. Now for the slightly more interest bit! After scouring the world (internet) for new seats, I was none the wiser. Those who've met me will know that I'm reasonably sizeable, to put it politely, at 6'2'' and 17 1/2 stone, I'd make a crap jockey! This left me with a problem finding a seat that fitted me well. I tried the Revolution, but decided in the end that it was just too tight for me, and not tall enough. Browsing Demon Tweeks, Dad came across the Cobra Sebring Pro GT, which looked very promising indeed. After a few phone calls and e-mails I wasn't sure if it would fit me well, so decided to drop a line to Cobra direct. To my surprise, they invited me up to the factory to have a custom seat fitted for me, as we were buying a pair, Dad decided to come up as well and have a seat fitted for him too. So, today arrived, and Dad and I both made the 250 mile journey, from opposite corners of the south coast, up to Telford, Cobra HQ. There we met Mark, MD of Cobra Seats, who showed us the pair of Sebring Pro GT's which he had made specially for us in 'Pro-Fit', a new style not currently available through the retailers! My first glimpse of our new seats: Pro fit is a new customisable seat system from Cobra, unifying their entire range of seats to use the same cushions, base, back, and leg, available in a number of different thicknesses to tailor the seat to the individual. On top of this, based on several conversations about mine and Dads size / shape, Mark had tailored the fit out of the seat shell for us too, Using a thinner, yet higher density padding in the base area to lower us in the seat, and also from around the kidney and shoulder area to give maximum room for my very broad shoulders and back. This kind of customisation would never be possible if the seats were bought from a retailer, so it was well worth the trip. So, we spent about 30 minutes each going through all the various seat base/back/leg cushion combinations to find a set up that suited each of us. Mark was absolutely great and knew exactly what we'd each need to be comfortable and safe. Dad is slightly shorter than I am, so had ended up with a thicker back cushion to move him forward 25mm, as well as a different combination of base cushions. We also got a set of Cobra Pro-spec 4mm steel side mounts, to replace my bent sparco ones. the difference in contruction is substantial, I can't see these failling any time soon. After all the fitting, Mark decided to give us all the other option cushions as well! Just incase we wanted to tweak the driving position further when they were installed, or fit larger cushions in the base on a trackday when taking out normal size passengers. The service we recieved was absolutely first class, and we even had a tour of the whole factory and saw it all being made. Very cool indeed. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of any of this, so my rambling will have to make do I'm afraid So, with that done, I set off on the 250 mile journey back to work, to start a shift at 9pm Rubbish. I dropped the kit off at home, and had one quick chance for a picture of all the new kit waiting for find it's way onto the car: Seats, side mounts, Strut brace, forged rods, and some Eibach eccentric top mounts I've decided to try out as well, which should add some negative camber, and a little more caster too. Just need to find time to fit it all now!

yea, it's a big shame Alex, but it seems I have a long body and short legs! Width wise it's perfect for me, but my shoulders are just up inside the head restraints so it limits arm movement, but I am 6'2'' (186cm) and very board

haha, thanks Adam. it's a properly epic seat, It's my physical proportions that are less epic I've got a friend that's interested to use it in the trackday trophy in his cupra. If not I'll see if I can find a half sensible quite to ship it back to you so your enjoyment of it may continue! Off to Cobra HQ tomorrow to have some seats custom fitted for Dad and I 2 sets of R32 / TT wishbones and hubs have arrived, one set to throw on straight away to replace the bent ones, and one set to take my time with, clean up and paint, fit new ball joints and bearings, and poly bush the wishbones. I've got a set of KW V3's coming second hand from a friend, and will be getting some Eibach eccentric top mounts, and rear camber / toe shims using the voucher I won for coming 3rd in the handling course at GTI international Hopefully that'll get her driving straight again, then I need to man up and plough some money into bodywork for the first time ever! That's going to hurt

Would anyone like to buy a famous seat? As owned and sat in by none other than TF's very own MX5 racing star, Tartridge!!11one1!!!!!! Made in october 09, so FIA dated until 2014, in absolutely perfect condition with no marks, it really is like a brand new seat. Enquire within to purchase your very own piece of TartyRacing history.

So what are your interior plans Bucky? I see you said you've got some vaders, what do they sell for these days? Bloody lovely seats. I do miss my m3 seeing all the E36 content on here at the moment!

I think the main thing here, that we all seem to be forgetting, is that nobody really gives a flying Fu<k! they're nice wheels, they will look great on your car. Were you happy with the price? Good. Would you be happy with them if you'd paid £800? I highly doubt it! Now stop wasting my fuxking band width with this drivel, and get back to refurbing these wheels that 'don't need a refurb', and get them on the car.

Lies, we got off the phone at 20:06 after discussing what to do with them and you hadn't started stripping them down, then you posted the pic at 22:06

2 hours not 4, and they're 225's, not 245's, but we'll let you off because we know how excited you get when you have new toys Wheels look lovely dude. can't wait to see them on the car! NO PO!!!!! You said yourself German only for you from now on, and you've just come from one Saab that always goes wrong. Say no to GM!

looking cool Bucky!

I always thought the 318IS had M3 bumpers and skirts all round, but yours doesn't that's a shame, aside from that, it looks nice.

Ouch, your poor sills!

Some seriously nice stuff in here this weekend it seems! Focus looks brilliant, clearly a LOT of cash gone into the original build. Alex: That's verging on perfection I have to say, it's absolutely beautiful in every way! Love the aggressive geometry up front too! How much camber is on there? One thing I will say though, your cage BADLY needs padding. Door bars, and the diagonal above your left ear too. I'd love to know what the whole build cost, roughly. I think to do something similar here in the UK would be well over £10k.

As you wish:

Mate, I'm only ever trying to help you. Lou spent a fortune on that number plate for you, and it's a SERIOUSLY nice present. If someone bought me a personalised plate, I'd never consider buying a car that it can't be transfered to, as it just shows no respect for the person who spent hundreds of pounds buying you the J44RDO plate for the car you said you had always wanted and were going to keep long term.... I'm sorry buddy, but I'm only looking out for you, you have lots of ideas, some good, some silly, and some downright retarded. I see no benefit to selling a really nice mint top spec Clio 172 for a grandad spec 318i, especially when you're letting the Clio go far too cheap just to get into this BM.

Bucky: I hope you realise you're about to become jardos new best friend..... Car looks good man

Good spot Tomm,! I'm fairly sure it's always been slightly off on that gap though, looks it a bit here: I seem to recall the gay was never even anyway. she's been through a lot in the past

yea, i found those prices laughable too, roughly twice market value i'd say. but of course, now that Jardo owns an E36, they're obviously the best thing in the world!

I agree! It's when it's unbalanced at 120mph that that smile soon turns into a frown George: he really isn't. he's terrible. I'm as scared as you are!

I'm sure you had a focus 3 weeks ago

Thanks for the words about the seats chaps, Adam: I'm texting you RIGHT NOW! And on that note, the adventure continues! On saturday I went to see a mate who was breaking an a3, and picked up a rear beam and a pass side door from him, I then fitted the door on Sunday to get the car water tight again, as the bashed door was leaking like a seive in the UK rainy season I whipped the coilover out to check it over, and it SEEMED to be OK: It wasn't: After a quick phone call yesterday morning, the car was booked into Gareth (UB) for an assessment this morning. Gareth said he better not be in the pic, so I've carefully removed him using my epic photoshop skills: To our amazement, we dropped the bent beam off, and offered the new one up, and EVERYTHING lined up perfectly, all the holes were perfect with no levering or manipulation, no visable signs of stress or movement under the car at all, just that strange small lift on the seat squab where the metal is thin. Very odd indeed! We bolted the new beam up, swapped over the brakes and bled them through, and I went off for a test drive. SORTED! It drives straight and true again, and the rear wheel geo seems to be bang on. Words honestly can't describe how lucky I feel! Here is the battered wreck, which now drives just fine despite the still dead front subframe, wishbone, knuckle, and coilover! Hugely happy all in all, and a massive thanks to Gareth for fitting me in at such short notice! Also met Oakie down there too, which was cool, had a good chat for a few hours whilst Gareth worked his magic. Very nice to meet you Nick, and Gareth! :thumb: Absolutely top day for me today, feeling really positive again. Can't wait to get back on track!

^^^ this man speaks truth. Seats were lovely, ultra light, well made, and super comfy, but ultimtely, they were cheap. Would a better quality FIA approved seat have done similar in this crash? I don't know. I do know that no harm came to me, and the seats did their job, but I wouldn't like to put them through a multiple impact crash, like a roll over or something. who knows. Looking at spending more on seats this time around, and head restraint is now high on my priority list. Infact, Alex, you might be able to help me with this. I'm looking at some Bimarco Seats, the GRIP in particular: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-BIMARCO-GRIP-FIA-SEAT-HEAD-RESTRAINT-CHEAP-AND-WORLDWIDE-SHIPMENT-/271016888950?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3f19dd8a76 It's GRP shelled, FIA approved, light, and has head restraints, all for £300 each, but here in the UK nobody has heard of them. They're made in Poland, do you know much about them at all? are they more popular over there? The closest equivalent over here would be the sparco Pro ADV, at £460 per seat http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/seats/sparco-pro-adv-fibreglass-seat-2