LOL. Time for the drunken debauchery thread. I'm looking at this thing like "well ****, you need a hole on each corner to hold it down!"

*sigh*...

 

It DOES have holes in the bottom, but not on the sides for side mounts. I friggon bought new side mounts with it...

 

Any thermostat in a remote housing has to have a bypass hole. Otherwise the coolant is stagnant and takes forever to warm up and activate the thermostat (i.e., longer than it takes your temp needle to peg).

 

Thanks for the info Rick. OK, so I need to poke a hole sortof like this eh?



This wouldn't have solved my issue, but it will keep me from having other issues. I do remember my temp spiking a bit when I had my previous 160 tstat, so a bleeder hole should prevent that now.

Thanks again gents.

Now.... Regarding the seat... I really should send it back since it doesn't have a sub strap hole, right? That seems important, considering my harnesses have a sub strap...

Why the hell would Sparco sell a $600 fixed back seat and not have a sub strap hole?

 

Installed the new tstat Sunday morning. Drilled a hole in the top and bottom -- I figured a little more hole won't hurt anything

Works great, except with the temps we've been having (low 40's/high 30's during the day) it would only get up to about 155 degrees on the freeway

Oh well. Good enough.

I've reached out to Fab9 and I'm going to try to get some Corbeaus I think. I am never going to race this thing competitively, and it seems that most people have been really happy with the Corbeaus in reading reviews online. I recognize the quality isn't up there with Sparco or Recaro, but it'll be better than the eBay knockoff I'd be buying instead.

Here's hoping for the best.

 

I just got a set of UltraShields locally, and the place selling them had a Sparco Evo for 250. If you are interested.

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/pts/4764834734.html

 

Oi, looks pretty rough. I'm going to wait to hear back from Bryan, then I may just give them a call. Thanks for the tip!

 

Definitely not a new seat. Just thought I would throw it out.

 

For sure. Thanks!

As for now, it looks like I'm stuck with the Sparco. Not Bryan's fault -- the website does clearly state that it accepts a 4-point harness, which apparently I missed. Also, at the bottom of the page it states there's a 15% restocking fee. So after paying to ship it back and taking the restocking fee, I've eaten up half the savings of going with a Corbeau.

Time to research bottom mount solutions, and get out the holesaw........

 

Bro I saw it in person at MRLS, make it a priority

 

Bro why didn't I see YOU in person then?

Function before style. My ultimate goal:


Anyway, ordered a seat mount and Sparco sliders for the seat. I'm done screwing around and rigging stuff together with steel stock from Home Depot.

I got the tall version of the seat mounts though. Rear seat humps are going bye bye. I'm not tall, but I want to be lower. Between the sparco rails and the seat mounts I'll be in business. Plus this should give me some much-desired rake to the seat. I think it'll be good. If not, I'll put spacers back in, no biggie.

 

Seriously, so many people who were like "yeah, I was there" and completely didn't bother to introduce themselves

Maybe see if you can sell the seats locally on the good ol' Craigslist? 10~15% under MSRP and generally someone will bite. Of course you'll have to deal with the usual CL scum, but taking a small loss is a but better than being stuck with something you are going to regret.

 

^I agree, buy the seat you want, dont chop up a seat to make it work. Plus bottom mount = fail. I know you liked how the Recaro SPG felt, it was just too snug, they make larger version that I think would be perfect for you I know that it fits in miatas since we have a customer with an SM that has one in there.

 

I will not be chopping up the seat. I'll be cutting a very small oval hole, about 2" wide by 1" tall, in the center of the underside of the seat for sub straps to pass through. It will likely be lined by a genuine Sparco sub strap grommet... or maybe rubber weatherstrip. Either way, it'll be done cleanly.

I've ordered the tall seat mounts from Fab9, as well as the sparco sliders. I'm going to knock out the rear seat mount humps and bolt through the floor. I will have NO issues being safely under the rollbar here.

It'll be great!

And... no need for craigslisting or other shenanigans. Proven process, and I'm going to LOVE this seat.

In 5 or 6 or ten years or something when it's worn out I'll go another route.

EDIT: but martin I'd love to hear why bottom mounts suck. Please elaborate. If it's a height issue, the mounts I'm going with solve that problem. Any other issues?

 

The nice thing about side mounts is that you can adjust the angle of the seat to be just right for your leg length, driving position, buttock comfort, etc, whereas bottom mounts dont do that. Certain bottom mount setups/sliders Ive seen have issues with running the sub belts too. Curious to see what it all looks like, Ive just found that side mounts are easier to tailor to specific needs than bottom mounts.

 

Very true. I certainly would have preferred side mounts. I'm going to mock everything up before I install it.

I can't believe what a PITA aftermarket seats are.

 

If this doesnt work out I strongly reocmmened you come sit in the XL SPG and see how it fits you, its more $$$ but its well worth it for a proper seat solution, then you can do a side mount that will make you nice and low with plenty of adjustability. out of curiousity how important is the slider function for you?

 

I would LOVE the SPG XL.. it's almost exactly the same measurements as my NRG I've got in there now. But the bolded statement above makes it a buzzkill for me.

It was a big stretch to spend this money. Now to return or resell I'm going to be losing out on at least another $100 plus returning the other stuff I ordered. Then to buy the sidemounts and rig up the mounts on the Recaro... That's just a LOT of money, and November has NOT treated me well at work.

A lot of it boils down to your last question... sliders are essential for me. Because of my screwed up ankle, if I'm on the freeway for more than 15-20 minutes I slide my seat further back to avoid ankle pain. Makes it hard to push in the clutch all the way but who cares on the freeway. Scoot it forward when I get off the freeway.

I also want tall people to be able to drive it. I like letting (certain trusted) people drive my car

I think this is going to be a really slick setup. We'll see.

 

Thats fair, I can understand that. Hey, Im taller than you, I still need to drive it now that its tuned.

 

As long as I get to drive Laz after he's built! :P I need a test drive to seal the deal on the weld-in bar...