dave_7

Yeah, I've seen a fair few charged e92's and blow pretty much anything into the weeds, especially if they're running slicks. A mate took me out for a few laps in his stock e92, with road tyres and oem brake pads and I was really underwhelmed by it in comparison to my setup. However some proper tyres and some suspension work and they're a totally different animal. The seats/harnesses made a big difference, its like driving with just your fingers and toes so you can feel the feedback through the car so much better. It meant I could react to things so much quicker and any corrective inputs can be much more precise because you can feel exactly what's happening underneath you. Is it practical?... no. Am I ar*ed?... also no. After all I'm not slowing building this car to anything other than a really great driving experience. And to be honest, despite all the compromises I've made to it as a road car, its still a great GT car. 3 hours drive to Cadwell park each way is absolutely no problem. Still got the a/c, bose, bluetooth, cruise control, door cards etc. I have to be careful to strike a balance so as not to make it no longer enjoyable to drive on the roads Haha I 100% agree with this!!

Yeah I can get that, I'm the only one mad enough it seems! It's a long term project for me as I have no intention of selling it. Just gradually improved on areas of weakness as they come up and its just got out of hand to be honest Must say its good to have something that's different is the sea if clios, mx5's & M3's etc you see at trackdays. Certainly gets a lot of attention. Well there's a reason you see so many heavily modified "ring spec" e92 M3's... they're very capable round a track and in a straight line there is no contest. It's like anything really some of them are faster than me some are slower, all depends on the car and more importantly who is pedaling it.

Few picture from my latest trackday at Anglesey at the beginning of September. Another great day will no issues and loads of time on track with many laps done. New seat, harness & steering wheel spacer setup made a huge difference to driving the car. Much easier to read the feedback from the car when I'm not having to brace myself to stop myself from falling out the window. Not just during cornering but under breaking too. Its something I should have done a long long time ago. And the improved driving position was also a big bonus... bags of headroom even with my helmet on.

how about a set SSR GTX0118×10.5 Offset +22 😁

Cheers mate. I've spent countless hours over the last few years researching how to get the ultimate lanky bloke seating position. I get some pictures up from my trackday at Anglesey the other week... great day out and the seats and harnesses made an absolutely massive difference. Its no much easier to feel what the car is doing when you've not got to wrestle to stop yourself falling out the door - or going through the windscreen when braking!

Probably bang average really. I'd just take it off then take it into work to use the big boy press on it... unless im missing something? I follow @350Butcher's build thread... absolute mega car one of my favourites on here

Sounds like a job to take my time over and do through the winter then. Yeah just the subframe collars, diff brace and diff bushing at the moment plus the bushings that come in the front and rear camber arms so still plenty left to do. Looking at chassis bracing as well, the price of the Soul function stuff is eye watering through.

This is going on my to do list!

Nice fix! I've suffered with pad deposits from heavy track work in the past, but always been able to overcome it just by giving them some stick and getting them nice and hot again. Really annoying when you see people always say its warped discs as it is very very rarely the case

looks really good pal. It's all coming together nicely!

exactly

Must have a ball bag like a spacer hopper!

yeah a silver mk1 is as rare as rocking horse sh*t

That is very nice!

Congrats, looks super tidy!

Thanks pal I'll try and keep the updates coming as I'm glad some people are into it, i know its not everyone's cup of tea though. Yeah I was willing to sacrifice the rails in pursuit of headroom but it is a compromise. Your new setup is awesome though, those posh recaros are so nice! You've done a really good job to not gain any height with a base mounted seat and rails from my research Glad to hear you like the spacer, its something I've been in desperate need of for a long time! Yeah i was a little bummed out about the expense of having to replace them but happy i was able to diagnose and fix it myself in time for my track day. The gaskets you'd kind of expect to fail - there isnt a great deal of land on the gasket either side of the through hole where its failed due to the gasket design.... cheers mr nissan. But the cats themselves I was disppointed with. No idea if I was just unlucky, gave them a too harder life or whether the gasket leaking played a part. Given its a part that is designed to get red hot i very much doubt it was due to temperature. Lucky i flogged my stock cats a few weeks before for £800 so it eased the blow somewhat. I was reluctant to go to a decat as i was worried about noise limits but maybe I should have?

Yeah its a whole different experience, been wanting this kind of set up for a long long time, so i knew exactly what i wanted and how i was going to achieve it. Seat base is super thin, literally fibreglass shell and foam cushioning which is sat touching the floor. Only way you'd get any lower is to have no seat and sit on the floor. Nissan didn't leave much on the table when it comes to reducing the height of the seat so it was the only way really. Another thing worth mentioning it the weight saving is huge,as you'd expect!

I plan on getting mine done at some point in the near future. Sounds like the launch control is not working at all there!

It's not all about the numbers mate. I suspect the response and drivabilty have massively improved?

Next up is a big one for me Bucket seat and harness setup finally complete. 2x Mirco GT bucket seats - made to order in black velour with white branding removed from the backrest/headrest area for a clean luck with white fibreglass shell to match the harness bar. FIA approved 2x Sabelt 4 point harnesses 2x Z1 seat side mounts - had to machine these at work and paint as they clashed with just about everything. How Z1 got this so wrong I have no idea - Just because some can use a CAD package does not make them an Engineer and this is a prime example. They have however given me around an extra 60mm of headroom which is important for me, Im 6ft 5 and my helmet rubbed the roof lining despite a compromised driving position. Obliviously no adjustment once fitted with his hard mounted setup but that's no issue for me. Retained the stock 3 point belts to keep some form of practicality. Went to GSM to try every seat in the showroom to pick the seat that was right for me personally. GSM were really helpful up until the point I had my money then were pretty hopeless to put it mildly (not shocked as they have a reputation for this among track day groups). Seats arrived 5 weeks late which is one thing but my issue was the terrible communication/customer service. I'm really happy with how its all turned out. Combined with the shifter and re-trimmed steering wheel, the interior is perfect for its fastroad/weekendcar/trackcar combined duties and really has transformed the driving experience. Full racecar feels, but still a perfectly usable GT car although I wouldn't like to daily it. Got a steering wheel spacer coming from Italy after @buster put me onto it last week after fitting one to his. This is something I've looked for since I've had the car and should dial in the driving position for a streak of p*ss like me perfectly. So big thanks to him for that. Next up back to Anglesey in a few weeks to test out the new set up. Can't wait!

So, I've let this thread lapse again but a lot has happened so I'll quickly run through it all... First up was new front pads, rear pads and discs. I've had to go for a full fat race pad on the front now as anything less hardcore it literally falling to bits under the temperature load. Then trackday at Anglesey in June. Awesome day and the weather was perfect. Got a serious number of laps in. The new front roll bar has made such a huge difference to the front end of the car meaning I can caryy so much more speed through the tighter apexes. Unfortunately had the EML come on just before lunch with a multiple cylinder misfire (happened during a cool down lap). Cleared the code and kelp an eye on things for the rest of the day with no issues. Got home and whipped the coils and plugs out to inspect (I say whipped out you end up disassembling half the engine bay including removing the throttle bodies). No issues at all everything looked perfect. Changed the oil and clutch fluid at the same time. Found the cause of the misfire... Gaskets between the manifold and cats died a firey death, both sides. Torqen sorted me out me out with next day delivery on some graphite gaskets for both sides of the cats with the next trackday rapidly approaching. This was not the end of the problem though... before refitting I decided to check the condition of the cores. Passenger side of absolutely shagged - driver side was also loose. Disappointed as I bought Berks thinking the quality would be great but they've only lasted 2 and a half years. (terrible picture but you can see it's absolutely Barrymore'd) Mild panic set in only a few days before a trackday at Cadwell. Rang Torqen who sorted me out a deal on their HFCs and shipped them out again for next day. So big thanks again to them for pulling me out the sh*t All bolted back together and tested... car sounded much healthier - I must not have noticed the sound going down hill as i guess it will have slowly happened over time. Made it to Cadwell, car ran faultlessly all day.

Great update! Wish my wheels looked that fresh. Do it right, do it once is definitely the right mentality imo, even if it does empty your wallet

I'm another one who runs plain discs and then the best pads i can afford and mine take a real pounding!

Looks so good mate you must be mega pleased with the outcome! Hows the height compared to stock?

you'e making me want to go there now