Ekona

Been thinking about this a fair bit recently, and I think I may have found a way forward but wanted to get a few opinions from you guys on here. The usual harness bars won't fit a Roadster due to the roll over hoops situated just behind the seats, so I've been thinking of another way round this. Looking at it, there is enough room between seats and hoops to fit a custom-made bar and to bolt it through the existing seat belt mountings using some slightly longer bolts, and then using wrap around harnesses. You can remove most of the interior and mount something, but that's not an option for me at all: I want to keep the inside stock. I've fitted a very similar system on my old VXR220, however that was an OEM (well, Lotus) designed bar that obviously had the weight of their technical knowledge behind it which far outstrips mine! It too bolted through the seatbelt mounts, however the loads on it were more horizontal that vertical as would be the case in the Zed. My theory is that the bolts in the existing setup must have a fair amount of strength in them given that they hold the seatbelts in place and a considerable load could be put on them in an accident: However, that is offset by the fact that the pretensioners are going to be doing part of the work in reducing this force. My first question is am I right on this presumption so far? I don't profess to be an expert in automotive physics, just a guy with a passing interest from a practical point of view. Assuming that the bolts and mountings are strong enough to withstand these forces on both a seatbelt AND my proposed harness bar in an accident, can anyone think of any other reasons why this can't be done? I'll take any advice on board as if it's going to be a safety issue then it's simply not going to happen full stop: I value my life slightly more than being held in some harnesses on track. That said, if this is a goer I've got a chap in mind who could knock these up day in day out and could possibly then offer them up for sale here for others to use. As always, any and all views welcome chaps.

Anywhere can do an A/C regassing, I'd probably take it to Nissan and get them to do it rather than a generic Kwik Fit place mind.

Silver or yellow calipers

Not sure I understand that? The braking distribution system is always active regardless of ESP on/off, but can be fooled if you're quick and want to use sharp trail braking methods. It doesn't do anything if you change down at high revs as long as you heel + toe/rev match, which you should be doing anyway if changing down hard else you'll kill the clutch in no time. Unless yours is an autobox of course, but then I still don't see why the brakes would activate on hard changes: It's the rear wheels that could lock, not the fronts.

Do not speed in France at all. They will relieve you of the contents of your wallet and ban you from driving. /VOE

No deodorant? Stinky git

Oh, if only it stayed out permanently after you switched the damn thing off, that would just about make the Zed perfect for me! Stupid nannying thing

Did you not know? Overtaking is the new paedophilia, or at least it seems that way at times judging by the reaction of some idiots bumbling along at 40mph regardless of speed limit or conditions.

Just buy a new one you tight git I had mine before I even bought the car!

Wait, did I read that correctly? You had a convertible for 2 years and only just got round to putting the roof down? That's insane! Sorry to hear about what happened though, but the fact that you're still here to talk about it is the main thing. Cars are replaceable, people are not. Go treat yourself to a VXT and enjoy turbocharged topless fun!

Do we really need another Zed vs Boxster debate? Neither car is better than the other, they just have different strong points and weaknesses is all, and anyone claiming that either is clearly the better car because of some stupid stereotype is making themselves out to be a bit daft IMHO.

Any one who owns a Bond/007 plate on their Aston should be shot instantly. No court case, no exemptions, just shot dead. Utter, utter chav.

The new one is far superior to the old one Rich, definitely worth the upgrade. For anyone who hasn't got one of these yet, you're bonkers! They're absolute must-have pieces of kit if you intend on any quick driving, and being better held in your seat can only help improve your technique as well.

Agreed. I hate to break it to you guys, but hitting 25 doesn't give you a magic drop in your insurance that makes anything like the difference you're hoping for. Didn't with me anyway. NCB is really the way to reduce the insurance cost: Well, that and moving to a better postcode.

Despite the fact that you're utterly doing my head in with this thread, I'm still going to answer this sensibly. Or try, anyway. First off go and see what a plenum spacer does, and then see what the MAF does in relation to the AFR of the engine (these are easily searchable both here and in Google), and then work out why sucking huge amounts of air post-MAF is a Very Bad Thing Indeed. If that is the case, then I wouldn't be driving that car at all if I could help it, and I certainly wouldn't be going over 3K rpm. Remap will do nothing if the mechanicals aren't set properly. Out of interest, does your CEL still work, i.e. does it light up pre-ignition on the light check? I ask as you really should be getting a code if you're running lean enough to lose 100bhp... Also, you say the guy who did the dyno did three runs, yes? Then if he knew the car to be so lean that he advised you not to run it over 5K rpm, which he would've found out on the first run, then why the hell did he do two more runs?! At this point you need to forget any hopes of a remap and start taking stuff apart. There is a guide on here on how to fit a plenum spacer, I would suggest reading it and checking all the bolts are torqued correctly first of all, and listen for any leaks around the plenum if possible.

If it's running lean then the only place you can have an issue is with the spacer as it's post-MAF. Who installed it? If you're getting air in there you're in serious danger of melting something soon.

Am I completely invisible? Did my suggestion to go and do a run in 3rd gear from 30-70 and time it magically disappear from the server? Hello? Hello? Hello?

Comparing drag strip times is pointless: In my car around Silverstone I would imagine that Hamilton is going to be a bit quicker than me, doesn't mean that when I drive it the car loses 50bhp.

I could get 15s in the Zed if my launch and shifting were crap. Go and find a dual carriageway and time yourself from 30-70 in 3rd gear, that'll at least let us compare apples with apples.

You would notice 100bhp missing from the Zed. It would feel as slow as a Fiesta.

You're spending £25K+ on a car: Don't buy it unless you've tried it, so if they won't/can't find you a manual to drive then take your business elsewhere.

Fronting

In that case don't worry about it.

If only we had a tyre comparison/review thread of our own on this forum, where members who had used the tyres could post up about their experiences...

It's also a bit irrelevant, as with that much power in first you'll simply be spinning the wheels if you nail it.