Kelse92's K24 Nasa Time Trial Build

[redlined600]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

I do plan to eventually finish the cage and race this car, so up-to-date safety is a must. Decision on the seat has been a tough one though. I have sat in and like the OMP HTE-R but also recently found the Sabelt X-Pad seat and it is very tempting. But the Sabelt seat is designed to fit really in much smaller cars than this FRS, but at a little more cost so I'm debating on the value add. I fit in and find both very comfortable so it's really just an undecided preference at this point.

I've been mostly happy with my OMP HTE-R seat. One thing to consider is that due to the shape of the seat bottom being very square, it doesn't sit very low with sliders(if you use them). Other than not going quite low enough for my preference, it fits fine in the car. The mesh material is nice and doesn't seem to get crazy hot. The back and butt pads are removable to wash.

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by redlined600

I've been mostly happy with my OMP HTE-R seat. One thing to consider is that due to the shape of the seat bottom being very square, it doesn't sit very low with sliders(if you use them). Other than not going quite low enough for my preference, it fits fine in the car. The mesh material is nice and doesn't seem to get crazy hot. The back and butt pads are removable to wash.

Good note on the seat bottom, didn't think about that, I will be using sliders again so that's another consideration. I agree on their mesh fabric, I had the non-halo ARS-R's in my old BMW and really liked them.
Did Sparco's in my last FRS and I liked them too, but their fabric covering on them seemed a bit flimsy.

[Kelse92]

Wow, been awhile sine I've had time to work on this thing so no updates until now. Life and work always getting in the way lol

We are moving shop locations soon which means this thing needs to be a roller again!

We have the shocks back from getting rebuilt and they are going on the car.
There was a bent rod end on one of the SPL Lower control arms as well so that has gotten replaced as well as we put the car back together.





The lack of finished hood vents was bothering me and the wrap guy said it is easier for him to do the wrap around them installed, so they are officially bolted on. Really very happy with the customer service and quality of the parts from Racelouvers. Highly recommend.
I was able to send Al the measurements of my old vents and he was able to get me a template to test fit his parts to make sure they fit within that spacing with minimal extra cutting and I get to reuse my same hood which is a nice cost savings. My OCD on looks also loves that he sends black rivets with the kit.



The car also had a bit of damage on the Left fender that while I'm at it before the car gets wrapped later this year I wanted fixed, so that fender also got replaced.



And the newest project is now cleaning up the rest of the trunk.
Removed the coolshirt and old fire bottle, and decided while we're at it to do a little more.
The fire wall annoyingly blocks access to the rear strut chassis-mounting location. So, we have removed those corners of the firewall that were riveted in place and going to nut-sert them for easier future removal.



It's a bit messy back here right now as the fuel system likely also needs a refresh, so the plan is to get a fresh fuel pump and then reinstall everything. The coolshirt bracket and fire bottle brackets are out and will plan on painting everything back here in the trunk as well to clean it up.



Motor install probably on hold for a while longer, but glad to get some of this ancillary stuff going and I'll pick away at more cleanup in June.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

The lack of finished hood vents was bothering me and the wrap guy said it is easier for him to do the wrap around them installed, so they are officially bolted on. Really very happy with the customer service and quality of the parts from Racelouvers.

That is interesting. I found it easier to wrap the hood with my vent off, then trim it back from the edge a bit and bolt the vent over the top of it.

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

That is interesting. I found it easier to wrap the hood with my vent off, then trim it back from the edge a bit and bolt the vent over the top of it.

Yeah that's what I thought at first too, and he said the other way around. He's really good at cutting around stuff and that it would be way more difficult to undo if I ever change the color again since the wrap would be underneath the vents and I'd have to drill out all of the rivets.

[Kelse92]

WHEW, It's been a long summer!
We have moved shop locations and had a Ton of other things going on so the FRS has been sitting a lot without much progress. Just haven't had much time to touch it with everything going on...But I'm finally finding some time and making some things happen so figured I'd share where we're at now!



With all the down time and knowing we weren't going to touch the car much, I turned the car over to our neighbor who wraps cars and in keeping with the Porsche color theme of my prior car, I had the car wrapped in Inozetek Ultraviolet. It's a little too much 'drift car' looking right now without the bumper and the hot pink roller wheels but we'll change that at some point.

This is pretty much where the car is going to sit as we begin to install the K Swap, but before that gets really going there's been a few other ancillary projects that needed done.

For starters, the wiring under the dash and around the interior was a MESS.
The car had Lots of track accessories that I plan on changing up to more updated parts, and I also like a clean OEM+ like install when it comes to interior wiring.

So Lots of stuff had come out:
- A Coolshirt box previously mounted in the rear with a switch
- An old fire system that needed all of the tubing and pulls removed
- Old video camera cables and charging cables for them
- Old AIM Solo wiring
- Beastronix box that will get swapped for a TracBox



This was a refreshing pile to remove from the car, and as part of that I finished pulling out the passenger seat and degreasing/cleaning the entire interior. It was pretty dusty/dirty in there.

Looks a whole lot better now and ready to start installing things back in.



Up next those additions will be:
- AIM Dash
- Smartycam with microphone
- Coolshirt box in the former passenger seat location
- Setup for Ballast in the former passenger seat location
- Fire bottle in the passenger footwell
- Transponder with switch
- Power distribution for all accessories
- New drivers seat with slider vs the former fixed mount

The other Big change is the car no longer has the Voltex Type 7 wing chassis-mounted. I waffled back and forth on this, because it's a beautiful looking aggressive setup. But in the world of Aero technology, it's a bit outdated. The airfoil is Huge and not very efficient. Weight is also a factor; even with the setup having been built as light as possible, the Voltex wing and chassis mount with all the mounts/hardware and the fiberglass trunk cover weighed in over 35lbs. I had saved the spare stock trunk with TT5 Zebulon wing from my previous car, and the total weight of that setup is only 30lbs, so it's now on the car. I have a few changes in mind to optimize it down the road with a different airfoil, mounting style, and potentially modified endplates but for now this is going to be the base wing setup.

Before:


After:

[NoHaveMSG]

Wrap looks great. Was he able to do the trunk in 1 piece?

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Wrap looks great. Was he able to do the trunk in 1 piece?

Thanks! The trunk is surprisingly 1 piece, with the garnish being the only thing separate. When I DIY'ed it previously I had to do a separate section on the top of the trunk and then the back.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

Thanks! The trunk is surprisingly 1 piece, with the garnish being the only thing separate. When I DIY'ed it previously I had to do a separate section on the top of the trunk and then the back.

That is crazy he did that one piece. I wasted a bunch of material trying to do one piece and kept stretching it too much and had to do 2 pieces as you mentioned.

[pope]

I love that color combo.

[Kelse92]

Small-ish update, I finally made a decision and picked up an OMP HTE-R Seat.
Summit Racing has a warehouse 30mins from the house that had the seat in stock, and I went back and sat in it yesterday while I was in the area and it's a really good fit for me so I picked it up. Plan is to install on a stock base/rail with the Brey Krause sliders.

[redlined600]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

Small-ish update, I finally made a decision and picked up an OMP HTE-R Seat.
Summit Racing has a warehouse 30mins from the house that had the seat in stock, and I went back and sat in it yesterday while I was in the area and it's a really good fit for me so I picked it up. Plan is to install on a stock base/rail with the Brey Krause sliders.

An fyi, depending on how low you plan to sit it looked like the seat bottom would interfere with the stock seat mechanism. I hopped in the conversation here based on my own interest in that setup. https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...=136924&page=2

If you don't like to sit low then no worries.

[Kelse92]

I think I'm in the weird minority of people that don't like to sit so low that I can't hardly see over the dash lol

[DocWalt]

meanwhile some of us sit as low as we physically can and are still mashed into the roof... while our wives have the seat all the way up just to see over the dash at all