Perfect Balance's cars | Small update| 05/03/14

[Perfect Balance]

Got MOAR video.

 

[Punknoodle]

That's not a bad shot, that.

 

[SRV2LOW4ME]

Fortune Auto.

I should mention they offered to repair them free of charge, 2 years after my warranty expired on them. Outstanding customer service.

In fact, about a year after I purchased them, one started leaking from the seal around the piston rod, and because the car was my daily they simply had me take pictures of the leak and sent me a brand new shock.

Sounds like a great company, I'll be sure to pass that information along. 👍

 

[Perfect Balance]

That's not a bad shot, that.

Not a great run by any means though, but I like the video.

Sounds like a great company, I'll be sure to pass that information along. 👍

Great company indeed.

Also, I got my new lower mount today and installed all my adjustable control arms stuff, so update coming on that in the next few days when I finalize the alignment and finally get it on the road again.

 

[Perfect Balance]

Sigh....

I keep pushing myself away from my engine swap financially, but keep telling myself that in the end I'm saving money.

Got a super deal on a set of these.

 

[speed junkie]

Them boys is safely skid racin.

 

[Perfect Balance]

Indeed I am. Got them more or less mounted up. Right now they are mounted to the rear seat belt anchors. Mounting will be made more proper when I get some kind of roll bar or cage. In any case I'm still using the stock seat belts for driving around town.

Also, horrible picture, but you can more or less see how the ride height is now. For some reason, I assume the ground wasn't straight in the shop, but this side sits a little bit higher in the rear than the left size. Regardless, the car is much more flat now, and overall looks a lot better. A lot of the camber has also been removed. I'm actually no longer running spacers, but have better fitment than I did before.

Again, excuse horrible photography, I simply don't carry a camera around at work, so cell phone pics will have to suffice.

 

[Punknoodle]

Nice camera angle though, looks low and mean 👍

 

[speed junkie]

For some reason, I assume the ground wasn't straight in the shop, but this side sits a little bit higher in the rear than the left size.

Yeah when I saw the photo I instantly thought "didn't he want it lower than that?" But yeah looks guuud. And less camber is a plus.

 

[Perfect Balance]

Nice camera angle though, looks low and mean 👍

Thanks.

Yeah when I saw the photo I instantly thought "didn't he want it lower than that?" But yeah looks guuud. And less camber is a plus.

Yeah it should be a little lower. Unfortunately I'm now thinking it may not be the ground and I may have some weird adjustment issue, I might have to pull the wheels off and do some more measuring. The space between the lower and upper collars is the same on both sides, so either I've got a difference in the preload or spring length, or some extreme corner weight issues. I dunno.

 

[Crisp]

I just read this thread from beginning to end. Nice thread. Good job on the 240. I saw no rice on it:tup:

 

[Perfect Balance]

You mean other than the fart cannon exhaust, the far too low ride height, and stretched tires?

Thanks though. This reminds me, I have an update I need to do, car looks slightly different now...

 

[Crisp]

I wouldn't call that a fart can. Its a system at least. Low ride hight is fine by me and stretched tires are better in some cases because it makes the sidewall more rigid.

 

[Perfect Balance]

I wouldn't call that a fart can. Its a system at least. Low ride hight is fine by me and stretched tires are better in some cases because it makes the sidewall more rigid.

Yeah I guess, but fine by you or not, I definitely have some non "function > form" modifications on there. I will not try to deny/justify it.


Regardless, here is my overdue update.

I read around online and found somebody got some side skirts from a 00-04 Legacy and bolted them to the side of a 240, and surprisingly they looked good.


So, $30 later, and $50 of color matched spray paint later, I had some skirts.

This was the initial test fit before trimming and paint:

One of them had a considerable sized gash in the side of it:

Had some fun with a heat gun, and bodyfiller, and ended up with something semi decent looking:

Then some primer:

And followed by paint. The paint I get is a color matched spray can single stage paint from the local paint store, about $25 a can, but it's real automotive paint that they mix in the back for you and put it in a can. I got impatient, and made the mistake of painting in high humidity (it was raining outside), and now I know why it's a bad idea. It looked great initially, and then I came back a few minutes later, and the entire things were covered with a thin layer of condensation. When they dried, they were dull and had absolutely no shine. Fortunately I was able to just lay a few layers of clear on them and bring them back.

Also I forgot to mention that I color matched the front lip at the same time.

Cleared at work in the tire room between oil changes.


And then all cleaned up and shiny:

And some instagram.

Have mixed feelings about this app. I like that the actual programming is better which makes the colors and lighting better before adding any kind of effect, but it only does square photos, so I have to stand very far back from everything I shoot, and the edges of the frame gets distorted from the lens.

 

[speed junkie]

I looked at this post through my phone (small photos) and the shot of your car with the side skirts test fitted almost looked like it was painted two-tone at first glance. Actually looked kind of cool.

 

[Christian_C]

That looks real nice now 👍 Much prefer the colour matched lip compared to the black.

 

[SVX]

Wow, that looks beautiful.

 

[Punknoodle]

Yep. Looks great now 👍

 

[Slick Rick]

Agree car looks great now! good job 👍

 

[eSZee]

I think the black looked better. It looks like you have two tones of red/burgundy.

edit

or maybe it's just the screen on my laptop.

 

[Cano]

Way WAY nicer in body color, dude.

 

[Perfect Balance]

I think the black looked better. It looks like you have two tones of red/burgundy.

Its actually not different colors, it matches very well. The problem is the front bumper is spray painted and doesn't match, and since the lip is bolted to the bottom of it, it stands out. The colors match almost perfectly.

 

[Punknoodle]

Remember when I said I was going to paint my cam cover purple, yeah well I'm going to do that now. I think your brake calipers suit the car colour perfectly.

 

[Blackbird.]

Car looks great PB! 👍 I see alot of odd looking cars around here but that one is tastefully done.

 

[Perfect Balance]

Remember when I said I was going to paint my cam cover purple, yeah well I'm going to do that now. I think your brake calipers suit the car colour perfectly.

Do it man. It looks good. I actually was just looking for a color that wasn't a signature color for a brand of brakes, like red/Brembo, or blue/Endless, but still stood out without being over the top like yellow or flourescent green or something. I know D2 makes purple parts, but nobody really runs their stuff, at least not in the US. Not that it'd be smart to run some generic taiwanese brake calipers anyway.


Anyway, thanks for all the positive feedback everyone. Things have slowed down a lot with the car, the next step is probably going to be buying parts for the engine swap, and to make things easier for me, I'm going to start from the most expensive components (minus the engine itself) and then work myself down to the cheaper items so I feel as though it's a "downhill battle" once the swap kit itself is purchased.

I may have some other updates regarding my other car though...

 

[194GVan]

any other pics/info of that Rota LOL miata? it looks strikingly similar to one i used to own........

mine was a white 93. had black side stripes with vintage mazda font, pulled fenders, had similar/identical side mirrors. when i sold it there was a black rear finish panel though and 14x7 diamond racing wheels. and the motor was shot.

probably just a coincedence

 

[CodeRedR51]

any other pics/info of that Rota LOL miata? it looks strikingly similar to one i used to own........

mine was a white 93. had black side stripes with vintage mazda font, had similar/identical side mirrors. when i sold it there was a black rear finish panel though. and the motor was shot.

That's speedjunkie's car:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=225472

Also, $30 a can!? I paid $14.

 

[194GVan]

oh yep definitely a coincidence. that wasnt my car lol

 

[Perfect Balance]

Also, $30 a can!? I paid $14.

It used to be $13 a can iirc, but it went up within the last year.

It's actually like $24 a can though, I did say $50 of paint. The skirts themselves were $30.

 

[CodeRedR51]

It used to be $13 a can iirc, but it went up within the last year.

It's actually like $24 a can though, I did say $50 of paint. The skirts themselves were $30.

....

And followed by paint. The paint I get is a color matched spray can single stage paint from the local paint store, about $30 a can, but it's real automotive paint that they mix in the back for you and put it in a can.

That's what I did when I repainted the engine bay in my Miata.