Tornado's Unwanted Harem: Despite Recent Expenditures, Ryoko is Still My True Love

[Tornado]

Gotta get all the dust out of this thread.

lmao they cost a small fraction to get that they do in New York but here they actually stamp them out.

Begone stupid 180° thermometer.

Begone incandescents tasked with pretending the headlights are circular when it's dark out.

What can be done here?

Begone terrible factory head unit and stupid factory button placement.

Begone crappy Bose paper cone speakers.

Begone terrible factory shifter assembly that changes geare like a pickup truck.

Begone stupid looking amber marker (but confusingly not turn signal) lamps.

(Ignore the wheels being dirty I can scrub them down completely and after five minutes of driving they look like that anyway).

Begone factory CHMSL assemblies.

Now, this is good so far but... Hmmmm. What if we... go deeper with the two-tone?

Neat!

(Also I wired in a spoiler switch like a 996 Turbo)

We can go further though.

Nice.

(Also I bought and successfully wrapped the B-Pillar and the A-Pillars, the latter in a darker grey like the outer gauge cluster; but apparently for the 996.2 Porsche redesigned all those parts so the ones I bought and spent hours preparing didn't fit!)

Cabin air filter is perhaps a bit dirty.

Engine air filter is perhaps a bit dirty.

Begone intake resonator.

In fact, I'm going to rip the hole box out of the intake:

(This surprisingly did smooth throttle response from 5-6k a bit)

Now it's still burbly burbly below 2l but howls when you get on it past 4k or so.


Also I put better headlight bulbs in it.






And yellow foglight bulbs.


​

Anything else?



Well...

There we go.
​

Would have been a lot easier to this point if I had just bought a damn WRX, honestly.

 

[Tornado]

I can hear you already. "You mean you've spent 8 months and not even touched the other car?"


Well.

First all of the fuel lines had to be replaced, and it took me forever to fix all of the things that they screwed up in the process of changing them (still not quite done until I can get help to pull the rear bumper off).

Then someone ran over the front of her (which I'm still waiting to be fixed)

​

But notwithstanding I've been working on some things...

Get a used up set of these.

Go to the junkyard and get some of these (sure is strange how many BMW SUVs there are in this junkyard near Spartanburg)

Do some custom stuff here...

Now I just gotta shove them in there...

And there. New, significantly higher-quality lumbar bladders with replaceable individual chambers for both these new seats to replace the ones that had disintegrated for uh...

$20.

Instead of...





$260.

Get them installed and hooked up to the correct plug after swapping the newer pump system from the original seats...

Now I have a seat that provides significantly more lateral support, gets your head further from the roof, provides much better neck support and is much more comfortable on your back. The best seats I've ever sat in in anything.

All controlled by the much more logical seat controls from the 1994+ cars.


(I still need to figure out how to wire the bolstering to the seat switches since it doesn't work the same way).

(Also I built another gaming chair)

​

But this color combo is terrible, and I'll need to get these seats reupholstered so...





What about red?

Going along nicely.



​

And that's where she stands. Interior partially converted to the previous, vastly superior seat design. Interior partially converted to Flame Red, like the first C4 I drove was. Front end partially damaged and awaiting repair. Clutch partially fried and needing replacement.

This is the end goal:

Except with these doors (hopefully):

Assuming I can successfully paint the doors and don't need to buy a used set of Flame Red 1993 doors (there is a set on eBay right now, so I have a safety valve of sorts at least).


​

At this point I'm already approaching saturation of things I can change relatively easily without spending a ton of money (carpet, new seat covers).


(Well, beyond the not-insubstantial money I already spent on the seats that were trashed and which I will in the end barely use any parts from)



I also lowered the rear about an inch and got a new slightly stiffer front spring that I modified to lower the front. Need a lift to change it out though.










No I still don't think I can get rid of the crappy Buick steering wheel for the earlier one.

 

[wfooshee]

Begone stupid looking amber marker (but confusingly not turn signal) lamps.​

Those still light up amber, right?

 

[Tornado]

Yes. Sequentially, from front to rear.

 

[wfooshee]

Oooh, flashy!

 

[Venom800tt]

Hey, North Carolina means lots of great driving roads on the NC-TN boarder lol

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Love the micro suede interior mods. Might have to steal that for my center bezel on my 986...though I'm not sure what color. Where did you get the shifter from? I've been considering upgrading mine.

 

[Tornado]

It was a standard 997 shifter. Was like a 130 bucks. Throws are only slightly shorter but it has a snick quality like a decent Honda box now. It also, most importantly, eliminates that horrible 1 -> 2 vagueness. I know I'm used to a shifter that has throws about 3 inches long but Porsche should have been embarassed by the shift feel in the 996.



997-424-010-00

 

[Keef]

You're an animal for this. I love seeing sports cars do jobs people don't think they should do.

 

[ICEYOU3]

Ryoko!!! <3

My first Waifu!!

 

[Keef]

Ryoko did it for me too. Middle school was weird. At least the tail thing didn't stick with me.

 

[Tornado]

Look at this:

BORING.




​

GM, for the only C4 that's actually worth anything, trotted this out for their red interior option of the big send off of the generation? Is this some sort of lame-ass C6 red colored interior (not: This hubris will bite me in the ass later)?

It's a long way from the glory days...

​

But wait. Ryoko is Admiral Blue Metallic. Ryoko has a 6 speed. Ryoko has 315 rear tires on black ZR1 wheels. Ryoko was repaired and then repainted like a 1996 model year:

Instead of how she was originally painted:

(It only took 5 months)


​

Why can't Ryoko be a Grand Sport? Remember the goal:

This is the end goal:

Except with these doors (hopefully):

Assuming I can successfully paint the doors and don't need to buy a used set of Flame Red 1993 doors (there is a set on eBay right now, so I have a safety valve of sorts at least).​

So what do we do?

Yes.

YES!







What do you mean they keep rubbing against interior panels and pulling the paint off?

​

Okay. Have to buy the earlier door panels I guess, since red ones of the final style don't outside of NOS ($700 per side). Fine. And hey, they are way higher quality than the... molded piece of hard vinyl that they went to in 1994 anyway; with a difference even more stark than the awful 1994 dashboard and the cool 1993 one.




They're padded.


They're carpeted.


They're multipiece.


They are actually adhered to the door with more than nylon fasteners, friction and a prayer.


The switches actually fit in them (because apparently redesigning a door card to a obscenely cheaper design to cut costs on your flagship car and then making it so the carryover switchgear fits is a step too far for 90s GM).

Yeah, whatever. I'll hand-fit the 1990-1993 inner door skin and custom fit it to fit the 1994+ door mechanisms.

Oh. Immediately after I solved the question of how to adapt the previous seats to the later seat controls, I fried the controller under the passenger seat? Oh. They are basically unobtainium.





That's... fantastic.

Hooray?

Well, I... uh... managed to make them fit. They're not the correct red, and they honestly simply are not as good as the C4 seats, but I can work with these. I can change the covers later. Maybe try and go to the later C6 seat design; which are supposed to be much more supportive:

​

Since the lower frames are much more self-contained than C4 seats, maybe I can even try to mount C4 seats to those frames. Who knows. They are also much quieter, much faster and one of my motors was failing anyway. And hey, they're the sport seats. That means they are heated! I'm sure I can figure out how to wire them! And red seatbelts! And red handbrake cover! Coming right along!

​

What the is this wiring diagram? Why the hell is the wiring nothing like the equivalents from contemporary heated seats from other GM cars? Why is the switch 4 inches deep with a harness that's impossible to mount?

The hell with it. I'll do aftermarket.

​

Since I'm gutting the seats anyway, I'll replace the seat springs with the nicer C4 trapeze style instead of the similar springs that the C4 originally had and GM went away from that squeak and cut up the foam.



I'll beef up the sides of the foam on the bottom cushion, but instead of buying the laughably priced kit I'll just cut shipping foam to the correct shape/size.

5000 steps later

(I still need to find a do the rear speaker covers)

​

I think it came out great. I wish it hadn't taken 7 months.


Or cost... so much.




But I think in the end it was worth it. I'm much happier with this color scheme, and the new carpet (while definitely not being quite as high quality as the original OEM stuff would have been) is much nicer and fits much better than my worn out shrunken old carpet. I also by and large avoided the horrendously annoying parts (the kick panels, the driver's side hush panel) because I just bought used Flame Red ones so I wouldn't have to bother.






"But what about Ayeka, you're asking."



Well, I bought this:

(No I don't drive with it on all the time)
​

And changed the driver's side window regulator 3 times:

 

[Darla Starch]

TIL the heated seat buttons for a C4 Corvette are located in what appears to be a change bin in the center console

 

[Tornado]

LAME

​

Why not set some more money on fire?

​

Another 8 pound per corner weight savings!








Front brakes are looking might small tho...

WOW. C5 brakes look great. Too bad the brackets I bought weren't for the C6 Z51 brakes like the seller said!

​

But wait.

Those are the exact same brakes (albeit on different bolt sizes). What about... the Cobra R Brembos?

No. I think not.







Wait, what!?

Those things felt phenomenal on Ayeka II, and that weighed at least 500 pounds more than Ryoko did. These are also the same brakes that the base C7 uses, just painted differently.

Like they were made to go there. And they are... uh... quite a bit cheaper than C5 calipers + C6 Z51 caliper brackets + C4 knuckle adapter brackets.
And the just bolt right onto the knuckles. whereas C5 guys need to grind them because the C5 knuckle spaces them so far out that they need to use 14" C6 Z06 brakes (that don't fit under the caliper as is).

And lighter.

Since I can't change the rear brakes on a later C4 let's fiddle with some brake pad type differences.

There's also this:

And this:

And finally this:

(Also I pulled the airbags out of them)




​

But what about the Princess of Jurai, you say? Well...

Now, this is good so far but... Hmmmm. What if we... go deeper with the two-tone?

Neat!​

lol I changed my mind

Rinse wash repeat about 7 times, but...

​

And:

Begone crappy Bose paper cone speakers.​

lmao I never actually liked how these sounded. Way too bright.

​

 

[ImaRobot]

What did you use for the caliper paint? Saw a company called G2 pop up on my instagram so I saved it because I eventually want to swap from red(or the red + black overspray/grime combo I have currently going on from the previous owner.)

 

[Tornado]

I ultimately just used POR-15 off Amazon and like a dozen cheapo paintbrushes I got from Wal-Mart when I decided that rattlecan caliper paint made far too much of a mess and damaged too easily. I would suggest buying a dozen cheapo paintbrushes at the same time and just tossing them every 15 minutes instead of trying to even bother cleaning the paint off of them. There was enough paint to have done all 4 if I hadn't changed my mind halfway through the job and switched to different calipers; and the process was far less fussy (and cheaper) than the G2 kit with what seems to be comparable results.









Oh and I forgot to say but Ryoko needed a clutch and I assumed a flywheel so I just had both done with an aluminum one.

 

[ImaRobot]

I ultimately just used POR-15 off Amazon and like a dozen cheapo paintbrushes I got from Wal-Mart when I decided that rattlecan caliper paint made far too much of a mess and damaged too easily. I would suggest buying a dozen cheapo paintbrushes at the same time and just tossing them every 15 minutes instead of trying to even bother cleaning the paint off of them. There was enough paint to have done all 4 if I hadn't changed my mind halfway through the job and switched to different calipers; and the process was far less fussy (and cheaper) than the G2 kit with what seems to be comparable results.









Oh and I forgot to say but Ryoko needed a clutch and I assumed a flywheel so I just had both done with an aluminum one.

Thanks, I might go this route then. Only reason I was considering G2 was the fact that they match Manufacturer colors, and saw that Porsche had this really nice dark purple that I thought would look great on the Abarth. Expensive as hell, though. If I end up managing to convince myself against G2, I'll probably go for the yellow in the link you posted.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

@Tornado

So you sanded the texture off the center console rather than filled in with some sort of compound? I've been wanting to do a similar project with a spare console, color matching it to my artic silver paint color. Did you pick that one up from ebay or something?

 

[Tornado]

Yeah I bought a second center console for super cheap, repaired the broken tabs and then sanded it down and repainted it with some silver I got from the automotive section at Wal-Mart.


Anyway...

Little known fact because the IP was always anime first so rarely did the manga even get distributed outside of Japan, but Ayeka's true hair color is actually blue.

She did goofy space science stuff to genetically modify herself so she would think she's more attractive. I feel like dying it would have been easier, but with this knowledge we can apply the transitive property to real life:

4000 pounds.

3500 pounds.

3000 pounds.



And, without further ado, Ayeka IV:

2000 Pounds.
​

Or, put another way:

The trouble is that I won't have a car payment soon and that will need to be corrected.

Or, put another another way:

How the hell did Lotus design a targa top that's even worse than a C4's, even though it's not structural.
​

 

[homeforsummer]

Well, I did not expect this. The American stuff? Sure, that all made sense together. The Porsche? Bit of a diversion, definitely throwing some variety in there. The Lotus? Mad brilliance. Only a matter of time before I buy one of those myself.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Any updates on the harem roster?

 

[Tornado]

Any updates on the harem roster?

Soon™

 

[Tornado]

Let me preface this by spitting some facts:

She's good.

She's better.​

That's important because countless amounts of time (and depressingly countable amounts of money) has been spent on the former and not the latter so no wrong ideas need to be gotten into people's head.

First lets talk about wheels (note that I only did wheels a couple weeks ago and not anywhere near first).

These things suck. Look at this photograph:

A 17x7.5 wheel weighs 21 pounds. These:

Are 18x10.5, and they don't weigh that much. Something's gotta be done. They don't even look that good! Also the tires that were put on the car by the dealer are garbage. They're loud, they're directional, they tramline and they are terrible in the rain.




Luckily, there are a couple pretty cheap options because Miata owners exist and spend money on everything and have the same bolt pattern (so long as the Miata you're buying isn't the one that's a RWD Focus).

I chose the ones that were ever so slightly heavier but allowed for wider amounts of tire choices and maintained the staggered wheel diameter of stock (the RPF1s are only available in 16")

The front wheels are about the same weight despite being two inches wider with wider tires (205/45s in 7.5s instead of 195/50s on 5.5s), and the rear wheels are 3 pounds lighter each despite being an inch wider (245/40s on 8.5s vs 225/45s on 7.5s).

Yes, I did put all-season tires on my Lotus. The best ones on the market. If they're good for a car with nearly three times as much torque they're going to be fine for this.



Also, the brakes on this car kinda suck. I know I'm spoiled by my rifle bolt modded Corvette brakes but these were downright spooky in the wet, with long travel and heavy push required for actuation.

For high end ceramics these were super cheap on Amazon for some reason. Way cheaper than they were everywhere else (probably because the compatibility tool listed them wrong?) and with Prime.

At some point I'll put stainless lines on too.

But while I'm in there, lemme paint them:

"That's great" you say, "but what did you actually do first and not just 5 months later." Well:

Chinesium head units have actually come a long way in a short time, and this one looks like it was made to go there. Long term viewers of the channel might be interested to know that it is probably the best option you can get for a certain other car...

My temporary solution to the rear speaker problem was not too impressive:

But with the help of Harley owners' insatiable need for aftermarket stuff I came up with a better solution:

In comparison the fronts were easy:

Just buy the most expensive high efficiency coaxial 4 inchers you can get.

Slap a decent amp in there and a powered subwoofer and you got... something that doesn't sound as good as Ryoko's stereo (with the significantly larger subwoofer, Kenwood amp that is the next tier up, three-times-as-expensive Pioneer head unit, component front speakers and huge 6x9s in from-the-factory ported rear enclosures) but still a damn sight better than it did; even though the dealer had actually put a brand new Excelon Kenwood deck in it as well.
You can also see the modified throttle position, instead of the original awful one that sits well in front of the brake pedal.



Next on the docket? I work nights. The Elise headlights are terrible. Luckily I have an early federal Elise so the headlights aren't sealed units:

Not a particularly easy process, but for like $400? A remarkably effective one.
(Yes I did buy a licence plate mount just to put my vanity plate back on)




And while I'm in there let's get the douchebag Impreza look:

And since we're working on lighting, how about the stupid taillight setup on these cars:

This is the only picture I could get of it but the Federal Elise uses the same setup. Taillamps on the outer and inner halves. Brake lights on both of the inner halves. Turn signals on both of the outer halves. The existing amber outer section that is the turn signal elsewhere doesn't do anything. This looks hideous, to be frank. Most people buy the 2006 and up Elise taillights which are LED and convert them, but I don't like how those look and they're expensive and most people do that and if I wanted to be most people I wouldn't have bought an Elise to daily drive like some sort of idiot.

I bought this instead:

And with the help of some socket adapters and one 1988 Pontiac Grand Prix that gave all 8 of its (superior 3157) taillight sockets, now:

But wait, there's more!



At some point I'll buy two more of the inboard assemblies and wire the car to have 4 reverse lamps.

What else? Well, my shift lockout was broken when I bought the car, and while I had never come close to a money shift it wasn't a safe feeling. I don't know how to fix that so...

The boot was torn anyway.

Then I painted the awful looking plastic storage cubby, and changed out the useless Europe-sized cigarette lighter for a much more useful USB PD charger (one with a physical power switch so I don't have to wire a relay into the ignition circuit to not have it kill my battery when the car is off).

And replaced the shift knob with this very low profile countersunk aftermarket one that Honda guys use on Civics that sits about a centimeter lower and is about 60% heavier and also doesn't get anywhere near as hot when in the sun; which is nearly all the time because this is a targa, damn it.

And bought a cupholder!

I also bought these top spec Lloyd's Mats that weren't at all the color I thought they would be based on the website, so I very successfully dyed them:

To a color that uh... also doesn't match the interior.

But I still like them a lot more than the ratty ones that were in there.


Also, here's something:

One of these cars is actually practical. The answer of which may surprise you!







But I hear you asking: "Are we to believe that you spent the past 6 months doing nothing to your one and only true wife, Ryoko?"

Well, I still had these:

And I never really liked these:

So what if... I could combine the two? The actually good seats from the C4 but with the compact and modern electronics/frame of the C6?

And I could find an actually common source of a normal rocker switch that was the same size as the $55 each switches from Corvette part vendors which I could then wire to an existing electrical circuit:

And the whole thing would give you similar levels of comfort with dramatically more support while also lowering you about 2 inches in the car:

Man, that would be so cool.

And if there was potentially a theoretical Ryoko II on the horizon, and such a car famously had horrid seats, it sure would be sweet if it would be trivial to put this theoretical "perfect seat" into said Ryoko II.

Yeah. So cool.


I might even be able to just reuse the C6 seats for something else:

Some more sweet gamer chairs that definitely didn't cost me $2000 to buy all of 7 months earlier or anything, nope nope.​