New member from the Netherlands.

[IBMFD3S]

Mux213 Wrote:Yesterday Andreas visited me with his new car. I've seen it a couple of times before when I met Seth but never gotten a chance to actually drive the car.

I have to say, I was very pleasently surprised by it in all respects. I knew Seth had put alot of work into welding the car some years back and knew the body work needs to be finished from there. Now its a matter of doing the last bit of welding, fixing returned surface rust and getting it properly painted. Except for the usual bootlid and door problems all the serious stuff looks like its been properly fixed.

glad you gave a thumbs up for the body!

Quote:The car currently stands on real crappy tires that have little grip and are HUGE. New tires have been ordered and I think this will make a world of difference.

the Hatchi stood on tired 185/65-15 wintertires















of course ordered them through this forum so the forum gets a part of the money.
i like the grip on dry tarmac and not much noise. i find them very sticky in the corners but of course can't go to far with the car as i don't know the car too well and don't want to damage/total it. yet have to drive them in the rain to see how the tires behave in those conditions...

Quote:What did pleasently surprise me was the mechanics. Andreas was worried about sounds from his diff but I didn't really hear much. I have to add to that that the sound of his ricy muffler has a bit to do with that so once he's got a nicer exhaust you may here it more clearly but I dont think he has to worry about this.

will be looking for a nicer not so ricer sounding and looking catback in the very near future.

Quote:I did not have a chance to try out the diff itself, Andreas is not a fan of drifting and I don't want to take any chances with another persons car. But at one point taking a sharp corner the rear wheels did sounded like they lost traction and it felt more like an open diff then an LSD, but this could simply be due to the crappy tires on the car. Winter tires squeel much more easily and still have 'grip' when you think they are spinning.

i'm a grip man and i want a sort of 'ultimate grip and response machine' for on the road and @ trackdays

Quote:The gear box and clutch feel alot better then my car, you wouldn't give those the 300k km on the odo.

i was surprised that a 21 year old car has such good mechanics after 300k but of course it's a Toy so enough reserve is in the parts.

Quote:The engine.... damn that engine. Most hachi's I've driven that have 300k on the odo you can feel the engine is getting old. but this one.. it misses a slight bit of power in the low end but once those tvis valves open, it brings a BIG BIG smile on your face. I'm pretty sure the low end power is there but the engine just needs to get a small tuneup. I don't think there is much power diffference between my car and his, and mine has only driven half as much in its life time.
Anyways, technically I'd give this car a 9 for sure, I would not think this engine as been in this car for 300k km.

i was pleasantly surprised to hear that when Bas was driving the car. i know it has to get some fuel tuning when WOT and i hope to have that fixed in near future.
when WOT the engine is like drowning to my idea, far too much fuel. the catback spits out black powder so pig rich. if driving and giving WOT the car goes fast but lifting the pedal a bit gives the engine less fuel and the car goes faster forward. so there is some progress to be made.
anyone experience here in the Netherlands?

Quote:All in all, this car is a good base to continue on. Yes the body work is going to take some effort to finish if you want it done properly, but it has much potential for sure.

will restore the car in the near future to a solid example of a 21 years old Hatchi.



new bushings are ordered. the only suspension mod is yellow Koni's @ the back.
so i could:
a) yellow Koni's @ the front and APEX springs around
b) fit a coilover set

don't know yet for sure but i think i'll go for option a) so anyone in NL has some yellow Koni's for @ the front for me?