heinzboehmer's 2002 Topaz 6MT Coupe

[heinzboehmer]

I like the look - all business.

Thanks! That was the intention

Brake dust colored too, so I don't have to worry about keeping them super clean

[D-O]

I like the look - all business.

[heinzboehmer]

Picked up something yesterday:






Finish is Cerakote Arctic Black P-202. Supposedly designed to help dissipate heat. https://www.cerakote.com/shop/cerako...lack-oven-cure

Now just need to find some time to rebuild them and get them on the car.

[heinzboehmer]

What glue do you use?

Used 3M Super 77 for this. Super 90 should work fine as well. Spray it on the pillar cover first, wait for it to get tacky and then press the fabric onto it. If it's too wet when you put the fabric on, it'll bleed through.

[Ubaderb]

More low stakes stuff:

Reglued the fabric on the other c pillar that I hadn't done before:




Then disassembled 996 calipers for cerakoting. Was annoying because brake fluid gets eeeverywhere, but pretty simple in the end. Winning formula ended up being pumping air into the caliper and blocking the pistons from fully extending with some wood and cardboard and then prying them out the last couple mm:




Toothpick worked well to get the piston seals out. Went for this over a regular metal pick to not scratch the bores:



And finally, replaced the alarm siren with the new one. Car beeps again

What glue do you use?

[heinzboehmer]

More low stakes stuff:

Reglued the fabric on the other c pillar that I hadn't done before:




Then disassembled 996 calipers for cerakoting. Was annoying because brake fluid gets eeeverywhere, but pretty simple in the end. Winning formula ended up being pumping air into the caliper and blocking the pistons from fully extending with some wood and cardboard and then prying them out the last couple mm:




Toothpick worked well to get the piston seals out. Went for this over a regular metal pick to not scratch the bores:



And finally, replaced the alarm siren with the new one. Car beeps again

[heinzboehmer]

What is that component, part of the siren?
Did you buy a new siren, or just the component? I think I might have similar problem with the lock/unlock beep.

Thanks for sharing your findings in this journal, I love following along seeing your work and learning along the way.

I should have given more context on this. The siren has a battery inside of it so that it can go off even if the main battery is disconnected. The component in the picture above is that battery.

I ended up just buying a complete siren. I didn't find a battery that seemed trustworthy and the failed battery caused corrosion to some other components inside the siren. I did think about buying a used siren (since they're much cheaper), but all the ones I could find had build dates of 04-05 and would likely suffer a similar fate soon.

[Will]

What is that component, part of the siren?
Did you buy a new siren, or just the component? I think I might have similar problem with the lock/unlock beep.

Thanks for sharing your findings in this journal, I love following along seeing your work and learning along the way.

[heinzboehmer]

Couple lower stake projects:

First up swapping the AC panel. Had a hard time finding a used one (new is ~$900!) that wasn't beat up and I somehow ended up with three:



Buttons were scratched on two, faceplates was scratched on another two, screen was bleeding through on the last, but I managed to build a nice one out of the three:




Swapped in and so far so good, haven't seen it reboot randomly like my old one did.


Then I noticed my car suddenly stopped beeping when locking/unlocking. Troubleshooted a bit and narrowed it down to the siren. Took it apart to see if I could fix it and found this:



Annoying. New one ordered.

[heinzboehmer]

Saw the band that dude is a member of back in 2000 or 2001, it was awesome. That is all.

That's awesome. Man, I really wish I had seen them when Joey Jordison was still playing with them.

You were probably just as comfortable getting all those dowels in there as that dude was wearing that thing 🙂

Oh man, I feel like the mask would be significantly more comfortable.

I want to replicate every single thing about this install!

Just don't replicate the gap on the passenger side! lol

This is when I have to ask, is this actually worth it lol

I like having a pass through, makes the car useable since the backseats at least for me are useless now because of my Recaros.

Yeah, this was a big reason why it took me so long to install this thing. I hesitated a lot cause it is nice to have the folding seats. I realized I hadn't used them in a long time and now have the E82 to do all the pickup truck work, so I just went for it. Biggest thing I'm going to miss is being able to take rear seats out and throw them through the gap into the trunk.

[heinzboehmer]

Have the interior almost entirely back together now. Just need to reglue the fabric on one of my c pillars and put those in. Here's the last bit of the install:

Ended up removing a ~3mm strip from each of the front cups. Here's how everything fits now:



I did have a disappointing realization when taking all the dowels out though. Turns out the lip on the passenger side of the brace did not end up completely flush with the forward facing metal on the chassis. I did do a check for this before leaving everything to cure, but I guess trying to squeeze through the dowels made it hard for me to notice this. The gap is biggest towards the bottom, the top side was completely flush. Here's what it looks like:



I went back with some leftover epoxy and filled in the gap. Didn't do this for structural reasons, but more so to try and keep dust and other stuff out. I did do that initial coat of adhesive on all the exposed metal, so fortunately not concerned about corrosion.



I don't really think this is a super big deal, as there should be little forces in that direction and the slanted face right behind this lip is entirely in contact with the chassis.

Bizarrely, there's a protruding section of chassis in the trunk that the brace does not fully rest against and the gap from brace to that on both sides is exactly the same. I'm not sure if my chassis is different side to side or if the brace is.




Anyway, not concerned, just slightly disappointed in myself for spending so much time trying to get this perfect and missing this. It's bonded in now, so no point in dwelling on this.

Next came all the cosmetic stuff. Trunk mat and liners trimmed and reinstalled:




So far haven't heard any noises from the liners, but if I do, I'll drill a hole in them for one of those plastic push pins.

Seats back in:



Parcel shelf was a bit more annoying to refit. The brace has a lip at the top that goes over the shelf. I did consider cutting it off (since it's not really structural), but I really didn't want to cut CF, so it stayed on. Here's the lip:




The gap between chassis and brace is slightly too small to have the parcel shelf slip in, so I had to clearance that.

Bottom flattened:



Top clearanced:



Fortunately, the parcel shelf is juuust flexible enough to where I can slide it into the rear plastic trim and then push it into the gap. And with the seats up, none of my clearancing is visible:



Kinda wish I had just cut the lip off the brace, but too late for that now.

I did also get a chance to take the car out for a quick spin yesterday. Granted, I only drove it for about 15 min and not on interesting roads, but probably still worth sharing initial impressions. The biggest thing I noticed was how much less twitchy the rear felt, especially when giving it throttle coming out of a corner. It really hooks up and goes now. Feels pretty great.

Regular around town driving feels pretty similar to before. I probably need more seat time to make an accurate assessment on this, but the important part is that there are no blatantly obvious NVH downsides to this brace. Happy with that!

Next track day is in September. Very excited to see how the car behaves there.

[Obioban]

This is when I have to ask, is this actually worth it lol

I like having a pass through, makes the car useable since the backseats at least for me are useless now because of my Recaros.

If you use the fold through, probably not. I haven’t used the fold through in years.

[Sharocks]

This is when I have to ask, is this actually worth it lol

I like having a pass through, makes the car useable since the backseats at least for me are useless now because of my Recaros.

[Obioban]

I want to replicate every single thing about this install!

[Casa de Mesa]

The dowels are definitely hilarious. First thing I thought of when I test fit them was this:

You were probably just as comfortable getting all those dowels in there as that dude was wearing that thing 🙂

Retractable belts are gone . The bottom belts are still in only because that's what I attach the schroth quick fits too. I thought about cutting the middle belt out, but it's really not that heavy, so I just left it.

NICE. I couldn't tell by the pic if they were there and I thought I remember seeing you had done that some time ago.