Monkey NA Project

[Monkey]

Here's my 1997 Starlet Sportif that I bought at the end of September.

It belonged to my friends mum who bought it new and has used it only to go to the shops and visit friends locally.

It had only done 23,000 miles when I got it ;)

When I bought it I knew nothing about Starlets and had no idea there was such a huge modding scene.

My only intention was to get some wheels / tyres and a decent head unit and speakers but after spending time on this forum my plans have been added to somewhat.

First thing I did was wheels:

Then clear lenses and side repeaters:

I have also put a K&N panel filter in and am in the process of sourcing a corolla inlet manifold from a local breakers.

I've fitted some 4" JBL GTO speakers at the front and I'm looking at Alpine headunits on the net.

Will probably go down the 6x9s route later on as the sound is really weak with just fronts.

I won a genuine spoiler on ebay last week so need to get that painted to match and fitted.

I've been having a nighmare with a rev counter clock conversion (as I'm sure you've already read in my threads on here) but I'm sure I'll get it sorted eventually ;)

Gonna tidy up under the bonnet, paint the rocker cover etc, maybe some green hoses to tie it in to the outside of the car.

Will start to look at suspension / handling once the budget allows, may start off with pi springs and an rsr panhard rod to start and maybe look at coilovers later on.

Some of the other stuff like anti-roll bars and strut braces are a possibility too.

So what do you guys and gals reckon so far?

[gaz]

Nice story mate, car looks clean! you might aswell save up for coil overs if your gonna change anyway mate.

[Nanglebadger]

damn that looks so clean man!! the clear lenses and side repeaters made an awesome improvement against the green of the car! sweet! i reckon it would look even smartef u removed the sportif stickers and the rubbin strips, wee simple mods to just clean it up!

my wee bro has bought a 95 fiat cinquicento to break and it has a set of JBL GTO 935e 3way 6x9s that are up for sale. they seem in good condition, we havnt tried them out to see if they work but theres no sign of any damage, if your interested send me a PM dude, he's lookin £30 posted.

Phil.

[SiCaln]

coming along nicely sir, hope u get on ok with the clocks

[Monkey]

damn that looks so clean man!! the clear lenses and side repeaters made an awesome improvement against the green of the car! sweet! i reckon it would look even smartef u removed the sportif stickers and the rubbin strips, wee simple mods to just clean it up!

my wee bro has bought a 95 fiat cinquicento to break and it has a set of JBL GTO 935e 3way 6x9s that are up for sale. they seem in good condition, we havnt tried them out to see if they work but theres no sign of any damage, if your interested send me a PM dude, he's lookin £30 posted.

Phil.

Cheers Phil

Sportif stickers are coming off the sides and rear and gonna get the rubbin strips painted at the same time as the spoiler. Do they just pull off? Are they held on with clips or just stuck on?

I'll have a think about the JBLs and let you know, cheers mate.

[Sparky]

First turquoise green n/a I seen modded on the site (Wing's gf doesnt count )

Looks nice and clean has loads of potential

Plans sound good spoiler well set it off for sure

[Nanglebadger]

the rubbing strips are just held on with glue man, pretty easy to take off by all accounts, just need patience and a hair dryer. they look better off mate, the only reason mine are painted is because my car was damaged and theres extra laquer on the passenger 3/4panel so would be too noticable if i toko them off, needs a full respray to take them off.

i say ditch them if u can man, its so much smarter! will look great with the stickers off too, so clean!!! she looks great man!

no worries on the speakers, just noticed your components and thought u may be interested, let me know sure, i havnt posted them up for sale anywhere yet so let me know in a few days or wotever dude, if u like i'll have my bro test them out to see how they sound if that makes u any happier!

keep up the great work dude! the green and clear/silver theme is beautiful man!

Phil.

[Idrees]

Looks nice, better in reality

[Monkey]

After lengthy discussions tonight, it looks like I'll be going for an Alpine CDA-9855R head unit and Infinity Kappa 6x9s to start off my ICE project Just need to sell a set of bike leathers to fund it.

[Rajaaaaa]

looking good, keep us updated!

[Monkey]

Pic heavy update

Dropped off my spoiler to be painted today, will get it back in the week and be fitting it next weekend.

Also called round to see a mate and mentioned that I was after a decent sound set up in the car. Walked away £50 lighter with a Maystar MX455 Amp, Pioneer 6x9s and 10" Pioneer Sub in MDF board and a wiring loom to hook it all up. He's had them lying around for a while and was about to ebay them. It's fairly old kit but can't be grumbled at for 50 dabs I reckon, any opinions? Here's some photos:

MDF board with 6x9s and sub mounted

Underside

Sub

6x9s

Maystar MX455

Lots of switches and knobs

Lots of things to screw things to

I have absolutely no idea how to wire it all up tbh, might take it somewhere and get it done unless any of you guys can give me any pointers.

My mate said if any of it doesn't work or if I don't like it, he'll give me my money back no probs, seems like a no brainer to me.

Anyone reckon this kit is ok, was the price ok?

Chris

[Monkey]

Just found this sub write-up:

Nothing wrong with your sound - if you've got Pioneer amps and subs. Bass that hits you to the bone, and power to rock the whole street. Massive power rumbles out of the Pioneer's amps. Pioneer subs will take your sound around the block. Loaded with technology for increased power handling and accurate sound, your car will knock out any contenders. Discover new extremes of power and bass and get way, way down.Monster sound can come in small packages. The 10" TS-W253F Free-Air Component subwoofer is 4-ohm rated and handles 400 Watts max. music power. It features one-piece cone construction for reduced distortion, even after running the sub at extreme levels. Lead wires integrated into damper provide high reliability and improved power transfer.

[Nanglebadger]

for £50 its better than a kick in the throat! nice one dude!

any ideas wot way your gonna mount it all?

Phil.

[Monkey]

Cheers mate, so you reckon £50 was ok?

Er...no...not really. I have a mate called Gadget who knows a lot more about this ICE stuff than I do, just rang him and he said he'll sort it for me. Apparently all I need is some long RCA leads to run down the car from the headunit to the boot. He reckons I've got everything else I need.

[Monkey]

OK, after spending a few hours with my mate Gadget (check out the time of this post), the ICE install is finalised...and begun

6x9s in parcel shelf - Check!

Sub will be mounted in custom made MDF box towards the rear and the left of the boot angled slightly upwards. I do use my boot, so don't wanna lose too much space or flexibility by sticking it in the middle.

The amp will be mounted to the back of the left rear seat.

Amp power lead runs down the right side of the car or up the middle away from the fuel tank right?

Channels 1 & 2 (L & R) running with HPF switch on Full into the 6x9s providing 50W RMS per channel (6x9s rated at 40W RMS)

Channels 3 & 4 bridged with LPF switch on into the Sub providing 150W RMS at 4ohms (Sub rated to 140W RMS)

I'll never be running these at full volume so I assume that the 10W differential won't be a problem?

If I can get a twin RCA and remote wire tomorrow I'm gonna stick it all in.

Sub enclosure is gonna take some designing to get it how I want

No rush though

Also got a bit giddy and bought one of these:

Seat Leon Cupra Splitter

[Monkey]

This is where the sub is going to live

Doesn't take up much room, I know it will stick out a bit once it's enclosed but still happy with the placement and leaves me with most of my bootspace.

[Sparky]

Good update mate!!!!

Looking forward to seeing the splitter on I could of had one of them for mine

[Nanglebadger]

coolio man!

Phil.

[Monkey]

Update:

All the ICE stuff is now in place and wired up, I just need to make the enclosure for the sub. Sounds 100% better already, even with the sub just sat there in the boot. I've actually got something other than tinny treble finally

I removed the little running man from the bootlid and the sticker from the passenger door. Had to go out then so the right one is still on, will do that tomorrow, does look much cleaner without. I'll do the bump strips at the same time. Do you guys use anything specific for getting the glue off after?

Can't wait to get the spoiler and cupra lip on and I've decided to go for Reflets at the rear, they looked great on Idrees car tonight. We have found some discrepancies between the wiring looms on the two cars which hopefully explains why my rev counter aint working. The looms have different coloured wires though so I can't just copy his set-up. I really wish there was somebody on here that has done the sportif to SR clocks conversion and could actually look at their sportif loom and write down the wire colours for me

[SiCaln]

wow man big updates looking good that lip is gna look tasty mate be good to see it

[DavidAshton]

Ive got the SR clocks in my sportif can try n get you some pics if you want PM me. If your ever over near sheffield let me know and you could come and look if you needed.

[Monkey]

David that would be spectacular mate, I just need a run down of wiring colours in your connectors. Idrees had a couple of different coloured wires in his SR loom otherwise I would just make mine identical and it should work. This had been doing my fruit for weeks now.

[Monkey]

Thanks to some nifty photoshoping by Shelly Star I think I've decided to go for Reflet rear lens covers.

Check it out!

[DavidAshton]

Glad you have your tach working now

[Monkey]

Glad you have your tach working now

Thanks to David but with much guidance from others, I now have a working tacho. Turns out to have been a dodgy tacho pulse wire all along, the wiring was sound. Tapped into the tacho wire earlier in the loom and ran a feed up to the clocks and hey presto!