[ozsubrosa]

I like alcantara when it is brand new but it is a pain in the culo as it ages and bobbles and the grime gets dug in. Peps has bought a car recently with a nice green-tan leather and alcantara combination but is taking a lot of elbow effort - and Peps is a professional valet.

I did enquire with a firm (Serbian, I think) that make bespoke tailored covers even for the Combo Tour rear seat (which I have struggled to get out to replace with my C Exclusiv leather rear seat). They have a cover in leather + alcantara, both black, which would look very nice and I was quoted ~£60 plus shipping. Reasonable price (and all-leather would be a bit uncomfortable in Malaga with AC not reaching the back) but it would still be a big spend for me (I am such a bargain-sniffer) and the Alcantara might not look so pretty for long. It should be good for gaiters so long as they get a regular brush down and you keep the sticky toffees away from them.

 

[Delta Romeo]

Alcantara is really nice, but doesn't belong on seats!!

 

[jewels]

days of job

 

[ozsubrosa]

Nice picture. The back of your C looks "stretched" - did you use a proper camera with a wide-angle lens, or does your mobile have a wide lens?

 

[jewels]

it's supposed to be angular but every now and then it takes pictures instead of photos

 

[Delta Romeo]

Not today, but a few days ago, I collected my new car 2021 Tesla model 3!

A tiny step up from the Corsa, and a much bigger challenge parking it in the garage!!

 

[ozsubrosa]

The 2020 one that pulled up next to me for trade-in (!?) had silver door handles, which I think I prefer. btw, everyone, clicking on the pic makes it full-screen for a proper look.

 

[Delta Romeo]

The 2020 one that pulled up next to me for trade-in (!?) had silver door handles, which I think I prefer. btw, everyone, clicking on the pic makes it full-screen for a proper look.

Yeah in late 2020 for the "2021" model they replaced the chrome handles and window frames with black, because a lot of people were buying kits to make theirs black. I'm happy with black, I didn't want chrome! In other news, I bought at the right time, they've moved the goalposts on the government grant eligibility!!

 

[ozsubrosa]

I read about that and thought you might have been adversely affected - glad that's not the case. BTW, you ought to mention the car's make+model for the people who don't recognize it side-on.

 

[Delta Romeo]

I read about that and thought you might have been adversely affected - glad that's not the case. BTW, you ought to mention the car's make+model for the people who don't recognize it side-on.

It came into affect March 18th, I think some people are worried they've bought their cars and Tesla haven't applied for the grant soon enough and stinging them with a £3k bill down the line, which I'm sure could be a breach of contract! I've edited my post above with make and model

 

[Huge_Ferret]

Some new front stoppers on the van, not much else at the moment.

 

[corsaz22se]

Some new front stoppers on the van, not much else at the moment.

What size are they?

 

[Huge_Ferret]

Just standard 260mm

 

[ozsubrosa]

Nice. While I was in Spain, about two years ago some new EBD grooved and drilled were listed with a £5 start and only one person bid. I hope for the seller's sake (s)he didn't have to let go at that price - I'd have loved them if I'd been in UK.

How's your VGT turbo and controller working out, Ferret? That's another great upgrade I'd wish on mine.

 

[Huge_Ferret]

Nice. While I was in Spain, about two years ago some new EBD grooved and drilled were listed with a £5 start and only one person bid. I hope for the seller's sake (s)he didn't have to let go at that price - I'd have loved them if I'd been in UK.

How's your VGT turbo and controller working out, Ferret? That's another great upgrade I'd wish on mine.

Its fine but im still struggling to find anyone to map the vehicle, i think they are convinced its the dark arts to map one of these things! Most of the garages that map near me dont really know what they are doing they just purchase maps and bang them on cars they dont really have the finesse to adjust and make them perfect. Im prepared to wait for the right person to appear, it runs fine and the larger inter cooler has pretty much sorted the heat soak issues i had.

 

[corsaz22se]

You may well have to travel to find anyone who can do custom remaps now.
Like you said most just flash map generic maps on and hope for the best which isn't really much good.

 

[ozsubrosa]

There's a bloke in Chester who specializes in 1.7DTi remapping. Ads on ebay indicated you could go there but now (presumably because of Covid) files are sent by email which is not much use. That's south of me, and north of me is a Cumbria place that is well regarded and can do rolling road stuff.

Tangential segue: I have spent all afternoon (solo, back hurting a bit now) on my Focus Mk2. The pretty basic spec has previously (scroll up if mildly interested) had fogs front bumper, body colour rear spoiler, nice 16" alloys for summer and, on the inside, ST alloy pedals, leather steering wheel and gear knob. I have yet to fit a nice leather h/brake gaiter (must be aftermarket; even the ST one I was given is faux) but that had to wait as today's priority was to change this

I've seen a few possibles but an early hours trawl spotted me an ST3 Recaro full set for an incredible £80 (delivered from M/C for only £15). Here's the driver's seat which obv has the most wear and I shall do some remedial work on the seatbelt-rubbed side bolster (so it's not just the Corsa Exclusiv that suffers this):

It took all pm because my driveway is an incredibly tight squeeze and the electrics for the driver's seat would not come away until, suddenly, it just did. I managed to get both fronts in, reconnected the batt and radio recode was successful and no dreaded airbag lights so - success.

I still have the rears to put in but they're light and almost a doddle except I've found out the ST3 rear has only 2 seat belts (I never carry >4 total) so I've had to ask the seller if he'll post me his rear buckle clasps (wish I'd known before he set off in his Transit) rather than hacksaw my own to pieces.

Absolutely lovely to sit in as well as look at but I've just given them a clean and nourish so I'm sliding around a bit when getting in.

 

[ozsubrosa]

and then the rear; the stains aren't as bad as they look - bit of fine biccy powder and water marks show up a mile off. I am starting to hate how YT videos make everything a 17 minute job and my reality is an entire afternoon of swearing, contorting and gluing snapped things. Getting them out wasn't too bad.

Putting the replacements back in was a PITA and not a Haynes "reversal of the above procedure". I snapped a bit of plastic for dropping the seat backs and Loctite was useless, but it doesn't actually affect the raising and lowering, thankfully.

As mentioned, the ST bench is belted for two (don't ask me why) and I am so glad I got the owner's clasps rather than hacked my own as the day has been sweary enough already. I collected them, rather than post, which meant I just had to buy the door cards off him as well. I intended to add the fronts at least, given how simple the rear bench was going to be, but pffft to that idea. Maybe Sunday.

 

[Delta Romeo]

He won't admit it, but secretly this is turning into a full-on ST build!!

 

[ozsubrosa]

Rubbish Sunday weather, but onto the door card(s) today. I did wonder, as I went to pick them up, if I were being a bit silly paying another £40 (decent price but not the "cor, whatta bargain" seats for £80) for cards with a bit of leather. Ironically, it was after looking at the above pics that the plastic door cards offended my eyeballs.

1NE LIFE, who has posted on this forum, also does Focus YT vids as well as Corsa C ones, so I had good instruction to follow. Yet again, 10min YT jobs take far longer in my hands even though I have those plastic trim remover tools. Damn clips are a PITA and nothing's been taken off from factory; it's always easier to take off a card that's been levered off before. Anyhoo, job done and I could've done the passenger side but I noticed (even after dash wipes and leather conditioner) the ST speaker cover is a honeycomb of dirt that will require some APC and stiff brush, so I might as well do that well away from the speaker.
Apart from the leather (mostly for looks; I don't rest my arm there), the little alloy panel for the switches is a nice touch.