First test drives

I drove the car home from my garage and at least on cobble stone roads it was awful. Springs are too stiff and I really need to do something about that. I might even considering air springs if I can find something suitable for track driving also.

Engine feels great as well as transmission. I've been trying to fine tune the engine on the roads and gradually adding boost. I accidentally raised it to 1.8 bar and blew off a few hoses. In the end I might settle for lot less for now as it feels quite violent even with 0.9 bar.

First impressions are anyway quite mixed. Ride is harsh, controls heavy and everything is loud. On open roads it feels fairly good and the power is amazing and it's easily available. And I'm happy to realize after so many years I have a car I can just hop in and start driving.

Back home

I got the car finally back to own garage. There's still a lot to do but at least it's fully driveable and road leagal. It took us a long night at Pekka's ranch to get the car on the ground and a lot of grinding and cutting but now it's fine. Front wheels could be 0.5" wider but as they already take a lot of space when turned I will keep them like they are.

Wheel fitting

I might say that my measurements were spot on and the wheel fitment is just as I like. The only problem is with the rear wheels where the perimeter bolts touch brake calipers. Easy fix is to grind the bolts to be flush with the nuts as now they protrude almost 10mm.

Still hard to say if the tire is too big or not. It will fit without issues but I'm not usre I like how it looks.

I got the tires on. Rears are 265/45 and fronts 205/55. I'm not sure if I like such fat tires as I'm beginning to like a little bit of stretch but will have to see how they look on the car. They also look quite dull and I will have to change the colours some day.

Getting closer again

Wheels finally arrived after 7 weeks. I must say that I'm very happy with them. Specs are 9.5x16 ET-5 and 8x16 ET-5. Now as they arrived completely assembled I'm not sure I want to take them apart and get the lips anodized or not. I ordered them unassembled and had an idea of bronze lips but I think I have to do some serious thinking first.

I have dark red candy going to one of my car's BBS's (just like this color) so maybe I will paint the centers and leave the lips alone. Would go well with the red interior but I just can't decide yet.

But anyway, front hubs are ready as is everything else so as soon as I get the wheels bolted on I can start driving.