Mondo

I have a 140 and it's one of the most woefully underpowered cars I've ever driven! Granted, I drive a 400bhp Datsun most of the time, but still...

That's beyond devastating...!! :o

When I used to live in Middlesbrough about 10 years ago, I had a Calibra. Car was always parked just outside the front door and I can't even begin to calculate how many windows I had to replace in that car during the time I lived there!! Some people (scumbags) will damage something for no other reason than because it's nice and it's not theirs... hateful little scrotes...!!

This mechanic who told you that info is misinformed. ALL ST205s had 4-pot front brakes and twinpot rears..... , JDM cars are restriced to 112 mph, not 100 mph...

Seeing as people want to know: The leather that Toyota used through the years is, frankly, crap. It does like to stretch and, after a while, the seats look crap as well. Alcantara does have a small amount of stretch in it, but only on one axis (whereas leather stretches in all directions). So using it on seat centres will lead to less sagging than using Mr T's leather. There's always a downside though. No matter what anyone tells you, Alcantara is simply not as durable or robust as leather is. So it will wear faster and it will look a bit tired faster! As for "colouring the stitching"... well, let's just say I use expensive thread because I want it to be colour-fast in all conditions...

Definitely not ST205 calipers, those.

My first upgrade would be the brakes - the standard twinpots on the Beams were never quite up for the task, in my opinion. That's why I swapped to the full ST205 setup on mine, and they were superb! Bigger brakes, properly uprated suspension then start looking for more power!

Turbo'ing your engine will remove some of what makes it a good engine because you'll have to lower your compression for a start. In my opinion, you'd be better of swapping a 3S-GTE motor into your shell if you want to go forced induction.

Highly detailed Beams supercharger thread! Read the above and be prepared to be dumbfounded by the cost involved in supercharging the Beams engine! As for nitrous... given that your engine currently runs a rather high compression ratio, I'd be disinclined to force much more pressure through it, to be honest. Less weight = more power. Strip the car out. Or just enjoy the driveability and fun factor that the Beams provides. You may never be able to compete with the Big Boys in it, but you'll still surprise quite a few cars out there.

You need to have these vacuum metalised to rechrome them. That's how the finish is achieved from the factory. And it aint cheap!!