I rarely use my coop nowadays, only for fun blasts on a weekend or track days/drag racing.

Next year i will be going to Spa, the Nurburgring and a few track events in England hopefully.

Would it be a stupid thing to do if I stripped my LE of all its interior and added a roll cage and buckets seats and other ancilliaries?

At the moment the LE is standard, body work and interior wise, i'm wondering if it would be a bit naughty ripping out all the gorgeous interior?

If it was a normal 20vt then i don't think i would hesitate, but i somehow feel that i have some kind of duty to leave the car standard looking, with it being a limited edition.

What do you think?

Maybe partex the LE for a 20VT and use the difference towards the cage?

Leave it standard as its an LE and hopefully will hold its value if not go up if kept standard!


Buy a cheap 20vt and strip that out instead!

its your car, but it would be a shame to see a LE ripped apart

Marco's car is an LE....

to strip your LE of its interior would be to strip it of its very soul.

I'll swap you for mine Matt, I'll let you keep all the modded bits

Selling the interior would probably buy me a cage.

I had considered buying a coop for about a grand, modding suspension and brakes but leaving it standard power.

But i just know i would end up modding the engine, i don't think my bank balance could take doing all this again!

Does it make that much difference, you are already running 300+ bhp? I think Flea has kept his interior in.

Sorry Paul, my wrists aren't limp enough for that colour!

Probably not, but the cage would stiffen up the car and the bucket seats would be just the job for track use, however it would be a nightmare for day to day stuff (but i dont use it for that anyway) and i think any value that it has now would soon go

swap me instead matt

But if you did track prepare it, get rid of all them horrible heavy interior bits etc, it'll make the other LE's that little bit rarer

Go for it Matt, it's only a car. A cage is so much more important than your LE bits, especially if your going to chuck it around the ring!

G

<Jimbo rubs his hands together>

Another LE ruined makes mine more valuable

Why not just store the le bits so that they can go back in at a later date? I am currently contemplating taking the back seats out of mine.

Not a bad idea stevo, but if i was going to strip it, i think i would do it properly and have all the dash out and everything too. I very much doubt this would go back in again, in any kind of working state anyway

Or you could sell it as is and buy a clio sport! Probably more fun, certainly more agile and nobody would care if you ripped that to bits, well, nobody on here anyway!

If it was me, I would return the LE to standard, sell it on, but keeping all your goodies, buy a standard 20VT (the 5 speed box is probably better on the track anyway, and of course, it would have to be green!) What I'm trying to say is buy your old one back off your old fella and bin the LE, with the profits, buy your cage, firex etc. Simples!

G

IMHO the LE shouldn't be stripped. These are the ones that are going to appreciate in value first. The Coop is a shocking car trackwise anyway. Sell it as it is and use the cash to buy a proper track weapon, such as a cheap Caterham copy, etc.

I was quite impressed with my car on track especially when I managed to overtake a sierra cosworth which was spitting flames!! Don't forget Marco won 4 out of 5 time attack races in his class so can't be that bad on track. I would certainly leave the dash in just strip the rest. I think you would run out of talent long before you would notice the weight of the standard dash being there.

The thought has crossed my mind aswell Matt!

First dibs on the seats if they are decent!!

Thinking twice: if it can keep someone else's LE in good shape (eg. with cracked seats, rattling dash, damaged wheels,...) then why not...?

not silly, think it will look well if you strip it, keep the theme going of red and black racing seats, red cage etc, keep all your interior bits though incase one day you want to sell it, or sell them to fund some good track days, think it will be cool to have a track day le in oem look

If I ever sell mine, ill be happy to buy your LE matt (when you return it back to standard!)

Can you not strip the interior but keep it safe, then when it comes to selling the car on you could put it back?

easy you and sam swap coupes and sam pays the extra.You can roll cage etc the lot
Sam gets an le
Everyone happy.

Otherwise id look for another cheap coupe,even an 16vt

I reckon you'd be doing it a favour by stripping that whores bedroom out! While you're out it, bin the naff bodykit too. That'll save you even more weight

There's always one!


G

Two...

After this year,s Spa i can see you have the track bug matt.
You,r old man is still a racer(even at that age).
So go for it while you,r coop can still put out good pace.
How can you get better in a coop that you are now so used to?It seems you have to take the next step.Good luck.I look forward to seeing it.But also as stigs cousin,there is another way to make you,r coop lighter