Forfiveone's Posts - 451 smart fortwo

451 smart fortwo Lowering Springs / Racing Springs

2008-02-01T01:00:00.000Z

While it took awhile for the factory in Europe to produce the springs we did get one of the first sets of racing/lowering springs for the 451 smart fortwo. The install was a little tricky but well worth it as the outcome is simply amazing. The smart not only looks amazing with the lower stance it drives like a completely different car.

Yes a completely different car as the once very annoying shifts that bobbed the ca front and back is virtually eliminated. The shifts are a lot more stable and feel even quicker as there is no body movement with the stiff racing springs. While these stiff springs does mean you feel the road a lot more, my passengers haven’t been to thrilled with the change but for a the driver its so much more fun to be able to control the car even more.

Installing the lowering springs was hard as we were doing it without the shop manual, but for you it is going to be easy as we’ve spent the hours figuring out how to disable the smart and put everything back together so you don’t have to.

It took us just over 2 hours to do the smart install but to repeat what we did would probably only take an hour as the tricky front part is explained below.

Here is the process how to install the new springs:

The springs are labeled front/back so you know which goes where, they are also labeled up and down. If in doubt you can also tell by looking at the factory springs as they share the same patterns.

1) Hoist the car up so that all 4 wheels are off the ground.

2) Remove all 4 wheels

3) Remove the front hood flap

4) Remove the top part of the cowl, this will require you to remove the side corner triangles and the cowl will clip off.

(step #4 is what was the hold up for us as if you don’t remove the top of the cowl you will not get at the holes to remove the strut tower nut)

5) Remove the nut from the top of the strut tower, best to use impact wrench as the struts tend to slip.

6) Disconnect the brake line and tire pressure sensor as well as the other suspension bolts.

7) Remove the strut tower and then put the strut tower in a vice to remove the factory springs.

8) Replace the factory springs with the new racing springs, but leave the bump stop in as factory.

9) Do the same for the other side of the front and then reverse the process to reattach the front suspension.

10) The rear springs are a lot easier as you just need to remove the bolt holding the bottom of the rear strut which frees up the springs.

11) Using a crowbar release the pressure on the springs and remove them.

12) Using the crowbar again release pressure and insert the new racing springs.

13) Replace the lower strut tower bolt and then repeat steps 10 – 13 for the other side.

14) Replace the 4 tires and then lower the smart back to the ground, torque up the nuts on the wheels and stand back and admire the results.

The springs that I bought came directly from the factory in Europe as lucky me/us the factory is owned by someone who’s son is a smart fan and is why I was able to get the springs even before they officially hit the market.

My contact is willing to sell springs direct to smart fans and the cost is $100 per set, yes that’s right $100 as they come directly from the factory. Drop me a message is you are interested and as soon as my contact is able and willing to I’ll post his details directly here.

forfiveone coming to a magazine stand near you...

2008-01-30T22:44:14.000Z

It has been a busy few weeks, very sorry that I've not kept up to date on the progress of the forfiveone project car. Since the navigation install I've added in new floor mats, color matched fuel flap and the biggest change I lowered the smart with racing springs.

Last weekend we had a photo shoot done at the local smart dealership as in March the forfiveone will be have some coverage in a national car magazine. All members will have access to a free e-version of the car magazine and we look forward to the response as the magazine will be also running information about the 451 smart fortwo website.

While I would love to show all the photos taken I'm a little under the weather as I broke my arm early this week and am on Tylenol 3's but doctor says I'll be better in a week, so I'm hoping to publish all the project car photos and updates this weekend, but for now here is the photo we are currently planning to have published:

In the photo you get a good idea of the new look with the lowering and you can also see a few of the other recent changes. Hope you like the photo and will be back this weekend with more of an update.

GPS NAV System for the Dash of Smart 451

2008-01-02T01:30:00.000Z

It was a busy busy weekend but we installed the GPS system, some more smart accessories and a couple other items but here I’ll introduce you to the GPS system that I built into the 451 smart.

So while adding in a double din navigation unit that plays DVDs was my first idea once I released they still haven’t made a multi-disc double din nav unit and the pricing was still around $1,500 for a good unit I looked for other options. The first thing was to just use a windshield mounted GPS unit and while that was easy it didn’t look good in the car and made a great big break my window and steal me sign.

I looked and looked and found what I was looking for, which was a windshield mounted GPS unit that had a nice desktop cradle. This only is available in 3 GPS units, TOMTOM 720, TOMTOM 900 and TOMTOM 920 they are all about the same but the 900’s having voice recognition software, a remote and a case. So now that I had a GPS unit with a dash mount I started to look at the software on the TOMTOM and I have to say I got lucky again. The TOMTOM 720+ series has full iPod support, built in MP3 player that plays while navigating and thanks to some fancy software it plays movies/videos via SD cards.

So it might have been hard to find the right unit the hard part was to come in trying to get it all installed nicely. It took about 4 hours of work and figuring things out, we spent about 30 minutes trying to find center on the dash to drill all the holes and the rest of the time was spent drilling holes, removing dash pieces, running wires and then putting things all back together.

What needs to be done to get this to work in the smart is the following:

1) TOMTOM 720, 900, 920

2) Use of a drill, screwdrivers, sandpaper and 2 screws & nuts.

3) Take apart the desktop cradle, remove the rubber base to expose 4 screws, take them off and then remove the metal plate. Remove the mini-usb cable from the cradle.

4) Drill 2 holes into the metal plate near the front so that the bolt heads have clearance.

5) Remove the dash, first remove the button console by simply pulling up on the sides, it pops off. Then there is a screw in the middle that you need to remove in order to remove the dash top. Once the screw is off simply put your hand on either side of the top of the dash and pull, it will pop off.

6) Remove 4 screws from the factory CD player and remove the CD player and unplug the wiring at the back of the cd player.

7) Drill 2 holes into the remove top dash to secure the cradle to the dash.

8) Drill 2 more holes, one larger hole to run the usb-mini cable up through the dash and one smaller hole to run the power cable back down through the dash.

9) On the usb-mini end of cigarette lighter version sand down the back top and back bottom of the usb-mini end. On the back top sand down till almost level with the cable and on the back bottom sand down slightly. This allows it to sit properly in coming step.

10) Remove the bendy protective part of the wire housing that is at the usb-mini end.

11) run the usb-mini end up through the dash, starting at the OBD plug point and then going up behind the stereo and out the side of the vents, you can use the middle of the vent area to keep the excess cable length.

12) Run the usb-mini end of cigarette lighter version of the TOMTOM cable through the bigger hole you made in the dash.

13) Put the usb-mini end into the top part of the cradle. You will need to push/use a hammer/screw driver to get it to fit securely.

14) Put the 2 bolts into the holes you made on the metal bottom of the cradle and then screw the metal bottom to the top part of the cradle using the 4 small screws.

15) Double check to make sure that the usb-mini plug is level with the metal plate, it not further sand down the usb-mini plug, but be careful not to sand any of the edges of the cradle.

16) Secure the 2 bolts onto the dash with the nuts. If you used long bolts you like us might have to grind off the ends of the bolts to ensure clearance.

17) Almost done, now reverse steps #5 and #6 and your OEM GPS system is almost ready, just a couple setting changes on the GPS unit and your done.

18) On the GPS unit, if you want to play either the navigation part of what I opted for just the music/movies part via your smart stereo select on the TOMTOM the broadcast via FM radio option. You can do another step in adding a hard wire from the cradle to the AUX in jack, we where going to do that at first, still might, but the super clean look of leaving the cradle factory was going to be hard to reproduce with a 3.5 plug sticking up.

19) To get movies/videos on your TOMTOM 720, 900 or 920 you will need an aftermarket software program. There is only one that works, I’ve tested, bought and love it. Its available from Mobilnova and even if you don’t do the above install you should get that software as its really nice to be able to watch movies and in my case music videos in your car.

20) Last thing that I was on my TOMTOM 720 I selected turn off if loss of external power. This is great option as when the TOMTOM is on and I park to go get something and don’t want to take out/turn off the TOMTOM it will turn off for me. This keeps the big steal me sign to a minimum and to eliminate it simply put the TOMTOM in the glove box.

Here are some more things that I liked about this setup:

Keeps the factory CD changer, mp3 player and smart logo when I start the car.

Keeps factory styling within the cars interior as with the TOMTOM the cradle or off the cradle colors and styling matches perfectly.

GPS unit sits a little higher and in better viewing point while driving as looking down at the cd player area would cause loss of view of the road and possible problems.

Virtually* eliminates the big steal me sign you get from using a windshield mounted GPS unit or in dash nav unit. (*say virtually as if you leave the TOMTOM on the cradle its still a steal me sign, you need to tuck it away to remove the sign)

Never falls down or gets in the way like a windshield mounted version. Cold/hot weather plays games on those suction cups and that damn cable is always in the way.

Cost was $396.75 (tax in from Best Buy) for the GPS unit, 20 Euro for the Mobilnova software and the nuts and bots where leftovers from pervious projects but let’s say $2 for them, so for $427.65 Canadian ($434.83 US) you can have a really nice GPS unit that looks factory, plays movies and you can even use the windshield mount and use this GPS unit in 2 cars, so it’s a 2 for 1 special.

I’ll do some video of video from the unit and post that soon. Its really amazing as watching Fast and the Furious is amazing while driving the smart and its going to make the car so much more fun at the car shows and on those long long trips from here to Vancouver which is 12,294 km (7,639 miles) round trip.

If you have any questions do ask and I’ll be posting more about all the other little goodies I’ve added to forfiveone shortly.

forfiveone to appear as a comic book character

2007-12-26T01:30:00.000Z

It would seem that I've been a good boy all year as Santa was good to me and my smart this year and I wanted to share my wonderful Christmas news I received today.

Rob Tokar the Editor-in-Chief at TOKYOPOP confirmed today that they will be going ahead in creating me and my smart car (forfiveone) into cartoon characters for the upcoming issue of Grand Theft Galaxy (volume 2).

I knew that I was going to be part of the cartoon world but today was completely floored with excitement when Rob let me know that they will be also including my smart car as part of the story. Rob did have some ideas in his email I will have some discussions with the creator of the comic in the New Year to work everything out.

Grand Theft Galaxy (volume 2) will be in comic book stores November 2008, so it’s a ways off but will keep you posted and with the timing it probably will end up being what I send most people for Christmas next year. So if you want a copy you better be nice all year or Santa won’t send you one.

For those who have never heard of TOKYOPOP it’s the US company that bought rights to reproduce and create English versions of Japanese’s comics, which are not actually called comics but “manga”. Manga simply means comic book in Japanese, but most people refer to even the English comics created as manga due to the fact they share a unique visual and drawing style.

I am a fan of manga and comics in general and I originally talked with TOYKOPOP to be part of the Initial D comic series as they own the rights to that and since I was a big racer and car fan it was a really great tie in, but they don’t produce Initial D comics frequently and Grand Theft Galaxy was a wonderful selection by Rob.

While you might be thinking Grand Theft Auto when you see the name Grand Theft Galaxy as that is what first came to mind when I saw the title, but after review of Grand Theft Galaxy I found out it is about a girl who basically becomes an intergalactic thief. You can actually read part of Grand Theft Galaxy (volume 1) online here:

http://www.tokyopop.com/Grand_Theft_Galaxy/tp_manga/287333.html

Wondering why someone like me gets the wonderful opportunity like this, it actually comes from my philanthropist background and my support of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. While I have no children of my own I do what I can to help those who are fortunate enough to have children but require the help of St. Jude to ensure the long and happy life they deserve.

More information about St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital can be found here: http://www.stjude.org/ and below:

Sunglasses Holder for the 451 smart fortwo

2007-12-24T01:30:00.000Z

While the armrest was a great aftermarket addition that smart forgot to put on the smart 451 this sunglasses holder is something they forgot to have on the smart but are nice enough to let you pay $55 to have this feature.

I paid the $55 and took the time to install and while its easy to install you might find it difficult to get the screws in as the steering wheel is somewhat in the way. After taking the time and installing the sunglasses holder I was really happy with the further growth of my smart.

Some people said they're sunglasses didn't fit but mine even though they are bigger then the normal sunglasses fit perfectly. If you have the big bling bling type sunglasses they might not fit but then again you probably wouldn't be driving a smart if you like bling bling style sunglasses.

Opening and closing the container is easy thanks to a magnetic latch. They also made a little lip on the top so when its closes its easy to open up again. When opened it doesn't interfere with anything on the tray below.

Overall I really like this addition and having little holders/container/pockets on the car is fun. I hope that I can get more little holders, maybe something can be added to the lower part of the dash.

451 smart Brabus Gas & Brake Pedals

2007-12-16T01:30:00.000Z

Once I went to install these pedals I could see that smart has always planned to have these pedals as part of the car because the design of the stock gas pedal is setup to have the brabus gas pedal added.

These items while costly are available at the smart dealerships and if you buy them with the car you might be able to get the cost of the pedals added to the loan/lease on the car.

Installing the pedals took less then 5 minutes, the brake pedal took the longest as you have to remove the factory rubber by peeling it off and then snapping the new pedal on. The gas pedal takes all of 10 seconds as you just simply slide it on and it clips into place. Both pedals require no tools, no screws and no mess to install. I mention that as there are some aftermarket pedals, some even claim to be “brabus” but they require you to screw into the factory pedals and would be far less stable.

While no performance increase I will say that the pedals look so much nicer and give an extra sportyness to the interior. Also the rubber grips on the face of the pedals do give more traction so in some way this could actually improve performance in that you might get more braking power due to better grip.

To buy the brabus gas and brake pedals simply contact your local smart dealership as they’ll be able to order them in for you.

Carbon Fiber Trim for the smart 451

2007-12-16T01:30:00.000Z

Carbon fiber is always a great way to give a vehicle a hint of aggressiveness and this dash trim added to the smart does just that. Once installed you wouldn’t even notice that it wasn’t factory as it matches in so well with the gray/black mixed fabric. On cars with other fabric it might not blend as much, but it should still look like it belongs.

Installing this made me a little nervous as this was a hand made part and the creator hadn’t installed or even seen a 451 before he did this for me and his instructions where simply to pull the old one off. The trim had a dozen clamps and I didn’t know if simply pulling would take it off without damaging anything but I pulled and pulled and then click the factory trim came off nice and easily.

Putting the new carbon fiber trim on was just as easy, simply line up with the factory holes and click the trim into place and your done. It was all of about 2 minutes to install.

Cost of the trim was something a little harder to figure out as these are hand made parts so they’re not mass produced but the part with shipping and duties cost less then $150. The creator of the part will have this as well as other items ready for sale shortly on his website, which will be added to the aftermarket/tuner section here.

Along with the piece that I did install there was end caps for the wiper and light stacks as well as rings for the REV and Clock pods. I’ll be giving the rings for the rev and clock pods away later in January as there are a few odd parts that will just be included with other items that I’m not using for my smart.

Coming soon is the carbon fiber door handles and once I figure out how to take off the factory caps I’ll install the caps on the stacks, photos will follow.

Armrest for the 451 smart fortwo

2007-12-16T01:30:00.000Z

While smart on the new 451 did include many of the items people requested they didn’t include an armrest option but have no fear the aftermarket was listening. I searched for a few weeks and ended up finding a company in Europe that produced an armrest for the 451. The armrest is fixed to the center console area and while I know there are some that bolt to the side of the seats this unit is what I preferred.

The armrest comes in a leather finished top and has storage area that is closed/secured with a magnetic lock. The color matches well with my factory leather seats and since all seats have the black inserts I would say it would fit well with all color interiors.

Installing the armrest was not that hard but it did take a little bit of planning as it doesn’t come with instructions. They do have a couple pre-drilled holes on the front that I made use of but in the back I tapped my own holes and I would recommend you doing the same. You will need to move the seats a round a little to get at the back to do the screws but overall it’s not a big project. Took about 15 minutes and no power tools where needed as the screws were self tapping and they held pretty well.

Having driving the 451 for a couple weeks without the armrest I did miss it as I’ve never had a car without an armrest and it does feel strange not being able to rest your arm while waiting in traffic or just driving lazily. So the first day that I’ve had the armrest installed I could really notice a difference at first it was a little weird but 2 or 3 drives later and I was loving it.

The extra storage is nice, while not big enough to hold CD’s its great size for paper, pens, cell phone, mp3 player, garage opener or anything else that would fit into a 6 L x 3 W x 4 D. It also folds up so if you want it out of the way it tucks just right along side the seat. Overall it does look like it was an OEM option and in my opinion something well worth adding to your smart.

There are a couple downsides to adding in the armrest. The first one is that it will be a little harder to do up your seatbelt as the armrest and seatbelt latch are very close together and the second one is that it’s a little harder to recline the drivers side seat. That is also because the recline latch is close to the armrest on the passenger side its not as bad because the passenger seat goes further back then the drivers side.

I paid just around $150 with shipping for the armrest and I actually ordered from 2 different suppliers, the other armrest hasn’t arrived but once it does I’ll see if it is any different and will post the options where to buy. I’ll be also selling off one of the armrests, probably the one yet to arrive, so contact me if your interested in an armrest for your 451 smart.

451 smart fortwo 6 Spoke Black Rims

2007-12-15T01:30:00.000Z

Those of you who followed the redesign of the smart into the new 451 might have remembered those spy photos of the smart driving around on black 6 or 12 spoke rims. Well if you didn’t get a chance to see those photos I’ve included one from WorldCarFans.

The rims where the standard factory rims power coated in black to make them less noticeable. So in the sourcing for parts for the new 451 smart I came across someone in Germany who got his hands on a couple sets of these black rims.

While I had never seen the 6 spoke or the 12 spoke rims in person the photos looked amazing and I really didn’t like the factory 9 spoke rims, so I bought both the 6 and 12 spoke rims. Along with the rims I decided to have them mount some winter tires as my dealer already said they have limited supply of snow/winter tires and I didn’t want to be driving around on all season radials.

My contact in Germany ended up sending them air freight as it wasn’t too costly and ensured that they arrived quickly but I had not thought of the customs/importing aspect of things. When the rims and tires arrived in Canada I had a little problem, turned out that you are not allowed to import “used” tires into Canada from Europe. While my tries were new they were mounted on the rims and could be considered used. I ended up have a little chat with the customs officers and they did a manual inspection along with the fact they where smart fans they ended up looking the other way and allowing both sets into the country.

As soon as I saw both the 6 spoke and 12 spoke I feel in love with the 6 spoke as the long spokes gave the wheel the illusion of being larger then the 12 spoke rims. So I have the 12 spoke rims and will post some photos and information on those later, but they’ll be sold please contact me if your interested in buying them.

Figured after the customs issue everything else would be easy but it turned out there was a few more problems. In my initial review of the smart 451 I said that the tire pressure sensors where based on tire rotation but it turns out it’s based on a system built into the rims. So I had 2 options, option 1 was to not install these sensors into the new rims and live with a warning light and not have the benefit of the tire pressure system. Option 2 the one I went with was to have the sensors installed into the new rims. That option was a costly install but for me the peace of mind was worth it.

Installing the sensors was further complicated due to the fact they are part of the valve stem and are silver metal so I had to get smart/Mercedes to paid the tire pressure sensor black, they didn’t want to do that at first but money talks and in the end I got a all black rim. They even helped me out and painted the wheel bolts/nuts black and while the photos look good you have to see them in person to really see the beauty.

Start of Project Car: forfiveone™

2007-12-13T01:30:00.000Z

After nearly 10 years I'm happy to say that I am a smart owner. I've named my smart forfiveone which comes from a mix of "fortwo" and the "451" nickname given to the new smart's by the smart community.

About forfiveone™
Model: 2008 smart Passion Coupe
Tridion Color: Silver
Body Panel Color: Silver

All the parts and accessories on forfiveone™ will be reviewed individually, but you can view the project forfiveone™ photo gallery here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Smart451.com/forfiveone

There is a lot already done to the forfiveone™ and there is even more planned in the coming months. Information on all the parts and how to's will be added regularly.

If you have a part or found a part for the smart 451 please add a comment as to where to get it as myself and the other smart owners would love to hear about it.