Right, thought I'd start this. As some of you may know my cars a bit broken at present and I have a pile of parts ready to fit that gets bigger without it making its way to the car.

 

So lets start with what's up with the engine. Myself and gaz pulled the engine about two winters ago now, as one of the turbo's had failed. Compression was tested at this time with a very even 170psi across the board. Pulling it all apart we found a multitude of issues, egr hanging off causing an exhaust leak old sockets rolling about etc etc. We took that time to replace every damn crusty water and vac pipe and delete just about anything I considered a waste of space.

Water plenum bypass,

EGR,

AIV,

PRV,

Cruise control,

Aircon,

Think that's all. The turbos were rebuild by myself and for the first 50-100 miles things were bob on and I didn't give it too much stick. The first couple of pulls it detonated, new plugs, reduced the issue but it still did it a bit. Changed to a smaller gap and great the det was gone. The car was pulling very well at this point with virtually no lag and was dyno'd at 289hp bone stock, no extra boost no chip. Not bad for an old auto engine. Sadly it had started to smoke on over run, I assumed id cocked up one of the turbos during the rebuild. So I had been putting it off for months, well actually years now to pay out for brand new turbos. Anyways as the tax ran out I thought id do some more inspecting as the symptoms just didn't fit the pattern of failed turbos. The first thing I found was that lovely even compression was no more, cyl had a rather lame 115psi. Cue further inspection to work out exactly what block I had, manual/auto etc I assumed it was auto. That's when I found this...

That head casting reads R-10Y, wtf is that I thought. It's supposed to read 40P this was one of those penny drop moments. The piston crown sealed that moment of realisation and many dots connected.

That's right its an NA, 30p pistons are NA and 30p1 are TT defiantly no 1 on that code. Turns out r-10y is the later spec NA head aswell, so yeas 100% an NA block. Now this engine was fitted by a garage 4 years ago a few months into my ownership and we wont go into that too much but it wasn't a great experience and it transpires it was worse than I first thought. Anyway whilst they refused to reimburse me for that error, a good will gesture was sent out to me in the post of a few quid.

So a replacement engine is going to be sourced and fitted this winter. More of that and what's happening to the current late spec NA block.

 

So now more about that shelf of parts. I purchased last winter a full rear subframe assembly off Jaffa, the one off his time attack car. Loads of goodies already polybushed to death etc. So I stripped it down to bare metal and started painting it all with a few coats of lovely hammerite. This is how it stands at present;

So this winters aims are.

Remove front and rear bumpers, re underseal all of that and rip out and guff.

Delete HICAS system

Reloacte PS reservoir and fusebox

Switch over all suspension to new units from the shelf

Fit 354mm diameter brembos

Change engine out and preform various mods

It sounds like a lot, but hey winter is along time. Don't expect it to be coming through thick and fast. Im lazy haha

my gauge is doing even less haha

Senders probably duff mate, they break very easily. Mine however was surging and low generally, confirmed by mechanical gauge. The culprit;

If you look carefully you can see where the pick up tube has been crushed against the pan. The replacement pan, as it should be.

Just to finalise this. It's all sorted. With a fair bit if swearing and cut knuckles the pan was swapped. On inspection it was definatly bent, off the engine is was obvious that it wasn't right, the square shape of the pick up jammed into the pan tells a tale. Anyway, it's all swapped over and I now have correct oil pressure a after a few laps of the block it's nice a quiet. Just got to burn the oil out the exhaust that came from the old engine.

So without adue it's time for 2017's winter works, lots of niggles to sort. The list of bits it's long but some of it is time consuming. Listed in no priority;

Strip front end down removing unnecessary crap and lines that are no longer in use. Fitting the new Japspeed intercoolers on my shelf and improving air flow.

Repairs to passenger side ARB mounting point (don't ask).

Replace the old Brake Master Cylinder and fit the new one I've got on the shelf. Rebleed the system and sort out the annoying ABS air lock. New rear pads and disks. ABS kill switch.

Sort out the rear wheel geometry. The caster is out and the track width is not right.

Transmission fluid change and installation of neutral switch.

Paint work repairs, it's a tough life living outside and hurtling down Dorsets A & B roads. We do cow crap, gravel and limestone down here. Stone chips a plenty. Create and fit front splitter and smooth off stone gaurd. Potentially fit side skirts.

Alterations to the current oil cooler set up.

Installation of AFR gauge.

Improvement of battery retention.

Sort out Climate control faults.

If there's time and budget, exchange to dual intake.

Jesus, laid out that sounds awful.

Plenty to keep you busy!

Sadly I don't need anything to keep me busy lol.

Good to know I'm not alone with an ever growing list,

 

I'd join in and list mine but with 2 zeds both fighting for my time and attention, it would just be depressing...

Good to know I'm not alone with an ever growing list,

 

I'd join in and list mine but with 2 zeds both fighting for my time and attention, it would just be depressing...

 

Trust me mate, I can virtually guarantee even with two zeds you've got less competition for your time. :lol:

I've been working on mine for the last 17 months, and the things to do list doesn't really seem to be shrinking

 

If you're doing trans fluid, you may aswell do the Diff fluid while you're at it

I've been working on mine for the last 17 months, and the things to do list doesn't really seem to be shrinking

 

If you're doing trans fluid, you may aswell do the Diff fluid while you're at it

 

Already done, a couple of winters back when I had the frame out. The trans had new oil when installed a few years but it was cheapish stuff and although it's great once warm cold it's a clunky grindy thing. So I've gone for a better product, similar to Redline MT90. Iirc the one I used was 85-95w as that's all I could find at the time on the shelf locally. The budget ran thin and it was a temporary addition, think it was Castrol, may have been Halfords. The replacement is Fuschs Titan Race synth 75-95w. Hopefully should make things a little more friendly.

Nice. Both box and diff fluids are on my list of things to do, but have more pressing issues at hand such as getting her road worthy again

Got the BMS swapped over today. The old ones rear is horrid, I gave the Servo a clean but I think it could do with testing. The interior of the Cylinder had what I can only describe as a smeg like substance inside, yuk. Peddle feels much better, even with air obviously still present round the ABS unit (makes a squelch sound when ABS is activated) next stage is getting her off the floor. Then I can hopefully get the rear brakes and studs sorted.

Edited January 10, 20178 yr by Stephen

So I go the front stripped down over the last few days, hour here and there. I always knew air flow on the exit side of the intercoolers was poor but certainly the passenger side its like the expansion bottle was designed to block the air. So that's going in the bin along with the Carbon Canister. I've also removed a lot of the ducts and guff.

I didn't want to go pulling the radiator because of time reasons but it looks like that's coming out to clean up some surface rust on the rad support bracket.

I've already wire wheeled back the chassis rails and treated them to a coat of zinc galvy primer. A coat of Hammerite will be going over the top over the next few days.

Looks like you could do with a new air filter there Stephen :yes:

Looks like you could do with a new air filter there Stephen :yes:

 

Yeah, I thought that when I saw it too. :lol: I'm looking to convert to a dual intake soon anyway so il have a look at it and decide. The dual intake depends on how money goes this winter.

 

I'm currently undecided as to wether to refit the AUX fan as I have no AC and I appear to be missing a cross bar on the front, not sure exactly what it's called if anyone knows what I mean? Got the tow eyes, bumper brackets and rad support bracket to sort out. The oil cooler bracket was scrap.

I will have 2 Apexi filters in very good condition, that will be for sale, once I go back to Portuner in the Spring.

I will have 2 Apexi filters in very good condition, that will be for sale, once I go back to Portuner in the Spring.

 

That's cool. Obviously I can't dibs them because I can't know my plans 100% on that at present. Few irons in the fire before we get there.

I dont think you're missing a front bar? There is the bar that the fog lights mount to, but after that's off, it looks like this (on mine)

Maybe it's a UK thing. I'm sure I've seen an aluminium bar that bolts to the chassis rails. It sits behind the fog light bar.

Maybe it's a UK thing. I'm sure I've seen an aluminium bar that bolts to the chassis rails. It sits behind the fog light bar.

Ah possibly, the jap had this fog light bar:

But the USDM had a metal one supposedly to meet regulations. Perhaps its a bit like this one for the UK spec also?

Anyone know/clarify?

Nope that's not it either.

 

Now i see, that's what those circular holes with cavity are for, they just have a round sticky black band aid over them on mine.

are you talk about this front bumper support

 

Now i see, that's what those circular holes with cavity are for, they just have a round sticky black band aid over them on mine.

 

There's loads of random unused holes isn't there.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

are you talk about this front bumper support

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103738[/ATTACH]

 

Nope, I've got that one. What I'm talking about looks like a strut brace type thing.

What I'm talking about looks like a strut brace type thing.

 

Euro/UK engine oil cooler support brace: