...arrived just before Christmas. Preparing for a small service, and to get the seats in, bought myself the following:
Disappointingly, the harnesses AREN'T pink as requested, no matter, probably for the better. I am also awaiting a few other parts (but seeing as I'm abroad now, it won't matter for a while), namely an Apexi PowerFC Boost Controller kit w/ 3Bar MAP Sensor, some brackets for the harnesses, an oil filter and some other things...
Hopefully the bneginning of 2009 will sign the beginning of some work to de-crappify the car - hopefully the gearbox will be swapped, the turbo will be swapped, the engine will be mapped on the HRF ecu and so on, not to mention a much needed service. So, as always, if any of this interests you....watch this space
...its back!! MOT Pass and all! It's also had the Zep Racing 4 Point rear strut brace bolted in, Stebel horn wired in (gayest thing you ever did hear...I love it!), Cusco metal bushes welded in, alignment done...it rides like a completely different thing! All for under £300, woot!
There are a few issues though...turbo doesn't seem to want to boost above 0.25Bar, and its boost cutting to hell (though to be fair, a stock ecu with no FCD, no air filter, and the brisk weather won't exactly help), oh and the headlights have been reverted to stock halogen bulbs (for now), but I'm staying positive! Pictures ajnd details to follow
The cold weather did bring its fun though:
...for the proverbial puzzle:
Just a full set of fuel injector o-rings and isolators to at least eliminate one of the issues! Now...I just have to get the car back...
...my throne has arrived! Ok, enough with this throne talk...well, I finally got my second Bride! No, I'm not a polygamist! See below
As is blatently obvious, it needs work, desparate work. It was cheap (not cheap enough, but still, cheap) though so its not too big an issue - both seats will get the center section reupholstered, and the Zeta II will need new cushions and a new cover. Good news is, it is stupidly light, like, it weighs nothing, which is great (The rail is actually heavier!), and I JUST about fit in it....JUST....
Hopefully next week will bring further updates, including the Zeta II in the car (for a bit, just to acclimitise myself to it!). Oh and finally, a little fan:
Sammy: "WTF?! You can keep this, I has chewed up baskets"
...a Pass!!
Chyeah right, Epic Fail, but not that epic actually! Only failed on blatant things like the illegal front tyres, non-working headlight, failed brake light etc...they didn't even care about the lack of a horn, working speedometer and the majority of loose suspension parts! Its in their hands now, hopefully, when it returns to my hands...it may JUST be bearable again!
Well, as I mentioned, the fuel injector was spraying petrol out...well, ok, not dramatic enough...it was gushing out like a geyser. No, to gay...anyway! On removing the Fuel Injectors I found this:
Ruptured O-ring on the leaky injector, as I thought, and on another...
Quite corroded. On tightening everything back up, I was hoping it was all good to go...but it wasn't, the engine obviously was starving cylinder 4 of petrol, and as a result, the car ran like absolute crap...but it doubled as a smoke machine, so there is a silver lining (to the Petrol-based cloud in the garage)
...when you nearly pass out from the fumes of petrol blasting out of the Heater of your car...Well, ok, I never actually nearly passed out, but regardless, very very strong odour. Anyway, I have known the injector was leaking for a while; either the o-ring is ruptured, or its badly fitted. Anyway, whilst I was fitting these (by the way, fitted Rick's Solid Brass Shifter Cable bushes, thanks sexy)
As I was saying, whilst fitting those, I noticed one of the Voltage Stabiliser wires were yellow, as below...
...and I noticed petrol dripping out! What the hell?? And at quite a steady rate. Think I fixed that but after loosening and re-tightening the fuel rail, the number 4 injector was almost spraying fuel out of the rail - injector connection. Lovely
A little something just arrived...
Now I just need the driver's side...and the god-knows-how-much for the Passenger rail! :(
Well, nothing perse' has really happened to the car, but, I did finally receive my Saviour CT9 (Though I didn't get the K1 I was hoping on getting, even if I was led to believe I had first refusal...) so I shall hopefully get that installed shortly. A few pics, above, just for the sake of it.
I also kind of installed my Zep Racing Rear Strut Brace...ish (and what a female dog of a job - required me hax0ring parts of the rear bulkhead, and attempting to persuade them out of the way of the Brace mounting plates with needle nose pliers and a tiny hammer...). Got the main bar in place, and test fitted one of the secondary points, but then managed to remain on my typical form, and break something - i.e. I welded the other nut somehow so I couldn't test fit both secondary struts, ah well. 
And finally, as Tax is looming, I'll have to get my MOT done - found the garage that I used once, and hoping they'll be able to get the car in good working standard...after which, a few tricks up my sleeve will follow, watch this space
Collected a few parts from the ever sexy Rick last night...
These would be:
- Cynos Driver's Side Bride Seat Rail
- Ported & Polished 4E Throttlebody (courtesy of the hunk that is Simon)
- JAM FCC (yes, back to ghetto)
- TC Shifter Cable bushes
- Zep Racing Rear 4 Point Strut Brace
Yum! Oh and yes, I did try to arrange the parts to look like the Transformers symbol...
Well, so you know what the hell I'm on about, ever since giving up my Tom's ECU, I was burdened with an ECU that, well, just didn't work, at all, and so my car was pretty much rendered inoperational for the last 4 months. Anyway, just replaced the ECU and it lives! Well, it did, but now the battery was dead, but every little helps!
Next stop, actually repairing the thing...
Not much of an update, but still an update....another part of the puzzle of the heap of my car is here! A TRD Rear engine mount for the C56 Gearbox...I can almost smell the "normal running" of my car! Unfortunately, this is a waste of money as I'm replacing the mounts with Polyurethane inserts anyway....ah well!
Quick introduction to this infernal project, I bought this car in December 2005, after selling my white 1997 UK-Specification Toyota Paseo Si a day before going to collect this one.
Proceedings have been tumultuous to say the least - after 3 eventful trackdays between January-April 2006, I suffered the first engine failure, followed by another in February 2007. This paved the way to the 4E-FTE Transplant, as I deemed the 5E-FHE too much of a money pit at that point. Though I am a purist and would much prefer an N/A Setup, I decided that whilst having a Turbocharged powerplant, I may as well apply my typically anally retentive attitude to it. In short, I want to have a car that is both optimised for regular track duty, yet endure Daily Driver use as well...Currently however...
The car has almost permanently been plagued by several niggling issues, which is always...fun.
Progress is very slow, for example; I was meant to have my gearbox swapped along with several other tidbits (braided clutch and brake hoses, a working speedometer cable, a Racing Gear clutch that's NOT about to disappear in cloud of pulverised clutch components...) but the window has since collapsed as I received the wrong gearbox mount for the installation...a year or two on, still not in.
Typically, I don't like to give too much away...but, seeing as it's a blog, and it's very aim is to document the events and occurences with said car, I will reveal a bit. My aim for my ideal comprise, includes utilising an HRF Turbo kit-style Manifold and Downpipe (sans the turbo) paired with a GReddy TD05H-16G Turbocharger, combined with a 5E powertrain, HRF Power FC ECU and my HRF Pistons/Connecting rods. I'm not aiming for any particular power levels, as they don't matter to me...but suffice to say, this combination will rise to any potential I will require.
I plan on optimising 4 core areas of the car:
- Powertrain
- Suspension
- Mass & mass distribution
- Aerodynamics
- Pretty much from that slightly pretentious list, I want to optimise the running of the engine, and not just squeeze a pint out of a quart sort of thing, but rather, work away the inherent flaws of a standard powertrain in order to improve efficiency: reduce the sources of friction, and optimise heat transfer.
- Suspension - my area of major interest, or rather, the area I'd eventually like to specialise in professionally. This entails going beyond your standard "bolt-ons" components - there's a lot more to achieving the ideal setup, and again, reducing friction will play a big part, as well as reducing unsprung mass to a great degree.
- And finally, weight - short of shorning the car of most non-essential "mass", I would like to eventually optimise the bias as well - there's a bit more research to do rather than to jump to the conclusion of a 50/50 distribution front/rear so it'll be a long road to discovery via quite a bit of research...but yeah.
- Finally, I'm also intrigued by the advantages brought on by optimised aerodynamics, be it for reducing drag and hence improving performance characteristics, to improving positive aerodynamic attributes like downforce, as well as optimising heat escape and whatnot, and starting from a car with a remarkable (for the modern times as well, yet alone a late 1995 design!) stock aerodynamic profile - coefficient of drag of 0.31!
Sounds like an awful lot of hassle for what is essentially my first car, and, a lowly econo-Coupe' but, I guess it comes down to the fact that I've had a passion for anything Automotive and Motorsport related since I said hello to the world, and this is my moment to experiement and put my passion to practice, and for the foreseeable future this will be my chosen path for my life - being an engineer in essence, and applying it as much as possible.
So keep checking back, because whilst big updates are few and far between, they will arrive...one day...some day...
Oh, and, pending setup:
