Waiting...
It sucks.
Granted, a little bit of suspense can add to a sensation as it builds anticipation. A microsecond after which, the effect is killed and it just becomes agonising, comatose inducing, waiting. I've been waiting for this godforsaken fracking Driveshaft since May. No solace.
The person who apparently vowed to help me obtain said driveshaft by having one made, as a partial payback for a sum of money he owed to me, has "built anticipation" for the last two months, and then some. And he's just left to Miami (apparently) for a month. And he's also in possession of my CV Joint. And he hasn't paid me back yet. And z0mgWTF etc. I hate his face. So. Naturally, faced with such a dilemma. I spend. On items I don't need. I'll just say, that I should be in receipt of another turbocharger kit shortly, as I obviously need 4 turbochargers.
And I may have reserved another. And I am actively looking for two more turbochargers >_<
Yay for spendens! If you wish to criticise this move, do not afford to waste your valuable typing power. I am pretty sure that the contents of this and the other blog are thus far ample proof of my complete dearth of sense/restraint/care for money ^_^.
If they could somehow tumble from a desert plain, into the internet, and infront of the blog, they would. But they can't.
Anyway. After the proliferation of forward progress on the Cynos, I reached a peak of happenings and goings-on'ness which immediately exploded and crashed. Hence leading to this lull of progress. HAH. Yeah. Too lazy, too little money.
So I treated poor Sainosu! Not to anything it particularly needs mind! First up, a treasured item I had longed for years and years, obviously useless, but I wanted it as it was pretty. Yet a wretched fiend, like several times in those empty years, snatched it out of my hands at the last moment. Kkthx. Punk. Not to worry, I found another set and bought them and I'm all has happeh.
Oh yeah, and these are they:
The Cusco B-Pillar braces. Admire their glory. Thank you. Essentially, ever since finding a desolate webpage illustrating this brace being installed into a Cynos, it was forever my quest to obtain one - it was my quest before then as I feel as many unnecessary parts as possible need to end up on the car in order to. I don't know. Do I need a reason?! I LIKE PARTS ^_^. Anyway, locally, they never turned up, and when they did, they were either too cheap and breezed by my face before I so much as even awakened from some lethargy induced coma, or were too wretchedly expensive that I'd just pout at the computer screen instead. Sure. They were easily available from abroad, but, it'd end up costing 2.5 times the sense of buying them had I done so. Then this local option came. Sacre Bleue, MIEN! Oh wait, Liam. You bitch. You out bought them. Frantic justification of pricing fired off to seller and buyer stating that they are cheaper from Japan for the asking price, new. Nothing. NADA. Whores.
Then, moping around on the internet in my depression of yet again missing this opportunity. Found another set. Same frantic justification for a sizeable (yet not sizeable enough) discount. Get a text. SCORE. Picked up at 1am from his house. DONE! And yeah. That's it. I got some Cusco B-Pillar Braces ^_^. Oh, and whilst bored, I also decided to bid on an EL'Sport EP91 Glanza C-Pillar Brace, as well as what I presume to be a Downhill Activ made EP82 Centre/Transmission Tunnel Brace. Not sure if either will fit, but, neither do most of the other "exploratory items" I try to convince myself are worth the outlay.
I also cried. HARD. Ok. I didn't cry. I pouted at the computer screen again - when this gloriously, purposefully Engrish made entity slipped through my hands before I could make a bidding call:
GALLOP! I need a Gallop seat. NOW. For only a £120 buy it now, and I was dilly dallying as I didn't want to annoy my contact for inane requests o_o. And now, I'm constantly searching for one. Why pray and tell you, Google Bots, may ask yourselves do I require a Carbon Kevlar seat when the car doesn't run? How many times more do I need to say STFU as I don't actually have reasoning behind such decisions? I just do! And I want a Gallop :(. And a Suede Nardi Steering wheel, despite having a perfectly fine leather one. And now, I constantly search them both. I am actually hoping hard that the buyer is too fat for that seat.
Onto more pressing issues, a replacement driveshaft is STILL Missing in Acton Town, nowhere to be seen. I struggle to think what more proactive duties can be performed in the meantime however, so the Cynos sits idly undisturbed in the garage. I am hoping to retrieve one soon, as I cannot spare more hair falling out, and with this weather, I fear I will never see my unmentionables again should I have to work out in the cold. Not that I'd need to see them.
So. Yeah. Bought some stuff. Didn't buy some stuff. Nothing actually done. More of the usual. A lot bought for the other vehicle, but obviously to be noted in the respective blogs.
Oh, and I just remember that one purchase was semi-useful:
Yes. The FCon is now essentially ready to utilise. Well, on installing and wiring in the Linear TPS from an Automatic Starlet. I essentially had to buy a full FCon ECU, Loom and MAP Sensor set, despite already having a newer (3.2 vs. 3.1) ECU and MAP Sensor set, just in order to purchase the Cruise EP82 Wiring Harness that came with those. After arduous forum stalking, I managed to locate said buyer, who has thus far already paid for the ECU, and is having a loom made up by my contact in Japan. So, essentially, the Cruise EP82 Loom that retails for around £500 inclusive of delivery. Was bought for the princely sum of a lot less. ^_^
Otherwise. Wanted: Effort.
...Err, Corrected.
So, it turns out, the leak is not from the dreaded oil drain hose, but rather from the actual fitting itself, so probably tightening it a bit should fix the issue. That being said, I still hate the Oil Return Hoses' mother.
And that is all. I could perhaps do a bit more and embellish this post but chances I'll be too engrossed in my empty schedule. Don't know, it depends how lazy I'm
Well the day started like any day, which is to say I woke to a frosty pre-sunrise sky, raring to throw myself into a day bursting with nothing. And so it went. Until at some point in the morning, the electricity went. Oh great, now I can do LESS than nothing. So, umm, that would surely mean I would eventually return into my embryonic state. Deciding that sounded rather uncomfortable, I pondered (not very hard) on what productive (ha-ha screw you) things I could do. I settled for then, to enter a staring competition with Sammy, though after he ate my face I decided otherwise.
Oh wait, I have a pile of rust and poop loosely resembling a vehicle that needs a considerable dose of attention in the garage! I'm sure I heard the Sainosu release an obscene remark at such a thought, or perhaps boredom really does breed insanity. Which would go perfect with my half eaten face. The Cynos is just jealous of the Cefiro, which has its "balls" or two wheel drive, intact whereas it succumbs to having going round in circles due to its unbalanced semi-castrato state. Well, if it could drive in the first place. Anyway, that untidily brings me to the title. Yes, I know, its awesome.
I recently took purchase of a new sump and pick-up assembly as intimated in a previous post, however, rather than disturbing my busy schedule of emptiness I had not yet fitted it. That, and I wanted to entertain a swap with a baffled and kicked-out sump. However, as is always the case - frack you please Lords of the Jynx - it would seem I spoke optimistically and the seller in question was/is/stfu being indecisive. I.e. me, and I preferred waiting in lieu of the hopeful swap. To no avail. So, bored to insanity, missing half my face, and suffering from a case of slight hypothermia, I threw caution to the wind, and had breakfast. Satiated with calorific energy content, I then surged forth and went to the toilet. Ok, I lie, I still haven't been, even after two cups of espresso. You're welcome for the colonic update. I commenced firstly however by draining the oil, into a drain pan I had to clean as some quick inspection revealed that I had no spare oil to use. To note, the drain pan was full of all kinds of vile, looking literally like a pan full of semen (Cynosemen?) as it contained the emulsified oil/coolant mixture from when I ran the engine in the summer. Following this, I quickly swapped the CT9 Oil Feed/Return fitting, putting in its place the Race-Tech item; 
..and being once again in the presence of the most enraging, most infuriating, POS component ever in the world. The stock Oil Return Hose. I cannot begin to explain how much I don't heart it.
So I shall - it's a piece of rubber, held with two clips, so, logic says, stop whining you little bitch, its rubber, it will be pliable. HAH. Not so. I'm not a bitch :(. I've never ever been at the mercy of such a stubborn yet inane component. Am I making an enormous fuss out of, basically nothing? Have you not noticed that the first few paragraphs are just an elaborate recapturing of, nothing? In retrospect to you, I DID spend *cough*morethan£200*cough* on a plethora of components to escape this wretched fiend. Onwards. Worst of all is when you attempt to remove this fitting in the cold - those clips, are so stiff, and the rubber, no matter how many times you try to force your will upon it, shouting "BEND YOU WHOREFAG", nothing. Just painful fingers. And I haven't even installed it yet. Not so onwards I guess. *Hate*
After beating up a flower to vent anger, I commenced on the removal of the sump itself - I had dreaded this as I had presumed it would be riddled with cursing and tears and such as even my tiny, girly hands would not be able to rear all the bolts. This was not the case, and other than having to use a deep socket to remove one of the bolts, and my through-socket wrench for another, removing the bolts was easy enough. Removing the sump. Ah. I had thought I had put not enough instant-gasket, or used the correct adhesive medium when assembling the engine. I need not have worried as the sump put up a bit of resistance in its removal! My feeble attempts of gently hammering and banging the sump didn't work (rather obviously), and so as any real man, I decided on the only natural solution. Fire! URRRRGH. *Cavemans sounds*. Didn't work. Well, initially, then, strangely, after trying to tap in a screwdriver into the heated sealant for a while, it went in (giggidy), and with a slight leverage, the sump just fell off. Score. Off to lunch. 
Hoping to accelerate installation of the sump, I attempted to find a wire-brush attachment for sale at the local stores, but to no avail. Oh Crap, manual labour will be necessary to remove the sump sealant. BAH. And bah it was - copious scrubbing with wire brushes and torching with the Bernzomatic (for fun mainly), and more wire brushing, followed by a rinse through and drying. Then, it was ready to re-assemble. Oh, I also found (or at least, I REALLY Hope so) the oil pick-ups to be the same, so I did not bother to swap them round. Re-assembly went fine, as well, just an initial faffing around to screw in the first bolts to keep the sump attached to the block. And Ouila:
In the midst of the sump swap I also finally fitted the missing turbo coolant hose, retrieved from that Philistine, Harvey.
So, yes. I basically changed the sump today. That is all ^_^
Oh and I started it. It bled. From that fracking return. That is all, again.
Oh and rubbish CT9 Oil Fittings that cost me £hundreds and didn't work for sale, enquire within;
kkthx ^.^
So.
What's the deal, I hear you whine? You being the followers of the Blog naturally, in this case blatently being myself, and the bots attempting to sell me viagra. Pictures, no description? Well, yeah, that's your lot, so stfu, kkthxbai.
No srsly.
K, fine. As intimated around 1.3billion times in the posts leading up to this one, an impressive influx of JDMens (JDM Stuffs, not JD Mens. Though I wouldn't say no to either) was due to arrive in my absence from the UK. And it has. And there it is. Moar? Basically, what you see is about half a Eunos in parts, belonging to Harryluls and Rickipaiz. And they owe me money. Lots. So its for sale.
For those interested, the parts include:
- Unknown Braided Brake Lines
- Mazdaspeed Spark Plug Cords
- Cusco Front Strut Tower Brace
- Cusco Rear Control Arm Brace
- AutoExe Underfloor Brace
- Bride Passenger-side Seat Rail
- DCuatro Rear Half Bumper
- Raybrig Headlights
- Skanky Side-sill Covers
- Kakka moto Exhaust System
- Zzzzz
- *Yawn*
- ARC Superpwntzbanzaidomoarigatoohhai Intake Chamber
And so on and yada who cares.
My stuff comprises of. Well, you know. I've mentioned it. 1.3Billion times. It's written like, 3 lines above. To reiterate, what you see are:
- HKS FCon Pro-V 3.2 ECU
- JZX90 Fuel Pump
- Downhill Active Lower Control Arm Braces
- OS Giken Twin Plate Clutch Kit
- Toda Fightex Coilovers
There's also Harvey's Silvertop Throttlebodies. He owes me money too, so its for sale. Infact, Google, you can give me money, for never accepting my Adverts Syndication thing yeah? THANKOO.
So, as always, more parts, none going on the car...I sincerely hope you weren't expecting progress? What do you think I am, proactive? Well, no, and I was in Saudi, and Sammy wouldn't let me and moar excuses and so on. Having only just returned to the UK, I wanted to ease into further spending and at least try to re-establish some order to the requisite steps to get the infernal POS back on the road. Ha-ha-ha yes failed attempt number infinity stfu. And infact, I've not done much to that end rather than a few demented scribblings on some scattered sheets of paper.
One immediate disappointment however has served to quell what little flicker of hope I had in the driveshaft I had received (to the wrong address..) just before I left (useful). Brought it to the garage, forgot to let them know about the leaking brake hoses, and thought finally I'd have sussed the kerfuffle. Phone call today - "Your dream of having a completed passenger-side driveshaft? NEIN!". Not only is the shaft diameter wrong (I gave the seller the dimension), but it's also the wrong spline count (I gave the seller the number), and so, even more wasted time and money (I hate the seller). So, yet ANOTHER Fracking search for a driveshaft after collecting this offending item from the garage, forgetting again to mention about the leaking brake hoses. Oh Toyota, I hate you too. 1 DRIVESHAFT FOR ALL YOUR CARS PL0Z! I want to see the LFA using a Paseo Driveshaft k?
Moving on from the driveshaft debacle, and onto the Sump farse. If you remember, I spent an inordinate amount of money, trying to be clever, failed, and now need to start from scratch. So, I ordered a new CT9 oil fitting:
Took me a while to click on the "Pay Now" button as I had crippled into the fetal position at the observation of the £70.40 cost. For a fitting. For a SHIT-T9. Wow. I also received some pipes I had ordered previously, before leaving, and just after returning from Derkistan. And. Yeah. Big. Waste. Of. Money. Writing. Like. This. Is. Also. Pretty. Annoying. And. May. Cause. Cancer. This was followed by the purchase of a new sump and pick-up, due to arrive. However, a sump appeared on the forums, that had been comprehensively re-engineered, and obviously, I want. And, turns out the guy owed me £60 (he bought some of Shoehay's Connecting Rods), so, negotiations commenced. So basically, I may buy a sump that's had a kick-out welded in (more oil capacity) and is also thoroughly baffled (less seizing in teh cornaz), regarde:
Another swapportunity (HAH! I rawk.) came as a surprise - a guy I had been hounding for about a year for his BigEnd Roder Wheels (you want them now too? ANY Wheel with such a name strikes pure desire in the heart of the reader. DON'T LIE!)...contacted me saying that he was getting rid of them and that it would only be correct to approach me first. Who said being an insistent, annoying prick never prospers?! Well, it hasn't, yet. And gods of Jynx'ing, so help you if you steal this from me. However, he may strike a deal for a swap with my Sparcoluls. Yes, the Sparcoluls are pretty, but, they're everywhere, it's not like they're wanting on the markets. The Roders however, aren't. So. This is pending. And that concludes the segment of the recent events - what is to come. *Giggles*
*Ahem*
Semen
*Ahem again*
Anyway. For the immediate future I will thus need to receive and install a newly assembled CORRECT driveshaft, a new sump complete with the new fitting, and basically from there I can turn the engine over again, hopefully eradicating the oil leaks and allowing me to concentrate and determine the cause of the coolant leaks. Having the driveshaft in will also finally allow me to fill the gearbox with oil and thus...literally having motive power again! Though, forget that exclamation, I live on a hill. That motive power has no use on a car with no brakes. AH. Damnation. That's an area that will need serious seeing to - apparently, changing that rear hard brake line is the worst job evrar. It doesn't suck the big one. It sucks a cattle prod. Especially when you notice how rusty the fuel tank is, that apparently would need removing. *Sigh*. It's even more annoying as Harvey quickly dashed my extensively unresearched idea of re-flaring the end of the hard line. Bah to joo. So, I think, once the car is mobile, I may just have it towed to my Trusty Garage, much to their delight. Once the brakes have been sorted and the car is mobile, onto....The Wiring.
Also, this is my new cat in Saudi:
He's a guy cat. He's called Mimi. He's eating my foot. He's awesome. That is all.
He's standing in for the now elusive bugs in my room ^_^
P.S. The title sucks.
This was a day like any other, starting out with a very early morning breakfast after kicking out my annoying cat for his morning maul. Seeing as I would not be swimming today I didn't sample my cup of Mauritian Vanilla Tea - which also serves to alleviate morning duties - in a bid to reduce sugar intake and bla bla bla, wtf cares.
Moving swiftly on from where I abandoned the POS yesterday in a flurry of flailing arms and curses, I went and purchased myself a pair of appropriately named Flare spanners from the illustrious Halfrauds for the princely sum of £3.5billion. On arrival at home, I set forth immediately dousing the offending (and offensive - they said bad things to me :() union bolts in plenty of Plusgas, before setting to work on the non-massacred one. And:
Perfectly simple removal and re-installation! The otherside however said NEIN! And continued in its path to be an infinity-sided hex nut (i.e. a circle, i.e. its rounded, i.e. stfu). I have it on dubious Authority - Harvey, he cannot be trusted - that a replacement line will cost me in the region of £70. Lovely. I'll throw in my sphincter as well. Following that, and several failed attempts to remove the annoying locating tabs from one set of the brake hard lines located on the rear axle, I re-attached the wheels, and went around frolicking in the garden with a daisy garland in my hair. On my return, I then raised the front of the car and with little undue hassle got the exhaust system back on its hangers, and bolted onto the downpipe with its new hardware, seeing as I was an absolute Barbarian with the previous units having attacked them repeatedly with a super uber melee combo of destruction. They were absolutely in a dire state. And now they're not:
Naturally, with the exhaust system now in situ', it'd have been unwise to not have started it and enjoy a bit of an eargasm, so, I didn't. Realising the absurd move, I swiftly collected myself and launched myself asunder onto the ignition. And. Wow. That's quite silent, much quieter than I remember! "Awww", quipped my inner yoofness :(. Once warmed up a little bit I jiggled the throttle a bit, naturally, and was enthralled by the resulting crackles from the exhaust and the whooshing and shrill stutter of the turbocharger. Ahhhhh. I'm also impressed with the newly acquired responsiveness of the newer engine. However:
I quickly shut the engine off once the leak progressively got more dramatic and annoying, though on closer inspection I am somewhat relieved, as the leak seems to be emanating not from the water pump assembly itself, but either from a heater hose that's not been tightened correctly, or the pipe that is inserted into the water pump. Meh. Whilst I didn't film this start - you've had your fix, gtfo it - I did point the camera to demonstrate a new facet of discomfort/comfort introduced in this new guise of the vehicles progress:
Yes, as previously intimated, I will be driving an 880kg vibrator. ^_^
Other than that, nothing else has taking place/is taking place/smells like plaice - I am still waiting for a correct passenger-side Driveshaft (will this godfarsaken - yes, I spelt it like that on porpoise! - saga ever end!?), and receiving the driver's side one from the garage, getting the gearbox filled up with lovely 'Purps, and basically just diagnosing all these leaks and electrical issues, tidying up the wiring loom then final assembly. Oh, and that brake line kerfuffle. Otherwise, I am gladly bereft of major proceedings for the return of the wretched car ^_^.
Also, no farking bugs, its not a bug blog, GAWD!
So, this day started as any other, I woke up, had breakfast, had a cup of Mauritian vanilla tea and waited for it to take effect. I consequently then pooped and then went for my bi-daily 1.7km swim.
After which. I did nothing. Well, for a bit, then I bought an HKS FCon-V Pro v3.2. Oh, right, as you do. So, wallet emptied, I decided to then progress a bit further with the POS. Off to my friendly garage and off again after having collected my newly assembled hubs, whereby I was met with yet another delightful setback - the short driveshaft I toiled over for many moons, has turned out to be the incorrect driveshaft yet again. Joy! To add to that, being the vacant minded asshat I can sometimes be, I got grease all over my favourite jacket as I was too absent to remove it from the boot when bringing the hubs back. Bah.
Commencing work and spurred by the fact that the part numbers for the Cynos and Glanza hubs differed, I instigated a quick comparison. Oh dear:
It seems like the steering arm is slightly different on the Glanza hub, appearing to be slightly longer and more inboard. However, this would serve to provide more leverage onto the steering arm, thus in theory imbuing a quicker steering ratio. Could this be a fortunate oversight? Based on these wildly speculative theories, I am looking forward to finding out. Whilst I'm comparing, he's an illustration of the difference in the driveshaft spline diameters between the two cars, the crux of many a heartache: 
The Cynos hub on the left obviously demonstrating a far larger opening for the CV Joint shaft. These will be kept as a spare, regardless, as I am a parts hoarder and only feel satisfied surrounded by greasy bits of metal....*shivvers* ^_^. Anyway, cleaned myself up now. Straight to work with the hubs, which is quite basic anyway; applied copper grease on the tie-rod end and ball joint shafts, slipped the hub onto the ball-joint, tightened the bolt, slipped in the tie-rod end, tightened its bolt, then fit the hub loosely into the strut assembly. However, the annoyance came with one of the most mundane things ever. EVRAR. Lining up the brake caliper bracket with the associated boss holes on the hub. BAH! Such a proliferation of needless faffing was required, but it got done. Not without the passenger-side caliper attempting to kill me by falling on me unannounced. How very dare it. Whilst there, I also replaced the old caliper bolts as I rounded a few of the old ones in my infancy - around a day or two ago. And here's a picture to prove it:
And now with the APP Braided line finally attached:
L'autre flanc aussi:
So a lovely, semi-restored hub assembly, and now with the brake assembly fully installed:
MOAR PICS. 
No moar. For now. After getting the hub assembly installed, the car was ready to be lowered. Ah, well, almost, it needed some means of rolling stock. Enter, the Sparcoluls of destiny:
I do very like, despite the crappy ET7894.5 offset, they don't sit too badly, a 20mm spacer should sort the wheel out very nicely. Confirmed as well when the car touched the ground. Whilst there, I also found myself rather amused by a previous observation of Harveys' and how seemingly the track-rod end positions on the steering arms were at completely different levels - a rather long-winded approach to saying "the tracking is out". And so it proved, with a Bird's eye view of the wheels looking roughly like this ---> \\ || and that's not even much of an exaggeration! Obviously the longer steering arms on the hubs would serve to exacerbate the steering angle (promising). Anyway, no time to dilly dally. Well, actually, plenty of time to dilly dally, I have no real commitments. ANYWAY, dilly dallying done, off to work on the badunkadunk. So, after being - quite a recurring theme seemingly - of the gentler sex and getting a bit apprehensive about lifting the rear of the car without being able to have the car in reverse, before rightly being reminded that rear wheel drive cars are lifted in the same manner, I proceeded to lifting the rear of the car. So, chock blocks in place, Longchamps infront of the chock blocks (not taking any chances), the rear of the car is up and in the air.
First challenge, get the muffler back up on the hanger, and all premonitions of the most annoying struggle in the world, compounded by the surreal effort required to remove the muffler FROM the hanger in the first place, were soon all quashed as I caught sight, of my lovely can of Plusgas. Bit of a spray, bit of a push, done. That's it. DONE! Woot. 
That was easy, so, bolted in the Panhard rod, and progressed onto the rear brake line install. Ah....AHH. Things were going FAR too easy for me. Ofcourse, Damnation rears its ugly head yet again. You cheeky devil...you cheeky, annoying prick. So. Firstly, I was initially confused and disorientated and befuddled, as I looked at the array of 3 million hoses per side for the brakes, and the one braided line. A dormant brain cell then reawakened and brought me to the conclusion, and a remembering of yore, that said line replaced several of these plethora of lines. And all these lines naturally are located with unions. Great. I love union bolts, absolutely heart them ^_^. Festering rusty fiends. So, liberal spraying of Plusgas, and commence, with the main caliper bolt, and nearby union bolts coming undone quite easily, until reaching the final one. Yes, ALWAYS one. Why can't you conform to my requests like your brethren you wretched bane of my existence. And when I force it to conform, it just surrenders and becomes round. KKTHANKX. POS. Bah to you, etc. Cursing. 
So, off to the next side. BASICALLY a repeat effort. Other than this time I do the wise thing (again?!! TF is happening to me) and decide not to destroy the union bolt. After much fidgeting I managed to at least get the brake hoses onto the calipers, and leave it at that. After glaring at the union bolts I then tidied up and went for noms. 
So, Episode 2 will occur shortly, where I shall endeavour to find the right tools for the union bolts - apparently open-ended spanners are for tools - get the exhaust installed, and at least I can start the engine and not have it sounding like an automated fart. From thereon, it'll be a case of diagnostickingneegnednens all the leaks and electrical issues, and then final assembly really! Closing in, a nanometer at a time, and a precursor of things to come:
^_^
Oh and:
I dropped the jack on the Fender >_<
Also, this is a bug on my desk:
^-^
I shall embellish the post when I've stopped gigglroffling
Right, I have now collected myself. So, after the progression that was made after receiving the engine mounts I was elated, as it was a step closer to getting to the crux of the situation - seeing if the car would return to life. As per a previous post, when I tried to start the car the solenoid on the starter would fire but the motor wouldn't turn. I was unperturbed though as I hadn't bolted the two earthing cables from the gearbox and engine yet. So, after sorting those out I returned to starting the engine (albeit with the EFi fuse pulled out to not flood the engine with petrol) and, it cranked!
The two word post obviously a reflection of my excitement at said moment in time. Changing my underwear, I then spent the majority of the day charging the battery and cranking the engine over in order to build some oil pressure and get it running through the turbocharger as an obvious sign of such a case. Once this was achieved (as seen in the preceding post) I halted going further. What?!! You didn't start the car ASAFP?!! Are you insane!! Yes, but only in the membrane. That and seeing as I was missing one measly bolt from the rear engine mount, I figured it'd be wisest to first get that engine mount bolt in place which would then allow me to fit the Anti-roll bar in place, as well as the Tanabe brace and so on, and THEN the exhaust system, so that I wouldn't wake up my cat Sammy who would invariably unleash 7 types of hell on me for disrupting his 23hr nap.
Yes, I know, I don't do wise, but, essentially, I wanted to build up a suspense for myself ^_^.
So, bolt purchased, and installed, and onto the Anti-roll bar. Where are the bolts? *Sigh*. After a few minutes of faffing about I found them on the scuttle and proceeded to installing them...which was an exercise in patience/restraint. Not, as you may presume to save from damaging a component by rushing through the procedure, but rather from stop oneself from starting a genocide. It was just one fiddly annoying thing after another; first lining up the bolts for the anti-roll bar mounts with the silly brackets not willing to conform to your command. Then it was getting the droplinks to sit perpendicular to the lower control arms so they could sit properly once tightened. Pffft, whatever, its on and tightened, I can adjust it later. 
Onto that lovely Tanabe 4 Point Lower Control arm brace! Oh this thing weighs nothing, it'll be a breeze to install! Done! Oh no wait, the exhaust actually has to be WITHIN the brace. Damnit, take 2. So, I have to lift the exhaust over my head whilst blindly trying to thread the bolts in, grand. Wait. It doesn't fit. ARGH! Yes, I have figured out why this is an EP91 fitment only then, as the EP82 engine mount carries the exhaust hangers on it, which get in the way of the mounting bolts. Fabulous! So, Dremeltaim. One hanger came off easily enough, but the other required several million cutting discs to get through, and plenty of hammering. And then they were off, and the brace fit (and yes, I'll be weighing those bits of the hanger I removed ^_^)! Now onto attaching it. Again, fiddly but not too difficult, other than the bolts that fix the lower control arms in place, as the anti-roll bar forces them out of alignment. However, one bolt decided to be especially uncooperative, with the flange on the brace JUST covering it slightly. Yargh! Ignore for now >_<
At this point, I suddenly submitted to my excitement and decided to hell with that cat, he's scared of engines anyway, BAH to you. Before I could so much as even fathom to ignite the engine, I obviously had to fit the oil return. Ah...Yeah. It's actually such a terrible decision made by myself to have this far-too-long hose made up. Essentially, it's so long, that you have to compress it a whole lot just to get it to where you think its lining up, only to tighten it and realise it isn't and has stripped some threads. YAY! To hell with that though, I want to start this ish. 
So, got the battery in place, leads connected, camera in position, trip over a box (editted out obviously), then...STATTOH! As evidenced in the video, I found it quite hard to contain myself, letting out a little pleasure squeal. For those who claim I'm miserable, you saw me climax, so stfu. However, this pleasure was short lived as it was clear to see there was a leak or two. It sufficed me though, it started, therefore I am a master of wiring kkthx. Anyway, that leak was rather annoying - it seemed the gasket for the turbocharger coolant line flange had expired, and I didn't have anything to replace it with. That and I was missing a coolant line rubber, so used one from a PCV valve. Which was too skinny, and not strong enough, so collapsed and inevitably shot pressures way up. Bah to j00! Not only, but it seemed (inevitably) that the oil return fitting was leaking too. So, off came the turbocharger/manifold (to hell with separating them) and off came the coolant lines, and I applied some silicone sealant in a very crude fashion, re-installed the lines and attempted the next morning. Even worse. BAH again.
At this point, what little neuroelectrical stimuli I had in my cranium managed to light up a tiny eureka LED - I'll just loop the coolant line! Is it safe to do so? *Tap tap tap* People on TGTT have done it with no ill effect, done. I also ghetto-fixed the oil return fitting with a rag and a hose-clip just to stave off leaks for a bit. Yes. I ACTUALLY did that. Look, see!
So, with that out of the way, I ventured forth, looped the lines, topped up the water in the radiator, and restarted the engine. All seemed fine and well - I gave the throttle a bit of a tug and response seemed well, though strangely idle would rise if I raised the engine speed gradually, falling back down if I again quickly jerked the throttle butterfly. Meh. I was pleased with the pressure emanating from the valve cover breather too - Rick informed me that the whistle he heard on the video pointed to good crank pressure, ube - and so I continued letting the engine idle for a good few minutes till I worried about the temperature and shut it off. However, we have sprung more leaks. MOAR?!!
Meh, the engine starts, that's a win for me, so GTFO downer moments. It seems that I didn't affix a hoseclip on the water pump hose onto the thermostat, but upon attaching this the leak continued, so that will warrant a further investigation. I also decided in the meantime to fill the brake master cylinder reservoir with some fluid for, I don't know, something to do. So I did. Now to check that leak. Holy Shart, it's still leaking, and what's this, a leak from the driver's side? Odd. Crawl underneath. Ah. That's brake fluid. And it's in my hair. And face. And in me. Lovely. Why is this leaking. WHY ARE YOU LEAKING. Putrid little fiend of my life. Could this point to my earlier brake issues which largely prompted this Sainosu-based destruction over the last few months? Hmmm. Anyway, I want to do something, so, I cleared off residue from the lower control arm brace, waited for the leaking to stop (*sigh*, new bane of my life >_<), and commenced with that silly Tanabe brace. So, off it came, out came the Dremel, or rather, to my hand came the Dremel as I couldn't be bothered to tidy up previously. Grind my lovely new Tanabes, and, re-assemble. Vittoire! Loosely tighten the nuts, jiggle in those annoying lower control arm bolts, and, torqued! 
In the meantime, I also went on a little panic-induced spending spree, starting with two AN8 to barbed fitting and a silly expensive Samco elbow to replace that braided return fitting (worst. purchase. EVRAR), a flexible silicone hose for the coolant lines. Oh, and I put a deposit on an HKS FCon V-PRO ECU. TF?!. Yup ^_^
So what next?
- Hopefully receive my hubs shortly and get those installed
- Affixing all the ball-joints and brakes and so on
- Get the wheels on
- Lower the car, get the muffler on its hangers
- Raise the front end again, get the exhaust system on its hangers, and installed on the downpipe, tighten both
- Lower the local population count of some pigeons and annoying warbling birds that disturb my peace
- Try to cure some leaks by fitting new hosing etc
- Lower car and fill the gearbox with some Royal Purple loveliness
- Hit the car if it leaks again
- Then, I don't know, figure new things out, and new things to waste money on
OHH! And how could I forget - my car is actually a vibrator now. The dirt. The SACRED dirt that is imperative to the cars' notoriety. Was actually being shaken off, by this vibrations. I'm copyrighting this, Ann Summers is only a couple of miles away. HAH!
Also, no more bugs on my window sill (<_<)
Also, another bug on my window sill:
^_^
It cranked
A bit of a tame heading by all accounts, but after the heart transplant, the momentum has been slowed somewhat by the fact the engine wasn't fully installed yet and as such limited the other jobs that could be done. However, in the spirit of maintaining progress I decided to do a couple of things whilst I waiting for the Trevvy Special Mounts. So, I installed the CT9 and manifold in place, ready for when I can torque everything down, and loosely assembled the downpipe - reason being that I've always needed plenty of manoeuvring when tightening the downpipe and exhaust assemblies.
After which I was left with not much to do at all, other than wait for the new mounts, as attempting to attach any lines or cabling could create snagging or tension and plenty of crying at broken parts during the inevitable movement of the engine when installing the new engine mounts. And after about a weeks' lull of progress, I was greeted by a lovely sight: 
They actually just appeared on my desk, super cereal! Ok, not really, but anyway, I was ecstatic, yet another push forward for some progress! So ecstatic infact that I went straight to install them, and as is obvious with such cases, rushing a procedure is a quick way to issues. And so it began. There were no bolts for the new C56 Bracket for the gearbox (which was omitted on purchase), but that would prove redundant as I just pilfered the requisite bolts from my old gearbox - the guy made me wait long enough to collect the gearbox. However, seeing as the mount design on the Optional-LSD gearboxes varies slightly, typically ONE bolt wouldn't work, but I had enough to at least affix the mount and bracket in place.
Once done, I then had the issue of attempting to line up said components in order to get the fixing bolt through the mount. Which proved fruitless - the old mounts were so worn that jacking up the engine resulted it in doing so lop-sidedly and not sitting within the bracket. On this basis I figured it'd be best to install the other two mounts first as then the engine should then just lift straight up!....O_o
So, I dropped down the gearbox side and removed the mount, swapped the new mount onto the bracket and tried to jack the engine back up. However, the mount was fouling, so much so that even with the car starting to lift - and hence, the weight of the car forcing down on the mount - it still wasn't slotting into the bracket. I cried to Harvey via text who replied in a typical derisory fashion explaining something about using a "drift" and muscle and I don't know what else as I don't pay attention. So, armed with a B&Q pry-bar, I tweaked the bracket a little bit whilst raising the car and eventually it slotted in, and with a bit more adjustment I lined up the bolt and tightened it in. 
The engine side mount was a relative breeze, and after which the rear mount was an easy install. 
You may have noticed something in the pictures as well. Yes, I got a new desk and I damaged it during assembly (>_<). I also however, got in the latest prototype of the Transparent Cambelt Covers I'm getting made, and whilst I do like to look fabulous, I do not condone the mixing of Orange and Pink, it looks vile. The cover does look lovely though, barring some fitment issues. 
Straight after getting the mounts in I quickly bolted in the braided clutch hose and bled the clutch - yes, I am a superhuman, I bled the clutch, ON MY OWN. With a one-way bleed-hose naturally ^_^. Sitting back down after a quick clutch bleeding though, mondieu, that is a ridiculously heavy clutch pedal. TF!? It was only an organic uprated clutch! Oh this is going to be amusing...Oh yeah, this is only a single paddle clutch disc. My 5E will have TWO discs ^_^
Resuming from whining to myself about the newfound heft to the clutch pedal - take that you that lambasted the previous Granny-light pedal feel, I have a MAN'S pedal now - I was left with not much else to do, yet again. Why? I hear you think (yeah, I'm in your head) - it's that bolt missing from the rear engine mount. In essence, the anti-roll bar sits directly underneath it, so I cannot tighten that assembly until I have the bolt. Which means I cannot lift the exhaust system onto its hangers. Which in turn means I cannot affix my Tanabe Lower Control Arm brace. So on. Unfortunately, my badly timed (on a Friday) and frantic research for a bolt proved fruitless, so it will unfortunately mean another progress-free weekend.
Then all of a sudden, it came to me in a daze - I could attempt to crank over the engine! Z0mg! Once I collected myself up from my girly hysteria, I started plugging the loom back into the appropriate connectors, bolted the fuel line onto the fuel filter an so forth, to the point that essentially the engine was ready to turn. Having charged the battery I connected the battery negative in a rather rudimentary manner and attempted to turn the engine over (with the coil disconnected and EFi fuse pulled out). Nothing. The starter solenoid fires, but it doesn't turn. You would think I would've been disappointed (ofcourse I frickin' am, it didn't turn over!!11one!) however...nothing caught fire either! So I am not left dismayed, as I neither tightened the bolts onto the starter, nor did I bolt down all the earthing wires that attach to the gearbox and engine mount. My darling Rick is supposed to assist me shortly in trying to get the engine cranked over, so once he arrives, stops laughing/crying/aggravating hysterically at the sight of the wiring loom, we'll attempt that again. If all else fails, Trevvy's going to have the pleasure of labouring over my handiwork ^-^
With that out of the way, and the engine safely in situ', I ventured forth to remove yet more evil superfluous weight out of the car, namely the rather substantial looking exhaust heatshield mounted underneath the floorpan. Getting over an initial claustrophobia I moseyed on with my ball-joint separator to easily extricate the first of fixing mounts. The rearmost mounts utilised a pair of 10mm bolts/nuts and were easily disposed of, but the middle fixture was a bit more laboured, and required a bit of Dremel coaxing with a cutting disc, and then a lot of massaging with the pry bar, but it too was then removed. If only its substantial appearance transferred to equally meaningful weight savings - damn aluminium - though 646.8g does surpass the culmination of the latest of weight saving measures ^_^.
With that completed, I also figured it would be an ideal as time as any to fit the new Cusco Brake Master Cylinder stopper, this time in contention with the bigger Levin Master Cylinder. Installation was straightforward but a bit of careful orchestration of the tightening of the bolts was required as the much reduced clearance afforded by the greater master cylinder meant that the stopper spacer needed to be forced in slightly, but no matter, it fit! Though I think I may have stripped the threads on the end of the engine mount bolt >_<.
Finally I have arrived to the present, after a 1.5month lack of updates, and so, what is left? Not much in essence - get the engine cranked over and primed, get the engine to fire and warmed up, and oil checked, get the wiring sorted out, get the driveshafts/hubs in/on and a couple of little jobs. Essentially, barring the wiring loom, all that is left is menial fitting of parts and ancillaries and the car is hopefully ready to terrorise the general populus.
And, this is a bug I saw on my window sill 
^-^
P.S. New weight saving total is now 10.1866kg ^_^
