Thanks for all the comments, it's much appreciated as always - let's hope it starts up eventually!

Stu: when I took the engine out I had it up on the jack, but soon as the block was lifted and separated I just let it down and dumped the transmission on the crossmember. It just seems to rest there quite nicely. It was like that for all 8 months.

I moved the car with the box still resting on there, no problems. When it came time to put the engine back in, I just jacked it up again, under the drain plug actually which seemed pretty strong and central and was the lowest easy point to get at. Soon as I had the bottom studs in and had the crack closed up closer I took the jack out and it seemed to be OK. Then got my 'assistant' to lower the crane slowly so I could manouevre the two engine mount studs into their slots by lying under the car and the job was done.

 

Congrats nick, mines on 2700 miles now

 

And still going strong! Nice one Matt! When did you decide the running in was over?

 

Just a BIG well done to you NICK! and i hope all goes well with the start up....the thread sure has been a good read...

 

OK, some progress now that Xmas is out of the way. It's freezing outside, but dry and sunny, so I'm tidying up the engine bay one step at a time. Had a bit of a problem with one of the top-side bellhousing bolts, the one that also attaches the starter motor. Somehow, the thread in the block and on the bolt itself have taken a bit of damage and the trick I learnt about making a tap by flatting off three sides of an old M10x1.25 stud didn't work. It just spun. Anyway. I had a proper size tap but it was short, so made a cruddy tap wrench device out of a couple of socket set bits and bobs and the 14mm allen socket thing I used for the cylinder plugs. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it worked, then chased it through with my home-made stud/tap conversion, then the bolt engaged fully with a bit of pressure. I seriously didn't fancy having to remove the whole engine again just to clear out the thread problem in the bellhousing!

So the gearbox/block are tight. The starter motor is on, about twenty seconds work there at 50Nm. The dogbone 'pitching stopper' mount is on, 50Nm at the front bolt, 58Nm at the rear bolt. About to do the fuel lines and the power steering gubbins. A/C compressor is sitting loosely in position for the time being just to take the strain off its rubber hoses. Later on I may get under the car and fit the downpipe and possibly tackle the Hybrid FMIC. Most of that's done from the Autobahn that I took out, but there may be some slight changes needed. I'm particularly wondering whether to tap the FMIC hard pipe for the charge temp sensor, like last time, or whether to fit a short silicone joiner and simply drill a hole in it then tighten it up on the inside with a backnut.

...2 hours later. It's coming along. Note to self: next time, fit the engine loom to the top of the block (under the manifold) BEFORE putting the engine back in place. When I took the engine out, I had the manifold off first, then naturally cleared the loom off to one side so it stayed with the engine bay. I'll get the wiring through but I may need to shift the A/C compressor back out again to pull it all through. Glad I tagged every single plug on the loom with where it went!

 

Downpipe now on.

 

Your getting there

 

Starter motor in position with one bolt and one stud/nut. Probably best to do this AFTER you fit the clutch slave cylinder back onto the gearbox!



Dogbone mount in position:



Realised that it was jammed in 5th still, so raised and bled the clutch slave cylinder, fitted it to the gearbox, pumped the pedal and got the lever engaged, dropped it into neutral and with a bit of a struggle got it into the garage at last! Gearshift feels a bit sticky/stiff, but maybe that's cos I'm used to running around in my old Escort nowadays! And it's very cold outside.

 

Decided the only way to crack on and make more progress was to go for a late nighter until 3am now that I'm indoors and everything is to hand. It's no warmer during the day anyway!

First job was to get the wiring loom fitted right. I didn't fancy taking the inlet manifold off again, so cleared all the various hoses and pipes from under the throttle body and threaded the loom through. It went easily enough. The complete route is from the battery area onto the engine close to the oil filler neck, under the two n/s injectors, round the rear of manifold runner #4, where a few plugs break out for stuff like the idle valve, lambda sensor etc. Then it's under the n/s manifold runners to the area behind the aircon compressor. It then follows the front of the water crossover pipe where you get another breakout for a handful of plugs. Then behind the p/s pump, under the inlet pipe and turn again to go under the two o/s injectors, then finally one last turn at the end of the injector rail to meet up with the big grey round multiplug that fits to the wiring on the o/s wing. If you do it RIGHT though, you'll lay this wiring loom over before fitting your manifold and free it from both wings!



Connecting up #1 injector on the o/s. Loom runs right underneath it. Temporarily move the p/s pipe bracket to get access.



One of the loom breakout points. Wiring plugs for the oil pressure adapter (now used for both the factory pressure switch and my dash mounted pressure gauge via an electrical sender), two in the water crossover pipe, plus the crank sensor on the front.



Starting to look a bit tidier with the wiring in position properly. This job just cannot be done without removing both the a/c and the alternator again!



Close up of my custom breather arrangement. You can see here the standard carbon canister to the right of the oil catch tank. The canister is working absolutely as normal to collect and purge fuel vapour, the two pipes run under the manifold and off to the fuel interface on the n/s wing. The catch tank is filled with stainless steel mesh and intercepts the rocker cover breather lines, which normally would be teed together and pull fresh air straight out of the side of the inlet pipe. Now, they have to go through this first, in case the rockers ever need to 'breathe out' instead of in, this way I won't have any oil vapour going back into the inlet pipe. I used low pressure emissions hose for this job. Will handle oil but not pricey like fuel hose would be in this kind of bore.



Alternator and a/c compressor back on, everything tidied up for the moment. Time for bed - 3am!

 

Good work, so when is D day?

 

Next couple of weeks I reckon.

 

Or Saturday?

 

No, not by then. I still need to fit the intercooler and I may need to make some adjustments to the front bumper again...

EDIT...well I spoke too soon. I couldn't stay away from the garage. I spent some of this afternoon finishing up the wiring, twin catch tank breather system, fuel lines and minor water pipes. New oil and fuel filters are on and engine is filled with cheapo 10w40. Radiator will be the very last thing to fit.

So what with all that done, I needed to take the plunge and fit the FMIC kit. Now I had had before an Autobahn kit that I'd removed and sold on, but as it turns out, the Hybrid is pretty much a drop in replacement for the space that the Autobahn needed, even down to the bolt spacing at the top and bottom of the intercooler itself. I started laying out the pipes to see what they were like. I don't have the battery in yet, but suspect that I'll need to cut the last pipe before the throttle body and remake it with silicone hose to give it a bit more articulation alongside the battery, aircon and fuel hoses.



Once the pipes were laid in position, I couldn't leave it at that, so I got on and fitted the new intercooler. I removed the old one and fitted the new one without even taking the bumper off! Just pulled it out and slotted the Hybrid into position. The quality is 100x better than the Autobahn btw.



Really there's not much more to be done, mainly fitting the second (main) catch tank on the bulkhead, connecting up all the FMIC pipes, fitting the battery/water tank/MAF/air filter, tapping a hole for the charge temp sensor in the last pipe before the TB, fitting the rad and filling up with coolant, and fitting the P/S idler which is on its way to me from the anodisers. Could easily have it done in a day ready for start up if I got on with it...

 

I've had another tinker around this morning. Nissan Z32 MAF and K&N air filter now on. You can see the join between the two 'hot side' intercooler pipes underneath:



Here's the first 'hot side' pipe which is a bit of a bugger to fit. You need to have the throttle body off to do it properly, which is just 4 12mm bolts.



The fuel filter area wth associated pipework. This is pretty different from your normal setup, so don't take it as any kind of plumbing reference! Replaced a couple of perished hoses with standard 8mm fuel hose.



Close up of TD05-16G front entry turbo with first intercooler pipe and standard heatshield between the two.



To do! This is the last 'cold side' intercooler pipe which needs cutting towards the right hand end of the photo, to fit a silicone hump hose which is on the way - this will give it more articulation where it needs it. Towards the left hand end, I'll drill and tap a hole for the STi charge temp sensor, which you can see right there, set into a plumbing fitting.



Not a great deal left to fit now - just the top belt covers, radiator, catch tank, washer bottle, battery and standard dump valve. All need to wait until the FMIC is fully fitted really.

 

fair play mate, your so close now, and its looking great. what sorta power will it be running when all done.

my project has hit a go slow lol, few problems, but end of january touch wood.

all the best for d day. hope she fires up well

 

Well I was aiming (optimistically) for around 350bhp once it's remapped again - everything is in place for it I reckon and the STi4 heads will rev if they need to, charge temps will be nailed down and the block should be bulletproof . Now I'm gonna be running it on 20% E85 bioethanol as well so I'll be happy to get into the upper 300s.

 

should be very nice, dunno if u have it to hand, whats ur full spec now, and is there gonna be any additions when run in

 

Well it's the supporting mods that do it really - inlet manifold on insulating spacers with water header tank also spaced off, Hybrid FMIC with charge temp sensor feeding into map, Harvey's headers and up-pipe all wrapped, FE TD05-16G, wrapped sports catted downpipe with H&S/Prodrive 2.5" system further on, Walbro 255lph fuel pump, 440 injectors, SARD pressure regulator at 3.5bar, parallel fuel lines, Samco inlet pipe, K&N cone, Z32 MAF, custom twin catch tank 'green' breather system, mildly ported TB and manifold, ported & cc'd STi4 heads, 2.0 CDB with forged Wiseco pistons/Eagle rods and ACL Race bearings, home 'modified' oil pump, electrical oil pressure/oil temp/boost gauges on dash, Power FC running the whole lot, API-built 752 gearbox, lightened flywheel & Exedy clutch, CDF lightweight hard anodised front pulley set, cool thermostat & high pressure coolant cap, can't think of anything else off the top of my head, without going into chassis mods.

 

well ur potential for power with all that is extreme i think. and u still have lots of room to tweek and upgrade one or two parts.

gotta give it to u mate, inspiring.

whats the breather system? does it help alot. askign as im after the big 400bhp late next year and want to fit it all inplace now even if car doesnt need it or even if its not plumbed in. just sitting there.

 

Hmmm i gotta order my fmic Nice going nick

 

will be very intresting to see what sort of figures it does for sure!

16g on a 257 bottom end for me is pretty much lagless, i know the fmic on yours will slow the spool and such down a little bit (i am still on the TMIC), but you should still be quite impressed with the spool.

i think in my logs i was getting around 1 bar of boost by 2600 rpm!

ps. how come you changed the maf? i have not maxed mine out yet at 1.65bar midrange boost (v3 wrx/sti one had to stop going higher due to pistons and injector dutys )

 

My MAF did get close to maxing out some time ago. Before the rebuild I was mapped at 1.45 bar and one way or the other was hitting almost 5v on the MAF, so better safe than sorry, I swapped it for the Z32. As it was pretty much a drop in replacement apart from a trivial bit of wiring, I went ahead and did it.

In that last state of tune before the bottom end failure, I was seeing good spool. The combination (IMHO) of Harvey's ported headers/up-pipe and the Prodrive backbox (previously had been a standard classic STi) were what finally did the job. I can't remember the exact numbers but IIRC it was hitting 1 bar by 3000 rpm and full boost by 3300, on a normal long 4th gear pull? Will have to check back on that.

I'm sure that the added combo of the far superior FMIC and pipework and the ported heads will help even more. Obviously easing flow restrictions will be most effective higher in the revs, but every little helps and when you look at the state of the old head castings and old Autobahn core and pipework, I can't help thinking there are gonna be some big improvements now.

If it seems to want the exhaust freeing up from the turbo back I'll throw that into the pot too, but I want to stay catted and fairly quiet so I'll need a lot of convincing on that score.

 

was your old maf the smaller uk sized version?

 

Yes the 80mm IIRC, purpley blue 'F' label. Because mine was a 250PS v4 WRX wagon, it came with UK setup - TD04 turbo, 80mm MAF, 380cc injectors.

 

that will be why then

 

Well after a lot of messing about trying to line up the cold side 'front pipe' for the intercooler, and struggling to get the joiners onto each end of the core, I took the plunge and removed the bumper. Not that big a job, more a pain in the **** because there's not a lot of room down the sides of the car now it's in the garage. Anyway, once it was off, it was trivial to fit the silicone joiners on each end of the core, on each I used one of the Hybrid mikalor style clamps and one of my trusty old marine grade s/s jubilee clamps. And yes, I know my front bumper support bar is full of rusty holes. That's what you get living near the sea I guess.



Here's a shot of the 'front pipe' in position coming up vertically in front of the LH belt cover. The radiator water pipe needs to snake around this and the rad fan wiring goes the other side, so it just needs a bit of care getting it right. Much much easier without the bumper in the way. You can see the uppermost pipe is the last one in the run that I cut in two so I can add an extra hump hose to it for more installation flexibility. You need it, IMHO, if you've got aircon pipes, an oil filler cap, a load of fuel lines and a battery positive terminal right there all in one place!



Next minor headache; I should have fitted the top radiator hose to the block before the inlet manifold went on. You can see it poking out at the bottom of the picture. Now you've got the PS tank, fuel lines (not in the standard fuelling setup though) and inlet pipe in the way. I should be able to get at it to do up the hose properly, but will need to shift some of that stuff out of the way first. Not the inlet pipe though, there's no way that's moving again unless there's no other way around it!

 

You can get it on, just takes patience Just replaned my hoses with it all in place ;

 

late christmas present will be with you Tuesday nick

 

Awww whats he been ordering now lol

 

It's the last hard anodised pulley I need, the A/C idler. Then there's just the silicone hump hose that I'm waiting on and I will have everything ready to get the engine up and running.