thanks Ian

 

Happy birthday

Had probs lining up that lower arm bar for fitting so don't go ordering one just yet Will have another look when its on the mocom ramp and see if its just me/my car or if it lines up with another classic.

Have a good day

 

Cheers Stu

thanks for the warning...will await a progress report

 

had a brief fiddle today

swappwed my washer top with a blue one from a Focus...its upside down and I'm still not sure why I've changed it



with the help of some washer jets from a vitaro I've sorted my washer jets which I bodged together for last years MOT...from this


to this...


Much nicer

 

Finally got my geometry set up yesterday and had a proper drive home from Mocom...it didn't take very long


Also sorted a noisy fan belt spoke to Chris at CDF and he sent me out a replacement power steering pulley free top man


It quickly became obvious that the pulley had been fitted round the wrong way...and not by me for once The old belt had around 5mm worn off the edge where it was constantly being pulled towards the block. You can see the wear and difference in size below;



I'm going to give it a quick check over today as I have 15 mins of track at Brands tomorrow...I might even wash it

 

OMG trails is going on track

 

Oi, whats that supposed to mean

 

Hopefully see you at Brands on Sunday, you cant miss me........ look for the idiot with bleached hair !!

Also have fun on track, will look out for you.

 

Was going well out there today mate

 

You can say that again Gary.... you should have looked at the tyres afterwards, mind you the driver was a bit hyper when he leaped out of the car as well

Good to meet you today Trials

 

Andy, did I meet you...as Si says I was a little over excited after playing on the track

Good to meet you Si, I didn't even go see your car ahh well next time

Gary, was gutted for you...but glad you have a spare

 

No worries Ian there will be another time you were a little hyper it has to be said, I probably should have come back over and marched you over to mine looking back at it

 

we've got SBO and Trax coming up to name a couple so make sure you do march me over to it

A couple of pics from yesterday, thanks to Br14n from ESC





thoughly enjoyed the short session; car felt great, very predictable only my poor lines and incorrect gear choice (hitting the rev limiter on the way into Graeme Hill ), made it interesting...need new tyres though

Oh, and glad there was a car in front of me between the Evo that rolled...scary

 

No mate, we did'nt did'nt meet sadly, was a bit late getting down due to traffic.

Understand about being over excited, must be good to drive her and enjoy after the time spent. Did spot a wagon on track as i arrived, looked like yours from pics ive seen? looked good and held her own from what i watched. good work. now what is the drag coefficent of a wagon compaired to a saloon?

 

Are you going to Trax + going on track ?
Was thinking about having a run myself but concerned about numpties who want a go. Dont bother me, but want to enjoy myself without having to watch for idiots with no track craft.

 

Andy, not sure how coefficient differs to be honest...I over took a P1 and a Nismo R33 so wasn't that unhappy

I think I'm going on track at Trax, depends on the state of the car at the time. Numpties are definatley something to consider but its a wide track so should be OK.

 

After Sunday's session my tyres looked like this;


So a nice new set of T1-R's waiting to go on


Fitted my front ARB last night, its a fixed 22mm Whiteline version, I'm going to move the rear to its stiffest setting and see how I get on.



I also inspected my CV boot repair...oh dear looks like I may have to admit defeat and change it

 

Nice bit of bodgetech engineering with the boot.

 

At least the cable ties co-ordinate with the anti-roll bar

Andover this weekend then I will be at Trax to so keep your eyes peeled

 

I do try

 

and the strut Si

I'll keep an eye out for your car this time

Keep fogetting to post a pic of my blue nuts...thanks Bob'5

 

Crumbs, I hadn't realised it was so long since I'd updated this

I've repaired the CV boot again and after copious testing its working a treat. However, whilst repairing the boot I have managed to loose the locking socket from my nice shiny Ray's nuts After lucking out with 53WRX's socket (thanks Stu), I was lucky enough to find borrow Frayz's which fitted; another top man This meant I could swap my wheels out for the Direzza's with nice new and legal T1R's I'm waiting for a local engineering firm to let me know the cost for making up a replacement socket...I think its going to be painful

Onto more interesting stuff...my headers arrived last week; equal length 4-2-1 Syms headers...the pic below isn't of mine as they are wrapped but it gives you an idea how nice they are


I tried to fit them at home but after much struggling was forced to admit defeat so off I went to Mocom...Zak and I got them fitted after much swearing and prying...then the fun bit; remap Initial impressions are the car is allot quieter at idle with only a very subtle burble which I'm pleased about. It's now running at 1bar at 3350rpm, peaking at 1.6bar between 3800rpm and 4800rpm and then holding 1.4bar until 7100rpm. Not sure what power it is making but the speed at which it now storms though the gears and the seat-of-my-pants-dyno says more than before

The most dramatic change is the noise; on WOT it now sounds a lot more purposeful reminiscent of touring car or similar...I'm very pleased with the way it drives, just need to finish the mapping in fifth. Another sterling job by Mocom...if only they had some stickers

 

Sounds awesome who wouldn't want to sound like a touring car test drive

1.6

I am sad without a wagon to drive at the moment Ally rad is enroute and will hopefully be fitted soon

 

Good stuff!!

Zak's maps are good aren't they .

The-seat-of-your-pants-dyno is the one that counts .

 

it was running more than 1.6bar in the lower gears but as its only standard internals Zak wound it down as the boost increased in fourth...will give you a bell and pop round for a spin Stu

 

lol, yeah he's not too bad is he

 

Been a while since I updated this, so here goes...all mapping has now been completed, I’ve still not been on a dyno but the 4-2-1 headers have not only made it sound cooler but it definatley quicker too. I can’t remember the exact figures but Zak was seeing greater airflow whilst mapping which can only mean more power. I haven’t noticed any spooling issues so I’m very happy with the results. I just need to save up for an uber quiet back box and I’m done with the exhaust side of things.

Car was MOT’d last week too, passed with flying colours...its all a bit weird having it running and sitting in the garage ready for me to use whenever I want. I still have a to do lists which includes;

Reinforcing the GRF bonnet.
Making an induction heat shield.
Fixing my centre pod in place
Replacing both broken bonnet catches
TLC for paint.
Source those lovely Direzza centre caps...anyone speak Japanese?

A couple of pics I took yesterday with the Direzza’s on



I'm still not sure about the colour, seems a bit insipid to me but everyone else seems to like it...would dark bronze look better?

 

Colour of what? the wheel nuts then thats a definite no no from me but the wheels look

 

but I like my shiny blue nuts...they match all the shiny Cusco kit too

I meant the wheels...like this.

 

Keep the wheels as they are but not blue nuts