S13 Silvia Tuning

The car has been running fairly well, although the lack of Optimax knocked it around a bit. I've had to replace the fuel pump too for a Walbro 500hp item, after it failed and left me stranded last week. My suspension parts in still in transit, and my sump is waiting to go with the next oil change in about 1000km.

I have a little more time now to update news, so here goes. As happy as I was with 218rwkw, I am eager to extract a little more. Studying the dyno graph on the results page shows two things. Firstly the boost was surging like crazy throughout the run, which normally happens on the dyno and a little in the higher gears on the street. Secondly a power run on 19psi was performed, but was aborted because of slight pinging caused by the boost irregularities. As can be seen, this run was making an extra 5kw+ through the midrange and a less than this up top. It's safe to say even aborted that the 19psi run cracked 220rwkw after lining up the graph lines.

So if the turbo can handle more boost with efficiency then the engine will make more power it seems. I'm well aware of turbos running out of puff like the t25g so I won't be pushing it forever, but the attraction to sample some runs up to maybe 20psi is strong. To fix the boost surging I'm hoping to use the adjustable HKS actuator fitted to the turbo. I plan to set this wastegate base line at around 14psi (currently ~9.5psi) so that the ebc has less work to do. Once this is orted then more tweaking could take place. Expect a new page for this.

I've updated the Exterior Evolution pages with some nice pics of the car all washed and pretty. See them here.

My sump has also arrived, but the quality may be too poor to use on the car. I'll need to do some investigation into cleaning and preparing it before I even think about putting it in the engine. Expect a new page on this too.

Finally I am about to order afew little suspension parts to correct the rear camber and hopefully tame the beast a little. Time will tell, and full details will be posted. Look for lots of updates in the weeks to come.

Last night was the latest Silvia NSW dyno night, with the 180 putting in a pearler of a performance. Since tuning at 196rwkw on the rebuilt engine, nothing has been done except some flogging and then a service (oil and plugs). I was a little disappointed with the power the car was making on paper, which was told to me to be the fresh engine being very tight. Over the last couple of months it seems to have lossened up, with an oil change the other day producing fairly dark thick oil from the final stages of the running in process. So better fresh oil went in and 218.7 rwkw was the result. I am very happy that the car has made the numbers I've been mentioning for a while now, and I feel there is more in it with some fine tuning.

This was good enough for 2nd most powerful SR20 on the night and 3rd most powerful outright. Got to be happy with that. By some rough calculatiobs the engine should be making around double the factory kw level, which means around 300kw @ flywheel. Compare that to the top HSVs which have the same power but are several hundred kg heavier and you shopuld be able to tell how the car drives.

The winged sump i spoke of previously is in the mail, but has been for some time so hopefully it will come soon. Next are a few more suspension tweaks, to aid traction which is limited in such a light, powerful car, that has such quick spooling. I'd like to find a safe legal place to take some videos of the engine's response soon, just to show off how good it is. Stay tuned.

Yes I'm still alive, just very busy. In a couple of weeks I'll be finished my uni major project (and unless I fail uni forever) and then will have heaps of time to do those updates promised. As even more parts are added to the car a lot more development will take place in the form of some custom setups. The aim is to make the car much more track ready and durable. First up is a bigger sump which I'm trying to source as we speak.

Apologies for the delays on the big update. At the moment I find myself in a situation where I am unable to get down to Unigroup to chat and have my dyno graphs printed for me. None the less I will start to make some updates where I can.

Daughterboard tuning page including summaries of z32 afm and larger injector calibration.
A general tuning theory page.

DumHed's tech articles including 4 stud conversion, custom DE to DET setup, and more.

Well I've had the car back for a few days now and bloody hell is it fast. Now it doesn't get traction until third gear coming onto boost, and can even break into wheelspin onto less than perfect roads. In short the car made 196rwkw on 15psi, but had problems when wound up further. On 18psi it made more midrange coming nto boost but for unknown reasons the power dives offsoon after below the 15psi power curve. Even so the 15psi setting is fantasticly powerful. The power delivery is kind of strange, in that it is sort of laggy but not as the same time. The turbo spools immediately under throttle but still needs a few psi on board before it gets going. The result is a really smooth power delivery that builds until some decent revs are on board and then it just hauls all the way to redline. Before the turbo spooled and gave a quick burst of power in the midrange before running out of puff up top. Now power just keeps building as far as you rev it.

I have to return back to Unigroup to discuss the info going onto the site and to print out my dyno graphs, so a much bigger update will be coming after then. Unigroup have been fantastic throughout the whole thing, keeping me up to date with what was happening and looking after my best interests at all times. They are thoroughly recommended for any sort of diagnostic or tuning work. Thanks guys :)

Well the car is still not back but it's my fault this time. In my wisdom I decided to accidently leave my fuel pressure regulator on the end of the spare rail when I sold the other injectors. So now a few days delay while another is sourced for me. Hopefully I will have the car back early/mid next week.

Some more work has been done on the redirecting and domain setup by Marty from SilviaNSW. Everything is now 100% complete with the changeover. A huge thanks to him again, his repeated generosity has allowed the site to become what it is today.

You will hopefully notice some Google advertising at the top of every page. Clicking on these makes google pay me a small amount of money, which if reaches a certain amount per month is sent to me. It would be nice to get something back for all the hours that have gone into the site. So please gibe a click or two if you can spare the time.

Tuning is almost complete I believe, hopefully tomorrow night I will be at Unigroup to see the final power tuning undertaken. If all is well the car will come back with me. I won't be holding my breathe though as the injectors were almost a week overtime in being high flowed.

The site is now up and running at www.sr20tuning.com as discussed. All the thanks goes to Martin (Mayhem) of Silviansw, for hosting the site on the www.silviansw.com server. A huge thankyou must go to Marty and the other admins/moderators on http://www.silviansw.com, their ongoing support and assistance is very much a part of the site's success today. Look for some banner sponsors in the near future as details are finalised.

In 180 tuning news the injectors should be done by the end of this week, meaning the tuning should be done mid next week. THere is still the z32 afm to be tried yet, so hopefully that is 100%.

No more news on the car but some site announcements can be made. Due to the growing popularity of the site, it will soon be upgraded to it's own hosting server with as proper dot com address. I intend to register and use sr20tuning.com as the domain. Basic banner advertising will be implemented, and the content of the site will be expanded as much as possible. This includes the previously mentioned articles by DumHed, as well as completion of others such as the Jap bolt-on turbo guide. New pages such as a basic maintenance guide (as suggested by Kuro) will be introduced. Obviously once the car is returned from Unigroup the tuning pages will be thoroughly revised and updated.

The aim is to make the site the number 1, most definitive SR20 site around. All free of charge and in a format easily understood by a wide audience.

The car is at Unigroup for ecu retuning currently, as planned. The first hassle was one of the injectors not firing. I sold the set for $300 and am now having the factory 370cc injectors high flowed to around 650cc. Apart from this the car has had no hassles, making 173rwkw as it came in (in a similar leaning off state of tune as the last t25g run). This amount of power is suprising as it didn't feel that quick on the road, due to a lack of midrange. Tuning and twice the amount of boost should eliminate any problems like this though. With such a good starting point (173rwkw on ~9.5psi totally untuned), the target of 220rwkw is looking promising.

The injector fiasco will slow things down a bit but hopefully the car isn't off the road for too long.

I have updated the Z32 afm page with pics of the new pipe in place. This will again be updated when I wire in the plug either today or tomorrow.

As described earlier today the car went into S&R Pro in Penrith to make some custom piping made up. I am glad to say that everything went well and am all smiles. As promised they had the work done by when they said, and after quoting $330-$380, the final bill came up to only $300. The customer service I experienced put most of the places I've been to to shame. On my first drive with the fixed piping, an intercoller hose blew off where Ricol had failed to put a bead or similar on a section of piping they added. I limped the car back, took out the pipe and a neat bead was welded on immediately free of charge. Wow is all I have to say, they are highly recommended. Tomorrow in the daylight I will update with pics of the work done.

I have also just gotten off the phone to Unigroup, with the car booked in to commence tuning on Friday night. They will be keeping the car until mid next week to make sure everything is done perfectly. They will also be discussing with me in great detail the actual changes needed to get the big injector and z32 afm combo running. It seems Yavuz shares the same wish to educate others about ecu retuning as myself.

Businesses like these set the example for so many others to follow, with their customer service, manners and quality of work. I highly recommend either of them.

Today I booked in the car for a bit of work that will have it completely ready for tuning. Looking for somewhere locakl I was put onto S&R Pro in Penrith, who so far seem fantastic. I've been quoted $250 to have my new 80mm induction pipe mnade in aluminium to suit the z32 afm, as well as have the compressor outlet snorkel and joining piping modifying to be perfect. They are also going to ultra sonically clean and service my injectors, as well as flow test them for $130 all up. One of the mechanics is ex-CRD (for 10 years) and has worked on cars such as GTR-700 and DEVLSH. Very promising ineded. Hopefully I can have the car tuned later that week at Unigroup.

Today I also picked up a POD filter adaptor from the z32 afm for $40 from Autobarn. I also got back my rear strut brace from the friend who was borrowing it during the rebuild.

Another point of interest is the experiement I had with the HKS gt2510. Not being able to resist playing I turned on the boost controller and fiddled until it was making 11psi (up from 9psi). At this point even with the boost leak the car feels almost identical to the t25g setup. When the leak is fixed response should edge out the old setup. And when 18psi is on board with a less restrictive intake, a good fuel system and proper tuning the car will be an absolute weapon. I'm very excited about having it tuned.

Drill oil inlet fitting - Now done
Fit turbo (should be an easy job indeed with the braided lines) - Not as easy as hoped but done
Obtain Z32 sized pod adaptor - Purchased Today
Have 80mm inlet pipe fabricatred - Booked in for Monday 28th June
Have injectors cleaned and flow tested - Booked in for Monday 28th June
Wire in plugs in parallel for afm and injectors - Will do Monday or Tuesday this week

A long but successful day in completing the turbo installation. I ran into problems in several areas, but each was worked out as I went and in the end everything is on the car ok. The worst was cross threading one of the oil fittings (the special custom one too), which required me to sit for over an hour be shaping the thread with a file and blade. I did manage to fix it in the end though. The other major problem was the compresor outlet snorkel fouling on the manifold in two places. A dodgy solution has been made for now but I will need a bit of work done on the intercooler piping before everything is right. The car is driving well and not too far off the previous performance despite only running 12psi. Check out the updated version of Fitting a Bolt On Turbo.

Today I completed the last of my uni commitments for the semester, in the form of a 76 page research dissertation. After giving a big sigh of relief it was straigh to the workshop to have my oil restrictor drilled. Despite the workshop being officially closed, John still allowed me in to finish the restrictor. A big thankyou to him for his kindness.

Home then it was to put on the HKS gt2510, not wasting any time. The time available was short but no dramas saw the swap almost complete. The t25g has been removed, the braided line fittings installed and a few other things are in place. Tomorrow morning all that remains is to do is to bolt the new turbo into place. I have been documenting everything as always, spawning a new page covereing the turbo fitment, the preperation of the braided lines, and comparing the t25g to the 2510. Please enjoy the Fiting a Bolt on Turbo Page.

Things are moving slowly but they are moving. The registration costs are now paid off and a few nigling problems have been cured. Firstly a post rebuild inspection of the valve train by myself ended up in a rocker cover gasket leak when everything went back together. This fired a fine mist of oil over the fuel rail and inlet manifold. The danger of an oil fire was a great reason to have this fixed ASAP which I now have. The other problem was a brake pad wear indicator tab bent and squeaking when the pad still has a great deal of meat remaining. Easy fix at least for that one.

I have had the oil feed fitting welded up ready to be drilled smaller. The drilling will be done at my uni workshop this Tuesday when I go in to hand in my last assignment for the semester. After this it's full steam ahead for tuning. The following still remains to do:

Then of course tune! The car will be driven to Unigroup with just the turbo in place, and after a base power run the injectors, induction pipe and air flow meter can be bolted on ready to go. It will be exciting indeed finally concluding the ecu tuning section of the site. I have a huge update planned in this regard.

After that the site will continue to grow and grow until it is the ultimate s13 site. The Jap Turbo page will be finished shortly, and the new pages on DumHed's Silvia will be online soon I hope. In addition to this he has a new and exciting project that will fascinate many including myself. It will be covered here in great detail.

The site has passed 61,000 hits, which means 11,000 in the last 6 weeks, or 1800 hits a week. This means between 200-300 hits a day. Sites with forums generate a lot more, but this site has no forums, which means people come here to read the content. A site sponsor once again would be welcomed.

I was unable to have the restrictor made at uni due to the lack of correct welding equipment, but I will have it done soon. I will probably need to take it to a specialist, but it still should be very cheap if not free I hope.

In other news I'm preparing other small details needed before tuning, such as the fitment of the z32 afm. A new page has been created here. Much more will be added when I actually wire it up and after tuning.

Another step closer today towards getting the 2510 on the car. I visited Motorsport Connections at Seven Hills to line up the extra fittings I needed for the braided lines. They stock a complete range of speedflow fittings as well as the actual braided lines as well. Other products include oil coolers, sandwich plates, silicone hose, hose clamps, race harnesses, oil catch cans, and the list goes on. For a bill of $45 I now have all the correct fitting on the turbo side of the lines, and an assortment of fittings on the engine side of the lines. Some fresh alloy washers are waiting to go as well.

The only thing needed now to fit the turbo is some sort of oil restrictor. From what I've read recently ball bearing turbos require much less oil than a conventional plain bearing turbocharger. where as a bush/plain/journal bearing requires a layer of pressurised oil between its internal components to work properly, a ball bearing turbo only requires a small amount of oil to lubricate the bearing. As such a restrictor is required to cut down oil pressure to the bearing. If not used the bearing can be over pressured with oil and have a detrimental effect on the response of the turbo. Needless to say supreme maintenance is required, the restrictor will be only 1mm and therefore would easily be blocked from negligence.

I'll be taking one of my new fittings to the uni workshop to have it welded shut and then redrilled smaller. And of course I'll take pics of the process so the knowledge can be passed on for all.

Took the car to Western Clutch yesterday to shed some light on the situation, and aren't really any the wiser. The guys (and girls) at Western Clutch were fantastic once again however, spending 10 minutes with me trying to diagnose the problem and giving me the best advice they could. I would have to say Western Clutch along with Unigroup are my absolute favourite and trusted auto related business. With so many dodgy places around I always feel confident in being given the truth and afair deal with these guys. Another that has impressed me with dealings with a friend was GCG turbos, although i haven't dealt with them myself. Free plug for all of them.

I will be taking the car back to Western Clutch as soon as I have the money to have a new brass button fitted. This will be nearly the same as what's in the car now, but it will be new and ready to last for quite a while I hope. Straight after this comes fitment of the HKS GT2510 which is now in my possession. Along with a few little things like wiring up the plugs for the z32 afm and injectors, and getting a fatter induction pipe fabricated to suit the 80mm extrnal diameter meter. Also I need to get two more fittings to suit the slightly different orifices of the HKS turbo. The banjo bolt for the oil feed is slightly too small as is one of the water feed fittings. Shouldn't be hard to rectify however. It's all just a matter of time.

Some exciting new developments site wise, with initial talks with a good friend Andrew (aka DumHed) about hosting the build up of his car along with the other pages on the site. Along with goodies such as the 5 stud conversion, the engine side of things is really interesting. Andrew runs a S14 spec VVT SR20DE with custom turbo install. All of the work was done by himself, the car has never seen a workshop. The results of this were 157 rwkw the same night I made 170rwkw, on just 8/9psi. Very impressive and I'm sure it will make interesting reading.

The success of the site keeps snow balling, the acceleration of hits getting stronger. Maybe some one might be intersting in banner advertsing on the sight and even sticker advertising on the car? Judging by the amount of times links to the contents of this site are posted on forums the site seems to have a good influence on the community. The car will too see the track at least once a month after its tuned, so an opportunirt if anyone wants it.

Last night as planned the car went on the dyno at Unigroup for a post rebuild power run. The result was 170.1 rwkw, which is kind of disappointing but not too much for several reasons.

Firstly the engine is very fresh with close clearances, very 'tight' so to speak. It may take ssome time before it loosens up and makes a bit more power. Unigroup seems to be reading lower than previously, with another's car making 13rwkw less than the dyno day with an identical setup. The shape of the power curve is very different to previously too, which I can't understand. The shape of the Ricol graph is more refelective of how the car feels on the road, and appears very similar to all of the previous runs at Unigroup. Compare them on the results page or the rebuild page.

It's hard to let go of the numbers but what really matters in that the car feels to me faster thaqn it ever has before. Response is excellent, power delivery smooth and it doesn't seem to drop off up top. Apart from the clutch I'm really happy with how the car is performing.

Yesterday I pulled off the braided lines from the Apexi turbo, ready to be trial fitted to the HKS gt2510 when it arrives.

I have finished the Rebuild page and it now includes a scanned copy of the bill and plenty of other info.

Tonight I should be attending Unigroup for a post rebuild dyno run, as they car feels bloody fast. Maybe it's just because I'm not used to it again but it's possible the static compression is higher and also that the cylinder compression is better from the new rings/bore hone.

Hopefully the clutch can be sorted soon, as shift quality is a biatch. Changing gears quickly just can't be done at the moment. A shame because I want to get the car to WSID asap.

Car has returned! Everything is 100% except the clutch which feels very ordinary. Full write up and rebuild page completion when more time tomorrow.

Today is the day that I pickup the car, after all this time. After some heated discussion with Ricol and then discussion between IDA admin and Ricol, the situation is a little more clear. I am not expecting the clutch to be as stuffed as was made out to me from what I've heard I am confident of fixing it with some hydrolic adjustment. The pricing too seems better after I have learnt more about the actual bill structure. All will be revealed on the Rebuild page when the invoice is scanned for all to see. This site has always been about providing accurate information for free to benfit people, and this will be now different with all expenses listed to assist others.

The HKS GT2510 is expected any day now, and will be on the car very soon I hope. Firstly I will be taking the car back to Unigroup for a post rebuild power figure and check over. Assuming the clutch is ok I really want to drag race the car with the standard turbo in place to see what time I ccan get from it. There should be a good window of opportunity to do this between savig up for tuning and paying the registration costs from my credit card.

Site wise I have split up thisd page again for a total of three news pages, with this page starting with the engine rebuild story. Loading times should be a little better now for it. The bolt on turbo page is coming along nicely with some good data. Let me tell you this page will be one of the most useful pages out there when it comes to picking a low mount turbocharger, I've never personally seen anthing like it. It will take a while to copmplete but before too long I'll get up the draft version of the page.

May 8 -2004

Some good news at last. i still have no further updates on the actual car and clutch but I do have some money refunded from the broken Apexi turbo I was sold. The sale of the hks 2510 I spoke of a while back has fallen through with some one else. I have contacted the seller again and confident I will be able to purchase the turbo.

It seems a shame to get rid of the data I collected on the Apexi turbo, so instead of replacing the page with a new one on the hks, i will expand the page to cover aftermarket Jap turbos in general. It might take a while to be completed because I am in my final year of uni now and things are getting busy.

Fingers crossed to get the car back 100% asap.

May 3 - 2004

Sigh. Still don't have the car back, it is finished and sitting at Ricol though. Sitting there apparently with a broken clutch. A broken clutch that was 100% when the car went in and was commented to be in good condition when out of the car. More details after everything is finalised.

The car did however make 167rwkw on the Ricol dyno, which from my investigations seems to read about 10% lower than Unigroup. I'm not saying either is more correct than the other, just stating a trend. I will find out a Unigroup figure asap after I get the car back.

April 23 - 2004

What a turn of events. It turns out that the Apexi turbo was stuffed all along. It failed to make boost single time on the 180, and needless to say I am very annoyed and seeking a refund. Other than that the car is just waiting on the bov to arrive so it can be installed. Then the car will be finished. I plan to pick it up on Thursday this week if the bov ever arrives.

I have my eye on a hks gt2510 that is for sale on one of the forums, which I will probably pick up asap when my money is refunded. This turbo is rated 40ps less at the wheels than the Apexi turbo, but the response is said to be very close to a stock turbo. Some even claim better but I'll believe that after I drive it. Most people with less developed packages seem to make 190-200rwkw in Australia. With my cams, manifold and fresh engine, I don't see why 210-220rwkw is not out of the question. It should make for a very streetable fast package that is excellent for drift also.

The site has just passed 50,000 hits too, which is a tremendous achievement. I see this site as one of the benchmarks in SR20DET info, and I'm glad to see it recognised by so many. A vital part is missing however, and that is the conclusion to the daughterboard info. This was the original reason I started the site, and I look forward to rounding off the resource with a lot more content when my car is tuned at Unigroup.

I also must thank Silvia NSW for hosting the site free of charge. Although I have made club donations, this site was hosted without any mention of payment from the beginning. I have added a banner made up for me at the base of each page to recognise this outstanding generosity.

April 19 - 2004

Good news! Just spoke to Ricol on the phone and the car should be ready to pickup as early as tomorrow. They will also be running the car is on the dyno for me so I don't have to worry about doing it perfectly on the street. Because the car will be run in then its only a matter of money before I can tune it and unleash the full potential of the motor. I am happy after this episode to detune it a little in an effort to save the pistons from detonation and keep everything together. I will be happy with as 'little' as 220rwkw but would be hoping for around 230rwkw. Still a nice little drop on the 240rwkw + I was previously under.

As a side note the CES dump pipe has been sold but the two t25gs remain. I am confident they will be sold soon though from the interest they are recieving on Performance Forums.

So the only drama that remains is the price. I have a fair idea of what to expect which id accurate I will be able to afford (just) to pay for the bill and the registration of the car ready to drive as normal. Pickup day for me would be Thursday, expect another update soon.

April 14 - 2004

Ricol rang me back in the afternoon to inform me that the CES twin dump pipe fouls on the gearbox bellhousing when mounted to the back of the Apexi turbo. I will have to allow them tofit a single pipe more common style dump to clear the transmission.

March 18 - 2004

Today I visited Ricol to see the car and also deliver my Apexi turbo. It is a humbling experience to see your pride and joy in such a sad and sorry state, but it must not be forgotten that soon everything will be back stronger than ever. Ricol are only waiting on an oil pump direct from Japan now, which should arrive next week, meaning reassembly of the fresh engine can take place. After that I have requested Ricol to make me an aluminium induction pipe for the larger air flow meter and also to mount a bov in plumb back configuration which I am still to supply. So possibly two weeks at the shortest but most probably at least three.

I have started yet another new page to cover the engine rebuild, so that others facing the same thing can know what to expect wuth labor and parts costs. Pics of the broken parts are also there. You can see the Engine Rebuild page here.

I have also updated the Specifications page with the specs of the car as they will be in the near future, after the rebuild is complete and all my parts are on.

Lastly I have put some more effort into the Contact page, to draw attention to some of the great clubs I'm in including SilviaNSW, the club which hosts this site.

March 9 - 2004

More news on the engine rebuild: It seems the engine had a build up of thickened oil from previously bad maintenance in japan. The old owner had a bearing replaced under warranty when he first received the car, which I'm sure was a cheap rush job to save the warranty company money. Misfortune has seen it now that the bearings have gone now when I have first received the car. In my attempts to make the 2 min drive home from where the engine starting making a lot of noise, I seemed to have caused a bit more damage. Ricol say that the smashed bearing was pulverised into small pieces and was pumped through the oil system, slightly scoring my fresh HKS cams in the process. They will be linished to repair them luckily. Something has happened with the piston rings too, as a later compressin test to my 'first started making noise stage' test (which made an excellent 160psi on all four cylinders), has seen much lower and varying numbers at Ricol. Fresh rings are needed as well as a hone opf the bores, but this means that compression will be like a new engine. It also means that a running in period will need to take place to properly bed in the rings.

The crank has been badly damaged and as such will be replaced with a much newer S15 SR20DET item thanks to Greg. He has also supplied me with a new 1.2mm Nismo metal head gasket to be used in the build. This shopuld give fairly close to factory static compression ratio, possibly a tad higher depending on skim.

I have also decided to fit the Apexi turbo while the engine is out. This is mainly due to the worry that there might be bad particles of dirty oil in the old turbo that will be pumped through the fresh engine once its running again. Therefore I will fit the later model coolant pipe needed to bolt up the turbo lines, as well as have a factory Nissan BOV fitted to my existing piping and plumbed back to a new larger induction pipe off the turbo inlet to suit the 80mm Z32 afm.

This and the 550cc injectors will not be fitted yet, so I will need to take it easy on low boost until I can afford to have the car tuned for the bg power output. This will suit the required running in period well, so I will not really be at a disadvantage.

Thanks to Greg for supplying the mentioned parts, and to John for sourcing the new bearings at mate's rates. As for Ricol so far no complaints, they have been very good. Hopefully I'll have pics of the disassembled motor after I visit Ricol to drop off the parts.

March 1 - 2004

The car went into Ricol on Friday afternoon, to have the engine pulled out and inspected. I have had a few people assisting me who I would like to thank, first being my friend John for sourcing some new replacement bearings for me at mate's rates. Secondly Greg 'omg/imoa', for his continual advice in how to have the engine rebuilt to get it performing to satisfy my interests. More news as it comes to hand.

Feburary 23 - 2004

Well what a crazy few days. Firstly, the two drift events on this weekend at Oran Park were absolutely awesome, big cheers to the guys driving and giving a great show to the crowd. Drift is definately going to be big in Australia now I think.

Unfortunately though, I was not driving in either, as my engine carked it on Thursday/Frioday morning. A cruel turn of events considering the car in my eyes was almost finished, with the final steps for the big turbo on the way, but what can you do? The engine has a nasty death rattle suggesting bottom end bearing damage, to which I hope is the extent of the problems. I have no idea on how this happened, as the previous owner claims to have performed frequent oil changes, and myself not undertaking any silly driving that could starve the oil pickup.

The car will hopefully go to IDA sponsors Ricol Automotive early this week, for the bottom end to be rebuilt. I can't afford to install forged pistons or anything like that, but luckily a compression test a few days ago yeilded 160psi in all four cylinders, which is an excellent result. I will however very soon spend some cash on an aftermarket sump to prevent oil starvation on the track and give the engine some more oil capacity. This should go a long way to preventing such a problem ever happening again.

More news soon I hope.

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