I bet those tyres have some grip on them Dave .

They do! The difference between these and a regular road tyre is night and day,.. though I have yet to drive on them in the wet..:-|:drive::???:
Now to see how many track days they last! and if my baffled sump is upto the task of staving off oil starvation ;) I took them of the car tonight as they have done about 115 road miles. I wanted to heat cycle them a couple of times to firm them up a bit in an effort to make them last!

It looks amazing, and that snorkel ideal is cracking ! wonderful tasteful mods, and great work...

Just wait til you try the triple 8's on the circuit........
They push the boundaries much farther than you'd expect
:)

Agreed, never driven with them myself but was shocked at how well they gripped on Neil's Evo X.

Glad the knocking noise was only something bumping on your shaft.......

hahah :)
:norty::cath:

:more:

Quick update. I thought I would leak test the FMIC prior to getting a new turbo fitted and sort out any remaining niggles with the system so as not to cause any undue problems when mapping.

So off to the local plumbing supplies shop and £1.95 for a 2" waste pipe end. (with rubber sealed cap!) I drilled a hole in it and mounted a nice super light weight aluminium tyre valve in it!.. (hey our pressure test kit needs to be light weight!! :P)

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...psd30e9173.jpg

I used a tyre pump to apply pressure to the system once I had capped the other end off with an old paint can, some tape and a couple of jubilee clips. I then sprayed over the pipe joins with a fairy liquid and water solution.
Much to my annoyance there where tiny leaks at nearly every pipe junction! Indicated by big bubbles forming all over the place, despite the hose claps being tight enough to bend the bolts holding the claps!! I have since replaced the hole lot with Jubilee clips (took 3 hours to do this without removing the Bumper! and hey presto more pressure and no more leaks!!) Annoyed at HDI a little I am!
clamps anyone?

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4b8a4792.jpg

good effort. you wouldn't have had time for ps3 today then:ok:

Are those the clamps that leaked?, if so im surprised as they look a decent clamp and would of thought they'd be better than just jubilee jobbies

haha :) I replaced all the clamps last night, was angry so did it straight away, finished at 10pm! :S

Today I fixed the exhaust rattle + washed it..:polish: Time for PS3 now :five:

Yea they are, well.. you would think so but each join had various leaks on one side or the other and blew bubbles some where too fast to even blow a bubble at a mere 10psi pressure :S they where all tight.., A jubilee is half the width, so much greater pressure over the given surface area, I might have to invest in some proper murray clamps but they are expensive and the jubilee clips seem to be doing the job. I'm still annoyed over having to spend 3 hours replacing them. There is nothing in any instructions about specific torque settings for the supplied clamps, so I just did them tight with a 10mm ratchet spanner (I didn't use a breaker bar!) :splat::rant:
:mrgreen:

I've got a few decent clamps left over from my old fmic install, if your going to the breakfast meet i'll bring them along and you can take your pick

Oooo That would be brilliant!! Yes we will be there :) thank you sir!

No problem, can't see me using them in the near future unless i get it turbo'd as well as supercharged :shock:

FMIC/OC fitting - The stealth look!
 

Fixed the "oil cooler a little warm on track" issue and enlarged the cold air intake to match on the other side..

Got hold of a second hand set of fog covers (so I can obviously still have the stealth standard look when wanted!) I already had a second drivers side cover with a toe eye hole pre-drilled, but missed the passenger fog cover.. (Many thanks BigE!)

I spent most evenings this week occupying the shed and using the oven in the kitchen baking paint! much to Wanda's amusement.

This was the idea.. fit as big a duct as possible in the cover without making it look REALLY crap!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9e44766f.jpg

So sand down with 400 grit and then 600 and prime! bake/prime/bake rub down some more/dry prime/bake!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...psee01d282.jpg

Once the Primer was done it was on with the metallic, no rubbing down here other than 1 coat before the end.. Looks pants without lacquer!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7bcc6259.jpg

I didn't use a mask 1 night, and my shed is pretty small, the night was painful as was the next day.. so did my best Bane impression the next night..
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6b1c9ef0.jpg
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...psfcd71898.jpg

Once they have had 5 or 6 coats of metallic and some lacquer they look a lot better.. just a quick flatten with some 2500grit and a quick compound and polish!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps694238ab.jpg

Not a bad colour match!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...psdf6fbaf1.jpg

The finished article. with custom gauze glued in place.
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps12abce51.jpg

The other side was a lot easier, I simply cut the hole pealed the remaining stickers of and mounted the duct..

The end result on the car doesn't look to bad I think.. It should hopefully be very effective, The ID of the ducts is 89mm!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1f030385.jpg


Just to reiterate, I still have original covers and am able to swap between the two! ;)

.

Nice work :)

Looking good Dave

Cheers guys!
Really interesting watching the oil temps with this, in traffic on Saturday through Hove/Brighton temps never crept above 91, it just shows some heat escape when stationary also helps rather than having it in a closed off space with a small slit for ventilation.
On the run back from Goodwood today being a little fruity with 1 or 2 Supercar's temps never got above 85, really happy!

I wasn't sure if I would like the look with the dirty great holes/ducts in the front fog covers but I think I do! Wanda likes it too so all good!

New front hub assembly ordered :|

Fitted this a couple of weeks ago to try and drop engine bay pressure to assist cooling, seems to have worked! Just have to hope now it doesn't cause any odd aero effects at 150mph!
http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...pslrdu79g6.jpg

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...pso9cxsnmp.jpg

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/...psajoj20zb.jpg

Interesting idea, have you thought about putting a smaller wrx scoop on?

Yes, removing it would be the best thing and a reverse scoop / vent but it changes the look of the thing an awful lot

Go on, you know you want to try a reverse scoop .... :razz:

So after our breakfast meet this arrived on Wednesday ;) ..

(Please excuse the phone quality photos :S)
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/...ps225bb10e.jpg

It came primed, So after a few coats of halfrawds mixed O2C blue and a couple of coats of lacquer a good flatten down and then cut with some compound the result was half decent and will do for now.. this was a lengthy process as it would not fit in the oven!! :( .. A hair dryer sufficed
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4ff722c0.jpg

And fitted... Colour match is pretty decent.. though hard to tell in these photos..
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/...psfc933dc9.jpg

http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/...psc05e32d5.jpg

Took the car for a quick blast and the results where very encouraging, water temps stayed low and I noted a drop of about 3 to 4 degrees in intake temps which I was not expecting.. :O
I also noted a 4 to 5 degree increase of temps directly above the turbo (to be expected as no massive scoop ramming air over it) but perfectly acceptable.

This is function over form!! the scoop is not going anywhere! (The Handbrake will make sure of that!:wife:) but for trackdays were temps get high, I hope this will help pull a bit more air through the rad/FMIC.

I will report after the next track day if it helped! if not.. time to chop a WRC style hole in the front of the bonnet! :norty::yeah::twisted:

Now that looks pretty smart totally transforms the car and looks like a different bonnet as well Dave I think I should send some parts to you to get sprayed . Keep up the good work Dave .:10:

Very impressive Dave :10:

Can I send mine over for a quick 02c spray too ....:-P

Good job with the reverse scoop but I do prefer the horn back on the rhino xxx let's hope it helps the track days and look forward to the scoop inbetween xxx

Good job.

Not my bag of rice aesthetically, but if it does the job then it can only be a good thing. The car is there to perform after all!

I think it looks alright mate and I love the scoops as I've said before. Liking yours though, good work!

Nice work mate :10:

I really like that.... cracking effort with the paint too, looks really good :)

Looks seriously good with that grill in place of the vent dude. Awesome looking car.

Cheers all ;)

So its been a while since I've updated this thread but thought I'd do a small update,

As many of you know I am paranoid about knocks and slapping noises (not the kinky kind!) but the ones from bores & pistons, and as my car has managed a fair few fairly hard track days.. I am always nice and gentle with it!
I felt it was high time to swap the engine out for something a little less.. "used" It would be fair to say that I have more than had my moneys worth out of the current unit with 2 trips to Spa and 3 trips to the ring + various track days in-between, none of which have been done at standard power levels. So the plunge was made the and the bank violated etc etc, I sourced a low mileage JDM STI engine from a reliable local supplier, that was imported in a standard car and went about purchasing the additional bits and bobs required...
The shopping list included..

Harvey 3 bolt up-pipe to go with my RCM manifold (that has lived on the office floor for a year!)
11mm oil pump (I like a nice lubed engine!)
New gates belt kit, Oil & Filter, Plugs, sealant, Coolant
Rear break pads (PFC items), diff oil and a pair of front wheel bearings (I seem to eat these for some reason!)

Several ££££s later some time was booked with Richard at FB Tuning for the work to be undertaken and the day of reckoning was at hand! I came over all nostalgic driving the car to the workshop knowing that the engine was coming out of her and how good at had been to me, all the pulls on the autobahn, trips to Isle of Man & Germany etc etc, but at least this way I am saving the heart for a later project ^^

Bits stripped off and getting ready to be pulled! :( bye bye old friend!
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psyha30he2.jpg

nooo!
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psuzkf6hwx.jpg

Soon to spin again!
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...ps17ibev5a.jpg

All out in a couple of hours and bits removed an hour later
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psqbulxgze.jpg

Much to mine and my wallet's dismay the flywheel and clutch where inspected and deemed to be not worth re-fitting. Looking at the wear on it and the state of the flywheel it simply wasn't worth messing with..

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8w4qwpn6.jpg
Some nice cracking! Like I said I am always gentle!
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psdh1g4hbk.jpg

So off to Lateral for a new one!:-| a couple of hours later..
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...pswnsst7rk.jpg

New oil pump prepared and fitted, new timing belt kit and bits and bobs fitted.
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psn2tnvk0w.jpg

With my current set-up there are quite a few bolt ons to swap over including a group N sump which needed quite a bit of cleaning. The jury is still out on this one as to whether or not the Millers 10w60 Nanotech that I've been using doesn't have enough detergent in it or there was some other underlying issue that caused the blackening visible in the next pics. There where sooty deposits all over the place!

Sump all cleaned, steamed and then blown dry.
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...pstdvg4s8s.jpg
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psnbbmfpxl.jpg

Old engine underneath (no windage tray with group N sump!) sooty!
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psjx81qkik.jpg

New engine underneath, clean.
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psrdhmpefp.jpg

Getting there!
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6edpf5az.jpg

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psvci28xin.jpg

We noticed this when re-fitting the radiator. Pretty scary and a potential fire risk. I think it had either got very hot just above manifold or something rubbed against it.
Repaired, cable moved higher up and sorted with a little mod ;)
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0kuohwco.jpg

So up until this point everything had going reasonably smooth which as many of you know is not normally how these things go. Well this was no exception with everything re-fitted and nearly ready to go, oil and coolant loaded back into the engine. We primed the oil to get some round the engine, only to discover a big oil leak!! :brickwall::brickwall::shock::splat: Oil was sitting on top of the block and all over the back of the engine dripping down by the turbo! oh noes!!

We quickly worked out that the only place that it could be coming from was from the hard oil feed line that pumps oil to the turbo.. this as many of you know is a bit of pig to get to. The world almost ended!!

Knowing there was no other choice we set about removing everything off the top of the block (AC pipes, manifold, turbo and water cross over pipe) to find the offending item. We had re-used the original line that came with the new engine but it was sat at the wrong angle for my turbo. We had previously warmed it all up and bent it into position but by doing so we had inevitably cracked it. Not easily visible as the crack was facing towards the block/turbo but clearly visible when removed.:(
http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9utf1z9y.jpg

By the time we had finally got everything back together, once again primed the system, gapped/fitted the plugs, re-filled with coolant and turned the key.... there was an overwhelming sense of relief as she fired into life instantly and oh what difference.. its very quiet, I'm not used to this virtually no slap business :yeah:

Somewhere in the above 25 hour marathon I also managed to fit the new rear pads and swap the diff oil out for some nice LS Millers stuff ;)

Due to the extra time to remove and re-fit everything we ran out of time for mapping but will get this done in the very near future.

Say hello to 8k RPM rev limit and aggressive cam profiles! :razz::yeah::razz::drive::drive::razz::yeah::razz:

Next day! and home again I got on with replacing the 2 front wheel bearing cartridges,

Not too bad a job on a wide-track you can actually do these in situe without removing the drive shafts at all.

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...pss0vkdgwi.jpg

Thank's CJ for popping over and lending a hand ;)

I also could not live with a dirty engine bay (MANY FINGER PRINTS!) so gave it a quick clean ready for mapping!

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psqicakprl.jpg

Amazing read Dave! She's one awesome car!!

Awesome. 👍😀💪

Nice replacement until you sorce a spec c block in the near future if one ever comes up for sale again .

Nice work dude. Look forward to going for a spin when it's mapped :)