The engine was built by FB Tuning in High Wycombe and I live in Essex so I didn't get chance to take any pictures of the engine build, although I was on the phone to Rich when he first fired her up and it was music to my ears!!

Rich completed the first 75 miles using mineral oil for the first 50 miles and then changing it for more mineral oil for when I picked it up.

A 'proper' engine
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/P1030588.jpg

As the original oil cooler was full of metal parts from the blown lump I ran it without an oil cooler or modine until it covered 300miles keeping my eyes welded to the oil temp gauge to make sure it stayed under 100oC.

A new standard core was priced up and worked out approximately £550 after importing, duty and delivery and after seeing the standard rubber pipes and not being too impressed with the standard setup, I chose a full after market kit which included a 25 row Setrab cooler, 55inch braided Mocal lines, Mocal thermostatic sandwich plate, gauge sandwich plate (to lower the connections so they missed the cam covers) and 2metres of heat sleeve for a bit of extra safety!

I changed the oil for semi synthetic at 300miles and only drove it at night so it stayed nice and cool. After another 300miles I changed the oil again for fully synthetic and again after another 150miles when the oil cooler kit arrived.

Sandwich plate, gauge plate and pipes fitted with 2 layers of fire sleeve each
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/P1030585.jpg

Space between the headers and oil pipes (crap picture but just over 1inch clearance)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/P1030589.jpg

Before the bumper went back on, 25 row was a bit tight hence it's at an angle to miss the bonnet catch. Fitted 3x rubber tap washers to all three mounting points for shock resistance
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/P1030583.jpg

Pipe location
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/P1030584.jpg

Bumper back on
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/P1030591.jpg

Crackle black header tank
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/P1030586.jpg

Heat lagging - cheapskate styleeee
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/P1030587.jpg

Oil temperatures were absolutely fine on the 150mile round trip to the London Motor Museum, but in the evening they were pretty cold and after stopping to warm the engine up 3 times I realised that the 25row maybe a bit over kill, a 19row would probably have been the better option so for now I've covered the bottom half of the core with a piece of card which seems to have done the trick. I'll sort something more appropriate out as soon as I get chance!

Now done 1200miles without a problem and max reading on the KS3 is 19 (with a bit of fun involved) so will be booked in for a remap ASAP :doubleup:


PS - any feedback, good or bad, greatly recieved, I'm not a mechanic by any means, just someone who likes to 'have a go'

Forgot I had this link, previous owner on the rollers with the full Team Ice sytem fitted..................hence I changed it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&h...&v=-H30_ApUgos

Very nice!

About time for an update!

Apologies for not keeping this up to date, after this thread was posted on Scoobynet, the sh1t hit the fan and to be honest I lost interest in posting on any site for a while. The dealer slagged me off left right and centre and the 'so called' mods kept deleting and editing loads of posts from myself and friends :wa: To be honest it got totally out of hand and people can believe what they want to, the truth is on the net for all to see.


The car has now covered 3000miles without issue, it's running really nice and has had it's final map making 356/379 on the VF36, it pulls really well from low down in all gears and feels great! I'm still listening out for any noises and constantly checking the knock link for any abnormal activity but hopefully I'll get that out of my system soon!

I haven't driven it much since I got it back at the end of July, still trying to get my mojo back with it, having said that, I did take it out last week at 11pm and didn't get home till 6am, kept making excuses as to why I should go home and after almost 2 full tanks of VPower I had to give in and get some sleep!

I've now decided to do a Snetterton trackday in Feburary which (if nothing falls off) should finally help me get my head sorted with the car. I'm not too sure what the first things would be best to do in preperation for it, I've fitted a few Whiteline goodies over the last couple of weeks that I know definately work due to previous experiance with my Bugeye....

24mm rear adjustable ARB + solid droplinks
22mm front adjustable ARB + solid droplinks
Solid rear ARB mount kit
Front 6.5" 3-way speakers that actually do something :nod:

I'm now stuck as to what to do about disks and pads, I had the Performance Friction setup on the Bug and it was truely awesome on track, no fade after loads of ridiculous late braking corners and they were pretty good on the road too.

With Crimbo coming, I won't be able to afford the full PF setup for Snetterton so can anyone suggest a good/cheaper alternative that will work well on the road but won't fade too quickly on track??

I've been looking at the Godspeed grooved disks and orange stuff pads but have never used their disks or EBC pads before, any thoughts on these?? or any other options I should look at??

http://www.godspeedbrakes.co.uk/~god...id_product=142

I'll be changing the brake fluid for 5.1 before hand as it made a massive difference on the Focus in Janurary.

Taking it back to FB on Monday for a full check-up and oil change, also collecting a new Subaru scissor jack as mine decided to thread itself at the weekend whilst playing with the roll bars.

One last thing, has anyone used Advan AD07 tyres before?? I know the AD08's are supposed to be really good for track but the RA wheels I bought have the older version on them with loads of tread left, wondered if they were any good for track as thats what I'll be using??

Cheers

Great thread mate, well toward the end anyway sounds like youv got a cracking car now :-)

great read mate

Just read this and your thread on scoobynet...... horrendous!! how you've remained so civil through it i do not know, hat off to you!! He'll come unstuck one day!!

On the plus side you now have an awesome car that you know inside out, very impressive!!

Stunning buddy!!!

Thanks for the kind words guys, much appreciated!



I really appreciate that Tomma, thankyou :doubleup:
Moley said something similar when I called for insurance.

Whenever I read his replies I feel like he has made me look a complete joke and a lier and no one would believe me, he seems to have loads of fanboys sticking up for him including the moderators on Snet and it made me wish I hadn't said anything!

I was expecting a backlash of sorts but didn't realise it was going to make me feel like sh1t!


Anyway, just a quicky, went to a mates farm for the Brentwood Land Rover's fireworks do (I'm a bit sad like that lol). Whilst we set everything up during the afternoon I was asked if i wanted to have a play in the 16acre field.................


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ecCongrass.jpg


I haven't had as much fun in a car since I got my leg over in the back seat of a Talbot Sunbeam at 17 :tissue: :mrgreen:

Nice one mate good to see you up to full speed :drive:keep having fun.

Thanks Steve, will be taking the car for it's first trackday on the 26th Feb at Snetterton, just ordered some PF discs, pads and 5.1 brake fluid to go with the 235 REO70's I found, hopefully everything will go well and it will be at least as good as my Bugeye, although everything will be crossed just incase :nod:

I had the same problem when I brought my scoob the engine let go after 8500 mls so sent it to foresters in Wolverhampton to be rebuilt and was told it had been built using secondhand wrx parts so he built me an engine Which turned out worse than the first with two different types of pistons three types of spark plugs wrong head gaskets valve shims all wrong reused oil pump/cooler the list is end less and that engine lasted only 11000mls so decided to do it myself and for that I appreciate it more.

There's some really dodgy people out there, I feel your pain Gav, it's horrible when someone knowingly shafts you!

On another note, some new coasters arrived :mrgreen:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/IMAG0221.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/IMAG0219.jpg

Tese should stop me........hopefully!

Liking the stoppers mate

Completed my first trackday last Sunday at Snetterton, all I can say is HAPPY DAYS!!!!! :razz:

Friday I bled the brakes with 5.1 fluid, fitted the PF discs and pads and put the REO70's on. Had to bed the brakes in on my first outing on track as didn't have time before hand due to work but they came up pretty quick and the pedal felt nice and firm. Faffed around a bit before I got on track as all sorts of things were going through my head but I shouldn't have worried, the car was awesome!!

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...2/IMG_2746.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...2/IMG_2703.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...2/IMG_2494.jpg

Wasn't in front of Budgie for long, his car goes so fast his hair has slipped off....

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/KSS_9651.jpg

Since I've had the car, I've never used the DCCD properly and didn't really know what to expect, now I've flung it round a few corners at speed I'm totally amazed at what it does and how it makes the front end turn in so quickly and sharp, only left it in auto mode but it made a world of difference.

The car moves around much more than my Bugeye used to which put me off at first, got some understeer too and in the Bug I had to feather the throttle to keep on the limit of grip, I used constant throttle in the Bug so this thing is totally different as it needs you to use power in the corners to allow the diff to do it's thing. Once I started learning what it was doing all I had to do was aim where I wanted to go, the car moved around a bit, squatted down and shot towards the apex/clipping point every single time, amazing bit of kit and I'm really chuffed with it, just a totally different way of driving than I'm used to so took a while to get the hang of it and build up the courage to trust it.

I'll be booking another one soon, fancy Silverstone in something a bit faster than a 1.8 Focus :mrgreen:

How much is an LM450?? lol

Good to see you enjoying the car after all the problems you have had :)

Haha about Petes hair :D

Glad you enjoyed it mate

Thanks guys, it's been a long time coming!!

Got slight 'rear knocking shock syndrome' now (ooh er misses!) Was expecting it at some point so no surprise, will try the lithium grease trick for now and see how it goes, don't really fancy coil-overs yet as it rolls a bit on track but the overall handling is pretty good IMO, plus I want to save for a deposit and get somewhere with more than 1 bedroom.........need a Scalextric room :doubleup:

......

Your car looks wicked on track, like the first pic from your track post :yeah:

......

Thanks Bolesroor :doubleup:

It looks really shiney in all the photo's but was actually fairly grubby on the day.

Thanks Stuey, did you photoshop that picture and add some motion blur?? :wink:

Stayed infront of the Datsun which put a smile on one of our faces :mrgreen:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...929662b_o1.jpg

was good to meet at FB on Saterday hope all is going well with yours