Kaan W Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Nice plans Dave! Good choice on the LSD, I was originally planning on the TRD LSD but after a fair bit of reading I decided on the 1.5 way OS Giken also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Bieber Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 I have a very nice, very rare veilside ti exhaust for sale mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 31, 2014 Author Share Posted May 31, 2014 Nice plans Dave! Good choice on the LSD, I was originally planning on the TRD LSD but after a fair bit of reading I decided on the 1.5 way OS Giken also. How does the Giken feel to drive, matey? Assuming you're at that stage...?! I have a very nice, very rare veilside ti exhaust for sale mate Veeerrrrryyy interesting. Any pics? And if one was interested what would one expect to pay... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaan W Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 How does the Giken feel to drive, matey? Assuming you're at that stage...?! I wish mate Still a couple of months to go yet. The Giken sounds to be alot more advanced than the TRD with more clutch plates, stronger lock up and more control etc etc just a bit more pricey. Interested to hear your feedback once yours is installed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 I spent yesterday afternoon and a large part of today with Suki's engine bay stripped so I could polish all the winter-tarnished metal back to its former lustre. She's all back together now and looking MUCH more the part. I also connected the battery and took her for a quick test spin (in anticipation of my MOT on Wednesday) for the first time in about 7 weeks...!! All seems well, so good news there! I realise that this post is completely useless without pics, by the way and fortunately I took plenty of the process. Watch this space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 Better late than never... As promised, pics of my endeavours to spruce up my engine bay over the weekend: Before (looking rather sorry for herself ): Stripped down and ready for cleaning: Paintwork tidied up; metal waiting to be polished: The eagle-eyed amongst you will also notice that I binned the - decaying - plastic conduit that I had covering my throttle cable (see second pic) in favour of some shiny new silicone vac-hose. I also replaced the heat-proof sleeve that helps protect the cable where it sits close to the turbo (seen here loosely fitted and unfinished). Turbo-side cam cover polished compared to the tatty inlet-side: Cam covers complete: Plenum before: Plenum after: Everything polished - including the power steering reservoir, FMIC-to-plenum boost pipe, coolant expansion tank, turbo compressor housing, top water elbow and of course all the bits I'd taken off to clean away from the car (brake fluid reservoir cover, n/s engine bay box, oil catch tank, rad' slam panel, inlet pipe) - and ready for assembly: Close-up of the spark plug and cam pulley covers re-fitted by the shiny cam covers: I binned the cable tie holding the throttle cable to the strut brace, by the way... Finished : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luxluc Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Wow. Bay looks great Dave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 Wow. Bay looks great Dave. Thanks, Luc. My current effort is re-spraying the front bumper valance and aero-lip. It's still a work in progress with the last coat of lacquer about to go on. Pics to follow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 Continuing the theme of tidying up, I decided to dodge the weather () and spray Suki's front valance and fixed aero-lip over the last couple of days. Really this is an annual job thanks to potholes, dodgy road surfaces and speed bumps, but for some reason I didn't get around to doing it last year so my car really has suffered in this respect on the tattiness front. So... Before (see what I mean!!??): Rubbed down: I kinda wish with hindsight that I'd paid slightly more attention to the two areas arrowed in the pic. See below... Masked and primered: Top coat on: The reason why I wish I'd paid more attention to the very front of the aero-lip: To be honest I'm not going to lose too much sleep over this as it is absolutely GUARANTEED that the first time I drive my car this will end up getting scratched or scuffed or whatever (as proven over the last x years since I first sprayed this part). I'm not after Concourse standards here, so as long as things stand up to scrutiny at a distance I'm content enough... Lacquered and masking removed: The end result: Looking MUCH better, even with the dubious finish in parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaan W Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 What difference a slight change can make, I couldn't even notice what the red arrows were pointing at mate it looks fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 (edited) High on the successful tidying up of my engine bay and front bumper paintwork, I thought I'd polish my exhaust tailpipe too: Before: After: Jobs still to do this week (while things are steady at work) include T-Cut-ing the tint on my tail lights, polishing my headlight lenses (for the THIRD time this year - they really are starting to suffer now... ) - see the last pic in my front bumper painting post - and replacing the rusty (bare metal) bracket holding the centre of my Zunsport grille in place with a painted one. All simple stuff for now with bigger mods to come later in the year... Edited June 4, 2014 by DaveR (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 What difference a slight change can make, I couldn't even notice what the red arrows were pointing at mate it looks fine Thanks matey. Like I say, she's a 'go car' not a 'show car' so the odd blemish is more than acceptable in my eyes (just look at the stitched up tear in the bumper next to my front tow strop...!), but that doesn't mean that I have to stand for tattiness. It's a fine line!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luxluc Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Wow. Massive improvement on the active lip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supra_ufo Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I would of gone for black on the lip other than that its looking great What did you use to clean the exhaust mate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 Wow. Massive improvement on the active lip. Thanks. I would of gone for black on the lip other than that its looking great What did you use to clean the exhaust mate? I don't like the look of them black (or carbon or stock grey), which is why I sprayed it in the first place. Visually it raises the front if the car and makes it look ungainly and unfinished. To my eyes anyway. I used a metal polish called Peek for the exhaust- the missus found it in Tesco. It certainly does the trick!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 (edited) So having just passed my MOT with no real worries (although a new exhaust has moved higher up the priority list!) I thought I'd treat myself to something new and shiny. Since Lee at SRD did JamieP's Black Duck with the MAHOOSIVE K&N air filter, which I loved the look of, I fancied changing mine for something altogether more impressive. I asked Jamie which his was (the RC-5171 in case anyone else was wondering) and set about doing some measuring in my own bay. Clearly we all know the filter WILL fit (as proven here), but I'm keen to retain my heat shielding so I realised that that one - at 12" long and with a base diameter of 8" - wouldn't quite squeeze in. I decided to opt for the biggest one I could fit in the existing space, using the specs of the RC-5171 as a stepping off point. After a lot of measuring and comparing things on the K&N website, I landed on the RU-5045. The surface area IS less than the RC-5171 but not by much and SHOULD (if I've measured correctly... ) fit inside the confines of my current heat shielding. Win-win!! I've just ordered it so hopefully by the weekend I'll have it on. Side note: If you've just made it through that entire post without giggling like a child at some of the innuendo, well done... Edited June 4, 2014 by DaveR (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 I've just finished the head / tail lights polishing task. It's a nice evening so it seemed rude not to! Pics to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 I think where I park my car is having an adverse effect on my headlights. Basically the sun is on the front of the car for most of the day at such an angle that the passenger side bears the brunt and is therefore more yellowed more quickly. This will have to become a more regular process probably! Really I think I need to strip the headlights in the oven and re-polish the inside surface of the lens as that side is starting to look less than ideal. Or maybe I should just buy some shiny new facelifts... Anyway, for now: Before: Masked up: Meguiar's PlastRX going to work: After: And a comparison. Much better! : The tail lights weren't as bad as I thought once I'd wiped off the general grime, but as I was there I decided a quick once over with some T-Cut couldn't hurt. Before: After: Job done!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetrashcanman Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 I think where I park my car is having an adverse effect on my headlights. Basically the sun is on the front of the car for most of the day at such an angle that the passenger side bears the brunt and is therefore more yellowed more quickly. This will have to become a more regular process probably! Really I think I need to strip the headlights in the oven and re-polish the inside surface of the lens as that side is starting to look less than ideal. Or maybe I should just buy some shiny new facelifts... Anyway, for now: Before: http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=186770&d=1402051335 Masked up: http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=186771&d=1402051335 Meguiar's PlastRX going to work: http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=186772&d=1402051335 After: http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=186773&d=1402051335 And a comparison. Much better! : http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=186774&d=1402051335 The tail lights weren't as bad as I thought once I'd wiped off the general grime, but as I was there I decided a quick once over with some T-Cut couldn't hurt. Before: http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=186775&d=1402051528 After: http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=186776&d=1402051528 Job done!! Looks much better mate, good job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 8, 2014 Author Share Posted June 8, 2014 Looks much better mate, good job Thanks matey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 8, 2014 Author Share Posted June 8, 2014 The weather cheered up a lot yesterday afternoon so I was able to fix the blow in my exhaust. I didn't take any pics of the work I'm afraid because a) I forgot and b) I only had a finite amount of time to work with the Araldite sealing putty stuff. But... it's all done now so in theory the exhaust will sound a lot better again (I haven't tested it yet because I wanted to leave everything to harden fully over night) - it's been getting increasingly loud albeit very gradually so therefore not very noticeably. In fact I only really noticed when I got home after the Bluewater meet on Friday night and my car woke the missus when I was parking outside the house, something that it's never done before. To be honest I'm not really surprised because the blow was much worse than I thought it would be - it actually looked like the back box was going to fall off the main pipe, the weld was so shot!! I've definitely now placed getting a nice shiny titanium exhaust higher up on my priority list, because I don't think my repair is going to last forever. Crucially of course is that if one section is rotted right the way through, the rest can't be far behind... I was going to buy Justin Bieber's (Adam's) Veilside one but it turns out it needs some brackets welding onto it which complicates things just a tad too much for me to justify. So I'm now looking at this 4" one from Whifbitz. Opinions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 After missing the original delivery on Friday - I was NOT happy... - my new K&N air filter arrived this afternoon. Praying that I'd done the measuring correctly, I got to fitting it straight away. A reminder, the old one looked like this: The new one is a monster by comparison! It's got to be double the surface area...? Fortunately, my measuring turned out to be spot on. The new RU-5045 really fills the space AND doesn't touch my pre-existing heat shielding. Win! Here's a direct 'before and after' comparison: And my current engine bay (excuse the poor lighting...): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdavies Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Looks meaty, Will be interesting if you notice much difference be it noise or response Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 (edited) Looks meaty, Will be interesting if you notice much difference be it noise or response I was wondering the same thing! I haven't started her up yet. Chatting to John (jcbt) the other night at the Bluewater meet, he told me that LeeP had mentioned on Dragonball that the one he has (i.e. the same one I've just replaced) is only actually good for about 500bhp. In theory, if that's true, my turbo's been getting a bit stangled so this should (could...? ) make some sort of difference. Reports to follow... Edited June 9, 2014 by DaveR (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPG Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 That looks like a perfect fit Dave, visually a great improvement and all that cleaning has paid off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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