Miami GT4 Kit Car

New Engine In...

2017-08-18T04:13:00.002-04:00

So I've had the car off the road for a month, why to change the engine.

I've gone for the same basic 2litre turbo engine, but its a later revision of the engine with various sensors changing mainly from a MAF sensor to MAP and some other bits, what this also means is it required a new ECU and a repinning of existing wiring. However the main reason for the engine swap was this was a forged engine, it was built for someone else and had covered a few thousand miles which i preferred as I have the worst luck with newly built engines. The engine should be good for 550bhp with the right turbo, fuelling etc...

First I removed the old engine (quite a few bits off the engine) no engine crane at this point so I jacked the chassis up and slide it under and out.

With the engine out, I used this time to really clean the rear chassis again and touch up the paint work on it as the 3 years / 5500miles of driving had left some grim.

Gave the driveshafts a quick sand and bit of paint as well just to tidy them up as well

So next was to start the work of putting the new engine in, I had already prepped the engine. If anyone else ever build ones of these, bring the engine end into the chassis from underneath if you can as going in from above was much harder, although that may be because I was doing it all by myself so struggled to move the engine about and lower it in.

I filled the engine with oil and gave it that all important first turn over and it came straight to life! Perfect. I'm now in the middle of refitting the driveshafts and tightening all the suspension before the first test drive.

Dashbaord in and Car out

2017-03-03T05:10:00.002-05:00

So I've managed to fit the dashboard now and I'm happy with how its turned out. For my first attempt at flocking its turned out well. I now have to remake all the panels that go on the dashboard as they dont fit perfectly because previously the dashboard was covered in material.

The dashboard now suits the look of the outside of the car as well. I also fitted one of the door cards that I have done to match the dashboard.

As well as this I took the car out for its first drive of the year, Its been 6 months since it was driven so the brakes needed a good few miles to become normal again and get rid of the surface rust! However there was no running issues and the car loved the cold crisp evening air.

Dashboard work continues

2017-02-18T12:00:00.000-05:00

So I've filled the old holes for the old demisters and cut out some new ones, smoothed off as much as I can. It was now time for D-Day, time to flock it.

So I prepped as much as possible, I used a whole litre of wood glue, plus some water and dye to cover the whole dashboard, just! Then Flocked it.

First thing is i did this by myself if two of you were painting on the glue it would help and speed things up and give you more time to work with. However so far I'm happy with the results. So Messy though! going to have to spend a fair while cleaning the spare room.

I've now left it to dry and see how much of the flock holds. This will be the biggest object I've done and it was hard work to get right and done before the glue starts to go off to much.

A couple of things to note, once my batteries came loose and that might mean I have a flatter area although i hope not! A good thing though is the glue hides scratches that are quite deep so you don't need to sand to a totally flat surface

And finally always switch it off when reloading and zapped myself twice, quite a hit for batteries! but at least I know it was working!

Dashboard work...again

2016-12-24T07:37:00.001-05:00

So the dashboard is coming on well. I'm very happy with the shape, it has a more natural feel to it.

I've sprayed parts black to help me find holes and high / low points. Below is how it currently looks

The next two bits to do are;

* Make a dial surround that also fits over the key hole.
* Fix new demist vents on top of dashboard.

I'm taking a new approach to the demister to lower the amount of piping. I will bond the below under the dashboard where the the vent holes are.

I will then get both outlets to join under the dashboard and then go into this channel which will then feed out of two vents. The piece about is 660mm long so will fit fully across the dashboard.

After the above 2 pieces are done. I will look into starting the flocking.

Dashboard work continues

2016-11-16T17:21:00.001-05:00

So I've completed the two door cards now and it was a good way to practice my flocking ready for the dashboard. Working with hardboard was good. Its thin and forgiving, but more importantly can be sanded easily. With blocking you dont want a 90 degree angle so sanding the edges down and the bit where the door handle sits has given them a good finish to the edge.

So the next stage was to put the dashboard back in to see how it was looking and the fit. I also wanted to remove the dial surround, It didn't have a smooth enough curve and look that I was after. So before test fitting I chopped out a section.

So I went to the scrap yard and found a nice dial surround that I could get off the dashboard and use.
I actually had to cut and rip this one off, it was held together via melted plastic so was quite tough to separate but had a good shape.

Following that I lined it all up and put the dials under the surround as well so I was totally happy with the position. I then used blobs of Araldite on contact areas between the surround and the dashboard to hold it in position before doing a more permanent bond.

Next it to filler and smooth all areas so when its flocked the flock looks really good. So far I think the shapes are going to really suit the dashboard and look good when all done.

Door Cards and finishing the doors

2016-11-09T16:41:00.004-05:00

So with the dashboard going through such a change. I felt the door cards should finally be finished properly as well too match. So Iooked into flocking the door cards as well. To be honest they have turned out really really well! I'm very impressed, I can only imagine a professional finish is perfect because mine are very very close.

Instead of pictures this time I've done a youtube video of the process and will get some photos of it all fitted once done.

Dashboard Design V3, Door touch up

2016-10-25T07:20:00.001-04:00

So I used the new dashboard layout over this summer and it worked well, feeling much more like a normal car. So I'm happy to keep the design, just a few more tweaks to be done to complete it and finish it properly.

1st was to strip off the fabric that was fitted before the summer to the new dashboard, although it looked great it was always going to have to come off. It came off surprisingly easy, luckily I guess the glue was poor!

Following this I then had to start thinking about fitting some dashboard vents and a small cubby hole to hold some bits. My first thoughts were square vents look a bit dated nowadays so I didn't want to go that route. So I decided the easiest was to cut some vents and holes out of a production dashboard, giving perfect circles.

So I went to a scrap yard and got some with vents and also some nice round dial surrounds. all for £20. Next was to cut some holes into the dashboard to get ready to fit them.

Slowly I made the holes bigger and got both sets of vents into position. Making sure it was clear behind to fit the vent and to feed the tube to them. I then filled around them and slowly smoothed them off.

Still more work to do on smoothing it off but getting there in that area. Next I want to remove the top of the dashboard around the dials and replace it with a thinner piece of plastic which will be a perfect curve.

Off the back of that I can make the dial surround piece.

Whilst doing all this I will also be redoing the door cards and also vanity panels to cover the holes at the top of the door. Now the paint on these doors is just a black satin paint, so nice and easy to touch up. I started by sanding all the high points and rough areas so they were flat and smooth. The doors weren't too bad but I wanted to make them nicer.

Also where id stuck some foam over bits for the IVA, the spray garage didn't remove this and sprayed over the top so I felt it looked messy so I started to strip that off as well.

The door looks a million times better already and is nice and smooth to the touch as well. In the photo below its not quite dry hence the shiny wet bits.

Long Overdue update

2016-10-19T06:48:00.000-04:00

So I haven't posted since the beginning of the summer when the car just went back on the road. I guess the reason for that is I've been using it!

I managed to cover just over 2000 miles this summer with only a couple of minor issues. The biggest being I snapped my throttle cable! Luckily two roads from home so I crawled back on idle in 1st, then 2nd. Replaced the cable and away we go, ill be keeping an eye on that!

The plans for the winter work are below:

* Dashboard design works - so refine, add vents and get the finish to the next level as well. Complete the dial surrounds.

* Tidy up new wiring added for the radio and other bits behind the dashboard

* Silicone fill bodywork to chassis gaps around the front of the cockpit / wheel arches. This will lower the noise a lot, its not super loud at the moment but it will lower it further.

* Tidy up the doors and door cards to match the finish of the rest of the interior

* Repair a bit of fibreglass shell and strengthen others, some weaknesses have shown from the use of the car

* Adjust handbrake so it has a stronger hold

* Try and remove all knocking noises - there arent alot, they are just annoying

* Work on the final set of rear lights and also decide on the rear wing

* Get the rear clam to fit better. this is by far the worse fitting panel, the doors fit pretty well

Its a fair amount to do, so I doubt all will get it all done in the time frame before its back on the road as a lot of this is what will become the final versions. Below are some images from this year;

Suspension Overhaul

2016-04-26T05:43:00.004-04:00

So I cracked on at the weekend greasing up the suspension. I also decided to fit the heavier springs at the front due to the suspension maxing out sometimes.

I fitted a 5kg spring to the front rather then the 4kg spring I currently had. First thing i noticed was seeing as I used the car all last summer and stored it over the winter it was still very clean in the arches.

So I removed and greased up the suspension as well. I used a Lithium grease as the bushes are polyurethane and not rubber. I had to remove the lower arms, the front of the arm is a threaded rod so under breaking pushed on the bush and as the suspension would moves up and down cause the squeaking. I then refitted to move on to the coilovers.

It took me about 2.5hrs per side, not rushing and getting plenty of grease in there and setting the correct ride height.

The difference is like night and day, the suspension on the car is now handling like what a production car would feel like. I don't have to dodge drain covers, large holes etc... the car just glides over them. Its firm but still comfy. The new seats will of no doubt have helped in this with more padding as well.

So for the next week or two hopefully i'll drive it a bit more and just enjoy it and confirm everything is how I want.

If it is I can move on to meshing around the exhaust and continuing to build the wing I want to use on it.

A couple of Journeys, so what issues?

2016-04-21T04:08:00.000-04:00

So I've had the car out and the good news is no major issues after doing around 70miles. I've put a new exhaust tip on which Ill show soon and Id been having a problem with it staying still but I've solved that. Ill detail more on that next time.

So I headed over to see my uncle and he noted that he could hear some squeaking and it was quite loud! This will be the polyurethane bushes, when I fitted them I thought there wasn't really enough grease with them. Well its been over 2yrs now and they need re-greasing, so ill do that. At the same time I'm going to fit heavier springs at the front. The suspension is just bottoming out and a bit more resistance should stop this or at least help a lot, I still don't want it too hard though.

Dashboard in and seats test fitted

2016-04-14T06:51:00.003-04:00

So the dashboard had to be put in over the centre tunnel. It was a tight fit but in some ways that is good as it wont move. Ive only had to secure it to the cross member with 1 sturdy bolt just to hold it there and being honest I dont think it needed it other than for safety.

Once In I tested the dials and gauges all worked as well as the stereo.

All worked well and the look felt more natural. Next i made the vanity panel to go over the dials and the stereo. I actually mucked this up and got dirt under the wrap as I put it on the wrong side so it will need to be done again at some point.

I also put the buttons too far forward and only the hazard is accessible, lucky I can just drill new holes further back and move them.

The seats also go well with the dashboard and feel much comfier, however I will have to get rid of the seat rails and making them fixed, the extra cushioning has raised the position and the 25mm drop will be a big gain to have.

An update... a long time coming

2016-04-06T12:01:00.003-04:00

So the work on the car has continued over the winter but as well as that I've been busy with other things in my personal life. So lets catch up!

The lights got fitted and are working and I had moved on to the interior, making it out of foam...what a disaster. I covered all the foam to stop the resin going through and started to fibreglass etc... but the shape was horrible, so I went back to wood.

As well as this I wanted to give the tunnel piece a lip at the top to make it easier to cover and fit any other panel pieces I might want to fit. I next moved on to making the skeleton of the dashboard. as it was from scratch and was going to be fibreglassed eventually I could use relatively thin wood.

Following this I made two pieces to go on the rear firewall and covered in leatherette. I decided to get rid of the carpet rear firewall as it wasn't easy to secure and I wanted to try something different.

Next I got some cloth and stapled it down on to the dashboard frame. This was to form the base structure. I soaked it in resin afterwards to give a good firm structure.

As well as this I made mounts for the dials and headunit (covered later on). Next was on to the filler, well I used a fair amount to get it to the shape I wanted but suits the car a lot more and when I make the piece to sit over the dials it will cover the ignition as well.

Next was to remove the pieces from the car and cover them in material. So i started with the tunnel and the speaker pod at the rear.

As well as this I've got car mats as my feet were wearing out the carpet quite quickly as it happens! Also I created a vanity panel in the centre console, which holds the 4 previous buttons that were there and a new button to do with a rear view camera. The interior is looking a lot cleaner and more professional like this.

I'm currently now working on covering the dashboard itself with the same material then will fit it and finally the seats.

Whilst doing all this I decided to get a double din headunit. The unit I've gone for is a 7" unit which is pure android. It has a lot of features like bluetooth, usb, sd etc... also GPS maps and wifi. This means I can pull up outside the house and on the spotify app download all the music locally that I want to play or of course make my phone a hotspot.

Once its all back in I can start to use the car again. I've continued work on the rear spoiler although this is 2nd to the dashboard.

Rear Lights & interior progression

2015-11-08T12:56:00.001-05:00

So i continued work on the lights and got all 4 units made, I wanted them to be smoked but not take away too much light. the camera gives a relatively good idea of how they look at this stage

I then tested all the wiring works as expected.

with that complete I set about putting them on the car. Im not the biggest fan of the look with the lgihts off but still is an improvement and with a wing etc... completed at some point in the future it will look much better again. however as ill be running with the lights on anyway I think it looks much better.

So I started on the interior, first of all making a Tunnel cover out of MDF, its 9mm thick and with the correct spacing etc... is very sturdy. It is braced throughout and a lid out of MDF put on to a part of it, I will continue the wood down the edge to give a large border.

As well as this I started to mould the area where I will fit speakers to out of foam

I'm happy with the design, however when I covered the foam with felt and soaked it in resin, it just came away from the foam as I was unable to staple to it, So although its given me the rough shape it would be alot of work to sort out.

So what I will do is make the 2 side panels out of MDF and brace it across the middle with wood a few times to give a sturdy piece. I till need staple foam across the curves edges and soak in resin to make it hard this should then give me the finish I want with less work to be done to the piece.

I will use a router on the MDF parts to curve the edges neatly. Hopefully by the end of next weekend I can have the back piece that will hold the speakers finished in terms of shape.

rear lights Evolution v1

2015-10-27T12:57:00.000-04:00

So whilst I continue to design and decide what to do with the interior I've been working on the rear lights. I wanted to replace them with a more modern look but still plug and play type of drop in to the current fitting.

The lights are currently a round cylinder and when you take the front cover off it has a normal bulb. So first was to go for a more modern look with two rings either side of the car and keep it within the same housing. The design involved making a metal holder for LED COB rings (80mm and 90mm) and a 5 watt LED in the centre for the indicator on the two outside ones and fog and reverse on the two inside ones.

So first of all the metal holder was made and test fitted with the LED rings and 5w LED and that it sat flush in the holder.

After this the ring itself was Anodised black, the side walls of ring area would then be polished back to reflect light.

Following that the 1st set of frosted light covers were made. These light covers were to ensure they gave the light look I wanted.

so it was time to test them, at this point they are just frosted covers with horrible screws and no profile. So how was the look...

Overall I was really happy with the brightness and the look with them on. They are bit brighter than normal lights but once they are smoked that will dull slightly. If you want to see a video of them I have one on my instagram account @iwanabeaferret.

Now the current stage is making the lens covers to a high standard and similar in profile to the original set so first a test lens has been machined and you can see the profile change and finish better. The next stage is to do this in a 15mmm perspex block and then spray them smoked. I will then decide either to leave them matt or go gloss depending on the look when they are finished.

i'll cover the electrics next time as some regulators and other parts had to be used.

work has started (interior)

2015-10-19T04:39:00.002-04:00

So first of all I got one last local meet in before the end of September and the weather changed. the cool evening air gave a nice crispness and punch to the engine as well.

So within a few days I was on to the job at hand...the interior. I'm in no rush to do this and will do it right rather then fast. So previously I had ordered my new seats. The criteria was I wanted small ones in terms of height and width and also reclining. Reclining was simply because there was a small amount of space behind the seats but with a fixed seat you simply cant get in there. With a reclining a hand luggage suitcase would fit or other bags you may want to put in out the way.

Luckily these were also one of the cheapest seats as well, which is rare to happen. The comfort of them compared with my current ones is like night and day so I'm very happy. They raise the seating position a little but I can counteract this by removing the carpet and sound deadening from underneath the mounting points so there will be little difference but more comfort, the seats also feel like they hold well for their shape.

so I test fitted one of the chairs, you can see even though they are the smallest reclining seat I could find there is little difference in size but they are slightly smaller, in theory they will probably be easier to get into as well.

So on to the interior and it came out easily enough, as I took it all out the dust from the bodywork was everywhere so ive done a fair bit of cleaning already and then moved on to tidying the new wires I had added once on the road. (tv screen, electric door opening).

Since then I've been measuring areas of the interior to start designing the new centre console between the chairs.

And so it all begins again....

2015-09-29T06:36:00.000-04:00

So the driving season is over, the car is declared Sorn (off the road) for the next 6 months. So how did it go; well in the end very well, I covered 1600miles and have not had a serious issue for over 1300miles.By the end of the driving a few squeaks had crept in but nothing major. The most disappointing aspect is the car is still running a bit rich and the exhaust tip is not quite straight. Overall happy with the first year.

The next stages are now;

* Interior refit - comprising of new carpet, new seats, dashboard design, rear camera screen, relocation of some dials, lowering heater / climate box, tidy up of new cables

* Rear end - this will start as some simple new lights but plug and play into current holes, however if I have some time this winter I will build a whole new light design and following on from that a new diffuser. Also I'll probably fit a wing, but I need to decide on the right one.

* Suspension - Remove, check and regrease joints. As well as this i will fit the harder springs to the front, the current ones at bottoming out just a bit too much so rather have a rougher ride without the bottoming out on the damper.

* Mirrors - They wobble ever so slightly so want to remove them and fit a small rubber base to them so when bolted to the car it should should squeeze where needed but have support across it all to stop it wobbling

On saturday I will remove the seats, centre console over the gears and the carpet. The hard work starts again, but finally the interior will match the exterior.

Video Review

2015-08-31T15:17:00.006-04:00

I've completed a video review of the car now. I've been still using it without any issues. I'm waiting for a few LED parts to arrive before work can start of the rear lights! From the end of September the car will be taken off the road and work will start on the interior.

what's been happening since

2015-08-11T05:19:00.003-04:00

Well I got the car home and solved the lack of boost problem. This was the offending piece which must of fallen off so a spare sourced.

Such a small piece such a lack of power!

Since then I've been using the car a fair amount and one thing I wanted done was for the car to be badged which I forgot to mention in the last update. So I had laser cut some badges which I made in CAD. I really like the design I then sprayed them black and fitted them. Just to the front at the moment.

So with the continued driving I've hit 1200miles done. The first 150miles were with the headgasket issue and testing so its now been a 1000miles engine trouble free and niggles. Im running higher boost and the car is performing well.

Ive had a loose connection on the lights and a couple of other bits but nothing major so I've been able to run my focus back on to the fun stuff...how the car looks! the rear for me has never been that good ive not been happy since day 1 when I finished it but was small on the scale of work I had to do.

However my exterior rear plans are;

* change rear lights to LED design
* Rear wing - interchangeable - maybe even actuator controlled as not difficult to do
* Rear look...full stop

So I've started working on various light designs which there will be many more updates on as i try different LED's and styles, however one thing for me was to make the middle part between the two matt black light cubby holes also matt black. But how. so I choose plasti dip, its basically a sprayable black rubber paint. People spray whole cars in it, which is fine if you want a matt finish, gloss I don't think looks good. So I gave it a go.

It came out really well, it can be hard to pull the masking tape off without pulling more of the black off than you want but I can improve my technique. the bets bit is it will just peel off when I don't want it anyone. I would actually recommend using the stuff to people it works well. I warmed the can up first in water which stops large blobs flying out, a good tip for normal spray paint as well.

I'm still not sure whether to keep the exhaust where it is or more it back down to the bottom like a normal car but its going to be a fun winter sorting out the exterior....and of course redoing the whole interior!

Clutch change, missfires and more

2015-07-20T04:58:00.000-04:00

So my last statement was a jinx ' if everything was ok I may move on to the interior'.

First was my new set of coilovers had arrived and so I wanted to fit them ASAP!

Got them fitted and the awful banging I had has reduced a lot I've still had it a few times on large bumps but there isn't alot of travel available and a thin tyre wall but overall the Meister R coilovers have massively improved the ride.

Overall a success, as well as this the rear of car was able to go about another 10mm lower. Without the larger 20" wheels I dont think the arches will ever be as full as they look on the other DDR's but now it looks reasonable.

....So I had started to run with more power, slowly creeping up to the 1bar area of boost and then I felt some slip, I ignored it first time thinking one off, but decided to go out and do a 3rd gear pull from low revs and again I had a slight slip.

I knew I couldn't ignore it and didn't want to run low power! So I ordered a new clutch (toyota OEM) and prepared to fit it. The fitting then came...OH MY GOD!!! Advice, if you think your clutch is ok when the engine is out....it doesnt matter just change it! The job took a total of 10hrs and wasnt easy on a drive.

Engine mounts were removed, jacks used to hold engine in position straps to take the gearbox weight and then wiggling the gearbox off. To be fair that all wasn't too hard but just time consuming. Changing the actual clutch again was easy enough, although lining it up when it was at an angle was not.

However getting the gearbox back on was a nightmare it took best part of an hr and half to get the gearbox back on to the engine and I ended up using longer bolts to pull the gearbox back into position and on to the location pegs. Once done I started bolting everything back together.

Once done it was time for a quick test drive and it juddered a bit at first but even within 20miles that had almost gone so I was happy it was successful!

I was then due to go on holiday but wanted to stop a missfire at high boost! so got some contact cleaner, it was then I found the king lead from coilover to distributor was missing an end and was having to arc! So i got a replacement one and tested it and all worked as expected.

I then went on holiday for a week and this weekend had a 200mile+ round trip to do for an event, the longest single days journey without tinkering the car will of done to date. I was nervous but prep'd as much as I could.The Journey up went well and we arrived at the meeting point.

the above image shows the rear a bit lower now.

Next was a convoy to Mercedes Benz World where we'd park up fro the Brooklands supercar day, made it there fine and left the car parked up.

So then came the drive home, 100+miles of some motorways. about 10miles in I realised I couldn't make any boost, so I had barely any power. luckily 70mph was doable and that's what I cruised back at, any slight hill though had me worried!

When I got back and took a look at it the actuator rod had come off the wastegate. The wastegate stays shut and opens when boost hits the level set so you don't send too much boost into the engine and blow it up. I had the opposite the wastegate was just swinging about all by itself, mostly open. hence no boost. It looks like either the retaining clip had fallen off or was missing either way an easy fix which I've already done.

However it was a very annoying 70mile drive home with no power!

I'm still learning...

2015-06-21T13:01:00.000-04:00

So since the last update I've had a nice drive in the countryside and a couple more test runs as I raise the power.

The power is rising nicely but tends to drop off before the redline with this engine, although holds the boost. I'm still not up to 1bar and at about 0.7bar currently so slowly getting there, but I keep getting boost spikes to 0.95bar, which is fine but not once I raise the boost as the spike will rise as well, so I need to sort that first by adjusting the boost controller settings.

The coilovers are still leaking and actually the top mount centre bolt on one came loose due to all the banging going on. I'm still sourcing new ones which I hope to fit soon as that should improve the ride, i see ever hole and wait for the Bang!

As well as that just before the Wilton show mentioned previously I was rushing to fit the exhaust and didn't do a good job...it fell off... then was ran over. So I've just finished replacing it.

I then went to a local meet and a new issue showed up the clips that hold the headlight unit on one unit wasn't strong enough and kept popping off. Called Carbuildersolutions and explained and as I bought from them they sent me the little clip free! Great! I've fixed the issue already and seems good now, below is the car taken at dusk when back, a little run with an Ultima on the way back, unfortunately no photos.

If everything is stable and ok for a few weeks, I may move on to working on the interior whilst still using the car. I could still fit new lightweight carpet, the current stuff is too heavy and thick which keeps more heat in!

Developments

2015-06-10T05:17:00.000-04:00

For once the good news is...everything has been smooth. The cars been running fine which is good. I took it for a midweek run as well after the previous weekend and everything was fine.

Following that I fitted the exhaust tip I wanted to use going forward and think it looked much better than the previous one.

I then spent the Saturday getting the car really clean, wash, polish, wax... there goes 3 - 4hrs of my life!

Then last weekend was Wilton House Supercar show and it was parked in the car park. Its first public outing and still not finished, the feedback from people was good and they liked the car, almost all questions were what is it. The only issue I have come across is from people thinking its a poor replica of a Mclaren F1. Its not although inspired. However a lot felt it had a Zonda front to it but I want to stop that so I definitely need to get some badges made up to solve that! Also I didn't do up the new twin exhaust I got... so fell off on the Saturday and was run over DOH! So i've re-dordered it again to refit.

As for the cleaning....shouldn't have bothered the path was like a dust bowl, better than mud but the car ended up like this down the side of the car.

The car drove great on the day and in some good heat and stayed really nice and cool running about 185 - 190f when driving, so perfect.

So whats next, well im now going to work a little on other touches like sealing up all the little gaps between the cockpit and engine bay and also the front arches just to help keep out a bit more noise.

Only bad thing to come out of this was the BC racing coilovers have previously leaked and all the oil has gone or too much air, do not get bc racing coilovers they are rubbish, barely done any miles and just sat on the car for ages. Instead I will enjoy a couple weekend of hard metal on metal banging when its a big bump!

I've also been looking into the rear wing again, now ive chopped off the ends, so just getting an idea on what to do.

I guess it would be rude now not to look and getting that 100bhp back I've lost, so time to up the power this weekend I think.

The first trip out

2015-05-31T06:44:00.003-04:00

I did about a 45mile single trip, nice figure of 8 on some nice roads in the area, bit of driving of all sorts, dual carriageway, A roads and some B roads. The Car handled it all fine. The suspension (coilovers) can be a little hard for the poorer B roads and a couple of loud bangs...always make me wince! but nothing too bad.

The car continued to run at a nice 180f (82c) - 185 (85c) raising to 190f (87c) - 195f (90c). Only rising after some spirited accelerating. The car seems quick because of how low you are but I cant tell its not. You just know. Its probably at around 200bhp at the moment. with the boost set at just 7psi. I will eventually have it set at 15/ 16psi giving me 290 -300bhp.

I am going to add water wetter to the system as this does aid heat transfer and with higher boost will come more temps so i'd rather the cooling system was ready.

The day was warm at around 18c so was a good chance to test out the rally vent for cockpit cooling and it worked very well to the point when at faster speeds it was closed slightly and at one point fully. However sat in traffic saw temps rise a bit so without aircon this summer may be interesting at some points.

This is a small pull I did, I didn't floor the throttle as these are early days and its testing the systems but we are beginning to look good!

The noise isn't all road noise, as good as the vent is as you can imagine turning air 90 degrees created a fair bit of noise although the video has made it sound worse then it is.

The next question is when do I start raising the boost so its performance is so much better. i'll give a few more weekends of driving first so I know everything has settled.

So did the changes work....

2015-05-30T06:28:00.002-04:00

So firstly I've moved the water coolant pipe away from the downpipe which I'm sure is helping.

You'll also notice in the picture a turbo blanket under the heat shield, this has made loads of difference, a hell of a lot. maybe not to coolant temperature but definitely to under hood temperature and the intercooler hot pipe above that heat shield can now be touched. Don't get me wrong its still 'hot' but before you couldn't even leave your hand on it.

The final piece done is to go with the ducts for the front vents is a flat bottom piece that sits between them so air can not escape under the radiator it has to go through it or over I (there's a small gap at the top). This has dropped the temperatures down to 185F so a drastic drop, it looks like most of the air was just going straight under the radiator and not cooling very efficiently. Its only a temp piece of 2 pieces at the moment as I didn't have a piece big enough but now I know it works ill do something that's more permanent.

I'm up to 230miles in the car now since I started driving it, the issues I've had are;

* Coolant being eaten - poorly fitted headgasket
* Coolant running warm - more ducting
* Coilover centre nut coming lose - heard a bit more banging then expected and noted it had come a bit loose

That's it! So far its been about 60miles trouble free since the last issue. I'm sure little things will work loose so ill keep checking and I'm not convinced at the moment one of the rear callipers is working properly but could be as simple as bit of air in the systemas it worked for the test.

I'm still waiting on the rear side windows annoyingly, but hopefully they should be here mid this week.My new exhaust tip has been altered so I can fit that at some point as well.

Anyway off for that first daring drive more than a few miles from the house!

Recent work and finally driving it

2015-05-25T12:30:00.002-04:00

First of all I completed the doors. This involved a few things, first was to fit the new blanking plates for the car and removing exterior door handles. This gave the car more security. the remote central locking is working well.

After this I fitted some open pocket foam inside the door, its light and will stop excessive noise as well. With the interior parts of the door completed it was at this stage I fitted some door cards just to tidy the doors up. the final finished article will be higher quality and match the dash etc... when done.

Next was the exhaust piece being completed, well there's few things I've got majorily wrong on this project, but this was one! It looked horrible, the design just did not suit the car. Im only sharing the picture for others so they don't go this route!!

So at the moment I have the original tip on for driving however a new tip has arrived already and I'm very happy with its look, I've just got to do some minor adjustments to it and it will be on and looking much better!

I've now set the front ride height at 85mm on both sides give or take a mm or two. This works well for me with the front arches looking full enough but allowing me to get on and off the drive without planks etc... At the end of the day I want to be able to use the car relatively easily. the rear will need to be lowered further in the future.

Next I had the side windows refitted, the current fitting was done in the bodyshop and there was too much dust in them when fitting with some areas lifting. As well as this I had a nice rubber edging added to give it a cleaner look.

The final side window bits are being fitted this week to finish the look off but I think it gives it a much nicer edge.

So then it came to driving it at the weekend. This was the first time since the engine had been put together and various other work. so I took it out, with the softer springs I fitted a while back the ride is better but still a bit softer at the front would be nicer. It has too much of that coilover 'bang' for my liking. The engine was now performing correctly and not eating water, so it does look like a poor fitting of the headgasket was the cause (should of done it myself in the beginning!).

Now whilst driving the car is not overheating, but it is running hot, ideally it should run up to about 195f and mine is running around 210f-215f. Now when on the drive it gets warm and the fans kick in but never gets higher then the 190f i'd expect. However once driving it raises slightly and sticks at that higher temps, so not overheating but just running hot. So I've had to look into why and what can I do to improve it.

I noticed the coolant pipe return from the radiator is very close to the downpipe, so the coolant is cooled at the radiator and then reheated just before re-entering into the engine. Meaning the water flowing into the engine is hotter then it should be, raising the operating temperature slightly. this doesn't happen on the drive at idle because the down pipe hasn't raised up to the hotter temperatures, as well as this the hot and cool pipes to the radiator run close to each other under the car, again not helping. The 2 pics below show where the pipe is now and the new path I'm going to do this week with a new pipe. Also a diagram of what it was like on the MR2 and you'll see its far away from the exhaust and the radiator pipes are separated.

As well as this other work I'm going to do to help temperatures;

1. The engine compartment temps feel high, when lifting the rear clam shell I can feel its warm, so id like to lower these, so I've ordered a turbo blanket to help.

2. Exhaust wrap for the downpipe. Now exhaust wrap is a debatable subject to many, however in this case keeping the temp inside the exhaust has a big benefit to not radiating onto other components and will also lower engine compartment temps with the the turbo blanket as well.

2. Ill also try and wrap / insulate the hot water feed to the radiator under the car so it does not radiate heat on to the returning pipe.

I think with the above I will drop 10f minimum, I actually think the biggest cause of heat into the system is the fact the coolant pipe is 1cm away from an unshielded downpipe!

So back to the drive, I managed to complete 90 miles without any actual overheating, eating of water etc... the car had no faults and ran as expected. If I can just lower the temperatures now a little bit for safety I can then work on lowering further intake temperatures, which will already benefit from the above as well.

The performance, well the turbo is still at 7psi (actuator pressure) and I wont turn the boost up until temps are under control. seeing as I haven't had the geometry done yet the car handles pretty well with minimal pull to one side.

Here's a quick video, sorry there isn't a good one yet. I've got to get them all on a video training course as I received a lot of videos of the floor.

Headlights, Doors, Undersealing and more

2015-05-10T14:19:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to source some black bolts, harder then you'd think for the lengths I want. So in the meantime I painted carefully the top of the silver ones black to blend in more and get a feel for how it looks. It definitely makes the headlight covers look like they belong there a lot more but is obviously a subtle touch.

As well as this I Meshed the front reservoirs, Unfortunately it had to be a metal mesh which I always thinks looks very 'kitcar' however it has come out very well with a good fit and the black paint still covering it.

Next was to underseal the car and arches. So I took the wheels off and got on with the task, this is only coat one, which will do the job, however I expect ill put a 2nd coat on. Now I didn't use a car underseal for a couple of reasons, one they are very waxy and messy and too they are the same as another product which is priced cheaper. So I used a liquid rubber product normally used for putting on flat roofs, does the same job of stopping water from coming through and is flexible when dried.

Before:

After:

Now the top of the arches need to be done, but I also want to protect the fibreglass from stone chips, so I've ordered more closed cell foam, I can then paint this with the rubber before fitting and simply stick it in the arches, giving the additional rubber protection to the foam which should stop stones creating Star shapes in the fibreglass.

I have also fitted the door solenoids, so there are no door handles accessible from the outside giving more security. when I press the button I have 3 seconds to open the door before it relocks. This is all wired into the fusebox I fitted to the car at the beginning and uses relays. I will need to tidy the additional wiring once I get the dash off for the refit of that. In the video below you can hear the click of it relocking once open.

The rear camber bolts were next, which has definitely brought the rear wheels more vertical and hence look like they fill the arch that little bit more and will give some Geo adjustments when that is done.

I have also started on the interior door cars just to tidy up the giant hole so the doors dont look so bad when being opened! But more on that next time. In the meantime the two main items till I can drive the car are the side windows and the exhaust piece. I should have the exhaust finished this week and side windows in the next two weeks! (fingers crossed)