hmmm... some interesting developments

most importantly... i may make the GOR cruise at this rate

couple of highlights:

motor built... ready to bolt on manifolds and slot in

no new gearbox at this stage, so will still be popping out of gears

swapping parts over from spare turbos (getting done by turbo shop, pick up today) running no oil in the air filter has allowed crap in the air to shash my impellar blades to nothingness (will post shocking!!! pictures later) im going to a paper air filter asap, i hate socks

done some work with the grinder/dremmel to take out an obstruction in the intercooler pipes, but also some work on the throttle body and opening up the manifold to better suit the throttle body (hoping to get huge benefit from this)

also bit of info on the new block, it has lightened crank and flywheel, shot-peened rods and standard pistons, only done approx 200kms work, pulled it apart and re-assembled on the weekend and all looks good, it had a bit of a race cam in it, so we removed that and put in a stock a14 cam as this should suit the boosted application a lot better i believe

once it's all together i'm hoping she should go really well with the above improvements, and the found air leak a few weeks ago, first on list of priorities is to get to the bloody drags before she dies

you'll be surprised by the kinds of gains that can be had by removing steps in the inlet path

and yeah, it's amazing how much sh1te those socks let thru if not oiled properly! i saw the inlet ports on an L series head that was mirror polished before the webers and socks went on, and when he took the webers off to go turbo and slot the engine into his street car they looked like they had been sandblasted (it was a rally car, so saw lots of dirt action)... had to get the bores re-honed too.

anyways, keep me posted coz i'm very interested in your project.

well.........

friday (day before great ocean road cruise) i got the motor in, and when putting the tailshaft back in realised i couldnt find a neutral in the gearbox...

very disheartened i went in search of another box that afternoon... lucky for me i found one off the shelf at a good price, but alas there wasnt enough time to pull the motor out and fit the new box in time for the cruise, so i was helping a mate with some neons in his car

anyway 6pm comes round... i decide screw this, im getting that damn gearbox in... and the car running for this cruise even if i get no sleep tonight

well 4.20am comes round all is done, including warm up, then re-torque of head bolts and valve gaps etc. so i go for a 10min drive round the block... all seems well

spend an hour getting cleaned up, 5.30am dattogal rocks up and we were off for the 700km cruise

fortunately even in my sleepy state i've put everything together correctly and didn't have a hic-up the whole cruise, so im quite happy, cruise was good too

i must say the 2hr drive home was the hardest thing i've ever done, dattogal had to wake me up a couple of times on the way home when i had drifted accross into the next lane... not cool (if only she could drive manual)

ANYWAY.. at the end of the day, it's going really well now, a lot more top end power/smoothness that wasnt there before, at high revs it was building upto 12psi, i'd like to get the exhaust and injectors done now as they are the nly remaining restrictors

it's probably not as good as i hoped it might be now, but still very happy, need a little more tinkering, always the way

off to the drags as soon as lagwagon gets ready and i restore some funds after the spontaneous gearbox purchase

needless to say since the cruise i've spent a lot of time passed out catching up on zzzz's
was a crazy effort im proud of myself

Good story.

Although the bit about "I helped my mate install neons" has me more than a little worried.

And the part about Dattogal not knowing how to drive a manual, has me equally concerned.

It's great to hear that you made the GOR run.

Cheers,
Chris

Very cool to hear man, glad you got it done in time.

and good luck with the drags, will be interested to see the times you put down...

just went for a quick drive to the shops, leaving home i was short shifting cause it was cold, it was making boost while the enigne sounded like it was still labouring

His gearbox sounds like crap ^_^

Shhhh no one needs know i don't drive manual, I have a barina, there's no point learning.

Nah, it's one of those things I'll get around to eventually. I now realise it would have been quite useful on the cruise.

Had i KNOWN he was thinking of taking the datto i wouldn't have let him stay up all night. I was planning on a nice pleasant barina cruise with me driving him home.

But no, rallycar always has other plans.

He's planning on making me drive in an autocross at some stage

Anyway. Cruise was fun, even with the lane-drifting

DG xx

booked myself in for a dyno day on sunday, so hopefully getting some numbers out of it...yay!!!

YAYS!!!

Great job. I know what those all night thrash jobs are like & they can get you to the event OK, but if you sleep all through the fun part later on, like i have, then sometimes you gotta wonder.
With your engine producing more poke, i guess it more an uplate uprate update.

Oh yeah, how were your eyes the next night?

Dattogal
Auto trans is nice, but you don't know what pleasure there is to be had untill you take a firm grip of that knob & give it a good thrashing. Nice twisty uphill runs are often the best.
Learn to drive a manual & you'll be so glad you did.