Austarion

as they say, never say never especially with this disease the way it is. At the moment I just want a strong new motor that wont blow smoke ! I sure as hell never want to go down that multi point road again. The tuning was a pain in the bum and the performance gains simply dont justify the money spent. Now a Lexus V8....................................

Vulpes wrote: ........................
JB tail lights and widebody rear number plate surround

Should be sweeeeeeeeeet


Sounds like a lot :roll: anyway I will keep chipping away at it.

You're changing the JA Taillights to JB ones???? I never thought I'd hear that from you!! Also strange,
I'm beginning to like the JA ones!
Leave the rear as it is, after all, it is a JA!

Next thing you'll be doing is changing the side vents to JB??? You're as twisted on these cars as I am!!! :roll: :beer

Oh Mal, we are as sick as each other. I have asked flav for his JB/JD vents. What can I say. :(

Vulpes wrote:I sure as hell never want to go down that multi point road again. The tuning was a pain in the bum and the performance gains simply dont justify the money spent. Now a Lexus V8....................................

I think the problem you had was getting the microtech and finding someone to tune it. The gains from mpi come from what mods you do with it, rather than just the mpi as it facilitates the power production.

yer good point, still my point stands getting mpi sorted by somebody who knows what they are doing is an expensive and time consuming excercise and one Im not too keen on doing again.

Vulpes wrote:yer good point, still my point stands getting mpi sorted by somebody who knows what they are doing is an expensive and time consuming excercise and one Im not too keen on doing again.

Best bet is to buy a package that is already done by someone else.
There are some bargains to be had in the for sale section

Vulpes wrote:yer good point, still my point stands getting mpi sorted by somebody who knows what they are doing is an expensive and time consuming excercise and one Im not too keen on doing again.

until JA-itis sets in LOL

Redzone, I have just one thing to say to you............your right

Vulpes wrote:yer good point, still my point stands getting mpi sorted by somebody who knows what they are doing is an expensive and time consuming excercise and one Im not too keen on doing again.

Thankfully its not as hard these days as when you first did it. Parts are cheaper to come by and there are more tuners out there that are good tuners now. In saying that its still not a cheap exercise unless you buy a complete engine package with all the hard work done already.

Getting there slowly, new engine is ready to drop in. Have the turbo and inlet manifold all on. Need to drop gearbox out of car and bolt to engine. Diff is out and LSD is ready to go back in. Dont think I want to tackle the suspension yet, I have enough to do. The trimmer is waiting on getting in another hide so he can trim my console with the left overs and save me buying a whole hide. Slooooowly sloooowly at the moment.

finally got the engine back in today. Hope to have it all up and running in a week or so. Been too long without my staz :(

I finally got the gearbox, torque tube and diff all in. Now its just hook up the front stuff in the engine and it should be running soon.

Keeping tabs on your updates!! It's amazing how focused and determined you are on this project considering you are doing it yourself!!!
Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing the results...

Should be magic when finished :)

:beer

Thanks Mal, got it all back together this evening, everything is ready to fire up. Just need to change the oil, make the short shifter so it will fit in new console. Should be running by next weekend. Cheers mate.

Could it be ? Is it possible my car is finished ? Sorted out my cooling issues with new radiator. Bought some water wetter from ebay just in case. New turbo is on ( no more smoke ! ) finally, finally it should be reliable to drive. We are off into the mountains next weekend so I hope to take it up the bells line of road. We will see how the test run goes today.

When I look back on everything I have done, its a pretty big list:
Stripped car back to bare metal
Replaced and repaired front guards
Repaired heaps of dents
Rebuilt rear rubber spoiler
Replaced drivers and passenger side glass
Completed stripped out interior and hand scrubbed every interior item
Re-coloured and rebuilt front seats using spare old ones
New instruments
New custom console with DVD and GPS
Short shifter kit from USA
New knob and leather boot coloured to suit interior
Bent handbrake lever to suit new console
New front spoiler
Repaired and repainted headlight surrounds
New engine removed from Mals
NEw Turbo charger
New radiator
New hoses, belts
LSD
Wheels
New clutch
New slave cylinder
Installed and now removed intercooler
New oil cooler to allow intercooler setup
Alternator rebuilt
Momo Steering wheel
JB rear lights
New decals
Installed permanent battery charging system
New battery
Windows tinted
Remapped ECU
Aircon re-gas
Fixed seat belts that didnt retract
Sanded and repainted all exterior trim pieces
Fish oiled all panels




No wonder I'm tired. Its been a long and expensive 17 months. I will never sell this car, I could not imagine somebody using it as their daily hack and destroying it all over again. Hopefully one day when I die it will go to my son ?