NZM018

Latest addition is an S90 SR20 70mm throttle body. I had been waiting for a Hypertune item to be made but gave up after 5 weeks and being told it ‘might be another 3-4 weeks’. Previous to that, I had ordered a ‘bolt on’ S90 RB20/25 70mm item, it went no where near fitting the ca18 manifold and was given a refund.

The S90 item is good, I mainly wanted a new body for better idle adjustment – the increased ID is a bonus. They offer a version without the adapter plate, but was sent the version with the plate; not a big deal so it will do. It ended up coming from the States and built in Malaysia I believe.

Currently needing a throttle cable as the old one is damaged and also too short for the new body. So far have not had any luck finding one. The rear conversion is still hinged on getting replacement coilovers but I haven’t brought myself to spend the money. Maybe after tax time is over I’ll do it or maybe after a few drinks…

This is a comparison between the RB20 60mm vs S90 SR20 70mm

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NZM018 went to Pedders a couple of weeks ago to have the coilover height changed. We’d tried at home, but with out a vice weren’t able to move the locking nut with the c spanner.

Pedders came back after trying and said the housing will be damaged before the nut will move. The thread isn’t anodised like the rest of the housing so it’s become ceased over time / sitting for long periods. Gave some Rost off ice from Wurth a try but had no effect. Hopeful of a $25 solution over one a 100 times more.

So replacement units are needed, little idea what will go in yet.

The N15 rear calipers have been reconditioned by BHSS. If I wasn’t told otherwise, I would say they are replacement factory calipers. They did a terrific job, I’ll post comparison pictures in the near future. The front pipe has developed a leak, while it’s only small, I can certainly hear it. I’ve always liked the ces racing dump/front pipes, so it might be a good reason to change over to one.

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Joomla 2.5 will work with IIS 6 / IIS6.

White on white or missing text in the WordPress 3.3 editor is solved by installing the Google Libraries Plugin.

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After continuing research into a suitable rear brake combination, my last thought was an N15 SSS caliper. The difference with these over a gti-r (as far as mounting) is just offset.

The caliper turned out to be a match for everything, mating to the N13 spindle and correct offset for J30 discs. The handbrake cable looks like it will need some attention most likely by replacement with an N15 SSS item. I’m pleased matching parts have now sorted and I’m far more comfortable with this combination over the gti-r and J30 options as mounting is all bolt on, although any would work with some minor modification.

The rear needs to be raised about an inch to accommodate a 16″ rim, I think this will be next on the agenda. Once complete final fitment of all the new brake components and finally the handbrake cable.

The motor received a few more dress up items with all cam & coil cover bolts being replaced along with new anodised seats.

I’ve also bought NZM018 a new number plate…

Some mixed emotion with it, but a winning plate regardless. Only fitting that it got a suitable domain as well; that being http://www.CA18.org

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Rear hub conversion is moving forward with J30 rear discs due to arrive this week which also came with free pads. Test fit of the J30 calipers went well with both the stock N13 mounts and handbrake cable being a good fit.

The dust shield had to be removed in order for the caliper to fit to the stock mount points. This can be trimmed down if desired to be refitted, personally I’m not sure if I’ll refit it. A similar conversion and details can be found here.

GTi-R braided brake lines were also fitted as part of the caliper test fitment. These also worked without issue, mating up to the stock N13 copper line & J30 calipers.

A replacement performance battery arrived today from Fullriver. It’s able to recover from deep discharge should it occur. A permanent  battery charger has also been fitted to help keep battery life high.

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Today I completed the spark plug cover which I think come up pretty good.

I got set a set of aerocatch bonnet catches for Christmas which I was going to install today but think I might get a dremel before attempting it. I found a set of S1 Langley indicators today while cleaning; a nice surprise.

Bri-Z is still working on the hub adapters finalizing measurements yesterday. Hopefully completed next week and NZM018 will be mobile again.

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And it’s to Jess, not NZM018. Almost a month ago and now how fast it all went by but the day was really enjoyable and went well.

With the wedding now done NZM018 can start getting a bit of love. Last weekend received a new windscreen from Windscreens O’Brien at Geebung. Their work was good and on time with everything which was great.

The windscreen itself is just a standard replacement, but it’s very nice to look at and through. The old item had a chip which developed into a crack, it also had clear over spray and marks on the glass from the wipers at some point.

The first version of the rear hub adapters have been completed thanks to Bri-Z. I don’t have verniers and didn’t really trust my measurements and rightfully so. Two measurements were wrong so I sent the adapter off for modification along with the hubs themselves to be measured and tested properly. I used some information from here and here to come up the right type of adapter for the N13.

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So I’d started dreaming about NZM018 again. Dreams, for me, are usually a sign something that is really taxing myself mentally.

Saturday just gone, I woke up at about 6am and was already mentally prepared and decided that I was removing the head today. Obviously I’d woken up mid dream sequence, because this was certainly not the plan I had for my weekend nor any upcoming weekend.

Removal went well and revealed some glaring issues with the build and also the reason behind the gasket failures. I also noticed that all of the power steering adjustment had been removed and never put back on – more top work!

There was varying torque across the stud kit and at best only kind of hard to undo. Some of the nuts on the studs seemed to be turning for an eternity. I was worried that the thread was stripped… it was but not like I thought.

Most of the studs removed themselves from the block while trying to remove the nut from the stud. This is because the thread on the studs was so damaged, the nuts were cross threading on the way off the stud. Once they were all removed and closer inspected, everything started to make sense.

During the original tear down of the motor by the builder, they complained that the studs we difficult to remove suggesting that I had used loctite when inserting them into the block. I assured them it was not the case, which it indeed wasn’t, and that I’d simply installed to specs.

Anyway, turns out the builder has used a stud remover and gripped on the thread to remove them completely destroying each stud in the process. Now they would have known this on removal and at very very worst on re-assembly. This has caused the nuts to reach the messed up thread during re-torquing and torqued itself on the stud instead of the head. This in turn has let the head lift and mls head gasket leak.

They would have known this when it went in for repair and why they’ve gone for a cheap gasket as suspected, to simply save costs.

I looked around online and managed to locate a Cometic MLS gasket and also an RB25 stud kit from people on forums – both Southside of course. To be honest I really didn’t expect to find suitable parts, yet alone on a Saturday and available for pick up same day + be local. On the upside the gear saved about $250 over street retail prices. On the downside I spent money; luckily Jess is so supportive of me and my love of NZM018.

I’d had a few celebration rumbos by this point so Dad offered to cart me around for the afternoon while I picked up overnight parts from Southside.

Car is now running better than ever making truckloads of power. Tune is planned for early next year but for now just glad to have the car running properly.

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So almost 2 months since the last post. With the wedding coming up fast, I’ve pretty much now completely stopped spending money on NZM018 until the end of the year.

I did splurge last month, $30 on some 2 gauge cable to make a run from the starter motor to the distribution block. This was used in conjunction with a upgraded run of 2 gauge coming from the boot to the starter motor to solve very lazy starting being experience. The large run was a hook up from my mate John at Jhonta.com

The original run from the boot was 4 gauge, but had two sheets making the copper more like 6 gauge. With 2 gauge installed, the car comes to life in an instant. It also idles a lot smoother.

A few weekends ago, the car started to get hot so I pulled over to check for any glaring issues of which I couldn’t find any. Being not far from home, I limped the car home keeping an eye on the temperature. The car made it home safely, I parked it and left it for a couple of weeks being a little angry at what was probably going to be a big problem.

The simplest and cheapest cause would be a faulty thermostat – the other end of the spectrum is head gasket or head. So I went with the cheap one first up, simply removing the thermostat to a. see if the motor started to get hot still and b. to put the thermostat into boiling water and test it as well.

On running the car for a while everything looked good, temperature normal. I had the car taken for a short drive around the block for testing as I’d had a few drinks. On arriving home, idle was on 3 cylinders. Feeling the radiator hoses revealed a very solid touch; highly pressurized.

On running the motor with the radiator cap off, big and constant air bubbles were coming out. All signs point to head related, my money is on the head gasket. When the MLS item failed (mentioned a few posts back), the mechanic replaced it with a standard composite item. I have no idea why as I blew one right after the first time this motor got rebuilt, but I’m not a mechanic and they said MLS was the reason for the oil leak. Whatevs.

I think what’s happened is that the head hasn’t been torqued correctly and started to leak between the sheets in the MLS item. To save costs on the warranty repair, a composite item had been selected at less than half the replacement cost. Running a lot more power than stock doesn’t do much good for the composite type gasket, below is a picture of the last time this happened.

Pretty much exactly what I expect to find again when the head comes off. I’ve located a Cometic MLS item to put in again but trying to avoid spending the money for now. It will be the third MLS item that I’ve used and installed on the motor, assume it will work find just like the others have…

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GGAR – Go get a room

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