Teenager with an S3

[re japi]

What happened to those housings, why they looked like moon surface...?

How rare is that 12A 6P version? I thought that its JDM version...

Anyhoo, car looks awesome, good job

[TOOL]

PS avoid that oil cooler on eBay. Get an FC cooler.
Nothing beats the Mazda units.

[gt_james]

What happened to those housings, why they looked like moon surface...?

How rare is that 12A 6P version? I thought that its JDM version...

Anyhoo, car looks awesome, good job

The 6PI is the JDM engine. I only know of one other over here but I'm no expert, there could be others.

[gt_james]

I can't get the pilot bearing out so I'm just going to use a brass bush instead. Hopefully fit it tomorrow. Haven't made much progress for a bit.

[gt_james]

Well an update is rather overdue
I had a phosphor bronze bush made instead of using the pilot bearing. It’s self-lubricating and seemed the best option.



After cleaning up the block as much as I could I masked it up and got busy with some engine enamel







Then I flushed out all the coolant, lots of manky stuff came out, I took a while doing this until the water coming out of the block was nice and clear.



I think the scabby old block came out pretty well



The gearbox needed some cleaning up, I attacked it with a wire brush.





The inlet manifold needed a lot of work, I tidied up the inlet manifold, again more wire brushing and painting. I took the vacuum actuators off, freed them up and leak tested them, then removed the blanking plate off and had to de coke all the channels with drills and stuff, and opened them all out. I then had to free off and adjust the linkage for the actuators.



The inlet manifold gasket is very DIY. I just got some gasket material, made a paper template then punched out the shape.



I got the inlet back on





Fitted the new exedy clutch.





Bolted up the gearbox





I spent some time cleaning up the engine bay, de greased it and repainted the cross member, painted the steering box, the roll bar and the steering linkage.I also repainted the gearbox cross piece, the propshaft and painted the exhaust shield in VHT all up the car.





Then chucked the engine back in

















I chucked this stuff in. It’s dutch and some people on the internet swore by it, so I gave it a go



I’m quite happy that the car is much tidier under the bonnet now.



I’ve got this air filter to replace the awful blue thing. I need to cut out the base plate to suit the nikki. Ill also get a catch can.



I’ve ordered a rather lovely set of coilovers from ACBRON. I’ve wanted coilovers since I’ve owned the car, and it’s taken me far too long to order any. The new ACBRON ones really look good, I know GAZ and T3 have been done, and it’s good to try something new. I don’t think they will arrive for a while 



Now it’s back on the road I drove it down to Bristol to a meet with some friends, my mate got some nice rolling photos on the M5





The variabe induction is now working, which is great, but it only seems to open up at around 5500-6000rpm, which isn't early enough. the Actuators must have become more stiff over time, so the system needs a higher vacuum to operate. I think I may run it open all the time, or even figure out a way to operate the sleeves with electric servos instead of vacuum actuators, either wired to a switch in the car or use an arduino controller on an RPM switch.

I've been speaking to a guy about buying an S4 13B, gearbox and LSD...

[KiwiDave]

I chucked this stuff in. It’s dutch and some people on the internet swore by it, so I gave it a go



The variabe induction is now working, which is great, but it only seems to open up at around 5500-6000rpm, which isn't early enough. the Actuators must have become more stiff over time, so the system needs a higher vacuum to operate. I think I may run it open all the time, or even figure out a way to operate the sleeves with electric servos instead of vacuum actuators, either wired to a switch in the car or use an arduino controller on an RPM switch.

Kroon Oil ... your engine should be singing with that

Also, my 'understanding' of the 6pi actuators is that they operate off exhaust back pressure. So maybe, since you are running headers as opposed to the factory 6pi manifold, you're generating less back pressure? Just a theory ... anyone can debunk this as they see fit

Hey, awesome update BTW

[TOOL]

Great update. The coilovers will really make a difference.

Re: I've been speaking to a guy about buying an S4 13B, gearbox and LSD

S4 box is good. Make sure it's not a viscous LSD as they're not great.

[gt_james]

I understand the 13b 6 port actuators run off exhaust pressure, but my 12A actuators definitely run of vacuum, not positive exhaust pressure.

I can't wait for coilovers!

hm I would definitely prefer clutch type LSD with a more aggressive lock up. Can viscous LSDs be shimmed to be tighter or is that just clutch type? I don't know much about viscous ones.

[TOOL]

I've never had my hands on a viscous one as they're generally rubbished.

Clutch type are great. Torsen are absolutely hassle free.

Make sure you're getting an NA LSD (7 inch), not a turbo LSD (8 inch) which won't fit.

[ian65]

I'm running a S4 clutch type LSD, it's great.