seventune

So added some extra support to the power steering brace. It's now all ready for wiring. As it's sitting up in behind the front bumper I just mig'd it up a bit brashly. Does the job. So that ended up down here like this Now slight chance on the fueling front. I was going to run 8 injectors long term (still might) but in order to get a few more functions out of the Syvecs I have changed the 750cc RC injectors for some bigger Bosch units that I have 'borrowed' from the RX7 build. Just given how long I've had them I bought a refurb pack and gave the a bath Mid cleaning So onto the next job.....

Started getting the power steering in. Buried it in behind the front bumper on the drivers side. Its an electric MR2 pump. Will be interested to see how it works. I also found some grot under there so sorted that out too while I was there. need to add to the bracket and some extra support as its a heavy pump. Grot: Pump: Grot fixed and pump in place (but not finished)

So then. Electrical gremlins are a real pig. But ever cloud has a silver lining. As you know the car is fitted it an AlcaTek ECU. I have been trying to get them to talk to me about making some changes to the ecu for absolutely months. Eventually I decided to not have any changes made to the ecu and just buy a proper one buy in the mean time just get it mapped for the current mods. Anyway reinstalling the loom and engine this time has unearthed an underlying electrical issue. It's started with sensor ground wires carrying 8volt live feeds. Which I traced back into the loom then the ecu. Once that was sorted other singles appeared to be incorrect. The loom that had seen far better days before I had even got into looking for the faults. After finding bare wires, doggy taped up and crimped connections I was time to start fresh. Given the lack of contact and lack of support from AlcaTek I decided that if I was building a new loom it wouldn't be for that ecu. So I bought this instead Nice Syvecs S6 :) Few other little bits got done whilst I was waiting for the Syvecs. Bonnet is now finished and ready for paint Finally got around to painting and fitting the STI 6 spoiler. I was hoping to paint the front bumper today but the weather is looking a bit bad. Also got all the water system back in the bay and thought I'd treat the turbo to a cozy blanket All the bits for the loom are ordered. Hopefully all be with me next week and I can look towards actually driving the old girl :)

There is a bit of adjusting to do but the vent is just sitting in there at the moment.

Well bottom end back together. Pressing on to get the engine back in and running by the weekend. I want my scoob back on the road.

Woohoo

Well............ Got the old girl running. BUT its never as simple as that is it. After ordering the new seal and a couple of other bits off of RCM I got around to getting the beast running. As I wasn't 100% where to start looking given the injectors had a pulse signal. SO I pulled them out and ran them through the injector cleaner. Remade some of the earthing points on the chassis and engine. Re checked earths on the ECU and AEM unit along with power supplies. Changed the battery for a new larger item. Refitted it all and pressed the button. She tried so hard to fire it was agitating. So. Swapped the plugs from 8's to 6's. And turn the fuel pressure down on the FPR. Pressed the button again and she fired up a treat :D Happy days. Having had the car the fired it was time to replace the oil seal. Personally I find it quicker to pull the motor than drop the gearbox. Undo the bolts unplug the wiring harness and bosch, out. Anyway before that, oil out. Aweful lot of debris. Turns out the crank ate the rear thrust bearing. Long story short when the 2.1 engine let go the crank went off to a specialist to be analysed, checked and all that. It came back with the ok to be reused in the new build. Cranking the motor over and running it proved other wise. Absolutely everything has been scrutinised at the end of which a new EJ257 crank/big end and main bearings has been ordered from RCM and should be with me in the next couple of days so I can rebuild the old girl again. Hopefully this time to a more positive out come. On we go.....

Got the steering in this morning. I'm going get a little boot to sit up being the new boss to cover the gap between the coloum and plastic covers. Now you may think way go to all the effort and not just buy and off the shelf adaptor. The answer is the distance. With the pedals being further back I bought a dished steering wheel to compensate. Then with the quick release mechanism it added a lot of length to the wheel assembly. I made this boss to make that all as short as possible. In doing saves about 2" which was perfect. I cut the spline out of the stock wheel. The made an ally ring so that the two would be an interference fit. Then welded them front and back. This boss would then take the wheel hub. Centre machined down new ring

Its funny the closer you get to turning the key the more you realise that despite all your lists, checks, double checks and final checks just how many 'small' jobs you have to do in order to get to the finish line. After a couple of days of wiring relays, putting in kill switches and machining adaptors I'm actually now very close to getting the oil/coolant in and turning the key. Or pressing the button as the case now may be. All the new brake line are made and run. Pedal box is fully in. I need to make the kick plate to cover the cylinders. Because of the new pedal position I've had to change the steering wheel. Used that opportunity to purchase a new OMP wheel and Quick release boss. The steering wheel sits flush on the quick release boss which doesn't allow the horn to sit in the wheel. So I had to make a boss for that. Then I'm in the middle of machining an adaptor to go from the factory spline in the steering colum to match the blot pattern on the quick release boss. Kill switches and relays for fuel pumps/ignition/fans and push start. When a little like this: And a quick one of the fans..... exciting :/ Battery relocated to the boot. New lines run there also. So a handful of small jobs and tidy ups then i'll fire the old girl up.

And on the scoob. Got the tyres on. Again they are 225/40/18 NS -2R. They fit a whole load better than the previous 215/35/18 tyres. Look much better too. I think they give the car a better looking stance. Pedal box is also fitted in place just need to make all the lines. I'll be on with some more interesting stuff next week hopefully get the old girl fired up and ready for mapping.

Finally got all the v mounted intercooler in and finished. You'll note that the rad pipes are cut and welded. They won't be staying like that for too long. Had to do it that way so I could figure out all the best and routing as it quite tight under the cooler. I've also put in a 2nd filling point for the coolant to help with bleeding the system. But it's all in and for the most part I'm pretty happy with they way it all sits in there. You can see how I needed to snake the pipe under the cooler pipe. Now I have the angles etc I will be ordering proper bends to make it nicer. With the bumper back on.... All stelthy like...... no one will ever know :)

So got into the build today got a fair whack of niggelly jobs done. Everything is wired up and in aside from the rad fans (need to buy those still ) and one of the fuel pumps in the rear. All of the vaccum plumbing is done. Along with most of the pedal box lines. Still need to do the brake lines. I desperately need too redo the HT leads. I can't live with those being red. An upgrade to new age coil packs will be in order at some point. Winds me up the BOV and wastegate being red. Few more of the pipes still need coating too along with the rad. I was hoping to get all the water system tied up today but the tube never turned up as promised by the supplier. Oil filter relocation and cooler is also now in. Need to make some ducting for that and also for the v mounted intercooler. Vac pipe stuff behind the plenum v mount intercooler brackets either side now in oil cooler and relocated filter

righty, Intercooler finished and coloured: As you have probably see in the older pics I've had to mess aground who the slam panel. This left head headlights and remaining section of the slam panel a touch wobbley so I had knocked up a bracket to take up the slack. Not the prettiest but will do the trick. Then the intercooler in place. The rad is in place but not finished yet. Will get the intercooler pipes sorted in the morning.

Intercooler nearly finished ....

Been tucking into the 'boring' behind the scenes bits. Wiring, running lines etc. Changed the turbo mount from the bulk head to off the block and finally got my intercooler core through. Turbo mount : intercooler just resting in place to show how's it will sit although that won't quite be it's final resting place.

I've had the car delivered up to the shop as I'm just not getting a chance to get on with it at home. Bit more plumbing done. I decided to put a tie rod in for the turbo for an extra added support. Unsupported weight of a turbo on a red hot set of headers is one of the biggest contributors to cracks in manifolds in general, always worth bearing in mind. I'd whole heartily forgotten how long it takes to put hard lines in! Breather pipes done along with the water pipes and power steering. With the power steering I have used a combination of hard line and swaged fittings to get down to the rack. Tie rod support Engine bay with the hard lines in Slightly better view of the water header and power steering tanks Slowly slowly catchy monkey!

Two days off. Two days of Impreza. Admittedly was late start but few bits done. Got the clutch lines done. The release bearing in. Most importantly the motor is in..... Lets set the scene: BIG MESS!!!!!!! cheeky pic of the header before fitting AP bearing and spacer fitted with lines: All together ready to go in: Sitting pretty: Very much more to follow....

I can finally get the motor in. The last piece of that part of the puzzle can is now finished. By that I mean the spacer for the clutch release bearing. I was hoping to get this done before the weekend but the ally didn't turn up until today. I'm debating whether to take a day off on Friday to get the engine in. Will be that or Sunday. Anyway some not so interesting pics!! Started off in the lathe and then onto the mill. This is the face that the bearing bolts too This is the face that bolts up to the box Together with the bearing

Just noticed I didn't put the pics in of the end tanks for the new intercooler. Lots of knocking ally into shape. Hopefully not too much longer for the core.

Righty well whilst i'm struggling to find time to work on the actual car I've been gathering bits. Got a new set of stock clocks, MPH converted to that will be novel once she's running. New headlight, as mine got smashed in that mental wind and rain we had a while back. Oil cooler lines and fittings are now with me. Rest of the fuel line tube has turned up along with the tube for the breathers. Spacer for the AP bearing is almost finished. Clutch lines are ready to be assembled. As mentioned before I am waiting on my 90mm intercooler core for the V-mount set up so I have cobbled together the old one so the pipe work comes in and out under the headlights. Not what you'd class as an engineering solution but it will do the trick for now. And No. Its not pretty But on a better note. The motor is ready for install. Pictured here with Cosworth cambelt. Looks so unsuspecting just sitting on the bench. Who would know its a 2.4!

Few new bits turned up. AP Racing release bearing for the clutch. Need to machine up a adapter/spacer to this. Cosworth Cam belt was a must And the 52mm 3 row rad core for the V-mount cooler kit i'll be building. The Intercooler core unfortunatly is still 4-6 weeks away so i have modded the existing core for now.

Got a load of niggley bits done on the car today. All the fuel system in Just need to wire the 2nd bosch up. All the Hard lines in the boot finally in. AEM finally fully fitted in injectors wired 'n all. Fan wires sorted and relocated. Tidied up the existing loom. pretty much lots of wiring. Next trick is to get the motor in and get the rest of the hard lines done up front. Anyway, here is the boot set up all finished.

Little update; Got my clutch at last Very light compared to stock unit. Also started final assemblely of the motor....

Just a quicky with it dropped back in with the mock up motor.

Finally got the turbo system finished. Wastegate installed. Not had a chance to get the whole lot back in the car yet. Will do that tomorrow and get the intercooler mods finished up. The MVR 2-1 section: The finished article: