Sunday 25 September 2011

Winter preparation with Fluidfilm

Since the weather was great today, yet winter is approaching quickly, I decided to treat my trusty winter car with a bit of TLC and prepare it for the things to come. Recently i found a Fluidfilm conservation kit on ebay and wanted to try this out for future applications. So i took apart the interiour of the 323F BG and started flooding the rear arches with Fluidfilm:



Before:

After:


It was somehow reassuring that after the treatment the Fluidfilm had reached the plugs down at the sills:

I decided to treat the sills full length as well:

So for a quick review: I used up 3x400ml for both rear arches and both sills as well as all 5 doors. The car is dripping with fatty oily goo at the moment. Fluidfilm is really easy to use - how it's protective capabilities are, only time will tell...

Sunday 18 September 2011

All the little things...

Over the last few months I really didnt have as much time as i would have liked to spend on my cars. So a lot of stuff that I had planned has been postponed. In the meantime I at least managed to achive some of the minor modifications:
Some time ago a got a JDM gauge cluster - i took the rev counter as well as oil pressure and temp gauge to swap into my existing cluster. The temp gauge was modified to remove the normalization and achieve linear temperature display...


Starting with this...

Changed resistors at the front: 

Added one at the rear:

Tested the setup and it works perfectly fine now - finally there's some sense in the temperature readout.

Next up was a Pivor RHU-M controller that i sourced in a US MR-2 forum :) It came new and in the box, really lucky find :)




The installation was dealt with within an hour, had to remove the dimmer though but that's not needed anyways.




 I also got my P5  frame rails and tow hooks back from powder coating:






The tow hooks did save a lot of weight and i like the look of them - however i doubt that the rear one really is functional since it's a bit wobbly.

Anyways, I ended up with the car sitting like this:

Also I tried A Nardi Classic 330 with S-Special air vents - didnt like the flashyness of the vents though. Loved the Nardi but my current seating position didnt allow me to use it since there was a conflict of interest with my legs ;)


If i can manage to change the seating position, the Nardi will be back - in the meantime it's decorating my wall.

Since my driver's side electric window quit working on a rainy day when lowered of course, i've had enough with the cheapo EUDM window switches and got a set of JDM switches. It came with broken connector, could use the old one to make it work:



They work a lot better than the original ones and now i've got an automatic passenger window, how JDM is that? :D Will modify the switches eventually to set things right.

Next on the list was a set of Magnecore KV85 leads, built by Julie :)



One day, Rod from Tetsuya Garage came through with a good as new KG Works instrument cover - this really is a magnificient piece, it completly changes the feel of the interiour. Really glad i got this :)
I'm not sure if i should keep the OEM gauges or go for something more retro...

On my quest for the optimal intake solution i got my hands on an ITG Maxogen CAI:
It's a great piece of kit, really only got two problems: Looks a bit too flashy for my taste and still suffers from heat soak, so i'm again considering some improvements. Sounds brilliant though and increases engine rensponsiveness, so i can recommend this!

While i was at it, i also swapped the power steering reservoir for a TR Lane alloy one to match the coolant overflow tank and soon to be radiator:
The special tool set for draining the hydraulic oil :)

Finally, today I got a new set of seats. I actually wanted to get Elise Probax seats but after testing them out in another NA, there was no way of me ever fitting into them with my legs colliding even with a 32cm steering wheel. Therefore i found myself a rather unexspected solution: NBFL surfboards! They are really the best choice for me since they are a lot taller then the rest of the OEM seats giving me support in all the right places and more room for the shoulders. First for a direct size comparison:
My old worn drivers seat compared to a NBFL seat - the difference is noticable.
Before:
Half way there:

Finished! I really prefer the new look although the seats should be darker - i guess i'll do a foamectomy and have some black cloth/leather trims made up next year :)

I think it's fair to assume that Domo-Kun approves!
 


That's it for now, the car will be off the roads soon and i hope that i'll have more spare time to get stuff done in the not too distant future!



Tuesday 6 September 2011

Small winter project

After a long time of not much happening finally an update :)
DIYAutotune recently offered a nice discount that i just couldnt resist, so i put down an order and today fetched this from the customs office:


Exited unpacking revealed this:


A brand new 76Pin Denso DIYPNP - finally, years after hearing the first time about Megasquirts I'm gonna build my own :)


Looks like a lot of fun. Since i really liked the idea of having barometrig correction i also included one upgrade: The MapDaddy4 MAP-Sensor:


That's it for now, due to a lack of free time at the moment it's supposed to keep me busy over the winter (amongst other things), hopefully it'll be ready in spring 2012.