Quick post to cover the last week or two's madness

All the new parts arrive!


Replacement oil and water pumps fitted


New timing belt kit fitted


Sump reinstalled and all the covers put back on


Then, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU... As I found this as I went to put my crank pulley back onto the 20V this morning...



So, while I wait for a second hand crank pulley to arrive, I moved onto another project for the day. A GTFO engine cover vent.

I took this and followed the instructions.


Rum may or may not have been consumed during the process...


Then I mocked the vent idea up out of cardboard


It's very basic and that means it will be easier to make :) I then whipped it up in solidworks so I have a working plan.


Once I had the materials on hand, I moved onto doing this.



Cut it out with my old jigsaw (which is trying to die...)


I made a clamping jig to bend the aluminium with.


Then folded the up rights.


Starting to take shape now


Fitting it to the engine cover I cut up


Still need to the the last bend yet for a proper fitment test.


Quick placement on the AW11. Thunderbirds are GO!


Then finished off the final bend and fitted the vent properly


Just need to get around to tweaking the shape a bit, riveting it onto the engine cover, then I'll dig out the filler and learn how to hide my dodginess :D. Few rattle cans of red paint will finish it off and it can get mounted onto the car. Only weigh's 5.7kg total, which is still saving me some weight since I removed the wing.

Well, till next time!

While I waited for some parts to arrive (crank pulley and flywheel bolts), I took the liberty of making a new rear exhaust setup for Cait's Imprezza.
 
We bought a pair of tips that suited her liking, a 180' mandrel bend, a metre of 2" straight pipe and some matching flanges. Then out came the welder and grinder.
 




 
Welds were a bit ugly (I've only got a 10 year old stick welder) and I had to do a few hole repair jobs (I don't get to weld <3mm steel very often, so skills are lacking and I blew a few holes in it :D) but its holding together and does the job. Car now has a nice note to it, without being overly loud or sounding like a Hyundai with a fart can...

And the AW11 is alive again!
Finish connecting all the bits up to the 20V today and it fired up first go. Made a few small trips around before going for a longer drive to the car wash. No big issues and it's running fairly good considering it's not even tuned at the moment.
 

Nice get some vids up would love to see it in action!
 

Pimped the AW11 a bit on Friday.
Picked up a 300 watt inverter and did a quick ghetto installation so I can run my archaic tuning laptop which last <10 mins on a battery.



And since I've no center console, I can't charge my phone, so now I can use the wall charger :D

While I was waiting for some paint to dry on some other projects at home, I decided to setup the VVT on the 20V and give the ECU a few tweaks.
http://youtu.be/4AGxET0HcaA
Not so noticeable in the video, but you feel the kick in the seat and the induction noise changes evidently.
Now to work on fixing my wideband issues.

Decided to get around to fitting my ST185 twinpot brake calipers today. I used the ZZE123 Corolla 255X25 brake discs with this conversion and 2mm spacers to correct the offset of the disc. Usually for this conversion, people use the ST185 brake disc, which is a 5 stud disc and needs re-drilled to suit the AW11. I've added a guide on how to do it on my website, www.midrear.net, it's located in the projects section.
 
Couple of quick pictures to show the setup.
The twin pot fitted with a 14" steelie rim over them. They just clear (well, just rubs the paint on the calipers...)

 
But they work much better with 15" rims.

 
A pretty simple mod to do in the grand scheme of things since it's all bolt on, once I get some new pads (current ones are old, glazed and have uneven wear) I'll be able to see how much of a difference they make. As they are on the car at the moment, the pedal is a little softer initially, but when you stand on them, it's still easy to lock the fronts up.

Put my hydraulic handbrake in today in preparation for this weekends Slidewize Motorkhana





Quick test in gravel car park yielded satisfactory results, however not enough to lock up the rears at 60km/h on tarmac :)

On Saturday, took the TrackDub to the Slidewize Jap VS Aus day.
Had a blast and got some good practice in on hydro hand brake during the skid sessions.
In the timed events, I managed to jump a V6 Commodore off the line on the "Go to Woah" shoot out for a win, before lining up against a V8 Commodore ute and getting smashed. After that, I managed to beat another Commodore on the figure of 8 shootout course, then went toe to toe with an R33 Skyline, where we had to go into a re-run (too close to call) and then I locked up a bit on one corner and put myself a half car length behind.
Then they moved onto the sprint circuit, where I got a chance to show them what the AW11 is all about. I set the fastest times in both runs (beating a V35 350GT Skyline), but both times failed to pull the AW11 up in the garage at the end. The KU31 tires were locking up and swinging off the hydro hand brake didn't help stop her. Should have braked earlier!

Jap team ended up winning, 164 points to 150 points.

Couple of photos

In the paddock waiting for drivers breifing.

The little Impreza ready to go for a skid session with an XR6






All the cars who competed.

Hi Knightrous.   Great stuff mate.  That is a good result. And thanks for the pics.   Where is the venue.?  I would certainly be interested if that is Gympie.  Seems to be a terrible lack of enthusiasm for motor sport in our Qld group.  Like the look of the Hyd handbrake but does it flex too much on its mounting?          Cheers  Doug.