what i do next is...
take the same pics, in a different location! :P
looks like it'l be after Christmas when i get the tartan in.. <_<





need to re-do the paintwork on the front of the car. the whole thing still needs a re-spray, but it needs another front tart-up as i am genuinely so shyte at driving. that lip was brand new only 18months ago! :(

on an engine update too; at 15,000km in, its well and truly run in.
bit disappointed really, as i tried to get it done as best as i could. anything and everything suggested was replaced.. :(
Freshy built, balanced, and with the 100kw high-comp pistons, it just seems to struggle. feels like its getting choked. it may just be rose-tinted-glasses etc.. but I'm sure it felt more lively and free-spinning at 350,000km, whether or not it was any quicker.
there's also a VERY FARKING ANNOYING rattle noise coming from the engine that is has always done. it dead-set sounds like pinging/detonation, but i guess since that's all been well-and-truly gone over, it has to be coming from the exhaust somewhere - somewhere between the exhaust manifold and the muffler. when I've got some more coin to burn, i suppose ill get some nice extractors/headers, and replace the poo poo in-between.

anyway, enough sooking. :P

quote:

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on an engine update too; at 15,000km in, its well and truly run in.
bit disappointed really, as i tried to get it done as best as i could. anything and everything suggested was replaced.. :(
Freshy built, balanced, and with the 100kw high-comp pistons, it just seems to struggle. feels like its getting choked. it may just be rose-tinted-glasses etc..

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honestly man, its still a bigport with an ADM ECU... while the extra compression will help a bit, even so a stock smallport pistons are only 10.3:1 ... thats VERY low for a NA. add a 0.5mm headgasket and shave the head a little and you can get it to 11.1:1... then look for a JDM bigport ECU as its good for 96kw (better than 88kw, and you can find them cheaply).

stock 4age are never gonna be a good engine, however if you do a couple of mods (cams are a MUST!! as 4age can rev easy, just they dont make a lot of power at high revs).

with a couple of mods (compression and cams) these things can be pretty lively and fun. good luck with it man, and this is THE best aw11 i have ever seen. good work.

Looking awesome mate!!

The cam's should wake it up a bit, I couldn't follow 100%, your getting someone to put the cams in right?? If you we're doing it yourself, i was just gunna say make sure you set the shims up right.

As for extractors, i know what you mean about the lack of choice. I managed to get a cusco PS ball set of extractors, but they were discontinued ages ago so they only pop up occasionally, and aren't cheap. Then there are the TRD ones (good luck), or if you want to try something a bit cheaper and local, have you considered the genie extractors??

http://www.bestmufflers.com/bshop/product_info.php?cPath=157_173&products_id=2350&osCsid=f32d98ae9010fb9577512d0e9cb80279

Or you could go even cheaper option, and go for hurricane extractors:

http://www.bestmufflers.com/bshop/product_info.php?cPath=552_554&products_id=3764&osCsid=f32d98ae9010fb9577512d0e9cb80279

These are some of the only other ones i had ever found, other than american stuff, but i would imagine there would be fitment issues with those.

^^
no problem,
The Tomei cams available for the 4age look to have had a decent price-drop just recently..
http://www.tomeipowered.com/BTE/index.php/2010/11/27/price-drop-tomei-4ag-poncams-and-procams-camshafts/
so they're fkn cheap as chips! that website says $300 or so a cam, but i paid $575 (posted!) for the pair from Orion Engineered Motorwerks in the US. they're a vendor on MR2OC.
should be good. :)

quote:

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Originally posted by MCT_MR2

Looking awesome mate!!

The cam's should wake it up a bit, I couldn't follow 100%, your getting someone to put the cams in right?? If you we're doing it yourself, i was just gunna say make sure you set the shims up right.

As for extractors, i know what you mean about the lack of choice. I managed to get a cusco PS ball set of extractors, but they were discontinued ages ago so they only pop up occasionally, and aren't cheap. Then there are the TRD ones (good luck), or if you want to try something a bit cheaper and local, have you considered the genie extractors??

http://www.bestmufflers.com/bshop/product_info.php?cPath=157_173&products_id=2350&osCsid=f32d98ae9010fb9577512d0e9cb80279

Or you could go even cheaper option, and go for hurricane extractors:

http://www.bestmufflers.com/bshop/product_info.php?cPath=552_554&products_id=3764&osCsid=f32d98ae9010fb9577512d0e9cb80279

These are some of the only other ones i had ever found, other than american stuff, but i would imagine there would be fitment issues with those.

---

thanks for the helpful post..!
yeah, i most likely wont put them in myself. probably just get it done during its next service.
cheers for pointing out some of the aussie selection of extractors.. id forget they even do them for 4age's.
never heard of hurricane, but the Genies seem decent purchase @ $500-odd.

Nice red aw11 and goes with the rims very well. Oh nice camera lens too ><

would be good, but i wouldn't want it to be off the road for all that long. I sold my Subaru wagon a while back, so drive this car daily. totally worth it though. :P

ended up getting the interior parts back from the trimmer the other day as well. :)
absolutely stoked with how it turned out..!
the trimmer (who'd done parts of my GTS and other bits in the past) did a top notch job with what was supposedly a very hard material to work with.
its a perfect copy seat-to-seat and doorcard-to-doorcard, all backed onto another fabric to give it a bit of weight. the new bolsters in, and the new Recaro fabric is a perfect match - other than the age discolouring on the other trim! :)
anyway, an unnecessary amount of pictures will explain all: :P

all the sides done in black, like original:

the black stripe is the centre:

the fabric on the doorcards was wrapped over a board to hide the edges; then double stitched for rad-ness..!


managed (by total luck) to find some genuine original 1980's Recaro decals on ebay. it was a full set (plus others) that look to have come with some Recaro IS-N's back in the day. :)


ALSO... strategically placed some decals on the corner of my dash. is nice and random and helps that stickers are somewhat trendy nowadays, but they're covering (and holding together) splits in the dash that are getting worse. they weren't there at all only a couple of years ago.. :(
eventually ill get another dash. nice ones pop-up on ebay in the UK (thanks to their lack of sun), but ill have to save for the shipping. :(

also mounted another fire extinguisher in the cabin. I've always had one in the boot, but after reading that other thread about small ones not being enough, i decided more the merrier. plus it looks like a hardcore trackcar y0!.. or a bus.. <_<

AAAAnyway, excitedly got the seats back on the rails, and the whole lot in the car!
pulled the red JDM mats back out, and put in my black USDM mats. the IS a point where everything is too colourful... :S

(roughly translates to "the Recaro's, please steal them")








lol.. pimpin since been pimpin since been pimpin. :P
and one more. :)

basically, I'm loving the way it looks. the nice tidy seats, doorcards, and mats, make the interior look so much tidier. somehow the blue/green/black really, really, works with the red in my eyes... its ridiculous. it really is hard to picture! :)

*Goes looking for thesaurus to find more superlatives*

Bodacious dude.

Ross that interior looks insane mate! The blue tartan gives it a bit of a euro/vdub feel! Looks like whoever did it did a very good job of it too.