Status 10 May 2000

The BIG day has finally come. Will it even fire up???

Here we go! On a tow truck on its way to my cousins garage (Friday).
You see the front has been removed. I had to get rid of a big tank for headlight washers situated in the middle of the bumper. I cleaned the intercoolers as well. I also had to modify one recirculation valve to accommodate for the drivability upgrade that came with the dual pop charger.

Here I am making the last preparations.

Here is what we did. We connected the engine and the transmission together first. I know this is a different approach then most of people are using but just wait and see why I think this is an easier way.

Here you see the idea. It's just like on the production line in the factory. The engine is mounted on the front suspension and the car is coming down upon it. It's much easier this way. You don't have to connect the transmission to it afterwards.

Here is the engine emerging. We slowly lowered the car and it's a tight fit. This was on Saturday.

Almost there! This was early Monday morning, like 4 a.m. I worked all night to be finished on Monday. I had some troubles fitting the dual pop charger though. I had to cut a little piece out of the CF reinforcement that's in the middle of the bumper and remove an aluminum pipe holding the engine oil cooler.

It was about 5 a.m. and I was ready to start the engine.... Turned the key... no smoke, good. Cranked it and it fired up on the second try!!!
YiiiiiiiHaaaaaa! I'M THE BEST, I'M THE GREATEST!!! I was soooo happy.

Some problems showed up though:
- Oil leak from the passenger side turbo oil line: I have to tighten it.
- Unstable idle when warmed up: still investigating. Could be that I've initialized the AFC wrong or adjusted the throttle bodies to tight, no air is passing when the throttle is closed.
- Squeaking belt: I've got wrong size of the belts for the Alternator and Power Steering. Apparently there is a difference between the Euro and US spec.

Overall I'm very satisfied. All the stuff that I've replaced is working well and that's almost a miracle :-)
I keep working so you won't see me around much. New exhaust system is going in next week so I'm very curious how it will sound. I'll make a recording and put it up here. It'll be a custom made 3" system made by a company called Ferrita.

Next update ~20 May.

Zee ya!