Roman

Pulled the motor back out to do firewall activities. 
Borrowed more of Nathan's stuff, so I could hang it all off the scales and see how we're looking weight wise now that most of the stuff is finalized.
This is with motor, flywheel, clutch, engine mounts, clutch slave&master, gearbox, alternator, exhaust manifolds. 
And a pair of extra exhaust flanges which I'm hanging the motor from. 
So 209kg all up isnt too bad. For reference @Hyperblade had the full beams 3SGE setup sitting at around 199kg when using ITB kit and 1NZ alternator.
Or for some other context, people list the weight of a 1JZGE alone at around 200-210kg.

So by switching from lead acid battery to a lithium one I've as good as neutralized the weight gain.
Then there are some other currently podgy parts like the factory seats still in there. 
So, this should still be a sub 1000kg car with most of the interior in, I'd imagine.

Toyota legend Mark Roads has a Spare Celica/Carina GT-T spec brake booster.
Which is a little smaller than the Soarer one, and will bolt up.
So will go pick that up some time next week. 

Back to the firewall problem, I borrowed a laser projector tool from @flyingbrick that is a cool piece of gear. 
It can draw a 360 degree line, all on the same plane. 
So I'm going to mark where this line lands everywhere, Then I can either cut the metal back to this line so it's all straight. 
Or, is use it as a reference point for knowing how far a piece needs to bend back or whatever.
Makes the problem seem easier in my brain, having some sort of reference point to work to.
I'll need to pull the motor back out to do this properly, so will dig out all of my engine crane parts out of storage and make a start on that.
Slowly making progress on a few different fronts which is good.

The cable that links the banks of throttles together was made from a motorcycle cable repair kit, so one end had a little screw in type fitting. 
However problem is that you need to push the cable all of the way through and out the other side to tighten it properly. Which I cant do, because of how it slots in. 
So I just left some cable hanging out the other side, then buzzed it with the tig and now it's sweet. 
I could lift up my bench vice using that connection so think it will be fine for pulling some throttles open. 

Burning the midnight oil some more, now that I can. I drained the brake fluid and got the Soarer booster and master cyl out.
I was hoping to fit this KE70 booster, which is much smaller diameter so gives me a bit more room to get bolts in. 

But unfortunately the bolt pattern through the firewall is different. 
The Soarer is 100x70mm, the KE70 is 80xsomething I think. 
It's tempting to redrill the firewall holes but the bracket on the other side has spacers/dowel type things on it, which make it more effort to redo properly. 
So will keep on the lookout for a slightly smaller booster with a 100x70 pattern.




It's looking as though a Hilux Surf has the same pattern, and hopefully a smaller booster. So will try find one of these, unless anyone has something similar lying around they could measure? 
There's one on Trademe so I've asked the guy if he can measure it up. Otherwise looks like there are some Surfs at pickapart, so will have a look next time I'm in Auckland.





 

I am so absolutely stoked to have some garage space again. Feels like I've been let out of jail or something! 
So I have been burning the midnight oil a bit. 

I got the passenger side manifold all finished, filled it all up with water and no leaks. 
So hopefully it's good haha.

I started on the rest of the exhaust a while back, but will chop it back up and redo it. As I was kinda thinking I'd make the extractors to suit the pipe locations, but it's worked out the other way around.
I am so absolutely over the moon to be able to spend nights or rainy days working on things now. 
The collector doesnt look so tiny/weird now that the rest of the pipe is on it. 

Just need to add the rear part after the collector onto the other side too, then I can make a start on the 2-1 section and rest of exhaust.

I think I might have mentioned it before, but its honestly one of my best trackday memories. 
Two uni students came to a Taupo trackday, back when it was the old small track. 
One was in a 3 cyl NA diahatsu Mira, and the other was in a 1500cc Ford Fiesta canvas top.
These cars were super closely matched in speed etc, and they were out there all day just absoluting wailing on their cars chasing each other around.
They came back into the pits with hugest grins, and everyone spectating was just loving watching these cars go 20 out of 10. So good.
While other people grumbling that their semi slicks were getting hot or something. Zero fucks given and max enjoyment.
It was like a mini Best Motoring video or something. haha.

10 hours ago, GARDRB said:

Parted out, now he's just the 1NZ influencer and spends all his time replying to fans on his OnlyFans... I mean Instagram

Thanks, I hate it 

What's been happening with the carina in the 5 weeks since last update? 

Absolutely fuck all

I've been busy putting the garage up, and have been away on some work trips. But then have also been off/on sick for nearly this whole time. 
However I've finally reached a turning point.
The shed is up! and weather tight, or, close enough. 
Still work left to do, but good enough to biff the carina in there. So now I can at least work on it at night time and on rainy days.

I've decided not to fire the motor up yet, because its fairly distracting from getting any other work done.
Instead I will work on all of the peripheral issues that prevent me from driving it.
So I took the front guards off, and all of the interior out so I've got a clear working space for a few things that need doing.



The people who replaced the roof on our house were kind enough to leave a pair of tin snips out somewhere. The guy didnt want them back, as they'd started to rust.
Some CRC later and they're pretty good again. It turns out these are pretty good at cutting firewall metal without any of the aggro that a grinder causes spraying metal and dust everywhere.
So I trimmed the firewall hole a bit bigger so it's a little more all on the same plane, and back far enough that there's still an okay amount of room behind the motor. 



The main thing here, is that there is a rear water outlet on the motor that connects both of the heads to a coolant return pipe that runs back up the vee to the front.
It needs to slide backwards a fair bit, to remove it. If you cant remove it, then you cant get the heads off.
So I've been thinking about whether or not I care about this.
Since so much of the motor has to come apart to remove the heads anyway (sump off, front cover off) 
I'd rather do that out of the car anyway. It's not much work to remove the motor, and I'll always opt for that over trying to work on something in a confined space.
It's not like I'll ever be in a situation at a track day, where pulling the heads off is a solution to a problem that can be fixed same day.
So I think I'll just make sure I can do all of the nuts and bolts up, reach the coolant hoses but not worry about being able to get that coolant outlet off.

I got the fuel rails all connected up, and tested them with some fuel pressure.
The rear fittings were hosing some fuel out, and needed to have the faces sanded flat. After that they sealed fine.
Everything is now holding pressure with no leaks.

Main things to do at the moment are try sort the firewall, and swap over the brake MC and booster to the smaller KE70 units.
Realistically I'm at the point of pushing shit uphill to try get everything sorted by drag day.
As I need a few more trips out of town for work between now and then. 
But I will do my best.