Fixing the GTR spare / blank / coin cover

 so at some point in the GTR's life it got an alarm fitted with requisite LED and rather than use the coin holder on the dash or even drilling a hole in the dash / steering cover the fitter decided to take out the coin mask from the centre console arm rest and drill a hole in that... Not even swap it with a blank but actually drill a hole right through it. I suppose either way it's unlikely I'd have got the original included but damn what place to put completely out of eye line as well.

So, started off by having the LED moved, it was but left with this

luckily I had this already sitting waiting for the moment

side by side for comparison

and finally in the car. Easiest fix done yet ha.

It's a funny old world

 So I've been fighting with a stumbling mis-fire on the old Mustang and this has been going on for about a year now :(  First off I thought it dodgy petrol but two tanks of V-Power soon disproved that. I did run a code checker with the trusty Torque Pro Android app and no stored codes. Did the MAF clean, did sparkplug change as it was original ones in there from beginning. Spark plug intervals are 100k but really 5yrs in and you think yeah time for a change. Non of this fixed this issue...

So finally i had a look round and realised I could use Forscan for free if all i wanted to do was read stuff from the car and reset error codes. Got myself a cable and downloaded the windows progam and boom there was the fault P0024. Cam timing issue, bank 2 exhaust cam over advanced. Cue much messed around with Ford who did zero diagnostics but instead swapped the VCT solenoids about and said yeah that's it. Um no, it wasn't as the code was still there and i could hear and feel the same issue as before. So knowing how they'd basically done hee haw digging and allegedly swapped the solenoids but how could we know... went back to another trusted and very busy garage and I bought a replacement VCT solenoid (Ford OEM no less) and actually got it swapped out. Sadly this did not fix the issue. The next stage is terrifying.

This is changing the Cam phaser / sprocket but thats inside the head. To get to one phaser you have to 

• remove both valve covers
• loosen the sump
• remove the single piece timing cover
• remove the primary chain if not both primary chains
• remove the secondary chain for the bank you need
• remove the VCT solenoid for the cam you want
• remove the cam with the issue
• replace the phaser / sprocket
• re-assemble in reverse order

Now you can see straight away there is an issue. If you have to take the timing cover off and a primary chain possibly two depending how they are setup, you have all four phasers and all four VCT solenoids siting there looking at you. You have both Primary and Secondary timing chains sitting there looking at you. You have many chain guides sitting there on the floor after you removed them to get to the above. So yeah, as much as it hurts you do it right you do it once. All the timing gear is getting swapped out and new seals for timing and valve covers plus it'll require the coolant radiator being removed to get the extra space to work on this. Kerching... Oil change as well then eh since the sump has to get dropped.

GT-R news. Well it got all new belts, all new fluids, all new brake pads (disks were fine), wheel alignment done, couple of electrical things tidied up, OEM airbox fitted and then it's rained pretty much every day since! Oh, it got MOT'd as well. No issues.

Happy days.

That old OEM oil cooler issue..Part 2

 So yeah what seems like an eon ago i had had the stock oil interwarmer removed and was quite happy about it and then someone hooked up an oil temperature gauge to their GT and measured the results of their oil cooler delete. Yeah, eye opening but there was some concern over the quality of their gauge so we needed a second set of results. I got a fairly basic analogue Stack Oil Temperature gauge and got it hooked up, I should have posted this stuff Dec 2022 then July 2023 but i never so here we go.

Dec 2022 - about 3degC outside air temperature and it's fresh but dry, Exec summary - 90-92degC oil temperature (basically just far enough past the 90degC marker to see the marker, gauge back face then needle) in all steady state driving. Actual driving speed did not seem to make a difference to the oil temperature with the only difference being how fast the oil gets to said temperature and it can take a surprising distance to get up to that temperature. So, 50mph, 70mph for 30 miles give or take the occasional lift and coast for traffic it is the same temperature for the oil at 90-92degC so it's very steady Was also in stop start traffic for 25 minutes and oil temperature stayed the same 90-92degC. CHT on the dash would vary from 95-100degC throughout all the above

Come March ish 2023 the ambient temperature was a bit nicer at 12degC and oil temperature under same conditions as above was 100degC, outside air hotter makes the engine oil work a bit more which is fair enough.

June/July 2023 and boy was it hot here, 23-30degC some days. Brilliant stuff. Well sadly never got the chance to hoof it last summer but 23-30degC ambient temperatures outside and in fairly enthusiastic driving without pushing the revs to the red, the oil temperature never got above 103ishdegC temperature, could see the dial face between the 100 and the needle position. The only time it rose above this was climbing the Applecross (Bealach na Ba) road. Climbing to 2050odd feet above sea level, 25degC weather, air con on (obv!), 20percent gradients, high loads on the engine pulling out of alpine style hairpins (three of them) and constant stop / start / on the power between passing places and blind corners on a single track road. Oil temperature hit 110degC which actually matched the CHT readout as well. TBH most of the time they are pretty close to each other with steady state driving, when hoofing it the oil temperature can be higher than CHT but usually not by much. 

So in conclusion, i think for the road in this climate, I'm fine without the cooler. Hoo raa

er so I bought one lol

in its natural habit no ?

 yup I have gone and bought an R33 GTR, after the prices have already gone stupid and before they go really stupid (hopefully still upwards to get some cash back to me in the future). Car I'd always wanted after the MR2 but kept the MR2 for so long until it was rusted beyond repair (boot floor was rotten from wheel arches to the bumper) that I thought no more old 90's JDM for me and then full circle here I am. 

So why now? Well after my trip to Japan in 2020 for the Tokyo Auto Salon and going to the Daikoku Tokyo car meets, seeing all the JDM cars and tonnes of British / European and American cars as well, the R33 passion was relit and then the pandemic hit. But it has itched away at me since then and while I've nagged various mates about it I didn't really do anything about it til just before Christmas 2022 when i really started seriously looking at options. A few ups and downs later and here we are and I've only gone and done it. Did I need to do it, nope and certainly shouldn't have done it for many many reasons but you do only live once so er yeah why not!

So it's a Series 1, silver (obv) very basic mods of coilovers (too low and too stiff as the car skips over a series of bumps rather than ride them out) lovely Kakimoto exhaust that is not too loud and neighbour friendly ish and some daft HKS mushroom filters. Other than that, stock which is how it mostly will remain. Might update the mp3 CD head unit to a Sat Nav unit but that's a bit more awkward with the single DIN layout. Might just get a plug in Sat Nav display that does the Bluetooth for the phone / music as well. Choice choices. 

Something wicked this way comes..

 well actually it's already here....

The car is back

 which to be fair it has been back a few weeks now. Of course it wasn't quite finished even after all the delays as the replacement reversing camera module had not been 'tuned in' to the cars BCM which meant no guide lines when in reverse. After a bit of being mucked about it got sorted during the annual service and now all good.

Even managed to do some basic basic oil temperature testing but with the ambient temperature so low these days it was hardly worth the data but at least i now have a better setup for the gauge to sit. The results of testing in 8-10degC ambient air, at a steady speed the oil temperature sits 90-92degC no matter what that steady state speed is. Good to know, just need warmer weather and some hooning to see what happens next.

It is a funny old world for sure

 ..so the day after my last post it was my last day of a winter weeks holiday and I decided since the sun was out I would go for a run in the car to get lunch and fuel the car up. Beautiful blue sky sunny day, not exactly warm but a crystal clear day. Of course it was too good to be true. As I was sitting at a stop light BOOM i got re-ended. Sigh. Bit of damage but nothing hefty or into the frame rails. So, two months later here i am waiting on my car being returned. Time taken for sign off for repairs was a bit, then Christmas shutdown then ordering / delivery of parts and finally fitting. Then the realisation of the wrong parts being delivered so another wait for parts. Sigh.

On the upside I did get a courtesy car 5.0 GT Autobox (A10) Mustang. Yeah, always wanted to try the A10 automatic as it sounds amazing in the youtube videos. Crisp instant gearchanges and with 10 gears it's a close ration box. Yeah, glad i had the opportunity to have an extended test drive of such a beast as I cannot ever see me buying one. Holy moses what a collection of muddled gears and economy programming of the box. More to follow but for sure I'll be happy handing this back. 

Stay safe out there folks