Another of those things the car had when I got it was a pair of Vent to Atmosphere (VTA) Blow off Valves (BOVs) and I don't really like them. There is the argument that on a car equipped with AFM there is always unmetered air going into the engine when you release the throttle. While this is maybe true the fact that these valves 'dump to atmosphere' when you shut the throttle means there is no fuel being injected either so it kinda isn't a problem. However that's not the issue i have with them. The issue I have with them is not only do they dump air when lifting off the throttle after being WOT, the darned things sound like they are dumping on part throttle as well almost to the point of leaking when not hard on the gas. Anyways, managed to find myself a pair of OEM BOVs complete with the mounting bracket so I figured not many moving parts, 30yo or not they should work. I did buy new rubber hoses for them ha, OEM from Japan no less. I forgot to get the top hose but mine was ok to re-use and saved a bit of faffing around with the top one.
So how does it feel and sound after the changeover. Wonderful, so far. Nice and quiet though you can still hear some intake roar when on the power but no phsssssssssst when driving part throttle, no PHSSST when lifting off under heavish throttle loads. It does actually feel slightly smoother on gear changes as well, feels like it doesn't stumble / pause like it did before as the recirc works and likely the OEM units shut faster and stay closed more than the HKS units. Try and give them a bit of clean and then see if anyone wants them
OK, I've updated Day 1 with pics and some video, Day 2 as below.
Now I have to confess, I was veggin in front of the tv all morning while Calum and Larry were working on the car. I got picked up around 130pm as there was nothing I could do before then. My spannering skills are well known, ie I hold the spanners cause when I use them I break stuff. Anyhow on with the story.
Day 2
All torque mounts nicely tightened up so that part is ok.
Induction kit nicely fitted but er at the mo it's Vent to Air as the existing Recirc pipework is too short. One wee trip to B&Q coming up in near future.
Oil Pan No 2 changed and new non rusting unit in place. New oil filter in place too. A point of note here, even after draining the oil there was still about 0.5Litres of oil sitting in the sump. Turns out to remove it all you'd have to jack the front of the car and just the right rear corner up to clear out the oil pan. Of course, no one ever does.
Gearbox very nearly had to come off again as there was an issue with a plate that sits between the box and engine block. Fortunately this was dealt with by just slackening some bolts and then the problem bolts went in ok.
Once front bumper was removed I then set about removing the old chargecooler pre rad. Broke the horns as well so another job in the near future. All chargecooler pipes removed, pain in the butt that was. Will re visit the chargecooler theme in the future but not this year.
Sheared bolts from the old front fog lights removed from the bumper bar. Sadly I don't have video of Larry getting all personal with the angle grinder. Sparky 2....
Clutch slave cylinder refitted and removed then refitted. There was a bolt that was missed on the gearbox so er remove and try again.
Starter motor refitted - question is would the blighter work!
There were some issues with the gear linkage bushes, basically one was gubbed the other had a fair old slack in it. One was awkward to fit one was okish. Something for future replacement but ok and connected at the mo.
Drive shafts refitted after some cleaning of the suspension struts.
Both rear brake pads and carriers cleaned up, sliders copper greased as they were both er solid. That explains why the handbrake was so crap.
All under trays fitted after the removal of the chargecooler pipes. Yup that took ages as more bolts had seized and snapped. Ho hum.
This was quite late on in the afternoon so it was time to start refilling the coolant system and the gearbox and the oil. Much gnashing of teeth and bruised knuckles it's all ready to fire up.
First start, check for leaks, gearbox, engine and coolant. Once we were happy nothing was leaking we then topped up what we could and Calum went out with the car to ensure everything worked as expected. Of course, we left the exhaust off as it would get removed should any problems have been found. Must admit, it didn't sound bad at all. Oh, the starter worked as well :-))
No leaks were found so exhaust refitted. Should point out here much cleaning was done of the mating surfaces and yeah I ain't looking forward to that being removed in the future.
The coolant system was then properly bled and that took forever, as it always does. That and a huge 13Litres of coolant to fill the blighter.
Exhaust ready for intermediate pipe
Larry checking nothing is amiss. Can't fault his attention to detail
The clutch is quite low to the floor and the aforementioned shifter bushes have made the gearchange a bit notchy. However, Kenny had dropped by and suggested a slight adjustment on the clutch pedal as it had some slack. Hey presto clutch has slightly more travel and no slack thus gearchanges are really smooth now. The clutch feel itself is very light so no doubt I'll stall it a few times til I'm used to it again.
All in all I'm very happy with the job and I can't thank Calum and Larry for the time and effort they put into it. Cheers guys, I'll get a round in this year at some wee drive ;)
indeedy. The piping has been acquired and hopefully get it fitted this weekend. It's very bendy stuff but its designed to be flexible so rather than kink, it just follows in a nice curve. Sweet.
On another note the std Dump valve is at the moment dumping to atmosphere as I haven't figured out how to plumb it back into the airbox. What a noisy blighter it is. When driving about on part throttle it just vents - all the bleeding time. Sounds like a darned turbine running away behind me. Seems to attract Corsas and Saxos too. Annoyingly too I'm beginning like the whoosh as it dumps on gearchanges. Doh! after me saying how much I hate that noise. Life goes on
