Trials and tribulations

It was supposed to be the grand finale of car modification, it would have been as well had it not been for amateur errors which have already cost and will continue to cost me to put right.

So we can break this down into two areas.

Things people got wrong.

1. No gasket on the cam angle sensor
2. The world’s worst map

Things no one will admit to.

1. Damage to the front pulley cover paintwork
2. Damage to the car paint work
3. Damage to the rear bumper
4. Exhaust badly adjusted in wrong position
5. Rear number plate deep scratch (how the hell did they do this!)

The camera never lies 

Melted Rear Bumper from badly adjusted exhaust

Front wing scratch

Rear Quarter Scratch

Rear Quarter Scratch

Initially I am going to try and have the rear quarter body panel 'touched up', as there is no magic repair short of a respray that can be done. The front bumper (for which the scratch is legendary) I will have sprayed.

The rear bumper is obviously knackered. However before I can replace this I will need to go to a specialist exhaust center to have the overall length of the back box shortened by about 20/25mm and lowered by the same. It could be that there is adjustment for lowering on the de cat silencer, however this will not shorten the overall pipe length which was probably affected when the new down pipe was made up. 

Funnily enough I was already working on the replacement for the rear bumper and side skirts before this, so do have replacements. However I was planning on enjoying working on the body in my own time and not having to make it a top priority (let alone the expense of spray work).

I am not in the mood to comment on Abbey Motorsport, Drift Street Imports and Auto Extreme at the moment. Although am sure that each will get a mention as I cover various parts of the correction and look at the actual results of the engine work.

R33 Skyline after supply and fit of new parts!

Here she is in all her glory (well the revised engine bay). Note no mapping has been done yet, so not revving the hell out of her!

Injectors are a go go

The will they, won't they battle is at an end (or at least this chapter of it) and the injectors have now been fitted to the car!

This was done still by fitting larger adaptors to the 11 mm injectors, however this time the difference is that the adaptors were made from rubber rather than a machined part.
It is easy to be wise after the event but it turns out that tolerances are more like guide lines when it comes to this kind of thing. The fuel rail diameters are undersized for a tight fit, as were the adaptors for that matter (just not enough).
The last little fight the fuel rail put up was that the spacers were around 4mm too long and needed to be modified, but now the the injectors sit nice and tight as they should.

Fuel rail and fitted injectors! 

I am just happy that this block on progress has been lifted and we are back under way with the good stuff. I particularly like how the injectors match the rocker covers, its all in the detail for me!

The lower inlet is actually from a Spec one R33 polished and then painted black. It is one of the few original parts that I polished and finished that will remain on the car, so it is amusing that it is also one of the oldest parts in the engine bay! There are a couple of connecting holes along the top of it for the spec one fuel rail (I assume), which when I painted the part I carefully masked and cleaned up after. Funny thing is that these have never been connected to anything.. I will do my best to ignore this bit of unfinished business!

It's been a real learning process this one. But its getting there and the car should be back to a running condition by this Friday (at least that is the plan!). 

Plazmaman fuel rail

Today feels like the morning after the night before and the realisation that a growing dark cloud exists over the project that sometimes I'm beginning to wish I had never started. Less of this defeatist talk, it's all part of the game!

So to follow on from yesterdays post. I took a call from my supplier here in the UK for the Plazmaman parts. It turns out that the fuel rail of all things is the culprit for the injectors plus the adaptors not fitting and that the injector bore size has simply been made too small.

My first thought was that this not only means that my injector adaptors won't fit but even a specific 14mm injector won't fit either. However Plazmaman say it is normal for their 14mm injector rail to have holes of 13.4mm to get a "snug" fit with the O-ring.
So my supplier is off to a UK firm with 14mm ID injectors in stock to physically test them in the rail.

Will it or won't it fit! 

So there is a possible solution. It maybe that it will be a costly one but at this stage I don't care and will clutch at any straw offered!