FMIC & Suspension Upgrade Suggestions/Ideas

[simon k]

you could also orient it so that the stud in the bottom of the strut top pic is installed closest to the firewall. That would give you the slot angled diagonally back towards the centre of the engine bay yeah? - that way max caster and not giving away too much camber.

yep, rotate it anti-clockwise from where I've shown it...

[PoloGIT]

Nice find Simon, thanks. Funny thing was I was changing the cambelt at a mate's place a couple of weeks ago, he races an old 1600sss. I'm sure had I mentioned it, he would have said something like "have I got just the thing for you..."

Meanwhile I've put the H&R springs back in, paired with the B8 struts. I'm happy with the results at this stage.

[JTop]

Hey All,

Sorry for the radio silence, just finished my exam on Friday so I'm done with my studies for the year
The night before purchased all my Bilsteins from the UK, so they'll be another week or two.
Now my options are;
Stage 1 tune at UGP what I have right now, I'll probably book tomorrow morning, then build my suspension as it comes, get new tires and a wheel alignment done. Then go Stage 2 with all the front end mods, once I get the Intercooler I want from Perth

Do both Suspension, wheels and tires and all Front end mods before jumping right into Stage 2.

I also have two questions if anyone knows.
Removing Secondary Air Pump, aren't there covers for the inlet port on the engine to close it off? Anyone know where I could find one, I think I saw one some website.
Also Fuel Injectors 1 and 3 have a bit of a puddle around them on the top, whilst 2 and 4 are dry. New O-rings to reseal them or new injectors?

Cheers guys, I'll be posting pics with what I'll start doing to the car.
Got a few stupid ideas to program a micro controller to do, Steering Wheel buttons and a butterfly valve for the exhaust.

[h100vw]

I can donate a blank for the SAI at the side of the head. Just remind me. There always ends up being a bit of residue around the injectors. I don't reckon it's a big deal. O rings if it upsets you. Not new injectors.

[JTop]

So done the entire rear today: PICS AT THE END <3
Installed the new Bilstein B8 shocks, cleaned all the older components before reinstating them onto the Bilsteins. Sitting on the car or jumping in the boot, it just returns to its original position. Totally worth it
Fitted the Weitec lowering springs that Sambb had sent me earlier last month. Honestly make a nice difference, I'm super happy right now, Thanks Sam <3
Fitted the rear sway bar from whiteline, actually ties up the rear a bit nicer on the corners, so for my feeling it made the rear end less noticeable when driving. Or maybe it's everything that's doing it,

Super Happy how it all turned out

Got my boost gauge to do tomorrow, had to buy longer vacuum line due to running through the passenger side grommet and back to drivers side. And I'll replace my leather shifter casing that's torn with a newer one. Car is required in the evening so not doing anything major to it

Saturday, will be doing the front, so shocks and swaybar first, and if time permits, also fit off the silicone turbo inlet tubing and throw in the R8 coilpacks.
Sunday, I'll plan the intercooler fitment and get that purchased with the right amount of tubing to get that done.
Sometime next week get new tires onto the 17" alloys

Then I'm only left with a stage 1 tune, secondary air injector delete, fix the pod in the stock box due to the delete and wait for Gavin's downpipe to do stage 2
But I'll do these last few parts in a few weeks. Hoping for a big sale on a few products to instantly get the stage 1 done without anyone nagging me to stop wasting my money
before, after
trick with the top of the OEM struts, try to use precision vice grips to not damage the head
finished

[JTop]

So yesterday I only managed to get the Boost Gauge in, double checked with Gav because I thought I didn't splice it in the right spot (BOV line), but that was actually the best spot so did good not touching the fuel pressure regulator line. I did some testing today to wire in the Led for it so when I've got my headlights on, I can see it.

Ok, SO TODAY... bit of a blonde moment, I forgot to plug in one of my coils and ran the engine for a little while...

So this afternoon, I replaced the shifter boot lining, then felt like, hey! why not do the R8 coilpacks, won't take long right?
To start at 7pm, which definitely didn't help...
As light evades me and I manage to lose both a nut and allen key in the engine bay, I do a complete swap with the R8 coils, with the necessary spacers and I made sure I pushed the coils all the way in. Plugged everything up, forgetting cyl numb 3, which is one of the two easiest to see in the engine bay...
Pack up all the tools, go and get ready for a test drive and ...
So, opened the bonnet, and realised, oh ****... Didn't plug you in. Opened my OBD2 up, checked and saw, error on cyl 3.
So I turned it on again, was better, but still, error on cyl 3 ...

SO, with only my phone light, had to test why it was doing this to me, swapped cyl 2 and 3 coils over, and ...
No more error, but rough idle. So I thought, hey this should be fine right?

NOPE, as soon as I try to park the car out of the driveway, I realise I have 0 power when I press the accelerator :|
SO, back go the original coils, to fix the issue. And I thought, hey I fixed it, yay, but then I had the same problem, just less severe...

NOW, is it
A - A Spark plug hates me - Cyl 3
B - Multiple Spark plugs hate me
C - Anything else from the above that can cause problems.

I believe it's A
So I'll take them out and see before heading down to the store to get new plugs because I killed atleast cyl 3 I believe or it needs a clean because of fuel
Any input would be appreciated, even if it's to tell me I'm a dumbass
*not my first time replacing spark plugs, had been through all of this before*
**I feel like this wouldn't have been the issue if I plugged in the coil in the first place, or am I wrong? Would I need to replace spark plugs for a different size or something that I didn't think mattered? I know the spacing matters on the inside and they need to be gapped to spec**

Cheers Guys

*EDIT, Forgot to mention that when I went under the car, (I cleaned it up last time I was there), it's all oily again. SO, I have a leak on probably the turbo line, this might explain my boost leak...
Should be fixed as soon as I do the silicone piping, which will probably end up being a midweek job after I'm done working.

[sambb]

so did you run the car initially when coil 3 was unplugged. Might just have a badly flooded cylinder. To remedy that I'd pull fuse 41 for the fuel pump and crank it for a while. Then refit the fuse, clear errors (fuel pump and coil errors) and give it a hit.
So you cleared the coilpack errors and they keep coming back or is the cyl 3 error gone but the car just wont run? I'd have thought the car would still start after fitting the cyl 3 plug and the error would just be historical, not something that would stop you if not cleared. Definitely clear the error if its there though.
If you didn't touch the plugs then its not them. But if you put new ones in and didnt gap them down to 26-28 thou then their big out of the packet gap mightn't be arcing.
Is all your vaccum gear that covers the cam cover refitted ie no vacuum leaks

[h100vw]

Listen for airleaks too. Brake booster pipe is a favourite for splitting causing bad idle.
Does the code not clear with your scanner?

[PoloGIT]

Did you drive it after day one's boost gauge swap, and all was fine, prior to the coil swap job on day two?

[JTop]

Ok All fixed after 4 hours of diagnosis

Cyl 3, had no residue on the plug, Cyl 1 had residue... Which was weird, but then I thought about it and after the car told me that cyl 1 and cyl 4 were the culprits.
Reason, Cyl 1 and Cyl 4, Spark plugs snapped... Bosch ****ing platinum plugs, broke, but I didn't notice until I fiddled with one to see that the top shaft was spinning whilst on the body...

Replaced with Spark plugs I pulled out of my old car, which were in really decent condition, checked the gapping and was still perfect so put those in as replacements.

Wasn't having any prior problems, everything was working beforehand
Everything is working as new with the R8 Coils in

Cheers Guys

*Edit/idk why phone deleted the post when I went to edit...
I took a photo of where oil was leaking from, looks like at the end of this hose, but if anyone has any better ideas, go ahead