Time I posted up something about this.
This has been on the cards for a little while really ever since Sam posted up a FS thread. Here she is...
Rob (FossilFuels) and I took the trip down to Bristol Saturday morning to pick this beauty up. Great smooth run down. We ate up the 140 odd miles in a little over 2 and a half hours in the Lexus. A minor mishap missing a junction on the M4 but we finally arrived at about midday. Sam was there with his new whip (very nice I may say) and his lovely big dog. Good to finally get to chat to the guy as I'd only really spoken to him on the forum and on Facebook before I went down. Nice guy and he knows his cars well. Shot the breeze for about an hour about the car, my engine build, his new car and various other projects. Signed the paperwork off, handed the man the cash and we were good to go. Got home on just under half a tank, so she was running well. Pulled lovely on the motorway and the SR18 is completely indistinguishable in the power department from the SR20 I had in my last two cars. The exhaust gave a good note and wasn't too loud so I wasn't deafened on the drive back.
She is parked up until I can get a refund on the tax for my Rover 25 and get this one taxed at the end of the week.
Plans are to run it pretty much as-is until the MOT runs out in October.
I may see to some of the worst rusty areas before then but I'm not that fussed at the minute.
There are a few minor issues, as you'd expect from a sub £500 car. The drivers top door hinge has worn and so it tends to drop the door when it's open. Just enough to make it clunky and hard to close. I'll either replace the hinge entirely or replace the pin. The other issue was a distinct lack of tuneage on the drive home. There are only so many songs I can sing of by heart and my throat was sore by the end of the M4.
I took the JDM Y0 surround out and had a look at what was lurking behind.
Some lovely twist'n'tape action but I was just relieved that it had been converted to a standard aftermarket harness which made life a lot easier for me. I happened to have a Kenwood in stock from the box of crap I had left from stripping my old red Gti so in she went. I had to take the Gti brackets off and screw the stereo directly onto the double DIN frame. It whined but nothing lit up. I was racking my brain. Checked the fuses in the back of the head unit and in the car. Both fine. You can see on the picture above a little red wire dangling on the stereo side of the harness? That is what the problem was. Pushed that bad boy into the bullet connector and the old Kenwood lit up like a Christmas tree. Result. I had to dive back into the box-o-crap to scavenge some screws that were missing but that was fine in the end.
Hey Presto!
Could do with a surround but I'll leave that major job for another day.
Also observe the race clutch pedal. Extra 15bhp easy!
That's all for now but I'm sure I will succumb to the temptation to tamper along the way!
This has been on the cards for a little while really ever since Sam posted up a FS thread. Here she is...
Rob (FossilFuels) and I took the trip down to Bristol Saturday morning to pick this beauty up. Great smooth run down. We ate up the 140 odd miles in a little over 2 and a half hours in the Lexus. A minor mishap missing a junction on the M4 but we finally arrived at about midday. Sam was there with his new whip (very nice I may say) and his lovely big dog. Good to finally get to chat to the guy as I'd only really spoken to him on the forum and on Facebook before I went down. Nice guy and he knows his cars well. Shot the breeze for about an hour about the car, my engine build, his new car and various other projects. Signed the paperwork off, handed the man the cash and we were good to go. Got home on just under half a tank, so she was running well. Pulled lovely on the motorway and the SR18 is completely indistinguishable in the power department from the SR20 I had in my last two cars. The exhaust gave a good note and wasn't too loud so I wasn't deafened on the drive back.
She is parked up until I can get a refund on the tax for my Rover 25 and get this one taxed at the end of the week.
Plans are to run it pretty much as-is until the MOT runs out in October.
I may see to some of the worst rusty areas before then but I'm not that fussed at the minute.
There are a few minor issues, as you'd expect from a sub £500 car. The drivers top door hinge has worn and so it tends to drop the door when it's open. Just enough to make it clunky and hard to close. I'll either replace the hinge entirely or replace the pin. The other issue was a distinct lack of tuneage on the drive home. There are only so many songs I can sing of by heart and my throat was sore by the end of the M4.
I took the JDM Y0 surround out and had a look at what was lurking behind.
Some lovely twist'n'tape action but I was just relieved that it had been converted to a standard aftermarket harness which made life a lot easier for me. I happened to have a Kenwood in stock from the box of crap I had left from stripping my old red Gti so in she went. I had to take the Gti brackets off and screw the stereo directly onto the double DIN frame. It whined but nothing lit up. I was racking my brain. Checked the fuses in the back of the head unit and in the car. Both fine. You can see on the picture above a little red wire dangling on the stereo side of the harness? That is what the problem was. Pushed that bad boy into the bullet connector and the old Kenwood lit up like a Christmas tree. Result. I had to dive back into the box-o-crap to scavenge some screws that were missing but that was fine in the end.
Hey Presto!
Could do with a surround but I'll leave that major job for another day.
Also observe the race clutch pedal. Extra 15bhp easy!
That's all for now but I'm sure I will succumb to the temptation to tamper along the way!
good to see it still in the club. Now you have a car to put your engine in 
