My SWB TT Z32...

[Stuart]

Nickson are one of those firms that I read great things about. Good luck Pez...nice to see your pace of work has not been diminished through recent aggro.

[jap.slapper]

The monotonous task of removing the old shit looking vinyl has begun...what a friggin' ball ache!!










We're going back to basic/understated, Mad Max stylee'...




My mate Marty is popping over again tomorrow and the plan is for us to whip the old VG out by nightfall

[jap.slapper]

and the postie has been....




it's a 300m uphill slog to get to our post box at the top of our driveway, it can be a bit of a pain in the hoop if we walk up only to find that the postie hasn't delivered yet, but the view always makes it worthwhile.....











I've now lost count of the number of times these fluffy little fookers' have wandered down the driveway to see how the zed's getting on!





Well there were a few packages today which is always nice





I picked up this oil catch tank pretty cheap, it'll go nicely in the engine bay. I'm thinking of mounting it in the stock battery location and will probably move the battery to the boot


















and the heat sleeve for the oil hose has also turned up

[Stuart]

A hot air gun helps with vinyl removal if you've not tried it yet. Lovely view matey........proper countryside

[jap.slapper]

Cheers mate I'll give that a go

[Stuart]

If you pull the stickers off at a diagonal angle it reduces the surface tension between the sticker and the paint, making it easier to remove and less likely to damage the paint as well

[jap.slapper]

Well we had a bit of a late start today but this is how we looked at 13:00hrs this afternoon

*note to self: turning a car around on a hill without a battery or any other means of self propulsion is fookin' nails!!!

**Second note to self: Hook it up to a Land Rover and drag the bastid' around....it works a treat



Ok, back to today's activities




Once the zed had been dragged about a bit and rolled back into place, it looked like this









then the strip down began



This little box of bits came off, some of it will be modified and refitted but most of it won't be










this crap weighs a tonne and has been binned











even the fmic hard pipes are surplus to requirement and will also be replaced with a simpler and lighter alternative which is currently sat in my workshop (details to follow shortly)











the headlights are also unnecessarily heavy and have been binned for a more practical alternative (that hopefully will pass scrutineering)
















the small patch of surface rust will be rubbed down in daylight tomorrow and painted












Marty got cracking on with unbolting the carbon one piece prop from the diff, the prop appears to have been initially designed for an NA diff and has had a custom adaptor plate machined and fitted so that it will fit a TT diff.









This gives the option of fitting an NA diff which gives better acceleration at the sacrifice of top end speed, this is possibly a better option for driving on track but we're going to try both and compare times like for like





http://s1034.photobucket.com/user/azineakinadan79/media/videos/IMG_05731_zps8a00507b.jpg.html






Reference my previous statement about having the engine out by nightfall......um.....yeah we failed!!














so we just kept on working by torchlight


































it didn't really throw up any nasty surprises and to be fair the engine bay is bloody clean (well to be fair it's very oily) but bugger all rust















almost there















almost there........
















and she's out!!













the engine and box came out nicely and is now sat on a wooden pallet ready for inspection in the morning





we're getting there......






Can't wait to get cracking on this!

[jap.slapper]

So as it's daylight I thought I'd take a nose around the old VG





I already knew that it was running aftermarket down pipes


however it has become apparent that the engine has been out before (when it was in Japan) and has had quite a bit of work carried out. The first thing that was obvious was that the passenger side turbo was original











however the drivers side turbo had been replaced for a new one at some point








it'll be interesting to see during the strip down, what exactly has been tweaked internally





I've already started to plan how the engine bay can be simplified somewhat. All clutch hoses, fuel lines and PAS hoses are being replaced for braided lines that will take a more direct route. This should make it all a lot more accessible in the future












It certainly looks a bit bare arse in there at the moment












and I think a new car cover is in order but this will do temporaily to keep the driving rain out











If the weather improves a bit I think a car port extension to the workshop might be a good idea, that way the rebuild won't be dependent on good weather



here's a quick pic of the re-enforced silicone pipework that I will be using for the fmic and turbo intake








Hopefully the weather will improve over the next few days so that I can get cracking on prepping the engine bay. In the meantime I'll be working on the engine rebuild in the workshop.


The list of parts required is growing, though at the moment it's only gaskets and head bolts etc.



the other thing that I was reminded of last night was how heavy the twin exhaust setup is, so I'm open to suggestions on this.




My initial thoughts are to look at the option of a twin side exits setup straight off the down pipes, though I suspect that as the current setup is quite loud despite being fully wrapped in titanium heat wrap it may not be advisable due to dB limits at the various tracks









Progress is pretty good at the moment

[Stuart]

Great progress and update. Working on your back under a car, in the dark and the rain.......why do we do this stuff?

In terms of proper exhaust options for both power and track friendly volumes, the company that I would start with would be Simpsons. They built a bespoke system for a friend of mine who had similar criteria to yours and he was delighted with his investment.

Well done Pez

[jap.slapper]

Are these the guys mate?

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.simpsonraceexhausts.com%2F&ei=-wGJUpb_B4HwhQec2oGoBQ&usg=AFQjCNGjlL72-eel3VihPESa_lCv45teTg&sig2=5QV-qNcBCYJ8Prj4Ou_DdQ&bvm=bv.56643336,d.ZG4



The plan is to get this all sorted sooner rather than later so that I don't have a mad rush at the beginning of next year



and thanks for the vote of confidence bud