So Much For My 'new' Car

[342Four]

well....so much for that excel i bought in november

just blew a head gasket or cracked a head (im hoping its a head gasket)

very very very very very very pissed off as i cant afford anything at the moment - being a uni student and all and that i had commited to my parents to pay them back %10 every month (big mistake to make - oh well...dad says i can tune it down to something a uni student can pay - say $100 bucks a month??!!)

shit happens i suppose - part of life and all that - now i gotta rely on my parents and their car

(not too bad as a territory ghia is in the pipeline...very nice car btw)

theres a lesson to be learnt every where so they say

[Mr. Oizo]

is there oil in the radiator?

and is the car constantly overheating?

[Big Rizza]

That's gotta suck.. you buy an excel to save money and it goes and shits itself... You didn't happen to clip 180,000kms by any chance? That's when my old Hyundai went to shit...

[342Four]

jsut ticked over 140k the other day

(actually sitting on 140140 something kays)

drove home 2 minutes from shop and first gear was really shit - felt like clutch was on way out - gave it revs a bit and no probs

i went hmmmmmm

went to my grandparents same thing with 1st

drove home (5 minutes away)

3 minutes in glanced at temp gauge and was rising rapidly

pulled over immediately and first thing i thought was head

let it cool down a bit, checked oil cap - bad bad news

yellow and creamy - never a good sign

drove the rest the way home carefully - pulled up the drive and it started to boil

havent touched it since

its going to the mechanics on monday and will cost me between $500 - 2500 depending on whether its just a head gasket that blew (thats why i think first was really shit - it had very little compression) or if its a cracked head

the 'good' thing is that it happened straight away and i havent touched it since so i hope no head warp/piston damage/valve damage

if its worthwhile a new engine might be dropped in

[justin911]

good news is though, every wrecker in town probs has 100 X the parts u need

slap one of them 4G63 engines in it Theres a couple of guys with them in there excels, aparantly it goes in fairly easily.

[342Four]

i no - its looking really good dropping in a 4g63

but cash is really slim atm

[justin911]

just cause im bored

http://www.rigoliracing.com.au/accent.html

i think its sposed to be 9-10 secs or something to that affect

[342Four]

mmmm nice

[Johnny Cash]

Yeah, I know the feeling. I spent 7 years at uni, and had to drive a crappy old mazda around. In the meantime, all my mates working full time have evo's, wrx's, skylines, etc...

The joy of being a uni student - I better get a Lamborghini one day just to get even!

[Mr. Oizo]

i no - its looking really good dropping in a 4g63

but cash is really slim atm

go for a 4g61 even

[[D4RKS1D3]]

is that what it costs for a excel engine

[342Four]

no - i would be able to source a 'new' (read recon) excel engine for bout $700 prob (twin cam version at that) and that might be the go if it will cost far too much

($2500 will be if it is a cracked head - covers reconed or new head, labour, accesories etc etc)

4g61 hey - will look into it

[Savage Bliss]

Yeah dude... try to think of it as a positive! Time for an engine swap... plenty of options available, CA - SR - 4G - 3S - RB26... after some slight modifications to the firewall and almost everthing else! Hey, at least you'd be the only bloke in AUS (pos planet earth) with Godzilla lerking under their Excel bonnet... endless possibilities and pipe-dreams! DO IT!

Edited March 18, 2006 by Savage Bliss

[Mr. Oizo]

no - i would be able to source a 'new' (read recon) excel engine for bout $700 prob (twin cam version at that) and that might be the go if it will cost far too much

($2500 will be if it is a cracked head - covers reconed or new head, labour, accesories etc etc)

4g61 hey - will look into it

yeah

4g61 is a 1.6l turbo from the 4wd CB lancer gsr

or you could go for a 4g93 1.8 turbo from the early model lancer gsrs , or the na version from the proton satria

or 4g63 from the vr4 2l turbo, or from the evo 1-3, evo 1 engines have less power because of different cams, evo 3 engines have higher compression, but the vr4 has the strongest block

it just depends what you want from it...

[saff_cossie]

Know how you feel mate. Our Lib RX had the tell tale signs back in June time last year. The local mechanic broke the pricing down to give us the worst case scenario so we got Subaru to quote us which was 1K cheaper. Decided to commit and get it fixed. $2800 later and she is running like a dream. Have put her through an SAU DECA event as well with no probs.

Unfortunately the problem with our RX (98 model) was the whole engine had to come out to take the heads off to replace the gaskets. Fortunately it turned out to be just the gaskets and nothing more. They were $800 for the two gaskets and $2K in labour.

Ah well, cars, gotta love em. Just clicked 205,000 the other day so has had a good innings.

Hope you get it sorted for a reasonable price dude.

[342Four]

ended up being corrosion in the head and it finally gave out (plus corrosion in upper and lower thermo housings)

result - prob a bill for about $1600

this includes new radiator (hasn't been touched in 9 years) $350 ish

weld plane and deck of the head followed by a full recondition $600 ish

upper and lower thermo housings and ancillaries prob $150 ish

labour - who nos (prob around $500)

looking for prices on a twin cam front cut maybe

[Big Rizza]

Could maybe look into a Mitsubishi Mirage Cyborg R front cut?

From Autospeed.com

Mirages aren't noted for their potent engines. The Cyborg R changes all that in one swift charge up through the gears. We're not exaggerating, the Mirage's MIVEC engine is the best small atmo engine we've ever sat behind. It's got instant throttle response, a generous amount of low-down torque, a strong mid-range - and from about 5500 rpm up, it simply rockets. It puts out so much torque up high, you can just hold-it-hold-it-hold-it in one gear.

RaaaaaAAAAAAAA!!

So how good is it? The MIVEC engine is far more flexible than a 2.2 Honda V-TEC, for example. You never find yourself wishing it had a little more torque here or there - it's always ready and willing to pull. And willing the Cyborg R certainly is - especially in acceleration. Our timed 0-100 km/h test revealed that the little terrier could rival many "fast" cars. The needle swung past the triple digits in around 7.8 seconds - not bad at all...and with that instant throttle response it feels even faster!

The heart of this giant killer is the MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve and Lift Electronic Control System) 4G92, using a bore and stroke of 81.0mm and 77.5mm respectively. This amounts to 1597cc and with a 11.0:1 CR, DOHC, 16 valves and EFI, it generates 129kW at 7500 revs and 167Nm at a skyward 7000. That way-high rpm at which peak torque is developed never feels like that on the road - there is always instant, strong response. How strong? Well, with the fairly slippery tyres of the test car, you could drive along at low rpm in first gear with the clutch out. Stomp on the loud pedal and the front tyres would then actually chirp on dry pavement as the torque hit!

This is one highly efficient engine - its 81kW per litre puts it way ahead of the Honda Integra VTi-R with 69 kW/litre. But, of course, you always need to feed it premium unleaded to keep it running happily. (Remember, Japanese fuel still has higher octane than even our Shell Optimax)

It's amazing how many wonderful qualities the Cyborg R has. It's a versatile sized car with ball-tearing performance - yet it still delivers around 8.5 - 9 litres per 100km fuel economy (with some enthusiastic driving too, we might add!). This is helped by the fact that all Cyborgs have a 5-speed (though non-LSD) manual transaxle.

EDIT: Oh, and the important part of the article:

Buyers' Guide

Released in the early 90s, the Mirage Cyborg R retailed in the Tokyo area with a RRP of 1,880,000 yen. That sounds like a lot - and it is when you consider it's around double the price of a Japanese base-model Mirage.

Now's here's the important bit...

The vehicle we had was on loan from Adelaide Japanese Imports. It had been imported for race/rally use only, and their asking price is $7500. That's a lot of fun for the money - even though it isn't complied and ready to hit the streets. As far as both AJI and we know, there isn't anyone else in Australia bringing them in - let alone complying them. But Bob Dunn (of AJI) says that the MIVEC engine (and that's what really wakes this baby up) goes into the front of a CC Lancer without problems. His price for a half-cut with everything (not including conversion labour!) is $3000.

So if you can pick up a CC Lancer cheaply, a half-cut for three grand (take away what you'll get for the stock CC engine) and add a couple of grand for suspension, brake and wheel upgrades, you'd have a bloody top car for a reasonably low price. Of course, if you can afford to buy a complete Cyborg R to strip it of its engine, Recaros, body kit and factory good-bits, that'd make it even better!

Edited March 20, 2006 by Big Rizza

[342Four]

i think i'll just stick with the repairs for the time being

ohh btw does anybody no where u can buy front cuts in WA

a website is a must

[Goon]

Just get a job son. A grand can be saved up in a month.

[342Four]

UPDATE:

should get her back late 2morrow arvo/friday morning

been at mechanics since monday morning - the result wasnt good - corrosion in the head

sooo the head went of too hyundai for a full recon while a new radiator, hoses and thermo housings were ordered

everything was put in today bar the head

rang up today - really bad news corrosion was that bad that it had corroded into the exhaust port and after 4 weld ups the pressure test failed every time

so a second hand head was ordered and that was recond today and should be back at the mechanics tommorow - should get fitted tomorrow round lunch time

then it will be all mine again - but i'll be around $1600+ poorer (well my parents for teh time being anyway )

PS saff_cossie - parents r31 just ticked over 292 ish thousand kays - not bad i reckon for a 17 yr old car mind you it had a full head recon at around 200 ish thousand kays and now finally after all those years of towing our big trailer the gearbox is finally showing the abuse - good news is a 05 plated territory ghia is on the cards (essentially an 06 model then) mmmmm intuative zf 6 speed auto gb with 190kw on tap

Edited March 22, 2006 by usherly