Wohoo my car didn't blow up!

[someonestolecc]

Well hello there CC, seems we have a one-sided post here, lets enlighten the rest of the group shall we?

No I can't recall this myself, but when was the last time I didnt answer your call?  Or any of your calls for that matter?

You've always answered my call to give advice. This thread was about what was wrong with my car so I could get help and further advice.

Now for the car condition, the car was driven for 6 months prior to your ownership and yes, 2 times, there was an electrical issue which I was assured was fixed. Perhaps a word to the autoelectrician is in order.

No point now. I've fixed it.

Most of the issues you are talking about really are minor and to be expected in any older vechile, except for the turbo oil line which was fitted by ice performance when I supplied braided lines.  

Then we both know not to take our cars there.

With regard to the aircon, I had already mentioned to you it would not be worth retro fitting.

Yes you did. I just didn't realise how much of it was left behind, or the fact none of the lines/pipes were actually sealed - I wasn't having a go at you, I was having a go at the fact it was a shonky job. I'll accept that could be me over-expecting.

Not happy with the gearbox? Well I did throw in a Bride seat that was not part of the original deal and is worth a pretty penny.

I was under the impression we were swapping for the seat that was in there since you couldn't use the bride with your bad back and needed the normal seat for compliance? You describe it sif you threw it in to compensate for the gearbox and that's not true.

When you ground a gear change in front of me and said "ahh it's ok.. all sr20 gearboxes do that" I nodded and said no prob if thats what they do.

You make no mention of the $200 I gave you for the supposed stuffed steering rack which wasn't stuffed at all but only needed a new boot (for the princely sum of $15).

To be honost I was trying to keep direct references to you out of the thread, I'm just interested in getting the car up to scratch.

Fair enough you gave me $200. I said to you I've had 2 mechanics tell me the rack is causing a grinding noise. I then sent photos to you and your mechanic and you guys agreed.

By the time my mechanic looked at it (he seemed to have a clue more-so than the other 2 guys who looked at it before) he said it was the hub, the rack was fine and the boots were the only things buggered. $15 for the boots, $300+ for the hub cos someone over-tightened it. That's not a 15 year old car issue, that's a bad workmanship issue.

I also did tell you about that and you said it was sweet that the 2 hunge go towards that.. I was happy with that and I thought it was a nice thing to do on your behalf.

Do you even recall what I told you to do when you got back home from picking up the car?  Here's a reminder, get it put up on a hoist so you can check it out. Check the brakes, suspenion, undercarriage as I hadn't had a chance to do it and most cars that are 15 years old do have some issues. Is this the first thing you did? The answer to that is quite obviously No.

Which is what I did and found all this wrong with it. Instead of you telling me the things you knew I didn't know about and trusted you to tell me, you didn't, but instead told me to have a look when I got home. Again, that's not your fault, that's mine. I mean it is a car and I am an adult (supposedly). It doesn't change the fact my car has stuff wrong with it, and this thread is to get help/advice to fix the stuff on it.

I sold the car in good faith at cheaper than the market value because it was in "as is" condition. Had I done the work required the price would have been easily $5-7k higher, more in the realm of where Riverside and Ni are selling their cars.  You were aware of this and accepted as this gave you a chance to do the things you wanted to do and have a car to drive.

I won't debate on price. I could have done alot more with the money I've spent on it to get where it is but we decided that was a fair price so no point debating that now, it's just cost me a lot more than expected 'tis all.

You have bought a car with proven performance, lots of name brand parts, an 8 page feature car in a current magazine and drop dead traffic stopping looks for an absolute steal.

It depends which way you look at it. Right now it's sittin gathering dust cos it won't even make it to traffic.

Judging by your comments and expectations, you would have been better off buying a new or nearly new car. Reading some of your posts where you said you might have been better importing you obviously havent seen some of the issues and costs people have with importing highly modded Cefiros.

Meggala.

I've seen and experienced both the issues and the costs now. I did say I wasn't after another project car and I've got one. That's cool it's my fault.

Steve this thread isn't to whinge about you, if I wanted to do that I'd call or visit and say "hey steve i reckon this stinks". This thread is to get my car back on the road but the way I see it I really I only have myself to blame for buying this. Now that I have I'd like to get it working and make it nice, who knows it might even make it to autosalon next year.

And to be honost when I started this thread - I thought you'd be the first person to respond with advice/help, for some reason you decided not to, and instead now on page 3 defend yourself against an attack that wasn't really there.

Sure at times i've had a go at the car itself so I can understand how'd you might take it personally as the previously owner but I'm more seeking advice/help more than anything else. As I said if I had an actual personal problem i'd take it straight to you.

[Squizz]

Well we've both aired everything. Big hugs for all. Now, who wants coffee?

[someonestolecc]

It's not bout airing it's bout my fixing my car :

[Mase]

My car has probs hahaha.

I have the dreaded 4000rpm miss from the coil packs, mega play in the steering, exposed wires in the wheel well, gearbox mount is gone etc etc... its all good though. Im happy its finally registered!

Hey mys013, just in regard to your steering play. I had the same in the laurel, then i removed the horn from the aftermarket steering wheel and found the nut inside their to be very loose. So i tightened it up and presto, steering was all good again. Do you have an aftermarket steering wheel? maybe check that.

Is there any hot chocolate? or just coffee?

[RiverSide]

In defence of CC........I have sent and recieved PM's with CC in the past and he has mentioned the issues his vehiclehas been suffering. At no point did he ever bad mouth Steve.

As mentioned by Steve, 15yo vehicles inherently come with a risk that all things will not be perfect (even new cars have issues)

And I also believe that the vehicle was purchased at a resonable cost. And to summarise I honestly feel that this thread was started to gain experience and help in fixing the issues.......not to bag steve out. Steve and I obviously share a passion for cefiro's and Laurels, along with most of the people in this section of the site, isn't the sharing of information and helping eachother what it is about?

[MYS013]

Hey mys013, just in regard to your steering play. I had the same in the laurel, then i removed the horn from the aftermarket steering wheel and found the nut inside their to be very loose. So i tightened it up and presto, steering was all good again. Do you have an aftermarket steering wheel? maybe check that.

Is there any hot chocolate? or just coffee?

Hey Mase the steering wheel is definitely on tight... it seems to be some bushes somewhere that are causing it. On another note does anyone else have the comfort and sport mode button just under the steering wheel to the left?? its quite funny makes the steering very light or normal.

[someonestolecc]

Thanks Dave(.) - story so far is..

too_much came to check it out today (god bless christian soldiers) and it was infact the turbo having pretty much fallen off the manifold so theres a huge gap in there and the exhaust gas is escaping!

Apparently the smokiness is normal (car being cold etc)- so ... anyone around the beaches or north shore wanna help me/teach me to take my manifold off if I get an aftermarket one and a gasket? (all i can afford atm is a case of beer and the manifold hehe)

I can see my car being off the road for a bit - I'm not really game taking out my manifold incase I get stuck somewhere

OK.

I've replaced the turbo-manifold gasket, while I was there I thought I'd put in a stainless steel exhaust manifold too so I did that.

Reconnected everything and blah .. car runs like crap, touch the accell and it dies, black smoke from the exhaust everywhere.

I'm fearing the worst as the oil hole in the top of the engine smells like petrol - I'm hoping this is just me smelling the injectors or something.

Will keep posted :

*fingers crossed*

[meggala]

sounds like the afm is not plugged in or the cooler piping is not properly sealed up

[someonestolecc]

Wooohoo!

Thanks Steve - checked and double checked that last night.

Luckily dumhed came round and had a look - the daughterboard had coincidentally fallen out so he just plugged it back in and away she goes. :thankyou:

Wrrrr sounds mean now without leaking and with the stainless manifold on!!

Next mission:

Get middle muffler and get some supports so the manifold ain't taking so much weight of the exhaust and find an extra nut + spacer thingy for the manifold.

:Party:

[BHDave]

Nice to hear you're starting to get somewhere with it.

[meggala]

good to hear

btw did the top end power improve with the manifold also did you heat wrap it

that was one of my dilemas some say dont wrap stainless but you see it done. in japan.

cheers

[DumHed]

I'm known for being dodgy, but some of the stuff on that car scares even me!

It'll get sorted slowly though, and it should be a nice car.

The daughterboard was plugged into the ECU with no retainer of any kind. In my previous ECUs I've put a small rubber spacer on the ECU lid that holds the board in place and have had no problems - but this one was just hanging off the connector!

There are heaps of dodgy bits of wiring and plumbing that I would have been embarrassed to show anyone if I'd done it!

None of it is un-fixable, but it really just shows a complete lack of attention to detail, and general laziness. Most of these things could have been done properly with little to no extra effort.

Then there are other things like the rigid metal intake pipe to the turbo. It looks well enough made, and fits in fine - but did no one think about what happens when the engine moves under load? The intake pipe is working an an engine damper!

The exhaust mounts are an amazing work of abstract art, with all kinds of random bits of metal tack welded together (only one is intact on the whole exhaust)

All of this stuff can be sorted, but with a couple of minutes' thought when it was put together most of the problems could have been prevented.

[someonestolecc]

meggala - haven`t pushed it far enough to notice - I`d like to get the exhaust from dangling on the manifold before taking it hard cos I can hear it rattle when I punch it- I`ll post up when it`s got some brackets.

As for wrap I`m not confident it would hold up (especially for how much it cost). Also the few kw gain wouldn`t be worth me testing out if it would handle it

dumhed - lol a harsh but accurate critique. Thanks again for helping out - I`ll get cracking on that intake pipe, cut it and chuck a joiner in - will that affect air flow too much ya reckon?

[DumHed]

I think that'd work fine. Just make sure the pipe's cleaned up 100% before putting it back on.

A bracket to hold the AFM / filter end of the pipe would also be a good idea

Also, finding a clip for the AFM plug would be a good thing for reliability - at the moment it could vibrate loose over time (like the daughterboard did)

[someonestolecc]

Hmm will any sort of hose do? I'd like it not getting sucked together so will automotive be the go or any hardware store one that looks decent?

Just out of interest - if a bracket holds the afm and air filter up, won't it vibrate at the same rate as the chassis and stress it against the turbo which is vibrating at the rate of the engine?

Or is that the job of the joiner? I mean - those things are still pretty solid, won't it be better for it just hanging from the joiner?

Thanks for your input - learning alot here.

[DumHed]

yeah the joiner should be taking up that flex. That's why the factory setup has a rubber pipe all the way from the turbo to the AFM.

A couple of inches of silicon pipe, or strong rubber hose will do the job. Pirtek or Enzed will have suitable stuff. You'll just need to measure the stainless pipe to get the right diameter.

[someonestolecc]

Question:

The new manifold gets hell hot. I'm worried about the surrounding pipes and joiners. Especially the intercooler pipe and joiner coming next to it. I was thinking of making a shield like yours dumhed.

Any chance I can pop over sometime or can you post some pics up? I'm gonna get this exhaust welded up on Saturday with any luck so afterwards would it be sweet to have a look at your setup?

I might try to remake my airbox too with some clear perspex up top (for fun).

Thanks.

[DumHed]

send me an email and I'll send some pics

[someonestolecc]

ta!

[jbonevia]

Wooohoo!

Thanks Steve - checked and double checked that last night.

Luckily dumhed came round and had a look - the daughterboard had coincidentally fallen out so he just plugged it back in and away she goes. :thankyou:

Wrrrr sounds mean now without leaking and with the stainless manifold on!!

Next mission:

Get middle muffler and get some supports so the manifold ain't taking so much weight of the exhaust and find an extra nut + spacer thingy for the manifold.

:Party:

Sounds like a daughterboard installed at a certain workshop in melbourne, happened to my car and 2 other S13's that had the same daughterboard that i know of in Melbourne... no glue or any sort of support holding them in...