Boost leak

Now, as you all know, I drive my S14 finally on the road :)

And I don't regret anything :D

So far I put a good few miles on the clock and within 8 days I got pulled by the Guards once.
Not too bad, I thought it would be worse.

I've earned many funny and interested looks + racing invites.

Let me tell you one thing....if a "race car" doesn't want to race you, it doesn't mean the driver doesn't want to race.
Maybe the driver tries to save a few quid on the daily trip to work or....something is wrong with the car and a race wouldn't help much.

In my case it would have been both cases but more the 2nd one.


But not to worry!
I started to notice a slight difference while trying to speed up and go into high revs.
I quickly discovered that there must be a boost leak somewhere and then the funniest thing happened.

Today I went for NCT to check and see what is left to do.
Since I studied the NCT manual a good few times, I knew what she would fail on, since I havent had enough time to fix it all (focusing headlights, reverse light not working, wheel alignment, emissions, and small stuff).

The funny thing is, that the elderly NCT mechanic, didn't fail me on the boot lock (which is cable tied down as its broken) and the 2 front tyres who have no E mark on. All 4 tyres are as good as new though.

Anyway. In the end she only failed on what I was expecting, so no bad surprises or anything.
I also have most of the stuff almost sorted and just need to order a few things to finish her and make her ready for NCT.

But coming back to the boost leak.
Funnily enough, when I wanted to drive the car after the NCT test, she suddenly would not idle and put out lots of dark smoke.
I was horrified as I had to go to work right afterwards. and was nicely dressed for it and all.

Thank god I got my cute little "emergency" tool box the week before with all the essentials in it in case of the case.

I was able to improve the leak a little, and was able to see why i had it at all.
The silicon pipe-connection thing between the turbo outlet (not sure if its called like that) and the pipe was melting besides the manifold.
Therefore it started to blow up around the edges and caused the leak.

At home (after I made it to work and safely back home) I took everything off and was able to properly fix it and put it back on.
Now she runs and idles smooth like a baby again :)

I somehow really like when stuff doesn't fully work, makes me look into it more and creates a better understanding for the car.

Yaaaay.

She is back!!!!!!!

Today I'm finally having a bit of time to actually sit down and write a little bit.
Where do I begin?

I pretty much kept this updated, so as you know i first had the problem that she wasn't running. My internet research brought me to the topic : Coilovers and wiring but in the end it was only a small issue which i got sorted with Barts help (JDM Garage).
The wires and plug going into the CAS sensor were not in a good condition so we quick-fixed it but i will get that stuff replaced.

She was running…., I serviced her and she ran smooooooth as a baby. The oil that came out was surprisingly alright, which makes me belief the engine is in a good overall condition. I will get a compression test done as well to see what the story is.

A few days, before she was supposed to be out, i checked the lights and bulbs. as it was the easiest thing to do, i thought i do that at the end and assumed all was working, but how wrong I was haha.

the only lights working were headlights, break lights and front indicators.
That kinda put pressure onto me as i wanted her out and no way i drive without tail lights in the dark.
and to have working indicators would be nice too :D

after talking to a few people and going through my 800+ manual (which by now i know pretty well ha) I came to the conclusion it must be the wires or fuses again.

Honestly, electronics wreck my head!!! that's something i don't like to do at all.
I then ended up checking all the fuses, even replacing some (in case they were blown but it wasn't visible).
following all the wires in the car and searching for all the earth/grounding wires.

it was such a pain, because nothing of that helped solving the problem. But at least i know now a lot more about my car, and that is my goal. Knowing EVERY single bolt and just EVERYTHING of my beloved S14 :)

The whole "lights-not-working" thing seriously frustrated me. The first time since i own this car…i was close to just cry haha

Anyway.

Bart came to the rescue again and just as i thought…it was something simple and stupid.

Problem fixed so!

The reverse lights are still not working but i will solve that soon due NCT coming up.


Right,so Thursday (that's when i got my tax disc) came up and what was left to do was the seats and carpet.

The carpet is a different story now as I customize my own carpet.
Since it turned out to be way more difficult to put the seat rails on the Sparco Seats, we left it and I took off the rail from my own Recaro seat (that was in the S13 now) and put back on my own Recaro s14 rail to fit it back into Nessy.

That took us until 1 o clock in the morning, but it was done and I decided: fuck it,why not driving her home now and see what happens.
I had my tax disc already and insurance is sorted, NCT booked so the only thing now left was the test drive.

The test drive went all well (took it very handy), besides the pulling to the left. im not too worried about it, wheel alignment will be done shortly!

Around 2am my other half and myself left the unit and funnily enough we met guards who pulled up besides us at the roundabout.
not suspicious at all  to find 2 modified and race-car-ish cars around that time on the road. hahahaha

all was fine though and i made it home without a problem.

Friday evening i joined a few buddies to come down to barts garage for a dyno run.
I didn't want to get a dyno done in the first placed but quickly changed my mind about it.

After sorting another small issue, she was ready to go.

I was a bit disappointed by the results but was told it could be, that the dyno itself wasn't set up properly.
It made 225 HP, i was expecting at least around 235.
Anyway, nothing broke and i got great advise and help again, so all is well now.

In the beginning when i started driving her on the road, i was a bit wary and afraid something could break as she was parked up for a while but since the dyno run im more confident about her and she simply feels great.

ive noticed a small issue tho, but i will get to that another time. it doesn't affect the daily driving but i must look into it.


So the next thing(s) to do:

Prepare her for NCT
Get rails for the seats sorted
finish interior, even tho this will be some kind of "long term project"
get new coil packs (somehow i just want new ones haha)

and

ENJOYING THE RIDE
:D