WinFreak

that's the ball joint that needs a clean, my dad has it in his crv and can be quite annoying!

As he's polished/greased it it's probably just gone a bit rusty again after not being used for a while

K3Nguru

Thanks Winfried.

K3Nguru

Lots for your old parts to be bolted on. Get yourself another S!

K3Nguru

I love those wheels too. I don't consider mine as a build but thanks anyway. It's just a project that includes installing plenty of parts. Maybe I should publish my parts list.

K3Nguru

It was not a nice surprise when I went to take my car out from the parking garage I use. I wasn't a happy bunny when I noticed that the sweeping machine had slung lots of stones and sand on the front of my car from higher parking level . I had no camera with me and I was in hurry when I went to pick my car up. Luckily I bumped into a maintenance guy and showed him the state of my car. He told me to report about the incident. The manager of the maintenance company was very cooperative and he agreed on the phone that they'll pay painting the front of my car. I sent him reclamation letter with photos yesterday and I really hope everything goes well. These stone chips all over the front bumper, front wings and bonnet really bug me (I know that my car is dirty ).



I have had a thousand happy miles with my S in the first couple of weeks after the hibernation. Looks like we already have warmer wheather in Finland than you have in the UK. We'll have low 20's on Friday and it's sunny all the time . It looks like I'll have to change the tyres because my rears have almost no thread left. Luckily I have got OEM 17" v1 wheels with proper tyres, thanks to loftust. I'm planning to use them as my track wheels when I get decent track tyres for them.

I've started doing the airbox modification to my spare OEM air filter box. Have you guys insulated the inside of your OEM airbox? I don't want too much air induction sound and I want to keep the IAT as low as possible. Is it better to leave the resonator alone or block it? I've got a J's Racing exhaust manifold, Berk HFC and Blueflame exhaust waiting for instal. I should buy FlashPro before installing those parts. Do you guys have any thips where to get one affordably? If someone happens to have used FlashPro for sale, please feel free to contact me. Would it help if I heat wrapped the exhaust manifold and possibly the HFC too? I know that there are pros and cons in doing this. I don't want corrosion or cracks because of the heat wrap but I would like to degrease the under bonnet temperatures & sound levels a bit and increase the speed of exhaust gasses (I guess, this is minimal). Is the coating better than heat wrap? I'll have a couple of minor touches to the ground in very low speed (1-4 mph) when going to my summer cottage. It's only 200 metres of narrow gravel trail to get there from better road. There's just some grass, mushrooms etc. in the middle of the trail . I'm worried that it will cut the heat wrap. Maybe I should heighten my car a little or repair the trail almost every weekend.

K3Nguru

Still, no answers to my questions about exhaust wrapping and airbox mod . A little help would be much appreciated. I'm sorry for my bad english but I'm just an average Finn. Here you go, a couple of new photos after a quick wash at summer cottage. Notice the keyhole covers . I tried to choose those with no reflection of me half naked . It was warm; 25 degrees. As you can see the spring as just begun. I went swimming in the 10 degree water several times and it was very refreshing.







The front-end of my 'Nob' will get repainted in June after the sweeping machine incident. The company manager wanted to see the state of my car and they agreed to pay my expenses. Is there something that I need take to account of before taking my car to bodyshop? An IronX treatment before or something else? Do they fade the paint towards the rear of the car? I'm a person who wants to know everything and learn new things all the time. I just want the paint job to be perfect.

mr-pitts

I've got a Flashpro which is for sale, Tommi, I will pm you.

K3Nguru

Thanks Glen, much appreciated .

s2konroids

There's very little benefit from insulating the inside of the OEM airbox. Do you mean the resonator plate or box?, the resonator is for sound, and well resonance and hence effect flows but its all minute IMO, spoon IIRC remove the resonator plate add a snorkle and an air filter with bobbles on (to increase surface area) - all of this will have a very small power increase. Some intakes on cars cause a resonance which creates a resonance dip.

With the box in some engine's and probably the S they have a dip at x rpm due to resonance, the air box is designed/tuned to have minimum resistance to air flow at particular x rpm's - so i suspect thats what the plate helps with as well does inside the box.

Back in the day i added a snorkle (modified with restiction taken out), insulated the outside, removing the resonator inside (i reckon the resonator increased sound ever so slightly) and added a sidefeed - i expect a small unnoticeable power increase.

Wrapping the exhaust is minimal too (small chance of cracking though but it can happen), and if your going to do it get it coated but its expensive, its not worth the extra money ATEOTD.

I'd save your money, get some good bolts on's and use the flashpro.

K3Nguru

Thanks for detailed answer AJ! I just thought that if I didn't heat wrap the exhaust manifold the under bonnet temperatures would rise slightly. That's why I was thinking of wrapping inside the airbox. Maybe a heat shield between the engine and air box would be the solution. I forgot to tell that I've got J's Racing snorkle and plenty of bolt-ons waiting in my shed. I'll take pictures of my spare air box tomorrow in its current state. I'm definitely going to buy FlashPro ASAP and get the car mapped right after bolting the bits to my car. I don't want to run my car too lean.