ExAreSix

Well, after telling myself I was done modding the rex, I've gone and modded the rex some more. Went down to Just Japanese at Lansvale to pickup a foglight for the rex, and spotted an STi strut brace sitting in their display. Adam, great chap, offered it to me for a price I couldn't refuse. So went home with both. Adam also pointed out a set of HKS coilovers, again for a great price. Wasn't interested at the time but after going home and thinking about it for a week, I went back and grabbed them too. The brace has been in for over a week, and wow, what a difference. Picked the coilovers up on Thursday and fitted them that night. Even at their softest setting the car is quite stiff. Maybe too stiff... But, I've raised the car a little higher than the lowered King Springs which has made the car much more liveable around speed hump infested car parks. And I've been able to solve some rubbing issues I had with tyre on guard by bringing the camber in a bit. So, overall quite happy with these 'unplanned' mods. Can't wait to get back to Wakefield to see what sort of improvements I've made. Oh, and my fav pics from the track day a couple of weeks ago.

That looks sensational Paul. Has come up a treat. Enjoy the new look mate!

Re55s are an R compound tyre, so are classed as a slick. My car is shod with Stiletto Blue Streaks. They are [sarcasm]AWESOME[/sarcasm]. They are garbage, but were on the car when I bought it. Only good thing is, they just will not wear out they are that hard. A full day of racing and they show no signs of wear. Autosport's day are much the same deal. But are better controlled. And they are now doing Supersprint style sessions during the day. Hard to explain, but one example; all the guys finishing a session then coming back in and parking in the holding area instead of going back to a garage was giving me the sh*ts. Cars coming in while you're trying to get out onto the track is ridiculous.

Here's a quick clip with some footage of my day. I struggled to get grip from the rear all day, so I decided to exploit the lack of rear grip in the wet. Was a bit of fun, till my Air Flow Meter copped some water and died on me. You can also see the EVO going off at the start of the clip.

Some good footage mate. My camera didn't want to play so I have no incar footage from the day. And I've only got a bit of footage from the wet session. The times are up on natsoft... TIMES Kev had another good day. Very quick car. I managed to top the street tyre timesheets, again. Only car in the top 20 on streets I think. (Car 62) Some nice cars on the day. S4 sounded beautiful. M3 was nice. Not as well run as the autosports days though. Still, a good day.

Yep, going up today. 4 days and 3 nights of craziness... I'm going to regret it come Sunday night...

Yeah mate, 4 of, in black.

Hi Pat, Can you do 215/45R17s in the 595RS? I'm keen on a set for the rex...

I think maybe everyone is thinking about the big snowies run next month, and holding off for that cruise. Saving for fuel and such.

From this, To this,

In no particular order. (They'd be parked in a ten wide garage, so I can get whichever one out that takes my fancy for the day.) - Ferrari F430 Scuderia - BMW E46 M3 CSL - BMW E92 335i (Coupe) (Modified) - Subaru Ver6 2 door WRX STi (Modified) - Porsche 997 911 GT3 - Porsche 997 911 Turbo - Mercedes AMG SL65 (R230) - Mercedes AMG CL63 (C216) - Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe - Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4

Judging by the exhaust, wheels, and tail lights, it's a BA Mk1 Turbo.

Thanks lads. Decided I won't be chasing anymore power, I'm am content with the power I have. Been driving the car around for a couple of days. It is running very well. Nil leaks have popped up. Just need to give Jim a call at Tunehouse to get it all checked out on the dyno, to see if my tune's need adjusting at all. And I can't help myself, I need to show off my new look engine bay. I'm quite happy with how the black and red theme has turned out. I have plans to send my original rocket ( ) cover off to an airbrusher, but am tossing up whether to run with the black I have going atm, or the predominately red I had before. The art on the front of the rocker cover will be similar to my avatar. Thoughts?

Loaded my bad fuel tune into the car, reset the cam sensors, and started the new motor this evening. Took a bit of cranking to get the fuel up, but she's running. Idleing a bit high at 1000rpm though. No leaks, just a bit of that 'new gasket' smoke.

I am strongly considering it Chris. Only thing holding me back are the squirters. I'm going to look into getting my 968s drilled out. Not sure yet what it'll cost me though.

Thanks Brian. Could of had it running yesterday, but I'm just taking my time with it. Couldn't work on it during this week just gone, as I was away. I'm in no hurry to get it done as I'm away again for the next 2 weeks. But, I've got a long weekend so I'm taking advantage of it. And three days is more than enough to get it all done. When I get back I need to give Jim a call and get the car down to him to see how it's running. Thanks San.

Thanks mate!

Quick update and some pics. Did the engine swap last weekend with my dad's help. The big girl now has a Typhoon heart. Yesterday and today I got in to finish it off. All that's left to do tomorrow is to replenish all the fluid (oil, coolant, power steer, air con), then she'll be ready to fire. Another pic of the damage. The two motors on the 'workbench', old motor nearest the door. Intake manifold, exhaust manifold and turbo had been swapped over to the Typhoon motor at this point. In she goes. Nice fit funnily enough. This is as far as we got last weekend. And here it is as of an hour or so ago. With a splash of black paint here and there to make it a little different. And a pic to remember the fallen.

Is it just at the take-up point of the clutch? If so, I'd say you may have a warped flywheel and/or pressure plate. Or there may be excessive 'hot spots' on the face of the flywheel and/or pressure plate. If, when the clutch is fully depressed, you can hear a terrible chattering of metal on metal, your flywheel may be loose. If so, cease driving the vehicle and get the flywheel tightened ASAP (remove first to inspect for...). It will damage your crank face, and that aint cool. (...damage to your crank face)

Don't worry Jeff, I've been in the XR6T game long enough to know that my internals were close to, if not over, the limit. It came as no surprise when it went.

I'm going to have to pull out of this one, sorry guys. With the help of my dad, we'll be doing an engine swap on my XR6 this weekend. Was looking forward to bringing the WRX out for some Ford bashing. Next time gadget. Next time...

Thanks guys. Yeah, I'm gonna keep the big girl. Just in the process of stripping her down ready to lift the motor out next weekend. Just about to climb under and pull the gearbox out, and remove the dump pipe from the turbo. Then I just have some wiring to disconnect, loosen the engine mounts, and she'll be ready to lift. I've sourced a BA F6 motor to slot in. Hoping to pick it up and have the swap done next weekend.

Just keep pumping the clutch and topping up the reservoir. It's a self bleed system. If your mechanic was cracking the nipple to bleed it, he was just chasing his own tail.

I've got some incar footage, but nothing really worth showing. I THOUGHT I had some great footage of me being held up by an EVO, and tailing Rapid for a few laps. But got back to the pits, and realized the camera had turned itself off midway through the session! Wasn't impressed. But, my Racechrono software on my N95 proved it's worth. What a great diagnostic/timing tool! Very interesting comparing Cro's PB to my own PB. Two totally different cars, with PBs within .4 of a sec. It's very cool looking at each car's strength and weakness throughout the circuit. Was a good day. We had Rapid's XR, and Juniors brand new FG XR6T. Two T3s, a TS50 and TE50. A VY SS ute. And Cro's R36. The TS50 wasn't playing the game with the tires it had, and was retired after one session. And the TE50 had issues trying to find grip and stability with my falken semi-slicks. They were far from impressive... Cro's R36 was super consistent, and was fault free for the day. Some other cars worthy of a mention (for me), were a Black R34 GTR (super sexy), G35 Skyline, and a yellow Dodge Viper turned up later in the day. Plus a few EVO 8s and 9s. Unfortunately none of these cars had any skill behind the wheel.

Yeah, very impressive for a factory car Ivan. Didn't realize how potent those things were. I've always had a respect for the R32, now have a newfound respect for the R36. (It's quicker than an R32! ) But geez, you shoulda got a different colour. It just looks like another VW in silver. But then, I spose you probably like that. The whole wolf in sheep's clothing trick. For your information, your best recorded lap was a 1:14.93.