My GPvR, 1.3 Turbo, yes you got it right ;)

[Kace]

Jesus you're some man to strip and rebuild a car! Well done.

[brccrx]

Jesus you're some man to strip and rebuild a car! Well done.

Ah, sure, i just like doing this type of work .......... a lot!

Thank You Kace!

The decat came a day or two ago, so i got the hands dirty again







I must admit im well impressed by the quality of the product ive received!



Its a silencer type as i dont like raspy exhaust.



So ive removed the lot, down pipe and the catalytic converter:



Separated the cat from down pipe.



And gave the Lambda sensor a quick check once im at it:



Catalytic converter in decent condition, good to know for the NCT purposes!



Slight modification to the bolt holes were required:





Cooper greased all the bolts before putting all together:



And ported the decat down pipe side hole for that even smoother exhaust fumes transition!



Job done!

[Wagalini]

That's a lot of work man. Fair play to you.

I'd be scared sh1tless I'd feck up rethreading or something similar.

[Kace]

That's the nicest looking decat I have ever seen for an FTO. Where did you get it?

[goz_83]

I seen them on ebay.

But how often do you look under a car?

[brccrx]

Thanks lads.

Decat indeed came from ebay, heres the link to the one i bought:

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/230729668079?ssP ... 1497.l2649

But how often do you look under a car?

Me? lol I'll be under this car more often than average FTO owner

But i didnt chose it over the way it looks.

Best advantage of this type of decat is that exhaust doesn't sound raspy but has deeper tone and it still give nice kick in the performance.
Also the quality is great in my opinion.

[Sebastian]

I envy you for having the time ,knowledge and the place to do this kind of things . Fair play

[brccrx]

I envy you for having the time ,knowledge and the place to do this kind of things . Fair play

Ah the mechanics isnt that hard to to be honest, having fine spot to do it tools and all that would be the harder part lol.

Anyway, the gearbox went on the car shortly after ive installed it so the car got put up on stands again:







U'll probably want to know what happen, well 3 things:

1 Bad gearbox
2 Idiot driver (that would be me yes!)
3 Wrong drive shaft put in that caused all the damage.







Both gearboxes:



The broken one:



And its replacement.



Few lill things to be done btw doing the gearbox change.



Relishing bearing:



Only decent stuff



The hole again





Now get up ya .........



The car is all great again, fitted the correct drive shaft this time

Now lets the V6 symphony sound again!

[Myfeckin FTO]

Did you really replace a gearbox on that FTO using just axle stands? (No ramp/lift?)

[brccrx]

Did you really replace a gearbox on that FTO using just axle stands? (No ramp/lift?)

Yes, but instead of axle stands im using only concrete blocks (call me cheap, but it did never ever came down from it yet and it did from metal axle stand once, not the FTO anyway lol)

[Myfeckin FTO]

That must have been a giant pain in the ass working with such little clearance and having to lift and bolt a heavy gearbox into place. Hats off to anyone who goes to this much effort (esp without the use of a lift) to work on their own car.

[mivecrx]

That must have been a giant pain in the ass working with such little clearance and having to lift and bolt a heavy gearbox into place. Hats off to anyone who goes to this much effort (esp without the use of a lift) to work on their own car.

It's hard to work on the ground alright but Seb has this job and most jobs on fto and mirage done so many times he would do it in the same time as someone using a lift.

[brccrx]

That must have been a giant pain in the ass working with such little clearance and having to lift and bolt a heavy gearbox into place. Hats off to anyone who goes to this much effort (esp without the use of a lift) to work on their own car.

It's hard to work on the ground alright but Seb has this job and most jobs on fto and mirage done so many times he would do it in the same time as someone using a lift.

Its was (still is in some cases) hard job ye right, but since i got that engine crane the life is so much easier lads.

Im able to pull the complete engine and box out the car (its 1.6 Mivec im on about as i didnt remove any 6a12 yet) in roughly 2 hours if there no P/S and A/C on it or about 3 hours if there the lot in the engine bay blocking the access to a few bolts and nuts.

Gearbox change take about 3-4 hours on the ground if its manual to manual, auto to manual would take more as U have to unbolt the torque converter then flywheel. Bolt on the manual flywheel, set and bolt on the clutch etc. This not include the clutch master cylinder installation and pedal box swap

Whats the average time that mechanic would change Your gearbox, using the lift and all?

[brccrx]

Toying with the dyno runs

[brccrx]

I'll be under this car more often than average FTO owner

This so true it seems lol.



Some suspension work done as the car had a lot of knocking noise and was very hard overall so i wanted to give a go different shocks/springs set up only at the back.



Found knackered bushes in bottom suspension arms.





And ARB bushes are very bad condition.



Springs getting replaced with more comfy ones as its just to hard for my liking!



Ok so here we go:

Bush out ya go!







New one, cant remember what it did cost but its hell expensive this bastard!





In with ya!





Pushing it in from underneath:



Nearly there!



And in:



Shocks? Where would U get a set on demand??? Hmmmmm...

Pair of red baron shocks from my cave for special occasions, RS Mirage springs, quite hard but stock height!!!



One fitted:



Top mounts before:



Now



The other side needed some attention too!





Had spare passenger side bottom arm with bush already fitted:



And with different springs.



Car seats higher now and its very pleasure to drive even on crap Longford roads, still very tight in the corners, absolutely delighted with that!

[brccrx]

Couple of days ago ive test fit the stepper motor from 4G92 and viola the car starts when cold, pity it held the revs to high when fully worm as i would leave it there but instead of that i had to fit the old one once sure whats the problem (so now need to find good condition stepper motor )

Both throttle bodies together:
Please note both are drilled out to 63mm



6A12 one:



4G92:



6A12 with steeper motor from 4g92:



The left overs



Now today i had a few spare minutes and i just thought i'll try to sort one of most annoying things on this engine, the tappets





Checked the lobes once im at it:





Also found some leaking spot:





Putting all back together ive realized that i be better to check what condition is the timing belt and is the timing set as it should:





Its a fresh one! Thats good!

[Sebastian]

looking good mate

[goz_83]

I have a stepper motor from my old 95 gr if you need one. I kept it, just in case i ever needed it, but will sell if it is needed.

[brccrx]

Thanks Sebastian!

How much that stepper motor? Is it same as Mivec's (i bet it is just asking lol)

[brccrx]

I knew there was a bit of mes with the alarm but when ive pulled out the lot to see what is it done like ive nearly got a heart attack





So i went back in to the house and brought my little electrician emergency kit:



And a strong coffee as i needed some good portion of mental and physical energy to deal with that mess!



And heres where the fun began:







Re soldered, heat shrinked (and crimp some of em) all the connections as they were only wire to wire hand tied and tape isolated!!!
What a rough cnut went at it when instaling the alarn

The work in progress:



Some wires to re route.



Some time later:





Getting there



Only one left to:







A lot later





And the Grand Finalle!!!

[goz_83]

Steppers are compatible alright. Will swap for the centre console, as they go for same price and i don't mind having one, or the other in stock.

[brccrx]

Thanks for the offer but im hoping the step motor be good on the FTO i'll be getting soon so im hoping to use that one.

[mivecrx]

You adding another fto to the collection?

[brccrx]

You adding another fto to the collection?

Yes and possibly one more Mirage if i can afford it Aidan, no its not Gar's one. lol.

[mivecrx]

You adding another fto to the collection?

Yes and possibly one more Mirage if i can afford it Aidan, no its not Gar's one. lol.

Full cars or shells?
you get the car off warren yet?