KWIKXR's EF Fairmont Turbo

[kwikxr]

Hey all,

Thought I might throw up some pic's (quite a few so bear with me lol) of my car since I find myself on this site quite a bit now..

It's a 1995 EF Fairmont 4.0 auto, bought it back in 2008 For $2.5k in pretty much stock standard form aside from the ROH Reflex wheels and Pedders sports ryder spring & shock combo all round..

As it was when I first got it home..





Since then I've been slowly modding away at it..

Basic idea behind the build was for it to be a decent cruiser/daily hack that may also see the odd run down the 1/4 at the local drags or some track days down at Pukekohe raceway etc. It is my first car so I wanted to try take things slow, keep it clean and not ruin it.

So from back when I got it up until right now, it's gone through a few little mods here and there.. I did want to turbo it, but lost motivation before things got serious and with lack of funds, I didn't want to boost it on the cheap and have it run unreliably. So now I'm keen to have a nice mild N/A setup for the street, and then see if it's worth taking it further in the future or buying a 5.0 Ghia or XR8 to play with..

Anyways, here's a run down of the car overall.

Exterior wise, It went through a few different looks over time, mostly all basic bolt on shit like grilles, wheels, etc, that didn't have too much affect on a clean simple look..

-Wheels are 16x7.5 Motoform Sekta's (wrapped in 225/50 Hankook Ventus HRII up front and Bridgestone B530's on the rear)
-Stripped back and chrome plated EF Fairmont grille, black meshed centre
-Fairlane driving/cornering lights
-Fairlane clear side repeaters
-EL Fairmont rear numberplate surround
-Lightly tinted tail lights
-Pinstripes removed
-B-series 'Fairmont' badge on the rear

How it looks now..




Engine wise, everything is pretty basic.

-3" intake piping, DIY plastic airbox, big fuck-off pod.
-DIY modded throttlebody, ported BBM,
-AU injectors, XR6 ecu and fuel reg
-Std EF 94AB head, been shaved about 15thou when the headgasket was done, port runners de-burred
-Franklin Cam's cam regrind, only a baby profile (just under .500" valve lift, 198deg duration@ 50thou, 111LSA
-Coby 6-2-1 heatwrapped extractors, long secondaries (no cat), 2.5" Rage mandrel bent exhaust

I have an early e-series head that I'm currently doing a DIY port job on so that will going on once I have finished it, and have everything ready to bolt on. Will probably get it shaved maybe 25-30thou and fit an AU MLS gasket to bump the comp a touch. I'll be upgrading to a slightly bigger Franklin Cams profile (about .530" valve lift and something closer to 210deg duration @50thou would be nice) and will upgrade valve springs/retainers/collets to suit. Will also be getting a J3 done by TiPerformance once it's all good to go and had it's run on the dyno.

I've put a bit of engine bay detailing work and simple bling items into it since I take it to Ford shows and what not, so it's probably the only decent thing about the car lol.. It also went through a few different looks/setups over time but here's how it looks currently..


It looks much better than it goes, that's for sure! Had it put on the dyno this time last year and it put out a massive 132.4rwkw at 4950rpm with AFR's in the low 11's to high 10's from about 2500rpm onwards. Needless to say, it was embarrassing, but it was close to the mid 130's I was expecting and not bad considering how rich it was running lol. When I go back next time after the engine work is done, I'm hoping it'll crack 140rwkw at least and then hope a good tune will break it into the 150rwkw mark. I know it's SFA power, but its a realistic goal for me without boost

Rest of the driveline remains pretty much untouched. The auto is standard other than a DIY adjustable shiftkit to give some credibility to the BTR's shifting ability and a decent sized trans oil cooler to prevent the BTR from overheating and dying prematurely. Still has the standard 3.23:1 single pegger diff which occasionally will pull a decent 2 wheeler for some reason. I have some 3.89:1 gears and also a set of 3.45:1 gears sitting here so the plan is to either get a Lokka or rebuild LSD centre thrown in with whichever diff gears will suit my driving at the time. Plans for the BTR will be just a slightly higher stall, maybe 2500-2800 but I guess it will depend on the torque delivery of the new cam once it's done.

Suspension at the moment is a work in progress..

-Pedders Sports Ryder low springs and struts (with lower spring seat mount)
-Rebuilt custom-valved Bilstein shocks in the rear (very fucking firm!), Pedders low springs (minus a coil)
-30mm whiteline front swaybar with Nolathane mount and link bushes
-24mm Selby/Signature rear swaybar with Nolathane link bushes






The Pedders struts are slowly dying so I have a pair of Koni red struts sitting here waiting to go in the front. They are rebound and spring seat height adjustable (via circlip and groove) so will be setting those to a firm setting and playing around with the seat height so it drops a little lower than what it is currently is with the Pedders low's.

Braking setup is pretty much standard, other than a pair of slotted rotors on the back. Hopefully next week I'll have some Znoelli (NZ made) S6 slotted rotors and SP500 sport pads ready to go on - and for the price I hope they are fucking worth it.

Interior has a few changes. Idea was to go with a nice black on cappa look with something else thrown in to break it up..

-Dashpad, door trim tops, dash surround/console piece dyed in satin black
-LTD woodgrain dash spear, rear vent surround, auto shifter surround and double din surround (not currently fitted anymore)
-Fairlane/LTD chrome door handles
-Fairmont ghia cappa leather door card inserts
-NU Fairlane black leather handbrake boot
-Cheap black/chrome aftermarket auto gear knob (broke the chromed plastic knobs on 2x Fairlane/LTD leather gear knobs so not bothering with that shit again)
-Blue LED dash lighting, white LED interior courtesy lighting
-Calibre vacuum gauge
-XR6 steering wheel
-Custom carbon fibre dials, 3M di-noc carbon fibre wrapped cluster faceplate
-Tailor made floor mats

As mentioned above, all the LTD woodgrain is getting removed as I felt it didn't quite work as well without matching LTD spec doortrims. I bought some more 3m Di-noc carbon fibre film and wrapped my old Fairmont dash spear and some worn out Fairlane woodgrain door spears which will hopefully be going in this weekend. Seating is also being considered, at the stage possibly just retrimmed and re-bolstered Fairmont seats front and rear in black with cappa highlights or something, although I'd love a nice pair of recline-able sports seat up front that actually hold you in the seat.






I like my in-car audio, especially since the i6 engines aren't that good to listen to (unless it's boosted and has a screamer), so I spent a bit in this department..

Has gone through a few different setups but this is how it is currently. Just nice simple gear with focus on SQ rather than SPL..

-Headunit: Pioneer DEH-4150UB
-Amps: E-Audio 280AB 2 channel for front stage, E-Audio 1000D for sub stage
-Front stage: 6" DLS UP6 ultimate midbass woofers, Jaycar Response Precision 'audiophile' ribbon tweeters, Jaycar Response Precision x-overs
-Rear stage: None
-Subwoofers: 2x Image Dynamics IDQ12v2 (both dual 4ohm, wired down to 1ohm to get 1kwrms from the 1000D)
-Wiring: 2ga from battery, splitting to 2x 4ga for each amp. Also has the typical 'big 3' upgrade to 2ga cable
-Dynamat Xtreme sound deadened doors, bootlid, parcel shelf etc

Did a DIY boot install to pretty up the boot and tidy things up a bit. Walls and false floor in 12mm MDF with pop out panels for spare wheel and fuel pump access if I ever need it. The sub box I built in 18mm MDF, and was built to Image Dynamics recommended spec's for a sealed enclosure with SQ in mind. It's basically one big box with a dividing wall in the middle to separate it into 2 completely sealed enclosures of 1.0cuft volume after woofer displacement. Covered everything up once it was done in some thickish black carpet. Seems to be a very nice design for those sub's, nice tight punchy bass, decent output and highly accurate. Overall, sounds pretty decent for a nice daily system..








So yeah, that's a bit about my EF. As time goes on and things change I'll probably update the thread with some pic's etc.

Cheers!

[sikwags_218]

Looks great mate. Really love what you have done with this. Keep up the good work

[kwikxr]

Cheers for the kind words mate . I'll be keeping at it with the work, but it'll most likely be damn slow progress haha.

Got the carbon fibre door spears and dash spear in today and ended up removing all the LTD woodgrain bits that were in there before.






Just need to start thinking about what I'll do with the seats as they look so out of place right now lol

[sikwags_218]

Yeah I know it can be slow but just keep chipping away at it. Gee your bay is so mint as is, well the rest of the car. But can't believe how clean you keep it. Hope mine is that clean when its done.
Carbon fiber suits it I reckon

[superhuS!]

This thing is mental. Looks interior looks classy as f***.

Keep up the good work dude.

[Michael (HYPOEB)]

Good write up mate. You have done a good job with it so far,Love the carbon fibre look!

[kwikxr]

Yeah I know it can be slow but just keep chipping away at it. Gee your bay is so mint as is, well the rest of the car. But can't believe how clean you keep it. Hope mine is that clean when its done.
Carbon fiber suits it I reckon

Thanks man! Would still love to rip the motor out at some stage and smooth out the engine bay panels, weld up all the excess holes and de-loom it, respray etc, kind of like what you've done with yours, it turned out fkn mint!

I'd have to say the photo's do this thing more justice than it deserves though, it's in major need of a respray at the very least. It only looks that clean at AFD shows because I spend the whole day before cleaning, polishing and waxing it lol. But being a daily driver, it only lasts a few days until it's dirty again.

This thing is mental. Looks interior looks classy as f***.

Keep up the good work dude.

Cheers mate! I just need some decent seating to finish off the interior then it's done

Good write up mate. You have done a good job with it so far,Love the carbon fibre look!

Thanks mate! Yeah, the carbon fiber thankfully turned out decent, something a little different which is good I guess.

[EF ECTIV]

loving the interior... That carbon fibre wrap is awesome to work with isnt it? Wrapped some of my exterior plastics
in it... Yours turned out ace...

Looking forward to you working on that engine bay... nothing better than some smoothing and fresh coat of
paint...

[kwikxr]

Cheers man!! Yep, that carbon fiber wrap is mint to work with for sure, pretty cool how you can just heat it up and form it around corners and stuff. I remember seeing those window trims you wrapped, they turned out awesome! I was going to attempt it, but the left over film I've got left isn't long enough lol

[kwikxr]

A few pic's from today..

[Simo]

dude was it hard making that box?? i want one

[kwikxr]

The sub box? Pretty simple really, providing you take time to get measurements right and have the right tools for cutting wood etc.

It's the first box I've ever made, the hardest part was trying to come up with a design that would physically fit where I wanted it and still be made to be within suitable internal volume specifications for the sub's.

[[D1SCNT]]

very classy man the interior is off tap!!

[TechXR]

VERY nice! I'm not sure what I like the most, the interior or the sound system/boot design

[kwikxr]

Cheers fella's

Picked up some new sub's for the audio system a few weeks back.. 2x Image Dynamic's ID12v3 D4's - yes, I love my ID gear




Basically they are the next series up from my current sub's (V2's), but are still the entry level of the V3 series. Should be a nice pair SQL-ish type sub's for my setup though. Not sure when they'll go in as I'm considering building another box, this time about 1.25cuft ported per sub and port length tuned in the low 30hz range.. We'll see what happens though, might just put them in the current box's and see how they like it.

I've put on a hold on the brake 'upgrade' I was planning as I want to try get the my ported cyl head (91AA from an EB) all sorted out and start gathering all the parts needed so I can swap it over during the holidays at the end of year. So far, the parts list is adding up as quick as a mofo so I'll be working flat out to cover the costs of it all lol. Nearly finished the porting of the head, but once that's done it basically just needs parts, machine work and then assembly before it's ready to bolt on.

Fingers crossed, tomorrow I'll have a valve spring/retainer/lock combo that'll work with the e-series head since Crow Cam's stuff to suit the e-series i6 motors is near on non-existant in NZ at the moment

[kwikxr]

Little update I guess.. Finally have my valve spring/retainer/lock combo sorted out

Crower 68315 springs, Crower 87049 chromoly retainers and Pioneer Performance multigroove locks. Springs are rated at 105lb seated pressure @ 1.85" height and 120lb @ 1.80", so with the e-series installed height being closer to 1.820", I'd say the seat pressure would be close to 110lb @ std installed height on an e-series head. Should be good enough to support a mildish high lift cam anyways..

Did a quick dummy fit on my ported 91AA head and it all fits up fine..




Picked up a 2nd hand EB XR6 head (92DT) for $60 today, so first off I'll drop it down to the cyl head shop to have the ports and chambers sandblasted and cleaned up as well as a pressure test.


If all good, I plan to use this head for the swap over at the end of year instead of the 91AA head. I'll do a light port job on this 92DT head, new valves, new guides (shortened and tapered), 3 angle seat cut, shaved maybe 20-25thou as well as fit the springs etc. CBF going too drastic with this one since I'm bolting it onto a stock 240,000km bottom end.

I've spent a bit of time porting the 91AA head, but it could do with a few little areas worked on more, after some good advice from brad_m/tickford_6. I've decided I'll keep it on the workbench in the garage for now and maybe get a bit more 'serious' with the port work seeing as there is now lots of talk happening about the porting and flow potential of these heads

[kwikxr]

Bit of an update, now I'm on holidays for a bit over 3 weeks, it's time to get some work done on the Fairmont..

Sorry in advance for the shitload of pic's lol..

Recently I've done the Fairlane/LTD style dome light conversion, simple shit, but makes a nice difference in both looks and light output. It had a grey surround so I sprayed it satin black to tie in with the rest of the interior. I've put in some T10 wide angle SMD led's for the map lights, just need to track down a decent T15 white LED for the main interior light to replace the standard filament bulb.


Bought an AU Momo in pretty rough condition, sent it off to leather repair specialist mob to have the scuffed up leather repaired and have the entire wheel including the blue grips re-dyed in black. Turned out pretty fkn mint, ended up swapping that into the Fairmont in place of the e-series XR wheel today. Feels and looks so much better!



Had a new cam done to slot in while I put my recently ported and freshened up head on. Just a mild-ish grind, but should have a lot more midrange punch and a lumpier idle compared to the current baby cam I've got.

Spec's: Auckland Cam's #268 profile
Cam lift: In 0.246" Ex 0.248" (so 0.492"/0.496" valve lift with the 2:1rr)
Duration @ .050": In 221deg Ex 222deg
Lobe seperation: 110deg



I got the head washed up and did a DIY port job on the 92DT head I spoke about in one of my above posts. Nothing epic, just a good clean up of the ports, with a bit of work done on widening and laying back short side turns, widening around the valve guide protrusions and blending bowl to valve seat transitions. Also did a little a bit of chamber work, deshrouding the area around the valves with a small amount of the chamber layed back around the intake valve leading towards the exhaust side etc.

Spent a couple hours on and off each night after work for about 2 weeks getting the port work done in the garage, didn't bother to get it flow tested since I didn't flow test it in std form so don't have much to work against in that regard.

In std form:






Lining up the MLS gasket to scribe out bore diameter, then making a start on working the chambers



After the port work:



Took it into a local engine reco shop and had cylinder head man work his magic with the machining work.

So now it's got:
- New valve guides and stem seals all round, intake guides being shortened ~8mm with a slight taper and exhausts just got a chamfer around the leading edge
- New standard size intake and exhaust valves (47mm/39mm), with 30deg backcut
- Valve seats recut (3 angle), valves lapped in and vacuum tested
- Exhaust valve seat ID's throated (opened out to 34.10mm from 32.5mm)
- Shaved 25thou (hoping for somewhere around 9.8:1 comp at a rough guess with std bottom end and a MLS gasket)

Got it back from the shop, pulled the valves out and started doing the finishing touches with the ports..




After having the exhaust valve seat/throat area opened up, it needed to be re-blended back into the bowl




Final result after re-finishing the ports:
Intake:




Exhaust:



Chamber view:


So, all that's needed now a quick final clean down and then I can install my Crower springs + retainers with the Pioneer valve locks and it's all good to go

Ordered a custom tuned J3 chip from Jason @ TiPerformance to help out with the cam as I'm not to sure how the stock ecu will cope with it. Pretty confident the base tune should be alright to get me to a dyno to check where the AFR's are at, and then I'll send it back to Jason for some fine tuning.


Bought some Znoelli DDS slotted and dimpled rotors and SP500 performance road pads for the front - will probably swap them onto the Fairmont when I put my Koni Red's in up front


Gonna be a pretty busy holiday for me hahaha, Merry Xmas to you all!!

[EBOOST]

sounds good mate keep us posted how she goes mate,
cheers josh.

[superhuS!]

those rotors are porn.

Mind if I ask how much they set you back? PM if you want.

[SnipeZ]

Where are you located mate?
I reckon ive seen this in cranbourne at excel automotive on station street.
I drove past and thought holy **** thats a nice interior!!!
Look identical to yours

[wicksy]

He is in NZ

[superhuS!]

dude... he's in New Zealand.

[kwikxr]

sounds good mate keep us posted how she goes mate,
cheers josh.

Cheers dude, hopefully she's goes a lot better than how it's going at the moment or else I'll be pissed

those rotors are porn.

Mind if I ask how much they set you back? PM if you want.

Cheers mate, they sure are

I got the rotors + pads for $440NZ as a special X-mas deal (front pair only) from Znoelli. Normal retail was something like $540 . Then again, I was looking at $400 for a pair of DBA street series slotted rotors -everything in NZ is overpriced

They are an NZ company specialising in performance brake rotors, pads, brake hoses etc. Not sure if they have any distributors over in Aussie, but they'd probably deal directly with overseas customers.

Where are you located mate?
I reckon ive seen this in cranbourne at excel automotive on station street.
I drove past and thought holy **** thats a nice interior!!!
Look identical to yours

Haha, as the guys above said, I'm in NZ

[SnipeZ]

Yeah. I shouls have checjed plates. But yeah same dash color set up. Looks mint

[Ef_frmnt]

what did you dye the dash pad & door trims with? I've already got a carbon wrapped dash surround/facia and all the plastics, just need to finish off the door trims and be all set.

[kwikxr]

what did you dye the dash pad & door trims with? I've already got a carbon wrapped dash surround/facia and all the plastics, just need to finish off the door trims and be all set.

I used VHT satin black vinyl dye, but sprayed in on in very fine coats so it sinks in the vinyl

[kwikxr]

Got the front suspension and brakes sorted over last night/this morning. Took out my old Pedders GSR struts out and they were nothing short of absolutely buggered. Swapped out my Pedders 'low's from the old struts and put them onto the Koni's. Had the spring seat set to a position about 15-20mm lower than the seat on the Pedders struts so the front end would sit a bit lower. Good thing was I gained a bit more travel with the Koni's as the shock body is a bit shorter too.





Handles so much better now, turn-in is excellent and the ride is heaps more firmer - a good match for the overly stiff Bilstein shocks in the rear. The brakes are working nice and smooth, have only just taken it for a run to bed in the pads so haven't tested them out properly, but I no longer have any weird creaking noise when braking or shuddering at 100kmh which is good.

Don't know WTF is wrong here, but photobucket's being a **** and won't rotate the photo like I want it to. (EDIT: finally it worked lol)

So basic run down of the front end suspension/brake setup..
- Pedder's 'low' springs
- Koni struts with seat set on 2nd lowest groove
- 30mm whiteline swaybar with Nolathane mount and link bushes
- Znoelli DDS slotted and dimpled rotors
- Znoelli SP500 performance road pads
- Camber kit (currently with 6 shims fitted on both sides)

Here's some more showing ride height etc..

How's that for some fkn rake! . My rear tyres were quite rooted, so my Concorde's are on the back in the meantime lol



Lowering the front about an inch has raised the rear about half an inch so I'll be sorting that out soon. Was planning to only fit superlow's in the rear to replace my chopped Pedder's low's, but I think fitting some King ultralow's will fix all of my current ride height problems.

Head + cam swap is on hold since the shit weather that's coming to NZ from across the ditch is supposed to hit tomorrow and last through till the New Year.

[kwikxr]

Managed to get the head assembled today, so it's all ready to go now.



Looks like the rain is slowly starting to move away and the skies are clearing up, so fingers crossed the head and cam swap will be underway soon

[galapogos01]

Car looks great! Love the stereo install, very neat and the IDs are great subs. Hope the new head & cam goes well!

[misk]

oh man i feel sorry for you using that valve spring compressor lol
its the worst on a falcon head
you got it done though, should go well with the port work and cam, let us know the outcome

[kwikxr]

Car looks great! Love the stereo install, very neat and the IDs are great subs. Hope the new head & cam goes well!

Thanks mate, yeah should be pretty interesting to see how it all goes, then I'll finally be able to use that J3 chip you did for me

oh man i feel sorry for you using that valve spring compressor lol
its the worst on a falcon head
you got it done though, should go well with the port work and cam, let us know the outcome

Haha, I almost felt sorry for myself! It's bloody useless, I got 2 valve springs done and the the cup that sits up against the valve head decided to just fall off lol. Managed to smash it back together and got it all done so it's all good.

I'll update again once it's all in and going, just can't wait to go for a skid

[misk]

yeah i got halfway through the first valve and it lost its footing, seeing as it took me so fucking long to get it seated correctly to begin with, i didn't even attempt it again lol. just went and bought the screw in above head type, much easier, but a few guys on here have created their own valve spring tool out of old rocker gear and some steel, makes it easy as pie!

anyway, i know the feeling when you're waiting to start the car again after doing some some decent mods
if its a big cam, hearing the idle alone will be enough to make you smile!

[kwikxr]

anyway, i know the feeling when you're waiting to start the car again after doing some some decent mods
if its a big cam, hearing the idle alone will be enough to make you smile!

Yeah man I can't wait!! Last time I felt this anxious was when I put my current cam in a while back, it was only a very mild cam but I was amped lol.

The new cam should go alright, still only a pretty mild profile, but has a fair bit more duration than the current one (220deg @ 50thou compared to 195deg @ 50thou) and on a tighter LSA so I'm hoping it should pack a bit more punch in the midrange and have a little more lope at idle.

Anyways, the rain decided to come back again and flood my work space. Working in a open ended carport FTL.. Decided to re-do my old rocker cover in the garage in hopes that the rain will piss of by tomorrow so I can start working on the fkn motor.

Re-painted it using Duplicolor Metalcast spray paint's which is basically a translucent colour coat over a metalflake base coat to give a somewhat anodized effect. Topped it off with some Duplicolor clear enamel for a bit more shine.

So after 3 coats of silver groundcoat, 5 coats of blue and 2 coats of clear, this is the finished product.


Block sanded back the lettering and then did a once over with some carnauba wax and it turned out pretty decent, fairly smooth and glossy for something out of can and the colour contrast under shade/light plus the 'pop' from the metalflake is pretty mint. Probably one of the better covers I've done so far so might keep this one on for a while.

[kwikxr]

Bit of progress..

Plugged in the J3 chip last night, put the ECU back in the car to make sure all was running right (mainly to check if I did a good enough job cleaning the J3 port contacts, lol) and all was well, so that's sorted


Sun came out today so pulled the top end off.



Cleaned up the block etc in preparation for tomorrow when it all should be back together. Tonight's job is cleaning up a few brackets and parts so they can be painted, clean up a few things like wiring etc in the engine bay, and possibly remove lower intake manifold for a quick port job, clean up and coat of paint, providing the CBF factor hasn't set in by then even though it already has right now, haha.

[sikwags_218]

Looking good man, should be sweet when she is all back together and running. Mint bay, again, BTW . Love the polished BBM and clean/ painted everything

Keep up the top work dude

[[D1SCNT]]

top job on the rocker cover mate.

looks like things are coming along nicely, you replacing the lifter's? or they good and quiet still.

[kwikxr]

Looking good man, should be sweet when she is all back together and running. Mint bay, again, BTW . Love the polished BBM and clean/ painted everything

Keep up the top work dude

Thanks mate! Yeah man, can't wait to get it running aye, should be a bit of fun hopefully

Engine bay could be a bit cleaner, but that'll have to wait till the motor comes out whenever that may be, if ever lol.

top job on the rocker cover mate.

looks like things are coming along nicely, you replacing the lifter's? or they good and quiet still.

Cheers mate! It's slowly getting there haha.

Yep, the old lifters are being replaced I've got a new set of lifter's to go in, just aftermarket one's though, not sure how well they'll go but I guess we'll find out.

[dannysebxr6]

nice work kwikxr,
fairmont looks mint and the interiors awesome.
wish i had the time and cash to do that.
engine mods look real good and hopefully should give you heaps of power!
but yeah our fairmonts coming along really nicely and looks the bomb.

kepp up the mods and the hard work.
Cheers
Daniel

[kwikxr]

Hey Daniel, thanks for the comments mate! Yeah man, I hope these mods make a good difference, as long as it pulls harder to redline, has a mean idle and does a decent skid I'll be happy enough

Cheers

[kwikxr]

Well it's all back together now, but not running too well at the moment lol..
http://youtu.be/wLu6E4rZMp0

It's starts, but won't idle unless you keep the rev's up. You can rev it out to 2-3krpm and it'll be smooth, until it drops back to idle. When it try's to idle, it just hunts constantly, engine shakes like it's going to jump out of the bay, and is just plain old rough as guts haha. After checking things and double checking things with the old man, all we can put it down to is excessive fuel dump which sounds like the typical symptoms of a big cam in an i6 motor. J3 chip is in, but doesn't seem to be making any difference to the running of the engine even without the chip. Just waiting to hear back from TiPerformance regarding the tune at start up/idle and then go from there

Even though it's not running properly at the moment, I'm pretty happy all round. The new top end sounds smooth, no odd noises, ticks, knocks etc. No signs of leaks from the headgasket either which is good to see.

Anyways, this is how the engine bay looks now after the addition of some blue parts, starting to looks smurf'd out, but it's all ties together much better now. Pretty happy with the look right now