How it arrived to me: (Previous owner kept the number plates and nudge bar)
In its new home with my previous car:
At first, only mod's I did to it, were brakes, tyres, stereo, and lazy eye kit (only a few minor things)
However that all changed, as the engine needed a rebuild. Unfortunately with each week it was blowing more and more white smoke, so with 195k kms on the clock, I decided to get the engine rebuilt by Mania. What started out as a minor overhaul, turned into adding high comp pistons, different cams, exhaust and ECU...but the plan didnt stay too long. I drove a turbo MX5, and was hooked haha. Since (at the time), budget wasnt exactly a problem (young, single and scored a rather large compo payout from a previous job), the engine build went like this:
Wiseco 8:1 forged pistons (slightly oversized)
Carillo H-beam rods
Balanced crank
Block blueprinted and matched to pistons
Head and block skimmed to match up properly
Head ported and polished
Titanium valves and valve springs
Exhaust manifold, turbo and dump pipe from an SP (bought new from a source)
2.5" straight through exhaust and twin tip muffler
Custom CAI (to use the hole in the firewall)
PWR radiator (fitted at a later date)
I wont say exactly how much all of that cost me, only that I was to do it again, I would of just bought an SP or SE and modified that (which in fact, is what I'm doing now)
Just shy of 200rwkw @ 16psi was the end result. Was an absolute blast to drive, went through quite a few gearboxes in the process. Unfortunately, for all the power, it was severely lacking in suspension and braking, but was still a blast to drive at wakefield
My Couisin seeing if a set of guards from a 1930's Austin would fit...
Doing what it did best - failing RTA emissions tests:
Unfortunately, though, after failing 4 emissions tests, and barely avoiding multiple defects for a non-engineered turbo, the opportunity to buy a cheap SE came up. The plan was, to swap everything over into the SE, and put a standard engine into the NA. Unfortunately, after the turbo engine was pulled from the NA, and a standard engine purchased from Mania, the SE was stolen from my driveway. When it was found, they'd stolen the airbags, steering wheel, stereo, and torched the rest....
It still brings a small tear to my eye to see this photo of it. Because of what had happened to the SE, I was turned off from owning a modified car. I sold all the parts from the turbo engine (although still trying to sell the cylinder head, intercooler and associated piping). I basically drove the NA around simply as a car to drive. I'd lost interest in cars in general for a while, as whenever I'd see a nice car for sale, I'd always think "whats to stop another car being stolen", but enough about that. Come December of 08, the car was sold, and sent on its merry way, with not much to hint about its past, but enough to show it had led a good life:
NB: I'll do a write up on the current SE soon
