Ok so, gonna finish writing this up haha.
The Astina Valve cover has the breather barb where my coil packs need to go.
So I relocated them. I know, over the exhaust isnt the greatest spot, but its the only place the leads would reach.
I was either going to get really long leads and mount the away on the firewall somewhere, or just man up and do a cop conversion.
I mounted them on offset brackets supported through the rocker cover holes. and an aluminium tube to get the right angle.
Engine went in all good, although I have to say this was by far the hardest thing to do. Lining the mounts up etc. Huge thanks to my bestest friend ever Martin for helping out.
One hiccup was the clutch line, which got in the way, and was accidentally snapped
I decided to get a custom one made up. Big thanks to Enzed in brookvale who were very helpful and gave me a nice discount
It fits in the oem bracket!
Lots of hassles with the exhaust manifold. My fault for buying a cheap set of YAJ that had the flexijoint rotted out, so was very hard to align the flange again.
Close but no cigar.
Huge thanks to Suli/rxmx/PureMX5 for doing great welding and getting them to fit.
First start up, crank crank crank crank... nothing....
Ok, don't stress, something just isnt plugged in?
After well and truly throwing the toys out of the cot, turns out I had never reconnected the fuel pump when i changed it lol.
Second start up, crank- STARTS!!!!! sounds great no aweful noises or smoke or anything! cheering!
As soon as I depressed the clutch to drive it out of the garage, smoke everywhere.
turned it off straight away, very distressed. Turned out that the new clutch line just wasn't tight enough, so fluid spurted out onto the extractors.
Bled the clutch and retightened.
Third start, crank, start, drive. FAR OUT SO FKN INCREDIBLE!
I babied it just for a couple of minutes, didn't bog the engine but didnt thrash it, just to get everything warmed up to make sure it was all working.
Rev'd it through the range gently, not going past 4k a couple of times, then let it cool down and turned it off.
waited till it was cool, then started it again, same thing but went to 5k. then 6k.
It has so much more power than my wobbly 1.6.
1.8L with the 1.6 flywheel is a great combo, it revs so quickly, its lovely and zippy, but more torque.
First "big" trip, went to Mania for a check up
And thats that. I have enjoyed it for several months now, with the biggest smile on my face.
x100000000
I am so honoured! haha