HKS Head build : pt*1

This is something we've had in the pipe line for a while now , so I decided to get a start on it this week.
The plan is to build up a mildly tuned head with HKS internals for Dave's daily Trueno !

I have a couple of heads in the garage so I pulled out a stripped, large port head and got to cleaning it.
First off its getting mild head work , which involves cleaning up the carbon filled ports and machining the sand casting marks from them. After I have it all cleaned up it will go for a skim.

I have a few sets of uprated cams in the garage, but for this head we chose 256 degree with 8.35mm of lift. It's going to be running in an everyday car with a stock bottom end, so there was no point in fitting my lairy Toda 304's lol.
To go along with these cams we have a set of new HKS valve springs and a pair of HKS adjustable cam gears to dial it all together at the end.

This head will complement Dave's new intake set up and will be tuned in with his new fully programmable ecu , but more on those later............

That's really all for now, more updates when I finish the port work..

* new face!

At last, the battered Run Free front bumper has been retired.
In its place sits my temporarily finished OEM kouki front bumper, with zenki trueno splitter, all in rattle can satin black finish. I am pretty happy with the new look, the car is gaining some more personality with its different coloured panels lol. Thanks to Kev I also now have a neat Trueno emblem in the front bumper which I put on since the pic was taken. When I have some money saved for the bodyshop the car will go off for some freshening up and the bumper will go graphite again, and actually be prepped before paint this time! I am undecided on painting the splitter though.. I also have some stuff coming for a very small mod that will continue my orange theme, other than that we are just waiting on the part I swapped the Run Free bumper for, but that's a surprise that will be revealed when I get my hands on it :) That's pretty much it in the bodywork department for a while, but stay tuned this week for some engine developments!
Hope you like the new look, I think its an improvement anyway.

Dave

Gunmetal Goodness !!

Well ! I was down at the new Trueno shell today,
I had to remove the windscreen so the rest of the interior could be painted.
The screen had to be removed to get at the front bars of the cage and also the panel thats meets the screen inside,


just a few sneak peak photo's for now


I'm really happy with the colour so far.................

** work in progress..

For a while now I may have been mentioning that the Run Free front bumper has its days numbered, well, I have been quietly working away on a temporary replacement. OEM front bumper, in a rough and ready satin black rattle can finish, with a nice aggressive Zenki lip to fill the massive void between it and the ground. I am still working on cleaning up the bumper mounts, and tomorrow we should be ready for the swap. The Trueno will eventually be going for some bodywork in the coming months, and the bumper will be getting professionally repainted in the correct graphite colour, along with another nice modification...but more on that when that part arrives ;)

gauging stuff.....

Well after working on fail cars all week (I wont go into it) I hit GH hard tonight with: a load of cans, my new hole-saw set, and some bangin' deadmau5 tunes thanks to the local pirate station.

The results are my new gauge cluster is pretty much complete bar trimming it for the dash surround,

Some general points to note are, carbon fibre and Coor's = splinters (ouch) and carbon fibre dust is as bad as heat wrap for itching the arms off ya!!

Some pics of my progress so far..........

Oh! and the new drift 86 shell is painted inside! Work on the exterior will start next week so look forward to the new cream/grey combo lol

The Shining..

I'm still not quite recovered from holidays part 2.0, but nevertheless the Trueno needed some attention after being parked up for a week. It was quite filthy so a relaxing St. Patricks day was spent washing and detailing the car. I went a bit mad with the Meguiar's Endurance Tyre gel, but its just such a good product and really makes a differance between just washing your car and having a clean car.. (And no I didn't use half a bottle on one tyre..)



The new KICS R40 lug nuts are in and looking spanky, and the new black aluminium valves have arrived from RAYS, so at the next interview with the tyre machine they will go in, and I'll be one step closer to finishing my little DIY wheel refurb. Here is one of the old blue ones we took out, they have had a tough life.

New decals are next on my list, once I can find some black & white ones in the correct size. RHD contacted RAYS for me, and they unfortunately won't supply and fresh decals, probably some thing to do with crappy fake wheels.. Luckily some enterprising Japanese wheel sticker enthusiasts are selling them on the yahoo auctions :)

Holidayz!

The three of us (plus other mates) are off to Austria tomorrow skiing again , so there'll be no post's for a week or so! We're only back but enjoyed our time in Mayrhofen soooooo much that we need another powder fix lol, When we get back, work on the 4 GH car's will step up a gear, we have loads of plans and lots of work to get done !!!!! laterz..............

** fresh JDM trinkets!

The nice folk over at RHDJapan were kind enough to send me some new parts this week...
...after I sent them some money but hey we can all wish we got free stuff!



I am doing a mini refurb on the TE37's at the moment, new steel valves are coming from RAYS, and I am also trying to source some fresh decals for them, but the first parts I received were set of Composite R40 wheel nuts & locks by KICS Racing. These replaced the worn out and ugly cheap locknuts that were previously adorning my TE's. I didn't want any aluminium nuts as they have a bad reputation for failing and wheels coming off at tracks etc, and also how they are not really suitable for being frequently removed, so I got these tough chromoly alloy steel ones in a classic dark bronze finish. That said, with their hollow design they are still a neat 40g each. They also have a floating alloy collar to stop the nuts scraping and scouring the wheels when you tighten them which is a nice feature. They are of very high quality and suit the professional look of the TE's perfectly, and come with the correct removal tools so you dont run the risk of scratching your rims with a wheel brace or impact socket! Wheel accessories FTW...

The second gift from Japan is much more interesting!



PIAA Plasma Ion Yellow 2500k bulbs. These are simply awesome. I always used Osram Nightbreakers in my cars as they are great all round bulbs (not showy blue but pure effective white) - but not anymore. After a small request RHD stocked these in H4 for me, and the difference in night time and poor weather visibility is quite noticeable, (for some reason my area is often very foggy in winter) not to mention the cool retro looks of yellow light! At GarageHachi we are taking a little stand against baller blue HID's, Kevs street Levin also has these fitted. It is hard to photograph a pic head on to show you quite how yellow 2500k is but here is a shot of the PIAA on the right and the Osram on the left:


High beams at dusk..


They have a funny effect on road signs and traffic cones but I did some testing on the dark roads and I think its easier on the eyes to see with them. Bring on the fog now, BlinkFace is not afraid...

Summer here we come!

Summer's on the way, and I've alot of small jobs to get done to keep up with these guys!!

First of all, I have to change both rear wheel bearings, and fix a tired starter motor! I'm also planning a suspension change, as the car is far too harsh on our bumpy back roads and the dampers are worn out anyway!

Pics to follow as these jobs get ticked off the list!

Sarah x