Oil Change Progress Part 7

Bro Mugil, Peter and Nick all choosed to drop by GT Auto on the same day and gave me a good update on the progress of the work. Needless to say my WhatsApp and email were very much alive that day. Thanks Bros!

My AIM MXL Strada dash has been installed. Workmanship is top notch as per Toby and GT Auto's usual excellent standards. I can spend a long long time looking and admiring pictures of my dash. I know, I know, I have a problem :) Sexy knee in the top pix belongs to Bro Nick methinks.

Closer up.

In use. Cluster lid and other dash trim has not been installed back at this point.

Because Toby is having a problem configuring the gear indicator. The MXL is able to display gear in use/selected gear and has a simple procedure for it to learn the gears using rpm and speed channels. Procedure is as follows:

1. Once gear calculation has been activated a track lap has to be run. During the lap follow carefully these instructions
2. Engage all gears
3. Keep each gear engaged for at least 5 seconds
4. Drive smoothly, avoiding sudden accelerations, tyre slip or wheel blocks when braking; let PM grow gradually and keep braking as long as possible according to track and traffic conditions; if using a non driving wheel speed as reference pay particular attention to your driving style. Reduce as much as you can sliding between driving and driven wheels.
5. Go to pit lane (or your workshop/house) at the end of the lap and power engine off. Absolutely avoid revs while the vehicle is moving. Avoid running pit lane with the clutch pedal engaged. You can press the accelerator pedal before switching engine offif needed but with the vehicle completely stopped.

Sounds easy and simple right? Unfortunately the calibration is not working as mentioned and there is no ability to input gear ratio, etc into the MXL. Sigh! Anybody with experience on the AIM MXL Strada/Pista can help here? Neel (my dash supplier) is doing his best to help but issue is further complicated by the different time zones involved. Sigh.. The "RUNNING GEAR CAL" on the dash display is giving me nightmares.

My Mishimoto radiator was also getting installed.

As expected the Samco radiator hose meant for the QG18 does not fit the radiator. I have already explained why in my previous post. More mod and fabrication work here. Reservoir hose also needs to be upraded to a Samco silicone or equivalent.

My poor stock radiator looking all forlorn being abandoned after 6+ years of faithful service. It (the radiator) is still working well despite more than 1 bar of boost but I really need the additional safety margin of a radiator with increased cooling capacity.

The Mishi radiator cap will be ditched as the quality is suspect from what I read on the forums and the net. Bro Peter helped bring back for me a Cosworth radiator cap. I bought the 1.3 bar unit. Thanks Bro! Not that anything is wrong with my Nismo radiator cap but I fancy a change after a couple years. Pictures of my Cosworth radiator cap. Wish Cosworth made more parts for my engine :(

Bro Peter also got me the AEM water/methanol injection filter. The kit AEM sells does not come with this filter. This is additional insurance as the filter helps in the long run allowing a cleaner flow of water/methanol into the engine protecting the water/methanol injection filter pump as well as the engine internals. AEM claims the filter is able to filter particulates as small as 40 microns.

I have no idea why parts of the instruction manual are wet. Peter, what have you been doing?

I also ordered a pair of Recaro SR4s complete with rails from H Performance. The seats are ready but will only be fitted at the very last. More to follow.