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Old 17-02-2019, 01:16 PM   #13
bigal_250
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Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Adelaide
Car: 2001 Astina SP20
Posts: 20
Update:
Since my last post many things have happened!

Found a black protege /w a manual at U-Pull-It (our local DIY wrecking yard, how great are they!), and a couple of guys already most of the way through pulling the engine out, thought, well damn...
But they were engine swapping a 1.8 and had planned to bolt an auto on it. I got my mates over to help, and a plan was quickly hatched that we'd all finish getting the whole thing out, they'd take the engine and I'd get the gearbox. Winning!
Since I've no idea what sort of condition it was in, I got it to a manual specialist (who had a bright orange charger race car in his shed, a good sign), got him to pull it apart, check it all out, and replace the seals and bearings and whatever else. It got a clean bill of health, and then sat in my shed for 4 months waiting for me to be bothered to do it.


Finally got the new box bolted on in December and so far so good.
While on stands I also got some more stuff bolted on:
- Exedy HD clutch kit
- 22" Progress rear sway bar, with Whiteline HD end links.
- AWR Racing polyurethane engine mounts (3 out of 4, just could not get the rear to part company)
- Also messed around with the stock intake a bit more, and removed that ressy that hangs down under the airbox.

Got it's first test out at The Bend in January, as we were running hot laps for 800 odd kids, and I decided we needed a course car!


Probably only got in a dozen laps or so, over the week (that's not a typo ) not enough cars going off and dirtying the track, but no apparent issues. It was seeping some trans fluid out of the outer seal, but that seems to have bedded in now and stopped. (yes I have been checking the fluid level regularly).


For those interested, we were running on the East layout of The Bend, which is by far the best for smaller less powerful cars with good handling. Lots of mid - high speed corners, lots of elevation changes, blind apexes, multi-apex bends and no long straights. If you get the chance to have a go on it, I can't recommend it enough!

I also got to drive a few laps in a Circuit Excel racer, that was a lot of fun

Real test will be Regularity Rd 1 next Sunday at Mallala! Might try and get some video footage this time.

Plans for short-mid term future mods
- Full sports exhaust, with the mystery extractors I found (that I think kinda look like hurricanes), 2.25" or 2.5" (haven't decided yet, since noise isn't really an issue) and whatever decent flowing muffler I can find.
- Cold Air Intake, assume I'll get an Injen with a K&N pod of some sort.
- Coilovers, I had seriously thought about the set of lowered springs/shocks that got advertised late last year, but I'll end up going to coilovers down the track anyway.
- Fit the Velo bucket seat from earlier (might have to loose a few inches off the waistline first :P)
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2001 Mazda BJII 323 Astina SP20 The 'Racecar'
2012 Ford FGII G6E The 'Limo'
1985 Nissan Bluebird TRX The 'Rally car'

A proud member of the Scout Motorsport Club SA.
http://motorsport.sa.scouts.com.au/
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