Kludos' Gunmetal Z Build

[Kludos]

Today I locked horns with the full MAPerformance downpipe installation, and came away victorious. I was expecting this to be bad, and it was... but it wasn't impossible even on the garage floor.

A few tips if you attempt this yourself:
1. A lift would make life easier.
2. Spray your nuts - even on a pretty new car I needed a pry bar for the LDPs.
3. The heat shields are tedious, expect to lose some blood.
4. I used a 10mm ratcheting wrench on every heat shield nut apart from one that is recessed into the side of the turbo. I would not attempt this job without this tool.
5. For the other nut I used a tiny 1/4 ratchet, and for the v-band I used the same 1/4 inch ratchet with an extension and an elbow.
6. Just generally you need a big selection of extensions and elbows in every size.
7. I took a few goes to get the v-bands installed correctly. I found the trick is to bolt the DP to the bracket and make sure it's seated on the turbo, then pop the v-band around the pipe and wiggle it into position. I then got a cable tie around it to hold it while I put the screw in - very fiddly.
8. I did this in my garage so I could take my time with it, whenever I got frustrated I just took a break.

So now I'm ready for my Sonictune to arrive, which hopefully will be any day!

Getting this done has given me good confidence too so I'm probably going to attempt the heat exchanger myself as well.

Oh and the sound... it's actually a bit quiter than before at idle and low revs, but it's deeper and a lot less boomy. Then when you open it up it is loud and very nice sounding. I think it will get louder once the cats open up a bit, but I'm pleased with it even if I was hoping for a few more dB.

 

[Kludos]

Lots of fun lately. I couldn't live with the HKS hipermax R suspension even with the softer springs - the harshness in the rear never improved, and the knocking noise from the struts behind my head was incredibly annoying.

I unfortunately didn't get any pics of the MCA Pro Sport suspension that I replaced them with, but they are an Australian built true coil. The front spring is 20kg so not far off the 22kg of the HKS, but the rears are a lot softer - it's hard to compare between divorced setup and true coil, but they are probably 40-50% softer. They also use bushing mounts vs. pillow ball of the HKS.

The HKS felt like a slot car in the corners and if I was only driving on smooth roads/tracks they would be insane, but the MCA are so much better for my bumpy local driving roads. It's not quite as sharp feeling but I'm pulling the same G force according to the meter and hopefully with some more tweaks I'll be able to find a happier medium with the new shocks.

Next up I got some new boots with some Yokohama Advan v107s, and I went for a meatier setup. The fronts are 10mm wider than stock (265x40) and the rears are 20mm wider (295x25). They look so much better on my Work ZR10s and they are not made of plastic like the stock bridgestones so I can actually use second gear.

Finally, my ecutek kit turned up from Sonic Tuned along with the oil solenoid blockoff. The blockoff was a super easy install, and I'm about halfway through my tune with Sonic. I was a little worried about doing a remote tune with someone half a planet away, but it's been so easy and I'm glad that I went with someone that knows the platform so well.

My build is nearly done now. I have a heat exchanger to put in, and some more suspension fiddling to get it feeling just right, but I'm pretty much set to just enjoy it now.

 

[Kludos]

My tune is complete, and WOW am I glad I went with Sonictuned. Other than the stress of having to do a couple of 4th gear pulls to redline, the whole process was extremely smooth. It was also really fun to go through the process from base map to revision and then the final tune. I actually got sent the final tune when I was out driving and I pulled over and loaded it up. First time booting it I was very happy with all of my life choices that led up to this.

Basically all of the mods I had planned were now done, but I still had the heat exchanger to install so that was todays job. I was a bit worried about pulling the bumper off, and also concerned about bleeding the system when I was done, but most of the work was just removing clips and 10mm screws so I gave it a go.

Here we go again:

Bumper off

I should not be in here:

Old vs. new. The new one is also 2-3 times as thicc.

Shame you can't see this with the grill on

I didn't have a vacuum bleed kit, but I clamped the lines when I disconnected them and used a coolant funnel to burp the system. I ran it for a good 5 minutes and repeatedly cracked the bleed screw on the heat exchanger, so hopefully it's good to go now. I'll monitor coolant levels next drive.

That's almost everything I've got planned for this phase of the build. I snapped up a whiteline sway bar kit while they were on sale today, and I'm doing my first track day soon so that may lead to some more supporting mods, but the car is so good now.

 

[Killjoy_Z]

Lots of fun lately. I couldn't live with the HKS hipermax R suspension even with the softer springs - the harshness in the rear never improved, and the knocking noise from the struts behind my head was incredibly annoying.

I went back and forth between the Hipermax R's and the Hipermax S's. After seeing your issues I'm glad I went with the S after all. They are definitely stiffer, but not crazily so, and I haven't had any issues with noises. Build is looking great

 

[Kludos]

I went back and forth between the Hipermax R's and the Hipermax S's. After seeing your issues I'm glad I went with the S after all. They are definitely stiffer, but not crazily so, and I haven't had any issues with noises. Build is looking great

Glad to hear that I could steer you in the right direction. I miss the handling of the R's, but not the noise or the harshness.