So, I'm sure this has happened to some of you...

This spring I bought myself a new Koyo rad. You know, reliability and all that. I was hoping on tracking it this year. Well, I started taking things apart and didn't get it done in time.

While I had it apart I decided to do a new BOV (mine was toast) and some new hoses and such. I kept pulling things apart to make things easier to work on, and one thing led to another.

Many hours later, all the intake piping is out, the bumper and headlights are out, the I/C and piping are out, and this afternoon I took the throttle body and upper intake manifold off.

Now I'm lost. I seem to have a few options...

a) Put her back together and drive her. Shouldn't take more than a couple days, and I'll still have a few months to drive her. Then, rip it all apart again in the fall and do some more work (vacuum lines, DP, wideband, etc).

Advantage: I get to drive my baby again. Soon.
Disadvantage: I have to do it all over again in the fall.

b) Just keep going. Rip everything else out, pull the motor and send it off to get rebuilt and ported.

Advantage: Have the car ready from the inside out. Don't have to worry about the motor for a while, and I have a solid base to build on. Cheaper in the long-run (only taking it all apart once)
Disadvantage: I don't get to drive my car at all this summer. Also, very expensive for right now.

c) Somewhere in between. Do the vacuum lines, maybe a double throttle removal, a few other small things.

Advantage: Have my baby on the road soonish. Not too expensive.
Disadvantage: More time than throwing it back together. Eventually still need to rip it all apart to get it ported and rebuilt.


I've done some searching, but I would really like some advice on other small things that I can do. Throttle-body porting? Polish the intake? Are there any other reliability or power mods I can do to the intake stuff while it's all apart right now?


Here's some specs on my car;

1993 JDM Type-R
Apexi Intake, HKS Catback, Power FC. Dynoed at 256WHP. 70,000Kms on the car.

One thing I'm concerned about is the fact that it's got a Power FC and I'm 5 hours away from a tuner. If I do any major mods, I'll need to re-tune. I can't trailer it, and I don't have a wideband yet, let alone the confidence to tune it myself.


It's a slippery slope of dumping more and more money and time into the car vs. just driving and enjoying the damn thing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

-Devan


P.S.

Another thing of note; I'm going to be gone for the next few weeks, so waiting on parts isn't that big of an issue for me.

 

my suggestion would be to throw it all back together, drive it, then tear it all apart again...

this is coming from a guy though, that might have enjoyed working on his car then he did driving it... so take that with a grain of salt


as with the mods... even if you do quite a bit of mods... you have the power FC.... if you drive her easy... (that is the hard part) for the 5 hours to the tuner, then its worth it... if you stay out of boost, and just putt around... you will be much safer... yes it is not the ideal situation... its either that... or have it trucked out the tuner, then you bus it out, get it tuned and drive her back..


either way.. I would put her back together, driver her all summer then tear her apart again..

at the very very least... you will have gained a huge amount of confidence from taking everything off and on again...

before I did my rebuild I was totally unsure of which hoses in the rats nest went where, now that theirs not more emissions, and I torn it apart so many times... I have a very very good idea of which line needs to go where... but also I learned what each line does, and why it needs to head to a certain area... and to me... learning that information is well, well.... worth my time



J.

 

idk too much to read. but why would u go that far to take it out and read build it if it runs......

from what ive read u dont have that much apart......

some mods ID do are...
block off plates
dp
vaccum lines
simplified rats nest

 

+1 on putting it all back together & enjoying it.

It may seem like alot of work, but the first time round is always slower as you're learning as you go. The second time round you know exactly what you're doing and can do it in half the time (or less!). Plus you'll be way more confident

 

+1 put it back together...

I can take the bumper/rebar, radiator, intercooler all off in a couple hours. It shouldn't be that hard to tear down again, and atleast the next time you will have experience putting it back together you can organize the tear down better.

 

This is exactly how my "rats nest simplification" turned into "going non-sequential" turned into "going single" turned into "hey may as well throw a new engine in" turned into "Me not driving my car for 2 years and no money in the bank"...

FML. Owned for 3 years, driven for 3 months to this date.

 

Thanks guys!

I think I'll go with putting it back together. I'm going to be gone for the next couple of weeks, so I think I'll order the Hose Techniques kit and put that in and get her going.

I LOVE working on the car, and I LOVE learning about it. I'm having a blast pulling it apart and learning as much as I can, but I'm also itching to drive her...

Now I've just got to look into the simplified sequential...

Thanks for the advice!!

 

Hey! I'm on the same boat. High five!!

 

I know a similar feeling.... except mine has to do with driving it 300 kms, blowing a coolant seal, then rebuilding... driving for 400kms, and possibly requiring another engine rebuild... lol/****

the banzi kit works good for the emissions delete...

if you enjoy working on it, and enjoy learning more about it...

throw it all back together now and do the rest of the stuff later on...


J.

 

It seems you've already made the right decision. The stuff you're looking to do, like downpipe/vacuum lines, are no biggies. Take one weekend, put the downpipe on. Another weekend, do the vacuum lines. They're all lightweight projects.

There is no good reason to pull out a perfectly good running engine. That's enough heartache and problems getting it going again. Get the car in one piece, drive it, and have fun.

Dale