Rev4 Sonic Shadow 3.5L VVTi V6

[craig]

That looks fantastic!

[adam_ep82]

Amazing!

[uglee]

Cheers I'm very happy with it.

[uglee]

Bit of an update,

I started to refurb the alloys late last year. They had a refurb 2 years previous which I paid quite a lot of money for but they were not done to a very high standard and deteriated very quickly

Can sort of see the state of them here, they look alright at first glance but when you look close:


Anyway decided to do them myself this time. Started by filing the curbing on the rims, got to be careful when doing this as the shape of the lip needs to stay the same



Once they were done I started with 240 grit wet and dry, then 400 then 800. Was messy hard work and boring. Took about 10 hours to do all 4. once they had all been rubbed down to 800 I started with an ebay polishing kit for an electric drill. Had 3 different mops and grit bars and you went down to finer and finer grades till the lips came out like this:

On the photo above you can see how dull the silver powdercoat is on the centre spokes also where the finish is breaking up around the bolt holes (refurber overtorqued the bolts and split the lacquer)

Sent the centres to a company called Powdertec in Glasgow who turned them around in no time. I got them done in the same silver as you see on the new BMW M3 alloys. Really bright and like a satiny silver effect.

Here's how they are looking now:


I bit the bullet and ordered 80 new stainless internal drive M7 bolts with nuts from a German company. They used to be blackodized external drive bolts but needed a special socket which was £40!! These require a standard torx drive. With chamfered diameter they will be much easier to clean and won't chew up my sponges when cleaning! Not arrived yet though


Fitted my valves and to be honest I'm not so sure on them. they are a funny diameter (11.5mm) and choice isn't so great and they seem to stick out quite a bit. Might have to go for the proper BBS ones (expensive)


So far I've managed to do these for half the cost of the previous 'proffesional' refurb and used new bolts and valves so pretty happy.


This weekend I start on the front end of the car by changing the totally shagged aircon radiator with a 2nd hand one in great condition (thanks Jim) and putting in an uprated alloy radiator.

[burkedara]

The alloys came out great Lee, you need to get up a pic of them on the car once you get the new bolts!

Any further performance plans this year, will you be heading to JAE again?

[uglee]

Hi Dara how's it going?

Will do they should look much better with the stainless bolts. Hopefully get here soon as I'm off to work for a month starting early Feb.

Only thing performance wise is to see if I can seperate the intake from the engine bay. My readings were down on other 2GR conversions by around 10hp but I think a lot can be attributed to the amount of hot engine bay air it was sucking in when on the dyno. Also not sure how much of a factor tyre pressures play but checked after and I had 20psi in both rear tyres

I was thinking maybe a stock Rev3 turbo airbox would do the trick, or might be too restrictive, not sure yet!

If I'm not offshore at the time I'll be at JAE.

[Moo]

That's some really impressive work and a great looking car

Have you thought about an Arc box as an airbox solution?

[uglee]

Cheers!

That's definitly an option and will allow the required flow. Can you get ARC filters or is it a reusable type thing?

[Quigonjay]

not sure if they are washable but you can get replacement filters

[Moo]

A list of replacement filters that fits

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic. ... arc+filter

[uglee]

Another update

Bolts arrived for the alloys, look better than they ever have done and really pleased with the service from titanium-touch.de



Front end is off the car as I'm busy replacing the knackered radaitor with an MWR alloy one and replacing the radiator support piece which was damaged in an off road incident with a previous owner. Also while everything is off it's getting cleaned up/derusted/painted while I'm at it



Stripped all the old suspension off the car:



This is the typical state of the suspension compnents, never seen a day of maintenance in their life.



Removed all the old rubber bushes with a blowtorch, which was fun

With them removed I set about cleaning off all the rust and crap. then painted them with some black POR15.





You know it's good stuff when the instructions state 'Remove all traces of POR15 from rim when putting lid back on. Failure to do so will permanently stick the lid on'

I finally decided on the suspension setup. So bought 4 new Turbo struts from TCB parts. Combining them with the PI springs I have already with Powerflex boot cover/bumpstops and TRD topmounts. Prothane polybushes will be installed once i get another coat on the suspension components.

Already got new droplinks and just waiting on the new balljoints, inner and outer tie rod ends from the US and I'm good to bolt it all back in again.

And here's how she sits at the mo



There better not be any knocking now!

[uglee]

Today got all the struts made up, really nice working with nice clean new components.

Rear suspension is on

Just one bolt needed and that's it out of the way.
Front suspension also on complete with new inner and outer tie rod ends


I'd tidy up the hubs and get them upto the same condition as the rest of the suspension but time isn't on my side and need the car MOT'd, suspension aligned and ready for a 1200mile roadtrip in 2 weeks time. I'll get them sorted when I get some free time afterwards.

Tomorrow I tackle the front end which I managed to get the radiator support crossmember into place just need to put some more rivnuts into the chassis legs. Seems to work quite well!

[GT-Thunder]

Very impressive with lots of attention to detail

Good to see mine is not the only one in bits

Howevr i am targeting next year to be on the road

[toddjnr]

i have just read your whole thread and all i can say is WOW.
that is one quality thread

[uglee]

Thankyou, it has been a labour of love and hope after all this work, I hope it will be just a properly well sorted 2.

Just purchased a full set of 911 Brembo's. the fronts will be going on very soon as I have the brackets for them. Hope to work out a solution for the rear incorporating a mechanical spot caliper. Should be fun!

Also sent some more bits of interior off to Edge Automotive for Steve to wrap in Alcantara and silver stitch. Cannot wait to get home and finally get the car on the road

edit-forgot to update this thread and here's where i am with it now:

PWR alloy radiator is in and connected up


Only to be covered by a good condition air conditioning condensor and some new horns as lets face it the original ones suck.........alot


Rivnuts also worked a treat for the fixing points for the foglights as the threads had predictably corroded out




I filled the coolant systems and bled it as best as I could while static. Also without any gauges as I managed to smash mine into a million pieces dropping a strut on it. So with a very close eye on the OBD2 scanner fired it up and everything is bob on!

[jasongtr]

what elsse are you getting trimmed? i think ill do all the interior plastics above the window line, looks weird where it meets the alcantara dash i think

[uglee]

I was thinking about them but they are a complete xxxx to get back in let alone with another layer of Alcantara

The glovebox, complete door cards, steering wheel, gearknob and the trim under the steering wheel that has the little cubby drawer is going to be done. The stitch will be continued down this piece from where it finishes on the dashboard. Just finishing touches really as the Alcantara is sooo nice!

[jasongtr]

im going to get the complete door cards done too, my steering wheel has alreay been done - not alcantara though as it will wear too quickly

[uglee]

Yes it's a napa leather retrim on the steering wheel, just with a matching silver stitch

[mattymr2]

very nice work. i admire your patience and the quality of your workmanship. keep it up