that engine looks shexy
suprised you didnt have an xr6 head laying around to throw on.

+1 (like I said on Facebook - It has no T on the front...!)

Whatever Fiend d**k, haha.

Yeah, I am really thinking about Supercharging again. Well, it was always on the "to do" list, but so is finding a valid reason for the reversing lamps to not be working........

Thanks guys. To be honest, the Tickford heads are over-rated, and almost 20 years old these days too lol. This head was a full reco barley 12mths ago, and even with my cam choice, there isn't really the great need for bigger exhaust ports & valves that the Tickford head has.

The engine is back in the bay, most of what needs to be hooked up has been done, and I've repaired the LPG wiring too. Trouble is we have had way too much rain the last week to get too much done.

I picked up an EL ECU to use this morning, and I should have my j3 chip on monday. There's maybe 2 or 3 hours more work until it's ready to fire, a couple little fiddly bits & a new thermo fan wiring harness. I'm itching to get it running again!

Fiend - I don't blame you, boost is addictive! Maybe next year, after I get married and IF I have any money to spare, I'll put a budget turbo setup on the Ghia. Maybe, but there are so many other things to spend money & time on.

I'll put up some new pics soon.

Cheers

ToranaGuy

With the help of my cousin, I fit up the last few little things & gave the ghia a kick in the guts tonight, and it turned over very easily, fired once & stalled, but that's ok, needed to turn it a little to bring a bit of oil up before it tries to run. Kicked it a few times, fires once & stalls. Gave it a very little bit of throttle & it started up, sat on 1200 rpm, engine sounded great under the hood but s**t out the tail pipe. Lots of black smoke (unburnt fuel and probably a little oil too from all the oil I used during assembly). Could it be the cam or are a couple of plugs not firing correctly? It's got a new cap & rotor button on it, almost new leads, new plugs (zgr6b11's at stock 1.1 gap).

No J3 chip in it yet, I hope to get it in the mail on Monday. I picked up an EL ECU to plug the chip into because it was recommended by Jason @ TI Performance. Maybe the J3 will sort it out? I warmed it up for a minute or two, then brought the rev's up slowly to 2000, sat there for 30 or so secs, then gave it a tickle, rev's very quickly & crisply all the way to redline, with no load on it. With a little peddle it will run down to around 800 rpm, but it won't idle with no peddle on it. I guess I better check my ISC is working too.

Here's a couple more pics...

Just dropped in the bay...
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Bought one of these work lights, works with both my Bosch 14.4v & 18v Li-ion batteries, and runs for over 7 hours on a 14.4v 3.0Ah battery! Great for working on the car at night.
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Slowly adding parts back in
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Soldering up the LPG wiring harness. The bloody wires are too thin to put on a set of terminals like I wanted to do, so adding in 3 inches of wiring will allow the loom a bit of room to maneuver when the time comes to have to take the head & intake off again.
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Cheers

ToranaGuy

s**t, I haven't updated the thread in a few days now. Got my j3 chip in the mail, ecu & chip went in, runs heaps better. New map sensor failed, stuck my old one back in and it run again. Driven it to work a few times & a couple short runs. Pulls pretty good from 1500 thru to 3000rpm, then starts to break down a tad. Idles a bit rough too. I think there might be a vac leak on the hose for the FPR. Will look at it soon.

So many other things to do, so I hope I can sort these couple of niggly issues out & move onto other projects!

Cheers

ToranaGuy

Tried pulling J3 out and hitting 3-5000rpm?

Hey dude.

It's been a while since I replied, been rather busy.

Yeah I did, issue only got worse lol. I ended up replacing the vac hoses for the FPR, LPG FPR, MAP sensor and the problem has almost gone away. On petrol there is no problem, but on LPG, it runs a bit rough & smells rich out the tail pipe. I've gotta change two more hoses (carbon canister), and check the purge valve. Haven't got around to that yet. Been busy on a few other things, then I hurt my left knee (oh noes, the clutch leg!)....

I also have been finding the clutch a little hard to use, so had a look at my cousin pushing on the peddle, the peddle box is flexing a lot, loosing cable pull. Next time the dash is out, I'll be changing the peddle box. Question is, Do I use my factory replacement box that has factory re-inforcing (I stripped it from the red Xr8 I wrecked), or do I get a mal wood peddle pin? I'm very happy with how the peddle pin is working in the red Xr8. I've got a spare (or two) auto peddle boxes that I can fit a peddle pin to....

I've fit a new ball joint, control arm & bushes (whiteline poly bushes) to the might boy on the right side front. No more clunk, and handles so much better. When my knee heals I'll be doing the right side. I still have new tie rods & rack ends that I need to fit, which will tighten up the front end heaps. That too has to wait.

I've now got just over 2000kms on the Ghia, and the engine is starting to feel a bit better, ie it rev's a little quicker. I think the rings have bed in finally.

I also got off my a*** and fit up the power steering kit I had to my Hz panel van. Found out I had the wrong crank pulley, so hunted down & acquired the correct pulley. It's so much easier to get in & out of the shed with power steering lol!

In further news, I can let out a teaser that I have a new toy in the driveway, and my fiance has another on the way (just waiting on rwc to be done).... Awww s**t, I think that takes the total to 9 or 10 car's now.

Oh yeah, I joined a car club too, the president has 13 car's, 8 are on the road, a couple projects on the go, and the lowest number of car's any member has is 4 lol.

Anyways, back to it for me, got some little s**t to do.

Cheers

ToranaGuy

Haven't done much due to the knee injury, all I've managed to do is replace my decrepit 6x9's with some new one's I had set aside for the job, and changed the power steering pump, as the bush inside seems to have s**t itself, the pump was very hard to turn. No wonder I kept throwing belts....

I wish this knee would hurry up & heal, I've got s**t to do!

Cheers

ToranaGuy

Time for Hydraulics my man

sometimes knees can be like backs..............

knees are horrible, I have patellar tracking disorder in both of mine

background info??

partner is having probs with one hers .. can not do squat with it

i'll pm you

I've injured my knee at work a little while ago and have been having hell with it since, on light duties, so I have hardly driven the ghia, due to how hard the clutch is to use, ie HEAVY due to loss of cable pull.

I've been thinking hydraulic conversion, but like most Eseries guys, I don't have a lot of cash to throw at that idea. For now, I'll have to change the peddle box. I have other projects I need to throw cash at, and I have spares to get this issue resolved.

If only my knee will heal so I can pull the dash out!

Cheers

ToranaGuy

if you're going hydrulic, throw a t56 in there too, it's a plan of mine to do in the next couple of years and a nice strong 9 inch diff