Cars

Charlotte's CA18DET Datsun 1600

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Update 22nd January 2002

At the moment we are still waiting for the car to be tuned. The delay has been because the EMS was not correctly programmed for the motor so it had to be sent back to Microtech to be corrected. The photos below show what we have been doing the last few weeks to get the car ready for roadworthy, including:

replace old springs with a new set of King Springs, as the car was a little too low!
replaced a worn rear Uni joint and in the process did something about the standard diff - hmm can anyone say 'locker'!?
sourced a heavy duty (24mm) sway bar from Stewart Wilkins Rallying who incidentally are very helpful people. Wasn't completely happy with the height of the bar (sits a bit low) so adjusted this by extending the thread on the swaybar arms so the ends can be screwed down lower hence raising the front. Will try to get some pics of this soon.
fixed all the dodgy wiring of the lights, windscreen wipers, horn etc etc.
fitted and hooked up brake booster and brake lines (a fun job when the motor has already been installed!)
fitted clutch booster and made operational
made up an accellerator cable
added nice chome mirrors from a Sunny
got a few new tyres - 2 x 205's for the rear and 1 x 185 for the front
fitted the bonnet including making up rubber spacers that sit on the bonnet mounts to raise the it high enough to clear the motor. This means the back of the bonnet sits up about 1.5cm from the guards.
had the exhaust made - it's a 2 1/2" system using a WRX catalytic converter. No fancy tip as yet but I will get a nice chome dumpy one when I can afford it.
And no the cool number plates aren't mine (unfortunately!), they were a b'dy pressie from me to Andrew, we were just seeing what they actually look like on a car. Not bad eh?!

There are a few things that I will do after the car is on the road, these will include -

install gauges - I have an oil pressure, water temperature and boost to put in plus I will try to get a cheap oil temperature one soon.
put my alarm in from the Gemmy (priority!!!)
put my stereo in - a Sony Cd head unit and a couple of Alpine DDDrive 6x9s for the parcel shelf. I'm not a huge stereo person but some tunes while driving along are essential. :)
get a wheel alignment! The front wheels are a bit splayed at the moment.

Well I will keep you all up to date with how the car is progressing, it should hopefully be running this week sometime and possibly even registered. Expect some video of it soon if this is the case! Keep watching... :)