Blue Beauty from Malaysia

[Donald]

sound like they adjusted the distributor timing using a timing gun (that would have been the stobe light you saw being used)
the lude has two sizes of brake master cylinder. There is the 15/16" piston and the 1" . I have 15/16" mc as i have a non abs BB4. Not entirely sure what mc you will have but could be 15/16 as you have no abs. Easy way to check is to look at the side of the mc where the size is stamped onto the body.
Honda part number for 15/16" mc is 46100-SM4-033.
Here is a link to some further info:
http://www.ludegeneration.co.uk/honda-p ... t7097.html
And this link gives you all the info about brake booster and master cylinder including pushrod adjustment
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/mastercy ... tment.html

The 1" should still be fine though right (if that's all that can be had locally)? I'm sure I've read of people removing ABS and going to the 1" MC?

[simonc]

@vanzep Good morning and thanks for that link. I know I sound like a pillock but the new booster they put on was considerably larger than the one they took off. As it was dark by the time I got to the garage last night, as well as being dog-tired, I haven't even looked under the bonnet yet. I'll take a butcher's later on today and see what it looks like. The brakes do feel good though (however, I think all that faffing has now messed up the idle again, more anon)

@Donald Really appreciate your explanations mate. Although you think it's not super-duper technical it is technical enough for a physics 'O' level failure such as moi.

@wurlycorner Hi Iain, yes indeed. I thought the car sat in-between two rollers not balancing on top of one! Must admit that it looked a bit dodgy and must have gone through two packs of fags worrying the straps were going to snap as Blue Beauty zooms off the Dyno and into the Malaysian sunset.

[simonc]

And now the moaning begins. Again.
As I mentioned above, it was late, I was knackered and like a bear with a sore arse when I went for the car last night. It was outside in the car park, it was chucking it down with rain and to be frank I just wanted to get back home.
Well, the brakes may be fine and dandy but once again the bloody idle speed has gone back up to 1000ish which is what it was before I took it in.
Hesus Christo! Why's that happened? Is it because of the brake work and the fitting of the new parts?
Guys, I'm beginning to lose the love...
For what it's worth (and from the looks of these, they're neither use nor ornament), I took a couple of pics of the brake booster and cylinder but couldn't see any part number or markings of any kind. Like I say, I don't think they'll mean anything but took them in the vain hope of you guys seeing something I can't.
This is driving me round the bloody bend.
Anyway, here's the photos that show nothing.




Advice guys please. Should i go back to the Dyno place and get them to re-set everything again or go back to where all the parts were fitted and get them to sort it out? I tell you, it won't be long before I throw in the bloody towel in on this.

[Donald]

This may be worth a read:
http://www.ludegeneration.co.uk/honda-p ... ust%20idle

[vanzep]

Its very difficult to say what the problem is with the idle as you have had so many parts fitted recently - you could take it back to where all the work was done and ask them to check the work done to the inlet manifold, exhaust manifold and the new radiator.....
im sure you will get it sorted

[simonc]

Morning @Donald, a good read and thanks but I'm such a prat with any kind of tool I'll probably end up destroying something. Thanks for the link though.
@vanzep, you're right. I'm taking the bloody thing back to Momentom and standing there (and I don't care how long it takes) till I'm well and truly happy with it. My God, I've spent enough with the bugger to put his kids through University.

[wurlycorner]

Sorry that you've still got some niggles, wish I could offer some help, but alas not. I can offer comfort though that I'm sure it will be worth it once sorted

[simonc]

@@wurlycorner, Cheers Iain, I'll keep you posted on the travails.

[simonc]

Well folks, where do I even begin...
I'll try to keep this as short as possible because these past two months have left me in a state of utter despair. Actually, to tell you the truth I've seriously thought about getting shut of this car as I think it, or me, is cursed and I'll never be able to simply get in and enjoy it. As of today, WSX is still in my possession and to be frank, I've spent so much bloody money on it now that if I do palm it off then basically, it's just money down the loo isn't it?
Here we go:
That Skunk2 inlet thing is off. It was bloody terrible. No low end power and frankly, around town where you need immediate response it was a hazard. To make matters worse ( you're not going to like this) we think it's a counterfeit. I was supposed to get a little 'warranty card' thing but I actually didn't know about this until after I'd left the garage. It was only two or three days later when someone said I should have it. I tried calling the garage but no one was picking up for days. Eventually I got a message to say it was in the glovebox but it wasn't. As I've been so busy I didn't have a chance to go back there and face him down. When I did go over there guess what? Shut up shop. Done a runner.
He also lied about doing the alignment and I don't think he's fitted all the bushes correctly (or even if he fitted the whole set) as I never got the old ones back.
Anyway, was recommended to another place so off I toddle to face more trauma. Off comes the Skunk2 inlet, they laughed when they saw the fuel pressure thing was set at 6 bar (no wonder the car was drinking petrol) and laughed even harder when they saw the brake servo which was rusty and leaking.
OK, so I gave them the brief and said get on with it and just do a good and thorough job. No such luck.
The new servo they fitted was just as bad, the engine mounts I'd got from Tim have not been fitted properly because every time I engage reverse the car is shaking itself to bits, the idle is set to a gentle scream of 1000rpm (oh what a delight that is when waiting at the lights) and a new GReddy ECU piggy-back system has not brought the engine bliss promised.
The fuel pump gave up the ghost so that required a new one, they told me the distributor was a Chinese knock-off so a new one has been fitted and then the main relay went for a ball of chalk.
(and you wonder why I've got my knickers in a twist...these problems were an almost daily event. I was scared to even start the bloody car in a morning for fear of what was coming my way )
Now the orange engine temp light is on, the rear lamp failure warning comes on intermittently and on my drive to Singapore last Monday, the engine warning light came on. Now that put the fear of God into me, I can tell you.
It was really strange because it (the engine warning light) sort of flickered and slowly lit up, like it didn't know whether to come on or not. It kept flickering for a long time then going off then slowly glowing then going back off for about 20 or so minutes. Then it came on all the time so I pulled off and sat in a motorway service station wondering what to do. I was about 100 kliks from Singapore, 200 kliks from home so I waited and decided to press on fearing the worst. The light continued its flickering until I'd almost got there then it went off. By now I actually didn't give a monkeys and was just waiting for everything to go boom but in all the time the light was on there was no discernible loss of power or any funny sounds, rattles or vibration from the engine.
Anyway, I contacted the last garage mob that was supposed to have fixed all this and went ballistic with them. He's asked me to take it back and see what they can do : @wurlycorner here's where I go back to your point about p*ss-poor mechanics who don't do a proper job. So, I'll have to take it back and let them loose on it AGAIN. You see I think it's my lack of knowledge and gullibility that's got me into this mess. They say they've done it but I know they haven't but can't prove it until things start going wrong after I've driven away. Arrgghhhhhh, I'm so fed up with it. Pics to follow and also an update on the body repairs and the nightmare of paint matching here in the third world. Hope I haven't bored you to death with my story.

[simonc]

Here's the bay now minus the Skunk2 inlet



New headlights and sidelights (thanks Tim, I know it's been a long time since I bought them from you but they look great). Tim also sold me two nostrils which I'm having chromed. I think once they're fitted the front end will look very nice. Also fitted new number plate and am waiting on the respray to get the whole thing looking tip-top. (shame about the mechanical bits)

Here's a gratuitous shot of her parked up while I have a ciggy and a coffee on my jaunt to Singapore. Little did I know that 30 minutes later the engine warning light was about to say hello to me.



And 30 mins later I was greeted thus. What joy.



The Pacific Blue paint saga. Well at least the dings are out, the new headlights, sidelights, indicators and side reflectors are in and nearly ready for final prepping but of course, as I'm involved, it's turned into a right palaver. Pacific Blue? In Malaysia? Forget it. So after 7 incarnations I think we've found a match. However, now the shop is telling me that because of fading in the sun and all the other little scratches (and the rust on the sunroof) I've got on the car they want to respray the whole car. And the hits just keep on comin'...







I guess I have no choice but to go for the whole respray then.

Here's the Skunk Inlet thing and the GReddy box and instructions (in Japanese). Like I said earlier, I don't know if the Skunk thing is real or not.



Does this look genuine to any of you?