I may have finally fixed the issue with the car. The new exhaust didn’t really make the car feel any faster. Today I checked the base timing and found it was 17 degrees at idle when the ECU wanted 22. I advanced it accordingly and the car seems to be driving a little better. It’s very hard to test it on the road without being a lout, but it seems to come on boost stronger with better top end.

The process wasn’t without intricacies. The very old Check /Advance Timing page has been updated and renamed with the procedure documented.

Next mods will be smaller, with a Taarks power steering pump bracket waiting to go. This will move the pump down to where the air con compressor used to be. I also have a bunch of small parts ready to fit, like the solid steering column bush and eccentric throttle wheel. I recently purchased a smaller torque wrench, to tackle the install of the GKTech rocker arm stoppers. This one is worthy of its own page, even though it is meant to be a simple task.