Finally I’ve finished working on the car and I have to say I’m pretty over it. The last few weeks have seen many hours put into the Sileighty and many modifications made:

• Kinugawa TD05-18G turbocharger fitted
• Dump pipe modified
• Fitment of rocker arm stoppers
• Fitment of oil cooler and remote filter plate
• Fitment of winged sump
• Fitment of new boost gauge and Innovate MTX-L wideband 02 gauge in new pillar pod
• Fitment and wiring of Z32 MAF
• Repair wiring of Varex muffler
• New coolant, oil, oil filter, fuel filter and spark plugs
• Fitment of GKTech radiator fan
• Fitment of GKTech coolant elbow spacer
• A lot of experimentation and data logging with Nistune

As the list mentions I fitted my new boost gauge this afternoon. I changed the black bezel to silver on the 02 gauge to match:

A 12V headlight power source was finally added to dim the 02 gauge and illuminate the boost gauge. Most of the day was spent grinding the Greddy copy winged sump to fit the bottom of the engine. I’m not sure whether having an S14 motor or this sump having a poor casting was responsible, but this problem did not present in the past on the grey 180sx. Two new pages have been created: oil cooler and winged sump. Use them as a guide to learn from my experiences and mistakes.

The car has been booked at MRC in Castle Hill for tuning next Monday, with $800 quoted. This includes flashing the Nistune daughterboard to the newer feature pack spec which gives a worthwhile range of things to play with. Injector and MAF changes can be made without upsetting the K constant. More control of warm up and knocking is also available.

Up until this point I have always been loyal to Unigroup, but a few things have happened recently which has made me lose faith. The first time this car was put on the rollers, Mark was a little haphazard, ignoring Roland as he furiously waved his arms to signal detonation He assured me there was a blocked cat which was robbing power and making it ping, but this turned out not to be true. The turbo gaskets he gave me were also the wrong size.

I tried to book a follow up dyno session by an email which was never replied to.

Eventually, my next visit with Yavuz was excellent. I left very happy with my experience.

When I dropped in last week, Mark told me he could book the car in for a tune before Christmas on the spot. I told him I needed to discuss details and pricing with Yavuz before proceeding, and I would send an email that I would like him to tell Yavuz about. I waited half a week for a reply which told me I couldn’t be fit in until the end of January. Very frustrating.

There is growing concern on forums, which I share, about the direction Unigroup is heading. Yavuz is fantastic but is difficult to see. He seems to delegating much of the work to others. Mark has a perceived arrogance that doesn’t go down well. The disparity in information from Mark and Yavuz on available bookings is evidence of this or poor communication. Either way I’m letting my money do the talking and taking a punt on MRC. They seem to have glowing reviews on forums, with Mark said to give a lot of feedback on the tuning process. For me, this is ideal. I intend to sit in the passenger seat for the duration and learn as much as I can.