K&N 57i install on a Mitsubishi GTO (3000gt)

At the end of my last entry I alluded to the removal of the air box, although what it was might not have been that obvious due to its JDM AF label. First on the agenda was a little tidy under the bonnet. 

This is a relatively old picture, it's from when I first got the car, I wasn't planning on doing this today, but couldn't resist once I got started so apologies for not getting a pic in better light.

Pic from 'Winter nights by headlights' meme I did last year

You can see that under the bonnet the deadening is not in good condition at all, it is frayed and falling apart. So do I replace or do I..... who am I kidding, sound deadening delete all the way!

Close up shows clip, but also how bad the condition of the sound deadening really was 

Simply held on with these clips, they came off with ease by hand, but used pliers anyway for the most part to save any chips in the paint. I saved the clips in best condition to reattach the heat shield.

After sound deadening delete

Looking much better already! I think I'm going to keep at the engine bay tidy up, little by little over the summer, as it would be a bit of a beast of a job in one go! Especially with not trusting the electrics enough to get a jet wash in there! 

The aftermath! more than happy to get this discarded! On to the intake!

The first step is to disconnect the negative side of the battery, working on the car alone the last thing I wanted was a ss-ss-shock!

Yes, it's a Pokemon reference, yes, I am a geek...

 As my car is a unicorn in among the GTO/3000gt as it is both twin turbo and manual, the vacuum line for the transmission is then disconnected. Followed by the Mass Air Flow Sensor Plug.

MAF and tranny vacuum line

The lid of the air box is then un-clipped, and the hose clamp in the above picture loosened slightly. The air box lid and MAF sensor will then come out as one unit.

Air box lid with MAF sensor attached, connected by 4 bolts on each corner of the MAF

When I removed the air filter I was a little shocked, as the car was supposed to be serviced and MOT'd in July last year, and sat on a dealers forecourt from then till I bought it in September/October time.

Not only was the filter packed with leaves and stones, but the rubber was also perished and split along the sides. Cracking job with the service there... The car must have been able to breathe about as well as a life long chain smoker on a stroll up Mount Kilamanjaro. (Babyshambles gonna be stuck in my head all night now)

When you remove the filter you will then be able to unbolt the air box, and then it will pull straight out.

Once the box is out you are left with a decent amount of space for the new intake to fit into. The mass-air sensor can then be unbolted from the air box lid.

PAUSE

I would like a take a moment to pause here and reflect on this step. Of every step in the process this was the hardest by far! 3 of the nuts came out no bother at all! But the backing plate of the last one just spun, tearing chunks out the plastic.

I ended up waiting for Mrs 3oD to get home, and using my rotary tool to trim away the excess plastic and using a 14mm spanner to hold the backing plate whilst Mrs 3oD turned the 10mm nut on the other side. Even with the combined brute force of the two of us we still had to stop for a break after 10 minutes of wrestling with it... at which point I asked Mrs 3oD which direction she was turning the spanner..... it then came right off.... *Face-palm*

Couldn't resist the Ash face-palm after using him for the shock pic earlier!

The sensor is the connected to the filter adapter using the nylock nuts from the intake kit. and should look something like this.

Almost done!

Be sure to use the short bolts on the top, and long ones on the bottom. The long bolts then have the brackets attached to them, loosely for now. This is then slid back into the intake hose in the original location from which it was removed and the hose clamp tightened. The brackets should be maneuvered over the bolts used for the stock air box, and then nylock nuts applied. once everything fits nicely together it should then all be tightened down.

The MAF sensor is plugged back in and the vacuum line reconnected (if required). The new 57i filter is slid onto the adapter with a hose clamp and tighten down.

The battery is then reconnected. Being careful not to jump if it sparks slightly and drop the bolt for the connection to the negative and have it NOT hit the floor. I didn't do that.... honest.... it didn't take 20 minutes to retrieve from the depths of the engine bay at all... OK... maybe that happened a little.

The car is then ready to go with its sexy new intake fitted. As it sits in the location of the stock box, it still gets the same good supply of cold air the stock box did, but can now make much more use of it! It also has the added bonus of sounding even better! I tried to take a video of the turbo noises with the new intake, but only had my phone to hand which didn't do it justice, so that will probably follow later.

Check out my last entry - How to Sleepy Eye / Lazy Eye a Mitsubishi GTO / 3000gt

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Last weeks post, this week. Kind of.

This week saw the return of Game of Thrones, and with it winter was no longer coming. It came. It came all over the hills where I live. And then it was gone again. And back. And gone. And back.... you get the picture. You can really tell the British summer is coming when the weather only lasts 10 minutes before changing.

So the first meme was aimed at falling in line with my opening paragraph, but I simply couldn't resist putting the second one in as well. It appealed to my inner geek too much.

It has again been a couple of weeks since  my last post again, not good enough I know, but with these wintery showers and summery blizzards the changing of the seasons hopefully marks a change in my ability to get stuck in to the project!

Speaking of which, I currently have a GTO shaped hole in my garage as she has finally been taken away today, through the blizzards, to have her stage 3 Competition Clutch fitted.

GTO shaped hole... just a said tyre impression left in the dust...

This post in truth was intended to be posted last week, she was supposed to be collected last week and I should really have had her back and running by now... sadly the same thing happened with the recovery vehicle as last time and the first one they sent was unable to tow her. Never mind. Fingers crossed I will get her back by Saturday lunchtime ready for the next e85 car meet at the weekend.

So her getting taken away meant I had to bolt in the Sparco wheel Mrs 3oD got me for xmas, here's what it looks like:

I think it is a big improvement over the ripspeed that was in when I got the car.

Before, ugly old Ripspeed wheel

After with the Sparco wheel,

So what's gonna happen when I get her back? Hopefully I should be posting from the next meet in a couple of days. Then the GTO will need a 500 mile break in for the new clutch. I already have my next mod sat waiting for an install however:

57i awaiting install

So all going well with the clutch, this should be happening in the next couple of weeks. I have the cold air kit, not just the filter, I know it wont change the BHP, I just wonna make it sound good for now! When the 500 miles are up I will do another 0-60 test to see what she she can do without bald tyres and without a slipping clutch, and then who knows from there!

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MNECM Part 1

If any regular readers have me added on instagram, you may have noticed I have been quiet for the past few days. In this two part blog entry hopefully the reason for that will become apparent.

Whilst many online over the pond seem to be being battered by snowstorms, this week I was able to actually get out and about in the project car.

On Saturday I bid farewell to my old stock GTO alloys. There was something seemingly wrong about trying to squeeze 4 wheels into the back of a Fiat 500. The proportions were almost comical, but I do hope they enjoy living out their days as a spare set for winter tyres for their new Lancer owner.

Squeezing the alloys into the Fiat 500

On Saturday I was also able to pick up my new pod filter. It has more interesting dimensions than I imagined, I'm intrigued to see how it will look when fit into the car. I'm even more intrigued as to how it will sound... It will probably be a couple of weeks before I get to fit this now, and to paraphrase Tim Curry 'I will be left in antici...........pation'.

57i K&N Performance Intake

57i Intake

Sunday saw me hit up my first car meet of the year, and the first time I have ventured to a meet in the GTO. I hit up the Modified North East Car Meet #MNECM first meet of the year. It was advertised on their page as a 'Mini Meet' so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and really didn't expect to see well over 100 cars there for a mini meet. I've often seen groups online comment on great turn outs for 10 cars so was astonished at how many people were there in such a wide variety of cars and stages of modification from bone stock to almost reaching race car status. Highly recommended meet to any in the area. In the awe of it all I barely even took any photos... doh!

#MNECM

I ended up parked next to 2 of the most attention grabbing cars there, a nicely restored Rover Metro and a highly modified TRD Starlett. They kinda brought to my attention how far I still need to go with the project, I know I will look forward to every step along that path.... (well, most steps at least....)

Rover Metro next to my GTO

In this pic my car looks like the smallest, yet in reality it is massive compared to the Metro and the Seat on the other side in terms of space it takes up, it is just that much lower...

It was a great night until it was time to leave AND THEN..... to be continued

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