Private Tuning Hands v3.0

after two years for constant drift events and occasional autocross events, i finally retired my trusty 4age. that engine never let me down, never left me stranded. it was a little tired and leaks oil badly. we never figured out where it came from. i went with a japanese surplus bigport 4age. i chose the bigport becasue of: smog, ease of swap, and ease in trobule shooting the engine in the future. at long sweepers in drift events, i curse and with i had more power. in reality, a healthy bigport 4ag is good enough for me. plus you can make power with a bigport; cams, fuel, porting. that will come in the future. i got this unit from attarco in san jose. from the japanese t-belt service sticker on the cam covers, it looks like this engine has about 60k miles in it.

as usual with engine replacements, i bought a new water pump as well as cam seals, crack seals, etc. we opened up the engine and it seems that everything was ok. we can still see the hash marks on the cylinder walls which is good. but upon further inspection, we found out that some of the coolant passages on the block were pitted. it looks like it will still be ok and that the headgasket will keep it from becomming a trobule. for extra measure we put a thin film of toyota FIPG around the pitted area. we also cleaned the piston and head with parts cleaner to remove most of the carbon buildup. once everything is good we put the head back into the block. the problem with the jdm bigport is that it doesnt have oil coolers lines on the oil filter assembly and pan so we had to use mine. engine is now somewhat assembled with the new waterpump in.

we downed 2 100-pack gloves! my engine was so dirty. on some parts you can see the oil cooked onto the surface. we are now ready to remove the engine. the was a non-eventfull event. we did realized that my exhaust manifold was cracked. thats why i wasnt passing my smog! with the engine out you can really see how dirty my engine bay is. now, we start the long process of transfering stuff (intake manifold, injectors, oil pan, etc etc.) into the new engine. we forgot to buy a gasket for the oil strainer so we FIPG'ed it. while mark was doing the transfering i decided finally loop the powersteering the clean way. i just cut the hardlines ,used a braided hose to loop the lines, and used hose clamps to secure it. i didnt have time to ask the forums whether the lines build up pressure. we will just see and hope those will hold up. while mark was transfering stuff from the 2 engines, i decided to roll the chassis on the street to clean the engine bay. three engine degreases later, my bay was in better shape.

we are now ready to install the engine to the car. the main issue is that the tranny sheild is on the way for a straight shot at the input shaft. we didnt have an engine tilter which makes it more difficult. after a few minutes for positioning the engine we finally aligned it properly. ps bracket, washer reservoir, and ac vacumes will not go back to the engine bay. we plug back all the connections and filled the engine and radiator with oil and coolant respectively. we realized that the thermostat housing was leaking. we used new gasket on it, so most likely the housing isnt as flat as it suppose to be. again, we used our trusty toyota FIPG and no more leaks! all the peripherals are almost in are now ready to stab the dizzy in. we tried to crank the engine but it wont turn over. we realzed that we didnt align the dizzy properly thats why we do not have spark form there. once that was fixed, we tried to crank it again and the engine ran! 

there are still some bugs needed to be fixed in order for my car to run in tip-top shape:

-i still have to look for a stock usdm exhaust manifold for smog
-toyota FIPG is godsent to us!
-i am still walking on eggshells with my clutch master and alternator
-i will eventually put my 12" fan once everything is absolutely okay

thanks to kuya mark aquino for helping me out with the engine swap.

 im back at buttonwillow! it has been a while and this time i got lsd. =) kuya mark wasnt able to get off from work. insted nim tagged along for a caravan to buttonwillow. his car is really nice, 4agze nice paint all go! when we went for a rest stop in one of those gas stations along I5, one guy couldnt resist the hotness of nim's car, he took a picture of it! we crashed at the usual motel 6 at lost hills at midnight. all the drifters were there, jeff, mike, marc, etc. the next morning, luis, barry, and al raided our room. they left bay area early morning.

its my first time running buttonwillow full track. at first it seems that i have having problems rotating the car becasue i gave new falkens both front and rear. whats the matter with me? its just zeix in the rear, no hi-grip tire. anyways, i swapped to my usuall used tires in the rear. it felt better. going couter-clockwise, now i was able to start drifting the off-ramp corner. clutch kick at 3rd gear at wot, keep on going then tap on the brakes a 'lil. tap, tap, tap, downshift to 2nd once you hit the apex, open throttle! now you can be at the powerband or not when you hit the apex, it just depends on your exit speed. overall i did so-so. i wanted to enter corners faster but my initiation point is a little too late thats why a end up on the dirt a lot of times. i guess i have to figure that out. one good thing i liked was the battleversion steering spacers. i felt more confident at pimp angles. overall, i gained half a turn from lock to lock on the steering wheel. unfortunately, there were a lot of cars that crapped out. one of marc's friend broke his water pump. nim's gze just gave up on him. some s2000 broke down on the track. marc even broke his dirver front brakes. even my car was showing signs of too much heat. once in a while when i was gunning it, my temp. rose for a little bit. tsk, tsk. and when i went off road too much i hear like a vacum leak comming from my car. by the end of the day it was so hot! packing up was really exhausting. good thing i didnt drop from the excessive heat. nim got a tow truck to haul his coupe. when i was airing down my tires, my driver front and passender rear was unusually low! it was like 31 and 29 psi. that could be a suspect why i didnt felt good when i was drifting. i changed my rear tire and headed home safely.

i have missed the first dd norcal. i made sure i didnt miss dd2 norcal. i have heard from stories and forums that golden gate fields chews up tires like no tommorow. i have autox'ed at this site but drifting is totally different on tires. so for this event, i brought 2 sets of tires dedicated for the rear axle. i also bought a brand spankin' new falken zeix 512 for the fronts. they were priced good at prostreetonline.com which was local so i just picked them up. kuya mark, donna, vj, and some friends went to watch the event.

sure enough, it was cold and windy in albany just like any day there. the usual friends and people showed up for this event. it is also the first time i will try out the sticky pod i just recently bought, mated to a fisheye on my camcorder. when mounted inside the rear passenger glass, i could see everything! the steering wheel, the whole dash and the outside view, its all there at playback. this is a very nice camera setup plus a tool in analyzing my mistakes at the track. anyways, i first started with the small course: 2nd gear with continous turns. it took me a few times around to get the feel of this small track. martin harjani rode with me one time, he said i was pretty ok wich was a pretty big compliment for me. =p i also saw al there. man, i havent seen that guy for the longest time. i saw him drive his T3 ae86 coupe. man that thing was flying! i guess they have already dialed that car after overcomming some bugs. well what do you know? i need to replace my tires already. damn, i went trhough tires really fast.

i was kinna fustrated with myself with the long course. i could never get the first S-turn right. and if i did get the S-turn, i dont have enough to connect it to the 1st sweeper. lack of driving skill? lack of power? maybe both. maybe i should be realistic and strighten the damn car before the 1st sweeper. oh well. the succeding sweepers were ok, a little higher speed than the smaller course. i was pleased with the track time for this event. if i had enough tires, i would still continue to drift. i heard they didnt close the track 'till like 7ish pm! wow! i also got a chance to drive luis' 86. that car got good suspension. now it makes me think if i wanna upgrade my spring rate. hmmm. but what really caught me is his bucket seats. man, i was more concentrated with my driving insted of thinking how should i brace myself for the comming corner. a bucket seat is definitly high now on my adgenda list. well, 'till the next dd norcal event. thanks slone, tj, and g for setting up dd norcal for us. we are now not left behind!

it was a nice event. i didn't even realize that my falken zeix where showing chords in the front, so i had to change them with my used toyo tires i bought at my tire shop. at first, i was understeering like mad! at the corners, i really tried to load up the front with weight before i start to drift. but once i am in the middle of the drift, those stupid toyo's cannot handle the cornering loads and changes my drifting into plowing/ understeering. luckily enough, luis was there and i asked him if i can borrow his pair of azenis. thanks luis! once i change my front tires to azenis, i was ready to try it out. but still, i kept on spinning out in the 1st corner. first i try to enter at full speed whatever the 4age can give me. i clutch kick and for the first part of the outer bank, i could hold my drift. but once i enter the inner oval where there is an attitude change, i kept on spinning out. i also enter the inner bank "hot" and i overshoot into the dirt. i kept on trying but still i kept on spinning. i have no problems with the second s-turns, its just the 1st corner im having problems. then after the practice session, they started the competitions. im like "great, im coming in without figuring out the 1st corner" i spun out on both my qualifying runs on the 1st corner. i didnt expect to get int best 16 'till they called my car number. cool! i guess they took into account my run on the 2nd corner which i think is decent. best 16 is still individual runs but only once. on my run, i finally didn't spin out on the 1st corner, (but ultra-conservative and almost haf-spin out) and i did so-so in the 2nd corner. i didn't expect to advance further but they still called my car number, cool! then they paired me up with another corolla. this time i spun out on the first corner when the other guys was leading and i spun out on both 1st and 2nd corner when i was leading. the other guy advanced. i was happy i made it to best 8. but i wasn't really satisfied with my driving. i didn't figure out corner 1 and my line was all over the place at the second corner. i was glad though nothing happened with my car. i had a couple of close calls with the wall. luis also drove my car at the skidpad. it was the first time i see smoke coming out from my rear tires, cool!