J171 NJO Cortez / 2+2 rebuild and modifications

[Hans Efde]

Thanks for keeping us up to date with the build. Your thread is a pleasure to read and very educational. The dash has come out fantastic. A lot of think work got into it and it shows.

[Jin]

Thanks mate, glad to know its appreciated
Makes all the long lonely nights in the garage worthwhile when I should be down the pub instead

[Jin]

No wonder my boot leaks, there's a 30mn gap between the boot seal and bootlid underside?



Another job for the list...

[fozzza]

Its something I need to sort out with mine, when I washed the car you could see the soap suds trickling down the carpet by the door pillar. Reading some of the threads on this forum I get the feeling that most of the Midas have got a built in water feature.

[Jin]

It occoured to me that my "temporary" repair cable tieing the throttle body back to the manifold was done just prior to stoneleigh last year so probably just about ready for a proper repair.



Also I wasn't too happy with the filter being so high up the engine bay



Bought new Mount



Cleaned up the throttle body



Bought some new shiny piping



Ducted it all up so the filter intake sits just behind the front left grill





Does run much better now but that's probably more due to lack of cable ties

[Jin]

Since I'm running 15" Tigra wheels on Metro hubs I get a fair bit of arch rubbin on bumps, but not any more with polyurethane bump stops and calibrated shims (penny washers) .
New full set of subframe mounts on order too

[kelvink]

That has to have been your simplest and quickest modification to date! (Depending on your tolerances you were working to for the shims of course)

[Jin]

Oooh at least .5mm

Seem to be dragging my feet at the mo, it's of jobs in hand but none progressing

[Jin]

Its been a while folks, I've been busy,
Front subframe bushes in preparation for the spring conversion.
I had the feeling the original ones were past their best and I wasn't wrong, but first to get the old ones off, what an absolute pain in the ass that was, had to do it over 2 weekend's because the drivers side mounts were seized up and the whole Subframe needed lowering around 3" to remove the front bolts.
Upon inspection the inner wings had taken a pounding from the hydragas units, this damage was cleaned up and the inner wing slightly reprofiled to clear the hydragas tops, then glasses over to seal up, it was overdue too, just look at the pics below :0






Totally knackered, the nuts and bolts were all replaced with new too.

For some reason there were 2 washers shimming the larger rear bushes between it and the subframe, I replaced with 1 single double thickness one



New bushes





The damage


Fixed


Subframe dropped




Tidy


I even had the chance to clean up and Dinitrol some hidden spots of the subframe while it was dropped.

I can honesty say despite the aggro this has made SUCH a difference, the ride is sooo smooth, almost floating, no banging or crashing over bumps, I no longer feel the need to tuck my knees under my chin while going over speed bumps

[Jin]

Carbon fiber filler cap.

My old filler cap was proper tatty, and the thought of a replacement lingered.

Rather than a total swap I pondered swapping the standard plastic trim for carbon fiber.



Genuine carbon fiber sheet



Cut with an 89mm holesaw (spot on)








Best fiver I've ever spent