Batou's 1993 Eunos Roadster NA6CE S-Special - 黒い龍

Cheeky bumper cut

I quite like the mishimoto stuff - lifetime guarantee....

Where did you get the gauge from?

ENGINE
# Racing Beat 4-1 Manifold

Been meaning to change out the OEM manifold for some time, there are at least 3 vband clamps holding it together to stop the horrible crimped heat shielding from rattling. I often feel like I'm tuning a piano putting them on in various places and checking at which RPM the rattle is now at lol. Not too fussed about big gains in hp as most of that is on the intake side, the exhaust free'd the car up a bit but doubt I'll see more than 2-3hp from a manifold, it just simply needs replacing before it falls apart.

So after keeping an eye on Yahoo!Auctions for quite some I had to give up on a Maxim Works/RS☆R when they started suggesting that oversize shipping (ie. muffler) was hitting £1k, I actually bidded on an RS☆R before checking this so was very pleased to be outbid. Then I missed a cerakoted Maxim on ebay uk and was almost considering pre-ordering new from Rev9 (£750 + taxes) but then this came up on ebay the other week. Bit of a last minute scalp, managed to win this by outbidding the top bidder by £5 in the last 15 seconds for an absolute steal of a price, sorry not sorry  .

Anyway, its apparently not done many miles and looks in good condition....

Racing Beat 4-1 ユーノス ロードスタ NA6CE

I considered wrapping it, but having been down that road before and paid the price of needing a new one (wrapping good for performance, bad for manifold longevity) I decided to leave it as is but clean it up a bit. I understand the concept of increased bay temperatures and hotside intake next to it, IAT, ecu adaptation etc, but, eventually that intake will be on the cold side with 4 individual trumpets if I get my way.

After a quick 2000-3000 grit wet sand and a once over with the DAS and some SSR2.5... looks brand new.





Pleased with the result of 30 mins of elbow grease  .

The old manifold came off without any issues at all, its a good idea to keep spraying PB blaster or similar on the manifold studs/nuts and the back of the cat/decat if you've not had it off before as they can be quite solid. I sprayed mine a few times over the course of this week and they came out easy as, only one of the studs backed out which isn't an issue if that happens to you.

Out with the old sh11t and a clean up of the mating surface, lots of carbon on those ports, I'll wait till it needs rebuilding before I do anything else major like cams/itb as its getting on a fair bit in mileage.





Something to note here in the above picture, if you look at the bracket for the heater hose on the right, just make sure that is on the outside of the manifold after fitting and not under the gasket. I knew this and whilst it is pretty obvious its worth mentioning.

Fresh gaskets and probably the last time it will look this clean....



Went on easy enough, had to remove the strut brace, another thing is the O2 sensor, I was lucky this came with a fresh one that was already extended, the original one isn't long enough for the location on the RB header. Probably a good idea to replace a 30 year old sensor anyway but I'll keep the old one as a spare. Gave the manifold a wash down with 99.9% alcohol to remove any marks from installing it, aka the voddy wash, hopefully that will avoid some of the unsightly burn in it had previously.

After starting up and checking for leaks I had no issues at all so left it to get up to temperature, flipping cold out today in the garage (4°C), I recorded a sound clip as there isn't a great deal of 1.6's with this setup for reference. Mic is about half a metre from the exhaust, volume is good, not too loud and the sound hasn't changed a great deal. A touch deeper and a bit racier, certainly feels like it revs well but I can't be rear canoed to go out as its pi$$ wet out and I haven't got round to replacing the roof yet. This is paired with a MX5Parts single exit and a silenced decat pipe:



Sounds good to me, probably be more noticeable under load if theres a change. Left it a bit longer to bed in and thankfully no leaks or blows so we all good. Looks a tidy af gold now its been warmed up a bit.




This last bay pic makes me want to re-polish the ARC a bit more, I didn't have enough pads or high enough grit paper last time I had a crack at that. Ah well, need to stop being a tart really .

I saw that manifold on the bay. I have a 421 hks and was still tempted...as they rarely come up in such good condition. Glad it's found a good home on a well cared for car.

So took the car out for a good blast yesterday and wow have missed driving this thing in anger, feels absolutely fantastic at the moment and absolutely shifts through the twisty stuff well. The front end just feels so good with the new spring rates and really well balanced, looking forward to giving it a proper push on the track this year to see where I need to improve things at the end of the season. Of course I will be doing bushings all round so might actually do that first before making any other suspension adjustments as that will help highlight any other weakspots.

The exhaust has a very nice racey tone to it, volume is about the same really but lots more crackles as you come off the throttle onto the brakes now when the car is up to a good temperature. It did feel a little snappier yesterday so maybe there is another 2-3hp added but good weather/not much traffic/brap noises can create quite the placebo effect. Either way really pleased with this addition.


Thanks for the kind words mate, its nice to hear that. Been a hobby of mine for a while but its mainly been confined to car stuff for the last 2 years for obvious reasons. Need to get out more 


Yep exactly that, it was too good to turn down at sub £300 and as long as I keep it in good condition I shouldn't have any problems passing it on if I ever go a different route.

Chucking away all my premium voddy seemed the obvious choice right about now huh. Yeah, this is the last sort of engine mod before I decide on the next steps, I should probably quantify where it is right now at this point as a reference. I'm going to get all of the chassis work done and dusted before anything else, as I will do a full overhaul if I do ITBs as of course cams and all the associated parts will be done so its quite a financial commitment. Getting the base car ready for that is important to me.

Not much happening on the mod front at the moment, the boost bus needs tlc at the moment so spending my time on that (just wheel bearings, cv boots, ie boring sht... although theres an HKS intake to go on soon). Had to cancel on that Llandow track day which will put me back on what changes I need/want to make over winter if I don't get some track time. I need that information to focus my attention (and to prevent me ordering ITBs when there could be more important matters to deal with lol.



Had a trip out in April with a mate to Scramble at Bicester Heritage, didn't take many pictures but just a few of my selection from the day. Some nice stuff on show there...

 





Found a wheel fren too, this car was a monster under the covers. Full on drift car with Lexus V8, few little bits have been let to "patina" on the outside but everything else solid. Looks can be decieving...



ENGINE (COOLING)
# Laile Beatrush Radiator Cooling Panel

I did add one thing recently, just a panel to tidy up the engine bay and at some placebo level cooling/airflow. Was on offer (half price) so couldn't say no.


Laile NA6CE ラジエタークーリングパネル by batousan 2, on Flickr



Now just need to find a track outing sometime soon