Leigh's '93 VR Calais 5L

[Leigh_G]

Yeh gotta get off my arse and scrounge a few pics of it looking grandpa-spec..

Picked up the bootlid today, it was J064 paint code (mines 1J064), but we'll see how it goes when I bolt it on tonight. I've budgeted for a spray job anyways but would rather not as the paint's mint cond. already. Even got near-new looking gas struts, loom, lock and the inner lights and bezel bit etc with it so pretty happy with that especially coz they're all the same colour as mine.

I'll stick the boot on, give it a nice wash (been too long with this shite weather down ere) and get some good photos up to show y'all.

[joshb.calais]

g'day thats a sweet lookn calais u got there, nice choice of wheels they top it off, and i think u should looz the mud flaps & spoiler!

[sycosystem]

Far out mate, i love the look of you Calais, i still wish mine was a V8, i wouldnt have bothered going through with the Super6 conversion, but im happy now i spose, just miss that V8 noise

Nice Calais mate

[Leigh_G]

@sycosystem Thanks for the compliments, I wouldn't worry too much about the v8 noise when you'd have a nice charger-whine no?

@ joshb: Yup, since that photo I've taken the wing off (see above), and yeh the mudflaps went pretty quickly too . Gotta get some new photos, she looks much better now.

Well the new boot is now on, gave it a quick polish and the colour is exactly the same as the body.. so stoked!

Good weather coming up in the next day or two, gonna head out with the SLR and get some nice shots with a mates VX SS.

[Leigh_G]

Ok got some snaps back from the weekend, here's a quick one my mate sent through last night. He showed me a really good warehouse but we had a few troubles with our lighting (middle of the day sucks for photos) and a single pigeon managed to coat my entire roof with sh!t... so we cleaned up and moved to another warehouse nearby. I'll try n whack up another pic or two tonight.

[Leigh_G]

Well it's been a while since I last posted and the cars had bugger all done since the boot cept for a new water pump, heater tap, hoses n' belts. The reason being I asked the missus to marry me. So here I am, engaged and saving for a wedding, and the cars decided to start having electrical issues and a vibration starting in the driveline somewhere.. Lol
And to top it off I drove thru a camera last night turning into my own bloody street!

edit: driveline vibration turned out to be a worn trans-mount. 20bucks later and it's all good. If anyone needs trans or diff work done in Adelaide, I thoroughly reccomend seeing Sam at SA Race. He spent 45 minutes test driving my car around to make sure there wasn't anything too critical with the vibration, before giving me a list of options, the first of which was to get the new transmount and put it in myself. All up he helped me out for about an hour and didn't charge me a cent! A genuine honest bloke.

[Leigh_G]

Update: Got a new solenoid for my (variatronic) steering rack coming by Fri and also got a tuned memcal back today from greenfoam so I'm pretty amped to get it plugged in tonight and take her for a spin.

[Leigh_G]

Foamy chip installed in this morning. Couldn't really test it out heaps, coz the drive to work is only 10mins and mostly 50k zones.. But so far I'm grinning from ear to ear.

[Leigh_G]

Just sold the missus' corolla on fri, and the same day picked up a black MY04 Liberty... Beautiful car to drive, just a pity it's not a GT

[Leigh_G]

woot 7 posts in a row..
got new Calais grilles for the front (the VS chrome grille type) and bootlid carpet in.. Rear hotdog let go so I had a straight pipe put in at everlast. Quality job, but I just couldn't stand the note it made (droney V6 sounding) so I cut the exhaust back off at the diff. Still saving for headers..
Pulled most of the loom out of the bay and attacked the old rustproof coating in the bay that had discoloured. Took a day to get it all off but very happy with the result, paint underneath is like new. Engine bay looks soo much cleaner now. Also took the engine covers off, prepped and primed them ready to be painted in white (same as the body) with pearl through it. Thinking of doing the bananas in a matte grey/black too.. Will post pics this time haha

[d mon]

looks nice man i like them rims

[Leigh_G]

Thanks mate, appreciate the comments.

Bit of things done since I last posted:

Got the whole exhaust replaced, went into a few places with the idea of a twin 2.25" system, or possibly a single 3" but majority of the guys told me to keep 2.5" system to keep bottom end torque up, so that's what I've done. Old Lukey 2.5 was binned and its now pacemakers, into std cat, into a redback 2.5" with one muffler in the middle and just a pipe out the back. Gotta go back and get the rear muffler put in soon as the place ran outa time..
Bought the Pacies a while ago, and got the wrong gaskets in the pack with the headers... someone must've been asleep when packing it all together!



Also installed a 1st-2nd corvette servo, to be honest thought it was going to be more solid shift than it is, but it's still a much nicer than stock. The servo cover snap-ring is an absolute bitch.

Trying to hook up a set of tyres through work, it's a toss up between Toyo Proxes R888's, Michelin Pilots or Pirelli P-Zeros.. I'm swinging toward the michelin or pirelli's just coz they're wet weather and therefore aren't as slick or soft as the Proxies.

[Leigh_G]

Update: Ended up with the R888's. Was a bit hesitant to put them on in wet weather but far out these things have crazy amounts of grip!!
Nicked my back wheel on a servo gutter and sent the rim off to Adelaide Wheel and Rim to get fixed.. Well.. After 4 weeks of headaches and phonecalls finally got the wheel back, lip remachined, polished and clear-coated, come up well except now there's damage done to a handful of the spokes, like chips of paint/alloy smashed off.. and someones tried to hide it with silver touch-up paint.. And so far I've spent more $$ than the wheel originally cost me brand new.. Very very pissed off..

[Leigh_G]

"Dear Diary, today I checked my car thread and realised nobody gives a sh!t about it" lol
Update anyway: noticed the grey paint on the doors is starting to get some sun-fade happening.. gonna take it in and get resprayed but need to track down some new door mouldings to replace at teh same time.
Rear Proxes are now rooted thx to my camber so I've got two Pirelli P-Zero Corsas to chuck on, keen to test them out. Also gotta get a re-tune as my original foamy tune was for a different exhaust setup and now it's chewing up the fuel

[MR.HG]

need more pics mate, seems like you have done a bit to it so post sum new ones for us to oooh and ahhh over

[Leigh_G]

Ur right, Ive got sweet FA images in here.
Picked up an LSD during the week, out of a VP GTS so it's slightly taller ratio at 3.27:1, fack knows if I'll even be able to tell the difference, but it would be nice if I could. Drained old oil and refilled with new stuff and anti-chatter additive last night, and spent a few hrs this arvo giving it a lick of black enamel and putting it in. Bit of a bitch of a job but almost done. Took photos of it all too so I'll chuck em up tomorrow when I finish.

Shitty iPhone photos but shows the old diff coming out and shiny new black LSD in it's place.

[Leigh_G]

Quick update, GTS diff is tight as, and much nicer to drive with. Also nicked another wheel-lip on a hidden drain lid a few weeks ago and lost my shit.
Was whinging to my tyre fitter about it and my previous dealings with Adelaide Wheel & Rim, and he referred me onto a bloke at "Adelaide Metal Polishers" on saints rd salisbury, who ended up machining the lip for 60 bux. Came up identical to the other wheels, and if I'm really picky, I can get it clear-coated for another $50 at my local spray painters so I'm stoked with that (sure beats $300+ at the other mob!).
Got 3 Autometer gauges and a Transgo stage 2 shift-kit (finally) being delivered from the US tomorrow, keen as to get them all installed. Will take pics of the gauge installation I promise!

[Leigh_G]

Gauges all installed, took lots of pics to throw into a how-to guide for other users on here. Oil pressure senders are a bitch to install on the EFI 5L, especially when you get sold a fitting for a 308.
Had the volt/water guauges hooked up for yonks but only just hooked up the oil pressure today (when I did an oil change).
Filled the car back up with fresh oil, took it for a drive around the block and got pulled over on my street, defected (to effing regency) for my wheels too big, back tyres slightly balder than should be, and my battery clamp not working coz even though it's there, my new battery doesn't have the lip that the clamp bites down on.. Can't believe this shit. I don't mind the defect itself, as its warranted.. but REGENCY!? what a joke. so pissed off. The young copper was even commenting on how clean and tidy the car was.. Older copper was just being a... enough said.

Edit: reading my defect notice again it's even recorded as a 'minor' defect.. and yet I have to go to regency to get it cleared.. Utter BS.
Further Edit: after some digging, found out my wheels are 100% legal.. So gonna go to the cop shop with a printout of the road traffic act specifically stating it. Not holding my breath though.
Another edit: Well whadda ya know, took the legislation papers into the station, and they agreed with me, wheels are 100% legal and the cop was wrong in defecting me for em. Gotta go back tomorrow and they'll wipe the wheel defect and clear the tyres and battery clamp if ive fixed them. Total inspection cost of $25.. Dont have to go to regency now!
Nice to know some ppl are still open to listen to sensible reasoning and return the same respect you give to them.