Right. A few ups and downs unfortunately.
So I managed to get a nice din holder to put the gauges in.

My drivers side window has always been a bit dodgy, after taking out the regulator, I relized it was time for a new one. Perfectionist came to the rescue with a pair from a 20k miler 4G, fitted to the car and now window works like brand new

I dug out a brand new 12tune carbon fibre bonnet that i've had since I bought the other one I had on this car (yes I bought 2, long story!)

Bought in....

Topped up with coolant

Fitted new rocker cover gasket, O rings, solenoid gasket and a new set of Magnecore KV85's.

...and some pre gapped BCPR7ES plugs.

Then I double checked everything and went ahead and fired the car up on obd0 with the b18 map I was running the ITR engine on. Turned over motor with no ignition to build up oil pressure. Fired up first click. Done with initial 20 min break in (2 ten minute sessions). It's LOUD, very LOUD. The recorder cant quite make out the noise.
Small videos of when we fired it up, ignore the jump leads in the bay, it was just some emergency earthing and it worked a treat.
B20 EF9 first start up 1B20 EF9 first start up 2Oil and filter was then changed to some more Millers running in oil.
Also done a compression test soon after. 260, 250, 270, 260. Everything good there for a 12:1'ish engine. This was with the car having done zero miles on the road.
This was cylinder 3...

Time to convert to obd1. Fitted my new Hondata S300 V3 with the Boomslang obd0-1 conversion harness. Fitted obd2 single plug distributor with Rywire obd0-2 dizzy harness. Wired up and soldered 4 wire o2 sensor. Uploaded B20vtec base tune from Hondata website etc. Checked on SManager, no fault codes
Hondata S300 V3. Bluetooth capability, SDASH capability (Android app) etc


Bled the coolant system, this can be a proper pain in the A$$. Front end jacked up so helped get all the air out the system.

Raised the suspension a bit to get my manifold some ground clearance. Also adjusted front camber arms and tie rods. It will be getting done properly at a vehicle geometry centre but this was for the time being.
Then I took it for a drive up and down the road outside my mates garage. Immediately realized I had a few issues. Firstly, the car was smoking a bit, I took this with a pinch of salt as I thought it's a new engine and rings wont have sealed properly hence the smoking, also the Millers running in oil is very thin so its probably getting past. More about this in a bit.
Secondly, there was a serious problem with the steering, it was EXTREMELY light and was making funny knocking noises when turning left or right. I had just had my PAS rack reconditioned. It seems they've gone wrong somewhere as there was also A LOT of play in the steering wheel. Checked the TRE's, inner rack arms, U joint etc and all seemed fine.
Looked everywhere for a SiR PAS rack but had no joy so had to fit a manual rack and subframe off a VT. I will eventually fit the PAS setup again when I find a mint rack but i'm in no rush now, I just want to drive the car.
Il be in touch with ACS about the steering rack, but I couldn't wait so it all came off...

Managed to get hold of a rather grubby VT sub frame with rack etc....

Stripped it all down, sent the subframe off for shot blasting and powder coating. Got it back from the powder coaters all fresh.

Painted the rack satin black, bought new TRE's, rack end boots, rack end bush, inner rack arm locking washers etc...

Put it all together with the ARB and Energy bushes from my SiR subframe and the poly rear mount.

And fitted. Got to say the engine bay does look a lot less cluttered without all the PAS stuff in there. Not driven it yet but I hope it's sorted the steering issues.

Now just yesterday I took off my manifold because I had to change the sump gasket when I discovered this.....

Cylinder 1 exhaust port full of oil. It explained the smoking. So close to having it on the road, Daz had even sent me a proper base tune to drive it on that same morning.
Looking closer into the port, you could see small runs on the valve stem coming down from the guide. I have changed every single thing on the engine almost apart from the FCUKING VALVE GUIDES. So typical.
Anyways, 45 mins later.......


Do you notice something really odd, I do. Cylinder one, the one with the oil in the exhaust port, the piston and combustion chamber is spanking clean vs the rest of them. Something to ask the guys at the machine shop about tomorrow.


So tomorrow in the morning im going back to W.Drake with this head. Going to have them confirm it's definitely the guides, i've taken out 2 sets of valve springs and yes they do wiggle a bit in the guide so i'm 99 per cent sure it's the guides that are leaking the oil.
I have a spare Cometic 84.5mm HG, handy! I've ordered a new set of OEM stem seals from Japserviceparts and i'l be ordering some Supertech bronze valve guides off ebay in the morning after i've been to the machine shop. All goes well, head should be back on the car beginning of next week.
We'll end on a nice note so....
Somewhere in the middle of all that I gave the car it's first wash in 4 years. It came out pretty well. Definitely needs a good machine polish though.





