New GT3 Owner

[cammmy]

Hi Guys

I wasn't expecting to buy a car anytime soon but a good example of a GT3 came up in my price range so I jumped on it. It's reasonably high mileage at around 110,000 but has been VERY well looked after and the previous owner seems like a very good bloke. He was selling as he got a job offer in America and wanted the car to be looked after rather than going into storage to rot. I figure with these cars that servicing and regular use are more important than super low mileage; which could indicate that it hasn't been used and might have deteriorated.









Two things I'm aware of that were factored into the price are warped rotors and a crack in the exh manifold. I'll look through the forum for advice on the exh.

I haven't collected the car yet as the plate is to be swapped back to the old one, but I'm looking forward to giving it a good drive.

Any advice on how to keep these cars tip top would be much appreciated. I'm looking at a BOV kit simply to reduce wear on the turbo bearings and also possibly one of these:

http://www.pukesprit.de/ (under ECU)

10. High-Performance code 280HP for 2.0 liter GT3-engine, Version 2.0

Has anyone got one/can anyone advise whether it's worth it or likely to cause issues on a motor with over 100k miles?

I've factored in the motor needing a refresh when purchasing, but I'm hoping to keep it properly maintained and get another 30k out of it before then.

It's not a project car (until it needs a rebuild I guess) but I'm always up for doing small things to make improvements.

Cheers guys

[cammmy]

Gonna be honest with you, I can't tell if that's sarcasm.

I'm pretty skeptical of chip upgrades but people over here seem to think quite highly of them. Even if it delivers half of what it says, that's still something.

Just wondering if it's likely to cause any issues on a car that's been well maintained and will be driven spiritedly but not abused, but has higher miles.

[cammmy]

Your comment. I thought maybe you were saying you wrote it but you never know when you read things on the internet. Really hard to tell sarcasm through text.

Thanks for the comment, was hoping someone who had used one would be able to advise. I'll put it on the list.

[cammmy]

Brilliant, thanks. I'll be speaking to him in the near future :-)

[cammmy]

Thanks Benters, I'm definitely looking forward to the first weekend with it.

Thanks cannon. Interesting to hear warped rotors are common. I wouldn't have thought one car would be particularly susceptible to it unless parked with hot brakes?

I'm definitely not going to hang around with the manifold. If there isn't a group buy in the pipeline then I'll sort one out. I'm worried about rust going through the turbine but also any potential air leaks causing the ECU to think it's running lean and over enriching. Don't want to get bore wash.

I'm confident I can do the manifold myself but the only thing that worries me is snapped studs/bolts. I've bought some Plusgas so will give everything a good soaking. Will maybe get a mini torch of some kind to heat the nuts before trying to get them off.

Edited by cammmy on Monday 2nd June 17:02

[cammmy]

Ah, right. Cool, I'll replace them and post back if it happens again.

I was thinking that too. I'll buy a nut splitter and maybe one of those small chef torches for any that I can't get the splitter on. Already got some penetrating oil and high temp anti-seize

[cammmy]

Been a while since I updated this. Few things have changed since then.

Had a new exhaust manifold made up and ceramic coated by Zircotec. 1 week to make the manifold, 6 weeks to coat it...





It then went in for a new mid-pipe as that was leaking at the turbo join:







This was pre-mid pipe.



It sounds a WHOLE lot better now but don't have a vid yet.

This weekend I did what's know as the "ram air mod". Basically, the air intake is made of two runs of hose with a resonator in between. I took the long hose, cut it down and attached it directly to the airbox. The result is a lot more noise :-)



There's no dump valve. That's just turbo chatter.

Unfortunately there's still a leak, possibly at the number 4 port. The good new is that all the exhaust work is under lifetime warranty and the people who did it have epic service.

Once it's all sorted for good, I'll get a proper inside/outside vid.

It's still got the crap GM Rochester injectors. I'm planning to replace them and figured it's pretty much the same money to go bigger for future proofing, but that means a bespoke mapping. This is my preference anyway as every change will make some difference to the fuelling and timing requirements that a chip just can't cater for. Matt at DIYautotune.com is looking at the electrical diagram to see if he can create a pin-out for me. If so, I'll be going with an MS3X and will make up an adapter so that the harness won't require any cutting.





Photos by SheriffAds

Edited by cammmy on Monday 29th September 11:43

Edited by cammmy on Monday 29th September 11:56