My Cefiro #13: Second round of modifications

My Cefiro #1: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-cefiro-1-carsales-ad.html 

My Cefiro #2: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-2-inspection-and-test-drive.html 

My Cefiro #3: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-3-buying-it-and-bringing-it.html 

My Cefiro #4: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-4-starting-modifications.html

My Cefiro #5: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-5-first-drive-and-photos.html

My Cefiro #6: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-cefiro-6-exhaust.html

My Cefiro #7: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-cefiro-7-wash-and-photos.html

My Cefiro #8: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-cefiro-8-hills-run.html

My Cefiro #9: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-cefiro-9-respray.html

My Cefiro #10: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-cefiro-10-gathering-cobwebs-in.html

My Cefiro #11: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-11-bringing-it-back-to-life.html 

My Cefiro #12: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cefiro-12-on-road-again.html

 Since the Cefiro was now getting driven regularly, although still somewhat gently, I thought it would be a good time to take the car to Boostworx to check that everything was running ok, replace a few bits and pieces, as well as install a front-mount intercooler. 

For some reason I hadn't consciously noticed that the coil pack cover on my engine wasn't there, I mean I knew it wasn't there, but hadn't thought about it until my dad mentioned it. So one afternoon I headed over to Nisswreck to pick up a replacement.

 There were a few cars lined up in their yard with expensive windscreen stickers from SAPOL.

So after waiting a few minutes while someone rummaged around out the back, I headed back home in my friend Prach's JZX100 Toyota Chaser, and stuck the cover in the Cefiro's boot along with a few other bits.

After ringing Shaun at Boostworx to discuss what I wanted done to the Ceffy, a few days later I went over to the workshop so he could have a look at it, and see what needed to be done in regards to trimming the bumper, installing and fabricating the intercooler and piping.

When I bought the car, it came with an HKS 300x600mm intercooler and a bit of piping, among other assorted parts. I was wanting to keep the look of the car fairly low-key, and have the cooler sitting behind the front bumper. I've seen quite a few Cefiros with a huge chunk of the front bar cut outto fit a large intercooler, with shiny metal piping sticking out underneath the car, something that would probably attract unwanted attention from SAPOL.

After talking to Shaun about it, we went back out to my car, popped the bonnet and he had a look inside to see how much room there was for one. Considering that I wanted to keep the front bar intact, there was no way the 300x600mm one I had was going to fit without some major hacking. Not wanting to do anything drastic, I decided to just get a smaller 200x500mm intercooler instead, which would fit behind the front bar without any major cuts into the bodywork.

There was some piping from the other intercooler that could be used, but I wasn't sure how much could be used, and what might need to be fabricated to fit correctly. After sitting around for so long I thought it would be good to also flush the coolant system, change the fuel filter, put new spark plugs in, replace worn rear brake pads and machine the discs,  put the 'new' coil pack cover on, and finally doing a test and power run on the dyno. The car was standard power-wise apart from the exhaust, so besides checking that it was running properly, I was interested to see how much power it was making.

There are always a few interesting cars around, this 32 is a good example of a huge shiny intercooler. Definitely something that would need an aftermarket front bar to fit.

After dropping the Cefiro off and handing over the keys, I left the car there while they did the work on it for around a week.

In the meantime I went to Japanese Import Spares to get a more subtle 'Nissan' rear light garnish, to replace the CEFIRO one in big capital letters which I found too obvious.

Pulling up in the car park, there was a purple Cefiro sitting out the front. A cool looking and different colour, but the panels had certainly seen better days.

Inside the JIS workshop, there are loads of new and used performance parts all over the walls, floors and racks, to the point that it's hard to know where to look at first.

Plenty of suspension options on the rack here as you walk in.

Some very nice BBS mesh rims which I would love for the car, but at $2600 for the set, probably not the best use of funds.

After asking one of the guys there about the rear light garnish, there were actually two options for the 'Nissan' one, dark red and light red. With my car at Boostworx I couldn't just go out and look at it, so after a couple of minutes of thinking and my girlfriend Sally suggesting it was the darker one, I bought it.

Coming up in Post #14; the Cefiro at Boostworx.