It's been almost 10k miles since the last time I changed plugs. The previous plugs didn't look so hot after 15k miles so I ordered a new set of NGK RS7 plugs to change them out pre-emptively. Looking at the condition of these plugs I probably didn't need to change them yet so I'll extend the the next time I do this. I think these NGK plugs work better and don't wear out as easily as the Beru plugs.
 |
| Old plugs |
Rad finally got sick of his super loud exhaust Revel single exit exhaust and picked up a gently used Perrin dual exit exhaust instead. This should've been an easy swap but the problem is that the Perrin exhaust flange is designed to mate to a flat flange but the JDL front pipe he has on his car has a lip on the flange designed for a donut gasket that simply wouldn't fit.
 |
| Revel exhaust removed - 10-22-2021 |
The solution was to cut off the lip with a sawzall so that we could fit a flat gasket instead.
 |
| Flange to cut - 10-22-2021 |
 |
| Cutting away |
 |
| Putting the new Perrin cat back on - 10-22-2021 |
 |
| New exhaust on |
 |
| New exhaust on |
 | |
|
 |
| NNJR SCCA Autocross - 10-23-2021 |
I like my MK7 GTI a lot but two things in particular kept taking away from the experience. The first was the rather annoying drivetrain rattle at idle after switching to the single mass flywheel as part of the South Bend Stage 2 clutch upgrade. This was a necessary upgrade to hold the torque but it made the car seem like it was broken when I was sitting at idle until I pushed the clutch in. The second was the lack of smoothness as you went up the rev range. At 3-4K rpm, I'd get annoying rattles inside the car, like the center console, from the vibration. At full boost and high RPM, I really didn't like how the vibrations felt at all so I rarely get on it because it felt like I was going to break something.
 |
| Fluidampr Harmonic Balancer |
I read that the fix for this was to install a harmonic balancer but it sounded just like hype to me so I held it off. Boy was I wrong! I finally got a Fluidampr harmonic balancer and had it installed by Drive Auto Works today along with a new OEM crank bolt. DAW had previously installed my entire IS38 upgrade so it made sense for me to come back there and the difference is night and day.
 |
| Fluidampr getting installed - 10-15-2021 |
The engine is butter smooth at any RPM. The rattle from the SMF is gone. There no in-cabin rattles anymore from 3-4K RPM. Most importantly, at full boost, it just feels so amazing. I can't believe I waited this long to do this. This is definitely not hype and I should've done this along with my turbo upgrade years ago. I went from liking this car a lot to loving it all over again. I no longer cringe from the vibration every time I go into full boost. Instead, I just get 100% full enjoyment and big smiles when I put all that power down. I might have to look into doing this for the S2000. I know it doesn't need it as much as this engine does but having a smoother operating crank can't hurt, especially on a 4-banger.
After my trip to NJMP Lightning a month ago, I noticed a small pool of oil under Bumblestook in the garage. It had gotten everywhere on the driver side under carriage but thankfully it didn't seem like a bad enough leak that I was dangerously low on oil during the track day. On first inspection, the AN coupler going into the bung welded onto oil pan that's used to drain oil from the catch can was leaking. I thought it due it being a tad loose so I re-tightened everything and autocrossed the following weekend. After being parked for a week, I noticed more oil under the car even though it hadn't moved in a while so I got back on the quick jacks and sure enough there was oil coming from the AN coupler again. I drained the oil and removed the coupler and saw what I couldn't see earlier, a crack in the coupler itself. This was on the non-visible side of the coupler so I didn't notice it before.
 |
| Cracked AN coupler |
I ordered a new Vibrant -10AN female 45 degree union elbow from Jegs. As luck would have it, the first shipment got stolen at FedEx so I had to wait again for them to ship me another one.
 |
| New -10AN 45 degree union elbow |
Today I finally got to the time to put it in and complete my oil change that was due anyway. I ran the car a bit and the bottom stayed dry so I think we're good now but I'll keep an eye on it just to make sure I don't have a leak elsewhere.
 |
| New coupler installed - 10-10-2021 |
 |
| Fresh oil in |
Maintenance Updates:
Mileage: 60,131
- Amsoil Signature Series 10W-30 - 5.5qt
- New OEM oil filter
- New catch can drain AN coupler
