1JZ Water Pump

The 1JZ has been pretty reliable if compared with my old M50B20.... BUT.....

Recently there was a problem with the 1JZ's water pump. My water pump recently started to have a slow leak which required me to top up the water every so often. When the car went in for some work to the suspension I decided to get the water pump changed as well.

If you check around the 1JZ water pump is one of the things which is often discussed. Why?

Because its so EXPENSIVE!!!!!

This is what the world's most expensive water pump looks like.... (World's most expensive to me at least...)

Before you start panicking and start to sell your organs to pay for a new water pump, the good news is that some 1JZ's have the cheaper water pump.

There are two main variations to the 1JZ water pump and it depends on what type of fan your 1JZ has. Some come with a viscous clutch type fan, some have an electric fan and finally some, like mine, have a hydraulic fan. I personally like the hydraulic fan as I find it quiet and powerful.

If your 1JZ has a hydraulic fan then you had better start choosing which organ you would like to sell in case your water pump fails....

The reason it is so expensive is that the water pump also contains the hyrdraulic pump that runs the hydraulic fan and hence the frankly enormous size of the water pump as can be seen in the picture above. The hydraulic pump also comes with an electronic actuator to control the speed of the hydraulic fan.

A new hydraulic water pump (???) would set you back around RM2k. A used water pump can be found for around a 1/4 of the price.

I felt that the water pump is a critical component so I decided to sell an organ and get a new one installed.

So far so good.....

Honda NSX by Format67.net

Amazing video of an amazing car...... with the voice of my racing hero Ayrton Senna.

Sit back and enjoy....

A visit to my mechanics.... 1JZ-GTE, 2JZ-GTE and SR20DET

Visited my mechanic again the other day to check some issues with my 1JZ E34. Saw a couple of 'interesting' conversions while I was there.

First up, guess what has just gotten a new heart? Not just any heart but a 2JZ!!!

Frankly, it looks a bit like a Toyota Unser from the front but its actually a Toyota Prado Landcruiser.

The 1JZ was specially modified to fit on the original gearbox housing so this is actually a 4WD, 2JZ!!!

Two bimmers....

One with a 1JZ...

The other with....

Nissan SR20DET.

Debadging the E34

Posted the pics of my E34 on bimmerforums.com and some of the members there suggested debadging the E34.

Hmmm..... any comments?

With badges:

Debadged:

BMW E34 1JZ-GTE Pictures

Finally managed to shoot some more pictures of the E34 after all of the upgrades.

Still not too bad looking for a 17-year old car....

Update on Proton i-Care my A**

Just an update on my earlier rant about Proton here:
http://theseech.blogspot.com/2010/03/proton-i-care-care-my.html

Just when you thought there was no more hope and that your Proton will never be serviced and you have to drive it until the engine seizes and then go out and buy a Perodua Alza.....

I managed to finally get through to the i-Care line and managed to speak to Liza. More on her later...

How can one company be so bad and yet so good at the same time?

First it was the inability to get through to any of the lines to schedule a service. Then it was the absolute total inability to get through to the parts department to check if the parts ordered under warranty are here (I still don't understand why I need to call them and why they can't call me instead). Then it was the parts that were ordered for my car but was used by another car.

BUT.....

Ms. Liza was absolutely fantastic. When I finally got though to the i-Care line, she was fantastic. Patiently listening to my situation and offering to sort everything out for me including scheduling the service, checking the parts AND returning my call after she had arranged everything. ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!

If you're her boss please give her a promotion... (or maybe not, then there would be no one to pick up the phone!!!)

Then there's the service advisor, En. Azri. Really nice to deal with him as he's very professional and pleasant to talk to. Got most of the things sorted out and even managed to ensure that there were no greasy handprints left on the car after the service. Thumbs up to En. Azri as well.

If you're his boss, please give him a promotion as well...... (or mayb not, then there would be no one to service the car!!!)

Anyway, after the initial frustrations, Ms. Liza and En. Azri more than made up for the aggravation. Nice to know that there are still some people who still care about doing their jobs well. Cheers...

E36 1JZ- Taken at my mechanics workshop

Proton i-Care? Care my A**

I have been trying to book the Exora in for its 10,000km service at the Proton 'Center of Excellence' and I have been calling them at the numbers provided 80269333 and 80269167 for A WEEK!!!!! NOBODY HAS PICKED UP THE PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Nevermind.... I called the Proton i-Care line at 1300880888. It rings and then a message asks you to hold on while they connect you to an customer service rep, it rings some more and then it tells you that no one has picked up and ASKS YOU TO CALL AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


What a load of CR*P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Center of Excellence my A**................

Replacement Battery ah? No need lah.... just buy a new phone!

That's what I was told by the salesgirl when I went looking for a replacement battery for this...

I needed a second phone and it so happened that my sister had a Nokia 8800 lying around.

After using it for a few days, I must say its quite a nice phone and it did cost around RM3k new. The phone has a nice and solid feel to it with the brushed stainless steel cover and the slider is just awesome with a ball bearing mechanism and a smooth action and a nice metallic click to it when opening or closing.

It is also a decent phone albeit with a small screen (by todays standards) and perhaps less functionality. The only fault with it was the battery which as expected does not last very long after heavy usage. So went looking for a replacement battery, a BL-5X.

Went to MidValley and the official Nokia store did not have one. Went to 1 Utama and met the salesgirl who told me, "Replacement Battery ah? No need lah.... just buy a new phone!", at the official Nokia store. She said that the battery cost was very high and suggested that I just buy a new phone. Throw away a RM3k when new, top of the line, Nokia for an entry level Nokia just for the sake of a new battery???!!!

Finally went to a 'Hello' Station shop near Jusco and they HAD one battery but sold it the day before. What is this man? Suddenly all of the Nokia 8800 (and there can't be that many of them) users are looking for batteries? Anyway at least the salesman there was understanding and offered to order one for me. So.... will be waiting for his call..... hopefully.

Maybe its a conspiracy by Nokia to stop producing replacement batteries so that their sales people can tell people, "Replacement Battery ah? No need lah.... just buy a new phone!".

E34 1JZ Exhaust

Decided to carry out some minor surgery on my E34 1JZ-GTE. After the heart transplant, I kept the stock center silencer and exhaust muffler in my attempt to keep the car as 'stock' as possible.

The exhaust note was actually quieter than stock to the point that you may have mistaken the 1JZ for an electric motor. I began to suspect that the exhaust might be overly restrictive when there were some boost fluctuation issues at full boost, approximately 0.7 bar.

So without carrying out any further or more scientific diagnosis of whether this issue was indeed caused by the exhaust....

Out with the blow torch.

Decided to just remove the center silencer and keep the stock exhaust muffler for the moment.

The offending item removed.

Initial impressions are that the engine seems to be revving easier with less restriction but then again I might be crazy and imagining things. The engine now has a note but it's still very very quiet. Unfortunately there's an irritating resonance now on light throttle openings. Its not very loud but still.....

However, one things that I did notice was that the maximum boost was up slightly to 0.8 bar vs. 0.7 bar with the silencer installed. This doesn't really make much sense as the wastegate is still the same and theoretically should have maintained the same maximum boost of 0.7 bar.

Can I notice any increase in power due to this 0.1 bar increase in boost pressure?

Most definitely........ NOT.

I may be crazy but not that crazy. There seems to be an improvement in response but can't say I can feel any power increase......

Hmmm...... maybe time for a straight through muffler.

Proton GTR

Proton GTR.

 

Jap Swapped E34 on Bimmerforums.com

Never thought I'd get mentioned on bimmerforums.com but I found this link on one of my favorite bimmer forums (ahahahahahah) aside from BMWCM.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1411274

Most comments were on the cost of the swap vs the cost of maintaining the original M50 engine.

Hmmm.... need to 'correct' some of their misconceptions.

Oh nooooo..... somehow I knew this was going to happen.

Just saw this thread on ZTH.

http://www.zerotohundred.com/newforums/perodua/323775-can-perodua-alza-1-5-a-go-up-genting.html

Can a Perodua ALZA go up Genting ah?

JUST WHAT IS UP WITH THIS BLOODY GENTING BUSINESS EH?

How come no one asks if a lorry carrying your coffee and toast for Old Town Cafe can make it up Genting?

How about if the lorry carrying tons of petrol for the Esso station can make it up there?

What about the lorry carrying toilet paper for the First World Hotel? Judging by the number of rooms there, they should need a fair amount of the stuff sent up on a daily basis.

How about when Lim Goh Tong first built the place. Did anyone ask him, "Eh, Uncle Lim. Your lorry carrying TONS of building supplies can go up Genting ah?".

I would like to propose to both Proton and Perodua to come up with something like this:

CERTIFIED: THIS VEHICLE HAS BEEN TESTED AND CERTIFIED. CAN GO UP GENTING LAH!!!

In the interest of all these "Can go up Genting ah?" people, ALL our local car magazines should make it MANDATORY to test ALL vehicles up Genting during their road test....

Got 7 seats? Check...

Got engine? Check...

Got 4 tires? Check...

CAN GO UP GENTING??????? Check...

Maybe a better question would be, "Can a 10-year old Kancil 660 with 5 rugby players loaded up with toilet paper make it up to Genting?".

Toyota 1JZGTE- Shell 97, V-Power and Petronas 97

Have been filling up with Shell 97 and V-Power since transplanting the 1JZ into my car. The fuel economy is pretty horrendous at 350km for every 50 liters. Others have reported some increase in mileage from V-Power so in the interest of 'science' I decided to run the car on a few tanks of V-Power.

Those scientifically and statistically inclined among you might bemoan the fact that this isn't a controlled experiment, too many variables, blah, blah, blah.... but this is the best that I got.

Based on the price of 97 @ RM2.05 and V-Power @ RM2.38, I would have to hit around 400km per 50 liters to 'breakeven'. So...... can't say I noticed noticeable (or statistically significant) reduction in fuel consumption much less to approach the breakeven point of 400km per 50 liters.

How about power you say?

Errr..... based on my butt dyno..... can't say that I noticed any increase in power either.

So what do I do next? Fill up with Petronas 97. More to stop the bleeding of RM119 every time I fill up but also to try out another brand of petrol.

WOW!!! As with my Exora, the engine feels much smoother. (No, I don't work with Petronas.)

It really does and my logical side of me struggles to find a reason why this is so. Am currently calculating the mileage or should I say kmleage to see if there's any difference in fuel consumption but the results may be a bit skewed for this tank of Petronas 97 due to a 'spirited' drive along KESAS last night.

Based on the initial response, I'll continue to fill up with Petronas 97. Will try and control the right foot and see what sort of kmleage I can get.

Thought this was quite cool.

I know I'm a bit strange.......

Proton Exora 5000km service. More problems but great service!

Just sent the Exora in for its 5000km service. What exactly does 5000km service mean. Does it mean service the car AT 5000km or does it mean service the car AFTER 5000km from your last service? Logically shouldn't it be 5000km AFTER the last service?

Anyway, I waited for 5000km after the last service and due to the extended Christmas and New Year Holidays and a trip down south to JB and Singapore, by the time the Exora was booked in to the main service center it had hit 6700km. The Service Advisor didn't say anything about it so I supposed it wasn't that critical. More on this later.

Firstly I would like to say that the SA this time was efficient, helpful and very friendly. Thumbs up to En. Azri.

Faults to report:
- High pitch whine (no, not the whining of those non-Exora owners that keep asking, CAN GO UP GENTING AH?) whenever the engine reaches 3500 rpm. I told the SA that I suspected that part of the exhaust heat shield might be loose and vibrating.
- Water entering the passenger side main headlight. Actually this only happened once after washing the car but since it was still under warranty I reported this fault to them.
- Slight crack on the front passenger side door handle.
- Something loose in the indicator signal stalk.
- Some squeaking noise coming from the front passenger seat.
- To replace the rusty brake drums as reported at the last service.

Left the Exora there for the whole day and returned to pick it up at 6pm.
- High pitch whine fixed. (As for the whining of non-Exora owners who ask CAN GO UP GENTING AH? please check this out: http://theseech.blogspot.com/2010/01/definitive-answer-to-so-how-ah-exora.html)
- One brake drum replaced. (Apparently they only ordered ONE instead of one SET.)
- All the other items on order..... which brings me to my next point.

While the SA, En. Azri was fantastic, the spare parts department is something else.... Proton spare parts department is terrible. They are supposed to call you when your parts arrive BUT..... never do. When I try to call them, no one picks up the phone.

Also the mechanics that work on your car keep leaving greasy hand prints on the interior.

So after everything was done, the Exora feels much smoother and the annoying whining is gone (hopefully also from the CAN GO UP GENTING AH? camp.)

While driving back I noticed that there was a sticker on the windscreen saying next service 10000km. I am still wondering if it means servicing the car AT 10000km or after another 5000km. If I went back at 10000km it would mean that the Exora would have only traveled 3000km + since its last service.....

Would I still recommend buying an Exora? Most definitely. Most space for the money (which is what you want from an MPV). Superior handling and comfort (many passengers have complemented the ride quality if compared with the Toyota Avanza or other similar MPV's).

The DEFINITIVE answer to the "SO HOW AH, EXORA CAN GO UP GENTING AH?" question.

So how? CAN GO UP GENTING AH?

Personally, I still don't know lah. I know the Exora can go to JB and also Singapore but Genting? Not yet.

But maybe this will help:
http://protonexora.com.my/2010/01/11/eocm-conquered-genting-highlands/

or from Paul Tan:
http://paultan.org/2010/01/14/eocm-2010-genting-highlands-road-tour/

For those that are still skeptical, there may be a possibility that Proton hired a few trailers to tow hundreds of Exora's up to Genting but then the question would have to have been, "SO HOW? A TRAILER FULL OF PROTON EXORA'S CAN GO UP GENTING AH?".

Next time you go up Genting and see an Exora there perhaps you can ask them how much it cost to tow their Exora up Genting...... AHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAH.......