Lil EJ's Lil Spec R Aero - "Yuki"

[Lil SpecR]

Well, it's been almost 2 years since I last updated this page! God that's gone fast!
So, the reason is, thanks to £1200/mo nursery bills and a new bigger house and bigger mortgage spare pennies have been few and far between. I have in this time though thoroughly enjoyed her as she was. I was on maternity leave from July 2016 to 2017 so I did many miles, mostly at night to console the baby but I have done many happy, fun miles in her.
Over this winter, being such a long, cold and SALTY winter, she was SORNed for almost 6 months. It was awful! I got her MOT'd end of May and taxed her in June. I'm back at work again after mat leave so now it's just weekend fun. About 3 weeks ago I took the kids to a stream train in Llangollen - She was making a raspberry blowing sound which got progressively worse and so bad that on the way back I sounded like a Harley I'm sure of it! Got Yuki home and to my horror - blown a turbo gasket!

20180624_195631 by Esta-Jane Mace, on Flickr
20180629_184140 by Esta-Jane Mace, on Flickr

20180629_185935 by Esta-Jane Mace, on Flickr

So, sort of a big job, air box, manifold, turbo etc off - well whilst it's off I guess I best make some changes! Again a limited budget (childcare grr!) but I got new Japspeed downpipes, sports cat, turbo elbow; copper turbo gaskets from Slide Motorsport, and some braided turbo lines from Jack Pilkington (HEL).

IMG_20180703_172454_937 by Esta-Jane Mace, on Flickr

20180706_143352 by Esta-Jane Mace, on Flickr

All fitted, and took the boys to Manchester airport last weekend and she flipping' flew! I don't know if it's actually given me much of a gain in power, or whether she's always been underpowered by a weeping gasket, but her response now under acceleration is breathtaking in comparison to what I've known! Honestly cannot describe how much more responsive she is, the fella isn't pulling away in his M3 now mwahahaha!

IMG_20180708_134356_794 by Esta-Jane Mace, on Flickr

Obviously I have more I Want to do and have been chatting with a tuning guy in Coventry that several people have recommended, but it will probably be a while before I Can afford a few more of the performance bits required for the 300-320hp remap. However as I said, she's a lifelong tuning project, and I am in no hurry. I love every minute out with her and that's all that matters <3

[pegliobaglio]

Awesome ! It’s amazing what a difference these little things can make glad you have been enjoying yuki still

[Cess]

Top job.

What was the Japspeed stuff like to fit?

[Lil SpecR]

Honestly?
Sh1t!
I was promised it would be fine and it was basically the same as the S14 so we would have no problems - (I double checked because I hate bodging stuff!) - no problems my assssss!
Probably didn't help I had the Flexi pipe rather than solid as that makes the circumference wider and puts it right against my floor, so had to get a spacer for the exhaust to step it away from the floorpan. It has all fitted nicely now with some tweaks, fortunately legit tweaks and no ****ty bodge jobs, but if you're looking for a straight forward easy 2 minute swap then you won't get it.
However, worth it in the end, Im more than happy with sound and performance

[Saxon]

What difference to the sound did it make over the stock stuff? I’ll be changing my downpipe soon hopefully (from one aftermarket to another though) however I’ll be getting rid of the stock elbow.

[Lil SpecR]

What difference to the sound did it make over the stock stuff? I’ll be changing my downpipe soon hopefully (from one aftermarket to another though) however I’ll be getting rid of the stock elbow.

It's definitely louder under load now, but a nice (imo anyway) sound. Its beautiful once the system has warmed up - and my husband said he could hear me behind him when we were having a spirited blast, even over the sound of his own M3. Pootling along around town its quieter, no doubt down to the fact that I now no longer have a leak from my gasket so not getting the sound from the front end like I was before. I can sit at 70mph too now and not get that drone-y sound (which is good because the husband moaned about that and almost made me put the bung in for our last trip up to Scotland haha).

[Saxon]

It's definitely louder under load now, but a nice (imo anyway) sound. Its beautiful once the system has warmed up - and my husband said he could hear me behind him when we were having a spirited blast, even over the sound of his own M3. Pootling along around town its quieter, no doubt down to the fact that I now no longer have a leak from my gasket so not getting the sound from the front end like I was before. I can sit at 70mph too now and not get that drone-y sound (which is good because the husband moaned about that and almost made me put the bung in for our last trip up to Scotland haha).

Ah awesome, that’s cool - I’ll have to pull my finger out and get mine done too then haha