44 replies to this topic

[Miniman_alis]

Damn this looks nice. well done mate.

 

10 years ago i could have bought a wide body Starion for $1500, I wish i had the money back then.

[GSRVR]

To get the ball rolling again, some of the minor drawbacks that needed rectifying included:

 

- Top radiator inlet was in need of repair due to a leak
- Leak from the oil pan in need of a better quality gasket & leveling of the pans mating surface
- Turbo drain hose to timing case leak, due to the stock oil catch can being clogged
- Worn gearbox mount due for replacement also possibly causing added vibes in conjunction with the BSE
- Sloppy drive shaft uni-joints

Easy enough fixes, just annoying in their own ways.. especially having to repeat old jobs. Regardless, fast forward to this month, the rad has been repaired/rodded out waiting to go back in now. The oil pan removed, made completely flat, given a new lick of paint & reinstalled. A new gearbox mount was purchased & sent to the fabricators to weld on some manual conversion brackets, which has now been fitted up. The oil catch can has been flushed out & is now waiting to be relocated from it's original location as I am in the process of upgrading the intake. I also had some new OEM universal joints come in from Japan for when I move away from the engine bay & onto the drive shaft.

 

With the motivation flowing, I also deleted/bypassed the ABS (rear only) which was nonfunctional anyway. This delete creates a lot of space in the back corner of the engine bay with the heavy & unsightly modulator removed, perfect for relocating other components here for more space elsewhere & in general makes working on the intake manifold a hell of a lot easier.

 

In no particular order here are some pics of what has been done so far plus some other odd jobs along the way:

 

The ABS modulator before being removed.

 

 

After the removal. Check out all that space!

 

 

Rerouting of the brake line to the proportioning valve (not the cleanest of bends, but it will do for now)

 

 

Top view of the end result. The unused line from the booster T piece was plugged with a 3/8" rubber cap to finish it off. I also reused the booster hose with the 1-way valve that was originally fitted to the modulator thinking it was needed, not realizing that there was another 1-way valve already in place behind the clamp on the firewall, so the old hose has been fitted back on since. All that needs to be done now is to bleed the brakes & check braking performance if whether or not I will need a non-ABS proportioning valve.

 

 

Both the new & old gearbox mounts.

 

 

The "Mackay" branded mount appears to be genuine Mitsu, (the same) OEM part number on it & physically identical. Can't complain with that.

 

 

All fitted up with freshly powder coated mounting bracket & some new high tensile hardware. Don't mind the eyesore that is the exhaust either, it will soon be replaced as well as a clean up of the undercarriage.

 

 

Here is the state of the oil pan before & after being refurbished. High temp silver was all that I had left at the time, so on it went. Wire wheeled & sanded the old paint off followed by 3 coats of primer, 4 coats of silver & finished with 4 coats of clear. Not a perfect finish but an improvement nonetheless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was waiting on the radiator, it was a good time to replace the old foam on the condenser that creates the seal between the two. So I found some quality EPDM Durafoam to replace it with. Scraped the old foam off & cut the new foam to size & stuck in place on either side.

 

 

 

I also had a batch of parts from the engine bay sand blasted & powder coated, majority were done in satin black minus the two intercooler pipes which were done in gloss to match the aftermarket hard pipes of the same finish.

 

 

 

And here they are fitted, with new high tensile hardware to go with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Among the many deliveries from all corners of the world, going back earlier this month I had a few new parts show up. First up was the above mentioned still available uni-joints from Japan:

 

 

From a place in Canada called Sheridan Engineering I purchased this 1G MAS wiring connector. This is so that nothing needs to be modified when I fit the 1G turbo MAS (larger in size than the stock Starion MAS, hence the upgrade). All that will need to be done is pull the wires from the stock connector & plug them into the new one for a direct fit. Also, rather than reusing the monstrosity that is the stock air box, I have a plug & play air intake also coming from Canada that is made to bolt up to the MAS, which I will see in a few weeks.

 

 

Last but not least a coilover conversion kit from Ground Control in the US. The spring rates are 4.5kg & 6.7kg on Eibach ERS springs. Everything appears to be of excellent quality & nothing but good reviews in Starion/Conquest community. These are priced exceptionally well considering the quality you get. Hence my decision not spend ~$2000 on the full length D2 coilovers.

 

 

More to come.

[GSRVR]

Damn this looks nice. well done mate.

 

10 years ago i could have bought a wide body Starion for $1500, I wish i had the money back then.

 

Appreciate the feedback mate!

 

$1500.. That would have been the bargain of the century, considering a wide body out of Japan now days is in excess of $14,000 for a good example.

[GSRVR]

Small update from the last few weeks, I have mostly everything needed now to get the car running again after a few deliveries arrived in the mail that I have been waiting on.

 

First up is the Cosmo Racing air intake. This is made to be a bolt-on for the 1G Eclipse, though is also sold as to fit the Starion with a simple modification to the air intake lid (1G & Starion MAS connector plugs are different in size due to more/less pins, so mounting screw holes are spaced differently) I opted not to modify anything & to make this plug & play, hence the 1G connector I posted earlier on, that reuses the pulled wires from the original connector.

 

New connector (cavity plugs for the 2 unused slots have since been added)

 

 

 

The CR air filter & upgraded 1G MAS being assembled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As seen above, the vacuum port is in crevice of where the hose attaches, rather than on the face of the lid making a flush fit for the stock rubber intake hose impossible without cutting into it. So I ordered a MK1 silicone hose from the states instead which I will cut a slit into to allow for the positioning of the port. As this was made for the earlier 2.6 ('83-'87) Starion/Conquest's, there is no 3rd port for the recirculation hose as the original '88 has. However I have had no issues not running it on the stock hose. In fact, I was using the port to recirculate a BOV instead up until recently.

 

 

 

New parts dummy fitted.

 

 

 

A few other pieces showed up in the mail including a couple of meters of Gates 5/16 (8 mm) fuel hose for the oil separator & a new 90 degree silicone hose to replace the old original from the inter-cooler, which was the only hose left that I still hadn't replaced with new up until now. Pics of the relocated oil separator to come shortly.

 

 

 

 

Last but not least for this mini update, some unrelated parts to the above that also rocked up - a front set of Cusco camber tops from Japan & new OEM washers/nuts to go with to complete the new suspension setup. A new speedo cable from the states also came in, waiting to be lubed & fitted to rectify the shaky needle syndrome, which will allow me to refit my semi-digital cluster again as well (the digital read-out would fluctuate erratically at a certain speed, just as the needle does) 

 

 

 

More to come.

[TRQ-STR]

This is coming along real nice, i'm loving this thread

[Missile]

agreed.

A lot of dollars getting sunk here.

Nothing better than misc. oem parts and bolts.

Edited by Missile, 22 October 2017 - 11:22 PM.

[GSRVR]

This is coming along real nice, i'm loving this thread

 

 

agreed.

A lot of dollars getting sunk here.

Nothing better than misc. oem parts and bolts.

 

Thanks for the feedback gents, keeps the motivation going!

[GSRVR]

Some more progress made from over the past month.

 

Sidetracked from the main task as usual, I had been meaning to remove the secondary condenser (fitted to auto cars) at some point which inevitably led to deleting the rest of the A/C system while I was at it. 30 years on you can see it has taken a beating & not doing the front of the car any wonders! Now that it's non-functional anyway.

 

 

 

Eventually I'll get around to mounting some fog lights in place of it or some nice honeycomb mesh grill to neaten it up once I have the air dam repaired or replaced with the new reproduction spare.

 

 

Just some of the removed A/C components.

 

 

The condenser fan was only removed to be refurbished, as it'll be used a 3rd radiator fan from now on.

 

 

Paint stripped, wire wheeled, etch primed & given a few coats of matt black engine paint it's now worthy of being reinstalled again. I ran out of new bolts for the lower mounting brackets so they just got coated instead.

 

 

Reinstalled.

 

 

As part of the A/C delete, here is the new mounting kit for the alternator. The large bottom mounting bolt isn't necessary obviously, but for a few bucks why wouldn't ya. 

 

 

3 new timing cover bolts are also needed where the compressor mount used to attach, see the difference in length.

 

 

Before with A/C:

 

 

And after:

 

 

Next on the list was getting the oil cooler lines flushed & replacing the original seeping braided rubber lines. Using a dremel with cut-off wheel to remove the 4 clamps.

 

 

 

The new 3/8" hose & Oetiker crimp clamps.

 

 

Hose cut to size & with original sleeves reused.

 

 

And here it all is in once piece again after a quick clean up of the hard lines as well.

 

 

Not forgetting the oil cooler which also received a fresh coat of paint. Prior to giving it a freshen up, it was completely flushed, filled with kerosene & left for a few days followed by draining it & blown out with an air compressor then left to sit again with some cheap engine oil before being emptied yet again for a thorough clean.

 

 

From an old order I placed last year was a set of new OEM banjo bolts & washers to complete the job.

 

 

Lines reinstalled with the new hardware.

 

 

And a brief look into the extra space created in the area now.

 

 

I rarely post pictures of the car itself so just for the sake of it here's a better look of the finished job from a view.

 

[GSRVR]

..Continued, out of picture space.

 

At the time while I was getting the cooler lines sorted it was a good opportunity to replace the oil bypass valve & pressure sensor with the extra space available.

 

 

Old & new design comparison.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finished off with a new K&N (HP-1005) oil filter.

 

 

The turbo drain hose was also replaced again once I was finished in the area. All I had at the time was some 19mm ID oil hose which is slightly larger than the original which is closer to an 18mm ID. Fitted with a helper spring to avoid any kinks with the pain in the ass of an angle that it's on. In time I will modify a spare oil pan & have the oil drain hose rerouted to it as it should have been from factory! 

 

 

 

In no particular order, the coolant reservoir was also given a fresh up.

 

 

 

The ol' bleach, Basmati rice & dish washing liquid combination seemed to do a good job of cleaning the inside with a good shake-up. 

 

 

And the finished result on the outside. Good enough!

 

 

Backtracking to when I was flushing the oil cooler, the oil separator was also given a clean out over a period of days. This was basically the whole reason in removing these components in the first place as I was under the impression that it may have been blocked causing some oil seepage (no.1 being from the oil drain hose to timing case leak) however it didn't appear blocked at all, which has me thinking now that it could be a combination of the balance elimination & thick oil that was being used being the cause (which I'll touch on in a later post once I have the car running) 

 

Moving along, now with the air box gone I was able to reuse a mounting spot for the separator to now reside at & to also still maintain the necessary height for it to function properly. I ended up using an alloy bracket that came with the air filter kit as the mounting holes funny enough matched perfectly to the ones on the separator, so that saved me some fab time. All new hoses were used also, as now of course some extra length was needed for the relocation. For reference I used Gates 5/16 hose for the oil drain & air intake ports & a ProFlow 1/2" from the rocker cover.

 

 

 

An overall look of everything back together. The bay still has a lot of work ahead of it before I'm happy with it visually, so consider this a "during" progress picture.

 

 

[GSRVR]

A few other odd jobs which fit in here that I'll mention before moving on completely included finally getting a flywheel inspection cover which came in my last batch of OEM parts

 

 

 

Replacement thermostat housing. The extent of corrosion that has eaten through the turbo coolant hose port can't be seen here, though it isn't pretty. I will have it (the original) modified to keep as a spare at least until I need to remove the better condition housing again.

 

 

New OEM gasket.

 

 

All good to go. Must also replace the rusty thermo valve plug with stainless one of these days also!

 

 

Last but not least some new clips for the front grill, seeing as it had to be removed anyway.

 

 

 

Should have it running in the next few days from now.

[White Knight]

Beautiful..... You and Bazeng should open a shop together!!!! Nice work bud.

[GSRVR]

Beautiful..... You and Bazeng should open a shop together!!!! Nice work bud.

 

Thanks for the kind words dude!!

[GSRVR]

Well she's running again. Fired up first go & went on to run smoother than I remember from cold to normal operating temp. It will be hard to say whether the 1G MAS has played a part in that or not, until I take it for a test drive & see how it performs under acceleration/boost. But as far as idling goes it's spot on.

 

Oil pressure levels have changed (decreased) ever so slightly as well according to the stock gauge, it did rise noticeably when the BSE was done but now it has dropped a touch, no doubt the new oil pressure sensor is playing a part there too. Just for reference, on a cold start it will sit between 1/2 & 3/4 & once warm it'll move down to 1/2. Not sure on the WOT level just yet. I will need to get myself a mechanical gauge one of these days to take note of the actual readings. I also changed the oil this time around from 20W-60 to the now semi-synthetic 15W-40.

 

And despite my suspicions of a blocked oil separator and/or oil pressure issue causing some oil seepage around the place, it appears neither are it, as the turbo drain hose is STILL leaking from the timing case end, it seems I can't make a good seal & I know it's not the fitting in the timing case either as you can see the oil leaking from the hose end.. And just to top it off the rear of the oil pan is STILL leaking as well! (notorious on the G54B) So my efforts have indeed been in vain yet again this time around. On a positive note though, the new oil cooler hoses don't appear to be leaking nor do the new oil pressure sensor or bypass valve, so I got something right!

 

So my next move I think will be to get my hands on another oil pan to modify for a turbo drain reroute & to make dead certain that the mating surface is 100% flat, even though I was confident that I got the last one more than acceptable, obviously not it seems.

 

I will be test driving it tomorrow, looking forward to getting behind the wheel again despite the headaches.

 

[VIN18M]

Love this thing, what a classic.

If you’re going to go to the effort with another sump, it’s probably worth having a fitting welded on and running a hose/hose clamp so you know it won’t leak.

[Miniman_alis]

So much effort to this mint car. Keep up the good work!

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

[GSRVR]

Love this thing, what a classic.

If you’re going to go to the effort with another sump, it’s probably worth having a fitting welded on and running a hose/hose clamp so you know it won’t leak.

 

Yep, that's the direction I'm going in - the way it should have been from factory. I've just bought a modified sump from the states which should be here soon.

 

So much effort to this mint car. Keep up the good work!

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

Much appreciated, thanks a lot.

[GSRVR]

Last efforts for 2017.

 

After my previous post, the 1G MAS has since been removed & set aside as it's first few test drives lacked any "get up & go", so the original MAS went back in & she was her old self again. So until I hook up an SAFC & a Wideband to see what's going on is when I'll re-test & make the necessary adjustments where needed. Some owners seem to have luck running them & others don't & need some "calibrating", no big deal anyway. This was also the first run with the open air filter as well; all I can say is that the BOV was reconnected again shortly after as the compressor surge was too hectic to handle! It was a good laugh while it lasted though.

 

Reverting back to the original MAS meant I had to reluctantly drill some new holes to the air filter lid for the connector plug & the differently spaced mounting holes between the 2 airflow sensors. The wires at the connector also had to be de-pinned again & swapped.

 

Wiring being removed from the 1G connector.

 

 

And transfered back to the original connector. At this point the filter lid had been modified, notice the nuts 'n bolts that had to be used to mount the MAS connector. I've since found a nice rubber cap to replace the ol screw in hose block-off also.

 

 

Next on the list was getting the new (old) TB top hat & injectors swapped over from this spare inlet manifold which I picked up recently. Which I'll eventually strip & clean up. As seen below, the injectors were a definite swap over straight up as mine were a little worse for wear. Not only that I had sprung a leak at the high pressure line on my originally modified top hat running AN fittings, so for peace of mind I have reverted back to the stock fittings, seen further below.

 

 

 

Injector comparison. The original secondary injector had seen better days, cracked & leaking on either side. 

 

 

Primary still in good shape, but just lacking that shine!

 

 

Seeing they were in great shape from the outside & in good known working condition I also had them flow tested & ultrasonically cleaned for continued trouble-free use as I don't intend to remove the fuel rail again anytime soon.

 

 

As I was changing back to an unmodified top hat as mentioned, I ordered another meters worth of Gates 8 mm fuel hose, OTK crimp clamps for the high pressure hose & had the banjo fitting made up at Enzed (not pretty but does the job) to get it all up & going.

 

 

Just for reference, here is the new OEM banjo bolt for the filter, also seen above with new OEM washers (part # MF660064).

 

 

And the top hat all back together cleaned & quickly polished with new zinc socket cap screws, washers & nuts for ease of removal/installation. I also managed to find a 1/4" BSPT to 1/8 NPT adapter fitting for the fuel pressure sensor, meaning I didn't have to have the thread tapped. Also worth a mention that the OEM blanking plug which is fitted there from factory came out without much of a fight & wasn't seized in as most are, making this a walk in the park swap over. It's not as visually pleasing as the braided hoses & black AN fittings that once were, but can't have this leaking!

 

 

 

While I was at it I removed the EGR & secondary air solenoids as well (not sure why I hadn't sooner) deleting the last of the vacuum hoses from around the inlet manifold. Of course now with the BOV reconnected (done after these photos) I have one more hose going into the area, but nonetheless the birds nest is no longer. 

 

On a related note, the 2 vacuum lines that usually connect between both solenoids & back to the charcoal canister have been kept connected to it & the hoses fed through the lower opening under the rad support to vent any fumes which are now no longer being fed back into the system. So far I haven't noticed any increase in fuel smell.

 

Before & after:

 

 

 

Engine aside, I stepped back into the interior for a bit to sort out a home for the fuel pressure gauge (the other 2 gauges came later) & thought I'd finally test fit the custom radio panel seen below. I've never been keen on adding a gauge pillar or dash mounted gauges etc. & wanted something that appeared relatively stock & cleanly placed so this was my best option. I'll be having it powder coated satin black to hopefully match the rest of the console panels shortly. I have a 4th gauge coming in this week also (Wideband AFR, of the same brand) which will be going into the dash cluster, to yet again avoid having to mount it anywhere unsightly. 

 

 

Seeing I have deviated from stock, I've also now hidden the boost controller away (peaking through in this pic) from the modified ashtray & replaced with another smokers tray to keep things looking uniform.

 

 

And a random shot of my last order from Japan for 2017, which consisted of a bunch of OEM bolts, screws, nuts etc.

 

 

More to follow.

[GSRVR]

Small update to start off 2018.

 

Last week I received the new exhaust manifold, these are custom made by a member on the SQC forums. Made from low carbon 316L stainless & with a plasma slotted manifold flange to allow for some flex & stress relief on the studs. This is the stock style replacement, which will no doubt outperform & outlive the factory manifold. I also opted to have the 3 studs added so that I can retain the stock heat shield. All in all, a very nice piece of craftsmanship.

 

To get the ball rolling, I set off last week for a 2 hour road trip to Warragul, 104 km ESE of Melbourne, to have it dropped off to be ceramic coated at a reputable workshop (only 3 in Vic that I know of, this one was the pick) as well as the custom radio fascia which will be getting powder coated. I'll be making the trek back up this week to pick them up.

 

 

While I stepped away from the engine bay briefly I set out to repair some gutter rash from the rear wheels that had been annoying me since I got the car. As usual, one job led to another & while they were removed I also got around to fitting the new GC sleeve-over setup:

 

 

 

This is how it sat when they went in after a random adjustment pre-installation. I think a few mm lower & I'll be happy. I'm planning on a slightly lower than stock height all around.

 

 

Another delivery which rocked up recently was a new set of wheel nuts. The stock nuts have seen better days & were letting the wheels down in the looks department so I opted for these Muteki SR35's, which I've been using on my STi and have been content with. Plenty of good reviews regarding the durable finish & build quality, so there was no hesitation for a 2nd set. Yet again, I'm deviating from stock, however I'm planning to restore the original wheel nuts in the future.

 

 

 

That's about all for now until later in the week. In the meantime I've just purchased another oil pan from the states, which I'm waiting on to come in. This one has been modified with an AN fitting welded in for the turbo oil drain, which will rectify the oil leak from the stock location & also without having to touch the original pan which will become a spare.

[GSRVR]

I was holding out for a major update but it's been a slow weekend, so here is a mini one instead.

 

A couple of weeks back I went & picked up the new manifold & radio panel from RaceCoatings, here is how they turned out:

 

 

 

 

 

Very happy with the results, nice & even coatings on both (powder coat on the panel, ceramic on the manifold) 

 

All I'm waiting on now are some new OEM self locking nuts to mount the manifold (none in stock in AU) so will have to import them. However I did manage to pick up the OEM washers that were still available & a pack of aftermarket M10 self locking nuts for the dump pipe.

 

 

I also picked up a blanking plug for the timing cover turbo oil drain hose nipple for the reroute to the oil pan mod. For reference, it's 1/2" NPT, which threads right in.

 

 

 

And also an adapter fitting for the oil pressure gauge which is 1/8" NPT to 1/8" BSPT, to be fitted in the side of the block where the capped port for pressure testing once resided, as seen on the right. Wasn't seized in thankfully.

 

 

 

Some more deliveries included this pair of blanking plugs which I had to order stateside, one is for the thermostat housing in place of the old sensor for the A/C, 1/8" BSPT in size, & the larger 3/8" BSPT plug is to replace the thermovalve just below it.

 

 

 

Another from the same side of the world, are these custom alloy stock replacement center caps from a short run on the SQC forums. I missed out on the plain versions without the logo which I'd of preferred, however after seeing these in person they look great & should come up nicely with a polish. Yet to be fitted!

 

 

While I wait for the new mounting hardware & turbo (Kinugawa 16G) to arrive, the old turbo & manifold have since been removed & oil also drained. Just a quick 'during' pic before the old not-to-be-reused manifold came off. While I have the access, I'm also highly considering removing the steering box & sending it out for a rebuild, I know I'll regret it if I don't, just means I will likely miss the Hanging Rock car show again this year.

 

 

Keeping myself busy during the waiting game, another job that was screaming out to be done was removing the last of the A/C electrical components & rid of the relay tree, here is how it turned out before & after:

 

 

 

The ignitor box is still bolted down at the bottom however seeing as the top tab has no where to bolt to now I simply folded it over nice & tight & placed a foam strip between the box & panel to stop any movement. As for the relay wiring, I've taped it up & fed it through the opening to the inner guard. I'm now somewhat content with this area of the bay, it always bugged me how messy it was, just have to get the ignitor cover powder coated now & get my hands on a new OEM coil to keep with the theme.

 

Next job will be to get the radio panel reinstalled & run the wiring for the oil pressure gauge. More to come next week.

[GSRVR]

Fresh off holidays & it's straight back into attempting to get this in one piece again. Not long after the last update I installed the new manifold, all was good until one of the self locking nuts decided to pull an exhaust stud out. Far out do they have some bite when new! So a new batch of studs were ordered as well as a Helicoil kit. I didn't want to run the risk of pulling any more studs, so I opted to use Nord-Lock washers with titanium nuts instead this time around. All went well & everything is looking nice & fresh, the real test will be to see if the washers live up to their name & keep the nuts properly torqued in the time to come, this being the first time I've used them.

 

On with pics -

 

New OEM manifold gasket, dump pipe mounting hardware & the now unused manifold hardware.

 

 

Nord-Lock washers & titanium nuts for the manifold, sourced from GTpumps.

 

 

New manifold mounted & fitting nicely.

 

 

The new 16G Kinugawa turbo. The braided line was later removed due to clearance issues with the oil filter.

 

 

 

And fitted. To my surprise I was able to retain the factory oil feed line as well, with no clearance issues to the turbo or manifold. However one of the coolant lines was now too short due to the size of the BOV blanking port, easy fix regardless with a new correct length hose waiting to go on. 

 

 

The revised drain pipe. Kinugawa braided line removed, while still retaining their flange fitting with an AN10 barbed adapter attached. The rubber line bypasses the oil filter (while still staying vertical with minimal angle) & can just be moved aside when replacing it (the filter).

 

 

And an overall look at both the new components, taking the chance while they still look new!

 

 

During that time I also had a new dump pipe made up. I opted to go through a member from SQC that makes these to do it as they could test fit to their own car to confirm proper fitment etc. which then saves the local workshop having to mess around in my engine bay. While it's not the most visually pleasing weld-wise, it is a hell of a lot nicer than what was on there & stainless. The flex pipe brings some debate among the starquest community, though if it can help relieve some stress from the new manifold / studs from the movement & vibration known to the 2.6 then I'll be kept happy. V band also for easy removal.

 

The bends in this one will allow me to retain the lower firewall/wheel well exhaust shield as well now & eliminate some heat from that area, more specifically, my feet! (old dump pipe was hard up against the firewall, made obviously for performance in mind).

 

 

Not long ago I also imported the factory under-car exhaust heat shields which were missing from mine. The set I picked up were in the typical 30 year old heat-battered condition, but nonetheless they are very straight & original (forgot to take pics of their 'before' state). Earlier on in the week I finally got around to dropping them off to be powder coated along with some other parts, here is how they turned out. 

 

 

 

I've also decided not to use the spare modified oil pan which I mentioned previously that I imported (not up to par upon closer inspection)  & will be using my original now-to-be modified pan to have the bung welded to it for the turbo oil drain. So now I'm looking for recommendations for a reputable welder / fabricator in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne to do the job, proving difficult as every workshop seems to be in the east!