So I've finally put the Skyline back together. And holy shit, it's a monstrosity.

Never really one to do things the easy way, I decided to not buy an off the shelf intercooler with piping kit as most of them are heaps of shit and involve cutting a hole underneath the battery tray. The original intercooler, was shagged, it still held air, but hardly any of the fins were straight (and those that were had gravel embedded in them). That isn't all that surprising given how hard it punched the gravel. The pipe work was kinda ruined, mostly because the intercooler crushed it.

So I decided I'd ghetto up something with a new slightly larger intercooler, reuse as much of the original pipework (that wasn't busted), and make it so it fit behind the front bar, rather than requiring a whole lot of hacking from it.

The original setup had the return loop behind the intercooler, and that was what went straight through the original radiator. It also had to sit that far forward because of the vertical support for the bonnet latch. When the intercooler got punched through the radiator it crushed that vertical support with it and broke the spot welds holding it to the latch. Kinda a pain in the arse as I don't have a welder, but it meant I could fit the intercooler flush up against the radiator cross-member which made the whole thing neater and easier.

So with a plan formed (which went something like this), I went and bought a Chinese� intercooler from the internet and a front bar also from the internet. I chose the least obnoxious one I could, which happened to be the exact same one I had before. Only this one was whole. And for some reason, matte black, rather that the expected gel coat stuff. I guess it was cheap though, and it gives me an excuse to not respray it in any hurry.

After a bit of a test fit (which against all odds worked), I hacked up a few bits of pipe that weren't crumpled, bought a few off the shelf IC pieces and put all the bends in the right places like it was a shitty Popcap game. It didn't quite work right, so one or two joins are under a bit of tension, but it all connected the way it should. Unfortunately, it required a shit load of 80mm hose clamps, and so in the process I emptied the inventories of the two nearest Supercheap stores, along with a Repco and an Autobarn.

I wired up a relay and a toggle switch on the dash for the thermo fan. I'd forgotten how loud those things are. Once that was sorted and the pipework was all back together I fired it up (and I was surprised to find the battery wasn't flat) and it idled fine, and a quick couple of blasts of the throttle and nothing exploded, always a good sign.

I hadn't put headlights or indicators back in, or fitted number plates, and knowing my luck a blocky would have ended badly, so I didn't take it for a spin.

I also had to work out some issues on the Disco. I'm getting some annoying clutch drag, which I'm presuming is because the clutch is out of alignment or one of the cylinders is dying. It's kind of embarrassing to grind while selecting reverse in a busy car park. It sounds horrific. Second does it a bit as well, although that might be synchros as well. I've heard gearboxes in these early Discos are weak as shit, but I think that refers mostly to the autos, and at this stage there's no noise at all when its in gear, so it doesn't exactly worry me at this stage.

Speaking of terrible noises, I finally caught up with Transformers 2 the other day. It was like 90 minutes of explosions punctuated with some typically cringe-worthy love story between that tool and Megan Fox. And maybe I was a bit drunk, but I was having some difficulty telling the robots apart when there was shit flying everywhere. Or, I don't know, maybe they all look the same. I didn't really care for it though.

And, I don't know about anyone else, but whats the story with Megan Fox. I mean shes hot as hell, but something about that shit just isn't right. I mean sure she runs in slow motion with the best of them, but there's just some odd vibe from her. It could be the permanent hooker make-up, I don't know. But I get the feeling if you fucked her you wouldn't be able to brag to your mates, because there's a good chance if one your mates was at the same party she would have gone there too. And if you did mention it, you'd have some terribly awkward moments while you worked out who was there first and if that's kinda gay or not. And it kinda would be.

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