It's ALIVE!

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone here. I've been doing a major service on my GT4 and there's no way I would have done it without all of the F Chat help. I took the first belt cover off just before Christmas and took it for its first real drive yesterday. Along the way I replaced timing belts and tensioners, cam seals, water pump bearings and seal, water pump nipples, alternator, fuel accumulator, fuel and oil filters, oil pressure sender, coolant hoses and fuel lines, fuel lines, light bulbs, spark plugs, gaskets, gaskets, adjusted cam timing, one coil, swapped points for Pertonix electronic pickups, cleaned, painted or polished everything I touched, and replaced a whole bunch of rusty hardware with stainless nuts, bolts, washers and hose clamps.
The drive was great. The engine pulls OK until 4k, then it just sings from 4k to 7k, and will go to redline easily. I went up into hills (Hwy 9 in Saratoga for the locals) and drove it harder than I ever did before the service. Windows down, twilight (deer time), headlights on (alternator works now!) I never pushed it hard enough to get tires to squeal, but I could hear the tires bite through curves. The car is very predictable, always doing what I wanted, always communicating how things are going. Add throttle in a turn and you'd better be turning the wheel a little more, because it is going to push, let off in a turn and you'd better be giving it a bit of uwind, because that push goes away quick. But always the same, always predictable. I didn't want to find any strange mid-engine handling surprises (yet), like the MR2 that is famous for swapping ends before you can say " What the #%**&%?!??" Just keeping a rhythm up the hill, enjoying the music.
About seven miles to the top, pulled into the overlook. Oil that I got on the headers is burning off, little plume of smoke rising from the engine bay. I don't have the engine cover on yet - not that optomistic yet -and gave everything a check over. Still one oil leak, rear distributor base gasket or cam end seal or distributor o-ring, or something like that over there. The rear header is glowing a little in the dark, I can just see it through a hole in the shielding. I can't tell if the front header is the same. Is this an issue or just a result of hard running and good insulation? I need to recheck timing, etc, just to be sure, and since the distributor is coming off for the oil leak I'll be doing that anyway.
I actually coasted back down the hill, pushing harder and harder braking later, carrying more speed through the turns, stock sized tires never squealed. I'm sure that very mildly sporting sedan sold today will both out-accelerate and out manuever the GT4, but the car just sounds and feels so right, everything just filled with sweet goodness.
I took the freeway home, pulled hard on the uphill on ramp, cruised for minute to check conditions, down shifted and pulled hard through third and fourth and it goes just fine. The speedo doesn't work (always something!) but I pulled to 7k in fourth before letting off, I'm sure in "go to jail" speed territory. Sweet the whole way.
Still a whole lotta work to do on the car, but it should be a rolling project for now. Speedo, brakes, suspension bushings, etc., etc. So I'll still be around for more questions, but so far, it is good.

(I'll include three pics. First pic is the engine, second is the pile of stuff I replaced, third pic is a so-so pic of the engine when I got the car)
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Came with the car when I got it. I don't know what I got from a donor car, but I have few things that don't belong like later intake cams and steel cam belt pulleys in addition to the CIS.

 

First of all, no you don't. It is too small, I'm sure that it doesn't flow enough and I bet the car would pull better up high with out it or with a better design. Maybe I'll try it once and see what it is like. If/when I dyno the car I'll definately do a run with out it and see what ti is costing me in hp.

But it is a custom piece made from a Mondial 8 air cleaner housing. Just chop yours up and weld it back together smaller. I have the middle part they chopped out with the Ferrari silkscreening and part number. I used it as a pointer for degreeing the cams.
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