Not only have I thrown non-OEM parts on the car now… they aren’t even Japanese.
My stamped steel OEM cam plate has been a real PITA to seal, often acting just fine every day on the street, but dripping constantly when flogged at the track. There is a good variety of aftermarket plates available, but I went with a Nameless plate because of their reputation for quality fitment and their involvement in grassroots motorsports. They also regularly purchase engines from my favourite local importer, Shoaib at JDM Source.
With lots of practice taking my OEM piece on and off again to re-seal it, installation of the new cover took me only about 5 min, and I was relieved not to have to deal with RTV gasket material. The Nameless plate uses an O-ring and a shaped plate instead.
Colorful, bling parts aren’t my thing, so I chose black of course. I regret that it wasn’t available in a natural finish that would blend with the aluminum cylinder head it bolts to.
And now that I’ve done this, and the car isn’t technically CS legal anymore, what is going to stop me from doing more??? Especially when I sold my favourite set of 17×7’s…
Proper fun tweaking coming?
Section 13.1
All repairs must comply with factory-authorized methods and procedures, or industry standard methods, as follows: If the OEM does not provide an appropriate method of repair, industry standard methods and procedures may be used. Such repairs may not result in a part or combination of parts that provides a competitive advantage (e.g., significant change to weight, suspension control, power, etc.) as compared to the standard part(s). Competitors are strongly cautioned to use this allowance to make common-sense repairs only.
comment. This plate is actually garbage, which makes me happy that I only spent $100 to learn about Nameless, instead of spending $1200 on a header. So much for all the nice hopeful things I had to say about them.
I switched back to the stock plate temporarily to at least slow the pain down, and ordered myself an aesthetically unappealing RaceEng plate, that hopefully will actually seal properly.
This was actually very very poor inspiration for making more modifications. And while trying to figure out why I still have leaks… google reveals that lots of people with the nameless plate still have issues. Piss off Nameless.
Fourth try at sealing it up with the stock plate and it’s finally holding strong.