Viterbo

Yes, similar (or the same) as a bluetop 4AGE

So it seems disconnecting the vacuum advance helped a lot. Today I went to the gas station I mentioned and the car started with no issues there. Didn't notice any loss in performance by running it with no vac advance. I also charged the battery for about 4h before going which might have helped

Altezza it's not 25deg total advance, it's 25deg at idle with vacuum connected. I don't know what total advance is because my timing light is very simple and I can't read timing after it passes the scale on the timing cover

Exactly, one of the runners has a port so I can run vacuum advance from there, which puts total advance at idle around 25º. I already thought of it... never tried to unplug it tho

100% stock ignition setup, running 12º of static timing at idle

I didn't have the chance to monitorize the mixture, I'm relying on behaviour and plug color 😄 I plan to dyno it and check everything but it runs really sweet! The only related issue I have on cold is the battery drains quickly but that must be battery related (5 year old battery, 40Ah/300A or 45Ah/300). I'm gonna sort some kind of heat shield and see how it goes. I might also plug a new strong ground wire... The signal I think goes directly from the key. The cranking is like a really advanced ignition that brakes the engine rotation

I don't think the extractors glow, and even if they do that's not the issue here. I have a gas station like 2kms from home with no possibility to drive hard on the way there and I had that issue going there more than one time. On the last time I had to push the car and start it in 2nd gear. As for the extractors, the bends they have were made to ensure equal length on the tight space on the engine bay (left hand drive, issues with steering column and all that). And yes, it's running on bike carbs! @Banjo check your PM's because you have something there since January or so 😅

I also thought of that as I'm running these extractors with no protection: I might try some sort of heat shield 🤔

I've been having a problem with my starter for too long and have no idea of what can be the issue. A lot of times it's impossible to start the car when hot. For example, if I go to a gas station I turn off the car, after refueling and paying I try to start it and a lot of times it just cranks reaaaaaally slowly or doesn't crank at all. If I let it rest for 10/15 minutes it cranks and starts like everything is fine. Cleaned all the terminals on the earth wires to the engine block (there's 2 or 3 of them), the starter was recently disassembled, cleaned on the inside and brushes were replaced. Can it be battery related? I've got no space to place a bigger one to test it...

Unplug the spark plug cables and crank the engine. If it cranks easily your timing is way out and it's stopping the engine. At least that's how mine behaves...

It's the original engine of my GTi AE92 that shows around 180k kms on the cluster. That's what I'm suspecting, valve clearances are out which indicates shims or cam wear

The noise has been increasing slowly on the last few months but this engine has not been touched for the last 3 or 4 years and I'm not sure that the cams were taken out.

My 4AGE makes a noise that I think it's valvetrain related but I'm not sure. I recorded a video of it, after I give a little throttle, we can hear a "rrrrrrrrrrrrrr" sound. What do you think?

So I was only able to test the new cap yesterday, it was raining and I went for a slidding run, so I pushed the car a bit. So far so good, the stock expansion bottle didn't fill as it was doing before. Seems the issue really was a faulty cap.

Yep, block skimmed, head skimmed, good gasket, bolts ok. It does this since day 1 after the rebuild that was also the start of this radiator use. I hardly believe it's engine related. I'm still yet to test the new cap.

Checked the measurements and both diameter of the top and depth are the same, same cap is used on both radiators. Bled the system once again with my bleeding funnel, after the thermostat opens a couple of times just really small bubbles every now and then appear. Oil is perfectly fine, no milky substance in the oil cap, nothing. Since they're the same, after I bled the system I installed the new "TRD" radiator cap I had laying around. Need to go for a run to see any improvements.

Just checked and the caps are the same. Same sizes, same pressure. I remembered I had something around that I could try. Not a genuine one but it's new and must work properly. Only difference is it opens at 1.3bar and not 0.9bar.

I bet they're the same, but just to be sure I ordered one for the Primera

It's the K radiator cap that I'm using. Now that you mention that maybe be the issue because I don't have trouble removing the cap even when fully heated. I really need to test with a new cap.

I can't explain it neither... That's just what I found through the part numbers. After replacing my cap, if it doesn't solve the issue I might try reinstalling the standard radiator just to see the behaviour. I really don't believe in headgasket issue because it did this since first start after rebuild (and the radiator was used since the first start). He keeps overflowing until he's "happy" with the amount of coolant it has and then works fine. But that means the radiator is not full (although it never overheats)...

My thermostat is brand new and (judging by the cluster) it's working as it should. My car already has a thermo-fan from factory and I'm using it. Only comes on when the car is stopped. Just went to check the part numbers for the standard Primera expansion tank and apparently the tank has a cap that opens at 1.4bar (besides being a lot bigger than mine). So the radiator uses a 0.9bar cap and the expansion tank uses a 1.4bar cap. My expansion tank has no pressure cap, just a normal closing cap. Hmmm.....

Didn't measure temps, I'm just guiding myself with the cluster temp gauge and the behaviour is exactly the same as before. The headgasket I'm using is the same I was using before (well, not the same same...), everything lines up perfectly although some holes are blocked. Got to know a few weeks ago these holes are blocked to force the water to the back of the block? It's not boiling water but it's very hot yes, once again, same as it always was. Nope, haven't tried a bigger bottle yet. My first attempt is to install a new radiator cap as this one has a few years and has seen some not so clean coolants...

Everything is fine, I bought this tool to help me bleed the system and after a few big bubbles came up (after the thermostat open) it stabilized and no more bubbles appeared

I rebuilt and upgraded my 5K on the last months and to ensure proper cooling I upgraded my radiator. I chose a Nissan Primera GT (SR20DE) radiator because the inlet and outlet are on the same sides as my standard radiator but the Nissan one is huge! Made my way with the mounts and pipes but I'm having an issue while the engine is running. I'm still using the stock expansion bottle and when I push the engine hard the bottle overfills and spills the exceeding amount. I have 3 possible causes: 1 - Since the radiator is far bigger and takes a bigger volume of coolant, can it be expanding properly and the stock bottle is just too small? 2 - Maybe my radiator cap is faulty? 3 - Blown headgasket (unlikely since it only has 1000kms and no other headgasket related issues are present. No oil/water mixing, no overheating, nothing) As said above the engine is not overheating in any circumstance, it just expands too much coolant. Here's some pics:

I was wrong about the 15 degrees, I was cheated by the new cam profile. The TDC is accurate on the 0 mark. After some time messing with the timing I think the problem is the carb is too small and can't delivery enough AIR to the system. On low rpms (below 1600rpms) it tries to suck but gas comes out of the jet in bubbles and I think it floods due to insufficient air.