Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

+1 3-4 days to change the water pump on mine all because it's a stupid fickin' Jap import with Air conditioning and it has absolutely NO space under the bonnet, even with the bonnet and grill off it's a bitch to get in anywhere, add to that seized sleeves on radiator bolts and a lack of suitable tools and you have a lot of mangled fingers by the end of it... still not working properly either, think my alternator's fucked now...

Was driving home last night and it just cut out at the lights... restarted it and it was labouring like fuck and crawling along sounding unhealthy, if I let it idle it cut out... had to keep it over 3,000rpm all the way home with the lights turned off and use the handbrake to slow down to keep it running... :(

Any suggestions on possible fault? It's a 1997 Spi Works Cooper S...

Doesn't sound like your alternator - a knackered alternator shouldn't give those symptoms.....at night you say. We're you're lights on and if so does it only cut out with the lights on? I know fuck all about injector systems, always stayed away from them cos carbs make much more sense to me but it sounds more like fuelling or ignition timing than electrical. Do those MPi's have an electric fuel pump?

As for vtec/bike engine, yeah they are great. I love those VTEC engines, real good fun, had one a few years back for a summer as a company car......bike engine though I think is just too awkward and impractical for the street...both a loada work and expensive. Don't bother putting one in your car - get a unfinished project from someone who is giving up on it...