All done now! Turns out my car DID have symptoms that I simply just got used to.
I found the car a bit sluggish before under 3k rpm but now, it's completely changed. Pulls strong from 2k onwards. I've also noticed that on start-up, I don't have the random shaky idle which I got used to resolving by putting enough gas to keep it at around 1.2k for a second or 2. Sometimes as well around the 3k mark I would have snappy on/off pull which I had always thought was just the way the engine ran. Totally not true. Smooth delivery now
Soooo glad you guys in this thread told me about the upgrade
Super gunky. Looks like (from my quick googling) that the crankshaft ventilation system needs a look at.
Anyone know if this is a critical/urgent issue?
Comparing the old bits and the new. Good thing about the upgrade is even at it's worse case scenario (the aluminium rod loosens), nothing should fall into the motor - the valve just probably won't run smoothly which definitely soothes my paranoia. *Note the rod goes in from the other side - I just put it like this in the pic for comparisons sake.
If anyone is doing this upgrade, I would say that make sure you put enough grease on the parts and don't over tighten the rod. I went a bit ham and it actually hindered the flap's movement a little. It doensn't need a lot of force - especially if you're using loctite.
