deezums

iTrader: (3)

Top is done, now if I could only close the stupid bastard.

Thought I was pretty slick with these plastic split washers, just cut some soft plastic into squares, slit it down the middle, and drilled it till it just barely broke thru. Used a deep socket to punch them over the studs, grip on the threads. No rivets, the rain rail I bought had no holes for it.









$150 top and $50 rain rail, not too shabby. Still needs more hardtop.

deezums

iTrader: (3)

It closes!





I'm super pleased, it stretched out nice. The pockets for the B pillar lower binding clips weren't sewn or piloted right, but it wasn't the end of the world. I can see out the back again, strange feeling!

Bring it on, rain!

deezums

iTrader: (3)

Torsen!



Stickers!



Today was a good day

deezums

iTrader: (3)

Drivers side axle nut is stuck, twisted one 1/2" "great neck" bar up, sheared a 3/4" to 1/2" adapter clean off, and exhausted all avenues of a 3/4" drive socket late on a Friday...

So I went out to tune boost control and finally smoked my clutch, whooo!

I think harbor freight has 3/4" socket sets, so I guess I'm going to try that tomorrow.

It still seems to hold fine if I keep my foot under control, assuming I slipped it in 4th a few (2-3) times it should still be good to drive to harbor freight, right?

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

I've had luck in the past breaking bolts loose using an impact vs a breaker bar. I think the constant hits/shocks seem to help stuck fasteners start moving. If you got a good impact maybe give it a shot? I use a 110V Impact, it's a good brand though I don't remember, it's red... Milwaukee I think. Also obvious but spray it with penetrating oil. I've had good luck with brake fluid as a penetrating oil too.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

And yeah drive like normal and clutch should be ok to drive. It's probably glazed over right now so has less torque capacity, but it still has some. If you feel it slipping just upshift and you'll be sending less torque through it.

deezums

iTrader: (3)

I took the opportunity to disconnect my wastegate do some off-boost tuning on the way to get a set of 3/4 drive impact sockets, going to give it a go with the breaker bar one more time. I don't have an impact gun or a compressor and those brand name electric ones are pricey!

Edit: 3/4 drive sockets made quick work of it once I found a way to keep traction on my slippery garage floor. Neither of my cv shafts are stuck in the hub, score!

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

3/4 ftw. I used a 10ft pipe and 3/4 drive socket.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

I need one of these.....

But glad you got it apart! BTW the impact I bought was I think 150 bucks. I going to buy a cheaper one at Norther tool but they were sold out, so ended up paying more for this one and it was rated basically the same as the cheaper one. Either way it's surprisingly powerful, it's stronger than me with a 1/2" ratchet and 4' lever arm.

deezums

iTrader: (3)

I'm pretty fond of my garage, it's raining like crazy here all weekend apparently. I also really like northern tool, I got my dewalt drill and impact combo set there for $100 and a $10 harbor freight screwgun. It's a little 1/4 drive one, but it manages 80ftlbs or so, enough to wreck small stuff. I don't know if they run those trade in specials often, but they saved me $90.

Car is exploded, many pieces. VLSD is still in pretty good shape, still does LSD things, although I kinda already expected that.



Flywheel exploded, I don't know what this means and I don't really care at this point lol





Clutch does not appear to be anything fancy.

My rear main seal seems to be OK, but I've discovered my CAS has developed a leak. I'm going to have to fix that ASAP because it's certainly dripping down.

Lots and lots of cleaning to do now, so much cleaning.

Also, am I dumb for wanting to fill the trans and diff on the floor? Is that going to cause problems?

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

Trans will empty itself out the driveshaft output. Diff is fine.

curly

iTrader: (25)

Not if you've got a cut up 1.6 drive shaft to act as a plug

deezums

iTrader: (3)

I'd cut up my driveshaft but I actually found someone who wants all my 1.6 running gear, he says he goes through them like crazy endurance racing. Makes the price of the torsen hurt a lot less, heh

I managed to get everything back together, finally! As is tradition I managed to jack something up on the home stretch by busting one of my v-bands, so I removed the diff-back setup and drove around most disease style.

One thing I figured out, the clutch fork dust boot changed from 93+. The older one is $26 something on ros, but the 94+ dust boot is like $8. I can't tell the difference, it fit fine. I managed to put the output seal on upside down, but luckily it's easy enough to remove and rotate.

Need to adjust the master pushrod, the engagement is quick, stiff, and right off the floor. Seems to still shift alright and is rather nice, but I'd rather not risk partial engagement slippage.

I have a set of swivel extensions that made getting the trans out a breeze, they don't give quite as much offset rage as the universal swivels, but on the bright side they don't give as much range as the universal swivels. It's just enough, I didn't really even need to tilt the engine much.

deezums

iTrader: (3)

I found a partially broken 1.8 from a 94, I really want that block because oil lines. Only problem is it came from an autotragic, and it was pulled because of crank pulley wobble, still ran apparently.

I don't think I care so much if it has lower CR, if it even does, but what other than a botched timing job causes crank wobble? Could I possibly go in all sneaky and just replace the rubber filled damper? Bug Lars to make me a mani, maybe new rods...
Would be sweeet!


I am seriously in love with the torsen too, I knew my VLSD still worked a little bit, but it was a seriously little bit. I've been pinning it at the steering locks all over town, too much fun, best mod ever!

deezums

iTrader: (3)

So everything has been working great lately...

Thew new injectors are working great, I tune it a little better every day. I'm amazed how much flatter my fuel map got after swapping. I ran around with fuel cut off for a while, I actually forgot about it, and I think I gunked up my wideband or something. I had a problem where it would stick in the "htr" mode, but that seems to be gone now.

I guess my fuel map might be off, must be dumping so much fuel in low vacuum overrun that the sensor reads full lean?

I've about worked out my idle dips and the strange ~200 rpm or so hunting I get only at night. I've been adding PW with the voltage compensation table, I don't know if that's normal or if my alternator is going out or something, I really need to measure because it looks like I might be low on voltage in logs.

My exhaust is beating the crap out of my rear brace thing, so I need to do something about that, or at least I should. I guess I didn't get it positioned exactly after I swapped the diff or something, maybe my mounts are getting worn?

Oh, does anyone know if I need a catch can to run solo SSM class? I've just got a breather on the exhaust side, and that seems like vented to the atmosphere which seems to be forbidden in the rules. I ask because I need to get something figured out by next weekend otherwise.

deezums

iTrader: (3)

Everything was great, now it sucks.

I've got a bad headgasket, at least I'm nearly certain. My downpipe reeks of coolant, probably explains why my MTX-L's been a ---- lately, and I'm using a overflow bottle full of coolant over a ~100 mile spirited drive in 90+ weather.

No sign of coolant in the oil, I think I'm burning it all. I'm gonna try and score a cheap 1.6 head to clean up while I wire the wastegate open in the meantime. I think the guy I sold my VLSD to might have one, hopefully...

I should just swap a 1.8 but I'd rather be driving right now. Can't say I'm too mad, if this is the biggest issue from my cheap junk yet.

I've got a lot of reading to do still for the best and cheapest way to get this over with, open to all tips!

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

If it's a HG, the cylinder(s) that are getting coolant, the plugs will show it.

Also a bad radiator cap can cause coolant to pile up in the overflow.

There are cheap tester kits that allow you to test for combustion gasses in the coolant. Worth doing before pulling the head if you're not sure.

deezums

iTrader: (3)

I wish I had coolant building in the overflow, I just seem to suck it dry if I try and drive hard.

I really need to do a compression test again, plus look at the plugs like you said. I'm not seeing how it could not be headgasket though, after smelling inside the downpipe.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

When I blew a HG on my stock 99 motor with nitrous, I lost 20 PSI between 2 cylinders, white smoke/sweet exhaust smell. Ran/drove just fine. Actually made 1 more pass at the dragstrip before driving it home and fixing it.

deezums

iTrader: (3)

So I did some measuring this afternoon, I seem to have really good and even compression, 190-180-180-190 hot, but my gauge really sucks and they all seem to bleed at the same rate. I about got half the compression gauge stuck in the head, the check valve actually just threads onto the goddamn hose, so the check valve and all it's guts stay in the head and the hose comes out, great! Harbor freight compression tester fail, need to get a better one that doesn't suck so much.

I kinda expected that though, because I don't really use coolant unless I drive hard and it seems to run great unless I get it hothot in stop and go traffic, midwest summer heat and all...

Logs show my temp chilling just south of 200, then it will spike to 210 or more before returning to 198-200 or so. I use the highest amount of smoothing on the CLT sensor, so it must jump hard to spike like that.

Here's the plugs, 1234 left to right



Very very fine white almost sugar sand like crud on all of them, odd?



My coolant is still pretty clean, radiator doesn't look contaminated with blowby or anything, at least by eye.



Oil doesn't look dirty, might drain a quart this weekend. Any water should hang to the bottom of the oil pan right?