Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Pat, but I got it all working. I'm just waiting on shims from mazda before I put the motor back together. I can conclusively say that the zetec lifters need to be designed around when building the head if you want to use them, all of my lifters ended up needing to be shorter than the shortest sized zetec lifter, which made me sad since it was going to cost about $240 to drop 3/4lb out of the valvetrain.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

Cool no problem.

I have a home made valve grinding machine that can shorten valves stems. Would having this capability enable me to use the zetec lifters, just shorten valves enough to run them?

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

I believe so. My lifters are all in the .668-.673 range and the zetec lifters start at .675 in total height but it looks like there's easily .0625 that could come off the top of my valve stems (they all look like they were already filed shorter). All my shims are towards the longer end of the mazda ones, which is the only concern if there ever was a concern. If my valves tighten up again during the season and I have to refresh the head I'll probably go this way. I finally found a local machine shop that doesnt want absurd amounts of money. Its so hard to pass up the weight savings to cost ratio of these lifters.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Well that was a shitty weekend I didnt get much done football was too distracting. I froze my *** off pulling the wrong alternator out of the junk yard, then found the right one and pulled that. I got the 90-98 geo tracker alternator in, fits perfect. Didnt wire it up just quite yet. I went to do the valve springs now that the correct lisle tool came and I'm not fat enough to get the keepers back in so I ordered the nieko tool. Oh well. And today I registered for NJ, Toledo, and the 2nd Wilmington ProSolos, of course my co-driver missed the land rush and is currently out in the cold, hope he makes it. And I'm updating my list of **** to do again.

Plans for the winter are more limited this year.
Install valve springs and check lash
Make carbon/kevlar front fenders and rear flares
Make carbon endplates for the wing
Install Singular Motorsports hood vents in new hood
Add a capacitor to the ignition harness
Add some coolant to the water so the block doesnt freeze
Check lube sliders
Make sure stuff hasnt loosend up
Rust repair
Make turbo fluid lines perfect

Mid Season
New springs
New splitter, now that I understand the rules better I can still go bigger
New control arms

Optional
Duct the rad mouth
New drivers seat, put current driver seat on floor of pass side
New canards
Delrin diff mounts
Make the high beams work
Paint hood, wing, and hard top

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Well it sure looks like I got a shitload done this weekend. I got the valve spring in. Which was a huge pita, I was having trouble getting the string to fill the cylinders, they felt like bottomless pits sometimes, other times the string would be clumped up and not let me get to tdc with the piston. I tried the air compressor and there just wasnt enough force to hold the valves up. I got it all shimmed in perfect too. Car's all buttoned up mechanically besides lubing the brake slider, wiring the alternator, and putting the downpipe back in. The new hood is gutted, and cut for the aerocatches, its also rough cut for the vents. I finally broke down and bought a dremel so once that comes I can finish cleaning up the holes. Then the washer nozzle holes need to get plugged and the hood will be ready for paint. The trunk is off and the little bit of rust and dents are being fixed on that before I gut it. And I installed the sphericals in the upper hole in the knuckle. So next weekend I'll lube the brake sliders, and the rest of the poly bushings, get the hood finished, and wire the alternator.

Plans for the winter are more limited this year.
Install valve springs and check lash
Make carbon/kevlar front fenders and rear flares
Make carbon endplates for the wing
Install Singular Motorsports hood vents in new hood
Add a capacitor to the ignition harness
Add some coolant to the water so the block doesnt freeze
Check lube sliders
Make sure stuff hasnt loosend up
Rust repair
Make turbo fluid lines perfect

Mid Season
New springs
New splitter, now that I understand the rules better I can still go bigger
New control arms

Optional
Duct the rad mouth
New drivers seat, put current driver seat on floor of pass side
New canards
Delrin diff mounts
Make the high beams work
Paint hood, wing, and hard top
Gut trunk

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Got some random stuff done. Setup for vac bagging is complete except that the HF vac pump was DOA, good thing I got the 2 year warranty for free.



And I did something not on the list. I took my janky crush water bottle and duct tape catch bottle and made a nice box with a drain and hard mounting. That should reduce the engine bay oil a bit more.







And more work was done on the body work too.

Next weekend hopefully we'll wrap up the rust repair finally. Then start gutting the trunk. I should probably lube the sliders since all the wheels are off the car too. Oh and I need to add to the list, mount and plumb the 4 port boost controller since the efr 3 port is broked.

Oh yeah I also wired the geo alternator into my abs circuit to give it switched power, and tested that it indeed works but I know at idle it puts out something short of 70amps because pushing the steering against the stops makes the battery voltage drop to 11v.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Well I was going to replace the rubber slider thingy in the front and lube the sliders and then I only got 1 of the rubber things from amazon. Fark. None locally. Guess I'm not doing that this weekend. I installed the 4 port boost controller and raked the snow off the roof of the garage. And then I took 9 pounds out of the car.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

2 Weeks ago started lubing the brake sliders and replacing the rubber bits. Found my rear HP+ to look like this. Last weekend I put in some new HP+ and finished lubing ****. Also I have painted things.



Oh yeah the front pads also look interesting. Should be fine.



Plans for the winter are more limited this year.
Install valve springs and check lash
Make carbon/kevlar front fenders and rear flares
Make carbon endplates for the wing
Install Singular Motorsports hood vents in new hood
Add a capacitor to the ignition harness
Add some coolant to the water so the block doesnt freeze
Check lube sliders
Make sure stuff hasnt loosend up
Rust repair
Make turbo fluid lines perfect

Mid Season
New springs
New splitter, now that I understand the rules better I can still go bigger
New control arms

Optional
Duct the rad mouth
New drivers seat, put current driver seat on floor of pass side
New canards
Delrin diff mounts
Make the high beams work
Paint hood, wing, and hard top
Gut trun

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

What caused the brake pads to do that?!

Also I have poly diff mounts, they make a big difference, so if you're on stock ones, then definitely do them! Tightens up the drivetrain a lot in my '99.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

I think the slider lube dried up and they got kind of locked up. It only happened on the inside pads.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

This weekend I built a pullup bar on saturday and got a new HF vac pump because the first one was too tight and would trip the breaker. Sunday I did the final cut on the rear fenders, stitch welded the double layer back together and threw some seam sealer on the rest of the seam. Nothing interesting to look at. Next weekend I'll have to start using the foam to form the buck for my rear flares.

carbon

iTrader: (1)

What do you use? Sil-Glyde or what?

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Well when I bought the used set of HP+'s from Brain he sent some KY Warming Touch Lube with them, so I figured that what he used and it was good stuff.

carbon

iTrader: (1)

Interesting.

He sent me some Permatex Brake Caliper Lube when I got a used Fleshlight from him. Wonder if he mixed them up?

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

But really I was in a pinch and I used the AMSOil Dominator grease. So yeah, dont do that.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

That Dominator grease - so many uses.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

So attempted to start the rear flare plugs, failed. Spray foam no sticky well enough and it'll end up with huge annoying air pockets anyways. So I ordered some 2 part foam and I'm going to have to make a form to pour it in. It is the right way to do it, I was just trying to be cheap and lazy.



And I scored these for only $65 on ebay. And installed them. Also turns out that the 650lbs 6" springs that I had in the front on street tires are too long for the rear so I had to order some 5" ones new.



The hood and trunk came back from painting today. I havent seen them yet, my mom said they look good, so I've got that going for me.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Got the 5" long 650lb springs for the rear and installed them. Perfect.

Hood and trunk are back, they're a perfect match for new classic red we'll see how well they match the faded classic red on the car once I like wash, claybar, and wax the thing at some point.





The finish panel is newish from mazda so thats where I'm comparing to new classic red.


Plans for the winter have changed a bit more, some stuff moved mid season, and other stuff swapped around. The list of stuff that MUST get done before the season opener has really dwindled down.

Install valve springs and check lash
Install Singular Motorsports hood vents in new hood
Add a capacitor to the ignition harness
Add some coolant to the water so the block doesnt freeze
Check lube sliders
Make sure stuff hasnt loosend up
Rust repair
Make turbo fluid lines perfect
New springs
Change Oil
Replace Tranny drain washer and fluid
Corner Weight
Align
Buy some takeoff hoosiers to use locally

Mid Season
Make carbon/kevlar front fenders and rear flares
Make carbon endplates for the wing
New splitter, now that I understand the rules better I can still go bigger
New control arms
Buy sticker hoosiers before Jersey Pro

Optional
Duct the rad mouth
New drivers seat, put current driver seat on floor of pass side
New canards
Delrin diff mounts
Make the high beams work
Paint hood, wing, and hard top
Gut trunk

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Got the ***** back from paint, so shinny.



I took a picture of the underside of the hood finally to show the vents from the bottom and the lightening I did.



Oh and I remember to take a picture of the battery mounting, yes the hot terminal is insulated.



Also picked out some local tires and scored a set of "I hope I'm never desperate enough to use these tires".

Install valve springs and check lash
Install Singular Motorsports hood vents in new hood
Add a capacitor to the ignition harness
Add some coolant to the water so the block doesnt freeze
Check lube sliders
Make sure stuff hasnt loosend up
Rust repair
Make turbo fluid lines perfect
New springs
Change Oil
Replace Tranny drain washer and fluid
Corner Weight
Align
Buy some takeoff hoosiers to use locally

Mid Season
Make carbon/kevlar front fenders and rear flares
Make carbon endplates for the wing
New splitter, now that I understand the rules better I can still go bigger
New control arms
Buy sticker hoosiers before Jersey Pro

Optional
Duct the rad mouth
New drivers seat, put current driver seat on floor of pass side
New canards
Delrin diff mounts
Make the high beams work
Paint hood, wing, and hard top
Gut trunk

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Super shitty weekend.

Went to get some free dyno time. Only got half an hour, spend all of it fixing janky fueling from stupid EMS4, and also trying to figure out why I couldnt get more boost out of the efr. I still made ok numbers on the low reading mustang, looking at the graph I'm pretty sure my boost solenoid isnt working or some bullshit.



And while I was on the dyno with the hood open someone must have closed the aerocatches, in the rush to get off the dyno I intentionally didnt latch the hood. Dad hooked up the front straps while I was in the car still and I got out and saw the aerocatches latched and figured he latched the hood while he was up there. Get up to 75 on the highway and the hood blows open and gets bent to ****.



It broke a headlight cover too. I managed to get it straightened out enough that it kind of fits and duct taped the headlight bucket back together, got to find a new hood, this one was really really pretty, dammit.

I corner weighted it and aligned it, I took out more weight than I thought and I also seem to have shifted a lot more weight forward than I thought. Last time the car was corner weighted I was like 2450 with driver and had 51% front weight, now I'm 2309 with driver with a 53% front weight. But now I'm only 70lbs out from my minimum weight.



In trying to figure out why my boost controller wasnt working I found some more fun things in my tune that I didnt realize. Its setup for LS coils for example so I was only running like 2.xms of dwell on the 01+ coils instead of like 5ms. And I setup a new tune that actually follows the AEM instructions for boost control setup instead of doing it like every other ecu ever. So friday night I need to figure out whats wrong with my boost controller and put a phone mount on the new windshield.

Install valve springs and check lash
Install Singular Motorsports hood vents in new hood
Add a capacitor to the ignition harness
Add some coolant to the water so the block doesnt freeze
Check lube sliders
Make sure stuff hasnt loosend up
Rust repair
Make turbo fluid lines perfect
New springs
Change Oil
Replace Tranny drain washer and fluid
Corner Weight
Align
Buy some takeoff hoosiers to use locally
Fix boost control solenoid
Mount phone to windshield

Mid Season
Make carbon/kevlar front fenders and rear flares
Make carbon endplates for the wing
New splitter, now that I understand the rules better I can still go bigger
New control arms
Buy sticker hoosiers before Jersey Pro

Optional
Duct the rad mouth
New drivers seat, put current driver seat on floor of pass side
New canards
Delrin diff mounts
Make the high beams work
Paint hood, wing, and hard top
Gut trunk