When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Today I tried to get started on redoing the cold side piping and maybe places to relocate the A/C dryer. There is a candidate location right above the sway bar under the radiator hose that I might be able to use. This will open up space between the intercooler and condenser, and make ducting work and maybe future intercooler mods a little easier. I was also supposed to take the Butterfly Brace off in prep for next weeks installs and was thinking about deleting the center hood latch for now to relocate the hella horns.
Picked up new tools and my very first drill. Because of the rain, I've not been able to take the bumper off, so I just spend all my time under the car drilling out broken bolts and retapping the threads and throwing anti sieze in it.
So I started to pull out the A/C stuff and redo some wiring mess that has bugged me for a while. While changing out fan setups (the FM fan's are nuts) I noticed that my coolant level was quite low. I'm actually worried, and not sure how long it's been like this and hope I haven't fucked my engine somehow. I don't notice any leaks, or smells in operation, but I did notice some frothy white residue here and there. I'm wondering if it's as simple as a radiator cap.
Anyway, I have new condenser that isn't molested by rocks and a single fan that flows better than either of the FM Spal fans, but not as quite as much as both at the same time as to reduce the load on the car. I'm a bit down because my mind is racing to find problems or other symptoms I may have ignored. I don't feel like spec'ing out another motor and if it does fail, this will probably be a part out. I was going to take it to the body shop this week too......
(the FM fan's are nuts)
Just wondering what you meant by that exactly. I was contemplating going to the FM fan/shroud set up.
Also just wanted to share, the Gunmetal Grey Pearl GT3 bar that Moti posted a few posts ago was the bar that ended up going into my car. I have to say the color is awesome. It looks very aggressive in my black car with the hardtop on, but not super flashy or anything. I think you will like it in your car with the color that you had painted.
I found the FM fans drawing too many amps on startup, even with idle adjustments in MS3x, two out of five times the car will die at idle. I have a new alternator lined up, but the new single fan seems to do just fine and opens some real estate in case I do an oil cooler behind the radiator (running out of space here and there since keeping AC)
So the result of yesterday's work was trimming the bumper support to accomodate more airflow to the radiator and counteract the space taken by the larger vibrant intercooler while trying to rework the intercooler piping. I now have a boost leak. I feel that I should probably just have a proper set of pipes fabricated instead of messing with all these couplers and reducers.
I still need to take the butterfly brace off, but I'm sure happy to be driving g this thing again.
Let me know what combination of tools gets the butterfly brace off if you get to it before me. I'll do the same if I get to it before you. It looks near impossible without major deconstruction.
Just socket and box wrench. I'm taking it off as one piece from the frame rails themselves. Next weekend there will be some major installs and it's just going to get in the way. Come help out, it's Downmented's buddy that is loaning us shop space.
Gas tank, front/rear subframes, diff, control arms, suspension and brakes. I may need the extra wiggle room to drop the PPF, otherwise Just dropping the center section should be enough. You're taking yours off?
I'm questioning it's effectiveness and weight, may just run frame rails for the moment.
I just need to lower mine down the slots. Exhaust is rattling.
That should be easy enough. I was tempted to shave a little off mine to clear a flex housing but subsequently had no issue after I got some things on the exhaust tweaked.
Just socket and box wrench. I'm taking it off as one piece from the frame rails themselves. Next weekend there will be some major installs and it's just going to get in the way. Come help out, it's Downmented's buddy that is loaning us shop space.
Gas tank, front/rear subframes, diff, control arms, suspension and brakes. I may need the extra wiggle room to drop the PPF, otherwise Just dropping the center section should be enough. You're taking yours off?
I'm questioning it's effectiveness and weight, may just run frame rails for the moment.
This is one of the reasons why I am hesitant to throw on the butterfly brace that I bought a while back (already have the frame rails on). The fact that it sounds like a major job on it's own just removing it sounds pretty bad. That combined with the extra weight, and the fact that my car already has extensive stiffening just makes it hard to justify. What did you think as far as adding to chassis rigidity?
Also, did you just cut the holes out in the front bumper and add a set of fog lights? I'm curious as to the "cups" you used. I'm sure you mentioned it somewhere in the past 30 pages of your thread, forgive my laziness.
This is one of the reasons why I am hesitant to throw on the butterfly brace that I bought a while back (already have the frame rails on). The fact that it sounds like a major job on it's own just removing it sounds pretty bad. That combined with the extra weight, and the fact that my car already has extensive stiffening just makes it hard to justify. What did you think as far as adding to chassis rigidity?
Also, did you just cut the holes out in the front bumper and add a set of fog lights? I'm curious as to the "cups" you used. I'm sure you mentioned it somewhere in the past 30 pages of your thread, forgive my laziness.
It's not that bad an install, but it does claim a bunch of real estate depending on your exhaust. Can't really tell if it adds a lot of stiffening as it flexes as well. I'm going to try leaving it off for the moment. But to remove it is like undoing half of the frame rails itself.
I used NB1 fog bezels. Had to trim some sheet metal but I hope to use this for brake ducts if I can modify the charge piping; it sits a little in the way.
Last edited by psyber_0ptix; 08-02-2016 at 09:47 AM.
One of the single most rewarding things I've done per unit cost was replace the shitty stock rusted snaggle tooth door weather stripping. I don't know why I waited so long. It took about 3 minutes per side without tools.
Last edited by psyber_0ptix; 08-02-2016 at 03:14 PM.
Ah damn man I need to do this so badly to my car. Source them through Mazda? How painful was the cost? IIRC the weather stripping is pretty expensive, but I'm actually missing one side of mine so I need to get them done now.
Ah damn man I need to do this so badly to my car. Source them through Mazda? How painful was the cost? IIRC the weather stripping is pretty expensive, but I'm actually missing one side of mine so I need to get them done now.
I just ordered online and picked it up same day (during my lunch) at a local dealer ship. It's about $70 a side....but do it once, and forget about it for the next 7 years.
NA01-59-810F for the driver side
NA01-58-810F for passenger
Thanks for that man. May copy your NB fogs as well haha. You know I've never liked the laguna blue, but your car looks fantastic. Hope it's finished soon.
Anyone can do whatever they want! I was just trying to find a solution while the car was being painted. It worked out otherwise I might not have done them.
07-30-2016, 06:38 PM
0
