You can surface that flange, you must have a flat file. With persistence you can get something flat within a few thou with a file. I'm very doubtful of how long that cooper gasket will last in your setup.

 

Shifter is mostly done, just gotta hook up a couple more things and then final install all the parts. It's just sitting there in the pic, so if it looks crooked it's because it is. I forgot but I'll take the cover off and shoot some pics of that too. I positioned the shifter so when you take your hand off the wheel, you just move directly to the right (not back or forward) to grab the shifter. And I centered the shifter in the console of course, which put the box itself offset a bit. Also forward enough to not have to mod the power window switch. And managed to get the console back in after lots of cutting. Will prob paint all the shifter stuff black down to road so it doesn't stand out as much.

Converter is installed in trans. Checked the measurements and it looks to be on the money for spacing. Will double check it tomorrow but so far looking good. Now just hope the pilot bearings lines up with the crank, confirming the bellhousing is done correctly. Will hopefully put the trans in for good tomorrow.

6AN fittings installed on trans. Those were a pain but they are now in.

 

Refresh my memory if already mentioned. Forward or reverse pattern?

 

Reverse pattern, manual valve body.

 

Converter looks nice, but it don't fit. They made it the wrong depth so the spacing is way off. Going to send it back and get it fixed.

Driveshaft parts are here too, going to try and build that soon, hopefully tonight.

 

Driveshaft is ready to weld, will weld it tomorrow. It looks pretty nice, but I'll save photos till it's finished. Mazda DS with ford stuff on the front end.

I installed the trans with converter to test if the pilot bearing fits the flywheel. Basically, if the bellhousing does not center the trans correctly, then the pilot will not stab if it's off. The pilot bearing in the converter is 0.001" smaller than the flywheel hole, so it can only tolerate 0.0005" of misalignment... Anyways I'm lucky, it fit the first time. So bellhousing is on the money! Now I just need the converter pads redone to the correct depth.

At this point the plan is to get everything done and ready, so that when the converter gets fixed and shipped back, I can throw it in and the car will be ready to go.

 

As sixshooter noticed, the aluminum pan on this trans is too deep and would hurt ground clearance. So I bought a cheap thin steel pan. Accidently ordered a "pan fill" instead of "case fill" pan so it had a hole in the side for a dipstick that I don't need. So I welded that hole shut.

Also driveshaft is done, so pics of that. I was out of black paint so it's silver. Not like anyone will be looking at it anyway. It looks solid, should work well. Local shop wanted 600 estimate (could be more they said) to make it, this costed 150 in parts to build.

I sent the converter back today. At this point the goal is to have the car done, waiting on the converter to show up. I got a list of stuff to do, mostly small stuff but lots of it.

Pics!

 

Did you at least take it somewhere to get balanced?

 

No, going to drive it and see if how close it is. I've made two other driveshafts the same way I made this one that were both smooth. One I ran to 140, the other to 100, and both were fine. If it shows any vibration I'll take it somewhere and get it balanced. Unless I can figure out a way to do that myself.

 

Most everything is built now, just waiting on the converter. It's supposed to be here tomorrow. I will check the depth on it as soon as it arrives. If it's right, it's going in the car and hopefully this thing will be running shortly afterward.

Plan is to run wastegate pressure (around 15-20, who knows) and see how the transmission and new turbo parts work. If it's running well on friday I will be at the drag strip to see how it works. Plan is to just foot-brake the car till I get used to it, then I'll wire up and test out the trans brake.

 

You are going to love love love the tranny brake.

 

Converter arrived Monday. The depth on it is correct this time!

Got it installed and I couldn't get all the converter bolts to thread in. Pulled trans again, turns out they painted all the threaded holes... So cleaned that up. Reinstalled trans today and was able to bolt the converter up correctly. Everything looks great.

Got the PPF/driveshaft/starter motor installed. Got the shifter final installed and adjusted. Wow, I love the shifter. It's awesome. You can just slam it forward or backwards to downshift/upshift. So cool, I want every car I own to have this type of shifter.

Ran into a couple small snags with reassembly. Need shorter bolts for the trans oil pan, and gotta clearance a pipe that's hitting the PPF. Should have it running tomorrow (thought that today though...)

Can't wait to get it done!

Here's a few pics. Sorry some of the interior pics are crap quality, I'll try to take better ones during the day, these were shot at night.

 

It runs, it drives. Drove it a few miles. Tune is way off, it's lean as hell. Good sign the new setup flows better than old setup. Not sure how off it is yet, I couldn't get the datalogs off the MS3 for some reason, will restart laptop and try again tomorrow. Will tune it tomorrow too.

Trans doesn't just "shift" gears, it just suddenly stops being in one gear, and is now in the next gear, instantly.

Made a couple pulls doing a 1-2 gear change and it's crazy. The shift time has got to be under 20ms. It's nuts!

Converter is wayyyyy to tight. I told them 5K stall, he said it would jump to 5K when I floor it, build boost, and stall around 6.5K with full boost. It jumps to maybe 3K. Going to tune it tomorrow so that should help but I believe the converter is way too tight. Sucks cause I'm really getting tired of sending converters back to them...



So good news is, no catastrophic failures that I know of yet, it runs, it shifts, it's way lean now so definitely flowing better than before, exhaust is a bit louder and sounds really good. Overall I'm happy for a first test drive. Will drive and tune it tomorrow and go from there. Hope to race it friday.

 

awesome time for some fun with it.

 

Drive it a bit before making the call to remove the convertor. Things tend to loosen up once its broken in.

 

So time for an update.

Had a few small problems with the new setup. All were my fault, just being careless on reassembly forgetting to tight a v-band and left bolt out. Something on the exhaust is rattling, haven't looked into that one yet. Forgot to tighten a fitting on top port of wastegate so had low boost till I fixed that ( I had to move it and forgot to retighten it)

Started tuning and turning up boost. Got it to around 28 PSI so far. Made a couple pulls and one one of them, it started smoking bad. Thought it was the motor, but the motor ran fine. Gauges looked good so kept driving it, smoke stopped once I stopped the pull, after a few seconds. Made another pull and it got way worse.

Turns out something is wrong on the trans, it's squirting trans fluid out the front of the trans somewhere. It does not appear to be coming from the bellhousing, but rather from the oil pump to case interface. I would guess I blew the oil pump seal where it seals to the case. Not sure yet. If it's this, it's probably my fault as I didn't use a torque wrench on bellhousing bolts to the case, I just tightened them what felt right and moved on. My guess is I under torqued them and it blew a seal because of that.

So bad news is trans has to come out, and at a minimum I would guess pull the oil pump and change that seal. Hope that's all it is.

But there was some good news. The converter does seem to have loosened up some. It's probably acceptable even though it's pretty tight. I can foot break it to 4,500 RPMs after about 2.5 seconds and it was still climbing. If it was a little looser that would be perfect. Maybe it will get better with more miles as was suggested.

Also thing takes 28 PSI like it's nothing.

Comparing datalogs of the GT3071 with a .63 A/R bolted to an ebay cast manifold vs the new .82 A/R and tubular header, the new setup shows to be consuming 13% more fuel at the same boost level/same AFR. Funny enough these datalogs being compared are from same tank of fuel too, so E85 ratio is the same between the logs. I was hoping for more than a 13% improvement but I'll take it. I would suspect that as I push the boost higher, the difference will be bigger but I didn't push that setup hard because the old auto slipped too much. Still a 13% improvement is nice. Not really sure if spool changed, if it did it's not noticeable.

I will say though, shifting under full power with no slipping is wayyyy faster than slipping with 1 second of torque reduction on every gear change. Can't wait to get the trans leak fixed and get the boost up all the way. Datalogs suggest the new setup will max out my injectors at 100% duty cycle @ ~31.6 PSI boost @ 8,000 RPMs. Before it was 38 PSI to max them out so definitely flowing better than before.

 

Pay special attention when you seat the converter into the front pump. It is a very common mistake to think the converter is all the way in when in fact it's not. Be sure to spin the converter a few times as you push it in. Not installing properly will cause damage to the pump.

Also, in my experience it is hard to foot brake the converter to its maximum stall speed. It usually takes a trans brake to reach maximum stall.

 

Yes, I just saw an episode of roadkill where they covered the wiggle for the 3 clunks and a click method of installing a converter.

 

I'm 100% certain I had the converter all the way into the trans. Many measurements were taken doing the conversion. I had to design the dimensions of the converter to have it made to fit my flywheel and have the correct spacing and whatnot.

Pulling the trans now, it's almost out. I ordered a new gasket for the oil pump after calling the company that made the trans and telling them what happened. Plan is to pull trans, check torque on all the bolts holding the bellhousing to the oil pump, pull pump and see the condition of the gasket.

 

Got the trans out and apart, it was a blown oil pump gasket from undertorqued bolts. My fault. New gasket is ordered from PA (be here in a week) and from local parts store (be here in the morning). If the local gasket is identical in shape, thickness, and perceived strength I'll run it. Otherwise will be down waiting on the gasket from PA who made this transmission.