I remember you told me to do that. I have horrible memory. Im gonna do it now......really this time :)

lookin great Eric :) Now I see why you didn't call back the other night. Hell I wouldn't answer the phone either if I had something like that to work on..lol

Rotor - you still needing that condensor for the A/C?

Thanks Adam! lol My hands were full and then I just plain forgot. But I'm just glad that your problem was nothing but the slave cylinder needing to be rebuilt.

No sir, thank you though! I got that all straightened out and installed. Big IC plus A/C FTW!

:D

Attachment 206858

Still a lot left to do, but this was a big step in the right direction.

:) . You firing her up fri.?

Time is definately paying off now! Sweetness.... ;)

Unfortunately no. My differential is not back yet, so I won't be firing it up until it's time to drive it and break it in. But it's close...

I just wrecked my underware seeing that pic man :) looks better than great, and I (i think everybody here) hope it runs even better than it looks for ya.

lol Thanks Adam!

Got my 3" metal core cat and my exhaust inlet flange reworked by Jason Enthuza (great guy btw!) :

Attachment 206825
Attachment 206826
Attachment 206827

Wrapping up the engine install, got the driver's side pretty much done and the intercooler piping done. Still have to route and install the harnesses on the back side for the coil pack, etc.

Attachment 206828
Attachment 206829
Attachment 206830

Getting close...

Differential getting cracked open to install the 3.636 CryoREM treated ring and pinion gears:

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0154_large.jpg

Ring gear mounted:

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0156_large.jpg

All put back together:

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0153_large.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0157_large.jpg

Thanks to ftjandra's kickass skills, my coolant reroute is completed with this hardpipe, which includes an inlet for the TB coolant return:

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...l/DSC03605.jpg

Thanks to some friend's assistance, the differential and PPF are back in place:

Attachment 206660

And she's just sitting there patiently waiting...

Attachment 206661

Tomorrow is the wrap up I hope. It's install the exhaust, install the injectors, make my dual feed fuel rail braided SS lines, replace seized rear brake caliper, put in all the fluids, check all the connections, hoses, pipes, etc. and then fire it up, set the timing, and seat the piston rings with vacuum pulls. :D

Looking great! say...are you any chance related to an old german dictator???

Thanks!
:laugh: Why yes, I'm known as the Banhammer Wielding Douchehammer Nazi to some...

:bowrofl: Nice......

omg..... just jizzed,,, in my pants...

A thread is usually worthless without pictures, so this post will be worthless without the video (until I get them uploaded), but I figured it would be good to note that last night the car fired up on the first try, no coolant, oil, or fuel leaks, main fan operated properly, and it drove pretty well for the 7 miles I put on it so far. 9 months of work finally coming to a close...

There are a few things vibrating here and there in the engine bay, not too hard to fix, still need to heat wrap the heater core hoses even though the FM shield is in place and reinstall my 3-point strut tower brace. The Enthuza exhaust isn't fitting right, and after a lot of work getting it to fit and then driving it, it started hanging lower again and it pulled the downpipe down to where it's resting on the subframe. Hopefully Jason will be able to help me fix all that when I take it up to him. The exhaust still sounds pretty damn mean at idle, sounds good from inside too, except for it vibrating everywhere under the car while driving. I think once I get rid of that noise, I'll be able to better hear what the engine is doing, because it was making it very difficult to listen for anything out of the ordinary.

Even though there's a larger turbo, the '99-'00 head is better, and it has been lightly modified along with better valves in it, the tune is still decent. Good AFRs under idle/cruise/no boost while I was seating the rings, and a nice 12.0-12.5:1 reading at 5-8psi (yes, I definitely had to try it out just a tad after seating the rings), so not too bad and the knock sensor didn't record any knock. The SSQV sounds really good too, I'm really glad I switched. The MazdaSpeed motor mounts and the polyurethane differential mounts made a noticeable change as well, which are part of some of the new vibrations. lol

For the downside, there's a small tick (actually a noise between a tick and a knock) in the head, sounds like one of the solid lifters is being louder than the rest. It's there under throttle, so I'd like to figure out what it is. My AutoMeter oil pressure gauge crapped out on me as well towards the end of my driving. I was sitting still and saw it read "0" and about freaked out, but noticed the OEM gauge, which is not trustworthy but will tell you when there is no pressure, still had a reading. I gave the engine a small rev, and the OP gauge moved, so it's reading, but after shutting the car off and then going to turn it back on, I noticed it's not test sweeping like the other gauges do, so I think it needs to be replaced, but I'm going to troubleshoot it more in depth first, only checked the connection at the sender last night. AutoMeter has been good to me about replacing dying gauges though, so no worries there.

I still have a lot left to do to get it all in good working order so I can daily it again, but that was a HUGE step in the right direction. All in all, a good Monday.

Oh yeah, 6-speed and 3.636 rear gears is f***ing awesome!!!

Pictures of the exhaust since I never posted them:

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0165_large.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0164_large.jpg

Now with more startup win:

Congrats on a very nice car coming to life.

Congrats Eric. More pics of the Exhaust from farther back. Will it fit with the factory brace back in?
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Nope. I'm taking the car up to Jason (Enthuza) at some point to have him look at it/adjust it because it fit in his jig when he reflanged it for me, but it does not fit on the car well at all. Hopefully after that, the whole ladder brace will fit, if not, I'll either beat out the section that needs clearance, or cut that section out, or have a brace welded in that clears the exhaust. One way or another, it will fit again.

On a downside, my faulty AutoMeter gauge may not have been so faulty, it may have actually been reading low oil pressure. Today I went to start the car to do a little more driving on it and not even the dummy pressure gauge moved. I'm a little worried. Thinking that the oil pump or system somehow lost it's prime? When the car was first started, the pressure was at 30 at idle and moved with the RPMs. When I went to put it up, the gauge was reading 10 at idle, moved with the RPMs still, and the dummy gauge was still "on". Today, nothing...