https://www.3sgto.org/blogs/3741-sergechronos 3000GT Stealth GTO Forum en Sat, 06 Jun 2026 08:16:37 GMT vBulletin 60 https://www.3sgto.org/images/misc/rss.jpg https://www.3sgto.org/blogs/3741-sergechronos https://www.3sgto.org/entries/93-Long-Overdue-Obligatory-Post-Part-5-Interior-and-Side-Skirt-Work Sat, 08 Jun 2013 16:25:53 GMT During this time of upgrading, I did some interior work. Swapped in real center gauges, as well as a wide band (with A Pillar mount), painted some of... During this time of upgrading, I did some interior work. Swapped in real center gauges, as well as a wide band (with A Pillar mount), painted some of the faded black plastic trim to match the eventual color scheme for the car, switched the 1g steering wheel for one from a 3g Eclipse, and upgraded to a Flash ECU. Also have a new radio going in due to some serious bullshit.

When my car was last running properly was Dec 17th 2011. On a trip from TN to NY, the transfer case blew out on the high way in Virginia. It took 5 months to get Dodge to honor the recall and swap the transfer case. Coincidentally the CAS failed at this time, but Dodge was incapable of diagnosing it, so my grandfather and uncle towed the car to a mechanic my grandfather knows quite well in NC ( I was too busy with school to spend time diagnosing the issue) to get it looked it. Well, during the time it was sitting at the dealership, somebody got into the car and stole the radio I had in there. Of course the dealer refused to cover it (despite them having not locked the car) and I was SOL as the cost of my deductible would make insurance coverage useless. So I will be swapping a new radio in, however don't have pictures for that yet. For now, it is a single din Sony head unit with a storage pocket underneath it. I plan to upgrade it down the road to a double din model with Nav, but it's out of my price range for now.

Steering wheel swap (and only picture of the painted interior):




It was actually a straight forward swap with 2 exceptions. I couldn't fit the steering column cover AND the rear cover for the steering wheel on at the same time without some clearance work. Decided not to do that for now as I will be selling the wheel down the road for one with the radio controls on the back side and didn't want to potentially damage the resale value. The horn and air bag plugs are the same. The only real issue is that you lose cruise control. You need a cruise control level from a 2g Eclipse to retain it, which was 20 bucks more than I was willing to spend for now and I can do down the road pretty easy.


I ran into some issues trying to get the old side skirts off unfortunately. The metal lip on the bottom of the car was bent over the plastic for the skirt and the bolts at the front of the skirt. I ended up cutting the plastic with a dremel to get them off and I am currently trying to pound the metal straight to get the new ones on. I also had several bolts break, so I will have to get the car raised even higher to get a drill under it and try to extract the old bolts.



I also took this time to undertake painting the engine bay. I decided to go with a flat black as it will go with darn near any color (including the blue I intend to eventually repaint the car with) and is easy to touch up. I didn't take too many pictures of it as it is a fairly straight forward process. I washed the engine bay down several times with soapy water and brake cleaner, then hit it with a couple coats of filler primer, topped with 1 primer sealer, then 2 coats of a flat black.

]]> sergechronos https://www.3sgto.org/entries/93-Long-Overdue-Obligatory-Post-Part-5-Interior-and-Side-Skirt-Work https://www.3sgto.org/entries/92-Long-Overdue-Obligatory-Post-Part-4-Rear-End-Swap Sat, 08 Jun 2013 16:08:28 GMT During the down times of waiting for parts or work to be done, I undertook swapping my 1g RT rear end for a 2g 3k rear end. I started with this... During the down times of waiting for parts or work to be done, I undertook swapping my 1g RT rear end for a 2g 3k rear end.

I started with this rear bumper that had a dent in it and some scratches. I popped the dent back out with a heat gun, and used some filler primer topped with a primer-sealer to bring it back to par. I decided to go with a black acrylic lacquer paint as I was forced to rattle can this and acrylic lacquer in the rattle cans comes out much smoother than acrylic enamel.





After quite a bit of wet sanding and sweat, I ended up with:






Unfortunately relocating the brackets and drilling holes for the reverse lights has made the rear end look like swiss cheese. I have a buddy in NY who welds who will touch this all up for me.



By the end of it all, I went from


To
]]> sergechronos https://www.3sgto.org/entries/92-Long-Overdue-Obligatory-Post-Part-4-Rear-End-Swap https://www.3sgto.org/entries/91-Long-Overdue-Obligatory-Post-Part-3-Transmission Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:56:29 GMT In addition to overhauling the engine, I also needed to replace the clutch and wanted to replace the transmission. My old 18 spline transmission... In addition to overhauling the engine, I also needed to replace the clutch and wanted to replace the transmission. My old 18 spline transmission would pop out of reverse, grinded 2 and 3 every time and the output shaft was shot. The bright side, was my tcase blew out on the highway (not the bright part) and Dodge was forced to replace it with a brand new unit under the recall. I sold these to Pampena.

I knew the clutch needed to be replaced, when I got it all disassembled, I saw how bad it really was:



Clearly the clutch was worn out and had way less than the recommended amount of space between the surface and the rivets.

of course, the pressure plate had seen better days as well:




Couldn't find any specs on how much I could take off of the flywheel, and it looked pretty worn so I ended up replacing it:




Ended up going with a Comp Flywheel (14lb version) and a Clutchmaster clutch.


I also smoothed the selector shaft for the transmission I was putting in, as the corners were definitely hanging on the cage.

]]> sergechronos https://www.3sgto.org/entries/91-Long-Overdue-Obligatory-Post-Part-3-Transmission https://www.3sgto.org/entries/90-Long-Overdue-Obligatory-Post-Part-2-Powder-Coating Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:47:56 GMT While waiting for the block to come back from the machinist, I started powder coating some parts. Unfortunately, ended up breaking the gun when the... While waiting for the block to come back from the machinist, I started powder coating some parts. Unfortunately, ended up breaking the gun when the cup started to fall and I tried to catch it, basically snapped off a straw that goes from the gun inside the cup and stirs up the powder to be picked up by the gun.

As it was now time for actual powder coating work, I learned quickly it's not quite as easy as I thought it might be. The crevices on certain components and the curves of pipes made the Faraday effect a real issue and it impacted my results. In retrospect, I should've spend a bit more money and gotten a Caswell powder coat gun for 2 reasons. 1) I broke the Eastwood gun trying to keep the powder cup from falling off and the Caswell uses metal tubing so that's not an issue, and 2) the Caswell varies from 5kv to 50kv, so you can get the better results from it and get around the Faraday effect. But, onto the pretty stuff:
Pre-coated valve cover
After baking





These turned out fairly well. It was a Columbia Chrome with a clear coat for the chrome looking parts, and I did the rear cover in a translucent blue. I actually wasn't wild about the way the color turned out, it's not as deep of a blue as I'd like. I'll redo them later. The plenum could've used with more sanding and some hi-temp metal epoxy to fill in the casting marks. Again, something to do next time around. The piping for the front mount turned out to be more difficult, the curves would prevent the coating inside the bends from turning out great, but it worked well enough. I couldn't fit some of the larger pipes and the Faraday Effect was a big enough problem I ended up just spray painting half of the pipes and sold my Dual Voltage Gun. Later I'll get a Caswell and try again.

You can see here how the reflective surface just isn't really there.
Some finished pipes:



In truth, for the cost, it's hard to beat. The chrome powder looks as good as or better than polished, and has much less upkeep, which I like. I got Eastwood to send me a new gun, and sold it along with what was left of the powder to make back a good chunk of my expense on it, total cost after selling it came out to about 70 bucks. Now, back to the rest of the rebuild. ]]> sergechronos https://www.3sgto.org/entries/90-Long-Overdue-Obligatory-Post-Part-2-Powder-Coating https://www.3sgto.org/entries/89-Long-Overdue-Obligatory-Post-Part-1-The-engine Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:45:35 GMT Whoops, been distracted with a variety of life events and hadn't given a thought to updating this. Since there's a decent amount to cover, figure I'll break this up into a couple different sections.

When we last left off, I had found damage to the heads and the flywheel was in need of replacing and I still needed to open up the bottom end.

Super brief list of changes for people who don't want to read.

Parts List:
Kings Bimetal bearings
Rob Beck 13T turbos
Evo 560s
Pampena Front Mount
Forged Crank
Comp Clutch Lightweight Flywheel (14lb version)
Clutchmasters Clutch






Yup, bearings were shot for the mains. Rod bearings were looking none to good either, so they needed to go. Around this time I took a trip up to NY to visit family and friends and went by Pampena's, or Mecca as it might as well be called for a 3/S owner, to sell him my old tranny with new transfer case. Dave happened to have a FMIC kit coming off of a car for the same cost I just got from the tranny, so I picked it up. It was powder coated silver vein. Didn't care for the color, but I'll get to that later.

During the tear down, I discovered that my front turbo appeared to be trashed so it was time for a turbo upgrade. Decided to have them turned into 13Ts by Rob Beck. The power is about as much as I am comfortable throwing at the motor without forged pistons or rods (which were out of my budget now that I needed new turbos), and the ability to easily and cheaply replace it if one blows is invaluable for a perpetually broke college student. Should be enough power to suit me anyhow. I do wish that I hadn't needed new turbos though as my plan had been to get Pampena pistons and shotpeen the rods for now and upgrade turbos later, but that's alright. I'll just buy another block down the road and build it on the side.

I ended up picking up a new set of heads and cams with a free engine block from someone out by Nashville. Sold the block and my old heads to basically pay for the new heads, and had enough left over to pick up a set of 3G lifters. Decided to replace the crank while I was in there as well with a forged unit which I picked up for a very good price. Additionally, I decided to go the distance and pull the pistons out and have the block honed and the rods and pistons checked out to make sure it was all good plus get the block cleaned out of any potential debris. While this added substantially to the cost of this rebuild, I decided I'd rather do it now and be sure it's all good rather than just throw new bearings in and take my chances. The good news from the machinist was that the rods all came back as being in good shape, the cylinders were all in round and just needed to be honed for new rings (although compression was a cold 150 across all 6 cylinder before tear down) and the motor was fully washed out.

While the motor was being worked on, I took advantage of that time to do a few other things for the car (which will be in a different post) including repainting the engine bay, painting and mounting a 2g 3k rear end conversion, painting some inner plastics and stripping and powder coating some engine components. I picked up an Eastwood Dual Voltage PC Gun, and some powders for about 250ish total, and a pair of ovens off of craigslist for 30 bucks. Since my front mount pipes weren't aluminum, decided to use electrolysis to get the old powder coat off. It's basically a set it and forget it method of prep, which left me more time to do other projects:




Using a large plastic garbage can and some baking soda, plus some old scrap metal, cost was around 30 bucks. The old powder coat would literally just come off in giant flakes, much less labor intensive than trying to get it off most other ways. I can answer whatever questions you may have about it, but a brief google search will tell you what you need to know. Don't ever try to electrolyze aluminum, it will literally dissolve.

Upon the return of the block and parts, I sprayed the block with a cast aluminum paint and cleared it. I liked the idea of a bright color that makes spotting oil leakage on the front much easier.


I ended up going with Kings bi-metal bearings over Clevite as I picked up a brand new set for about half price, and it should do for now until I build a forged short block down the road.



]]> sergechronos https://www.3sgto.org/entries/89-Long-Overdue-Obligatory-Post-Part-1-The-engine https://www.3sgto.org/entries/81-The-Removal Sun, 03 Mar 2013 06:15:37 GMT The plans for this overhaul were relatively simple: Full gasket set, check the bearings and heads out, new clutch, and new tranny. Unfortunately,... The plans for this overhaul were relatively simple: Full gasket set, check the bearings and heads out, new clutch, and new tranny. Unfortunately, things are already worse than anticipated, but I'm getting ahead of myself.







Now I know all that rust and filth in the engine bay is very sexy, so you guys are just gonna have to try to contain yourselves over these next few pictures.





This mess on the front side of the motor is dried up oil residue about 1/8-1/4" thick.





And this lovely rusted mess would be the backside of my block, which is going to be getting a fresh coat of paint.





THis is what was left of the clutch, thankfully I have another one to put into it.






However, this would be what little bit of usable face I have left on my flywheel, which will need to be replaced and is a cost I hadn't counted on.





Adding to the disaster would be these scratches on my cam lobes. This is the worst of them, which also has scratches on the rocker arm under it, however there's 2 or 3 lobes with scratches deep enough to feel with my fingers.


Suffice to say, the cost of replacing cams, rockers and flywheel is way more than I had anticipated and forced me to liquidate other stuff to try to pay for it. Hopefully I can get the cash together to salvage it, wish I could afford to just upgrade to BC 264 cams, but that is out of my budget for now. Weighing options out between a new factory flywheel, or an aftermarket slightly lighter one. I think an ultra lightweight would be too much trouble for daily driving, but maybe something around 11.5-12 pounds would be a good compromise. Haven't even flipped the engine over to check bearings yet, not looking forward to it. ]]> sergechronos https://www.3sgto.org/entries/81-The-Removal https://www.3sgto.org/entries/80-The-Beginning Mon, 25 Feb 2013 02:45:52 GMT Hey all, figured now that I'm getting serious into fixing the car up I'd start a build log. I first acquired the car from a guy here in East TN in July 2011. Traded him my 94 Wrangler for it, and can't complain as the 3/S Platform has been my dream car since I was little (my dad had a Conquest when i was growing up.) Had 163k on it when I got it, and was pretty bad about grinding 2 and 3, as well as having some ugly rims and dry rotted tires. Spoiler was deleted, but the holes were covered with duct tape. A previous owner had attempted to shade the turns and tails, and did a piss poor job of it. Power steering didn't work, AC was shot, paint was oxidized and faded all over..In short: it was a project car in the truest form.



In short order, I polished the crap out of it and did some quick spraying over some trim pieces that were unprotected for temporary covering.








Swapped out the crappy rims and tires for a set of Rota P45Rs I picked up from a member on 3si


Hurricane Irene hit during a drive down from NY and I hit some debris that put a dent in my oil pan leading to a tapping noise.




Made the mistake of telling my insurance company and that was the beginning of the end. The insurance company sent it to a dealer to look at it, and they said everything was fine, however they did a piss poor job of sealing the oil pan back up and it leaked oil like a sieve. During my removal of the oil pan and transfer case to fix it, my jackstand broke and the car fell on my chest. One medivac to the hospital later and I was released with miraculously no injuries.



Fear, and copious amounts of pain, kept me from getting back under the car so it sat for a month before I could get a shop to tow it and throw it all back together. I got it back from the shop just in time to attempt to make a trip up to NY, however halfway through the trip the transfer case locked up and stranded me in VA. After months of wrangling with Dodge to get them to honor the recall (eventually having to file complaints with the BBB and the NHTSA), they finally fixed it in May of 2012 (5 months after the failure). I went there to get it, and it still wouldn't work. Turned out to be a CAS sensor, although I didn't find that out till much later. Had it picked up and brought to a mechanic in NC that a member of my family said was good with Mitsubishis. After several more months before I could afford to pay him to look into it. Once we figured out it was the CAS sensor, I had it replaced and picked it up. Unfortunately, it only lasted about 2 weeks before developing a massive oil leak and large amounts of noise from the engine. Thus leading to my current position: An engine tear down and refresh, a new transmission, and an engine bay restoration.

At the beginning of this project/build current mods are 3sx DP, Borla Exhaust, Vac Reduction.

After careful deliberation, I have decided to dub this build: The Leviathan.

Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature without fear.
He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud. ]]> sergechronos https://www.3sgto.org/entries/80-The-Beginning