Back To Basics: Budget Rebuild

Spent part of the weekend with the Ninja and went through my transmission..
Gears 1 and 2 are toast and need replaced.
3rd gear is reusable if I want to do a budget rebuild, but shouldn't be speed shifting it. So going to replace it.
5th gear shows excessive wear for being 5th gear, but I will probably leave it be unless I can get a replacement for practically nothing considering I will never be redline shifting into 5th.
2nd synchro set can be used for 1st, and I'm going to just get a new synchro set for 2nd.
3rd and 4th are the old style brass and need replaced as they are damaged.
5th synchro is pretty good, I think reverse is alright as well.
1/2 hub & slider are toast, 3/4 hub & slider are very rough on the 3 side so going to replace that as well.
Vcu is toast, but I have a SCE center to put in instead. Would've been nice if it was working so I could've sold it to offset some of the cost.
End case was extremely damaged at some point and is now more weld than case so it needs to be replaced as well.

Throw in the Quaife front and Flexor input spool I'm wanting as well, likely looking at about 3-4k for the rebuild. Would like to have it done in time for NG, but don't want to skimp on anything just to make it. If I can't make NG, I'll likely wait and do Broomfields billet transfer case housing as well.

Sounds like that transmission needs a lot of love. Wouldn't i be cheaper to pickup another 5-speed transmission in better condition and use that as a base instead?

I have a spare transmission that I use only for spares since spares are so expensive and hard to come by.

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Originally Posted by Unlogic

Sounds like that transmission needs a lot of love. Wouldn't i be cheaper to pickup another 5-speed transmission in better condition and use that as a base instead?

I have a spare transmission that I use only for spares since spares are so expensive and hard to come by.

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Honestly unsure. I've torn down 3 parts trannies with Chris, and 3 customer trannies, and most were about the same.

In general, you can count on Reverse and 2nd gear being trashed at a minimum. Most of the time 1st gear is worn as well (but less of an issue since you don't generally down shift into 1st at speed.) 3rd is about 50/50 chance of being gone and the VCU is about the same. Its relatively uncommon to find those in good shape.

I'm going to wait and see what the cost is, if its 3k plus before Quaife and Flexor input spool, may roll the dice on another trans and see what I can get out of it. I'd need to get a good VCU ( to resell) a good 3rd and a good 3/4 slider just to have a chance at breaking even on cost.

Leaning towards new 2nd, and a used 1st and 3rd gear. New 1/2 hub&slider, good used 3/4 hub&slider and all new synchros. Should be good for a long time to come, may even splurge for new 3rd gear.

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Originally Posted by sergechronos

Spent part of the weekend with the Ninja and went through my transmission..
Gears 1 and 2 are toast and need replaced.
3rd gear is reusable if I want to do a budget rebuild, but shouldn't be speed shifting it. So going to replace it.
5th gear shows excessive wear for being 5th gear, but I will probably leave it be unless I can get a replacement for practically nothing considering I will never be redline shifting into 5th.
2nd synchro set can be used for 1st, and I'm going to just get a new synchro set for 2nd.
3rd and 4th are the old style brass and need replaced as they are damaged.
5th synchro is pretty good, I think reverse is alright as well.
1/2 hub & slider are toast, 3/4 hub & slider are very rough on the 3 side so going to replace that as well.
Vcu is toast, but I have a SCE center to put in instead. Would've been nice if it was working so I could've sold it to offset some of the cost.
End case was extremely damaged at some point and is now more weld than case so it needs to be replaced as well.

Throw in the Quaife front and Flexor input spool I'm wanting as well, likely looking at about 3-4k for the rebuild. Would like to have it done in time for NG, but don't want to skimp on anything just to make it. If I can't make NG, I'll likely wait and do Broomfields billet transfer case housing as well.

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Bummer

A bit. Pricing out parts (using both new and used) on some vendors websites puts the total at about 2000-2400, plus the Quaife and Flexor. So remains to be seen just what the cost will be through Chris.

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Gas tank has been grinded down and coated, and while not pictured, the area where it mounts under the car has as well. Needs a 2nd coat plus the top coat, but already looks miles better. Got several samples of GXL and TXL wire in, going to compare sizes, measure ODs and see how much bigger it'll make the harnesses to rewire the car as such.

Spent some time working on wirewheeling the under side of the car..Suffice to say, it's a mess. Even with cover alls and a 4 1/2" angle grinder with a cup brush, it's a pain and gets everywhere. And of course, trying to work with an angle grinder for that long makes your hands go numb, always worrisome when you're working with a grinder in front of your face. My face shield is in desperate need of replacement since I can't see for shit through it. Glasses keep me from being able to just wear goggles and it also makes wearing a dust mask a pain in the ass since it forever fogs up my glasses.

Wow! Good work!!

Looks really good, nice job.

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Originally Posted by familyMAN

Wow! Good work!!

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Originally Posted by CoreyB

Looks really good, nice job.

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Much obliged gents. So far, really digging the silver undercoat. Goes on pretty well, fills in rusted areas well, adhesion is good. I can hit it with a hammer and barely scratch it. The top coat I am still on the fence about. Goes down like an epoxy, but is almost kind of latex/rubbery. Sandpaper doesn't do much to it.

Planning out the wire tuck and hat not, anybody know what kind of crimper I'd need for the harness and ECU pins? I'm assuming a W type crimper? Or a metripak?

Some minor work on the big brake project, waiting to hear back from a manufacturer on specs for parts so I can calculate what size master cylinder I need to put in. Going to try to size it such that I can delete the brake booster as well. Would clean up the engine bay a bit and I've already got to replace one hardline to the back. Any engineering pros when it comes to brakes who might be able to help once I hear back?

Think I have the calculations I need. Sizing the master is going to depend mostly on information from the donor vehicle in so far as brake booster dimensions and pedal ratio, then hopefully adjusted to work with our pedal ratio.

just went thru your thread awsome work and thanks for those videos u posted ( i will be replacing some of the K frame bushings soon ) good luck with the rest of your build

Glad to be of help.

I contacted Energy Suspension about this stuff, but they said they will not do it because of numbers. I have inquired as to purchasing direct from them or a distributing warehouse without a business license so I'd be able to do the modifications and sell them at a reasonable price. Still working on getting poly end links, and poly bushings for the rest of the cross members in the front. I'm making rear subframe to body bushings out of polyurethane, and will likely make bushings for the rear diff as well. Working on getting bushings for everything else back there. When I'm done, I hope to be able to offer mostly complete kits (that exclude the rear steering and camber arms since most folks replace those) for around the $500-600 price point.

Well few updates..Picked up a 4 bolt block with stock bore that I wanted to build on the side..Going to have to sell it though as textbook costs are absurd. Same with most of my big ass collection of spare parts :/ Hopefully I can get this shit back on track, but just haven't had time. Had a water pipe bust under my house that has only just this past week been resolved, and my utility bills ate up my spare cash. Hopefully in the next few weeks I get these poly bushings going to bring some money back in, but ES isn't interested in distributing to me directly and none of their warehouses will work with me without a business license and all that. Working on alternative solutions for that.

There's quite a few things I'll need to tap and run dies over to clean up threading after the coating process. The engine bay and majority of the underside of the car are still awaiting treatment, however between work and school I don't have much time for myself at the moment. Hopefully I'll get ahead and can get back to this soon. For the time being, I'm just kind of stuck in a holding pattern.

A few changes from the last update that I don't believe I've covered (but may have):
1) AEM V2 will be used in place of Chrome. Given the cost of MAFT Pro for speed density and a Chrome, ran about the same for me to sell those and get the V2. Prefer a simpler all in one kind of solution.
2) ABS has been deleted and I am working on designing a cheaper BBK arrangement for the car that will require adapters, once I have completed this, I will be selling the adapters separately.
3) Wiring will be getting trimmed down and deleted a bit. Front washer motor, ABS, ECS, active exhaust, and several other electronics have been removed already and I have to overhaul my wiring harness as is to find a fault. As such, I will be removing many of those items/pins to simplify and cut a bit of weight as well. While this will likely add to the time before the car is ready, given costs I'm facing at the moment in the rest of my life and what it'll cost me just for the transmission, I somehow doubt it's going to make much of a difference. Engine and turbos will probably be done before the transmission parts are all paid for anyhow.
4) There is no longer an estimated date of completion, I will just take my time and enjoy my build rather than trying to meet deadlines for gatherings or meets. I constantly find myself compromising on stuff I want to do to try to get teh car ready in time for meets, and then am not ready anyhow and lose money reverting back to original plans. It is much more enjoyable when I'm not rushing.

What did you use to remove the rust from the tank cover? Anglegrinder or air sander, other suggestions?

4 1/2 angle grinder with wire wheel, and knotted wire cup brush for most of it. Finished off with a smaller wire wheel on a right angle die grinder.

tl;dr: While there is progress on the car, many of the projects I had been working on are being shelved for the time being due to multiple set backs in my personal life and a general re-evaluation of things.

In short, while at university, after consulting with a few different departments, career services and such, it was determined that as an older student my best course of action was to pursue a bachelors of applied physics in place of engineering since I had already knocked out many of the pre-requisites and I could be done by the end of Spring 2016 if I busted my ass and took a ton of credit hours. While I wanted to do engineering, I was told I was basically looking at a graduation date of Fall 2017, or Spring 2018 if I did so, and that Applied Physics would be basically the same work and accepted as such within the fields I wanted to go.

Trying to find internships for the summer that pay a decent bit and land my networking connections however has shown that many of the avenues I was told I would be able to explore (in particular nuclear power generation or working at Oak Ridge) are almost entirely off the table as they are explicitly for engineering students, with no exceptions for applied physics students since they already turn away so many applicants as is. I inquired with Duke Energy, TVA, ORNL, STP, Entergy and a handful of other companies throughout areas where I have connections and friends and have pretty much been unilaterally told that for most anything I want to do, I'd need either a bachelors in engineering, or to complete my applied physics bachelors and go on to get a masters in engineering.

Additionally, UT has continued to raise costs (another 3% tuition increase this year, as well as more mandatory fees including dining plans even if living off campus) which total out to needing another $2000 worth of loans or similar to cover. They've already scheduled 3% tuition increases for the next 2 years as well, meaning that whether I switch to an engineering curriculum or finish my degree and get a masters in engineering, I'm looking at over 40k more in tuition costs to get a degree that would let me do what I want to do which is an investment I doubt I will see returns on.

Combined with my meager wages at my job, car spending is pretty much on hold as I have just about everything I need to complete the car (albeit without upgrades such as the poly bushings I had been working on or many of the secret projects that were in the works.) I plan on selling and/or scrapping pretty much every extra part that I have to try to raise money in anticipation of a move. I have put my resume out there in various places across the south east, north east and Texas (all places where I have connections) to try to find something that can work with the degree I've been working towards, or a company that will help pay for me to attend school.

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Originally Posted by sergechronos

4) There is no longer an estimated date of completion, I will just take my time and enjoy my build rather than trying to meet deadlines for gatherings or meets. I constantly find myself compromising on stuff I want to do to try to get teh car ready in time for meets, and then am not ready anyhow and lose money reverting back to original plans. It is much more enjoyable when I'm not rushing.

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You can always hope to get it done before a certain time but this is the best way to do it. You want to keep a little bit of fire under your ass though. If not you might be married with kids before it gets done.

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Originally Posted by green-lantern

You can always hope to get it done before a certain time but this is the best way to do it. You want to keep a little bit of fire under your ass though. If not you might be married with kids before it gets done.

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Might be attending BMW Ridge Gathering in the falls if I don't get it done reasonably soon :P

I am motivated to finish the car, I miss driving it (and my truck needs quite a bit done to it as well for maintenance) but definitely just going slow and steady with it. Hoping to get some wrench time in next week over spring break on it.

You may need to take a different approach to what you're doing.

Speaking from experience:
- Worked as a manager at a Domino's for ~5.5 years. Good managerial experience... crappy job
- Got co-op's (not always the easiest thing) not in the area I wanted to go. But a co-op is a co-op. Experience is experience. It's all good.
- Worked as a gymnastics teacher (made really good money)

I took 3 different approaches to help me pay college as I went:
I did the manger thing because it looks good on a resume. I only made $9/hr. Helped me land the co-op's.
I did the co-op's for something more 'real world' oriented. Just because a co-op isn't in your exact field of interest doesn't mean it's no good. The 3 I did I knew would help me land a job. They did.
I worked in gymnastics strictly for the money and enjoyment. I don't even put it on my resume unless they ask what I did in that gap of life.

My point is, just play your cards strategically, and if all else fails, think outside the box on jobs to make good money. Work somewhere that needs you to dress as a clown or super hero, gymnastics, setting up those big baloon slides, working concerts, doing landscaping, valet'ing, etc. I've done all of those (except the clown one haha) and they ALL make great money. Why? Tips. All of them have a base salary and good tips. Waiting tables doesn't have a "base salary". $2.xx an hour isn't anything. And if worse goes to worst, do construction! Take a year off and SAVE some money! AKA DON'T spend it on the car!

BTW - taking a year off when I did my co-op's was the best thing as far as schooling went. I came back super energized and refocused.

You have access to pick my brain all the time on engineering stuff, but you never ask. Co-op's are easy to get if you know where to look. But don't constrain yourself early on. Take what you can get. You have your whole life to work to your dream job.

And if you are seriously prioritizing a car over your career in any way shape or form, then you will be hard pressed to have the success you crave. The car can come later. It only takes a matter of a few years to turn your life around. A car can be built in short order once you have the financial backing. Worry about the career.

Everything I've said is from experience.

I would definitely encourage you to go for the engineering career. I almost double majored in physics and engineering but decided I would only be using the engineering. I also took a few years off when my sister passed from cancer causing my grades to plummet but I was able to make some money, refocus, and finish out what was left strong even though I had to go part-time due to paying on student loans. There's more job opportunities than I can shake a stick at but I've been holding off until I finish up a work trip in NY and a tour of Europe. You're still young and have plenty of time to make your life's plans fall in place. Enjoy some of the freedom you have while you can. Don't worry too much about your car either. I put mine on the back burner for awhile and it wasn't so bad.

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Originally Posted by futurevr4man

You may need to take a different approach to what you're doing.

Speaking from experience:
- Worked as a manager at a Domino's for ~5.5 years. Good managerial experience... crappy job
- Got co-op's (not always the easiest thing) not in the area I wanted to go. But a co-op is a co-op. Experience is experience. It's all good.
- Worked as a gymnastics teacher (made really good money)

I took 3 different approaches to help me pay college as I went:
I did the manger thing because it looks good on a resume. I only made $9/hr. Helped me land the co-op's.
I did the co-op's for something more 'real world' oriented. Just because a co-op isn't in your exact field of interest doesn't mean it's no good. The 3 I did I knew would help me land a job. They did.
I worked in gymnastics strictly for the money and enjoyment. I don't even put it on my resume unless they ask what I did in that gap of life.

My point is, just play your cards strategically, and if all else fails, think outside the box on jobs to make good money. Work somewhere that needs you to dress as a clown or super hero, gymnastics, setting up those big baloon slides, working concerts, doing landscaping, valet'ing, etc. I've done all of those (except the clown one haha) and they ALL make great money. Why? Tips. All of them have a base salary and good tips. Waiting tables doesn't have a "base salary". $2.xx an hour isn't anything. And if worse goes to worst, do construction! Take a year off and SAVE some money! AKA DON'T spend it on the car!

BTW - taking a year off when I did my co-op's was the best thing as far as schooling went. I came back super energized and refocused.

You have access to pick my brain all the time on engineering stuff, but you never ask. Co-op's are easy to get if you know where to look. But don't constrain yourself early on. Take what you can get. You have your whole life to work to your dream job.

And if you are seriously prioritizing a car over your career in any way shape or form, then you will be hard pressed to have the success you crave. The car can come later. It only takes a matter of a few years to turn your life around. A car can be built in short order once you have the financial backing. Worry about the career.

Everything I've said is from experience.

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Thus far, there just hasn't been much posted for physics majors in terms of internships or co-ops. I've applied to the handful of positions I could qualify for through the university's career center (most of which center around lab technician or data acquisition in a lab) type of thing. Hoping some of that pans out, but even if not, I've applied to standard jobs as well so that something else may work out locally as a regular job.

I very much agree with taking a year off for co-ops to re-energize, at this point I'm basically looking at 5 straight years of school and work without a degree to show for it thus far (although 2 years were originally for a nuclear operator training program for TVA that they chose not to hire anyone from.) So I'm sure part of my quandary is just feeling burnt out and like it's not headed anywhere coupled with the relatively meager offerings for the physics major vs how many engineering opportunities there are. And of course, these new price increases with school are questionable on how to pay for.

While I've certainly not given up on finishing a degree (or the car,) I am reaching out to resources and contacts I have across the country to try to network and find what options and potential careers are out there, as well as possible places looking to hire that are willing to help cover the cost of schooling.


I can safely say, that the car does not consume any of my school money as everything I spend on it comes from selling parts and doing work for others. However, it may be that I have to switch it up and spend that money on school stuff or even start liquidating parts I had planned on using to cover it. Hard to do though since those sales can be rather inconsistent. At this point, I've got pretty much everything I need for actual reassembly of the car which is what I may do for now and worry about all the remaining upgrades and replacements later.

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Originally Posted by TurboSinceBirth

I would definitely encourage you to go for the engineering career. I almost double majored in physics and engineering but decided I would only be using the engineering. I also took a few years off when my sister passed from cancer causing my grades to plummet but I was able to make some money, refocus, and finish out what was left strong even though I had to go part-time due to paying on student loans. There's more job opportunities than I can shake a stick at but I've been holding off until I finish up a work trip in NY and a tour of Europe. You're still young and have plenty of time to make your life's plans fall in place. Enjoy some of the freedom you have while you can. Don't worry too much about your car either. I put mine on the back burner for awhile and it wasn't so bad.

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I took a few years off after my grandfather passed in 06, so I'm already a bit older than I'd care to be to still be in school at this point. At this point, I wish I had just gone ahead with engineering since it looks like it'll take me even longer to finish out.

On the whole, just feeling a bit screwed by the university in multiple ways at the moment. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks I'll hear back from some of these applications I put out and go from there.

My cousin is an EXTREMELY successful physics major. She makes more than almost anyone else I know and she is only 28. I will see what kind of advice she has got.

She does some sort of radiation to treat cancer? Works on the machines that do the radiation I guess? I have no idea. She makes beaucoup bank though.

I highly recommend an engineering career. I've been in for over 30 years now and financially independent due to some earlier career successes. My only problem now is there isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to do since I joined a startup last summer. So pretty much no effort on the car for the last 6-12 months.

Your delay and expense to get your engineering degree will be worth it in the long run :)

I too took some time away from school after rather shitty circumstances, so I know where you're coming from. I began as an engineering student, switched to a business admin major a year & a half in (international marketing as I enjoyed more of the business side of product development & sales), studied abroad, spent a shit ton abroad for schooling & was on track to have my degree, but came back to find out that my university wasn't going to consider three of my credits.

After being pissed for two years, I reapplied as a distance learning student & just finalized everything last December as a general business admin major...It's not my international business degree like I wanted, but now I'm continuing through my internship as a business analyst & that'll look great on my résumé once I begin my search for my ideal position.

If you can afford to take on the additional debt (read: Ramon for meals), I would stick it out with engineering; all of the people I knew from college have all landed great career paths by utilizing their civil, computer & mechanical eng. degrees. The initial costs will pay dividends on the back end. ;)

In the world we live it, its pretty much get a degree now, or be disposable in the future. Then you'll go back and get a degree anyway. You may as well do it now, its a lot easier now, then after you have started a family.

I'm going to see what some of these places that I've put into say over the next couple weeks. Also sending some emails out to various schools near some of the places that I've gotten in touch with to see what their transfer policy would be if I move for work related reasons. A couple so far have said that they would give in state tuition, I just wouldn't be eligible for in-state scholarships. So pending how this search for better work/internships/co-op/whatever turns out will have a lot to do with whatever decision I make. Lot up in the air, and I will update in here as I hear back with responses and such to get input from all you knowledge people...and futurevr4 ;)

Seems like for the most part, the general consensus would be go ahead and make the jump over to engineering even if it takes a couple more years to follow that track, which is something I had been considering. Would be nice if I had an employer or coop or similar that would work with me on that as several of those semesters are likely to be under full time credit hours as is (or maybe go ahead and turn my minor in business into a double major.)



Back to car stuff, courtesy of some sells here the last few weeks I've slightly shortened the list of parts I need to wrap this up. I have 4 days off next week when I was hoping to go visit family to discuss this with them, however the monster-in-law is coming to visit for a couple weeks, so I plan on trying to seclude myself in the garage as much as possible and get work done for the car. In particular, given the circumstances, I am putting a lot of the custom projects and stuff on hold, so I will be trying to get the underside of the car coated, get the suspension back on and throw the missing body parts back on so that I can have it in the driveway instead of the garage (which will free up space for various other projects and also give me the room to bring my engine hoist and rest of my tools out of storage and to the house, saving me a bit of money each month.)

At this point, I am mostly down to the last bits necessary to throw it together (which will is important to me to do as much of the projects I have plans for were laying groundwork for future mods.)

Offhand list of things that *MUST* be done to get the car mobile:
I need a few AEM specific sensors for the V2
Steering rack needs new boots installed (which I have) or to be replaced (which I may)
Need a cheap clutch and flywheel to get it rolling (eBay XTD is probably the ticket there)
Shortblock needs to be turned into a longblock, however I need to go through the heads first as I'm finding some disconcerting stuff that bears double checking. After that, needs cams degreed (as heads have been decked several times,) timing done, and some wiring redone (no more brittle CAS connector that gets undone at every bump.)
It will quite obviously need a tune
May still have to trace down some parasitic drain issues and what not. I am replacing chassis grounds and the engine grounds through out the car, and acquired a known working ETACS to rule that out. Hopefully this stops some of my electrical problems (but I doubt it.) With the AEM and various deletes, it's about due for a major wiring reexamination anyhow, but I'd rather avoid that until at least after I've figured out if I will be renewing my lease at this location or moving (whether within Knoxville, or elsewhere.)
Get the AWS delete done, and install the rear camber arms I have.


Things I'd like to get done:
Inspect and replace the pillowballs in the coilovers as the DS one was making noise when pushing the car onto the trailer during the move. Will reinstall stock ECS stuff if I can't get this done before hand.
Convert fuel sender to AN8 feed and set the tank up to do the AN6 return off of the stock feed line. Would be nice to use the Oohnoo's fuel set up thing I have laying here, but can always run the stock arrangement for now.
New tires for the car (ones I have are nearly on their last legs.)
Lots of powdercoating
Bushing replacements
Morgan motorsports splitter
Vent the hood and duct the FMIC and rad straight out the hood.

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Originally Posted by sergechronos

get input from all you knowledge people...and futurevr4 ;)

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dick of the forum

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Originally Posted by futurevr4man

dick of the forum

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With a last name of Woody, what did you expect?

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Originally Posted by sergechronos

With a last name of Woody, what did you expect?

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Actually expected a lot more. BAZINGA

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Originally Posted by futurevr4man

Actually expected a lot more. BAZINGA

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Well played worthy adversary.

At any rate, whirlwind couple of days with a few changes that are still waiting to be resolved in the coming weeks. I appreciate everyone's advice and will update eventually with changes when things are solidified.

In the meantime, spent a bit of time doing car stuff. Finished the car cart for the car (and it is currently sitting on it.) And did the welding for the 2G headlight buckets. The new ones are rusted and a wee bit rough looking, just hoping that they're straight enough for the headlights and hood and such. We will see soon.

Went to go put the hood on...and apparently didn't take the hinges off of my old hood before I sold it, thought I actually even had an extra set, but not seeing them off hand. I took a few days off for a sabbatical to think and ponder my future, and during that time I will be working on the car and trying to clean and organize the garage. Hopefully I stumble across them during that time.

Also on my to do list for the next few days: sand and coat the engine bay, get off my ass and finish the poly rear bushings, find a shop that can press in my new bushings, clean and reboot the steering rack, install rear camber arms, weld a new plate for the battery mounting bracket lower in the bay in place of the washer reservoir.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but that's a pretty substantial list. Beyond that, actual reassembly of the motor should be taking place this week as well. I need to strip these heads down still however as there are a lot of things I want to double check the machine shop on now and they need to be cleaned. After heads are cleaned, throw them on the block, degree the cams and time the motor. From there, everything left for the engine to run again is aesthetic improvements, or can wait for after its running.

Evil eye is mocked up for he hood.

Rear subframe bushings are almost ready, need to make new shells and bust out the drill press. Getting the old ones out was a PITA, basically cut them with a reciprocating saw and hammered the piss out of them. Hands and elbows are super sore from that now.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15...fe8382f2c0.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15...6cc971083c.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15...daef73855a.jpg

Some shots of today, none of the bushings yet. Or of the grill (which is now done except for a handle and paint for the drum.)

Well, last updates for the next few days most likely:

Rear subframe bushings will likely need a better drill press as mine apparently has no idea wtf the point of a drill press is (as it likes to wander off center and give me more oval holes than anything else..) I'll see what I can do though. I also need to order some metal to serve as a shell for one set of the bushings, and likely will order something to serve as a center pin for the bolts to pass though, just not sure what yet. Rear body to subframe bolts are what, maybe 19mm diameter? I'll have to get back out and measure them to determine what size I need.

Ordered some lower grit belts for my bench top belt sander as part of the projects, should help with quicker material removal and not clog up as fast. Also ordered some new discs for my DA sander for the evil eye project, however I have to make a long extension for the compressor wiring since I've crammed it into a closet in the garage for space reasons.

My OEM steering rack is toast, so rebooting it is pointless. Going to try to find another rack locally and likely depower it. It's one less thing in the engine bay to worry about, and I just don't really do much turning while not moving. When the vehicle is moving, the steering is fine without working PS (just ask me how I know :P )

The budget BBK project is likely going to become a one off because I don't really see much selling value in making adapters and selling as a kit now with those adapters out there to use bigger rotors with the stock calipers. As such, should become simpler for me, but remains to be seen.

Starting breaking down the JICs to size the correct pillowball replacement, figure might as well replace them while they're apart.

I did spend a bit of time drooling over the way the front of the car looks with the evil eye, 97 bumper and the Morgan front splitter. Is very nice. That said, I accomplished little on my list of things I wanted to get done, but I did clean the garage up and organize it, which was important. The parts room is getting the next organization and cleaning, which will likely be this coming week. I need to find a way to get my cherry picker out of storage and fit it into the house/garage somehow, as I would like to reinstall the crossmembers up front and drop the motor and turbos in to verify fitment of stuff before I get too deep into various other projects. Too bad nobody makes a fake plastic engine for the 6G like they do for the LS motors :p

Well, compressor still is dead. I'm leaning towards the pressure switch being no good. Rather than spend money trying to get it going, and then buying more tools to finish the body work, I decided to call it good on the repair I had done thus far and then spray painted it for temporary protection. Once the car is running properly, I'll worry about respraying the whole thing..

Heads were torn down and put back together once again after being thoroughly cleaned and checked out.

Shortblock is mostly together and spinning smoothly. The long block is waiting on new head bolts (or the off chance I magically come up with a few hundred bucks and someone posts A1 head studs) before I can put it together.

Still haven't replaced the pillowballs for the JICs, or done much work for the BBK project (I will be returning to that in the next week or two.)
I'm hopefully going early next week to pick up my trans, and a few other parts, necessary to complete the rebuild. Narrowing down what I need. List as I can think of it off hand to get the car mobile again:

Install poly bushings, make the poly rear subframe bushings (or buy another rear subframe for now to do this at my leisure.)
AWS delete
New prop valve to rear caliper hard lines under the car. New braided lines for each caliper. Complete ABS delete (with new prop valve.)
Repair the JICs.
Replacement steering rack
New head bolts
Make my custom fuel set up
New CVs

Even that list could be shorter if it absolutely needs to be.

Well, all the threads on the block have been chased, however I will not be reassembling the long block for a while most likely. The lease at my current house runs up at the end of June and I will not be renewing (part of the terms of the lease limit what times I can do work on the car to a small range where I am normally unable to do so due to work and school.) As such, everything is now getting prepped and packed for a move.

Most of the front suspension stuff is ready to go back on, the rear is in pieces. Finishing my poly rear subframe mounts is of the utmost import over the next month. Since it'll be trailered I'm not too concerned about having *everything* back on and torqued to spec, going to clean and do just enough to get it onto a trailer. Ideally, I will get the engine bay coated with the Master Series and the rear end where the rear subframe goes such that I don't have to pull them back off again except for a couple necessary replacements (AWS delete in the back, and to depower the steering rack for the front.) Some of the other mods I had in mind are likely going to have to wait until the next go around to get done, like the oversized radiator that's going in or the BBK. As it stands, unless someone buys the 2 bolt block, the mostly finalized mod list is as follows:

Things in red are items that need to be completed, or purchased still

Engine lower:
2 bolt block, o-ringed and upgraded with ARP Main studs
Ninja Rods
Wiseco pistons
Ninja Wrist Pins
Forged Crank

Engine Upper:
Polished heads, mild port.
New valve guides
264/272 cams
3SX adjustable cam gears, pinned. Cams degreed to centerline,then set to +1 -3
3G lifters

Power adders:
3SX TD05 kit, modified for external dump (Thanks FamilyMAN!) with 14Bs
CX racing FMIC kit modified for TD05, running thicker Treadstone core with more FPI
Tial Q VTA BOV
PTE 880CC injectors
Walbro 416


Misc Performance:
Custom fuel sender wiring bulkhead
AN8 feed to Oohnoo custom fuel rail set up
Stock feed line converted to return to tank.
Speed Density via AEM Series2 ECU
Power steering depower via Flying Miata mod guide
Polyurethane front suspension bushings
AWS delete
Custom Rear Subframe Poly Bushings
Full manual master cylinder to replace brake booster and OEM master and prop valve
JFast twin disk flywheel with Quartermaster Gear Drive clutch
Muellerized JIC FLT/TAR coil overs
2G brake upgrade

Drivetrain:
JDM 6 Speed transmission (thanks Nomiez!) with bellhousing brace, new seals, etc.
Supercar Center diff
Quaife front LSD

Cosmetic:
97 front end, 2G 3k side skirts, 2g 3k rear end, hoop spoiler
Morgan Motorsports front splitter
Lots of powder coating for engine bay parts
Underbody and engine bay cleaned to bare metal, then coated with Masterseries Silver and AG111 top coat.
Tan interior with more sound deadening
Tanabe Revel VLS gauges, potentially Blackstealth LCDBC mounted in speedo (if he still offers an AEM version like that.)

Convert coolant crossover to 6AN fittings and lines for turbos
New sound system
Wire tuck/delete/clean up


Down the road changes: Currently swapped to 2G front brakes, working on a custom BBK using 4 pot CTS-V calipers. Oversized dual pass radiator. Tubular bar to replace front motor mount and front most crossmember. Morgan Motorsports rear splitter. Custom bellypan to seal the underside of the car.

Small update, chasing ever more threads to try to get everything cleaned up proper. Been sanding and smoothing several things that will be getting powder coated, but don't want to see casting marks on. I have also gotten my hands on at least 1 more TT PS rack so I will start the process of depowering. If it all works out well, may start selling it as a service for folks. Given what it costs to get a remanned PS rack is around 250ish+shipping (or 300+core and shipping via some vendors) could be a cost effective alternative.

Likely ordering the AWS delete this weekend. I could build my own, but for $100 in cost of materials to do it right, versus paying $130ish to Ninja to get it already done and powder coated, laziness wins this round. Hoping to spend some time in the garage Monday doing the poly rear subframe bushings, but who knows. Also need to go through some of the engine bay stuff that is getting deleted to make some new sheet metal panels to cover up holes and such. Ideally I'd like to seal the bay off completely except for a hood vent, but at any rate, having all those extra holes I don't need does me no good.