VTCS Removal: Part 3 (Plus Extras)
Spring break is approaching! Pretty soon, I'll have a week to just install everything and enjoy the benefits.
Today, I grinded down the epoxy blobs to match the walls of the manifold, but accidentally took too much off of two spots. I broke out the epoxy once more, lathered it on, and vowed to use a drum sander next time around. After that, my gaskets came in, so I officially have everything I need.
Pardon the crap picture, but here's a close up...no more hole! It's still quite dirty, but I can clean that up.
Everything's ready to go. Only thing is, I'm slightly nervous about the installation. It may not be a whole lot, but there's certainly enough to make me uneasy. Lots of fuel rail stuff, the strut tower bar, miscellaneous vacuum lines and coolant lines are in the way, and may be very old and brittle by now. This all could amount to one giant mess. Plus, do I have to take off the entire throttle body if I'm just replacing the upper-half of the intake manifold? It almost looks like I don't have to. I don't remember too much from when I yanked a [faulty] upper half from the junkyard, as I extracted it in an admittedly gung-ho manner. One thing's for sure; getting those bolts that secure the upper-half of the manifold won't be fun. I bought various extensions at various sizes for my...various ratcheting socket wrenches, so perhaps this time around it won't be such a struggle. Probably going to call over a pal to help me out.
Extra Stuff
I mentioned an "undisclosed" mod a little while ago, and here it is!
Got a new headunit plus new speakers all around. The OEM one on my car began eating CDs and asserting itself as a pain in the ass, so after I failed to persuade it to work (as in, I punched the damn thing so hard that I caved in the little panel underneath the screen...), I went and got a new system. It's absolutely wonderful! The sound quality is astonishing, and even has a little USB drive for my MP3 player. I'm not going to have to bring 4 or so CDs with me everywhere anymore. I must say, some tweeters might sweeten the deal...
Well, just a few days ago, a record-setting blizzard ravaged the city. Record-high wind speeds topples fences and trees, and dear lord it almost took my car from me.
That 40-some-year-old tree looked like it was about to fall on my car (perpendicular to the position of the tree), but another gust picked up and blew it back towards the side yard. Fellas, my build page almost ended, lol. Made me realize that if I ever had a part-out, I'd have a decent selection of items to sell.
Post-MP3 Tune?
After the IM and the ECU are installed, that leaves the trailing arms, and that about does it for this round of modifications. I have some ideas for future mods past this point:
- Oil temp and/or oil pressure gauge
- Voltmeter gauge
- Lightweight crankshaft pulley
- Short-throw shifter (hopefully one that works and fits properly)
- Cusco front tie bar
- Better seats
- Used Tokicos/Koni strut inserts or New Coilovers
- Motor Mounts
- Headlight restore + blackout housing
- Interior dress-up items such as metal pedal covers or mazdaspeed door sill plates
- J-spec camshafts
That's my grand list of ideas. Realistically speaking, the crankshaft pulley may come sooner, since my accessory belt is starting to squeal and slip more often. That way, I can get in there, replace both belts, swap out the crankshaft pulley, and be done with it. Since I started racing, I really felt a need to get some gauges in my car to monitor it's "health" while pushing it hard. Pressure and temp say a lot, and can potentially keep me from killing it. The headlight "restore" I did is beginning to fade, as my job wasn't as good as I thought it was. Next time I do it, I'll use a different method, and use a power drill with an adapter for buffs and pads. When I'm done, I'll crack open those headlight units and give it a nice spray of black paint! Finally, I greatly miss the feeling of those bronzeoil bushings coupled with a solid shifter, so that's up there in priorities.
The maybes are motor mounts, the tie bar, volt gauge, and better seats. My driver seat has been broken for quite some time now, and a replacement is in order. I either do this the traditional way by getting a new seat at the junkyard, or take it a step further and buy racing seats.
It's either unlikely or far-off that I'll tackle coilovers or tokicos/koni inserts, interior dress-up items, and cams. I'm not willing to spend crap loads on suspension while the struts on my car are alright for now, nor does the gamble to buy used tokicos sound all that appealing. Plus, there's no real point in upgrading the suspension while I'm still learning how to race on stock suspension! Cams are something I really want to do, but know absolutely nothing about installation. Not only would I have to learn how to time an engine/remove the timing belt, but I'd have to become comfortable with exposing the head of the engine and exercise extreme caution. Freaks me out!
That about does it. That MP3 tune is so close I can almost feel my car redlining freely...