A lot of stuff been going on lately. Been hanging out with a 'newer' group of friends. It's nice to just hang out and be around people that you know won't judge you for who you are. Had a blast and celebrated a friend's birthday as well. Hope she enjoyed the plans we had for her.
Onto car stuff, I got my car prepped for trackday on the 28th. To be honest, it's been a long week because of the install of all the crap that's had to be done. A lot of running around to get parts/materials and in the end of each day it felt like I wasn't getting much done. I really pulled it off when I started pulling late-nighters.
List of stuff that's been installed so far:
- CSC Racing rollbar (Review here)
- Fidanza 1.6 flywheel
- OEM Mazda clutch and pressure plate
- OEM pilot and release bearings
- Low mileage 6 speed transmission
- 1.8 Differential
- Torsen T1 LSD
- Maxim Works header
- Test pipe
- Magnaflow exhaust
- 94-97 brake swap (XP10/8 combo)
I'll just post the pics and write a quick blurb beneath each one.
Brake swap was actually done quite awhile ago. I guess I just didnt have the chance to post it up due to laziness. Here you can see the dust shield for the rear. I bought an angle grinder just for this job. It worked out well. Thanks to Nic for doing the cuts for me. I trust him more with it than myself hahaha.
1.8 brakes really fill up the wheel hole a lot more. The brakes don't look so dinky anymore.
After reading up a lot on brake pads and bedding procedures, I was able to bed these Carbotechs in nicely. You can see the niiiice transfer layer I put on. It was also a sad day because I managed to suck in a bird in my radiator while doing the bedding procedure.
CSC rollbar. Had some issues with the finish and all (see the review link). Other than that it fit great. Big thanks to AJ for hooking me up with the VHT Paint. Boy that spray bomb was expensive. It definitely helps to remove the softtop when installing the bar.
Took the diff apart. I managed to have a nice piece of cardboard to lay everything out on. I made sure each side of the diff was layed out appropriately.
I got the backlash set by Ocean. Big thanks to him and his knowledge, I saved myself from a HUGE mistake I made.
I got Jay to press out the old bushings. FUCKING pain in the arse. Seriously these took some ingenuity to remove. I owe him a lunch still for the help.
Started on the removal of the drivetrain. Everything came out all at once as it was easier to do this way, but of course more downtime.
Here you can see the stock flywheel being locked in place by the tool I got Jay to make for me.
Here the new flywheel, clutch, PP and pilot bearing are installed. Same tool is used for torquing everything down without having the flywheel move on you. Awesome tool, I have more if anyone wants to buy one.
You can see the difference between the 6 speed and 5 speed transmission plates. The 6 speed is the one behind. The starter hole is actually a slot. Although its a slot, the NA starter only can use the top and bottom holes for mounting. It doesnt line up with the slot.
Old 5 speed and new-ish 6 speed. The 6 speed is actually a low mileage one Sanjay had laying around. Cleaned it up and heres the final look!
This is the 5 speed shifter turret. I took this picture so you can see the difference between the 6 speed and 5 speed shifters.
Here is the 6 speed one. Notice the bolt pattern is rotated 180 degrees. That means you can use the 5 speed shifter if you knock out one of the guide pins and reverse the shifter!
Cleaned up the PPF and the driveshaft as well. Everything may as well be clean before it all goes back in.
After a long hard week, I gave her a wash and called it quits. It's going to be awhile until I do something else with the car.
After the swap, the car feels like a toootally different beast. Its hard to believe its even the same car. Those that read my blog will just have to get a ride from me... from the people that have gotten a ride have given very positive feedback.
Back to life stuff,
I have some other priorities I want to take care of for the time being. One of them is getting back in shape. I want to get my stamina back and compete again.
I'm trying not to be so attached to this car, the reason being is if anything were to happen (knock on wood) I don't want life to plummet again. I've been through it and I don't want to go through it again. I'm trying to save my cash, it can be put towards better things than a vehicle. It's time to be smart about things, I'm growing up and my mind needs to grow proportionally to my age. I think its for the best. I made myself a promise not to spend anything on the car until next year.
Don't really know what I'm going to do for the rest of the summer. I'll just have to see where life takes me.
No comments:
Post a Comment