vandal968

Wow, GREAT thread!

Autocomman, you took it out the top and replaced it from the bottom. Which do you think is the better way?

cheers,
c

autocomman

Bottom!! No question. All you have to do is remove the exhaust, pull the wiring through the firewall into the engine compartment, disconnect all the hoses and what not. You can unbolt the pressure plate through the holes in teh bell housing, there are 2 holes and the starter hole, you can easly remove all 9 bolts and leave the clutch in the bell housing. Drop the motor out the bottom, crossmemeber and all. I had a lot of trouble getting the turbo past the brake booster and the A/C condensor, tht was with the radiator out. Also I wanted to go back in the car with as much bolted on it as possible. The motor mounts are a PITA to get out just to remove the engine in the first place. Going out or back in the bottom means you dont have to deal with that. An NA car however would prolly be much easier to come out the top.

autocomman

Los Angeles, PM for more details. I work in Chatsworth

autocomman

Fixed fixed FIXED!! I put this in my other boost issue help thread but ill put it here too to keep it all together.

This has been a super long term issue, but being grandmas car I never bothered to deal with it. 8 yeas ago I tried and failed and gave up. So, long story short, the vent line from the CV to the J-boot is restricted. I pupped the hose off the CV and blasted it around the block. Full .7 BAR. Go figure. Now I swear 8 years ago when I first started to tackle this I checked that line, but either its only partially restricted, or I had other issues such as the failing engine harness, or DME and KLR issues. Either way sometimes going back to basics is what ya need to do, frekin A man. Now it pulls like I remember. So, I can finally move on to finishing this project and putting it away!!

autocomman

I dug into it and I think the pic is pretty self explaintory. Thats the J-boot, it was replaced some time for ever ago way before I was working on this car (over 10 years) and thats where the bleed form the CV goes, works a helluva lot better now that I punched it open

Anyway, shims outa the wastegate, no more overboost. Its running jsut like it should. Interior is back in and its starting to really behave itself, no more leaks either. Im really becoming much happier haha,

autocomman

Well Im done with the car. Its 98% there, needs an alignent, wheel balance and a check valve for the headlight washers. Aside from that its all back together, and man she runs sweet. Im really happy with the results, and NO LEAKS! Oiy it took a minute to get there. Id finish the stuff up but there were some family issues and I needed to put the car back in grandmas garage. So there it shall sit till I dunno when. But its pretty much ready for what ever the future holds for it. Thanks for the comments and support!!

Mark

mazdaverx7

You've done an awesome job with the car Mark!! I'm really hoping you hang onto the car for awhile before you consider selling it. This would be the car to buy if I were in the market. Perfectly sorted and completely ready to roll. Do you know if your grandma took any pictures of the car when it was new that you could share? Also, what made her decide on a 951?

autocomman

Its a morbid thing to think but the car will be wrapped up in the estate when the enevitible happens. There are some pics I think of the car when it was new. Its one of those things where my uncle the car guy steering grandpa into it, so they bought it for grandma. She previously had a Triumph TR8, yeah a TR8.

I like driving the car, I think its got a fantastic look, but its not for me. Its too expnsive to maintain, and just not my kinda thing. I have a 1995 W124 benz wagon with an 3.6 AMG engine swap, last year of that chassis as my daily, and a 1959 bug eye sprite as my toy. Wife has a 73 mini thats on the lest next, as well as a 74 fiat X1/9 for my mom, and my dads LQ4 6 litire swapped 82 olds Custom Cruiser wagon. Ive got more than enough to maintain and keep me busy. :-)

autocomman

Well an update, after 500 miles the power steering high pressure line that I didn't replace (the one part) started to leak. So I parked the car back in Gmas garage ever since. Just pulled it out again to deal with it and I will say when I got under there I was pleasantly surprised to see no oil leaks! SO all is well thank god...just fighting inconsistent crappy thermostats, and im gonna do the brakes all the way around, caster blocks cap rotor plug and wires and an O2 sensor. Finish it all up.