Bill,
That motor and tranny look great! Do you have pictures of the old fly wheel? I was wondering what these things look like after 14 or so years. Was there an area that appeared to have failed or was on its way to failing?
John

 

John, I still have the old flywheel, I want to try and take it apart to see what it looks like inside. The flywheel is the primary reason I'm doing this job, I knew it was bad from the PPI, most noticeable when you shut the engine off but a lot of times it sounded like a bag of marbles back there (I hope that was the flywheel, if not it may be the marbles my wife says I've lost....)

When I take the flywheel apart I'll take pics in case someone wants to see it.

Have a Happy Holiday John.

I'm one of those people that uses every bit of space I have and still wants more. I might could do it in a 1 car garage but I'd spend half my time moving stuff around looking for something else. As it is I've got the bumper and a bunch of other parts in my crawlspace under the house to keep me from tripping over them.

My big project this spring is to pull everything out of the garage, clean/paint, put some time of flooring down and build a more functional workbench area.

 

Awesome man- looks like you are neck deep! Garage looks nice- makes me excited to get my new garage up to snuff!

 

Last night got all the engine connections checked and a little of the oil back in the car. This AM I got her fired up. First pulled the DME and cranked the engine a few times until I got steady oil pressure, then put the DME back in and cranked her up. After a very reasonable delay to get fuel back into the system she fired right up and ran great. I had a fair amount of smoke from various parts of the engine and exhaust but that was due to all the parts cleaner/solvent and the Berryman's carb cleaner I used during the Roto-Router job on the SAI passages so it did stink for a bit.

Then I got the bumper back on, took longer than I expected because there is such a variety of screws on that thing, figuring out what screw went where was annoying. Hope I got it right.

Fired her back up and went for the shake-down drive. Idle was smooth and no running problems at all. I did find 2 problems on the shake-down, I had to add 2 qts. instead of the usual 1 after it warmed up and the oil thermostat opened and my right rear turn signal wasn't working. The bulb had come unscrewed sometime during the bumper removal, had to re-insert it and all was well.

Wound up driving about 30 mi., I'll drive it a good bit more tomorrow AM before the weather turns crappy and hopefully give her a bath too.

She starts/runs great, the LWF makes her spin up quicker, the clutch feels much better (clutch slave bleed job has to be a factor too). No oil leaks so far. I'm quite pleased with it all. Only minor issue is the residual smell from the solvents ect. but that will go away with more driving.

It is nice having the car back on the road. Photos later.

 

What I wound up doing:
- LWF and Clutch kit (FD Motorsports)
- Rep. Clutch slave cylinder hose
- Rear main engine seal
- Rep. Valve cover gaskets and bolts (intake & exhaust)
- Rep. Cam chain gaskets and grommets (left side & right side)
- Rep. Plug wires (all 8, I mean 6, no I mean 12....)
- Rep. Power steering belt
- New Alt & Fan belts
- Engine pad removal
- Clean ISV
- Rep. SAI Check Valve
- Roto-Router SAI passages from exhaust port
- Installed new Fister-D Stage II.5 mufflers
- Several O-rings replaced
- Cleaned cosmoline from many parts but much still to be done
- Cleaned and spray painted engine tin
- Rep. piping (gaskets) between rear bumper and qtr. panels

Well, I think that's about it. This was a great learning experience, I'm glad I did it.

 

Great job Bill.

Now you get to enjoy it!!!

 

Bill,
That is great! It is always rewarding when the engine starts up the first time after doing that must maintenance. The clutch must feel like butta. I hope you took a lot of pictures during the process. Congrats!
John

 

Hi Bill,
I read that the clutch shares the master cylinder with the brakes? Is that true?

 

Great feeling knowing that you took it apart, put it back together, and having it runs great huh?

 

Not the master cyl but it does share the reservoir. You have to get the brake fluid pretty full before doing the clutch.

 

To be honest, I really expected to find that I had left something unplugged or a clamp loose. No one is more surprised than me that firing her up was so uneventful.
Took quite a few John. Now I just need to renew my Google storage acct. so I can upload them. (Picasa)

 

Bill,
Just read all 5 pages of your adventure. Enjoyed every post.
Nicely Done!
Neil

 

Bill, great work! Not being there, and just reading about it - it seems like it went pretty quick. It probably seems to you like it took forever. Looking forward to seeing more pictures, and maybe a rundown of things you learned and any tips you may have.

 

I second that.

 

awesome, congrats Bill!