Tales from the Batcave (RX-7, rallycross, misc. stuff content)

In reply to Patrick :

No need at all.  I ordered an ipd 3" downpipe/cat about three weeks ago, and it arrived a day or two after the engine started percolating the coolant.  Birthday's in March, and it's an even year car, so I need the new converter to pass emissions.

The problem is, with the 3" downpipe, I might go on ahead and get an upgraded intercooler, because to replace the rock damaged aux intercooler (the one you see up front that says "I am a gentleman ricer") would be more expensive than a mahoosive upgrade intercooler.  And scuttlebutt on the Internet is that the B5244T5 (Benzin, 5-cyl, 2.4l, 4 valve, Turbo, 5th version) is good for 500-600awhp in completely unopened form, which means the only real excuse for me to not buy an ipd 4T4 turbo upgrade and make more power than the RS3 that I want, is that replacing the turbo in-chassis looks like it's going to be a pain in the butt.

It would seem that Ford was trying to emulate a 70s-era C4 in shift slowness.

Every other twin clutch transmission I've experienced shifted near-instantaneously.  Even the Honda unit that was so smooth and seamless that I didn't realize it was a twin clutch until I looked it up.  (They outsourced to ZF for that 9-speed unit.  The fluid is $noreallyhowmuch per quart, too)  The Focus I'm driving shifts very slow and sleazy.  The car's chassis dynamics are decent, although it'd be nice if the seating position wasn't so SUV-high.

Whoa glad the Volvo on the lift had a semi happy ending, I'm chasing cel and flashing trans codes on my 274k T5 currently. On better news, it looks like we'll have 2 rally-x for NeohioSCCA in 2020!

Knurled. said:

Car is on the ground now.  (Oh, that part will happen pretty definitely!)  For whatever reason the right side ram would bleed all its pressure into the left side, so the right side would not go up, and also pressure would "equalize" by dropping the right and raising the left.  The right side was not stuck on its lock, it was being pushed all the way up by the fluid in the left, which would drop as a result.

 

After staring at the problem for a half hour, I got the idea to use a cherrypicker to pick the right side up off of its safety, manually release that side's safety, and walk it down a bit, and then have Rick lower the left side while I watched, see-sawing the car down about 4 inches at a time, one side at a time, until it was low enough that we could set the left side on jackstands and deal with the car with a floor jack.

 

I am in no mental state to work on anything right now   Engine is half disconnected, and I was in the process of starting to pull the suspension apart so I could get the angle gear off so I could get to the torque converter and some of the bellhousing bolts.

Im trying to catch up on threads and Indy Guy said it better than I can.

Im glad its down, now I just have to finish reading the thread.

Crap. All I could thin while reading was Crap.....Crap crap crap crap...oh crap.... I can only imagine how you felt.

Ready to go back in.  The cam pulleys are screwy to install and I really hope I got it right.

Ended up using this engine's turbo with the wastegate can from my old one.   There was a lot of screwing around like that, using the best hoses from this and that, and it is depressing that it is 7pm already.

Well, that went more smoothly than I'd anticipated.

Okay, I've hit peak berkeleyit.

All accessories on top are mounted, did this while the engine was still hanging high on the cherrypicker.  Installed the motor mounts, raised vehicle, zipped in the remaining six bellhousing bolts, went to do the torque converter.

Holes are too small.

Hmm, okay, this is nothing that a drill can't fix.  Drill out all the holes, and find... the bolt heads foul on a raised ring on the flexplate.  So I have to pull the engine back out and swap flexplates.  It's 10pm, I am freakin' hungry, I gotta be back here at 7:30 tomorrow.

Got home at 11, ate a couple BLT+egg sandwiches (hunger is the best spice!), feeling a bit better.

One of the holdups was this, when I was taking it apart, this happened:

The wires fell off the crank sensor.  Huh.  I figured I'd deal with it later. Well, today was later.  The connector was so heat-baked that it basically crumbled.  I first did this:

Soldered the besnottus out of them, then tried to reassemble them into what was left of the connector.  That was a fun waste of time.  Berk it, I said, and cocooned the terminals in electrical tape and ziptied them into the sensor.

With this latest setback, however, I'll see if I can get a pigtail tomorrow.

Flexplate differences are stupid.  That happened to me with the forester, very unsatisfying to have to pull everything back out for that.  

Pigtail for the crank sensor: $2.50.

Meanwhile...

Pigtail for an ignition coil: $50 each

Terminals for ignition coil: $3 each

This is why I am splicing in a crank pigtail, while I rebuilt the ignition coil connectors...

Bellhousing pattern.

Flexplate differences.

ipd downpipe on right. Supposed to be a bolt in.  I didn't like the look of the downstream O2 positioning, but what else we going to do?

GRRR

Hard contact with driveshaft. Also, the retainer tab for the O2 wiring is too far forward.

I have a Fix for both of these problems.  Just got back home from a lightning run  to Summit 15 minutes before they closed.

Well, if you saw it in the rant thread, the new engine is blown sky-high.  I never fired it.  I was cranking it with the fuel pump fuse unplugged, to build oil pressure before trying to fire it, and cranking compression was blowing the coolant out of the reservoir.  And there's an external leak at around number 3.

So, options.  I have sought contact with the yard who sold the engine.  I did this through eBay's messaging system.  The engine was purchased with PayPal Credit because they offered a 12 month period at zero interest.  I have not yet left feedback on the purchase.

I am fortunate enough to have free rein to use the shop loaners, which works for getting me back and forth to work, but they are usually gone during the day which means no going out for lunch.  Also, I have an all wheel drive car with new Blizzaks, I do not want to be driving a 5 year old Fit or Focus on all-seasons.  And as I type this, it is sleeting and will turn to snow.

Options.  2.4 engines are very thin on the ground.  Nearest junkyard on car-part is in Michigan, next closest is in New York.  2.5 is not an option, I want a more permanent fix than loading another time bomb into the chamber.

I am loathe to pull the 2.4 engine apart until I know what is going on, but my 2.5 is conveniently powering an engine stand.  I'll pull the head off and see if the head is warped.  (Must buy straightedge off of tool truck tomorrow)  If its deck is flat, and I can readily identify cracks in the bores, I will qualify the head as an asset.

The next step would be to pull the head off of the 2.4 and see what is going on in there.  If the block checks flat and the bores appear uncracked, I'll pop the 2.5 head on it with the head gasket set that I bought for the 5 million seals and O-rings.  (And I will shim the block at the same time, I am not a fool)

I'd love to say "fark it, throw the 2.5 and stock downpipe back in with the O2 "adaptor", trade it in on something else", but to be honest, there's nothing else I could buy that I would not consider a downgrade.  So it makes sense to persevere.

In reply to Knurled. :

That sucks. Hopefully they'll at least make you right on the eBay engine. 

Fark.  I want you to have better luck and get this beast running!

What about the Audi engine?  Pop that beast in there!

Well crap.

I was hoping you had better luck/progress. (I haven't visited in a few days)

Have you decided what now?

berkeley this E36 M3, I'm a man, I should buy a Miata.  There's an '01 locally for $3500.

I don't know what your opinion of them is, but Lori's Mk7 GTI DSG will probably be for sale or traded in in the next few months.

eastsideTim said:

I don't know what your opinion of them is, but Lori's Mk7 GTI DSG will probably be for sale or traded in in the next few months.

Go on...

Knurled. said:

eastsideTim said:

I don't know what your opinion of them is, but Lori's Mk7 GTI DSG will probably be for sale or traded in in the next few months.

Go on...

It's a red 2015 base model(GTI S, I think) will likely have between 90-100K when she gets rid of it.  Some blemishes, mostly clear coat delaminating on the front bumper and some curb rash on the wheels.  She got a 5 year/100K extended warranty that ends in early June? on it, and is a bit afraid of owning out of warranty, due to the odd stuff that has failed (AC evaporator and shifter assembly are the main ones I remember).  
  I can see if she'll bring it to a rallycross when the dates are announced if you want to check it out.

eastsideTim said:

Knurled. said:

eastsideTim said:

I don't know what your opinion of them is, but Lori's Mk7 GTI DSG will probably be for sale or traded in in the next few months.

Go on...

It's a red 2015 base model(GTI S, I think) will likely have between 90-100K when she gets rid of it.  Some blemishes, mostly clear coat delaminating on the front bumper and some curb rash on the wheels.  She got a 5 year/100K extended warranty that ends in early June? on it, and is a bit afraid of owning out of warranty, due to the odd stuff that has failed (AC evaporator and shifter assembly are the main ones I remember).  
  I can see if she'll bring it to a rallycross when the dates are announced if you want to check it out.

Intriguing.  Although for the money there are other options more immediate, realistically.

I wonder if Draco sold the Evo yet.

Although for the same money, I could fix the Volvo five times over.

No worries.  I’ll keep you informed.  We’re going to the new car show today to start looking at potential replacements.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Part of me wants to buy a Kia Rondo and stick a GRM bumper sticker on it, for the lulz

is dailying the rallycross rx7 not in the cards?