I am nearly finished with the painstaking process of removing the flaking gunmetal paint from the housings and front cover :rofl:, I'd say they're about 90% clean right now. I also have pretty much all the other engine parts I need on the way right now (flywheel, LIM, BAC, etc). Then it's on to re-sealing the oil pan and installing Banzai Racing oil pan brace, then she'll be just about ready to drop in. :001_005:

I've neglected this thread :(.

After getting the engine, I picked up all the external engine parts I needed (LIM, flywheel, a couple sensors, I had the exhaust mani lying around).

I did a mock-up of the long block (minus WP/WP housing and alternator):
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_1712.jpg

I eventually added everything else:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...0/101_1962.jpg

The water pump, water pump housing and a couple other things were media blasted locally, they be shinin'. I then painted the water pump and pulleys with black engine enamel and scrubbed the hell out of the intake manifold pieces with engine degreaser.

I still need to clean up the air pump and it's bracket, the alternator, and the LIM. The flash makes the dirty stuff look worse than they reallyare, but they're still dirtier than I'd like.

I then got my flywheel resurfaced and bought a clutch kit:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_2209.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...0/101_2024.jpg
It's an Exedy "stage 1". The "stock replacement" one would have been enough to hold the power I plan on making (barely over stock), but I plan on driving the car pretty hard at autocrosses and hopefully some track days so a little breathing room couldn't hurt.

Then I bought a bunch of gaskets:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_1784.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_1779.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_1783.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_1780.jpg


one day, I found possible evidence of a mouse invasion:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...0/101_1904.jpg

So I left out some coolant in case the fuckers came back:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...0/101_1913.jpg
They never came back, no carcasses, no more damages, so maybe they came in once and decided to stay out.


I also found some shady wiring that I haven't fixed it yet:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...0/101_1911.jpg
Who would use wire nuts on anything other than a ceiling fan? :rofl: :o10:

Today, after getting the car up on dollies, I decided to have a look at the undercarriage. I was aware of some slight floor damage, caused by what looks like someone driving over a rock or something. I wanted to inspect it closer and start repairing it.

This rail was dented from the bottom and from the side:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_2186.jpg

And there were some gouges in the undercoat:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_2189.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_2188.jpg

After some hammering and prying, I got it straightened out a bit. It's not perfect, but I'm not too worried about it:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_2201.jpg

After that I hit the area with a wire brush and sprayed it with primer to protect from it from further rust, until I figure out what kind of undercoat I want to apply.


Here's an interesting shot from today, taken from the trans tunnel looking out of the open hood:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...7/101_2197.jpg


As for the project as a whole, I only have a few more parts to get before I can put everything together. In addition to engine stuff, I'm going to be getting new bushings all around the car, and I plan on painting the engine bay as well. I found a rattle can color that matches the stock color pretty closely. I'm getting pretty excited, the end is coming into sight. I'll finally have an FC I can be proud of, that doesn't shed more of it's body mass every time a door is slammed, not to mention the "yeah, I did it" feeling of doing a bunch of resto work myself.

The detailed list of what's left:
- Purchase and install Banzai Racing Oil Pan Brace
- Purchase and install complete bushing set. I'm looking at MMR, but I've heard horror stories about their shipping times and customer service. hmm...
- Torque flywheel and install clutch
- Purchase and install block-off plates for OMP, ACV and sub-zero start valve
- Paint engine bay
- De-rust and paint subframe
- spend a day under the car removing surface rust
- Finish restoring passenger side tail light
- clean and paint various engine and engine bay parts
- Assemble engine with gaskets and proper torque
- Degrease transmission
- Purchase and install shifter bushings
- Mate engine and transmission together
- Apply undercoating (???)
- Install engine & transmission
- Purchase 2 summit RPM switches and rig up 6pi & VDI actuati0on system utilizing factory air pump
- Purchase and install driver side door handle :lol:

Might have missed a couple steps, but that's the gist of it.

So what do you guys recommend for undercoating? My factory undercoating is practically falling off in some places due to the damage posted above, and I want to get something stronger on there. I've heard good things and bad things about POR-15, I know there's more out there but I haven't done much research on it yet. Any input would be appreciated. :icon_tup:

I think SEM makes an undercoating you could try.

I do like the idea of a spray-on deal, rather than something that requires sliding around under the car brushing something on and dripping it all over the place and what not. I probably don't need something like POR-15 and the like, since I plan on never driving in snow (and waiting a few rains after winter to wash the salt away), and washing off the undercarriage regularly.

Progress is looking good - now it's time to get some simplegreen and start cleaning the engine bay

Keep the pics coming on the frame repair if u get around to it!

Thanks! As a matter of fact, I began cleaning out the engine bay last night with Simple Green. I'll be painting the bay, since the factory paint is peeling off in some areas, and the 'frame rail' on the passenger was stripped of paint and allowed to rust due to a leak at the master cylinder. I definitely have to clean it thoroughly before the paint process can begine, though.

I'll take a few more pics of random stuff today and post a few up.


In fact, I have a mini-update of sorts:
I 'detailed' the gas cap area a couple days ago. It's surprising how filthy it can get in there.

I didn't think to take a before pic, but here it is now. It's not 100% spotless, but it's way better than it was before:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...0/101_2283.jpg



Here's my artist's depiction of what it looked like before:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...000/before.jpg


I also dislike this gas cap. It's an aftermarket one, someone must have drove off with the original one sitting on the fender one day. I'll grab the OEM one off that FC in the junkyard next time I'm there.

Coming along good!! Reminds me of mine-- I did an S5 NA swap, with the VDI manifold, all in an 88 base. Keep er comin!

Lookin good!
About the undercoating, POR 15 is some quality stuff, if you go slow w/ the roller and don't saturate it it should stay out of your eyes too,lol. Perhaps you can roll the large areas and spray the ones that are hard to get to?

So, I just thought of something. In the next couple of weeks, I'll be receiving $2500, most of which I plan on using on the car. What do you guys think the odds are of finding a wrecked or rusty TII with a running engine and good drivetrain for around $1000-1500 are? It would be great to buy a complete TII donor and swap all the guts into this car.

I've located a running TII with a Racing Beat exhaust and a Koyo radiator about 6 hours away for $1300. He says the engine may need a rebuild, something I planned on doing anyway. If I get my money before it sells, I might have to make a road trip. The body looks ot be in good shape too, so I should have no problem selling it as a roller once I take everything I want. I'm getting pumped!!

any updates with this?

Nope :(. Too cold, plus there's been a bunch of crap going on lately. On the upside, I should be able to get everything I need with one last big order from Mazdatrix. I'll have to take the control arms and stuff into my former high school auto shop to press in the new bushings I plan on getting, once that's done it should all fall into place, really.

No update really, but I've decided to swap the 5-lug stuff from my beater FC onto this car, and then put the 4-lug stuff back on the beater to keep in running, rather than buying a whole new 5-lug setup for the garage ornament (I am a typical broke FC owner, after all :lol:). I'll probably start on that once the snow melts in a few weeks.

Oh yeah, the TII thing never happened. I was disappointed, but in reality I'd be best off staying n/a for a while.