I've been keeping quite busy in the garage. I have been spending a lot of time trying to get rid of this damn sound dampener sh*t. I have located a semi-local place that can supply dry ice, unfortunately it's not worth it to drive an hour to get the stuff when I have already chiseled more than 90% out already.

I found that the dampener in the front floorboards and attached to the center console hump thing is much more difficult to remove than the rest. For some reason, the driver's side front floorboard is the worst by far; what a nightmare it is. You'll see in the next few pictures. I think it's all gummed up in that particular location because of the position relevant to the old OEM exhaust... that's just my guess anyhow.

I'm not done by any means because there is still little bits of crap all over, and I'm aiming for "ready to paint," but I should be done in the next few days.

Without the dry ice, I wanted to try something else out to see if I could get any benefit from it. I kind of like to think it was clever, but I took a can of compressed air (for dusting), turned it upside down, and sprayed the liquid onto the dampener. In some spots it froze it instantly. Though the benefit is far from dry ice, it made chiseling 100x easier. If you choose to use this as a substitute, I recommend the use of an approved respirator.



I can only handle so much of ^that sh*t before I need to move on and do something else.

Yesterday, I picked up the semi-circle head grommets I had ordered from Auto Zone. Today, I installed them along with the valve covers, etc.

I hate to be Mr. Obvious and all that but I'm going to just throw this out there: make sure you remember to put the RTV around the spark plug tunnels. There's only one reason I'd bring that up, need I say more? Well it's all better now.



I was digging around in my gasket kit and found the egr gasket... so I decided to go ahead and make use of it:



That's it for tonight, Fam. More tomorrow!

engine looks clean man good luck. Oh and how are you going about this build? Do you know how to swap it, DVD, friends, or trial and error.

crakin wrote:engine looks clean man good luck. Oh and how are you going about this build? Do you know how to swap it, DVD, friends, or trial and error.

I know how to swap. As far as this engine... mostly trial and error. I do a lot of research for specifics, but all in all the process is pretty simple.

I suspect I'll have a little difficulty when it comes to wiring. Otherwise, the most difficult part of the whole thing is putting something together that I didn't have the liberty of taking apart. I already mapped out my wiring after digging through the FSM and wiring diagrams as well as having the wiring right in front of me. Right now I'm researching the best ways to consolidate all of the vacuum and coolant lines. This is really my next step on the engine before I can stack on the plenum, so it's the freshest in my mind.

Thanks for the luck; I know I'll need it. Man, getting that engine that clean was a b*tch!

Nice work Zach. Keep it up.

Thanks Chris, so when are you going to be running!?

Hehe, I think i've created a monster

And stop sending me update pics on the mobile phone, put them on here >:

Did you call me yesterday?

Yeah, I have the slave cylinder you need. I'll have that in the mail today.

speedeast wrote:Thanks Chris, so when are you going to be running!?

I need to find my 4 cylinder head sub-bolts, some metric vacuum fittings for the intake manifold, and then bolt it all together. Cams are already in. Exhaust mani and turbo are on as well. All that's left is the intake side, the turbo lines, and the valve cover. Hell, I've even got the timing set already.

Sweet, sounds like you're on your way. I'll be in Charlotte all next week and Wilmington the week after. I wish it was a social trip, I'd plan a visit.

damnit make my vq mounts QQ

one day, we will ride again....leave the mazda this time tho

I could make the mounts if I have a VQ to f*ck around with.

speedeast wrote:I could make the mounts if I have a VQ to f*ck around with.

How about u send me a set of your vh mounts and i'll send u a envelope full of cash seriously i need them lol.Nice build, why did you choose the tt tranny?


Modified by SxMachine at 1:02 PM 4/11/2010

SxMachine wrote:How about u send me a set of your vh mounts and i'll send u a envelope full of cash seriously i need them lol.Nice build, why did you choose the tt tranny?

I have no problem making you a set of mounts. I am PayPal verified. I need to know whether you want the urethane mounts like mine or brackets that will sit on the OEM mounts. Just a heads up, I paint them black. Email me.

As far as the TT tranny, it seemed like the right choice as it required less modification. (no starter spacer, etc.)

Update!

I left off with sound dampener and valve covers. Since the last update, I have continued right along with the dampener removal. I have just kind of been scraping it out when I get a spare minute or two between tasks. Almost gone!

Today, I bit the bullet and went to Auto Zone for my coolant and vacuum lines, etc. I wanted to order something braided with some pretty connectors, but spending all of that money there would delay the process even more for something that does nothing except weight more than just rubber hoses.

While I cut and clamped the hoses on and organized everything, my friend Jake continued chipping away at the dampener.

Well, this is what I came up with, inspired in part by some other builds that I've kept up with.



I don't have the bolts to mount the thermostat housing on, but I modified it and painted it (very rough, porous surface needed some coating). I mocked it up in place and even hooked the radiator hoses to it just to see if they were long enough... all's good!



Ideas? Comments? Tips?

This thread makes me realize that I suffer from ADOSS. Attention Deficit Oh Something Shiny!

PyR0NiAk wrote:This thread makes me realize that I suffer from ADOSS. Attention Deficit Oh Something Shiny!

Haha, that's awesome!

This is definitely a thread to keep a watch on! Great work dude.

Hey thanks for showing how to move your PCV/crank vent fittings. I never knew that. They can break though so be careful, the little angled section is welded or something idk how to describe lol.
Lookin' fresh and clean as always. Lovin it.

This is definitely a thread to keep a watch on! Great work dude.

Hey thanks for showing how to move your PCV/crank vent fittings. I never knew that. They can break though so be careful, the little angled section is welded or something idk how to describe lol.
Lookin' fresh and clean as always. Lovin it.

Thanks guys! Those little vent fittings can be removed pretty easily. For example, on the left bank where there is a LONG one, I had to pull it out and install it backwards because there wasn't clearance to spin it. But yeah, I was careful with them. [insert thumbs up smiley]

I'm not liking this whole no easy quote or good smiley selection...
And WHAT!? No edit function!?

>>> keep going >>>

kozanatos wrote:>>> keep going >>>

Tryin' to, man. It's been hard. I've been out of work and now I'm trying to play catch up.

Still waiting!

Haha, soon... I promise. I wanted to have it done by today actually. LMAO! I was going to go to the show this weekend, but that's not happening. NEXT YEAR!

Cant wait for updates, i'm seriously thru with the lsx swappers. Didnt get that email btw

Email?

Been working on my gas tank today guys, pictures soon. I also found something that'll eat that tar residue out of the car!

And a special thanks to Chris for the thread name change!

wow.. 4 pages of this with ADOSS is almost difficult to keep up with.. but as is visible, it looks great!

speedeast wrote: And a special thanks to Chris for the thread name change!

Not a problem..

Hey Chris, email me those pics if you want me to photoshop those wheels for ya.

Here's a mini-update with what's been irking me lately...

The fuel tank in the car was half full when I bought the car, but the fuel inside was never treated to prevent condensation, etc. The lower half of the tank rusted, but not too terribly bad. The top half, on the other hand, is fugly.

I went through a process - although I haven't made it all the way through it...

I started with Muriatic Acid and hot water sloshing it around real good and emptying -- repeat. Well, I did that a couple times and the tank appeared to be a little better, so I was happy, but far from excited. I realized the Muriatic acid I was using was supposed to be environmentally friendly or something, so I went out and found a gallon of the nasty stuff. I repeated the process twice more with the nasty stuff and the results were much more profound. At this point I was getting excited, UNTIL, I reached my phone in and snapped a picture of the top half - disgusting! I reached my fingers in there and rubbed the top of the tank and it just crumbled off into my fingers as I rubbed. I don't know whether to keep doing the chemical bath in there or suck it up and invest in another fuel tank or a cell. I cleaned the tank out with MEK, but nothing changed and the metal was certainly not ready for the coating.

Here are some pictures of where I'm at with this:







Input wanted...

Oh yeah, and as of next week, I will be a resident of NoVa/DC Area!

Im in the NC area and recently at the garage I worked at we had an 89 Isuzu Trooper that had been sitting for 3+ years waiting for repairs. Well, we finally got into fixing it and found that the fuel pump had died. So, I drop the tank and find the same thing... horrible rust. Sooo, we took it to a chemical stripping place that basically dipped it in an acid bath, I think, and cleaned it up real nice. They removed ALL of the interior rust and to my surprise there was little to no damage. So, look around your local area for a place that does that kind of stuff. Im sure you have one. It was around 125 bucks if I remember correctly and took a day or two.