Yeah, trust me I put a lot of hard work in order to get those "shiny new parts". work + school + RX-7 is just damn expensive!

Ain't that the truth. I think the addiction is worse than heroin.

yeah, just paid 35 for gear oil, 80 for turbocharger and exhaust gaskets, 80 for the tank cleaning, 90 for the walbro, 100 for RB silencer, $65 for boost gauge, 175 for modded spindles, etc... shit's crazy, and what's scary is that this car is still relatively stock...

Just think of what FD guys have to go through. :D

PS: That's $640 by the way... on shit that most people will take for granted, cause it's not "Mad tyte JDM, yo". haha

totally forgot about this thread... it's now June 2010, and the FC is still kickin! I've been daily driving it since I got my fuel tank cleaned up and my clutch changed.

I was hoping to fix any and all small problems before DGRR-X, but it looks like for the second year in a row, fate bit my ass.

I called off the trip 18hrs before hand, with a slight vibration in my driveline still un diagnosed, and a feeling that "something is just not right".

Well, I went on a date that friday, and on the way home, noticed coolant on the ground... it wasnt too much, but enough to be a problem.

Got the car home, and guess what I found? The coolant line from the TB to the rear iron somehow got cut and was pissing coolant all over everything. Needless to say, I'm glad I didn't go to Deals Gap with this... my intuition was right.

anyway, this whole thing led me to rip the thermowax the fuck out and chuck it as far away as possible. I tried telling myself that I shouldn't take it out, but said screw it after this happened.

anyway, I signed up for a 6 week auto-body class for this summer, so I'll be repainting my car in pearl white, and fixing all the dents and shit wrong with it till now. I got a Volvo 740 wagon as a daily... badass car, rwd 4 speed manual with 90hp, hahaha!

Another notable, I am finally an Official Tech at a Mercedes/Volvo dealership, so I got access to a lift, alignment rack, and tire mounting machines, which will all save me a shitload of money and make my life a bit easier.

Pics of the Volvo and FC teardown to follow.

Those 740s are some bad motherfuckers! I'd rock the piss out of one of those. Nice build btw. Being a tech and having access to all that shit is amazing. Makes you realize how much time, energy, and motivation you lose working on cars in your driveway.

yeah, it's pretty cool.

Any advice on installing the shifter spring? I want to do mine before I put everything back in the car, but I hear it's a huge pain in the ass :rofl:.

well, the picture is of a screwdriver ground down into a makeshift punch...

the punch is needed to push out the shifter "block".

My advice is: take the tranny out of the car.
Buy all the seals, like the RMS, and etc..
Get new tanny mounts and crossmember if your center bushing is shot...

When you do this:

The shift rod is supposed to go into a position where it slides off the shifter "Gates" and goes down far enough to let the shifter block off the linkage shaft... then it's easy as pie...

When this happened to me, I thought I broke my trans and took apart the tailshaft housing just to make sure I didn't bend anything.... turns out this is how it's supposed to be.... lol.

another piece of advice: upgrade your clutch at this time, surface the flywheel (50 dollars at machine shop) and replace the throwout and pilot bearings. The autozone "tool" works, it just needs to be tightened extremely well, otherwise it just pops out...

Also replace the clutch master and slave cylinders as well...

and use GL-4 Redline oil. GL-5 is actually too slippery from what I've read... supposedly... but this is just speculation.

MT-90 75W90 GL-4 Gear Oil

Use 75W instead of 80W... there is a factory service bulletin on this.

only reason i havent bothered to replace my transmission (reverse wont engage) is because im waiting to just upgrade stuff. too lazy to do it all twice.

Ok, some pics of the Volvo, and proof that it's really a manual. also included is the 200,000 mile 130bhp of fun called a volvo 4 cylinder! :rofl:

Let the strip down begin!

Rented a tow dolly to get the car to the body shop with the engine out. Had my best friend DJ for me while I work, and help me with with the pull. :D

More, and the new car my parents just bought, I just detailed it in that shot.

So, my instructor told me that I cant weld in the engine bay unless I take out the sound deadening fabric on the back side of the firewall. Well, to do that, I would need to remove the dash... and pretty much everything else there:

HVAC
Pedal Box
Steering Rack
Main wire harness
speakers
stereo wiring (I am SO redoing my wiring when I put it back together)

I forgot to take a pic of the car with the wiring harness pulled through the firewall, but I DID do it... and yes it was a pain, but it's the only way!

Oh, and btw, Volvos are awesome! They hold more shit than my dad's pick up truck!

I have that same Greddy RS BOV, & had to remove one of the springs inside, like so, http://www.evomoto.com/tech_info.php?tPath=1&tech_id=7 to get it working right.

ok cool, thanks for that info... had no idea it was so complicated. I havent actually even run the type S on my car yet because i never got a flange for it, but that will all get straightened out once my car is painted and the motor is dropped back in.