aNAlUBé, a tribute profile Options

[akamiami]

In the vein of what xian and gsx are doing, I'm whoring a thread of my own to sing the praises of my UNBREAKABLE DSM!!!! It's like bruce willis on unbreakable. absolutely nothing phases this monster, not 7k rev launches, crazy quick downshifts, curbs, 89 octane fuel, bad language, conventional oil, leaded diesel fuel....NOTHING! MWA HA HA!


Right now I'm welding in a roll cage. There is a pic on my garage profile.

Also, the speed glass is installed and is sooo sweet. The rear window is already scratched to hell and it's like having tint but not the type of tint that blocks any of the sun, just the effect of it where you can't see out the rear view window very well because it makes it seem like you've got cataracts and everything is blurry and indistinguishable. I guess next time I'll try saran wrap since I've never seen that stuff scratch or crack and it's very flexible.

The speed holes and custom license plate are rather fancy and I think add style to the ride that was lacking. Now it's a venerable show car, and as soon as the faux fur steering wheel cover and neon dash trim kit arrive, I'll go pimp the car show scene like I do the local junior highs. That's right all you pre-teen honeys out there. I'm 24 and I've got a drivers license. Wanna ride to the orthodontist to get your braces tightened? No problem, I'm all 'bout that shi-at.

[akamiami]

Well, over the weekend, I decided to perform some much needed work on the car to prepare for the 'season'.

I had several issues which needed to be addressed.

1. fp2x cam installation
2. intake pressure test
3. mysterious oil leak (presumed front case or oil pan)
4. new oil filter backet installation
5. gear fluid changes
6 oil leaking from exhaust manifold studs
7. reinstallation of timing belt covers

As can be seen, 2,4,5, and 6 are easy fixes, but the rest require considerable work. This has been a definate problem of scope creep a.k.a. 'while I'm at it'-itis. But I can't ruin all the fun. There's plenty of good weather for laying on my back under the car with oil dripping in my face and hair to be had in the coming months. No need to deprive myself of that joy now.

I'm still not done at this point and have the oil pan off the car with the timing side completely disassembled. I have a tube of silicon to seal the pan with and I certainly hope it works out better than the 'Import Grey' tube of junk I bought from Autozone for the last time. When I took the pan off, it was clear that the adhesive quality was of little use as it pretty much fell off by itself. There was oil covering everything in the vicinity of the oil pan, which is a big mess.

I chose a forward facing oil filter bracket, which is common in 4g63 RWD applications, to give me the most clearance with the downpipe. I've never liked having the oil filter so close to such a source of heat, and I most certainly don't like the idea of 'cooling' oil with 200+ degree coolant.

The stock timing belt covers needed to be replaced as well, and I'm not sure what possessed me to remove them in the first place in favor of a cut off portion only retained to use in timing the car. It was a poor decision, looking back. It made diagnosis of the oil leaks all that much more difficult.

The cam installation went very smoothly. I was pleased to see the cam journals look good as I have always been paranoid about excessive wear after ruining my head and 272 intake cam once when I swapped the cam caps in error, once.

I'll take some pictures of the car and more to say when the work is complete early this afternoon, if all goes well. I 'badged' the car with it's name as well, a very nice touch, I think. Pretty sad that my major motivation for all this work was simply to have the car not leak oil continuously.