"the dog" grille filler

-went away with afm adjustment. afr says mix is optimal, but other signs (smell) would point to uber rich. runs like stink on shit, but mileage has suffered alot. id guess im in the 20-24mpg freeway range now. no biggie for me. once i finish with the gears ill take it in for a tune/dyno and see where im at. was going to do an afm adjustment write-up once i get everything verified.

-almost done modding the clear cover and stock #3 t.b. cover. should be done by this weekend. my damn dremel battery only lasts about 5 min.

 

Well Im about to fall of the page, so I better update...

-I'm still working on the adjustable gears/clear cover. I had to trim a piece from a gen 2 t.b. inner cover and have it welded in, along with a little bar for the gasket to seal to. This way i can use all the bolt holes on the cover. I also had to do a bit of dremmeling to the clear cover so it matches the gen 1 lower t.b. cover. After all that the bolts on the new gears touch the inside of the cover, so i had to order button head bolts which will hopefully fit. Of course me being me I found a place that had titanium ones in stock (yeah right). these should have taken as long to order as steel anyway, and there cool (right?). $10 bucks a pop but what the heck. (im a sucker for crap like that). anyway i paid the extra $3 bucks for 3-4 day usps.....that was 2.5 weeks ago!
BAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! I WANT MY CAR BACK!!!!!!
-bolts are m10x1.25x25 allen head.

-pics.

 

ooppps, i thought the last pic was a teaser, but i cant figure out how to delete it...

 

Screw the ti bolts! those are apparently never gonna show up. sooo i went with the stock bolts. these clear the cover by 1-2mm, no joke. so this is completely fitted and sealed. with the relocation of the 1 bolt all 4 cover bolts are easy to get at. no screwing with the one behind the engine mount.

 

wiring is one of the best parts now. on the short list is to delete the p.s. system and relocate the alt. i have an mr2 bracket to do this. trying to move the COG and further clean the bay. Never been big on the plug cover, im in there to much to bother with it. i just vac it out before i pull plugs.

-really needs lots more power but i think theres plenty of time to be had from further handling mods. I've been looking hard for wheels for a year now, just dont want to waste money on tires till then...those are my biggest flaw right now.

 

-for me it was the forward member of the rear suspension. look for a shiny spot on the pipe where its hitting. also i had to lay under the car with my dad jumping in the trunk to see it....watch your fingers....my g.f. wasnt heavy enough to get it to hit.

-yep, i think the afm adjustment helped with the cold start. i have mine adjusted 4 clicks richer, im pretty sure this is way to much as the oil smells fuel soaked now. Ive been meaning to do a write up for it, ill see if i have time to do one in the next few days. this needs to be done VERY carefully as it can cause a major disaster. I wouldnt have done it without the afr gauge. ill get a write up this week.

-thanks kevin!

 

Well I just hate falling onto page 2. that means its time to get off the ff13-2 and get into the garage....

-Like I said on another thread my power steering has finally dripped its last drop. so its time to go manual. let the nay sayers unite! I will say the p.s. on the dog is alot stiffer than it was on 09, and feel much more like it probably should. but i still overcorrect, and like the miata link says i would like to make things more "deliberate". this mod will allow me to remove all the lines, resiviour, cooler, pump, ect. it will clean up the bay and allow me to use mr2 parts to relocate the alt to the p.s. pumps current location. the benifit of that is not only asthetic. but also lowering and moving rerward some mass closer to the cog. i think this is a truly worthwile mod....but i guess ill find out once its all back together...

-quick note. here's the links i used as guides. not celicas but close enough to figure it out. actually the second is what i found most helpfull. read guide 2 so you can understand that this is truley a power to manual conversion that results in a manual quick rack,and NOT just looping the lines, ECT. this is proper.
http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/depower.php
http://www.motoiq.com/magazine_arti...sa-part-5--de-powering-the-steering-rack.aspx

pics.
-rack removed....its a PITA, but can be done without removing the ends or disconnecting the exhaust. other than that follow the BGB.

-remove that thing.

-pinion gear with some extra crap on it...slides right off.

-"naked" pinion. this is basically what will be reinstalled

-pull the clip from inside the p.s. side of the rack. the spacer/stopper will slide out.

-you will NEED a brass drift! you can then pound the rack out of the housing with the seal. pound from the d.s. so the rack falls out the p.s. side. you can now see the piston that is on the rack. like the second guide i feel that its actually best to lathe this down about half way rather than press off. this way it will act like a stop at full turn, rather than the pinion gear running out of teeth on the rack.

all guts 1/2, these are all the bits you will re-use

more guts 2/2. the extras in this pic will be binned.

heres a close up of the pinion gear connection. there is no slop in it it is very rigid. my concern is that the pin will now take the full force of turning since it is no longer powered. the upper bit does go inside the lower below the pin, but i am unsure weather or not there is a splined or some type of positive connection in there to distribute the force away from the pin. so better safe than sorry. the machine shop will grind the pin, remove the bearing so its not damaged by the heat. weld the connection solid, then repress the bearing on.

-so as of 4/3/12 the pinion and rack are at the machine shop, new outer rod ends are being shipped.

-heres what the bay will look like when done. the mr2 alt bracket fits but i will need to find (i think) a turbo mr2 crank pulley so the alt belt is "in tune". the 162 alt fits perfectly and should work fine. more pics later in the week.