I always tell people when ordering....if there is something you could not find, put it in the "notes" section of the order. We actually have a fair bit of stuff that we just don't have time to get into the store...and what we don't have, we can usually get.

Thanks Zigggy

So out of boredom now that I am waiting for parts. Tackling some spots of rust. nearly finished the passenger wheel well. (forgot to take before picture, but looked like drivers side)

Before:



After:



Screwdriver Scrape
Wire Wheel
Degrease
Rust Converter
Rust Check Spot Paint
Rubberized Asphalt Undercoating.

I'm gonna need stainless steel lines >.< And clean calipers and rotors.

Yay. Thanks RTM Racing and ExtremePSI!



I expected the clutch to have more material. Looks thin. But hey, thousands of DSM owners can't be wrong.

Now waiting for Mitsubishi. >.<

So I assembled the rear main seal into it's housing. Will mount it tomorrow.

I will bring flywheel in for step check. What should the range be? Sheet that came with clutch said max .03"

I spent some time cleaning the transmission housing and replaced the missing breather cap. I still need to degrease before tackling the wettish spots. But a dremel with mini wire wheel is doing great. I'm not going for perfect aluminum polish. Just cleaned up.



Managed to get the axle cup out of tranny. Realized the trick is a quick jerk, not slow pry. Gotta rebuild that axle too. I think I will do both as the other was spraying black goo also.

I believe the factory specs are .608"-.611" for the step height. I just get mine cut to .610"



Mini sledge is your friend

Well.. the flywheel ranged from .605 to .625. Completely uneven.

She is being machined as we speak!

That's why you check Good stuff

Which SouthBend clutch did you go with?

I have the Stage 2 daily and it has a very light pedal feel but grabs like all hell... It's a beautiful thing!

Stage 2 Daily Glad to hear!

I went to Ottawa Clutch (Bully Clutch) to get my flywheel done (0.6105) .. They were insistent that I use a Bully clutch next time.

Many moons ago, buddy tom used to run their clutch for their R&D. Nothing but nightmares. They said since then (2008) that things have vastly improved and I should go with stage 4.

Not sold. >.<

I currently have their "stage 4" 6 puck sprung clutch and I've been using it now 4 season without any issues. Other than my TOB separating from lack of lubrication (actually, that was my bad for going ape sh!t on engine degreaser from a leaking "t-fitting" from my coolant line at the throttle body. It made it's way into the bell housing and bye bye TOB). Easy fix though...loool

Good choice!

Of all the clutches I've been through this is by far my favorite, and a great price.

If you look at the clutch disk, you'll notice they use Exedy clutch diaphragm's which is a quality piece. Not sure if they use their own friction material or if that is from Exedy as well, but it's atleast a trustworthy brand.

Keep us posted on your progress, it's been a fun build to follow! I wish I had the patience to document mine, now I kind of regret it with all the hours I've put into it.

Little update:

Still waiting for those mitsu parts

In the meantime, I have tackled a few things.

#1. Shopping. I should have bought these ages ago. Clean hands rule.




#2. CV Boot. Cleaned out joint, greased and booted. Done!



#3. Inspect the lower rad support damage. It's bad.





I know there is a member on here in Beleville that can help me, but I need to break in clutch before that kind of highway run. Need something to tide me over for this year and get her done properly next year.

Little sketch...



Lucon Metal Trip. Result:





Test fitting, little cutting. Little drilling.



Apply some rust converter to outside of rotting lower support, spray a ridiculous amount of rust check oil protector inside support and liberally outside to sandwich between new metal sleeve and old lower support.



1/2 Stainless Bolts, Washers and Nuts (with red loctite) in the thicker part of the lower rad support. Much less rot there. This thing ain't going nowhere for awhile and give me something to mount front of cross member to.

Going to seal the ends with Sure Seal Automotive Black Sealant and give it more paint.

Tomorrow tackle airbag peeling cover, deal with rubber mounts for condenser, spend more time straightening fins and maybe some more spit polishing.

'Nother day.. 'nother dollar. I'm guesstimating $150 a day since I started. >.< Tools, Paints, Cleaners, Parts. Ugh.

So I fixed the curling airbag cover.
(TIP! No need to remove the damned glovebox. Just remove the stopper tabs on each side. Swings out of the way.)







Dirty Dirty Dash! >.<

Fitted the newly painted crossmember.



Wet sanded and polished the headlights. (left is after 30 mins 800,1600,plastic polish, right untouched)



I'm gonna keep going till I get most pits out then buy this: XPEL Headlight Protection

Friend of mine brought her steam cleaner and helped out.

Carpets have been steam cleaned, but looks like either bleach or some chemical was spilled on carpet behind drivers seat. Fibers started flying out and it was discolored towards white. Anyone here bought carpet from http://www.stockinteriors.com/. How good is it compared to stock?

She also helped steam clean the transmission case and another round of degreaser with a wire brush. it's coming along.

Cut off the rebar that was welded to cross member. Removed the bolts that normally attached to front lower rad support.

Painted crossmember rear bracket (for subframe), bracket for engine mount on tranny and battery support bracket.

There are MULTIPLE exhaust leaks >.> 1 I suspect head to manifold. There are two center lower bolts missing and 1 is a helicoil. Definately manifold to turbo. Black soot on the stainless oil feed line to turbo near it. and O2 to DP... broken bolt to deal with. (but only once engine is back to having 4 mounts)

Tomorrow, going to give the subframe a good coat of Armor Bed Coat (it's already been treated for rust).
Now I am thinking battery relocation. >.<

Unless Mitsu parts get here. Then I will just button this up and enjoy a ride out with the new clutch.

https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1ASUC_enCA545CA545&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=stockinteriors.com%20site%3Aca.dsm.org

That's a quick google search of everything on the board but as a summary everyone loves the place, order the samples so you can try it out than get what you want.

Thanks Bryan! Added: 1000AAQ V2

I'm getting impatient waiting on Mitsu. Now I have questions.

#1. I know that 7 bolts use RTV and 6 bolts is a gasket (for rear main seal housing). Any reason why I can't just use RTV on a 6 bolt? If I do wait for gasket, should I apply a thin amount of rtv along with gasket or gasket alone. (some old gasket won't come off the housing and engine block. fear some slight gap)

#2. I noticed the current pivot ball is already shimmed. Trying to find the measurement of a new pivot ball's diameter and see how much is worn and if I can continue to use the old one.

#3. If I do wait for new pivot ball, should I leave shim in?

Just realized I have to wait for the jesus clip & release fork boot anyway. >.<

You sure are waiting a long time for parts I keep in stock regularly.....

I know!!! Don't remind me. Btw. Your site is down

"Cannot Write Data to Temporary Directory"

Permissions or disk full.

I just got a call from another customer advising me. Webmaster has already looked at it, and hosting company is looking at it right now....

In the meantime, I can't access it either

Damn good thing I called Mitsu. Gasket is on back order.. until November 11th. ARHGHGHG...

All other parts are in though. Ziggy. You are a life saver.

Did that same thing to my airbag before I left. Got it all good and repaired using what ever that adhesive they use for windshields. It'll be on there for quite some time.

Wait for the correct parts before putting it back together. Brakes are designed to be as idiot proof as possible; if they just started making noise, you've got time. Besides, brakes aren't hard to do in a driveway

The rear main seal housing gasket is designed to go on dry. You should be able to remove any and all of the old gasket. You're taking gasket material off of a cast iron block; find something harder than the gasket but softer than iron. I find the Permatex gasket remover spray to work excellently along with scotch brite or a utility knife blade. If you're still worried, a VERY thin coating of RTV won't hurt.

Don't shim your new pivot ball.

Looks like some great progress, and good work with the airbag cover

Correction, don't shim it if you have a new fork to go with it. From my research on the matter it seems that it's the fork that wears out most with the ball wearing very little if much at all (relatively speaking). Therefore replacing the ball but not the fork (yes, I know it's stupid expensive) is not likely going to help much.

He mentioned earlier that he is replacing the ball and fork

Was looking for that before I said anything but must have missed mention of the fork.

I am only reusing flywheel bolts and pp bolts.

The full list of replaced items:

ACT STREETLITE FLYWHEEL (MACHINED)
SOUTHBEND STAGE 2 CLUTCH & PP
MD719925 BEARING, CLUTCH RELEASE
MD719602 FULCRUM, CLUTCH RELEASE FORK
MD706185 CLIP CLUTCH RELEASE BEARING RETURN
MD737767 FORK, CLUTCH RELEASE
MD718077 BOOT, CLUTCH RELEASE FORK
MD132656 FLANGE, BOLT 10x80
MR187766 CONED DISK, 10.5
MD128901 GASKET,T/C EXHAUST GAS INLET HOLE
MD183243 REAR MAIN GASKET 6 BOLT
MD343564 REAR MAIN SEAL

I'm most happy with my temporary front lower support.

Though I have decided, this is a long term car so I will try and hunt down the whole front assembly and get it done properly.

On a side note, was trying that [url=http://www.evapo-rust.com/]EvapoRust[/ulr] on some pieces. MINT but $$$$. Gonna go try the 5$ 4 litre apple cider vinegar instead.
Gasket should be in tomorrow, so I need to finish cleaning around the tranny area in engine bay and start de-rusting some bolts.

I never reuse flywheel bolts, but if you're going to, make sure there's plenty of red loctite on them.

I think your lower rad support solution was ideal without welding. For what it's worth, Ziggy keeps these in stock, though shipping one to Ottawa might be pricey.

I have read soo many posts.. many re-use as long as not damaged. There will be locktite

Heading to Oliphant, Ontario in two weeks, but little far out.
I need to recoup funds for a bit. Then, maybe take the Talon out for a long cruise to Niagara Falls.

I also may get the rad support tack welded for a little additional strength. But 1/2 Stainless will easily hold min 6000lbs. + the center member will be pulling it inwards. (Most of the good material is at the front)

I am confident with it as a stopgap.

I think your rad support fix will hold up just fine; I was merely mentioning it for when you go for a full repair.

I reused flywheel bolts on my first clutch change out of necessity; it was never an issue. But if I'm already ordering a bunch of stuff from RTM, $25 to avoid having to drop my tranny again is a pittance

Since your stuff is already ordered, I think you'll be fine with the old ones. And loctite

I've re-used the PP bolts many times, never any issues. The dowel pins take the most stress.

Anything that's part of a moving piece or something subjected to vibration gets loctite on mine.

For the record, new pivot ball has diameter or .501" The old one (it was shimmed) was around .485" (in case anyone wants to reuse a pivot ball :P)

Getting ready. Rear seal in tomorrow (today as it is 1am)

This looks worse under a flash. It's clean enough.



Front Subframe.


Front nearly ready to button up.


Hign pressure, High Temp, Synthetic Grease. And now I know why the call it the jesus clip. Once on, you pray it holds. Not much holding it and makes me uneasy. Moves nicely though. I will clean up excess grease on the spline tomorrow.


Majority of Gasket is off. Again.. looks worse with flash >.< I am fearful of crap falling into the oil pan with huge those gaps.


Centermember Bed Armored.


Tomorrow.. it begins...

And there it is.. the hate relationship with the car.

Rear Seal. Done!
Flywheel - 98ft/lbs w/ locktite. Cleaned. Done
Clutch and PP (Cleaned) w/ alignment tool. Done.
Pressure Plate. 15ft/lbs with drop of locktite. Done.

Awesome.. making good time... install tranny.

5 hours later.. I HATE THIS CAR!1111

Tranny is still on the floor. My nice new shiney red pp scratched Subframe paint job mangled. The tranny WILL NOT fit back between the PP and subframe. I managed once.. I was 1 inch away from getting tranny on, board on jack split and tranny slipped off >.< (not onto the floor).

I am contemplating an engine hoist purchase. Fk this. But I don;t think it will help. No matter if I slide engine forward or leave it hanging back, the subframe does not allow tranny to slide in nicely. I have pictures. I am too sore, angry and tired to post.

It's almost as if you have to rotate the tranny 90 degrees to get the bellhousing over the pressure plate, then rotate into position.

It takes a little finagling but it'll go. Make sure you have the rear roll stop and top mount remove from the tranny, makes it 10X easier.

Try it with a twin disk if you want a fun time

Try moving the engine back/forwards. I find that the engine likes to move around from the spot it sat in once the trans is out and its only being held in by that one last mount.


Twin disc, eh? Try an automatic... I still have nightmares.

Update: Gave it another shot at 1am. It's in!!!

Oh and in my travels.. I found.. oil under the cam angle sensor. >.>

Persistence pays off!

Sounds about right, with the age of these cars, every piece of rubber is due to be changed. Time for a new o-ring.

There have been times where I too have spent hours upon hours wrestling with my transmission trying to get it back in. I even have this spiffy transmission jack adapter from princess auto...



But then I developed a special Trans Installâ„¢ tool which makes it sooooo much easier. Since developing this tool, transmission installs are a breeze.




I now offer these Trans Installâ„¢ tools at a low price of $999.99. Send me a PM if interested.

Scott, that's genius! Unless you're willing to share the dimensions, I'm gonna make one of those when I get back. I'm usually stuck installing the trans on my own (with the phone within reach should something go wrong) and I'm left using my feet to wiggle the engine while lifting the trans up (5 speed).

BAahhaha.. Here you go. I want 10% of profits.



Thanks for that You guys keep your engine level? or flywheel side down a bit?

I kinda screwed up. When I put the rear main seal cover on, I forgot to put in the bottom two bolts (accessible with transmisson on). There is a thin film of black on the gasket which are torqued down, and grey on the lower oil pan half (which are the bolts I forgot to put). Hoping that seal will hold with after the fact adding those bolts. If the tranny hadn't been that hard to put in, I would rip it out as guess what, the gasket from mitsu came in day after I receive one from ziggy. >.<

I used a normal jack, removed the rubber inside and put a 3/4" piece of plywood with bolt and washer through it and the jack head. Worked nicely. But.. I am really interested in this.

Depends on my mood. I'll either hand bomb it with it just about level, or I'll aim the flywheel down a bit (careful to not squish the crank pulley!) then put the trans in from underneath, lean on the fender and lift the trans, using my feet to push the jack under the trans. I'm not really efficient, but with the fender cover, I find it to be the safest bet. Tried using the engine hoist and it took as long, if not longer than my usual method.

Scott nailed it, I use the same tool as him

I use to struggle with the awd tranny as well, the damn subframe was always in the way. Then figured out that the motor like to roll & lean back with all the mounts off & the front jacked up. Found a block, wedged it in & with two people have installed a number of trannies since, literally 2 min job from jacking it up to bolting it on, ever since.