Sloppy second (and first)

12/1/2013
I had been having some problems with my transmission not engaging first or second gear all the time. I'd have to put it in first, then let the clutch out a little until I felt the shifter slide all the way in. After having a local guy take a look, it seems the roll pin on the shift lever was worn.

(photo taken from here: TurboDodge.com)

In the picture above, you can see the completed fix. The process is to drill out the shaft and the lever to accept a larger roll pin. I started out with a 3/16 roll pin, but mangled the hole on the shaft and damaged the roll pin trying to force it in. So I went and bought a 7/32 cobalt drill bit from Lowes and drilled out a larger hole for a larger roll pin. That shaft is one hard mother; drilling through the shaft tore the bit to pieces and it completely shattered just after getting through the other side. On the plus side, first and second are much easier to engage, and slide right in.

October 9, 2011

Not a huge update: put on the valve cover, installed the distributor, and did one half of the harness extension for the power module. The harness extension came out looking good. I need some slightly larger wire for the other half however since that half is power wires and not signal wires. The harness extension is also replacing some brittle power module plugs for some better pieces.

Left to do is:

• Finish the harness
• Find nut/spacer for FPR
• Ground injector harness
• Connect the alternator harness
• Mount the battery tray correctly (it was just hanging out before)
• Modify the down pipe angle (for some reason its now off?)
• Bolt on the hood
• Put suspension back together (cv shafts, ball joints back in knuckles, bolt down tie rods, etc)
• Install rear engine/trans bracket
• Bolt on transmission strut to cross member
• Finish intercooler piping (might have to find another L bend or two)

So not hard stuff, just a bunch of loose ends.

Here you can see the extension I made for the power module harness

 The power module is now in the nose of the car, here is a picture of the module looking towards the front of the car from the driver side fender.

March 2, 2012

Installed the rear shocks today. They are Gabriel Ultra's I bought new from a seller on eBay for $26. I also started re-angling the exhaust. I had to add some pipe to the v-band side, and remove some from the tailpipe size. I need to finish welding the downpipe/muffler to the v-band flange, and weld the tailpipe to the muffler.

I also plan to get the new crossmember and control arms prepped for assembly (poly bushings, new balljoints, new tie rod ends, new struts). This would also give me the chance to warranty my power steering rack.

I think I will wirebrush the springs and plasti-dip them. That should hold up fairly well.

October 1, 2011

Got the timing belt put on, and distributor hold down painted. I also cut a path for the intercooler piping, and figured out exactly where the power module is going.

Oh, and I painted the engine mount and bumper mounts

September 10, 2011

New oil, new filter, and primed. Figured out the new intercooler piping routing. Going to move the power module to the front bumper. That moves it out of the way, and the rewiring is much easier.

September 6, 2011

Put the injector harness on, started planning the intercooler pipe run.

September 5, 2011

The radiator I bought sticks farther to the driver's side than the last one did. The intercooler piping was ran right next to the radiator. Not any more.

My plan is to run the intercooler piping next to and behind the battery. A caveat is the power module sits next to the battery, so it will need to be moved. This isn't entirely a bad thing however since the harness side connectors are in terrible shape. Moving the power module will give me the chance to re-connector it.

Its either that or put the battery in the trunk, or route the piping under the car again