Hey guys and girls I'm getting ready to do a huge project on my black IX MR and I want to share my progress, lessons learned, and my pride with anyone interested. The story of the car is I bought it just over a year ago from a stealership in PA. The car was overpriced for it's condition and I'm kicking myself for not being insistent with my wife that I should go look at the car first, Lesson 1 learned. New tires, timing belt job, alignment, catch can, new (legal) tail lights, redone tint, all new gauges, swapped the brides vios III out with 8 blue recaros so my wife could fit, high flow cat to replace test pipe for Virginia inspection, boost controller to replace the missing one, oil cooler, oem style wing because I prefer it, and all new decals for the partially shaved trunk, and a random key tumbler for the hole in the trunk where the stock one used to be. Did I mention my wife hates my car? Recently I noticed oil soaking my gasket to my exhaust manifold. I feared the worst and did a compression test...not good, wet compression test verified my fears. Wife is not happy.


Today is day one I'm getting ready to lift the car and drain all the fluids. I've been having parts trickling in and it's time to begin surgery. I'll post pics soon.

 

The operating room is clean and ready to begin. First I'm draining all the fluids. Engine oil, coolant, then transfer case and transmission.




The car is on stands and bumper and hood removed.




I've started to removed intercooler piping and exhaust to make draining the fluids a bit simpler.





the cracked megan manifold is out and the radiator is removed along with the intake pipe and recirc valve.





those exhaust valves look nice and seasoned...





The upper ic pipe is removed, i began evacuating the a/c and fled the scene lol. the coil packs and cables are labeled.



Tomorrow i'll be removing the turbo and removing the fuel injectors and rail and work on removing the intake manifold.

 

I have some very leaky rings atm, will be keeping a close eye on this thread!

good luck!

 

wuh oh, looks like its about to be a bit of work!

any specific plans during reconstructive surgery? might as well overbore it

 

goodluck with the project

 

I've got a few things planned out. I had bought a built evo 8 with CP Pistons 9.0:1 Ratio, with Brian Crower H-beams and ACL bearings with polished and balanced crank and a cosworth crank scraper. Took it to a shop to get them to check the block and install studs and they noticed something I hadn't. It had filler in the water jackets to the top. So the block was to be a drag block only. Well only a slight change in plans. The bore on my block and those built internals are both standard so that works out. I had them pull the internals out of the block and have the block measured for specs so I can put it up for sale and hold the internals until I get my long block to them. I have purchased quite a bit of stuff to upgrade the entire build.

ETS 3.5" FMIC
Forge RS Recirc Valve
FIC 850cc low z injectors
DW300 320lph high pressure fuel pump
AEM FPR
MAP Short Runner Tubular Manifold
ARP Main and Head studs
Cometic 85mm .051 MLS Head gasket

and of course I'm replacing the pumps and belts and all the gaskets. I'm also swapping out the thermostat with the Mishomoto racing thermostat.

I'm also getting the head rebuilt as well with the following:

Supertech dual springs and titanium retainers/ valve seals
Brian Crower Stage 2+ 276 Cams (haven't heard anything on these, so I'll give a review on them)
MAP High Performance Valves w/ Black Nitride coating
BLE lifters
I'm debating valve guides, though I'll probably get GSC manganese valve guides


The transmission is going to be sent to Shep for a simple rebuild. I have the 5 speed swap and I'm assuming an ACT clutch based on the yellow I see through the viewing hole. I'll be replacing the TOB with an OEM TOB.

 

Today I made some more progress on the tear down.


I removed the a/c compressor and the power steering pump and the FMIC, a/c condenser, and condenser fan.








i took several pictures for the plugs and the wiring harness for future reference.



I started to disconnect the vacuum lines and fuel lines


heater core hoses are disconnect and plugged. The power steering pump and the throttle cable are tucked under the wiper blade.









I think tomorrow I'm going to work on the drivetrain and get the cv axles out of the tranny and transfer case and work on getting the lines to the tranny and clutch system disconnected and labeled.

 

Sounds like a plan. What made you choose BC cams and BLE lifters over GSC lifters and other cams?

 

I originally wanted GSC S2 cams and I've heard everyone's cams are better than yours. No one has anything bad to say about their own cams. I looked for any feedback on the BC Stage 2+ 276 and didn't find any. I had heard they had bad numbers on their first MIVEC cams but then redid their entire line up to make up for that. I was looking for something slightly aggressive with having entire head rebuilt and I've not heard anything bad on the BLE lifters and the sites I was shopping on never had the GSC lifters. They had Tomei but they were $500 more than the BLE's. In the end... to save money. I'm not on an endless budget so I have to be reasonable in some areas.

 

Looks like a good project. Take your time and do it the way you want it 1st time.

 

I'd love to take my time and just save forever, but my wife is no fan of that. I had to slip some extra goodies in this inventory alone. She just wants it done and told me after I'm done I can't have the words "car" and "parts" in the same sentence until the car is paid off lol.

 

Good stuff, man! Enjoy the ride!

 

Trade your wife in for a newer model! lol

 

My wife won't let me...

 

well i'm working on getting the front axles out and they are kicking my a$$. The hub assembly and swing arm are off so i'm waiting on an extra set of hands to help with muscling them out. on the bright side though " I got car parts!"