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A little more done. Got some -3AN fittings and a 36" line for a solid line from the slave to the master thanks to RAM Clutches for the hookup and also found the -3AN fitting I needed for the remote slave bleeder.
It's finally time now. The driveline will be reinstalled this weekend.
Not much to say but wow what a day. Tons got accomplished today. Trans/Diff and Torque Tube are in, Tunnel plate is installer, Headers and Exhaust are on, Clutch Master and lines in and connected, Poly motor mounts are in and the Fuel Pump Wiring is run.
Still a lot to do but today was a huge chunk of some of the hardest stuff. Hope to have her breathing fire by next weekend and on the ground the following week. This week is going to be a little nuts as we are finally disassembling the racecar and taking it to the chassis shop.
Stay tuned for more...
Last edited by slow_pokeC5; 04-28-2018 at 08:33 PM.
Spent Last Night at the shop working on the car. I replaced all of the power steering lines and cleaned up that mess of leaking lines. I also got under the car and actually got about 1/4 turn out of all the lower oil pan bolts. Might explain the seeping leak I was experiencing. I plan to go take a look under the car and see that everything is dry today.
I also installed the intake, and buttoned up the entire engine and fired it up for the first time. Man was it nice to hear it breathe fire again. The exhaust is a little louder now with the headers and catless X pipe, but not as bad as I was expecting. Here's a couple pictures and an idle video.
Still got a long way to go. Just got my AMT Camber Kit so possibly later this week I will head to the shop again and start installing the bushings in the control arms and install the suspension. Very excited to get this project finished up soon.
Stopped at the shop today between meetings and took a good look under the car. For the first time since I have owned it, the bottom was perfectly dry. Praise Earnhardt!
Back to work on the wrecked #43 car for a few days. Lot's going on! She's a little hurt lol
I'll update next time I make some more progress. Thanks for following along!
Last edited by slow_pokeC5; 05-01-2018 at 08:10 PM.
Stopped at the shop today between meetings and took a good look under the car. For the first time since I have owned it, the bottom was perfectly dry. Praise Earnhardt!
Back to work on the wrecked #43 car for a few days. Lot's going on! She's a little hurt lol
I'll update next time I make some more progress. Thanks for following along!
Did you ever have the oil pan off yourself?
Or has it always just leaked a tad around the bolts?
It always leaked a little from the rear of the engine area and around the pan. The O Ring on the Dipstick tube was junk so I replaced the entire tube, rear main seal and valve cover gaskets among other items while I had everything apart. So far I have run it twice for 10 minutes each and no leaks anymore it seems. We will see better once I start driving it.
Had a couple free hours this evening so I spent it down at the shop. Finally 100% done under the hood aside from a quick oil change. Changed the valve springs and valve stem seals and it's amazing how much more crisp the engine sounds. Not sure how old the springs were that were in there but it's an audible difference.
Lots done last week. Entire suspension is back together brakes are bled and clutch is bled. Everything is mint and the excitement is really starting to build.
Going to give the underside a quick nut and bolt check as well as do a quick oil change and I will be lowering the car onto the scales Thursday. Have to set the toe first and then its going to require quite a bit of work to get the crossweight and ride heights correct. Not far off now from being ready to hit the road and track. Aiming to be on track Tuesday for SCCA Track Night to shake it down and make sure everything feels good but I need to put a few hundred miles on the clutch first before I want to go beating on it so I am hoping for nice weather Friday Saturday and Sunday to get some quality cruising in.
Stay tuned for an influx of pictures from the set up and scaling process.
Heres a shot of the current state.
Last edited by slow_pokeC5; 05-09-2018 at 09:54 AM.
Got the car on the road tonight. For the most part everything was surprisingly good. I need to get a couple better exhaust clamps for the X pipe because there is a slight leak from the joint. I also need to re-set my alignment as the steering wheel is off to the right about 1/2". I also need to add about 1/4-3/8" of height to the RF corner as well as stiffen up the rear shocks a bit. The only thing that has me a tad concerned was we drove the car to a gas station after about a 50 mile cruise and filled it up with 93 at a local Mobil. Upon restarting the car, it threw a P0327 Knock Sensor code. Being that I have brand new sensors and a brand new harness I do not believe that is the issue. There could be a slight issue with the tune on startup or it could have just been a fluke. I cleared the code and started the car again and the code stayed off so we will see next time I drive it what happens. I did reach out to Frost to see his thoughts as well. The car will probably sit until next week as I have a pretty busy weekend but man was it nice to get it back out finally!
Well my worst fear seems to be coming true. I came to the shop today to find about a 3" round drip spot under the car. I drove it for a while today to see if the check engine light for the knock sensor returned which in fact it has, and when I parked it I found that it was dripping oil steadily from the lip of the bellhousing.
I have to pull the intake off to fix the knock sensor issue so I am trying to stay optimistic in hopes that the leak is coming from the oil pressure sending unit (which is also new) but I feel like it's going to end up being the rear main seal.
I don't really understand what could have gone wrong. I did everything by the book, torqued to spec etc.
I am extremely disappointed and defeated right now. I unfortunately do not have the time during racing season to deal with pulling the entire car apart again to fix this issue, nor do I have the energy to do it alone again with all I have going on. There is a pretty good chance that tomorrow will already be my last ride in it for the summer as I may very well park it until racing season is over in October.
the below picture was taken only 2 minutes after turning the car off and is about 2" in diameter.
Focus on the positives. You have it back on the road. Drive that baby for the summer. Keep and eye on the oil and add as needed. You deserve a break and to enjoy it for while. Fix the leak over the winter as long as it doesn't become a huge problem. The car looks great.
Focus on the positives. You have it back on the road. Drive that baby for the summer. Keep and eye on the oil and add as needed. You deserve a break and to enjoy it for while. Fix the leak over the winter as long as it doesn't become a huge problem. The car looks great.
I just don't want to take a risk that it may contaminate the brand new clutch.
Got up under the car and the oil seems a lot more wide spread than it would be for rear main issue. I hit up my buddy Jamie, a fellow C5Z owner and discussed it with him. I realized that I made a critical error installing the rear main. I neglected to put any rtv at the corners as you are supposed to. This explains the great amount of oil everywhere. I believe if this was a case where I had a misaligned or damaged rear main seal, most of the oil would be contained to inside the bellhousing.
I ordered a Mahle upper and lower oil pan gasket kit and will be dropping the front cradle to replace the gaskets on the pan, as well as add the required RTV.
Complete rookie mistake on my part but at least I shouldn't need to remove the entire driveline again.
Last edited by slow_pokeC5; 05-14-2018 at 08:20 AM.
Popped the intake off this evening. I indeed pinched the harness. Not sure if that was the issue as there was no bare wire visible, however I will be replacing the harness and both knock sensors, as well as taking a dremel to the underside of the intake in order to avoid pinching again.
Upper pan gasket showed up today, hoping the lower will be here by Thursday so I can potentially have the car on the road again this weekend if our races rain out. At the moment, a rain-out is the only way I will get a good amount of time to work on the car. Otherwise, I get an hour here and an hour there to do so.
04-27-2018, 03:05 PM
