I think the gods are trying to tell you that it is time to do a TII upgrade to run with "Nemesis"

I think a blown transmission is a good excuse. You can show your wife how cheap S5 Japanese tranmissions are etc...

 

yes, however i think he wants to keep it in csp?

 

Yeah, for some reason he doesn't seem to think a more powerful engine might be a bit of fun. I'll teach him otherwise next time I make it out for a race.

 

Orion, if you can actually put that power to use and beat me on the course then an engine upgrade will move to the top of my list.

I do want to remain in CSP for a while longer though. Adding any kind of motor upgrade would dump me in with the big dogs, which will cost a lot more for me to be competetive. Once you add the hp, then you end up needing bigger brakes, which mean bigger wheels/tires, so you need a widebody to accomodate those. Then upgrade the fuel system, cooling system, add an engine management system, worry about a turbo causing you to spit out an apex seal, start worrying about reliability so to address that you throw even more money at it, and it never seems to end.

The way it is now, I can run cheap assed tires and beat up on Miatas running Hoosiers. I can jump in the car and drive it to the store, to work, or to North Carolina for the Deals Gap meets, head for the beach on the weekends, take the wife on a date, and just about anything else. I'd be losing out on a lot if I upgraded the motor unless I had another 10 grand to add everything else that would be needed. So, not for a couple more years at least.

 

Thanks for the info, it should be useful to any new guy that stumbles across this thread in the years to come.

I was well aware of what you are saying, but since I already had a spare tranny in the garage, and the one I was using had well over 200k miles on it, I chose to run it until it died. I can get spare trannys for under a hundred bucks around here, and since I race the car I like to keep spares around whenever possible.

 

You must be following my build as this is the story of my life. However, the one thing you put up there "upgrade the cooling system" is not necessary as the SA/FB radiator keeps up just as good or better then the aftermarket aluminum stuff. Maybe a front mount oil cooler, but you should have one of those anyway.

 

I'm with Kentetsu on this, ever since I ruined my shoulder trying to lift my trans into place while laying on my back underneath the car, pulling both as a unit sounds like more work, until you do it Kentetsu's way!

ps.. I think you should rebuild it, I had no experience and it came out fine, do be sure to check the end play very closely however, I didnt and had to do it twice, i'll know next time!

 

Yeah, it took less than an hour to prep the motor for pulling. In fact, it was probably less than an hour before I had her hanging from the hoist. It makes such a difference when you've already removed everything from under the hood that doesn't absolutely have to be there.

I'll try to fix up the oil pan gasket tonight when I get home. Then I have to decide what to put back in there. The spare tranny I've got has like 213,000 miles on it, but a friend has a couple of other trannys with lower miles on them so he might have something that will work for me.

 

I'll drink to that, even if I'm legally constrained to only being allowed to imagine the joys of a stripped bay.

 

Figured I should give an update on this. I've been so busy with work and family that by Friday evening the engine was still hanging in the garage just as I had left it from the previous weekend. And I had a two day event halfway across the state that was starting in about 12 hours.

So, putting everything else on the back burner I got to work on her. I finally finished up at about 2am, slept 4 hours, then for a shakedown cruise I headed to the event. I brought lots of tools along, convinced that there would be issues or minor things that I had forgotten.

Well, the trip went just fine. I raced on Saturday, took 1st place in CSP, then drove back home all without any problems at all. Then the following day I made the trip again, put in an even better performance (proper fuel level this time), and made it back home just fine.

When filling the tranny this time, I went with Lucas gear lube. I had run this tranny a few years ago, only replacing it when a lower mileage tranny came into my possesion. I used to run it with the 50/50 mix of lube/ATF, so I knew that the synchros should be nice and clean. And since this tranny has over 200k miles on her, I figured I'd go the extra mile for protection. The tranny feels very smooth and shifts easily, so I'm pretty happy with the Lucas (which shouldn't suprise me anymore).

For the motor, I usually use Castrol GTX 20/50. This time, I once again went with Lucas, also in 20/50 weight, along with a quart of their Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer (which I always use). When I had the motor out I pulled the oil pan off to fix a nuisance leak, and found some pretty scary looking metal shavings in it, and clustered around the pickup tube. This motor came to me used, with unknown miles or history, so this could be from anything in it's past. So again, I figured I'd go the extra step.

Anyway, everything went well and the car is back on her feet and once again performing in a spectacular manner. So far, no sign of any other issues. But I'm thinking it might be time to start looking for another parts car to rebuild my supply of spares, just in case.

Lucas = WIN!

 

The preceeeding message was brought to you by our sponsor ..... Lucas


Heck of good news and did well at the event what more could you ask for

 

You know, I wonder if I could get a sponsorship for that post? lol.

 

If you need a few bucks, You can always sell your spoiler!

 

It is actually possiable I have explored it in the past if you are competing and doing well they will probably atleast give you product, not a big deal but money saved is money made. I would have a little something typed up about you, the car, the class you compete in and how well you are doing if the car looks good include a photo (telling them their product is the best thing since milk and sliced bread won't hurt either) and contact them.

Think about it, you've been turned down by way better looking women then the hag that will answer the phone lol

"you can do it" lol

 

oh and if anyone actually has a friend or family that work at Lucas, I have no idea what they look like, was just intended as encouragement.

thank you

with my luck somebodies sis or wife work there, then I would have gotten all kinds of hate mail

 

Nice to hear you got her going again. Congrats on the wins.