Reliability Mods/upgrades
 

S5 vert 89 to be exact

Now that i have pretty much finished all the maintenance after i bought her i am looking into reliability mods etc

So far what i think i should start with is:

1) Aluminum Tstat coolant elbow (since i heard S5s like to break at the worst moments)
2) Brake master cylinder brace (i want a better pedal feel)
3) S/Steel brake lines (god knows when the last time they were replaced)
3) Cooling panel to help keep low temps (although i dont know if it actually works as much as i think)
4).......


Anything else you guys can think of ? I just want to keep her a reliable beast :egrin:

Definitely replace the coolant elbow, and the thermostat if you haven't already. I've also heard the S5 has a terrible temperature gauge, it doesn't give you fair warning until the engine is already overheating. You should install your own aftermarket gauge to keep an eye on the temps.

The FC has a fairly stout firewall (especially compared to the FD) and I didn't find the master cylinder brace too effective. Best way to improve pedal feel is to swap in a larger master cylinder/booster.

i tested the S5 gauge, and it has 3 "sections" to it.

from 0-75c its well damped but accurate.

from 75-100c its accurate, but the range it moves in is like half a needle width.

from 100-110c (the H line) its very accurate and not damped at all.

so if everything is fine, the gauge should never move higher than the middle, and secondly if you pop a hose, or loose a T-stat housing no gauge will help.
these engines will tolerate getting a little hot with coolant in it, but loosing coolant will kill it, and that goes for piston engines too.

The gauge may be accurate enough, what it's not is informative.

Coolant temp is not static- the thermostat varies, waterpump speed varies with rpm, wind speed varies, the efan comes on, etc. and it used to drive me crazy to know all that was happening and yet the temp gauge never budged.

The VDO gauge I now use does not have geometric needle movement, the scale between 160-210° takes up more of the dial than the lower/higher ends and you can observe the various components in the loop do their thing. For instance, in the summer I can open the heater valve and see the water temp go down, same when the efan kicks in.

The real temp of the coolant interests me less than just being able to see than the system is operating as expected and a needle that actually moves does that.

new Mazdas have a light for cold and a light for too hot, no gauge at all

they should have incorporated a buzzer into the coolant temperature gauge. some aftermarket gauges you can do just that, because none of us watch the gauge every second.

for some reason the steam can keep the low buzzer coolant from going off when needed.

It might also be worth mentioning the pinion snubber mod for the rear end. It's a chore to install, but it protects your front differential mount from tearing and keeps everything tight.

You know I was actually thinking about an aftermarket guage. Would prefer to see if one would fit in the stock spot since I really don't like pillar pods.

I would of thought the opposite was true. Learn new things everyday. And would that be a aftermarket cylinder/booster ? Or a different OEM one ?

The booster/MC from a mid-90's Subaru Legacy (and many others, no doubt) is a direct bolt in and the larger MC (1 1/16") will give you a much firmer, but still easily modulated, pedal.

I respectfully disagree, and find the movement in the firewall pretty appalling. So much so that you can hear the flex without the brace.

I do however, fully advocate the Subaru MC/booster, in conjunction with the brace it's a worthy conversion :)

.. a fold up bike in the trunk is a good Reliability mod!
Aaron Cake made a Scooter?..skateboard?.. that you may like..lol!

it seems as if the 4 bolt pattern for the brake booster is standardized. Mazda from 78-up and all the other Japanese cars, and even some domestics. the Ford Tribute/escape is confirmed. also confirmed that being a Ford, the booster fails regularly enough that we were changing them under warranty.

I would strongly recommend a good quality aftermarket radiator. My Koyo has kept coolant temps in check for the last 5 years.

Razor scooter !!

Can you still use the factory shroud ?

One eye on the guage one eye on the road. I have had too many bad experiences with previous FCs I won't let it happen this time.

First fc I ever owned was a 87 coupe and it looked good but I should of thought it through since the P/O was a kid just like me. Left a deposit to pick it up next week (300km away one way) and told him to pull the plates just Incase he decides to not give a crap about it before it's gone. Low and behold he abused the crap out of it and made the tires bald and hit a curb. I paid less for it ( his dad was the one that was there as I'm guessing he was embarrassed ) and started taking it home. Coolant buzzer goes off on the highway. Pull over and check everything and the oil is gone. Like zero oil. So I go to a gas station and put a whole jug in. Go back to his house and talk to his dad and get even more money off. I think I ended up paying half of what I originally paid. So I decided to sell it after I realized I wanted a vert more.

in an ideal world.

this last engine i rebuilt in my car already overheated once to 250F when the fan motor seized, took all of about 10 seconds to get there and always when you aren't watching.