This isnt a poll question, its more of a "im the mechanic on my own car" thread. I just pulled my Lower Intake Manifold off last night. All of the vacuum lines and fuel lines i took off as well, basically means ive completely worked on everything outside of the engine core. so...

How many have done the same to their own car? or whats the most complicated thing youve done to your own car?

 

Vacuum job had to be my most painful experience, but having the nice color coded break down diagram helped tremendously.

 

I took mine off too. Took tons of pics of where things go. I did it to ceramic/powder coat things. But mine is single so i didnt have a lot of vacuum hoses. I stripped the car down to basically the block. Turbo back, water pump, housing, t-stat, and alt. Only thing i did was put two gaskets on one side of the manifold and none on the other. Pulled the manifold bolts out. I will never tare down my running FD again for cosmetic improvements. Lessons learned.

 

I know it isn't the hardest, but redoing my wiring harness was surely one of the most painful and nerve raking that it might not work when I put it back on.

The one that impressed myself the most was replacing the 5th gear synco and clutch, might not be a whole lot to someone else, but it's the most complicated thing I've done so far.

The LIM wasn't to bad for me, I knew I was basically eliminating everything, so I just disconnected everything that was previously connected. Had to sawzaw the downpipe off due to warping, that wasn't fun.

 

The LIM wasn't a big deal. It was part of my first stab at a rebuild.

Rewiring the car was a big deal. I moved 2 fuse boxes and a few relays to the rear bins.

* Triple-check every wire.
* Draw lots of diagrams
* Run lots of continuity checks, even if you are sure you know that it's ok.
* Go crazy with different color wire
* Then before you plug in power, check every end-point again.
* Run tests with as few components hooked up as possible.
* Did I mention to check your connections?

 

Still don't get why people think the vacuum hoses are so big of a deal. You don't have to do ALL of them, just ones that commonly are removed that are loose. Ones that are baked onto the solenoids work just fine - they obviously aren't going anywhere, leave them be. Now, if you have the engine apart, sure, go ahead and do them. Just go one at a time, use the diagram, piece of cake.

Least fun job? Front cover gasket with the engine in the car. Seriously, it's easier to pull the motor then do the job.

Dale

 

I've removed the LIM during an engine pull/strip, but it wasn't my car.

I've done the rats nest twice, the UIM several times, and my turbos a few times too. I figure that counts for as much as unbolting the LIM too.

David

 

removing the LIM is a big deal?
here's what i started with:


oh and here's what my twins looked like when i started...


so yeah, i've removed the LIM before.

 

I've pulled out and assembled my motor twice and rewired twice as well...not fun

 

I've done pretty much everything on the car except rebuild the engine (my friend did it for me after I dropped off the bare block). The vacuum lines werent that bad of a job. I took the rack into my room and did the lines there. Its much easier than leaning over the car to do them. Doing the bushings is somewhat of a pain but overall not a terrible job to do with the right tools.

 

pulling the oil pan with the engine in the car has been the biggest PITA that I've done. I hope to never do it again.

 

ive done pretty much everything on my car except rebuild.. leave that to kdr

i stripped my car down to the bare shell and put it back so i pretty much touched apon everything....

 

I've pulled my engine, tore it down to the core, got a ported rebuilt short block, new turbos, and reassembled and installed it. Changed out all the vacuum hoses to VITON, replaced every other hose in the engine bay with new OEM units. I've installed a Pettit downpipe and RB catback. Taken the interior apart and installed a new stereo.

Worst/most difficult/PITA job?

******* FUEL FILTER!

I'd take an engine out again, using one arm....before willingly doing the ******* fuel filter. My big-*** hands just DON'T fit back there.....grrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

+1

 

Baja, you know what they say about guys with big hands

I've never removed a LIM before. Hope I never have to either......

On a serious note, pulled an auto engine out of an FD yesterday for rebuild and 5 spd swap. Not very fun, another reasons I don't like slushbox FDs.

 

This was one of the easiest and quickest jobs that i have done. Took me about 2 hours. I wish everything i do is that easy. But i worked on planes for 6 years and got use to not seeing what i worked on.

 

Compared to some cars I've worked on, the FD is not all that bad. Of course, I still prefer the wide-open engine bays of the cars of the '70s for ease of access....ahhhhhh, those were the days!

 

****, I barely got my Koyo in without killing myself out of frustration.

(see sig for rats nest job)

 

With 198,000 miles on the chassis, I have swapped two motors into the thing, have completely rebuilt a motor (though not for this car--separate track car), and have disassembled and re-assembled nearly every operating system on the car except interior electronics. Probably have as much working knowledge of the car as any factory trained mechanic ever had (if not better). The most difficult task was rebuilding the transmission. Requires special tools and keeping things well organized. Dam shifter forks and the positioning bearings were the most aggravating part.

 

Not a part on the car that I have not held in my hand a time or two. I can go even further and say that about EVERY wire in the 93 model.


Later

 

One has to admit that having done things like this, one's confidence level is out the roof!

 

I switched and tested some solenoids with the direction of a knowledgeable person. I am timid that I will F the car up.

Having said that I would love to have my LIM ceramic coated. So do you guys know of any step by step directions for a non mechanic type of guy?
Something like those old haynes manuals that broke it down to the finest details so any nub could do it.

 

I've removed and replaced the LIM, it took a while.

The factory service manual was pretty helpful, as was this thread: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/stock-twin-turbo-nuts-bolts-locations-485829/

 

1. Pulled out transmission, replaced 5th gear hub set and syncro. Managed to pull out the shift rod by accident in the process and dropped a shift interlock pin into main housing, major PITA to fish out and reinstall.
2. Pulled motor with blown o ring, stripped to short block, replaced with new short block from Ray Crowe, reassembled and reinstalled. Discovered that the '93 models used a paper gasket for the LIM, and one corner of the gasket was blown out.
3. Rebuilt rats nest - 2 broken solenoids, 3 bad check valves, all new vacuum hoses. More tedious than anything.

 

I am surprised to see what people find PITA.

Just installed the aftermarket secondary rail with the LIM, cleaned the waterpump housing and gave it a new thermostat and waterpump, IRP alternator and I must have installed and uninstalled my turbo at least 20 times in the last 3 days haha.

I think the biggest PITA job was installing the Garfinkle Oil pan brace with the engine in the engine bay.

Second would have to be removing all the bushings to make way for the Superpro's.