Ah. Well now I've got all the intake stuff off an out of the way so im all ready to drop my old radiator tomorrow. Im going to be running a fluidyne radiator and while its out its a great chance for me to set up my CBI(thanks Adam!). Dont forget to disconnect your battery and drain your coolant!

basically I've got the
battery
battery tray
intake box
intercooler
AST
top ducting
and bottom ducting removed.

I'm also doing my swaybars(you have to take your mounts off)

The only hard part to any of this is getting the AC canister out of the lower duct. It's not hard per se but I was worried I was gonna crimp a line or break something so I took care to do this. Basically you just have to unbolt its supposrt and start twisting and turning things until it pops out.

My left front sway bar mount is bent so bad that I cant get a wrench into it to unbolt it from the frame so I'm gonna have to wait 'til dawn to break out the cutter again. On a side note my sway bar link was shoved so far itno my control arm I had to try to cut that out too but ended up destroying my control arm(got another one on the way; thanks fritz!)

Anyways heres a pic of everything removed. All I've got is the top bolts on the radiator and cutting out that swaybar mount and shell drop. This all took me like 2 nights of fiddling. Id say 1-2 hours of real work while intoxicated.

and heres a picture of my riced out laptop because i think im cool


I've been posting my progress in the lounge because I didnt think it was good enough for the 3rd gen section and kindof offbeat but here are the two threads to keep you sortof up to date.
https://www.rx7club.com/lounge-192/unhealthy-508745/
https://www.rx7club.com/lounge-192/fd-room-evolves-512870/
Thanks for reading
yes my engine is full of socks
feel free to leave comments, even mean ones

 

 

Looks good, keep up the good work.

 

yep, took it to da cutta. got dem sumbitches out.
About 30 minutes of grinding and the exhaust hangers and left front swaybar mount are out.
mmmhmm.

 

Your engine bay looks like mine right now, trying to get the PFS SMIC and efini y-pipe in. Duct doesn't fit worth a crap with the PWR radiator

BTW I got the RB brace in with the AWR swaybar mounts. My bar was used, and slightly bent (grrr), so it took me a whole day instead of half an hour to get the thing to fit right. Also, I had to use spacers to get it to fit on the steering rack mounts, I guess the AWR mounts actually lower the swaybar a tiny bit, which I thought was wierd. The undertray still fits fine and dandy though.

 

wee compressor and dirty laundry and guitars

heres that stupid sway mount

 

Hey Barban,

I have a set of sway bar mounts if you need it, Pmed you.

 

Are those little sheep on your pajamas?

 

penguins fool!

and im beat after working all day and not sleeping last night. ill do more crap on wednesday.

 

does it look visibly more stylish from the front with the new radiator?
i need to do mine... wanna keep looking and running cool if possible!

 

Hmmm, get cases for your guitars.

 

Sorry man I dunno yet! I dont have mine in yet! Sorry. I doubt it will really show excet around hte edges of the AC condenser. It will certainly show some in the engine bay. Its not so much of a style mod. The plan is to have pics up for you by wednesday night so you can check it out for yourself though.

 

is that a optima battery and if so why does it look like its been leaking all over?

 

Its an optima. Its just real dirty. The red stuff on the terminals is anti-corrosion. If youre talking about my frame rail....I dont know and I was wondering about it myself. But it wasnt my battery that did it.

 

I cant afford guitar cases AND keep my fd running!

 

does that compressor woek good, I would think it is too small..good job BTW...

 

mmmm. It works ok. When im using the cutter its stupid and i get about 15 seconds of grinding. For the air wrench its awesome though. It was like $150 or so after tax and crap so i like it.

 

Got back from work and got the old one dropped. Got hung on everything on the way down. Now i have to switch the fan over and bold the new one up without bending fins. Pics after i get it in.

 

everything out finally

side by side comparo

 

fans on

radiator back in


The FSM covers this pretty well. All the intake stuff is really intuitive and then youve got to undo the sway bar and mounts and 2 top bolts on the radiator. Remove all the hoses. I dropped the radiator out the bottom and it was a pain. It hung on everything. I put the new one in through the top and it was a breeze. So Im guessing taking it out through the top wouldve been easier too. It took me like a week to do all this just because i have the attention span of a fruit fly and the work load of a mule. Total work time was probably 4-5 hours(some of it intoxicated). I submit that anyone can do this in their garage/driveway. Ive still got to put all the intake stuff back on but im busy fabricating with my Cheap Bastard Intake(Thanks Adam!). So, Ill put up a thread detailing that over the next however long it takes me. Its not a bling bling mod but im betting my car is gonna run a ton better. Ill update that when ive got her running. Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment!

 

can you take a pic through the front bumper grill?
is it noticably shinier on the road?

 

Yep, heres a pic looking right through the front. If youre looking you can kiiinda see it peeking out below and above the AC condenser. Now, if you removed your AC system it would shine like nothing else. But, no you cant even tell the difference really.

i know i know i need a new r1 lip and to wash it. Ive got an r1 lip in the passenger seat. Its just not high priority fix right now and its on jacks so im not looking like this on the road.

 

bloody condenser!

 

lookin good

 

thanks guys. the intake fab is going pretty interestingly so far. im covered in krinkle black!