Glad to see your build starting to come along and pay off!
Atom's Speed6
- Thread starter Atoms4Piece
- Start date
- Watchers 17
Yeah right now it's sitting in the garage until the weather gets to an agreeable temp. I don't plan on driving it on Indiana roads until the salt is gone and I need to undercoat it.
At some point this year (spring time, preferably) gonna run up to Michigan, hijack the NATOR group for a day or two, and knock out the rear subframe, rear brakes, rear suspension (new rear SPC UCA, trailing arms, Siberian Bushing the rear LCAs, new Godspeed Toe Links, RSB, Aluminum bushings for the rear subframe, FA 500 coilovers)
Sandblast and PC the lower control arms and rear subframe. Once all that's done, I can undercoat the bottom and try to salvage the frame from rusting underneath me like a typical Midwestern Speed6.
Sandblast and PC the lower control arms and rear subframe. Once all that's done, I can undercoat the bottom and try to salvage the frame from rusting underneath me like a typical Midwestern Speed6.
might want to get some paint on that roof too.
Paint is at the very end of the very long list of things left to do. Also, I'll probably just vinyl wrap the roof black.
My rear subframe definitely needs pulled and gone though and coated. it will need a definite sand blasting first lol It's so rough and makes me sad.
Tossed the battery on the trickle charger yesterday. Weather is finally getting warm enough, I'm gonna take her out of the garage this weekend before it starts raining to stretch her legs and upload the most recent tune from Damond.
Updates:
Bought 2 Alcantara MS3 seats to replace the trashy fronts.
Bought 2 rear DSS axles
Bought new EBC rotors (these should probably fit this time around)
Bought new EBC Yellowstuffs all around.
Bought a SURE Juggernaught to complement the Dreadnaught.
And that's.... the last of the boltons for me to purchase. Kind of a weird feeling knowing there's nothing else I'm dying to put on the car.
I'm gonna buy a new set of Continental ECS 02 summers and get it aligned after the week of rain ends.
Road-worthiness is just around the corner!
Updates:
Bought 2 Alcantara MS3 seats to replace the trashy fronts.
Bought 2 rear DSS axles
Bought new EBC rotors (these should probably fit this time around)
Bought new EBC Yellowstuffs all around.
Bought a SURE Juggernaught to complement the Dreadnaught.
And that's.... the last of the boltons for me to purchase. Kind of a weird feeling knowing there's nothing else I'm dying to put on the car.
I'm gonna buy a new set of Continental ECS 02 summers and get it aligned after the week of rain ends.
Road-worthiness is just around the corner!
Drove it on Saturday and put about 25 miles on it. Overall it felt really good, aside from the squealing and Fisher Price traction from the 7-year-old tires. I’m pretty sure I spun the passenger front twice, so I’ll double check that.
I also ordered another rear carrier since the rear diff coupler is likely toast. Just adding that to the list for late spring / early summer.
That said, the car actually drove great.
Instead of jumping straight into a dedicated summer setup, I’m going to keep it simple for now. Plan is to pick up a set of RX-8 wheels (if I find a good deal) and run 225/45/18 Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4s. That’ll hold me over while I get the body sorted.
The rear quarters have the typical rust issues, and I’ll likely run into clearance problems when I step up to 235s later, so I’d rather not deal with rolling fenders twice. Once the bodywork is done, I’ll revisit wheels and move to a proper summer setup, probably ECS02s, with a new wheel setup.
I’ve definitely spent money in the past on things I didn’t need or ended up redoing, so I’m trying to be more intentional this time around. Sometimes the boring answer is the right one.
I also ordered another rear carrier since the rear diff coupler is likely toast. Just adding that to the list for late spring / early summer.
That said, the car actually drove great.
Instead of jumping straight into a dedicated summer setup, I’m going to keep it simple for now. Plan is to pick up a set of RX-8 wheels (if I find a good deal) and run 225/45/18 Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4s. That’ll hold me over while I get the body sorted.
The rear quarters have the typical rust issues, and I’ll likely run into clearance problems when I step up to 235s later, so I’d rather not deal with rolling fenders twice. Once the bodywork is done, I’ll revisit wheels and move to a proper summer setup, probably ECS02s, with a new wheel setup.
I’ve definitely spent money in the past on things I didn’t need or ended up redoing, so I’m trying to be more intentional this time around. Sometimes the boring answer is the right one.
New shoes for old wheels:
When your headlight OEM common ground breaks, make a new one. It's tons of fun, I promise.
Crazycanadian
Greenie Member
That's a pretty slick way of doing it.
Took my car to Slate Performance to get some work done to it (replacing the transmission and hunting down some oil leaks for me)
Good news. They found the oil leaks. Bad news. Crankshaft seal is one of them. F.
Good news. It looks more like a car when it has a hood on it. I ordered some fog light housings and out of the 4 I ordered, 2 of them were good enough to reuse, so I got my new fogs installed.
Good news. They found the oil leaks. Bad news. Crankshaft seal is one of them. F.
Good news. It looks more like a car when it has a hood on it. I ordered some fog light housings and out of the 4 I ordered, 2 of them were good enough to reuse, so I got my new fogs installed.
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Also my pilot bearing blew up. I'm guessing this happened when we initially installed it. I distinctly remember it requiring excessive persuasion to slot in. 
Shop quoted me $900 to replace the crankshaft seal but didn't mention anything about verifying timing after the replacement so now I have to have a discussion with them to give me detail on what all that actually entails.
I'd really like my <100 mile built motor to not explode when it leaves the shop because timing got effed. Updates to follow when I figure out what the plan is.
I'd really like my <100 mile built motor to not explode when it leaves the shop because timing got effed. Updates to follow when I figure out what the plan is.
Alright that's sorted. Need a new bolt and for it to be torqued properly, but we should be good to go.
I'm gonna fix the other leak myself when I get the car back (minimal leaking right at the oil pressure sending unit)
I'm gonna fix the other leak myself when I get the car back (minimal leaking right at the oil pressure sending unit)
So many updates. Not enough time to fish on it atm. One: fuck slate performance. They suck.
Two. Made it to Michigan to do the rear end refresh with the nator folk. Drained the diff. And found some broken friction tabs. Yay.
Luckily we have spares available to us. So we took the one of the parts 6 and Frankensteined them together. Should be fine probably. At least it didn't have any metal pieces attached to the drain plug.
Weekend isn't over yet. Still a lot to do. But we got the rear end out and hopefully we'll have it back on the ground today!
Two. Made it to Michigan to do the rear end refresh with the nator folk. Drained the diff. And found some broken friction tabs. Yay.
Luckily we have spares available to us. So we took the one of the parts 6 and Frankensteined them together. Should be fine probably. At least it didn't have any metal pieces attached to the drain plug.
Weekend isn't over yet. Still a lot to do. But we got the rear end out and hopefully we'll have it back on the ground today!
Also. Redid my front wiring for the split to both starter and fuse box. Kinda rushed this but it works nicely I think. 
Now the split is in a waterproof junction box and now I have bussman breakers and heat shrink on everything. Made a bracket that I mounted to the OEM battery mount locations. Rivets are not ideal. I'll do a v2 of this and actually do it right. Sometime in the future.
Now the split is in a waterproof junction box and now I have bussman breakers and heat shrink on everything. Made a bracket that I mounted to the OEM battery mount locations. Rivets are not ideal. I'll do a v2 of this and actually do it right. Sometime in the future.
Things accomplished this weekend.
Front:
Crankshaft seal replaced. Shop used loctite on the crankshaft pulley (and I quote: we don't want any reason for that to back out)
Passenger UCA - pressed out stock ball joint, pressed in SPC ball joint
Pass fork - replace effed bolt with new one from metal fabricators
Driver fork - replace effed bolt with new one from metal fabricators
Driver LCA - pretty sure slate torched the old one with my new Siberian bushings. Because they are melted. Thanks @phate
Ps return line - slate reinstalled this after transmission swap incorrectly so it was being worn in by the axle. Neat.
Driver axle - boot exploded twice on me so we just replaced the whole thing.
Oil change- 500 miles reached!
Rear:
Hubs and bearings - fucking hell was this a nightmare. Snap rings had rust-seized to the knuckles.
Coilovers - done
Diff replacement - swapped my current snout for parts car coupler and reinstalled. New fluids.
Trailing arms - thanks @phate
Axles - new dss installed
Toe links - rey godspeeds finally out of the box
End links - awr
Lower control arms - pulled from non rusty shell in Arizona
Camber arms - spc
Diff brace and mount - SURE juggernaut and dreadnaught
Install refreshed subframe ( install exhaust rivets)
Inside
Wotbox (pretty sure my clutch position sensor is effed, gonna check that later this week)
Gauge rewire - now my gauges don't randomly shut off it I glance at the fuse box kick panel
Wiring cleanup
Alignment
Drive home
------
So many things. Roughly 35 hours of work with 4 people simultaneously. Thank God for NATOR or this car would have stayed immobile forever.
Crank leak. How did the new seal leak immediately you ask? Not sure how this happened but there is a massive scrape in the timing cover inside the seal region. Michael did a fancy rtv job and installed a new mazda seal, we replaced the bolt with an ARP, and after driving it home 300 miles, seems to have done the job.
Slate did weld in my new muffler. It's shiny. Sits along the cabin to kind of help with drone.
Made it home. Installed my new license plate cover. Real talk. I am so proud and honored to be a part of the nator family. Just the fucking best people on this planet I swear.
Front:
Crankshaft seal replaced. Shop used loctite on the crankshaft pulley (and I quote: we don't want any reason for that to back out)
Passenger UCA - pressed out stock ball joint, pressed in SPC ball joint
Pass fork - replace effed bolt with new one from metal fabricators
Driver fork - replace effed bolt with new one from metal fabricators
Driver LCA - pretty sure slate torched the old one with my new Siberian bushings. Because they are melted. Thanks @phate
Ps return line - slate reinstalled this after transmission swap incorrectly so it was being worn in by the axle. Neat.
Driver axle - boot exploded twice on me so we just replaced the whole thing.
Oil change- 500 miles reached!
Rear:
Hubs and bearings - fucking hell was this a nightmare. Snap rings had rust-seized to the knuckles.
Coilovers - done
Diff replacement - swapped my current snout for parts car coupler and reinstalled. New fluids.
Trailing arms - thanks @phate
Axles - new dss installed
Toe links - rey godspeeds finally out of the box
End links - awr
Lower control arms - pulled from non rusty shell in Arizona
Camber arms - spc
Diff brace and mount - SURE juggernaut and dreadnaught
Install refreshed subframe ( install exhaust rivets)
Inside
Wotbox (pretty sure my clutch position sensor is effed, gonna check that later this week)
Gauge rewire - now my gauges don't randomly shut off it I glance at the fuse box kick panel
Wiring cleanup
Alignment
Drive home
------
So many things. Roughly 35 hours of work with 4 people simultaneously. Thank God for NATOR or this car would have stayed immobile forever.
Crank leak. How did the new seal leak immediately you ask? Not sure how this happened but there is a massive scrape in the timing cover inside the seal region. Michael did a fancy rtv job and installed a new mazda seal, we replaced the bolt with an ARP, and after driving it home 300 miles, seems to have done the job.
Slate did weld in my new muffler. It's shiny. Sits along the cabin to kind of help with drone.
Made it home. Installed my new license plate cover. Real talk. I am so proud and honored to be a part of the nator family. Just the fucking best people on this planet I swear.
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Reece Andreychek
Silver Member
Doing absolutely awesome man!
FYI, I know it's been stated before. But, to get this level of clearance if you go the DSS rear axle route. You're going to need Prothane bushings and then shave it down on both the mount and the bushing.
This is what it looks like before shaving it.
