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Thread: This ain't no build thread!

  1. #991
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HarryB View Post
    4.2 is supposedly more durable than the newer 4.9
    Good piece of information. Thanks Harry.

  2. #992
    Super Moderator Bryan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chiefmg View Post
    Time to do the job (including putting her up and down on the lift) was the length of the first Saint Asonia album.
    Gotta love when a job goes quickly. Then there are some of us who can't change oil in under two hours.










    ...Stop looking at me!
    Quote Originally Posted by DazedAndConfused
    I dont know a word you just said, but that **** sounded COOL.

  3. #993
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    Well, I thought I was going to be able to attend MATG this year. However, the best laid plans etc. The person who was supposed to relieve me decided two weeks beforehand that he was going to go elsewhere. Lots of nonsense ensued with the end result that I am still on ship. What to do to alleviate the disappointment? RETAIL THERAPY!! Ok, not really retail but I found someone selling an AEM Uego wideband that is able to connect to my MS via CAN-BUS. This means the money I spent on the CAN-BUS module several years ago will finally be used. Right now I don’t know just when I’ll be home but the AEM is already waiting on me. Now that I’ve bumped my thread closer to the top I won’t have to hunt for it as much. Stay tuned…

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  5. #994
    Super Moderator Bryan's Avatar
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    Looking forward to it.

    You missed a wild time at MATG, lol
    Quote Originally Posted by DazedAndConfused
    I dont know a word you just said, but that **** sounded COOL.

  6. #995
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bryan View Post
    Looking forward to it.

    You missed a wild time at MATG, lol
    I was tracking what went on. Part of me is glad I missed all that kind of fun (weather, power loss etc).

  7. #996
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    FINALLY made it home a little over a week ago. Spent some time driving her, had to help with the preps for my oldest step-daughter’s wedding, moved a safe out of my vehicle which didn’t do my lower back any favors. All of that was over with so today I started swapping out the wideband. Did the change-out of the O2 sensor and associated wiring first since it’s still a little bit of a pain moving around. Got that done, I was glad to find that the connecting wiring from the O2 sensor to the gauge is plenty long enough on the AEM. With that all done and the removal of the Megasquirt harness and other wires, I discovered that I did not know which wires to use to connect directly to the CANBUS in the MS. I even disassembled the MS unit to see if I could figure it out with no success. I think I know which wires are the correct ones, but I don’t want to risk being wrong. Sent an e-mail to the builder asking for guidance on this one. Had to push her around the garage to get her lined up back on her side so the wife’s car could fit back in too.

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  9. #997
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    I’m running a bit behind on updating this. Heard back from the MS builder, turns out that the AEM came out about the same time as the CAN module was made. Something he told me was that each piece has a discrete address which must be in the CAN module for it to function. Unfortunately this means that I can’t use the CAN functionality of the AEM wideband. He did say the serial connection was good for the AEM. OK, so I’ll do that. As I like things tidy I decided to source a serial connector to hook the AEM wires up to the serial connector coming out of my MS. Two days after ordering it showed up, and here is what I did:







    Once that was all together I connected everything and tried firing her up. I say tried because I was unable to figure out just how to get the MS to recognize the wideband with the connections I made. After some frustration I just went ahead and connected it using the analog wires, and voila! I am going to seek some help with this to see if I can find out how to get the MS to see the wideband using the serial connections.

    I did use a new piece to connect several power wires. I was unable to find exactly what I was hoping to (something that will enable me to disconnect the power wires easily) but this little gem is working for now:


  10. #998
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    While I was underneath changing out my O2 sensors I noticed there were signs of leakage at the slip-joint on the exhaust pipe. I threw some Kroil on there to make sure I could loosen the joint easily. Today I got back underneath and tightened that clamp up after putting some assemble lube on the threads to make any future adjustment easier.

    The other thing I noticed was the right-side muffler outlet was contacting the lower diffuser. Not sure how it shifted as the opening is plenty large enough, but here it was:



    A little time with some tape, pencil and my Dremel took care of that problem:



    I’ll smooth the edge and round it better the next time I remove the diffuser. I suspect I was getting some extra noise transmitted into the cabin due to that contact, but time will tell for sure.

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  12. #999
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    On my way to some babysitting duties last night, she suddenly got louder. I suspected the muffler clamp I had tightened had broken, but when I had a look once things cooled down I discovered that both bolts for the flange connecting the exhaust pipe to the muffler had come loose. One was completely gone, the other just hanging in there. I yanked it out along with the gasket so I could get new ones. This morning I dug around and found the other bolt had dropped into the diffuser along with one nut and lock washer. I took some measurements and went to Ace. The bolt holes were 13.5mm while the bolts were around 10.5mm. I decided to go with a more appropriately-sized bolt and picked up M14s along with some lock washers and metal lock nuts (don’t recall right now what the proper term for those is). When I got back home I was able to wiggle things and get one bolt in but not the other so I used one of the old ones for now. I’m going to have to drop the lower diffuser and the muffler, then hog out the bolt holes a little. This should provide for a more positive joint. I was able to get the old gasket in well enough to seal but will be buying another to do it right. I have no idea what caused the original bolts to lose their nuts, as they had looked good when I was underneath last week.

    While I was able to squeeze my hand into the space between the diffuser and muffler to get things back together it was not done without some repercussion, as seen below:


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  14. #1000
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    Ouch...muffler burns are no fun!
    Quote Originally Posted by DazedAndConfused
    I dont know a word you just said, but that **** sounded COOL.

  15. #1001
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bryan View Post
    Ouch...muffler burns are no fun!
    That isn't a burn. That's how it looks dragging your hand back-and-forth across a narrow lip of fiberglass over and over. The picture was taken maybe six hours after I did the work, I had the same look around my wrist area when I first got done.

  16. #1002
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    OOOOOOH...sorry.
    Quote Originally Posted by DazedAndConfused
    I dont know a word you just said, but that **** sounded COOL.

  17. #1003
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    Sometimes I feel like I am almost smart. After some research yesterday for the muffler gasket, I thought I might have posted the last one I used. Sure enough I had a picture so I checked my local O’Reilly’s and they showed it as being in stock. Picked that up yesterday afternoon so I was ready to go this morning. Hoisted her in the air with the QuickJack and set to work. Removed the lower diffuser followed by the muffler. I checked the fitment of the M14 bolts in the flange holes, and found the lower ones were fine while the upper ones showed some dragging. I hogged all four holes out a little with a ½” drill bit until I was satisfied with the freedom of movement. Here you can see the bolts that I was using compared to the new bolts, the larger size will give a proper fitment:



    While everything was apart I took a close look at the flanges. The one on the exhaust pipe is flat while the one on the muffler has a recess. However this recess is not consistent in depth due to how Racing Beat welded the flange to the muffler. I decided to try using a flat gasket I had made for a previous use in addition to the round gasket. You can (sort of) see how that turned out here:



    A quick leak-check was good. If that comes apart then I may just weld the damn thing up. Oh yeah, and there is now plenty of room on the passenger side of the lower diffuser where the exhaust pipe exits. Had I looked more in depth to that contact problem last week I would have found the muffler bolts were loose. Ah well, then I wouldn't have installed these mondo bolts.

    While I was in the garage pulling around I discovered that mice had gnawed on the special yellow car cover I have. We never used to have problems with rodents in the garage, guess I need to figure out some means of controlling them.
    Last edited by chiefmg; 10-24-2022 at 01:20 PM.

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  19. #1004
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    Transmission has been feeling notchy so I figured it might be time to change the fluid. Looked back through my maintenance log and couldn’t find when I had changed it the first time. After perusing my build thread I saw I had done it soon after buying the car. Looked in my log and I had a date/mileage entry with nothing written. I had changed the oil/filter and trans fluid then but for some reason didn’t fill in the log past the date/mileage. Hey, at least now I know what I did at that time (entry has been made)! Turns out the fluid had almost exactly 40,000 miles on it. I ordered new Motorcraft fluid from Rock Auto last week, their price is pretty decent even including shipping costs.

    We got a break from rain today so I took her out for a spin to warm things up. Got home, jockeyed cars around, put her in the garage and up in the air. First I removed the center console and shifter (for any who aren’t yet aware the 6 speed transmission can be filled from the shifter hole). Then creeped underneath and pulled the drain plug. While that was going I cleaned up the shifter and other bits. Installed the drain plug with a new washer (Mazda part #99564-1800, it’s the same for both the drain and fill plugs) and then pulled the fill plug. FYI both the fill and drain plugs are 24mm hex heads. Then it was back up top to fill it. I put a towel around the opening to catch any spillage like so:



    I did spill a little from the first quart which (naturally) worked its way to the bottom about the time I went back down to install the fill plug. I put in both quarts, only a little overflowed from the fill plug. I lubed up the shifter balls with some Valvoline red automotive grease I had (was going to use white lithium but it wouldn’t come out of the spray nozzle so into the trash it went). I was happy to see that both shifter boots were still in good condition. Finished up with installing the console and topped things off with the new factory shift knob I had sitting around.

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  21. #1005
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    Last week when I was doing the transmission fluid change I looked around underneath as normal. The last time I had to remove the FM butterfly brace center section I left it out to see if I noticed any difference (I didn’t). I had left the wings that connect the center piece to the frame rails. I saw that both sides had a spot where they were hard up against the bottom of the car. Hmm, maybe some transmittal of vibration through them?



    Since they are no longer serving any purpose, I decided to remove them today. Worked on the passenger side first as it is more difficult as you will see. Removed the seat and lower seatbelt bolt along with the side sill scuff plate. This was enough to allow me to get under the carpet to access the top of the bolts. I had to cut away my sound deadening pad in way of two bolt heads:



    The passenger side of the frame rail has a couple of studs to reroute the brake line brackets along that side. This is what makes the inner bolts on that side harder to access. Picture from the other side after I did the passenger side wing removal, you can clearly see the lines running inboard of the frame rail.



    The job actually went a little quicker than when I installed everything as I now have a 3/8” impact wrench that I didn’t have before. Still took some finagling to get the lines out of the way far enough to access the nuts. Got the nuts all off and removed the wing. Sprayed the spot where the wing was on the body with some Rustoleum aerosol undercoating I had around. Dropped that side and did the same thing on the driver’s side but quicker. Here’s how the contact point on the driver’s side looked prior to undercoating:



    While the seats were out I vacuumed underneath (if you have never done this you would be surprised how much you are unable to reach trying to vacuum under the seats with them in place). Did a little spot removal too. I probably won’t notice a lot of difference, I hardly ever drive with the top up so my points of reference are few and far between. But hey, weight reduction is always good!
    Last edited by chiefmg; 12-17-2022 at 05:35 PM.

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