Sports Car Club of Vermont

Thought I'd update this! Getting closer to being done. If only I was in Vermont for more than a couple weeks a year.

I came back for a week and a half before classes started in August and made some progress.

First, pulled it into garage.



OEM 2-bolt shortblock came out with the rest of the engine, as did the OEM 5-spd, along with shifter cables and base, driveshaft, and rear diff.







Check out how close the weak 1g 18-spline output shaft was from stripping!



Also may have found out why no 1st gear, thanks to whatever genius owned this before me:



Then, Mr. House welded up the old engine out of the VR-4, and it went in, along with a 6spd tranny & tc, driveshaft, diff, and shifter cables. Also check out some of the carnage from the wreck.

Tranny reverse bolt ear went back on:



Intermediate shaft bracket boss got sort of welded back on (as good as it could be):



Water neck got nice and tweaked:



Old input shaft made a nice imprint on my crank:



Highly functional dent on the side of the oil pan:



Engine to trans bracket was nice and tweaked:



Only shot I have of it getting close to being ready to put in:



This was A BITCH to swap:



Back in!



Current problems:

-I had to convert the harness from the old adjustable CAS sensor to separate cam / crank angle sensors. Now the harness isn't getting voltage. No idea why.
-Clutch master cylinder doesn't want to work now. No idea why.

Until next time!

//Ryan

So turns out I had forgotten to plug in my MFI relay.

With it plugged in, I get fuel and spark ... but still no start!

Getting closer....

Looks like I'll potentially need new heads after all.

OK here are some pics in chronological order (all with cell phone so pardon white balance and etc):

Taking it out of the barn and after a bath:



In the garage next to the Miata:



My discovery about the VR-4 engine's crooked cam gear and it jumping one tooth while I was removing the crank pulley:



(Flash is too bright but right one is exactly one tooth off)


Took out all the doody cables for stereo / alarms / car phone, and chipped out a bunch of factory sound deadening. No pics but I washed the interior bare metal and each plastic panel and re-installed it all leaving the rear seat belts out because racecar:





Then Cyrus offered some space at his shop to use, so we trailered it over:



Engine came out:





Cyrus's gf's bluenose pit Pip helped:



Looking down the car from the shop couch:



Eww ... before pressure washing:

Nasty rusted brake vac reservoir:



Had to replace the clutch master so it came out to get to it:



Stripped it down:



Found out why clutch didn't work, master cyl was rusted in:



Hit vac res with the same expoxy paint I used on my Audi's H&R coilovers:





Got the old engine (thanks lethal!!) popped the 6spd on it and back in it went:





If you can't find the 3/S tool you need in this pile, then you don't belong around one Mr. Arizona lol



Maple-Bacon Milkshape ... yep



Downpipe bit me:



I gave Cyrus a 3" testpipe, some random 3" piping, and the end of an ICH 3" exhaust, and he welded me up a sweet single shot all the way from the downpipe (that's his pikes peak BMW in the background):



Done! Still ran like donkey at this point but damn its pretty



Back home



And if you think the Stealth is low, here's a view of it from my Miata hahah



And an obligatory pic of said Miata

Nice!

That's my old trailer... still the villiage bicycle, I see.

Still waiting for Cyrus to finish Jamie's (Kiwi) pikes peak BMW.... would love to see that at the local hillclimbs.

Good seeing you the other day.

Steve

Yeah still has your custom engineered method of egress and ingress assistance (i.e., the 2x4 you nailed to it) there too!

It was good to see you too - I was in town just long enough to do all this and now I'm in san fran. If I ever am in town without some stupid project to consume every waking hour I'll try to get together with you guys.

Thanks to Sirs Cyrus House and Charlie Gerry, it's out here in San Francisco enjoying the Northern California climate.





Next project: 3.7 liters of billet + 67mm of Holset + E85.

I'll be back in Vermont in July with any luck, hope to see you guys then.