My Couch Pulls Out, I Don't: The Resurrection

[Dewback9 0]

UPDATE:

1.) Get the 7M running and the car drivable
2.) REMOVE 7M and fill with gun powder
3.) Buy 20 yards of detonator cord
4.) Light fuse
5.) Now the 7M has been put to good use


Well I picked this thing up Monday night for $380. It's an '89 Bloody Diarrhea Maroon on Maroon MX83 with just a hair over 150,000 miles. It ran, but really rough, and was structurally sound throughout. The guy was asking $500 and said the 'motor blew' about a month ago and the car had been sitting ever since. I obviously knew that around 150,000 miles the head gasket blows, so once I heard it run and a sweet smelling white cloud of smoke billowed out of the tail pipe, I knew it was only a minor fix. I used the "blown motor" story to my advantage and got the guy down to $380, which is a great deal.

The chassis was my main concern and it seems as if this car was never driven in a Michigan winter. Our roads get caked with salt and we also live in a region that gets a lot of mixed precipitation, so there's lots of slush and wet nasty stuff in the spring and fall. That mixed with lake effect snow absolutely destroys the underside of any car and surprisingly enough this thing is mint underneath.

Ascetically it also has minimal rust, with the only bad spot being the bottom corner of the driver's side quarter panel behind the rear tire, which is a rusted through slot about 6" x 1.5". Other than that and two surface rust spots at the top of the rear arches and a few cracks (down to the metal) in the paint and a few dings/dents the body is straight.

The interior is in great shape as well. Aside from all of the seats being torn/cracked everything else is in really good condition. The dash is perfect, power everything works, and the headliner is in great shape as well. It even has all 4 floor mats, owners' manual, spare, and even the jack, which all usually get lost along the way. The only thing missing is one of the wheels since the previous owner to the current one left it at the tire shop when it was getting a nail puncture repaired.

I was also fortunate enough to pick up everything that's needed for a manual swap 4th of July weekend out of a ’91 MK3 Turbo. I got the clutch, tranny, driveshaft, diff, and oil cooler for a measly $150. I've already torn down both the tranny and diff and they are in immaculate condition. I'm planning on beefing up the tranny with billet shift forks and 1st gear thrust washer from Marlin Crawler so I know the bitch won't break. Hopefully I can get the parts within the next few weeks and get it back together and in the car so I can make the last few local events of the season and start to learn how to slide.

So what are my plans you may ask? Well my intentions of buying it in the first place were to:

1.) Have a second car so I can work on the Subaru and not have to rely on it being drivable every single day and
2.) Have a play/project car that I can do basically whatever the hell I want with since it was dirt cheap to get into.

With that being said what I have always wanted is a drift car. I have AWD and ~190hp of NA glory in the Subaru, which means that getting it to lose traction is quite a challenge. It either needs snow on the ground or it needs to be raining really hard until I can have some fun and slide around a bit. So now with this car I can cheaply make a fun, fast, and radically different RWD monster that no one will know what it is as it pulls away with a cloud of smoke behind it roasting the tires through 3rd gear. So anyway that's my ultimate goal/plan for the car and the tentative short term time-line I'm going to follow should be something like this:

1.) Get the 7M running and the car drivable
2.) Put in the semi-built R154 and diff and convert to manual
3.) Get rear sway bar, S14? Springs or cut stock ones, mod tie-rod connection for more angle and install seats/wheel
4.) Drift like a madman with AC & leather

Once it's driving and back in running order I'll begin to either build up a 2J or the suspension, but I haven't decided yet. I might even do paint/aero over the winter as well but who knows. It's all up in the air right now. I just want the damn thing to run, which should be tonight since I've been working on it every single night after work to tear it down and get at the head gasket. After that I'll start thinking about what is going to happen next. Anyway onto the pics (sorry for shitty phone quality):

Donor '91 MK3:


Everything seemed to be in good condition:


Giving the diff a "Massage & Pedicure":


All the bullshit we could get out in 4 hours:


Got a free repair manual too:


Opened up the tranny & everything looks great:


The shadiest repair shop in the hood of Grand Rapids, MI just so happened to have a Cressida out front for sale:








The tow rig:


First night home:






We got the intake and fan off and started working on pulling the intake manifold. Not to shabby for 2 hours of work on a car I've only ever seen once before and it didn't even have a 7M.

And now as of last night:


Pulled everything but the head studs. I didn't have a 10mm allen bit, otherwise it would have been off:


And finally my bitchin' height adjustable, stainless steel topped work bench complete with an easel and work light I got for free from my buddies work that was cleaning house and threw it out. Nothing was wrong with it except it "looked nasty & old" but otherwise still functioned just fine. It lowers down to about 3" and raises up to about chest height:

[ChriSOL 0]

tow rig was overkill, i used a strap and a friend to haul mine the 50 mi to my house.

 

looks like you're in good shape to start. the FD rear sway is the bar you are looking for. word to the wise: you will have to smash the transmission tunnel really good to fit that r154, it will take you at least a couple hours including trying to fit the tranny, seeing where it hits and hammering it more. you will want a BIG hammer.

 

stock suspension is piss and shit in a plastic bag. ditch it and look into serialnine stuff if you want your car to perform. at least the solid subframe bushings while you are swapping stuff out back there anyway.

[Kyle 0]

 

This is the hammer I used. It took me about twenty minutes of straight hammering. Set the auto next to the r154 and you'll see where you need to concentrate on. I don't see why people make this a big deal. I never testfit shit. Beat till I was satisfied, then beat another minute or so. No problems. If it takes you more than twenty minutesnof hammering you are a pussy. I'd say just make sure you get the car as high as possible so you got some swinging room. It was probably easier for me cause I'm little.

[Dewback9 0]

Yeah I've been doing some searching to see what fits since nothing is made for these damn things (which I already knew going into it.) I saw that G was running an FD bar, which is probably what I will end up doing since it fits almost perfectly and I will be able to find a beefy one. Once I saw the paper clip rear sway I about shit my pants. I thought mine on the Subaru was bad, which is 13mm, but 10mm? Seriously? What the fuck.

 

I'm also probably going to machine my own coilover tubes since I already have the dimensions for them so I can save a bit of money there as well. Then I can start piecing together a descent suspension setup, which will obviously be Stance since they by far have the best coilovers out there. I also want to try and replicate some tie rod relocation pieces similiar to the Powered by Max ones, which shouldn't be too hard to do since I have access to machining equipment and there's a badass metal supply company in town as well.

[ChriSOL 0]

Beat till I was satisfied, then beat another minute or so. No problems. If it takes you more than twenty minutesnof hammering you are a pussy.

 

wow way to make me look bad i left my cars on the ground because I am a badass. swinging room is actually what is for pussies sir.

[Gibbs 0]

It's a start gl

[rayray 0]

hey cool stuff happening in here

[Dewback9 0]

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/embed/6H5XOTvw0ik

[Dewback9 0]

Well things seem to be moving along rather quickly....

 

 

 

[Dewback9 0]

 

 

Well things have been going rather smoothly the past few weeks. Interior is gutted, the piece of shit 7M is ready to come out, and I just got the 2J delivered tonight along with a hoist. Man is that thing a sight for sore eyes. I'm sick and tired of going out every night and staring at that god forsaken, piece of shit Toyota named the 7M. Thank god it'll be out in a few days and I can give it it's going away present, which is little something called thermite. The good thing is now I have everything I need to get this bitch on the road, but there are still a few parts I need which include:

 

-Alternator, ignitor, and power steering pump which didn't come with the engine

-Clutch/Flywheel

-Clutch line

-Front/Rear trans main seals and a few other trans goodies

 

Now I do have a few questions and wanted some input to see what you guys would suggest. First is flywheels. Fidanza or ACT Streetlite since it's chromoly and billet 1-piece or something different. Second is have any of you bothered to upgrade the R154 with Marlin Crawler billet shift forks, bearing cover, and 1st gear thrust washer? I know the OEM thrust washer is cast, which means it's stupidly brittle and I've seen how they shatter into a million pieces and basically destroy the trans, so I'm definitely going to change that out but what about the shift forks and bearing cover? I'm planning on just making the thing bullet proof since it'll be drifted and eventually be making hopefully over 600hp when I go turbo, but I haven't heard of hardly anyone getting the forks/cover. What do you guys think?

[aphxero 0]

it looks like it says fap on your mani. Now go fap on your mani.

[Dewback9 0]

I already accidentally all over it last night....I couldn't help myself.

[Absinthminded 0]

I already accidentally all over it last night....I couldn't help myself.

I like your style.

[Big Fuckin Shooter 0]

Noobs doin work all proper, there is hope. GJ, keep it up dewd.

[Dewback9 0]

Updates on progress thus far:

 

 

Fuck you, you mother fuckin' cock suckin' mother fuckin' son of a fuck

 

 

 

Dry iced the sound deadening shit and stripped the interior removing all useless bullshit.

 

 

 

Trans parts finally arrived. Out with the old, in with the new.....mmmm beefy.......

 

 

 

I also installed seatbelts, getting rid of that automatic track bullshit, which came out of a '84 Jag XJ6 believe it or not and they fit perfectly. I got 1st gear pressed off earlier tonight by some rednecks at a driveline shop and installed the new thrust washer and tomorrow everything will get pressed back together and the trans will hopefully be mostly reassembled by tomorrow night if I don't run into any issues. New brake lines are almost finished being run, clutch pedal and throttle cable are in, AC is out, and the diff/driveshaft are about ready to go back in as well. Next up is wiring and fabbing up some seat rails for the Brides and tracking down the last of my parts to get this thing on the road and scaring children.....or luring them in with candy. Next week <i>is</i> welcome week, so I may be able to go chummin for the freshmeat before it gets contaminated....

[Hater 0]

This man is mad. Very very mad.

[iw86 0]

Damn bro doing some work. Looks like everything is coming along pretty good. Good shit.. I wish I would have done the same with my r154 =/

[mungface78 0]

Good stuff! Im going to beef my r154 up too, besides the need for a press, is it pretty easy?

[Dewback9 0]

Good stuff! Im going to beef my r154 up too, besides the need for a press, is it pretty easy?

 

Besides the millions of pieces that go into it, yeah it isn't too bad but I'm also a mechanical engineer haha. At first it's a little overwhelming but after you understand what everything is and how it works it really isn't that complicated. And I would HIGHLY suggest downloading the R154 TSRM, because without it you won't know what the fuck to do. But you do literally have to disassemble the ENTIRE fucking thing. I mean you are about 20 minutes away from having all the synchros, gears, shift keys, collars, etc. apart and down to the bare shaft. But it'll make life a lot easier if you find a driveline shop with cool dudes that work there. I'm lucky enough to have found one and I just walked in with the output shaft in my hands when they were closing and was like "I need this to come off. What do you think?" And I just walked back to the press and helped them while they did it. Piece o' cake and about 2 minutes later BAM done.

[Dewback9 0]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dope

[Absinthminded 0]

Damn SonSon your kicking that things ass.

[leon.borden* 0]

This is a good guy. Went to a pick-a-part for me to scoop up some tails, and I live halfway across the country and have never met him. Good shit man, thanks.

 

Build is coming nice... hope to see some updates soon. Keep it up.

[Absinthminded 0]

Ya, I met him for the first time after a few weeks of txting back and forth about Mx. He is legit brah. There is a complete mx73 there. It's black and rusty.

[Dewback9 0]

Mmmm parts...

 

[Dewback9 0]