zackCAのブログ一覧

Today I completely finished the driver side of the rear suspension and also removed the passenger side rear knuckle to finish tomorrow. I changed the OEM eccentric bolts that allow small adjustment to the rear suspension settings to bolts that lock out the eccentric bolt adjustments. You can see the bolts side by side in the title image. They exist in 2 places on each side and are the "cam" type bolts that rotate off center. My entire suspension is now fully adjustable, each arm has adjustments, so these bolts are no longer needed.

The bolt kit is very simple, it uses square aluminum spacers (on each side of the bolt) that fit inside the small indentation on the subframe. The square spacers fit tightly and no longer rotate, so all adjustments will be done by the SPL suspension arms. This will prevent the OEM eccentric bolts from changing settings if a large bump or pothole is hit, and makes fine tuning the alignment very predictable.

Here you can see the the lock out bolt installed and part of the SPL adjustable arm.

Today I started to work on the rear knuckles. I purchased SPL monoball spherical bushings to replace all 4 bushings on the rear knuckles. They are supposed to make the car much tighter in the rear. Since I am working on the rear, I decided to replace the rear wheel bushings as well.

Here you can see one of the old bushings I pressed out of the rear knuckle. Next to it is the new SPL monoball bearing. It is aluminum. 3 out of the 4 bushings are not very difficult to replace, but one bushing is very difficult to remove!


This is the new wheel bearing pressed on the old wheel hub.

I finished the 6MT swap this weekend! The wiring was not very difficult, but I did find a small error in the wiring diagram listed in the FSM. The wire for the cruise control (park/neutral safety switch) was listed as pin 102 on the ECM. It should be a green wire with orange stripe, but 102 is a blue wire that is part of the CAN system... pin 94 is the green wire with orange stripe, so the position was switched!



All other wiring was pretty easy, my reverse lights and my clutch pedal switch are all working properly! Unfortunately my car has been sitting a very long time and is no longer registered or insured, so I can't test drive it on the street lol. I was driving it up and down my driveway, and everything seems to work properly. I will tow it to the tuning shop and have them check it and tune it on the dyno.

Since I had to do wiring, I decided to clean up some additional wiring. I removed the dashboard so I could access all the wiring harnesses. With the dashboard and center area removed, I removed the blower motor and the air conditioning control unit. I have no air conditioning compressor or condenser, so I have no need for the blower motor or ac control unit. The small heater core is still installed, I did not want to remove it since some members have experienced cooling issues after removing it. I will research this more.

I will finish all the wiring and then move onto the rear of the car. I have some rear knuckle spherical bearings that will replace the bushings. I will also install a new y-pipe and test pipes. Once all parts are installed I will take the car to the tuner!

The 5AT is completely out of the car now, and the new 6MT is installed! Wow, it's a very difficult job without a lift, and without any help! All other parts are reinstalled on the car (starter, driveshaft, etc.), but I must still complete the wiring before the car will start. The ECU is still expecting a signal from the 5AT showing that is in either DRIVE or Neutral, so that it can safely start, but this does not exist on the 6MT harness. I must add wiring for the clutch pedal switch, reverse light switch and neutral position sensor switch.

Jim Wolf Technology lightweight flywheel installed. Before installation of the flywheel, I had to remove the "pilot converter bushing" that is used with the 5AT and the torque converter. After the pilot converter bushing was removed, I was able to install the pilot bushing for the 6MT.


Jim Wolf Technology clutch and pressure plate installed -


6MT installed!

Today I removed the 5AT transmission. It took a little longer than I though it would, but it was very hot today 106F (41C), so I was working extra slow!

Of course, in order to remove the transmission you must remove many other parts first. Since my car is a track car, there is no longer any interior, which makes the swap a little easier. Only the starter motor, driveshaft, cover plates, front brace, catalytic converter brace, and the lower O2 sensors had to be removed. The driveshaft for the 5AT model is shorter than the 6MT model, so it must be replaced. Luckily I found used parts for a very good price!


Finally the 5AT is removed!