Turbo Dan

Long overdue update, not much has been happening because after I installed the new rear main the car leaked even worse than it did before all this happened.

So I left it in storage for a year until I could find the right moment to get into a garage to work on it without the prying eyes of my landlord.

So here you go, pic of the car freshly washed after being pulled out of storage, and some progress pictures so far.

Taking my time much more this time than last to make sure all the surfaces are clean and free of oil and the proper sealant is used to resist oil and heat. New rear main seal is being installed as well as a new oil pan gasket.
I've removed the oil pan and will be cleaning it inside and out before it's reinstalled.

Turbo Dan

Got my charge pipes and my foglight brackets electro galvanized to protect from rust.





long story short, replaced the rear main seal, new oil pan gasket, RTV sealed the entire gasket and installed everything and it was leaking from somewhere either oil pan or rear main seal during startup.

Tore everything back apart and realized the old oil pan gasket washers were stuck on the oil pan studs and the new gasket was being held off the flange causing a leak.
Removed the pan, removed RTV, removed old gasket washers and reinstalled oil pan.
Tonight the trans goes back on and hopefully it comes off the blocks....






Update:
Car is now totally back together, test driven, not a single drop of oil after a test drive.
No more leaks, no more issues. Time to enjoy the summer.
I'm exhausted.



Finally back on solid ground.
Next up is full alignment and coilover adjusting.
Then install of my Js front lip again, back to normal.

91 EF DX

Glad to hear she is up and running. It looks amazing. Great job

ProjetEF

The top conversion mean a lot of work !!!! you obviously invest lot of time on the car and it really paid off !

nice build !

Turbo Dan

Lip is back on, that means I'm going to drive/enjoy the car for the rest of the summer and not modify anything until next year.

A few cell phone snaps to show the lip installed...

Dru-Si

Great work. Hope to see you around!

Turbo Dan

Gonna be some new updates quite soon, for now I've pulled the car out of storage for the summer and I've got some things to do to enjoy the summer.

First up is to reduce the amount of heat that the hood soaks up from the turbo, and since I tossed out the OEM heat matting many years ago I've decided to go with a more modern solution.
Gold heat shield foil.

link to the product:
EPMAN 39" x 47" SELF ADHESIVE REFLECT A GOLD HEAT WRAP BARRIER FOR THERMAL RACING ENGINE EXHAUST AIR INTAKE EP WR19GOLD-in Cooling System from Automobiles & Motorcycles on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
you can buy it on amazon and ebay etc, but I chose this because the several week long shipping didn't bother me.
$35 shipped CAD

Several ways you can make a template for this stuff, I was going to use masking tape and a marker but I couldn't find any so I used sheets of paper.

1. crease the paper to get an outline of the webbing sections
2. cut it out
3. on the backside of the foil put the template upside down and trace with a marker
4. cut it out
5. clean the underhood really well, I was in a parkade so I just cleaned the sections I was doing. make sure it's dry.
6. peel back some of the foil backing and either cut it off or just crease it straight and fold it under, line up the upper half without letting the open bottom stick, then squeegee the bottom section. Then pull back the top and remove the backing and smooth down the rest. I used a special vinyl squeegee but you can use a credit card or whatever you have.

I'm not going to do any type of scientific test to see how much heat it shields, but the next day in traffic I'll be feeling the top of the hood to see if the temperature is noticeably reduced.
With that $35 sheet I could easily do all the hood webbing, and probably have enough do do it again if the material starts to peel off or get really dirty, or when I finally get around to painting the car.

Turbo Dan

My glass roof was smashed last year and I couldn't find anyone selling a spare glass panel, just full roof cuts and they were expensive.
So it took 12 months of researching and communications overseas and production time and finally I had myself a replacement roof just in time for summer. Pulled the car out of storage and with my replacement roof panel I had it installed by a local glass shop.

The new piece was made by Mike over at Templar Performance in the UK, he specializes in thermoformed polycarbonate race car windows, and he had the tooling to make a glass roof piece for the crx cyber roof.
He was awesome and delivered a piece beyond my expectations.

I ordered it in clear with a scratch resistant coating on the outside.
Since I've heard horror stories about using automotive window tint on polycarbonate and getting bubbles in the film from the sun reacting with the poly I decided to use a product made for plastic applications. It's a headlight film made by Laminx and it the 'smoked' version. The clarity isn't as good as a tint film but I don't think I care but it's something to be aware of.

My local glass shops are useless and they didn't have the skill needed to remove the old factory molding around the broken top so they installed their own bulk molding around the edges.

Waiting for everything to cure before I take it out for a cruise and enjoy the car again, but I'll be putting many miles on this car in 2016, probably the last year before I start to have kids and give up some hobbies.

Cheers and enjoy.

Deetz

That roof is a very good update, I like it, looks great!

r_Senik

great update

Turbo Dan

Small update to my thread, I've just been enjoying the car, but there are a few things that need attention. The first is the blown hatch struts.
OEM are too $$ and locally part stores charge about 60$ for two new ones.

I decided to go a different route, one that as far as I know is unique. This method is a bit of a pain but it will never fail and will last forever.

The idea was to find a shaft collar to fit the strut rod and once the hatch was up, slide the collar down and tighten it up.

I measured and looked far and wide to find a local place to order one, specs are below for the one I bought.
Ended up paying $13.70 for one, you could no doubt find cheaper where you live but where I live prices are inflated due to many reasons.

The next steps to make this a true success will be:
gluing one side of the base of the collar to the strut body so that you don't have to slide the collar down when the hatch opens, it will be stuck to the strut and slide with the strut body.

the last will be sourcing a tiny quick release similar to what you see on a bicycle wheel or seat post clamp.
I'm going to be trying to source a quick release lever that I can add a custom rod to that will thread into my collar on one side and with a quick lock of the quick release it should hold the hatch up.

If anyone has any ideas for where to find a mini quick release lever let me know.

The axial load the collar is capable for is 150lbs, and my guess is when the hatch is fully up, the holding pressure is no more than 10-20lbs.

Here is a link to the product I bought:
https://www.fastenal.com/products/details/34487

Axial Load:150 lb
Collar Finishassivated
Collar Inner Diameter:5/16"
Collar Material:Stainless Steel
Collar Outer Diameter:11/16"
Collar Width:5/16"
Screw Length:3/8"
Screw Material:Stainless Steel
Screw Size:#4-40
Screw Type:Socket Head Cap Screw
Seating Torque:8 in-lb
Specification:ASTM A582
Type:2-Piece Clamping Collar
Product Weight:0.064 lbs.
Notes:Stainless Steel Two-Piece Clamping Collar. Design fully engages the shaft without marring. Easily installed where major disassembly would otherwise be required. Greater axial holding power than set screw or one-piece clamping collars. Effective on hard & soft shafts.

92notch

Sweet!!!!

Turbo Dan

The build continues, this time the dash is out, and I'm doing some spring cleaning.

The dash is having an ebay leather dash kit glued and fitted, I'll post the results when i get them.
The blower matrix looked nasty so I removed it and unbolted almost everything and cleaned it all up.

These are the only two photos at the moment but I'll post more once I've got the dash back.
I found a doner dash locally for $50 and it has all the vents in tact and unbroken.

I need to pick up some new foam for the venting.

jdmhondamotive

You've done and amazing job! I can't wait to see what the dash turns out to look like.

Turbo Dan

I've attempted to install a leather dash kit myself without any help.
Watched a few youtube videos and got a general idea of what the basic workflow is so I jumped right in.

Only cost was the contact cement from home depot, the rest I had at home already.

Supplies:
Dash kit (Ebay - $220)
Rubber gloves
Paint brushes
Applicator squeegee (plastic)
Painters tape
Solvent based contact cement (home depot $16CAD can)
Sharp utility knife
White pencil crayon or something that will leave a mark on the back of the leather


Workflow:
Sand dash to rough up (100 grit or so)
mask off a border around where you don't want the leather to stick
test fit the leather and make some marks to make lining it up easy
mark about 12" down the dash and also on the back of the leather a line of white where you want to stop
brush on the cement to the back of the leather and the dash (use lots, you don't want any dry looking areas)
let dry for 10-15 mins (as per instructions)
start pressing down the leather down by hand starting at one end and going slow

repeat until the entire panel is done

trim

move onto next panel, remove all masking and re mask where you again don't want the leather to stick.


Total time start to finish was about 5 hours, when you factor in dash removal and install, plus vent removal and getting new unbroken vents, the time becomes a lot more.



The First set of photos is during the install, you can see what end I started from and how much I did at a time.

I followed the basic workflow and went panel by panel until I had everything laid down, you can tell from the photos I ran out of daylight and had to move into the garage to finish.
The final photos are the day after.






































Final Trimming











Done

bbarbulo

WOW that's hardcore! very cool

Turbo Dan

Final Install. Car is still a mess inside, needs a vacuum to pick up all the old terrible foam.

Note in the photos the new black closed cell foam I used to replace the old rotton stuff.