MrMazda92's '92 GS - New daily

[MrMazda92]

Alright, I have decided once and for all that it is KL swap time this January.
My K8 has been increasingly leaky over the past year, and I've thrown enough gaskets and sealant at it that I'm ready for an upgrade.

The search for a KLG4 has been less than fruitful, but I hope to make another run up to Portland/Vancouver around the new year. We are looking for either 2 KLG4s, or one KLG4 and a Millenia KL. If no G4s are available, I may cut my losses and start calling around to the dreaded import companies... If I have to pay out the nose for a "real ZE", it may as well have KL31 cams, and the possibility of an LSD trans would be nice as well.

[MrMazda92]

Bad news...

I crashed my '92 tonight.

Steering locked up during a low speed left turn(22-25mph), I forced the wheel right and I believe the tie rod broke or adjusted itself out... I'm not positive, as it's late and I can't see it. Anyways, I did a 180 degree spin and slammed both left wheels into the curb...

Blew my ~5,000 mile driver's side Kumho, damaged my left rear strut assembly(+15 degrees camber, give or take), and some more damage...

I'm alright, I kept pretty good control considering. Narrowly avoided 2 other cars and sacrificed my suspension in the process...

I'll upload pictures tomorrow.

[WhiteFinish]

Damn !!

Hope you're doing allright and have no (serious) injuries !

[marcdh]

Unlucky, as long as you are ok. The car can be fixed

[MrMazda92]

I'm no worse for the wear, at least so far. The car on the other hand isn't pretty...

I did take the time to jack it up today, but I only had 15 minutes before sundown to take a look. Rolled a creeper under her and took a quick peak at both affected corners.

The front left I didn't notice any visible damage, besides the blown tire and bent wheel, but the rear is another story. When we towed it that wheel didn't turn in either direction, and just slid across the ground as we positioned the car.

In the left rear, the strut itself didn't appear to be bent very far. I'm hoping that nothing else was damaged when I hit. The left rear corner was the hardest impact by far, and I'll be yanking both wheels tomorrow to get a better idea of what lays in front of me.

At this point, I'm pulling the '92 off the road until the repairs are completed, as well as my engine swap. It's about time I pull the K8 and start prep anyways, so I'll be driving my '93 for a while now.

Just another reason to be grateful that I have more than one MX-3 in the driveway. Merry Christmas everyone!!

[MrMazda92]

Alright, it's been a day full of thought and planning for this car's future.

I've decided to yank the engine/trans while I'm working on the suspension already. Tracy will be off the road for a few months, even swapping to "storage" insurance to help me with the transition... I'll be driving a lot less in the coming months.

Going to work on deleting un-used accessories and cleaning up the engine bay... I'm leaving it red, since sunlight hasn't damaged the factory finish under the hood. Bye-bye A/C, bye-bye powersteering, bye-bye cruise control, and re-looming a few things to clean up and tuck the more visible wires. I'll be installing my relays and 10g wiring for my headlights at this time, as well as relocating the battery.

Pictures will be available later on, I'll probably do before and after shots, possibly with a few "in progress" shots thrown into the mix. I rarely have a helper, and washing my hands only to snap a few pictures, and dirty them again is a waste of precious time.

My interior will be updated during this time as well, with new seats and a matching color theme all around... Likely leather for the front seats, but the purple-ish fabric all around will be replaced as well. Theme is likely going to be black w/ gray accents.

[MrMazda92]

Well now... This was a surprise to me.

The rear suspension is actually pretty much intact, short a few VERY worn 21 year old bushings.
I had thought the left rear strut would be badly bent, but it turns out the brake rotor actually snapped in two... This is why there appeared to be 15 or so degrees of positive camber.

After removing the wheel, the rotor fell apart in 2 pieces and was literally powder at the breaking point. Granted, there was a pretty hard impact involved, I'm now 100% in support of the "drilled rotors break easier" argument.

Snapped right along the line of holes on both sides.

Despite everything, I'm pretty excited to see that at least one corner isn't badly damaged... With an old rusted rotor stuffed on in place of the broken one, that particular corner sits even and the wheel rotates freely. A new hub is on the to-do list for both sides anyways, and I'm replacing the bushings before the car sees the street again...

Makes me regret updating the registration so recently though, at least they gave me 2 year tags for the 1 year price.

[MrMazda92]

Today the teardown begins:

Battery, intake, radiator/fan removal for starters.
Once a little space is opened up, A/C delete, Cruise Control delete, and disconnecting the wire harness from the K8.

Saturday will mark the first day this car has been without an engine in 21 years.
I'll post a few pictures after I finish cleaning up the bay some, before I pull the engine, and then after degreasing the bay.

Since I am still on the hunt for a KLG4, I'll be taking the time to de-power my steering rack, completely remove the A/C(Just from the bay, I'm not taking the dash apart just yet), cleaning up the harness, and getting the car roll-worthy. Flintstoning her around will be fun, but not as much fun as the coming KL!

[MrMazda92]

Alright!!

Progress today, shocking as that may be...
I pulled the battery, battery box, Radiator/Fans, IM and everything attached, detached the entire engine bay harness from the engine, without breaking a single plastic tab, cutting any coolant/vacuum lines, or damaging anything(including my hands for once!).

Anyways, tomorrow I'm tackling the A/C system, power steering, draining oil/gear oil, and pulling the axles. If I am able to get ahold of my friend, I'll have access to a crane to pull the engine/trans. I removed the IM to make it a little easier, and stuffed rags into the intake ports just to be safe.

I feel bad for the poor K8, 2 of the spark plug wires were drenched in oil and it poured out when I pulled them. Both valve cover gaskets are losing oil quickly at this point. At least I won't give it the chance to fail on me, if nothing else. 180,000 miles of service, ~50K of which in my ownership and little of it gentle.

The new engine will be getting even more care and attention than the K8, oil changes every 5K(full synthetic, "guaranteed" for 10K, with the K8 it came out looking brand new every time), Quality gear-oil, distilled water/coolant mix changed for the warm/cold months, and more. I'm taking my sweet time with the gasket work this time around as well, to help deter any future oil leaks.

It's nice, finally being able to use the parts I've been hoarding for 3 years...

[crazycanadian]

Hey bud if you hit the curb hard enough to crack the rotor, there is a good chance something will still be bent...

My shop deals with a body shop.. We do a lot of the mechanical repairs on accident vehicles, its been amazing to see how often things don't look bent until the car ends up on the alignment rack... The numbers don't lie then... Hopefully you did get lucky, but be prepared to still put a spindle and struck in the car...

You could check the strut while you have everything apart... With the strut and spring separated you can take the strut and spin the shaft with it fully extended and look for run out...

[MrMazda92]

Hey bud if you hit the curb hard enough to crack the rotor, there is a good chance something will still be bent...

My shop deals with a body shop.. We do a lot of the mechanical repairs on accident vehicles, its been amazing to see how often things don't look bent until the car ends up on the alignment rack... The numbers don't lie then... Hopefully you did get lucky, but be prepared to still put a spindle and struck in the car...

I've been fearing exactly this, but I'm planning to replace a lot of it already, the rear spindles included

You could check the strut while you have everything apart... With the strut and spring separated you can take the strut and spin the shaft with it fully extended and look for run out...

I did exactly this last night, and it was PERFECTLY straight!

I double checked the strut, with the coil sleeves removed, and found a slight bend to it.

Bummer... Maybe I can pass it off as manufacturer defect and get KYB to replace it.

[MrMazda92]

Currently piecing together what I'll need for a 5 lug swap, and trying to get ahold of a clean set of FD wheels locally(within 150 miles).

That, and sitting on the parts I need for my KL swap. My house looks like an automotive warzone, new and used parts all over the place.

[MrMazda92]

Alright...

A/C is pulled, didn't need to discharge it... Apparently I had a leak somewhere. Too easy after finding that out...

Does anybody know how to disconnect the cruise control at the firewall? I can't seem to get it off :/

[mx3matt]

i think i just pulled on it till the wire finally popped lol

[crazycanadian]

It'll have clips that hold it in place.. If you are looking to save the cable I think you'll need to get at it from under the dash..