Got my car back today!!! Finally after almost 4 1/2 months! Thanks again to Chris, Rich, Mike and Christian at $$$$$$$$ for all your patience, perserverance, and great service!
Oh yeah, and also thanks again for the valet service!!!
Now, time to break this baby in! :D

Wow, it's been a while since I posted here.
8+k on the rebuild now. Car's running great.
Picked up a new toy for it the other day...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...WidebandAF.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...idebandAF2.jpg

Gotta get a new gauge pod now... :(

YES!

Got a face lift today...
 

Before...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...dP5/Grill3.jpg





After...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...dP5/Grill2.jpg

The mailman brought me another present today...
 

550cc Injector Kit. Turning up the boost soon! :D

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...edP5/550s2.jpg

Picked up this deep sump oil pan from a guy stateside that was parting out his car. This will eliminate any possibility of crank oil starvation which has been a problem for the FS-DE engines under high rev/G conditions. Adds approx 1.5 litre capacity.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1.../AWROilPan.jpg

Seemed to develope a crack in my turbo manifold so out it came tonight. I'm getting better at this shit. Went from this...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...Untitled-2.jpg

...to this, in just over 2 hours. :D

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...5/DCP_0071.jpg

Here's the crack, just below the wastegate flange.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...P_0077copy.jpg

I also found that I was leaking in other places too! Lookin' a little black here...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...5/DCP_0076.jpg

...and here.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...5/DCP_0075.jpg

Think there was any power loss with all these leaks? :confused:

Got the mani welded up and had the flange resurfaced at the same time. I've decided to wait until the Fall/Winter to get the ceramic coating redone so I just gave it a coat of VHT.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...titled-1-2.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...titled-4-3.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...titled-2-3.jpg

Also took the opportunity to install my deep sump oil pan while the car is on the stands...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...dP5/AWRPan.jpg

Looking good Mark. I think I've figured out something for injectors btw.

I know what it is!!!
They're not in yet!!! :D

Gonna have to do something about that reeeeally soon...

Did some road tuning today with Chris who was gracious enough to give me some time on the holiday. (thanks dood)
Car is pulling really strong, especially in 5th to 4th passing. I'm really looking forward to seeing what I can do in the 1/4 next weekend. Just have to get used to the launching... :D

For the record... :D

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...08-12-2007.jpg

Car died on me yesterday...
 

I had just turned left at a traffic light when it just shut down. All power is still present, turns over etc, just won't start. There was no indication of anything going wrong, the car has been running fine. I haven't had time yet to trouble-shoot. Just put it on the hook and towed it home.
And to add insult to injury, the bozo driving the wrecker gouged one of my rims with the tow lift!

F#@&*%$K!!! :mad:

Found the problem. Blown 10A "Engine" fuse in the kick panel fuse box. Car fired right up. Now the nagging question is what caused it to blow?:confused:

are they liable for damage to your wheel?

Strange. That really sucks about your rim, and there's basically nothing you can do about it either.

Got a call back from the BCAA claims guy today and he is looking into it for me. Anyone know somewhere on the Island that does wheel repairs? Here's the dirt...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...p_0379copy.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._0379copy2.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...p_0381copy.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...p_0380copy.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...p_0382copy.jpg

Mirror Image Metal Polishing here in Vic. He fixed up one of my Kosei's when I curbed it as Western a couple of years ago.

Mirror Image Metal Polishing
4856 Townsend Drive
Victoria, BC
Phone: (250) 479-5438

Wow, you got pictures. That could help...

BCAA stepped right up to the plate. The rim has been shipped to Greens in Richmond for repair. All expenses being covered by BCAA. :thumbsup:

Got my rim back from Green's today. It looks better than the other three now for sure!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...tled-1copy.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...tled-3copy.jpg

Again, can't say enough about BCAA doing the right thing and looking after everything for me. :)

My tranny has been making some weird noises (only in reverse) so I thought I'd fix up my original tranny that has been sitting in my basement. First thing was to get the newly revised torsen-style LSD from Mazda Motorsports who offer racer discounts for those that qualify.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...Untitled-3.jpg

There is an inherent problem with these LSDiff's when used in higher horsepower applications than stock. They break as seen here. (The circles indicate where the factory spot welds were in this case.)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._lsd_broke.jpg

The solution is to have the housing welded and this is what I have done.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...titled-2-6.jpg

The tranny should be assembled by the weekend and maybe the swap will happen on Saturday. :)

The culprit here was an O2 sensor that was chafing against my transmission housing due to a poorly located bung on my downpipe, causing a short. The bung has now been relocated and hopefully that will be the end of the electrical problems (because I really suck at electrical troubleshooting).

Does this mean you'll make it to Victoria for autocross this weekend? I hope so!