Scorch3's 91 DX

[Scorch3]

****er decided not to start on me yesterday. No crank at all, just a light hissing/whirring sort of noise and occasionally one click. Lights and accessories all work fine and don't dim when trying to start. Thought it might be the clutch switch but holding the key in start does nothing then the whirring/click happen once clutch is depressed. Tried cleaning battery connections as one looked corroded but it didn't help. Also tried getting my dad to tap the starter while I was holding the ignition in start and that didn't help either. Ended up push starting it and just parking it at the top of the driveway and taking my bro's car to work today. Kind of leaning towards a bad ground right now. Be fun spending my only day off tomorrow trying to figure it out.

[Scorch3]

New starter is in and seems to be working.

The wire between the solenoid and motor on the old one had corroded and snapped, tried to solder in a new one but there was just no way to get it soldered so that it would make all the tight turns it had to.

[FE3-323]

i just replaced my starter the other day. i know the joy's of roadside "SOB ****er won't start"
glad you have it sorted now

[Scorch3]

Another good thing about five speeds. Can push start them to get home, would of really sucked with an auto.

Yeah dealing with semi sticking brakes now. At least I think that's what it is. Feels like I'm working on it all the time lately but it was good to me all winter so I can't complain.

[FE3-323]

hrmm. sticky brakes aren't fun. a local here with a base 323 has a drivers front sticky caliper.
post when you figure out our situation

[Scorch3]

Took the wheel off Friday, took the slider pins out remover the rotor cleaned everything up and re-lubricated anything that moves. Also checked the dust shield out after me109 recommended it. It didn't look bent anywhere but it was super close to the rotor so i bent it out a little all around. The noise seemed to be totally gone at first but i noticed yesterday evening that I can still hear a quieter version of it if I'm driving next to a wall with the windows down. I'm basically happy now though, at least I can be pretty sure they aren't sticking on badly. I did notice the wheels get pretty hot when driving though, just hot to the touch not like burning or anything, not sure if thats normal but I'm kind of thinking maybe the rear brakes aren't quite doing their share.


Also I've been working at a car dealership for the summer and seeing nice cars all the time has had me more motivated and working on the car so hopefully I can get some stuff done on it soon. I did paint the steelies bronze and put them back on for a bit until i can get around to fixing the clutch. I really love the bronze I'll have to grab some picks soon. Somebody else must have appreciated it too as I went to chapters with the gf and was there for quite while, when I came out someone had left a yellow sticky not on the hood that said "I love your car".

[Scorch3]

Cork Sport bronze oil bushings installed. Turned in to a huge job, the nut came of the linkage bolts no problem but then I couldn't get the bolts to slide out, ended up having to use the air hammer. The shifter feels slightly more direct now, though it isn't the huge difference others reported, likely because my bushings seemed to be fully intact. It is however much less stiff now. Thought when I tightened both bolts to the torque spec in the Cork Sport instructions suggested it was too stiff to use so I backed the nut on the the bolt directly below the shifter off about a half turn and added some loctite.

[Mazda_Powered]

instructions how to do shift linkage stuff? It's all about clearances lol I installed my bronze bushings and spent about an hour with a hammer, washers and lock nuts to get the spacing for the bushings to where it wouldn't have any physical play. Because even 1-2mm of play at the front bushing can transmit to be a lot more at the gear shifter lol. Loctite is a good call too tho

[Scorch3]

Yeah i would have played with it more but the whole thing was a bit of a fiasco, turned into like a 5 hour job and its dark by the time I got it working so I may try fooling around more this weekend. The instructions basically just showed where the bushings go and gave torque specs for hen the new ones went in, then at the end it had a little sentence that basically said if shifter is to stiff try loosening the bolts a bit.

[Scorch3]

planning to do a clutch replacement tomorrow and Monday. Anyone have any tips? I think I'm going to follow the Haynes manual but I'm wondering if disconnecting tie rods and everything is really necessary. I'm also replacing the rear main seal, does the oil pan have to be removed to do that? I'm sort of trying to decide if needing to change the rear main seal is a good reason the pull the whole engine instead of just dropping the tranny through the bottom.

Also, any tips on ensuring the rear main seals properly? Thats obviously not a job I want to have to do twice.

[Scorch3]

Oil pan is resealed and bolted on, new clutch and tranny are in place, starter is back on, axles are on, cross member, shift lever and shift stabilizer all in place. Engine has new oil filter and new oil, ran out of tranny fluid so I need to buy another liter today (I fail at converting quarts to liters) put that in then do up some wire connectors and grounds and put the air box and battery back in and I should be good to go.

[Scorch3]

All done. Didn't start first time but i took it back apart cleaned all the grounds and put it back together and it fired right up. I'm a little worried the pan may be leaking but I also spilled some oil pouring the new stuff in so its too early to tell yet. The clutch feels stronger even just babying it, can't wait to really try it out once I've given it some time to break in a bit.

[Mazda_Powered]

glad all went well!

[Scorch3]

Everything seems to be working great, clutch holds awesome right through to redline. I do think theres a small leak form the center of the oil pan but I spilled some oil filling so it may still be that I'm hoping.

Also Picked up some cheap used VW wheels and tires I'm quite happy with. Quick phone pic but I don't own a camera and no longer live with my brother who I used to borrow one form all the time so it'll have to do.

[ThatGreenBG]

Those look great!