GTX build from Atlanta

[Wildfire0310]

Looking good Wildfire! You've been busy.

Thanks not as busy as I'd like to be but 4 kids means life gets in the way a lot . hoping to make some more progress tomorrow night and figure out what parts I need to order. Nice part is I still have a few OEM seals already so just need to confirm what I need and place a new order for new OEM seals.

[FE3-323]

man, i've gotta get off my butt & figure out the welder i bought. nice unit. i thoroughly expect to see weld workz in the future

[Wildfire0310]

man, i've gotta get off my butt & figure out the welder i bought. nice unit. i thoroughly expect to see weld workz in the future

Hehe, I've been trying to find time to learn, and slowly improving. Nothing impressive to show but I think I am getting to the point where I could functional weld two piece of Alum together.

When the motor goes back in I plan to try and swap out a few of the plastic intake piping for some nice metal pieces and finally install the GM IAT sensor I have had for a while. So hopefully I'll have some nice products to show.

On a cool and random note, one of the past owners just pinged me my local forum so I got some more background information on my car

Hey! That's *my* old GTX.

Steve has the history almost perfect. As I know it, the car was purchased new in Knoxville and driven for a good decade or so before the original owner decided it was time to trade it in. Serban Boldea, who at the time was the Southeast Mazda Regional Dealer Customer Service Rep bought it from the original owner (though he may have run it through a Mazda dealership.) He drove it sporadically for a few years, and when I learned he had one I convinced him to sell it to me while I briefly worked at a Mazda dealership in Nashville in late 2002. I think the mileage was just under 90K at the time.

It was my third car, so it didn't get driven a whole lot. A few years later, I moved back to Ohio where it sat a whole lot more because I didn't have the heart to drive a Southern car on Ohio roads in the winter. Yancey and I go way back and I knew he wanted one, so I offered it to him for sale rather than let it waste away. That was probably right about 2005 or so. I think I only put about 10K miles on it about 3 years.

Looks like my old girl was once owner by Dwight Heckleman. Not sure how much he was known back in the earlier years but if anyone knew him and wondered what every happens to his GTX, now you know :D.

[Wildfire0310]

Haven't really been keeping CP up to date on the thread so photo dump time :D

So last I left off, I had just pulled the motor from the car. Which of course lead to a simple strip down

Untitled by b c, on Flickr

Untitled by b c, on Flickr

look at that cute little turbo

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After that the next goal was getting the transmission out and cleaned up some.

First pass:
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Second pass:
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Untitled by b c, on Flickr

Next I went on to the block and did a minor cleaning

Untitled by b c, on Flickr

[Wildfire0310]

Now that I was done with the cleaning(maybe not to Slow's status )

Next was to start replacing seals and oil pan, I didn't get any photos of the oil pan in process cause well time limit of the sealant, but new half moons and new grey rtv

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next came clutch

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then timing side, all buttoned up

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also picked up a set of 610cc from KAinjection to try
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hard to see but got those in one morning before work
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[Wildfire0310]

Now to the sad part

so my goal was to break down the turbo, port the waste gate and clean it up.

The turbine housing was stuck on good due to rust, so I tried putting some sockets on the turbine housing bolts so that it would push onto the compressor side of the CHRA and apply pressure to turbine as I loosened the bolts. This seemed to have been the best way to split it via the internet.

All was going well, then suddenly I saw the compressor housing coming off and was puzzled...

Untitled by b c, on Flickr

Untitled by b c, on Flickr

Yea... that is the CHRA splitting. Well there goes one more vj14. Granted they aren't worth **** so not to big of a lose, but it did mean I was done to my spare on the parts car which was in unknown shape. Took a day off work and was able to send some time on the parts car and...

Untitled by b c, on Flickr

Happy days. The manifold is uncracked and the turbo seems to be in a good shape. WOOHOO parts cars :D. So as much as I wanted to split the turbo and port the wastegate so I could run low boost(aka low power) on track days as I learn. I don't really want to mess with the turbo much as it's my only one currently.

So goal is to pressure test the exhaust side and check to make sure it's all sealed up. Hopefully I can get some time this weekend to do a full test, as original turbo setup was also leaking at the flange from manifold to turbo. So hopefully this one is sealed there if so I can clean it up and then start putting it all back together.

[FE3-323]

can't say i've ever seen a turbo break in that manner. so kudo's to you for that. progress is looking good. keep up the work!

[Wildfire0310]

can't say i've ever seen a turbo break in that manner. so kudo's to you for that. progress is looking good. keep up the work!

Yea it's a first for me too, I am gifted that is for sure :D