Ball joint puller. You can use a pickle fork, but be VERY careful. It's easy to tear those ball joint boots.

Let's do a progress report.



Here's my work space. I'd normally have more room, but we have another project car, two project bikes, a couple crotch rockets (that's my '01 GSX-R 750 on the right, getting a hug from my bumper skin ), and my mother's JAAAAAAAG taking up some real estate. It's a three car garage, but we've fit four cars in there before. The E9's been kind of a shelf of sorts at the moment. The body needs some major restoration, so it's not really a big deal. The "CSL" will be the next project I tackle, although the garage is usually much more organized than this ...



I swear, my father and brother just happened to have bought red cars! The Z3M's my father's midlife crisis, and my brother's NA6 Miata's since been sold off. That's my DSM in it's natural habitat (in a garage on jackstands ).




Back on topic! Before I ordered my Exedy flywheel and clutch kit, I saw product descriptions claiming the flywheel was made of Chro-moly steel. I didn't believe it at first, but after receiving the package in the mail, it kind of makes sense. The stock flywheel (on an old bathroom scale) weighs in around 26-28 lbs.



... While the Exedy flywheel weighs in around 17-18 lbs. Losing 10 lbs off the flywheel is going to make the engine more responsive, but I won't be killing the motor every time I jump off the throttle and clutch in to make a stop unless I heel-toe the throttle (like my DSM does with a Fidanza 8 lb. flywheel). It's thicker than the JUN Chro-Moly flywheel I had in my DSM, but then again, this is 10-11 lbs. heavier. I don't think it's Chro-Moly, but that's good, as CrMo tends to warp easily.



Here's the TIG-welded repair my father's friend did. I cleaned up some of the welding slag with a dremel tool.



Bellhousing side.



Before I put the transmission halves together, I wanted to really flush out the gear case. Once it was drained, I noticed chunks of metal and other debris (it couldn't have been dirt ...) sitting on top of the gears. I bought two quarts of Marvel Mystery Oil to flush out the transmission by soaking it for about half a day, agitating the oil in the gear case by putting a long-tube compressed air wand in the oil (this made kind of a mess ). I then went fishing for metal.



This was on the third pass with a magnetic pick-up tool. After I drained the MMO into a drain pan, I saw plenty of little chunks and pieces that I flushed out.



Once the gear case was thoroughly drained, I filled it with some Royal Purple hanging around in my father's "car care cabinets".



Bellhousing with new input shaft seal, guide tube, and clutch fork shaft bushings. Exedy includes a high-quality, "Made in France" (insert French jokes here ) SKF bearing in their kit, which comes pre-lubed with anti-seize compound on the sleeve and clutch fork contact points (I added a pinch of Loctite C5 for good measure). The OE MINI supplied TOB comes with a nylon sleeve which slides on the TOB guide tube, whereas the SKF is metal. Time will tell if this will make additional noise, but as long as it stays together, I don't mind a little whirring at idle.



Here's the OE clutch disc and the Exedy disc. The OE has a bigger friction surface area than the Exedy. This seems detrimental to heat dissipation and longevity, but it fits right on the pressure plate. Only time will tell if it will hold up to BPU's and a tune on a 17% car.



Here's that $80 Harbor Freight transmission jack I bought. While the extra ratchet strap was useful in holding the transmission in place during removal, I found it easier to just let it sit on the jack without the strap. I jacked up the transmission while holding it in place while a friend turned the crank pulley to align the input shaft with the clutch disc. This allowed me to maneuver the transmission bellhousing onto the block, which was surprisingly easy.



Here's the rig me and my buddy Andre (pictured; Spec Miata mechanic and 2ZZ-GE fanboy) used to get the engine and transmission lined up. I could have used my floorjack to raise/lower the engine, but it seemed easier with a cherry picker and a heavy-duty tow strap wrapped around the block.



Whoever pulled the transmission last, left a bolt out when they put it back on the motor, so I went to Sears' Hardware for a replacement. It was a little long, so I put it in the hole at the front of the motor. F*** you, previous owner.



Supercharger rotors look good. No peeling or anything.



Done for the night. That's my brother's tuned ZX-10R on the left that he can barely ride. He bought it off a magazine contributor for Sport Rider, who is also a NESBA Control Rider. The other bike is my father's '81 Honda CB750K.

Next up, the water pump and supercharger oil service.

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/automot...tor-99849.html

This tool will pop it right off. Just be careful not to put your face or any of your body parts anywhere near it as it will pop off violently.

 

Carmicheal don't you just love that 4g63t? I miss my Laser soo much. BTW nice cars.

 

Carmichael - Just a quick FYI. While searching for fluids, I found a few reports of people running the heavier 75w-90 Royal Purple you put in your car. People are saying that its too thick and makes the shifting heavier, shaving a lot of metal. This is even more apparent when it's cold.

Let me know what your experience is with it though. Royal Purple MaxGear is more readily available where I am than Redline 70w-80.

 

Thanks. I've had the DSM since my junior year of high school (it's been 11 years since then ). I've literally taken apart every nut and bolt on that car since I'd bought it with a shot transmission (replaced with a Lancer Evolution II unit) and bent valves. It's loud, not very comfortable, or reliable, but pretty fast at Blackhawk and Autobahn Country Club, when it's running well. I swear, I just have the worst luck picking unreliable vehicles ...

Hmm. I ran it this winter with no perceptible issues. Then again, this past winter in Chicago was unusually mild. The coldest temperature I probably drove the car in was around 10-15* (that's normal here), but I always let the car idle for at least 30 seconds before setting off when it's warm. During the winter, I'd let the car warm up for about 3-5 minutes.

I drained the OE transmission fluid and filled it with 75W-90 MaxGear last Spring. My dad had two quarts laying around for the Z3M, so I figured I'd use it during the break-in period for the diff since it's been sitting in our cabinet for around two years now. ... It's pretty expensive, though, so in hindsight, I wish I would have just bought some cheap stuff for now (I don't think dad will notice, though ).

Redline MTL's rated viscosity is 70W-80, so I figured it was close enough. I did feel an improvement over the factory fill (which I think was either ATF or 10W30). I try to be as gentle as possible with my powertrain. I don't power-shift and I rev-match every downshift to help my synchros and clutch last a little longer. I ordered some Redline MTL to put in after about a thousand miles of break-in, so I'll report in with a comparison later.

 

BTW i see that is a redtop 4g63t, is that the JDM cyclone with butterflies and all?

 

Nope. I just painted my OEM valve cover with glossy brake caliper paint from an aerosol can, and polished the raised script to a mirror sheen. Not too bad looking, if I say so myself.

I know somebody who runs the Cyclone manifold with the butterfly valves in the intake runners removed. It apparently gives better low-range torque for autocrossing.



Old picture, one of my first attempts at HDR photography. I have a set of forged Superformance Cobra 17x9 +27s (A-Tech FinalSpeed) on 275/40 Toyo RA-1s waiting to go on after I complete the fender flares gathering dust on one of our garage shelves.

 

That is one sweet ride sir have you ever contemplated a Big16g turbo swap on her? that was always my dream for my DSM too bad that never materialized.

 

She's got a ported Lancer Evo III 16G in there already. I built the motor with high-comp 9.5:1 forged JE Pistons and Crower I-Beam rods. Apparently good for 1,000 BHP. currently putting down about 300-320 to the wheels on low (17 PSI) boost. I raced someone from a roll with a BPU'd LS2 GTO and walked him pretty easy. Plans for the motor include an external wastegate and atmo-dump so I can bring the boost up to 22 PSI, right in the turbo's sweet spot.

Anywho, MINI's buttoned up and ready to go. I had to come in to work today, but hopefully I can get out early to drive her for the first time in 5 weeks.

 

After driving the car around a bit (~200 miles or so), I'm happy to report the clutch job was a success.

Clutch pedal effort is now very smooth, but still firm. Release point is still up at the very top of travel, but I understand we have self-adjusting master cylinders. I'd rather have it mid-way through travel, but I'm just nitpicking.

The lighter flywheel is awesome. Engine revs pick up and drop quickly (but not too quickly) for much faster up-shifts and downshifts. The clutch seems to be holding together as well. I haven't really gotten on it yet, but it's gripping tenaciously at 10 PSI or so.

The diff seems to be working as well. Some light throttle around tight corners were all I needed to confirm its effectiveness. Steering effort seems like it went up a tad, but the car pulls out of corners nicely now.

I have about 200 miles left of break-in driving, which is great, since the "true" test of all these parts will be June 3rd, the date of the next autocross.



I did the s/c oil change service while I was at it ... The old oil stinks to high heaven (due to the phosphoric acid, apparently). Even a day after I got things buttoned up, the garage still smelled like someone puked in it.



I pulled off the water pump, and found that someone had put some extra RTV around the gasket. Don't know if this was from the factory, so I put some extra on the new water pump as well ...

 

Three thousand miles and a half dozen autocrosses later, and no problems. The lighter flywheel really helps with upshifting (much quicker to match revs with a higher ratio) and downshifting (throttle response). The clutch is holding up well to my "Stage 1+" powertrain mods as well.

 

good to hear all is well i had the same thing happen to me.


Who ever invented inverted torx bit bolt heads can go to hell