Altered Mental Status(1G AWD 5spd)

[CrackedDSM]

RRE's Clutch And Flywheel Tech Info

I have to go get my flywheel from the shop before they balance everything so that I can check if mine is also right as well...

Yeah I read that. It's part of what influenced my decision. Lol. The local machine shops around me have a terrible track record with basic stuff, so honestly even if I gave them a how to they'd either just still outright refuse, or screw it up somehow.


But man, the amount of people having issues with ACT Flywheels(including paul volk very recently) makes me worry. I never hear about the Comp Flywheels having these issues even though they're supposedly the same.

 

[curt-s]

It's either a matter of time, I suppose. Maximize profits, minimize effort.
But I can only hope they didnt screw up making mine.

 

[Spleen8urLSX]

Shoot I wouldn’t hesitate to run that flywheel! I see some staining from rust but no heat marks or anything, I’m willing to bet it’s a fresh surface and just rusted before it got used, however you know my bad habits of throwing junk together just works out in my favor by some miracle.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Shoot I wouldn’t hesitate to run that flywheel! I see some staining from rust but no heat marks or anything, I’m willing to bet it’s a fresh surface and just rusted before it got used, however you know my bad habits of throwing junk together just works out in my favor by some miracle.

It legit feels brand new. The PO said it was new, including the clutch kit which was OEM exedy. If you drag your fingernail down it, it feels like a brand new surface. Hard to describe but you know what I mean.

I’m gonna run the hell out of it!

 

[CrackedDSM]

Well, I was determined to get something done today because my thread chaser/tap kit came in, and honestly...I should've bought one of these years ago. WD-40 soaked for a couple days and a good chaser makes short work of old red loctite. Like it was never there. Bolts thread in and out like butter by hand.

All torqued up and pretty. Little dab of red loctite as it should be and 100 ft/lbs.

Kinda sad this is the last time I'll see this(hopefully) in this condition.

I am so in love with how the pressure plate color matches the valvecover. Like it's meant to be!

All torqued down to 14 ft/lbs and looking pretty. I'm still waiting on shifter parts, but next day off I have I'm gonna stab the transmission in, and get literally everything torqued and bolted down, filled with fluids, and ready to go. I can still bleed the slave and test it out even without a shifter. So excited and motivated, man.

 

[1cleangsx]

Looks good! I thought pressure plate bolts were like 22-24ft/lbs? Maybe not it’s been a minute

 

[CrackedDSM]

Looks good! I thought pressure plate bolts were like 22-24ft/lbs? Maybe not it’s been a minute

I don't think 22-24 would hurt, all I could find is the service manual says 14 though. I was curious if I should red loctite those bolts too, but decided against it.

If a wiseman has otherwise to say, lemme know. With the clutch still easily accessible I can fix it asap.

 

[twicks69]

No loctite needed on the pressure plate bolts. 14ft/lb is spec.

 

[CrackedDSM]

No loctite needed on the pressure plate bolts. 14ft/lb is spec.

Thanks man! Good to know.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Ordered a couple more random bits for this thing.

But mostly just biding my time. I’m still going back and forth on what I’m gonna do with the shifter assembly, but in the new time I may just try to see if the little pin on the shifter arm will pop out easily. If it fights me at all, I’ll switch (figurative) gears and pivot.

But either way, I may legit try to stab the transmission in tomorrow. There’s a large, annoying part of me that wants just throw my “bad” transmission in and see how long it lasts, that I’m trying to resist giving into. Lol.


Anyway, stay tuned frens.

 

[CrackedDSM]

It's day one of my 12 day vacation. True to form, I'm gonna be sick for most of it...but still planning on getting some work done. Most of today was spent recovering from a f*cking IDIOTICALLY busy weekend in EMS. I wish people would stop driving so insane when they go out of town on vacation. Seriously, slow TF down and enjoy your time away from your POS state. Stop bringing your psychotic habits here. In a matter of ONE hour, we had 6 stabbings, 4 high velocity MVAs(all four were rollovers, one into the bay), like 6 "minor" MVAs, and like 3 high acuity GSW(gunshots)...just stupid. Every PT we touched had the same story. "we're here for vacation/spring break/from out of town". Ugh.


Anyway, aside from that, I ordered some parts from my main man @jersygsx and couldn't be happier.

First up is this. This I'm pretty excited about.

Door and Fender trim to replace the warping/melting ones on the car currently. Very happy.

Second up is these. I bought these because I could, and I needed them, and they were cheap AF.

Front turn signal housing/parking lights. None of the screw holes are cracked(no cracks anywhere actually), and the lenses themselves are almost crystal clear. Just need to be cleaned/wiped off. But as you can see..these things look so nice. My current set are okay, but the mounting tabs on the top for the screws are cracked and flexible, and the drivers side lense is missing the mount entirely for the grille/centerpiece. So, very happy.


Everyone in the house is sick, so tomorrow probably gonna be a wash taking the wife to Urgent Care to get meds. But, we'll see what happens. I've still got like 11 days left, and all the Talon needs is the transmission mounted in, and everything bolted back up. I've got everything I need, and plenty of money in the bank if I need more stuff/stupid stuff pops up. If I have what I need, on God this thing will move under it's own power before I go back to work.



Final thought: If you're sick...if you even have a little sniffle...before you're travelling to visit family, stay your ass at home. Or, confine yourself to your Hotel/AirBNB room until you get better, especially if you're visiting family that has children. My wife's POFS sister is the reason the entire household is sick A F*CKING WEEK BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY, because she didn't feel she needed to quarantine herself or sacrifice a single day while she had STREP THROAT that my daughter IMMEDIATELY caught. So seriously...don't be selfish.

 

[curt-s]

Up here, we call stabbings Winnipeg Handshakes.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Up here, we call stabbings Winnipeg Handshakes.

I would've thought it'd be Winnipeggings. Maybe that's something else though.

 

[curt-s]

Oh, it is. You can also get Winnipegged if you show up behind the Legislature building after midnight.
Anyway, get back to work on the car.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Hmmmm. What do we have here?

Well shit. How'd that get there.

Well, since it's there why don't we just go ahead and stab it in? Hey wife, GTF over here and work that handle, yeah you know how.

Hell yeah, that's right. Get on in there.

Mmmmmmh. Brand new OEM bolts, torqued to the ridiculously low 22-25 ft/lbs that it calls for(7-9 on the bolt that threads into the trans! Crazy!). She's in there and sitting pretty.

I went ahead and stabbed the transfer case in there too, since I was already dirty and underneath the car anyway. And that's where more bad news has happened.

One of the two short t-case bolts(the one on bottom) stripped completely out upon tightening. I didn't even torque it, it was snugging down and POP! it was done. Pulled the bolt out with the threads completely wrapped around it that came right off like it was a brand new heli-coil insert. Kinda heartbroken, but honestly...f*** it. This thing is just gonna have to survive on 4 t-case bolts until I can get my other transmission repaired/built. But seriously people...stop ugga-dugga'ing bolts that thread into aluminum, because they always tend to give up the ghost on ME specifically.

Also, went to pre-loosen the fill plug on this t-case, and legitimately damn-near snapped the bolt in half it was so tight. The first clue was the head was kinda rounded. I used a really good grabber socket, and had to put a pry-bar(half of my jack handle actually. It's like 2.5 feet long!) and a TON of strength just to loosen it. Seriously, what are you people doing? Putting a 1600ft/lb 1/2" impact on your bolts and just sending them?

New DSM rule: You're not allowed to own a DSM unless you own and use a torque wrench. Doesn't have to be a $1.5 billion snap-on digital one, it just needs to work.


Other than that, I'm well pleased with my progress. Later on when I button all the electronics up, I'll take the one bolt off and put the ground strap on it, but from here that's all that's left. Is buttoning everything up, and putting the fluids where they need to be put. I'm stoked because this was my first time installing a DSM manual transmission in anything. Was super easy, just required some muscling!

 

[CrackedDSM]

Alright, I can't do it. I tried to be all like "yeah I'm just gonna run four bolts, f*ck it", but I can't. I'm gonna borrow a 1/2" drill from a local, and just repair the thread for the bottom t-case bolt. I can't in good conscience just run 4 bolts. I've already got the thread repair kit for M12x1.25 and M10x1.25, so all I need is a drill and some time. I've got time, and found a drill. Woot.


But yeah. Lmao. I tried man, I tried. But I just can't bring myself to disrespect the old blackbird like that. Do it right!

 

[CrackedDSM]

I hate to keep bumping up this, but does anyone know what this bolt circled in red is supposed to go to? It came with my JNZTuning trans bolt kit, but I have no clue where it goes. Lol. Is it for the inspection cover or something?

 

[twicks69]

Starter plate bolt it looks like. Behind the flywheel.

 

[19Eclipse90]

I’d actually vote bolt # 8, as shown on VFAQ, for that one. Looks too large relative to the others to be bolt # 6. But a quick measure to determine whether it is a M8 (coincidentally, # 8 bolt) or M6 (again, coincidentally, # 6 bolt) would sort that out.

#6 is for the starter plate, but bolts the plate to the transmission. #8 is a bolt for the lower inspection cover to transmission. This one:

Also, might double check your transmission mounting bolt torque specs.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I’d actually vote bolt # 8, as shown on VFAQ, for that one. Looks too large relative to the others to be bolt # 6. But a quick measure to determine whether it is a M8 (coincidentally, # 8 bolt) or M6 (again, coincidentally, # 6 bolt) would sort that out.

View attachment 727100

#6 is for the starter plate, but bolts the plate to the transmission. #8 is a bolt for the lower inspection cover to transmission. This one:

View attachment 727101


Also, might double check your transmission mounting bolt torque specs.

View attachment 727102

View attachment 727103

There is so much going on in this picture. I can't really tell what the torque specs are supposed to be. Glad to see I got the t-case torque spec right at least.

 

[19Eclipse90]

 

[CrackedDSM]

View attachment 727137

View attachment 727138

I thought 7-9 ft/lbs seemed awfully loose. Good to know, I'll add some more torque to them all. I searched everywhere, man. Lol. But, thank you Brian!


I'm sick as f*ck right now though, so gotta heal first.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I got greedy and felt like how much effort would it really be to torque the trans bolts properly and install the transmission mount?


Boy that was a mistake. I feel like I'm dying now. Lol. But all the bolts are torqued properly, threads cleaned and repaired on the trans mount bolts, and all the transmission mount and trans mount to trans bolts are all torqued properly. Gonna go curl up into a ball and just die for a few hours now. Still, happy with my progress. Being sick while diabetic sucks ass.

 

[1cleangsx]

Hang in there! You’re a DSM’er! DSM’ers never say die

 

[CrackedDSM]

Hang in there! You’re a DSM’er! DSM’ers never say die

Truth. My wife about had an aneurysm when she saw me outside working on the DSM, .

Still feel like crap, and body aches are next level, but eh...could be worse. Gonna plod along on this thing probably doing one thing at a time and going inside to die rest a few hours, then rinse and repeat.


From here just gotta install the new slave/bleed it, throw the axles back in, toss the exhaust back on it, IC pipes back on, electrical connections all clicked in, and fill tcase/trans/rear diff with new fluid. If I wasn't dying feeling like I just fought off six MMA-trained bears, I could be done in an afternoon. But alas, here we are.


My birthdays in a day though...so that's nice.