So I finally started replacing shit to get ready for the SC. After 3 days of this, I'm already lazy to do the rest of the stuff lol
DAY 1 (8/16/21)
Anyways, on my drive over to JR's, I looked down and saw my car passing a milestone. So took a picture. Not the best, but I was driving lol
The plan for this round was to replace the coolant hard lines, dipstick o-ring, and OFHG. I skipped some of the other stuff since apparently I won't even need it on the TS2.
Requires taking off the intake manifold. Man why the hell was it so hard? Lol
Got through the easy stuff
Also, the torx to my hydraulic tensioner pulley was partially stripped. I needed a T52
I just wrapped the T50 up with a few rounds of electrical tape and hoped that it held long enough just to take off the belts. I'll let future sillie deal with it when we go to put the belt back on.
A shot of JR getting DEEP in there as we moved on to taking the intake manifold off.
God, it didn't help that my engine bay was dirty as shit from all the sanding dust.
After a lot of cursing and stuff, we took a break. I took this picture lamenting my decision to start this project lol We were like what? 25% at this stage
F*** Y*** S***
Got it off. Actually, we didn't take it all the way off. There was a fuel line or something still attached. Didn't want to bother with that so we just move it to the side. Also broke the return line that goes to the CCV (you can see it sticking out in the pic). Luckily, I bought all the CCV parts (before, I found out that I didn't need it
).
Took another much needed break after this. I was like how are we going to put this back together correctly?
Debated on whether or not we should continue. We did. Just to swap the hard lines since we already did the coolant drain and it's literally just those 2 things. JR thought it would be easy. Took us like another hour or so of us cursing on why tf it was so hard to pull. Broke stuff off of it and it still didn't budge.
The method that finally prevailed was: Ok this looks like it would be better for you cause, right handed (JR). You got this. Then for the other hose, oh it's left handed (me), damn I gotta do it
These 2 fucking hard lines. I hate you
But I'm glad I replaced it. Because the one on top was actually broken inside with pieces in the engine. Also the o-rings on them were flat af.
Looking at this picture now, I just realized that I took a picture before I cut the blue zip tie. And somehow we managed to zip tie the correct stuff to the hard lines and route the alternator wire and all the other stuff correctly LOL
Cleaned up some of the area, then I was like hmm. I didn't know there's stuff in here. I figured I would take a picture because I plan to not see this for a long while.
I was going to clean the area. But I was like fuck it. Too lazy lol I only wiped the puddles of coolant and oil and stuff.
We decided to stop here for the day.
DAY 2 (8/17/21)
Damn I was sore af. Then I had to get up and drive up there again and do the second half of the stuff. We started later in the day, so I didn't think we would get as far.
So the focus was replacing the OFHG, dipstick o-ring, the bottom coolant hose, the return line to the CCV we broke and putting everything back together as much as we could.
Didn't remember how to do the OFHG so had to look up DIY. It was somewhat fairly painless to take off. If anything, putting it back to align it took longer. I also forgot to keep note of which bolts were what
But Pelican Parts DIY to the rescue. I also replaced the VANOS oil return line too.
Only picture I took lol
Spent the next several hours figuring out what we did so we could go backwards in order to put the intake back on. Then we got to the part where the fuel vent hose needed to go on the side nipple all the way on the corner of the engine. FML this has got to be the hardest FJDASOGNEOQ!!! Hose to put on. We literally spent like a couple hours on this part.
First of all, the hose was WAY smaller than the nipple/tube that it has to go over. Then you have this SHORT ASS FUCKING hose that barely makes it there. WHY?! GOD DAMMIT WHY?!
I found the other end of it while we were figuring out what to do. Since this all project all of a sudden turned into GOD TIER MODE. I was like screw it, pulled the other end off. Well it wouldn't come off. I had to use a blade and cut it off without seeing it. Even when I cut it, It held on for dear life. Like HAHAHAH JK you thought you found a cheat huh?
Kojima, you designed this level didn't you?
After I finally got it off. We went to buy longer versions of the hose, and tried to use a larger size as well. Larger size didn't work. The connection on the bottom was too small. So had to make due with the current hose size which is still god damn impossible to put on. After several attempts, tried putting the hose in hot water to get it on. We were only ever able to get on like 40% of the distance. Fuck it, it's good enough, doesn't look like it'll come off. I think I got like 24" of the hose (the original was already like 12" wtf), I didn't even cut it. Shoved the rest in the back of the car and plugged the other side in. This paid dividends later.
We took the intake manifold off a few times while trying to figure out how to route hoses and connectors and such. The one that sucked was the power lead for the starter. We clipped it on a clip that we though it might have gone to. And it made it extremely short. Had to take the damn thing out off just so we could reroute it. It took some time, but we finally got it back on.
After taking another well deserved break, I figured we should switch gears and put the alternator and belts back on. Seriously FU past sillie
At this point, it was like 10pm. And here we're struggling to put the god damn serpentine belt on. That stripped torx? It went from T52 to T54 at some point before not even being able to be used. We couldn't hold it long enough for me to safely put the belt on without some serious injury. What normally takes like 30 seconds, took like an hour lol Ended up trying a HEX. Got a 5/16th to fit, added some electrical tape to make sure it's in there good. Hammered the socket in. We had one shot at this lol Got that bitch on
EAS can deal with it now
Put the rest of the parts in. It was pretty smooth sailing from this point since it's just putting the easy stuff back on. Filled the car with oil, I skipped the funnel cause it was taking too long. I was doing pretty good until I didn't
Then the coolant, well that was just awful lmao I spilled a ton of that too lol I didn't want to wait for the slow funnel. It was like 230am at this part.
Finally, everything is back. Go to start the car and it dies right away
Son of a bitch. Tried a couple more times and no go. Gave up. It was too late to troubleshoot so I just left for the day.
DAY 3 (8/18/21)
So JR was busy today, so I just did the troubleshooting on my own. I was kind of lazy, but since it was all cloudy and stuff I decided to drive up. Seriously, iono what we could have done wrong. I went through all the shit on the drive back to JRs house. Honestly the 2 biggest issues I could think of is it's either fuel related or vacuum/air related.
I was going to start it again and figured it was a hiccup. But after priming the fuel pump a few times, I was like nah. I'll just go check it out. I decided to start looking for vacuum/air first. It's like the first thing we needed to take off anyways so yeah. THEN I SAW IT
This glint that wasn't supposed to be there.
YES!! Thank god it was something easy. Honestly fuck these aftermarket Chinese OEM style hoses. They were somehow more difficult to put on than my silicone intake hoses lol So I swapped my hoses back on.
It's ALIVE!!!
So this time, turned on and stayed on. Although it was still running a little rough. I looked around and saw the vacuum line connected to the F connector had a cut in it. Must be from when we were moving it around. I replaced it with the hose that I bought the other day for the Kojima level.
And everything is good. Car is up and running and everything seems to be good. There was coolant dripping when I was backing up, but it just turned out to be all of the coolant I spilled while pouring it into the car LOL
Taking a break from that train wreck of install lol
The next thing up to do is the VANOS. Got to do the seals and anti-rattle kit. I also have fuel filter, motor mounts, transmission mounts. I think that's it as far as getting the car ready for the TS2 goes. I need to replace my current suspension and get tires, but I can do that later.