Street Build 1g build - The Real Life Trials and Tribulations of building a DSM

[Anfurnyy]

Gotcha.


Unfortunately upon messing with them and measuring length, I've discovered the side marker lights don't work. The front blinkers do, but the side markers don't. Hazard switch works but the side markers still don't light up.


Sigh. Lol.

so i lied, hopefully not too late.
Front blinkers are 1157, rear blinkers are 1156.
Rear tail lights are also 1157

 

[CrackedDSM]

so i lied, hopefully not too late.
Front blinkers are 1157, rear blinkers are 1156.
Rear tail lights are also 1157

Nah not too late. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet and won’t until next week sometime. Maybe. Lol. Gonna be a broke month.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Nah not too late. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet and won’t until next week sometime. Maybe. Lol. Gonna be a broke month.

I just ordered up another set that says they're anti hyperflash so hopefully they actually are.. I'll update when they get here.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well the other bulbs that said they were supposed to hyperflash did. Might just give up on that for now.
Here's a neat little video that shows the difference between factory front blinker bulb and the LED brightness, as well brightness of the rear blinkers in a parking garage.


A couple weekends ago I took the car out to hang out with some buddies and on the way home I gave it some beans from 2-3rd and all of a sudden a ton of smoke came out from behind the car and then when i slowed down lots of smoke coming from under the hood.
I pulled into an empty parking lot and popped the hood and coolant EVERYWHERE. I had to search for awhile as to what happened and as it turns out one of the rubber caps that i used to block off one of the unused coolant ports on the thermostat housing split open pretty bad and just shot pressurized coolant everywhere.

Unfortunately, it seemed to blow all the coolant out of the car. I made the terrible decision to drive home with basically no coolant (probably 1 mile from home) by the time i got home my "coolant temp" showed a tad over 250*. I say "coolant" because i think it was air temp basically because there was no coolant in the car. Hopefully i didnt warp the head, but if i did i guess that gives me an excuse to swap in the SCE Head gasket.

I got a mount for my insta camera and found a neat little spot that allows me to see the interior and exterior perfectly so if I do some ride alongs I can record both directions.



Later that following week I replaced the cap, cleaned out the engine bay put coolant back in it and bled the system and took it for a drive and it all seems to be okay. Nothing weird happening that i can tell. I didnt rip on it just normal driving.

3rd gear is still grinding going into gear when shifting fast. If i shift slow then it seems to not grind. Im assuming the synchro does its job and slows the gear down enough for the slider to engage right.
I made the decision to just pull the trans again to tear it down one last time to see if there is something i can do to make it work right.


I did also pick up a 91.5-92.5 "HD" 3rd and 4th gear(s) hub and slider with the shift rail. Supposedly these are to be the "strongest" OEM hub and slider for these cars. I actually reached out to Jon @ TRE and inquired about having the gears be shotpeened and they do it for $250 which seems like a decent deal to me (for all the gears and shafts) however when i mentioned that i have those 91-92 gears he said that the 93+ were actually better. They shifted better due to the larger synchro and the slider for it has been known to hold 600+ ft/lbs no problem.

Honestly at this point this may very well be the last time i try to fix the transmission. I dont have the Money, or will to continue trying to fix it time after time after time or money to try to go auto. I really want to enjoy this car and platform and what not but what a pain it is to try to get it to that point. If this all doesn't fix it i might just take a step back away from cars in general and take a break.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well, I don't know if it's of interest to anybody on here, but I'm going to be streaming and later on uploading a video of me tearing down the transmission to YouTube. Really its purpose is just to help people that haven't gotten into them or are too afraid to, to get the courage to and mess around with them and what not if they have issues. It definitely won't be any sort of a guide by any means. I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough about the transmissions to do It definitely won't be any sort of a guide by any means. I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough about the transmissions to make a guide but it's a start and some people can reference it if they want.

I'll upload the link here in a little bit kind of before I start

 

[92Turbski]

Well, I don't know if it's of interest to anybody on here, but I'm going to be streaming and later on uploading a video of me tearing down the transmission to YouTube. Really its purpose is just to help people that haven't gotten into them or are too afraid to, to get the courage to and mess around with them and what not if they have issues. It definitely won't be any sort of a guide by any means. I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough about the transmissions to do It definitely won't be any sort of a guide by any means. I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough about the transmissions to make a guide but it's a start and some people can reference it if they want.

I'll upload the link here in a little bit kind of before I start

Hell yeah, I'll check it out.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Unfortunately it's on twitch because YouTube doesn't let me go live but oh well.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Sucks to hear the struggles, but honestly stepping away is the best thing I did. It renewed my passion for the car and gave me a very much needed break from the stress and struggle. One bit of advice: don’t sell the car when you step away. Just put it under a cover and ignore it. You’ll be so glad you didn’t sell it when you come back to it months/however long later.


Also: have you thought of trying this? I’m gonna try it and see if maybe it’ll help with hyper flash after all led conversions.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well i did take the trans apart last night and i believe i found what i was looking for and then some.

3rd gear Slider, and engagement teeth are pretty messed up. Im fairly confident this is the grinding im hearing but honestly im unsure. Also I found that the 3rd/4th gear hub synchro springs had broken. Luckily they both stayed inside of the hub and didn't circulate throughout the transmission.


I ended up messing up one of the snap rings on the input shaft while trying to press off 3/4 and now i have to order that and then also messed up the bearing while trying to press it back on to actually be able to remove the messed up snap ring. That upper input shaft bearing is now discontinued and NLA. There are talks of Timken alternatives to replace it but there has yet to be a part number listed anywhere for it.
JNZ has the OEM Koyo bearing currently listed for $160, and Jacks Transmission listed for $110. Incredibly pricey for just a tapered roller bearing. Last time i bought one I think it was like $35.
Placed an order for the bearing this morning and now i have a tough choice to make:
Touch up the earlier HD gears and run those
Somehow fix the 93+ gears that came out and run those.


Unfortunately I think sending them off to be shot peened is out of the question right now. So ill just have to run what i got.

 

[92Turbski]

Damn, that's crazy.
@bastarddsm had a good live video on FB yesterday showing the frequency on maintenance necessary when running a twin disc. Especially one with insane torque capacity. He has a cool setup with a modified Tilton only using a 4 puck single in there. Pretty cool stuff. But it showed how gnarly the twin can be on parts in there.
He might have a better idea/source on that top bearing as well.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Damn, that's crazy.
@bastarddsm had a good live video on FB yesterday showing the frequency on maintenance necessary when running a twin disc. Especially one with insane torque capacity. He has a cool setup with a modified Tilton only using a 4 puck single in there. Pretty cool stuff. But it showed how gnarly the twin can be on parts in there.
He might have a better idea/source on that top bearing as well.

I just watched that video actually. He definitely does a lot of good work and R&D.

Issue with my setup is I haven't even had a chance to shift the car hard at all. No flat shifts / no lift shifts, no launches. Literally just some regular street driving and slow 2-3 shifts.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well in another post about 3rd gear grinding I made between Kurt and Tim Zimmer we determined that the reason the car wasnt shifting right was my fault.
When i originally "rebuilt" this transmission i also replaced the 3/4 hub keys with new ones. I must have a goofy year that was supposed to use the short "ramp" style 3/4 keys but it does not it uses the long "ramp" style. Looking back i actually caught this while comparing them but never did anything about it and sent it.



What those keys do is actually what puts pressure on the synchro to engage the gear that your selecting and thats what helps synchronize the hub and gear together.
Using the short ramp style keys, what happened was that there was too much play in the slider/key and it didnt put pressure on the key early enough when the slider started moving, therefore it didnt engage the synchro fast enough, and the hub "grinded" into 3rd gear pretty much destroying 3rd gear and Hub.
Short Moral of that story: If you see somethin odd, question it. Verify its right.

Now i did my little twitch stream of tearing down the transmission and im sure I sounded like an idiot quite a bit and what not but oh well. Due to not being educated enough on streaming i didnt have the right settings setup to SAVE the stream after it ended.. so its all just gone.
While disassembling the transmission i was trying to press off 3rd/4th and it just wouldn't go. I ended up getting the bearing off and low and behold there was a forgotten snap ring. Its absolutely ruined now. Its all concaved and stretched out. It literally fell off the input shaft. So now i have to try and get a measurement and order a new one ordered and hopefully it's in stock.

Now with the transmission apart and plans to use this 91.5 HD gear setup I wanted to try something that I'm SURE is frowned upon but wanted to see if it's a viable option. I tried to "repoint" the slider teeth. And honestly it worked really well
I don't honestly know if this is a valid "fix" for anything. I don't know if this effects the sliding characteristics of the hub over the synchro and dog teeth of the gear either or even if this compromises the integrity of the hub material or coating on the outside but this hub was trash to begin with. I'm half tempted to try this and see if this does anything. I barely grinded any material off, just enough to make it to a point again.
Before and After


On another note I was incredibly fortunate enough to find a very good condition 95-96 gearset, and both shafts for a really great price so I'll have those as a backup in case this trans goes.




I got my staging brake installed in the new car finally and I actually found that I had it plumbed in wrong on the blue car. It was set to only lock up one single rear brake.. I obviously fixed that when putting it in on the red car. I ran into an issue getting it installed where the flare nut on the brake line bottomed out before pushing the line into the adapter and was leaking brake fluid. Ended up having to order a new more shallow fitting and that seemed to solve that issue. Should now lock up one front and the opposite corner.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well as luck would have it, the input shaft rear (top) snap rings seem to be discontinued and no longer available from a few places I've attempted to check (partsouq and amayama)
Checking with nengun now hopefully they have what I need..
If they don't I might have to try and source a universal one and try to shave it down?

 

[Anfurnyy]

Haven't posted in awhile, was away in Costa Rica for my Honeymoon! Awesome place.

Thanks to @twicks69 he sold me a snap ring that was close to what I needed for the input shaft and I was able to get the transmission back together Monday night. I made a few mistakes while puttig it together such as forgetting about the roll pins for the shift forks/rails after putting the big midcase on, and forgetting to press on the 5th gear needle bearing sleeve onto the input shaft. Had to take it somewhat apart again and get those squared away before proceeding, obviously.
The single most frustrating part of rebuilding these IMO is cleaning off all the sealant off the faces of each case. So tedious.

As my luck as of late would have it, it's been raining/ sleeting all day the last 2 days so I haven't had a chance to actually get the transmission back in the car. (It's on stands in the driveway still since blue car is still in garage) It might have to wait until Friday or this weekend.
I've decided to keep the late 91-92 3/4 setup in there and not run the spare gear set I have. We'll see if this does any better. I DID do the double synchro springs on 1/2 also which I didn't know was a thing until recently, and also make double triple sure that I have the CORRECT keys in 3rd/4th this time.

Can't wait to get it back together and see if 3rd actually works now. Very impatiently waiting.
Before I drive I also have to put some new oil in, and bleed the brakes since I drained the oil to remove the pan gasket and brakes since I opened the system to install my staging brake.

 

[92AWDHX40]

You got this man i hope to see it in ohio next year its a event youll never forget, ill be rocking mine too.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Definitely hoping for the best. The staging brake will be fun!

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well I busted my ass this weekend to make more work for myself.
I got the trans set on the ground and in and bolted up with the trans mount in 15 minutes. I dont know how I did it or if the gods were watching over me or what but it took no time at all.


Saturday I was able to get everything else put on the car and started up and took it for a small test drive. It did not go well. The Transmission seems to shift fine but it was a very short drive.

I noticed a burning oil smell when I was almost home and then was seeing a lot of smoke too. Parked the car when I got home and looked under the car and there was tons of oil all over the underside of the car, the exhaust, oil pan, turbo oil feed line.

I got to looking and found the problem.. it was leaking right out of the oil pan flange. I also had issues with having to pump the brakes up to get the car to stop. I found out that I'm pretty sure the reason why is because I had my staging brake likes backwards so it didn't bleed the brakes correctly. Ill be addressing that either today or early this week. Ill just swap the lines inside the car since doing it in the bay is such a hassle with all that junk around the proportioning valve. Then ill re-bleed again.

I got home and also remembered that I forgot to torque down the lug nuts... Super sketchy. They were just snugged on with an impact drill.

Sunday I went to work on fixing the oil pan flange. Undoing over half of what I just finished doing sucked but needed done. Over the course of a few hours on Saturday it left a literal pool of oil under the car.
Pulled the pan and almost immediately found the problem.. While using the orange oil pan gasket that I had on previously I must have overtightened the bolts and it bent the flange where the bolts go through inwards towards the block. So it created a high spot on the flange.

I dont know how I missed this while putting the pan back on, but I obviously didnt think anything of it.
I rednecked a little bolt, washer and nut setup and basically just stuck it through each hole and tightened them together so it would suck the high spot back to flat. I used a thick lock washer that was wider than the nut so that it would kind of countersink the nut and try to pull it further in.
That took me awhile to get done but it turned out much better than before. I got the pan RTV'd back up and used a little extra than I normally would and then got everything put back together. I didn't both putting oil back in it after, so we'll see if it seals when I put oil in it either today or tomorrow.

 

[CrackedDSM]

At least it shifted great! Sucks about the other stuff, but honestly that seems like how it goes with these damn cars.

 

[Anfurnyy]

At least it shifted great!

I don't know about this JUUUUUSSSST yet but it seemed to feel better. I didn't really get to do any fast/high rpm shifts. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to test it out more

 

[1cleangsx]

Atleast I’m not the only one on the lug nuts , I’ll never do that again

Good luck with the trans! Hopefully you got her sorted out, I currently have the best seal I’ve ever had with my oil pan so it’s never coming off , the slightest imperfection in that flange and they leak.

 

[Anfurnyy]

SO swapping the lines on the staging brake fixed all my braking issues. With the lines swapped the inlet of the staging brake was basically trying to feed from the proportioning valve and send it to the master rather than vice versa. Brakes and staging brake are both solid now. I will be re-bleeding them just to be sure. Dont wanna mess around with brakes.

I'll also make sure to torque the lug nuts

Swapped another one of the little rubber caps on the thermostat housing that had a crack and was leaking a small bit. My plan is to pull thermostat housing sometime soonish and tap and plug those holes with an npt. So no more exploding rubber caps and then i can also use one of those ports for a coolant pressure sensor later on if i want to.

Put oil in the car and i would bet i lost probably close to half a quart before I fixed the pan. When i checked the oil cold when i first filled it up on Saturday it was right at the top notch on the dipstick. Yesterday when i checked it was just below half. Ill top off the oil tonight and see about a possible drive. After a couple hours i went back outside to check for a leaky pan and i didnt see anything yet but the real test will be after i get the oil warmed up and flowing.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well ladies and gentlemen we have ourselves a 1 step forward, 2 steps back situation here.

Topped off oil, torqued lug nuts, warmed the car up and went for a drive.

Did a pretty good 2-3 pull and as I shifted into 3rd it started misfiring real bad, sounded like a Subaru.

Got it home and checked out engine bay and it's pretty clean still, HOWEVER there's oil all over the valve cover, spark plugs valley? (Just under the COP cover) And down the backside of the head and into the manifold. I think the stock, OEM composite head gasket might have let go. Hopefully that's all it is. I have this SCE Vulcan gasket here ready to go on since I figured this day would come.

Also, oil pan is still leaking. Not NEAR as bad as it was but maybe about a good size drop every 5 seconds or so from right the front motor mount.

I think I'm going to try and clear out the blue car from the garage and get the red car in so I can work on it. Never know when snow is gonna hit here once it gets cold and I'd rather not get caught with my pants down if it snows with the cylinder head off outside.

Oh yeah the good bit. That little 2-3 seems to shift great. No grind and I shifted at like 9k

 

[1cleangsx]

Hopefully my built auto won’t grind either

Dude if I were you I would just buy a new car, I mean oil pan, I’m telling you, a good oil pan seal is like a happy mls head gasket , if you want a leak free oil pan, buy a new Spectra, get some Ultra Grey RTV and crack a beer to celebrate.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Dude if I were you I would just buy a new car, I mean oil pan, I’m telling you, a good oil pan seal is like a happy mls head gasket , if you want a leak free oil pan, buy a new Spectra, get some Ultra Grey RTV and crack a beer to celebrate.

Be sure to use paint stripper on the inside though. I've heard problems with the paint flaking off inside the pan.

 

[1cleangsx]

Good Point