The fall of Lexi(RIP) and the rise of Pheonix - swap motor, suspension, diy
08-17-18, 04:53 AM
#121
Chris - have you installed that R154 yet ? What W58 do you have ? I would need it to put together a 5 speed back to stock .
That wide body kit is looking good. are the fenders and quarter panels poly-urethane too just like bumpers ? Got to go to Winder to see buddy in person
!
That wide body kit is looking good. are the fenders and quarter panels poly-urethane too just like bumpers ? Got to go to Winder to see buddy in person
!
08-17-18, 06:33 AM
#122
Chris - have you installed that R154 yet ? What W58 do you have ? I would need it to put together a 5 speed back to stock .
That wide body kit is looking good. are the fenders and quarter panels poly-urethane too just like bumpers ? Got to go to Winder to see buddy in person !
That wide body kit is looking good. are the fenders and quarter panels poly-urethane too just like bumpers ? Got to go to Winder to see buddy in person
!Just the quarter panels and bumpers are poly urethane. Having issues with the 3m vhb tape keeping the over fenders on so I'm tempted to mold them on of use rubber well nut washers to keep them on.
The front fender is a fiberglass vertex ridge replica. The KDB was a tad short for the 11 inch front wheels so the vertex ridge is barely wide enough lol
08-29-18, 07:05 AM
#124
So with some Evercoat Fibreglass 421 EASY SAND Flowable Polyester Finishing and Blending Putty I finished off the fenders. Still need somemore layers of primer and sanding but its pretty much finished. The passenger side will go much quicker once I decide to do it
Again my putty mixing and laying down skills need work
220 grit later
A little black primer just to seal the work not laying too thick as I will probably sand it down for better primer when i decide to paint the car
On the car with the front bumper and fujin lip mocked on
Again my putty mixing and laying down skills need work
220 grit later
A little black primer just to seal the work not laying too thick as I will probably sand it down for better primer when i decide to paint the car
On the car with the front bumper and fujin lip mocked on
09-25-18, 07:39 AM
#125
Well back at it again with some updates, wish I had more time to do more stuff.
Finally swapping out the W58 with the R154.
Nothing better than a good friend in a closed shop on a Sunday morning to do the swap. Up on floor lifts the sc goes I will eventually get around to fixing and redoing the passenger fender.
Some quick pictures of the megan arms, still looking nice and blue
First thing was to drop the exhaust off, two bolts to the downpipe, one hanger near the rear brace at the end of the tunnel, and one hanger near the tow hook and boom off my exhaust goes.
I was moving a little fast and forgot to grab some pictures. First put the trans in neutral no ebrake. Remove the center console and unbolt the shifter. Next comes the drive shaft, using a breaker bar to hold the driveshaft in place and an impact gun this should be pretty quick. Being a slip yolk into the transmission you can slip off the drive shaft.
Disconnect the clutch line and slave cylinder
The bell housing and starter bolts should be easy to get to, you need a bunch of extensions to get to the top bell housing bolts.
I also made sure to separate and label all the screws in baggies for easy reassembly. Having a nice clean and organized work space right beside the car goes a long way in cutting down time
And out the w58 goes
The heavy duty pressure plate and clutch still attached to the flywheel. Unbolt the pressure plate to remove the pressure plate and clutch and you will see the flywheel.
Remove the flywheel and inspect the rear main seal, I did mine a while back so mine is still looking good. The pilot bearing is still feeling like new but I'm replacing it anyways since I already bought the part.
Also incase anyone wonders how big of a whole I had to cut for the w58 shifter to work in my 97 auto shell
We are now ready to put in the R154,
First bolt on the flywheel a little blue loctite doesn't hurt. Forgot what I torqued this too but its easily found online.
The ACT Extreme 6 puck clutch going in
I did not grab a picture of this but using a clutch alignment took usually supplied by clutch kits align the clutch and pressure plate with the pilot bearing before bolting the pressure plate to the flywheel. Don't forget to blue loctite and I torqued it to 27 ft/lbs. This step is very important if you don't align everything correctly you're not going to have a fun time getting the transmission shaft to line up.
Next I prepared the transmission shaft with a quick wipe down and applying the grease supplied with the ACT clutch. Luckily there was no surface rust
Oddly enough we could not get the R154 bell housing to fit in the tunnel, so with persuasion from a sledge hammer and air hammer we made more room in the transmission tunnel.
Again I forgot to take some pictures. But I got the tranmission shaft to slide in smoothly into the clutch, pressure plate and flywheel, bolted the transmission back up. Reinstalled the starter, clutch fork, slave cylinder, and new steel braided driftmotion clutch line.
Installed the new solid geabo between which was really nice. Installed the new one piece driveshaft.
Now its time to fill the R154 with gear oil. My poison of choice was redline 75w-90 full synthetic gear oil. The trans is mostly drained so 4 liters/quarts should suffice. The R154 uses more gear oil than the W58 and V160 from what i read online.
Again because this takes 2 hands I did not snap any pictures. There is a 12mm screw near the tail of the transmission you remove to pump the fluid into the transmission until you see fluid bleeding out the hole. Be sure to stick the hose in as deep as possible you don't mistake the trans for being full if the hose is close to the fill hole gear oil sometimes bleeds out like its full. I'd rather have a little more gear oil vs a little less.
Tighten the fill hole back up, down the lift goes, and reinstalled the shifter. After about 5 hours the R154 swap is done! If it wasn't for eating lunch and taking an hour hammering the trans tunnel this could of gone quicker but I like taking my time on the project car.
I also took sometime to install a new oem clutch pedal, manual brake pedal, and master cylinder. My old set up came out of a factory 92 manual SC300. The left is the new pedal and the right is the factory 92 pedal. note the rust difference lol. For some reason I was missing the spring set up which I took off of the factory 92, this was not fun or safe to do. I don't recommend any attempting to mess with that spring.
My buddy adams car in the background
Conclusion
As far as my W58 vs R154 goes, the R154 is going to take some getting use to. It's definitley more notchy and feels like I have to find the gear more than the W58. I'm not a fan. The R154 has not ran in years so I'm sure it is going to need some breaking in.
This time I choose to go with a non heavy duty pressure plate so the cluth pedal is really soft almost too soft lol. I don't see how I can shift faster in the R154 than a W58, again I just need to get use to the car and relearn to drive the car. It also maybe in mu head I feel like I have to press the clutch down more.
I need the clutch housing inspection plates both sides if anyone has a set for sale.
Also if anyone could suggest a nice shifter I might be looking. I'm not a fan of how notchy this trans is
Finally swapping out the W58 with the R154.
Nothing better than a good friend in a closed shop on a Sunday morning to do the swap. Up on floor lifts the sc goes I will eventually get around to fixing and redoing the passenger fender.
Some quick pictures of the megan arms, still looking nice and blue
First thing was to drop the exhaust off, two bolts to the downpipe, one hanger near the rear brace at the end of the tunnel, and one hanger near the tow hook and boom off my exhaust goes.
I was moving a little fast and forgot to grab some pictures. First put the trans in neutral no ebrake. Remove the center console and unbolt the shifter. Next comes the drive shaft, using a breaker bar to hold the driveshaft in place and an impact gun this should be pretty quick. Being a slip yolk into the transmission you can slip off the drive shaft.
Disconnect the clutch line and slave cylinder
The bell housing and starter bolts should be easy to get to, you need a bunch of extensions to get to the top bell housing bolts.
I also made sure to separate and label all the screws in baggies for easy reassembly. Having a nice clean and organized work space right beside the car goes a long way in cutting down time
And out the w58 goes
The heavy duty pressure plate and clutch still attached to the flywheel. Unbolt the pressure plate to remove the pressure plate and clutch and you will see the flywheel.
Remove the flywheel and inspect the rear main seal, I did mine a while back so mine is still looking good. The pilot bearing is still feeling like new but I'm replacing it anyways since I already bought the part.
Also incase anyone wonders how big of a whole I had to cut for the w58 shifter to work in my 97 auto shell
We are now ready to put in the R154,
First bolt on the flywheel a little blue loctite doesn't hurt. Forgot what I torqued this too but its easily found online.
The ACT Extreme 6 puck clutch going in
I did not grab a picture of this but using a clutch alignment took usually supplied by clutch kits align the clutch and pressure plate with the pilot bearing before bolting the pressure plate to the flywheel. Don't forget to blue loctite and I torqued it to 27 ft/lbs. This step is very important if you don't align everything correctly you're not going to have a fun time getting the transmission shaft to line up.
Next I prepared the transmission shaft with a quick wipe down and applying the grease supplied with the ACT clutch. Luckily there was no surface rust
Oddly enough we could not get the R154 bell housing to fit in the tunnel, so with persuasion from a sledge hammer and air hammer we made more room in the transmission tunnel.
Again I forgot to take some pictures. But I got the tranmission shaft to slide in smoothly into the clutch, pressure plate and flywheel, bolted the transmission back up. Reinstalled the starter, clutch fork, slave cylinder, and new steel braided driftmotion clutch line.
Installed the new solid geabo between which was really nice. Installed the new one piece driveshaft.
Now its time to fill the R154 with gear oil. My poison of choice was redline 75w-90 full synthetic gear oil. The trans is mostly drained so 4 liters/quarts should suffice. The R154 uses more gear oil than the W58 and V160 from what i read online.
Again because this takes 2 hands I did not snap any pictures. There is a 12mm screw near the tail of the transmission you remove to pump the fluid into the transmission until you see fluid bleeding out the hole. Be sure to stick the hose in as deep as possible you don't mistake the trans for being full if the hose is close to the fill hole gear oil sometimes bleeds out like its full. I'd rather have a little more gear oil vs a little less.
Tighten the fill hole back up, down the lift goes, and reinstalled the shifter. After about 5 hours the R154 swap is done! If it wasn't for eating lunch and taking an hour hammering the trans tunnel this could of gone quicker but I like taking my time on the project car.
I also took sometime to install a new oem clutch pedal, manual brake pedal, and master cylinder. My old set up came out of a factory 92 manual SC300. The left is the new pedal and the right is the factory 92 pedal. note the rust difference lol. For some reason I was missing the spring set up which I took off of the factory 92, this was not fun or safe to do. I don't recommend any attempting to mess with that spring.
My buddy adams car in the background
Conclusion
As far as my W58 vs R154 goes, the R154 is going to take some getting use to. It's definitley more notchy and feels like I have to find the gear more than the W58. I'm not a fan. The R154 has not ran in years so I'm sure it is going to need some breaking in.
This time I choose to go with a non heavy duty pressure plate so the cluth pedal is really soft almost too soft lol. I don't see how I can shift faster in the R154 than a W58, again I just need to get use to the car and relearn to drive the car. It also maybe in mu head I feel like I have to press the clutch down more.
I need the clutch housing inspection plates both sides if anyone has a set for sale.
Also if anyone could suggest a nice shifter I might be looking. I'm not a fan of how notchy this trans is
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