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I got the SSV out past the air pipe (correct name?) since one of the bolt heads on the manifold rounded. Now all shiny and clean. It didn’t seem too dirty compared to what others have posted.
The last coolant hose went in easy after I took the lower piece of the UIM out. Initially was trying to access the hose clamp past this part which wasn’t fun. For some reason I thought this part had to stay in and caused myself some grief.
Bleeding the air from the coolant system was a little more troublesome this time. Nice to have the pressure tester now to check for leaks and push out the trapped air (a benefit of my alternator belt adventure).
Went for a test run and received a bouquet of middle fingers from my car. Must have put the SSV in wrong.
At least I know all the steps to get the bloody thing out. Just need to put it back in correctly.
Great car bro, I also appreciate how you handle it and dwindle with repairing it.. I also recently removed the SSV and It's gonna need some cleaning also.
Well I finally got around to pressure testing the cooling system and the gauge stayed solid at 14 psi for 10 minutes. No damage apparent from my little overheating adventure.
That's good. A higher pressure will allow your coolant to "operate" and a higher temperature prior to reaching the boiling point. Our RX-8's have a pressure setpoint of 13 psi - so the BP is about 259 °F. That 259 F is the boiling point - however it's NOT the upper end for our engine operating temperature because the sensor is mid-stream measure of flowing liquid - not the SKIN TEMPERATURE near the coolant/metal interface.
I got the SSV out past the air pipe (correct name?) since one of the bolt heads on the manifold rounded. Now all shiny and clean. It didn’t seem too dirty compared to what others have posted.
The last coolant hose went in easy after I took the lower piece of the UIM out. Initially was trying to access the hose clamp past this part which wasn’t fun. For some reason I thought this part had to stay in and caused myself some grief.
Bleeding the air from the coolant system was a little more troublesome this time. Nice to have the pressure tester now to check for leaks and push out the trapped air (a benefit of my alternator belt adventure).
Went for a test run and received a bouquet of middle fingers from my car. Must have put the SSV in wrong.
At least I know all the steps to get the bloody thing out. Just need to put it back in correctly.
The SSV is finally cleaned up along with the chamber in which it resides. I’m pretty sure the codes issue and the valve being stuck closed was due to me not aligning the gasket correctly. I must have flipped it when putting the gasket back on. There’s a slight offset and one edge was crushed and folded over.
I would have been done 20 minutes sooner but, I thought my time would be better spent chasing a mystery noise. Turns out if you don’t tighten the pulley bolts on the water pump past finger tight it wobbles and makes quite a racket. Who knew? Another reason I loathe the time estimates given by the competent people here making DIY’s. I should be the Beta tester for their directions (excel at screwing up).
Thanks for the cooling link wannawankel. Was a good read.
The SSV is finally cleaned up along with the chamber in which it resides. I’m pretty sure the codes issue and the valve being stuck closed was due to me not aligning the gasket correctly. I must have flipped it when putting the gasket back on. There’s a slight offset and one edge was crushed and folded over.
I would have been done 20 minutes sooner but, I thought my time would be better spent chasing a mystery noise. Turns out if you don’t tighten the pulley bolts on the water pump past finger tight it wobbles and makes quite a racket. Who knew? Another reason I loathe the time estimates given by the competent people here making DIY’s. I should be the Beta tester for their directions (excel at screwing up).
Thanks for the cooling link wannawankel. Was a good read.
You're welcome - any time. We have a great group here.
Great car bro, I also appreciate how you handle it and dwindle with repairing it.. I also recently removed the SSV and It's gonna need some cleaning also.
I just got notification today of your comment - thanks. Best of luck and hope you saw my other post about my SSV adventure. Simple things like wearing glasses can make a difference.
I noticed a fuel and oil consumption difference over the past few months. In October I did an oil change from 5w20 to 5w30. There was less oil consumption (under 100ml per tank) and a 1.5mpg drop with this weight.
Changed the oil again at the start of January back to 5w20. Oil consumption went up (about 150ml per tank) and so did the mpg. Now the car is giving 16 mpg instead of 14.5.
I’m happy with the increased oil consumption since the car has never had premix (gasp). I think I’ll stay with the 5w20.
A few more maintenance items/upgrades and I’ll get another compression test.
From my experience with 5W-20 and some UOAs, it looks like it's sufficient for DD usage and the occasional AutoX days. I wouldn't want it anywhere near the track, however.
And the general consensus on the forum seems to be that the gas mileage difference between oil weights is very negligible. Car companies like Mazda tend to do this usually just for CAFE standards.
Team - Temperature doesn’t change much where I live so I thought I’d explore this. Typical to be around 8 Celsius all “winter”. Probably will change to the 5w30 again in June.
Jinx - just thought the difference between weights was interesting. It was the only thing changed when gas mileage dropped so I wanted to change back and see what happened.
The thinner viscosity is injected easier (duh Ted) but, I wanted to test things since I noticed many others using the slightly higher viscosity oil. Still have old worn out v8 thinking influencing decisions and thought thicker would be better for wear. Timing for the change wasn’t the best.
Proved to myself that going down 10 to 15 Celsius average temperature from summer to southwest BC “winter” and upping oil viscosity isn’t the smartest move. At least it wasn’t for very long.
the other countries don’t have an EPA or CARB thinking they’re Wile E Coyote geniuses and everyone else is dumb, helpless roadrunner sheeples ... well most of them anyway.
I finally got my new to me mid pipe installed. Many delays due to not wanting to rush the fabricator and healing from surgery on my hand.
Mid pipe has the old catalytic converter cut out since neither the original owner or I could determine it’s health. Not worried since the price was very fair.
The smell isn’t my favourite so I probably won’t delay too long in sourcing the replacement cat section. Smells like a mix of rich exhaust and burnt plastic (acrid smell). I was under the car several times looking for a melting plastic area and found none.
As usual I remain suspicious and slightly paranoid about that plastic smell. Will look more in daylight.
Cat-less mid pipe about to go home. Snow boots coming off soon.
I think I found the source. My nemesis - a gasket. There is a scorch mark on the heat shield above the flange at the forward end of the mid pipe. Took a video laying in the rain to see it. Probably pinched the gasket. Hopefully not a gap in the welds. Will take it apart once the rain ends. Not driving again until it’s fixed.
Glad to hear that my old midpipe is serving you well.
If you are talking about the front gasket, I had some trouble with that initially as well. When I first installed the pipe on my car, there was a light leak which manifested itself as a stench at stoplights. Harder to tell if you are catless, though.
Had an opportunity to check out the mid pipe installation and plastic smell. The forward flange was leaking which scorched the heat shield.
Prior to installing I bought new gaskets for both ends. The BHR pipe Blackened Alaska is a nice way to prepare a fish. Blackened heat shield is not nice.
must have a deeper groove for the gasket since the flanges were tight. When I took the pipe off the new gasket had no sign of crushing.
Temporary solution was to take the old forward gasket from the stock catalytic pipe and pair it with the new one.
Everything appears sealed now and my hand wasn’t seared to a crisp when I cautiously approached the flange area.
Now the old BHR cat is off the pipe I can get a good look at it. Might be putting it back in since the exhaust smell remains a non-favourite. If it’s dead a new CAT will be ordered very soon from Germany.
I’m fairly certain the vfad is connected on my car. This is the little green actuator (has vacuum in and out hoses along with the little barrel chamber) mounted on the back of the stock air box correct? It no longer has a mounting bracket so I had to secure it with zap straps. I definitely noticed an idle issue when I previously left it disconnected after cleaning the MAF and changing the air filter.
Thanks for the squirrel moment. Now I’m looking through vfad delete threads. Is this something that could help as a daily driver with a middle aged fool at the helm?
I’m wondering if the catalytic mid pipe just removed was starting to plug up. No extra power perceived with the CAT-less pipe, just a little quicker throttle response.
Yes I use it for a bike rack. Maximum 2 bikes. Soon I want to get a different rack since mine adapts with 2 pieces from 1 1/2” receiver to the mini receiver hitch.
I saw somewhere that a forum member used theirs to tow a small trailer with track tires. I didn’t splice in trailer wiring.
When I first got my 8, with BHR mid installed, I was getting some exhaust smell in the cabin. The seller had mentioned they had trouble with the gaskets. Once I took it apart and installed a new gasket I could see the problem, and once solved I still get the catless exhaust smell but not nearly as noticeable with the leak fixed. My heat shield wasn't toasted like yours, maybe leak location has to do with that.
Actually, your BHR midpipe situation is reminding me of Steve Dallas'.
I think what happened to him is that he had a shop fit a cat onto the pipe(so reverse of yours) and it ended up being significantly longer than it was before. In his case, he sent it backto Charles at BHR to get it fixed up, but obviously that's not feasible for you. I had the cat welded on by Charles before he shipped it to me, so it all fitted well together without too much trouble.
I would probably talk to the shop that unwelded the cat about it. Your case isn't nearly as bad as Steve's, but still enough to be a nuisance.
01-03-2021, 07:30 PM
