Project Domino: A Transmission Made Whole

We got around to replacing the extension case on the JDM 6-speed.  If you recall, the out put shaft part on the case was dented such that it impacted the seal's ability to seal in the oil.  We couldn't be 100% sure if it would be a problem down the road, but I feel better knowing oil will not be leaking out of the gear box.

If you recall this is what the dent looked like as posted up previously:

Here is the old case broken down:

Here is the replacement case with the internals swapped in:

A bead of Loctite sealant being applied:

Ever wondered what the DCCD looked like on the six speed?  Hint: it is the circular thing with a wire going into it.  I am not going to be buying the DCCD Pro for now, but I have been told that the DCCD will just run in automatic mode without it.

Here is the transmission sealed back up and ready to go.  Note: we also replaced the black seal on the end.  It would be silly to have to redo the whole job just to save a few bucks.

Next up, the transmission cradle will get reinstalled along with the drive shaft.  Note the Cusco transmission mount.  That should stiffen things right up.  That means the drive train is just about done. :)

Project Domino: GC vs GD Radiators

When we were dismantling Domino, Teryn pointed out that the radiator that domino had was for an automatic.  Aside from the stock radiator being already kind of small, it just wouldn't do to have another chunk of it not being used because it was sectioned off to cool an automatic transmission.  I've bought a few expensive name-brand radiators for my 92x paying $300-400 just to have it crack at the welds a year or two later (I am looking at you Koyo).

This time we are trying out CXRacing radiators.  We have a wholesale account, if you would like us to order you some of their products by the way.  First we ordered a GC8 "turbo" radiator from them which is no longer available.  The stock radiator is something like 27.5-28" wide.  Their GC8 radiator was like 29"+.  It would have fit if it weren't for the AC lines.  Also strangely it had no real mount point on the top of the radiator, nor did it have a radiator cap.  I think this is what they meant by "turbo."  I will reserve judgement.  It might be possible that it would work fine for a real JDM 2000 STI (GC8), but basically it wasn't going to work for Domino.

Here is some pictures of the "GC8 turbo" radiator from CXRacing that we will not be using.

Here are the weird top mount points it had.

You can see here it is at least 1" wider than stock.

The welds at least look decent.

Since there aren't anymore GC8 radiators, we decided to just go with a GD radiator from CXRacing.  I was actually pleasantly surprised.  The quality looked to be about as good as the Koyo radiator I installed last time in my other car, but about $200 cheaper.  Time will tell if it also performs well.  I wasn't sure if the old stock fans would work with this radiator, so I just ordered with the aftermarket fans and shroud.  Stock is probably better in this case, but I don't have any extra stock GD fans.

Here are some pictures of the CXRacing GD radiator:

Domino Milestone: Engine Install

We reached a milestone today, the motor got installed.  It went mostly painlessly except we put the Cusco motor mounts rotated 180 degrees.

Note: the STI billet aluminum oil filler cap, +5 whp. :)

Here she is with turbo and manifold all bolted up, and our awesome SteamSpeed 2.4" inlet tube installed.

Also, the wiring harness is almost completely merged except the fuel pump controller.

Here is a small fraction of the leftovers.

Next stop will be to replace the extension case on the transmission.  The pieces are starting to come together.