Part 5

Back to the SC.  I've been stockpiling parts for a while now, and have accumulated quite a collection.
First one was a really old but really cheap tire that I picked up to replace the blowed up 255/35/18 falken, a 255/35/18 michelin that I went to town on w/ the white tire lettering crayon just for shits nd giggles.  Found a couple nails in it so I may have to just get another 255/35.

Then, a friend of mine had bought a set of 17x9+17 Buddy Club P1's, a surprisingly agressive spec for buddy club wheels.  A bit too aggressive for my friend's sw20 mr2's fronts, so he decided to sell me a pair for $300.  I quickly agreed and picked them up.

18 lbs for a 17x9 isn't too shabby.  Got some cheap 215/45/17 on them as I won't be driving the sc around on these too much.

Then, I started preparing myself for when the sc goes up on stands.  My plan is to give my sc a whole drivetrain overhaul, in addition to the rack rebuild that I'll have to do.  After all this, I should have a perfectly running sc with no oil dripping out of anything.
First up, rear main seal.

ARP flywheel bolts, W58 tranny mount, pilot bearing, and clutch release bearing.  Found out later that I could have just saved my money and not bought the bearings.

Why I could have saved money on the bearings? Because they came with the clutch kit.  Exedy oem replacement (not really pushing any more power than stock) and a lightened Comp Clutch flywheel which weighed in at 11lbs.

Seeing as I've taken my whole intake system apart to do a thorough cleaning of the insides but never touched the ignition system, I decided it wouldn't hurt to do a complete refreshing. Also, at my last smog check, everything was well under the passing limit, except for hydrocarbons which leads me to suspect that the sparks aren't as strong as they could be.
Distributor rotor/cap

Wires and plugs

Waiting for parts to roll in was boring, so I went out, bought some plexiglass, and made some clear corners

After waiting for all the parts to roll in, I jacked up the car and got to work. After a couple hours of preparation to drop the tranny (removing exhaust system, driveshaft, etc etc), we were able to unbolt the bellhousing from the block, pry the 2 apart, and get the transmission down on the floor.

Took off the bellhousing and tranny mount plate to clean out and the shifter extension to change out the plastic cup thingy, and just to see how the tranny works, as I've never seen a FR tranny that doesn't have the shifter going right into the transmission, rather, using linkages in combination with an extension to shift.

After several rounds of industrial cleaner, the bellhousing finally looked acceptable

Then, I turned my attention back to the motor to replace the clutch, flywheel, rms, and pilot bearing.  After hours of trying different methods to get the pilot bearing out, I rented a slide hammer from o'reilly's and the bearing was out in a matter of seconds.  The rms was then replaced, followed by 20 minutes of scrubbing. 

At this point, I turned back to the transmission as I had realized that a pair of the extension portion's bushings had been worn down.  Doing a bit of research, I found aluminum bushings made by APE, and although the price was high, the though of having precise shifts pushed me over the fence and I ordered them.  The extension portion stayed blown apart as I waited for the bushings to come in.

During the wait, I moved up to the front of the car to resolve another major leaking issue, the rack.  The rack's seals had apparently been worn, as ps fluid would randomly torrent out of the boots.  After undergoing one of the messiest processes I've ever been through, the rack came out with ps fluid dripping out of everything.  Took it to ABC axles and got a rebuilt rack in exchange for $100.  Took the new rack home excited that it wasn't drenching me with atf fluid anymore, and took apart the inner tie rod to install some tie rod spacers for a tiny bit more angle.

Right as I finished the rack work, fedex dropped off my ape bushings and threw them in the freezer.  Took them out the next day, greased them up some, and pounded them in
Before with the old bushings burnt out

After with new bushings

A friend of mine came over one day to help with the various things going on w/ the sc, and decided we should start the ignition, so we got to it, and even tackled the motor mounts, though we learned that it would've been 100x easier with the tranny bolted to the motor.
With new plugs, wires, distro cap/rotor

Aaaaaand the old motor mount that was fortunately changed out with something that wasn't so beat to hell

I then decided one night that I was going to tackle the reinstallation of the transmission, and with some sort of strike of luck, the splines matched up and the bellhousing was somewhat bolted onto the motor after an hour of jacking the front of the motor up to lean it back a bit, checking clearance, raising the tranny a bit, checking clearance, raising tranny, etc etc.
Put everything back together and got the car on the ground, got it aligned, and drove it down to sd.

Too bad my clutch started slipping on my way back home, and found out a couple days later, that I had started to leak oil yet again.