A lot of you probably have come across my Exterior Project, which I have effectively completed (well not entirely) and not yet unveiled to the internet- sorry guys; there's a good reason for it.
In Post #231 I wrote:
"After this exterior project, I do have plans for a shaved and partially-tucked engine bay anyway, so what I thought I'd do is lay the adhesive over the area, to act as a filler, and also smooth out other details. For example, I ground off some welded-in nuts which were intended to hold the washer reservoir and ABS module..."
Well I have been working on just that (and more haha).
Let's get started.
First, I am extremely grateful that I have been blessed with the opportunity to do this. I have a friend who's in the process of opening a car shop and has let me use the space to work on my car in my spare time. That said I have been working on the project on my own and expect it to stay that way. That is, I don't think my project will be receiving any additional or professional help from others.
Before this project, in October 2018 something went horribly wrong with my steering. Thankfully it was while I was in a parking lot. In short: it would steer to the left way too much, and to the right not enough (and even that wouldn't be consistent). I assumed the steering rack failed, which I expected to fail next on my car, and as such I had already bought a replacement steering rack ahead of time. So part of this project will involve investigating what happened and overgo its repair. I figure at this point I could as well do a full power steering delete, and it'd be best to replace the timing belt as well. over the 2018-19 winter I had the poor thing parked outside. Here we are at the end of March 2019 when I had it towed over:
![]()
Absolutely disgusting. The worst of it is not seen in the photo. This is what happens after several years of neglect + shortening CAI to prevent hydrolock (due to not having fender liners) + throwing and zip-tying things in the engine bay quick to drive the car again upon completion of previous exterior project lol (I can explain all of that). There is many years' worth of road salt, dirt, grease & oil all over the place.
Poor headers :( I will put in the effort to restore these.
![]()
Also, if you didn't catch it: one stud is missing - which was actually a bolt since I stripped the threads on the headers install so instead installed a longer bolt.
More on missing bolts later...
I don't like to start the thread off like this as a neglegence of care is not how I treat things; it's not who I am. So let's fix that.
![]()
![]()
![]()
More grossness here:
![]()
That is a coating of dirt stuck in place. Here it is cleaned up with some brake cleaner:
![]()
This side, while also dirty, is black because when I was 20 years old I thought it was a neat idea to paint whatever of the engine bay that I could until eventually I'd have it all black. lol, I was a kid...:
![]()
As for the steering rack. Well, it could have an internal issue (likely does), but it seems my issue was really mostly a simple matter of two out of four bolts having gone missing:
![]()
Also notice how disgusting this area is lol. More on that later when we get to the subframe work haha.
Now you might wonder: how do two bolts go missing? I have a guess as to why: solid motor mounts. I have them installed front & rear. Never in the ownership of my car had the steering rack been removed, or had its bolts loosened for any reason (heck, even the subframe has never been fully removed), so I cannot think of any other reason than extra and particular vibration frequencies causing them to loosen. The steering rack & motor mounts are all attached to the subframe after all. Anyway, between the steering rack having sported over a third of a million kilometers of use, having ripped boots, and having been in a collision it is worthwhile to simply replace the rack. Looking forward to doing that.
With the engine & steering investigation out of the way it's time to get onto the fun stuff 8)
Time to cut some profiles with cardboard:
![]()
![]()
![]()
Part of my project here involves closing up the engine bay (including the underside- more on that later) so that dirt can virtually no longer get into it ever again, ensuring it remains always clean. I have a few things in mind to help the aerodynamics as well :P That is, I am going to angle the radiator and vent the hood.
In Post #231 I wrote:
"After this exterior project, I do have plans for a shaved and partially-tucked engine bay anyway, so what I thought I'd do is lay the adhesive over the area, to act as a filler, and also smooth out other details. For example, I ground off some welded-in nuts which were intended to hold the washer reservoir and ABS module..."
Well I have been working on just that (and more haha).
Let's get started.
First, I am extremely grateful that I have been blessed with the opportunity to do this. I have a friend who's in the process of opening a car shop and has let me use the space to work on my car in my spare time. That said I have been working on the project on my own and expect it to stay that way. That is, I don't think my project will be receiving any additional or professional help from others.
Before this project, in October 2018 something went horribly wrong with my steering. Thankfully it was while I was in a parking lot. In short: it would steer to the left way too much, and to the right not enough (and even that wouldn't be consistent). I assumed the steering rack failed, which I expected to fail next on my car, and as such I had already bought a replacement steering rack ahead of time. So part of this project will involve investigating what happened and overgo its repair. I figure at this point I could as well do a full power steering delete, and it'd be best to replace the timing belt as well. over the 2018-19 winter I had the poor thing parked outside. Here we are at the end of March 2019 when I had it towed over:
Absolutely disgusting. The worst of it is not seen in the photo. This is what happens after several years of neglect + shortening CAI to prevent hydrolock (due to not having fender liners) + throwing and zip-tying things in the engine bay quick to drive the car again upon completion of previous exterior project lol (I can explain all of that). There is many years' worth of road salt, dirt, grease & oil all over the place.
Poor headers :( I will put in the effort to restore these.
Also, if you didn't catch it: one stud is missing - which was actually a bolt since I stripped the threads on the headers install so instead installed a longer bolt.
More on missing bolts later...
I don't like to start the thread off like this as a neglegence of care is not how I treat things; it's not who I am. So let's fix that.
More grossness here:
That is a coating of dirt stuck in place. Here it is cleaned up with some brake cleaner:
This side, while also dirty, is black because when I was 20 years old I thought it was a neat idea to paint whatever of the engine bay that I could until eventually I'd have it all black. lol, I was a kid...:
As for the steering rack. Well, it could have an internal issue (likely does), but it seems my issue was really mostly a simple matter of two out of four bolts having gone missing:
Also notice how disgusting this area is lol. More on that later when we get to the subframe work haha.
Now you might wonder: how do two bolts go missing? I have a guess as to why: solid motor mounts. I have them installed front & rear. Never in the ownership of my car had the steering rack been removed, or had its bolts loosened for any reason (heck, even the subframe has never been fully removed), so I cannot think of any other reason than extra and particular vibration frequencies causing them to loosen. The steering rack & motor mounts are all attached to the subframe after all. Anyway, between the steering rack having sported over a third of a million kilometers of use, having ripped boots, and having been in a collision it is worthwhile to simply replace the rack. Looking forward to doing that.
With the engine & steering investigation out of the way it's time to get onto the fun stuff 8)
Time to cut some profiles with cardboard:
Part of my project here involves closing up the engine bay (including the underside- more on that later) so that dirt can virtually no longer get into it ever again, ensuring it remains always clean. I have a few things in mind to help the aerodynamics as well :P That is, I am going to angle the radiator and vent the hood.
) turn the extreme specificity of replacement auto parts into an advantage! A heart icon next to a part means it was ordered most frequently and returned least frequently for a specific vehicle. This is actual data from ALL customers facing similar repairs on the same vehicle. That is what makes heart icons great. They are based on data that automatically reflects the myriad things ALL customers purchasing that part for that vehicle have taken into account.