Finally a beautiful weekend! This is the first weekend that you can really feel the cool fall breezes in the air. Fall and Spring are why we endure the ovens of summer to live here. So what did I do to get out and enjoy this gorgeous weather? I headed for the shop . . . to get my tools to address the long delayed project of replacing the pool pump with a new energy efficient variable speed pump!
That thing took about 70% of my weekend, but long story short, its done and works great. But that's a story for another forum.
In between working on the pool and my tan, I made some fun progress on the Roadster. I began by taking EdwardB's suggestion and found an alternate tool for removing the tube that holds the oil cooler on the engine. In my case, I found a grade 8, 5/16" bolt that had just the right head size to fit snugly inside the oil cooler retaining tube. I put the bolt in head first, and gave it a couple of taps with a hammer to be sure the head of the bolt was well seated in the hexagonal area of the tube.
I attached a pair of vice-grips to the shaft of the bolt to use as a handle.
Just a little pressure on the vice grip handle, and the retaining tube began rotating easily. I was able to remove it most of the way by hand. Here is what You end up with:
My kit came with the oil relocation kit. It did not, however, come with the threaded nipple that would attach the engine end of the relocation kit to the standard oil filter location. I haven't decided if I am going to use it. It looks nice. Any thoughts on the subject?
I turned my attention to the engine and transmission mounts. By reviewing the other forum posts on the subject (mostly EdwardB's) I quickly determined the location and the parts needed. I found that my kit did not come with the engine mount spacers that FFR is now including in the coyote fitment package. I will have to call them on Monday and order a set. I temporarily mounted the engine mounts in place just to get them in the area, then moved on to the transmission. This is the first time I have had the Tremec TKO-600 out of the box. It weighs a good bit and seem to be well built. Apparently when they rebuilt the tranny for "strength and smoothness" they had to reseal the access ports on the top. There is now very gooey, bright red sealer squeezed out of the seams. Whatever that stuff is, I'll bet it keeps the tranny well sealed! The rear mounting holes were already cut off for me by the place that prepared the TKO for me. I put the rear tranny mount together and bolted it into place.
I removed the black plastic plug just forward of the tranny mount on the left side of the tranny case. I had been given a free plug for this hole, and quickly installed it. The bolt that will keep that plug in place was a bit long, but I quickly shortened it on the grinder. A bit of blue Loctite, and that thing is going nowhere.