Finally...the atx to mtx swap is complete

[Mike93]

Wow...it took nearly 2 years of head scratching and parts replacing but I FINALLY found the source to my vibration/drivability problem that had plagued my car since the mtx swap. Long story short....one missing dowel pin in the flywheel was enough to create an imbalance in the driveline that shook the dash, gave a crap idle, poor acceleration, and modest mpg. Also, I had used an Autozone clutch that I found to be a culprit into why I had difficulty shifting and a crazy amount of clutch chatter in reverse. A broken strap was found in this crap cltuch this past weekend when I installed a brand spanken new, stock replacement clutch kit (disc, pp, tob, quill sleeve) and resurfaced flywheel with 3 dowel pins.

I literally took this car apart on several occasions in my seemingly never ending search for the culprit. This included the replacement or testing on the following components: computer, wire harness, knock sensor, dis, coil, plugs, wires, injectors, fuel filter, maf, timing belt, cam sensor, ignition timing, egr delete, y-pipe (cats), o2 sensors, etc.

I can't get over how much of a blast this car is to drive now!!! I'm excited I actually get to enjoy the car and spend the time cleaning it up and not troubleshooting

I'll work on some pics soon just for the **** of it...

For some history, here's a handful of posts I had made in regards to my troubles...a big thanks goes out to all of those who offered their help in the past

http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=66156
http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=75164
http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=72606
http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=63578
http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=67606

I am now 100% fully confident that I could perform and MTX swap into an ATX car in a weekend...with the difficulty level being right on par with a clutch swap. Anyone have an ATX they want swapped??? I've got all the parts in the garage to do it

 

[Shoaz]

Cool! Glad you got it sorted out.


Did the clutch have the broken strap at the same time as the missing dowel? In that case I'd opine that the broken strap led to the vibration, as it lets the plate get off-center.

Been there, done that...

 

[Mike93]

Cool! Glad you got it sorted out.


Did the clutch have the broken strap at the same time as the missing dowel? In that case I'd opine that the broken strap led to the vibration, as it lets the plate get off-center.

Been there, done that...

No, the strap wasn't the issue since it was the second Autozone clutch I've run. The vibration was there the second I started the car after the swap and went away the second I started it up with a 3 dowel pin flywheel 2 years later. I first noticed the missing dowel pin when I picked the flywheel up from Napa when the swap was taking place!!! I always associated them with aligning the pressure plate and never equating them to being apart of the balancing (yeah, stupid me..I know)

The strap the was broke was one of the 6 thin straps...so it wasn't the whole assembly. I think that was leading to poor shifting characteristics. Perhapd the imbalanced driveline led to this strap breaking...perhaps not. But the new clutch I put in feels of much higher build quality than the remanufactured piece Autozone carries.

Worst part about this ordeal is that I had access to the flywheel on at least 4 seperate occasions, just never thought that a missing dowel pin could be that important

 

[SeanMc]

Now, have fun finding replacement parts when they go out .


Congrats, one less ATX on the road .

 

[Mike93]

Now, have fun finding replacement parts when they go out .

No problem, I'll just go in my garage and dig. 2 parts cars allow for this type of activity

 

[Phoenix]

Awesome dude , glad you finally enjoy the SHO again

 

[hawkeye18]

ooh, ooh, meeeeeee! meeee! I'm moving up to patuxent river, MD in october, wouldn't be too far a drive from buffalo... maybe 4-6 hours? Oh wait, buffalo's way by the lake... hmm... maybe 8, then. I have two ATXs and I want to convert my 94 to an MTX... ****, I could even provide all the parts you want! How much would you want? lol

 

[Rockledge]

Wow, one missing dowel pin put you through all that. It must feel great to finally have that problem behind you. :hdance: