Slide of your Life

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

            Ryan immediately began his work on the tattered old ’89 FC. He found all of the tools he needed or thought he might need later to bring the car back to running, and eventually drifting order. He started with the engine. He removed the front bumper and the fenders to make it easier to pull the engine out. After he drained all of the engine’s fluids and disconnected everything from the wiring harness, he hooked the lift chains up to the engine and disconnected the motor mounts. Everything after that was smooth as silk. The engine and transmission came out easily. As Ryan finished pulling the engine, Alex walked into the garage, wearing old sweats and a t-shirt.

            “Need some help there? It’ll go a lot faster that way.” Alex said, walking around the now heartless car.

            “Yeah sure, but do you think we should just do a rebuild of this engine, or swap in a new one? It cranks for ages before it starts and when it finally does, the clutch slips really badly, the idle is beyond rough and I think there might be a serious problem with the fuel injection.” Ryan doesn’t take his eye off of the engine for a moment as he said this. He was too busy separating the engine from the worn out five speed gearbox.

            “I think it might be better to do a complete rebuild with fresh parts. This engine is already compatible with the wiring harness and a used 13B rotary engine is almost impossible to find in decent condition at a good price. I can order all of the parts here and we can fix everything. That rotary will run like a monster.”

            “Alright, cool. So I guess we’ll tear the engine apart and replace all of the broken parts as we rebuild it. Actually, let’s get a full rebuild kit and replace everything. While we’re at it, we should turbo it if it’s not too much.” Ryan had removed the clutch assembly and took it apart. Every single part of the assembly was struggling to survive. No wonder why that clutch was slipping so hard.

            Over the next few days, boxes upon boxes arrived at the garage. The engine rebuild kit, new transmission components, a decent sized turbo, intercooler, full turbo back exhaust, racing seats, harnesses, roll cage pieces. At the end of the week, Ryan and Alex had unpacked every part they had needed to turn the FC into a drifting powerhouse without sacrificing daily drivability. All of the parts lay neatly organized about the garage floor as Ryan and Alex finally begun the challenge of bringing the old car back to life.

            Over the course of the next week, the two boys worked furiously and quickly on rebuilding the engine. By that Wednesday, they had already rebuilt the transmission, replaced all the engine parts with the new ones from the rebuild kit. They started on mounting the turbo Thursday and by Friday everything was done. The engine and transmission were reconnected and dropped back into the engine bay, the new ECU was wired up and the turbo back exhaust was snugly fitted. All that was left was to turn the key and hoped it would turn over.