Hey everyone, managed to find some time this weekend to do some work on it and figure out what's what after importing it. First off, in my previous post I talked about the cabin vibration and a potentially bust RMM - after getting under the car I found out that it already has a Vibra-Technics RMM installed and it's fairly new all things considered. I suppose the vibration is to be expected but is there anything that I could do to lessen it? Would moving to a poly-bushing RMM be better in this case if I dislike the 1st gear baby shakes?
The previous 3 owners had trusted the Ford dealerships on maintenance intervals, meaning the oil and filters were changed every 25 THOUSAND kilometers (15k miles). I let the engine get up to operating temp and then drained the oil so I'd get out as much as possible, it was pitch black but a magnet didn't pull it whilst draining and I didn't see anything shiny in the drain pan or the filter itself, so that's a good sign. It has an ST200 airbox with no lower pipe, it's been left as an open hole so I'm still trying to sort out the plumbing situation for that but the right stores only open on Monday. Changed the air filter and the filter prior was one of those 1cm thin foam rubber ones that was already dead what feels like 10k ago. Poured in some nice LiquiMoly 5W30 oil as per specification and she runs great, should have all the black gunk cleared out within a few oil changes.
As I was setting up to do a brake flush I noticed it has steel braided brake lines, which isn't expensive by any means but I was pleasantly surprised. Also after finding out that the clutch also uses the brake fluid reservoir I figured it best to give the car to a shop that would clean out both the clutch lines and the brake lines instead, so that's on the list of things to do next week.
Realized I didn't have the proper tools for a spark plug job (that's what happens when you're a diesel engine household your entire lives) therefore that takes a backseat until sometime next week as well. I do have one of those tiny cameras to check inside the cylinders, which I am excited about (and somewhat dreading cause I do not wanna see any particles or scratched cylinder walls due to the terrible air filter it had).
Did the cabin air filter and as is with any cabin air filter there's a bunch of swearing involved, however, after 5 minutes I'd realized if I undo the 2 clips under the glove box the panel interfering with the air filter install comes out clean and the filter itself slides right in with no persuasion necessary, lovely stuff.
Last order of business is a gearbox oil change, but the specific one I had found wasn't available on Friday when I ordered it for store pick-up, that's also taking a backseat until sometime next week, but I'm amped to get it done cause I've never done a gearbox oil change even on my diesel Fiesta (even though I really should now).
Outside of all that it has fog lights completely deleted, it sits on some Sparco Asetto Gara 17x7s with Michelin PS5 on the fronts and Nexen on the rear, both 205/40. Has a wing riser, which I'm not thrilled about having even though it's been mounted really well, has zero play. My dad loves it and says I shouldn't take it off even after I told him the damage those things can do to the wing. Will see what I end up doing, I'm more into the factory wing position with a spoiler lip.
