Good news and Bad news. Uh oh.
 

Well, the good news is that I got my rear wheel bearing fixed and my car is quiet again......

The bad news is that I had them check my leaky exhaust, and they couldnt find a leak. The guy said it sounded more like a 'wrist pin'.... this noise becomes audible at 2750rpms and above, and starts out kinda inconsistently.... but it REALLY sounds like a leaky exhaust. I'm hoping he's wrong on his diagnosis.... anyway to check?

- Rob

Chicane... just curious: how much did you pay get your bearings replaced? Thanks!

Nick

$440.00

A little steep, but its a little mom and pop place, so their prices aren't going to be cheap like the chains. Plus chain stores suck, they usually have a bunch of complete morons working for them.

- Rob

heheh :D That's true! Chain stores suck a** :) I always like to do things myself (when I can) but the SVX is not very home mechanic friendly :(

No... it really isn't. :( I think I might attempt my front main seal though.. it should be nightmarish, but doable.

- Rob

Rob,


Everything is poissible ;)) I convinced myself when I had to change the connecting rod bearings on my old college car -- an '88 Mazda 626. Guess what -> the mechanic quoted me $2500 for a NEW ENGINE! I spent 2 days under the car and $80 in Auto Zone and put another 40K miles on the poor Mazda with NO PROBLEMS ;) Good luck with that seal anyway. Yeap... SVX sux to work on -> took me 2h to replace 1 spark-plug :))) I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep mine around unless I put a 5 speed in it. What do you think about the manuals? Am I fooling myself thinking I can do the swap for under $1500 in my garage working on it 4 weekends?

Nick

I think you could do it if you had all the parts. From what I've read it's kinda straight forward. And manuals are SOOOOOO MUCH FASTER! :D

- Rob

Not only should they be faster but they should also be SOOOO MUCH MORE FUN TO DRIVE :D This SVX is my first automatic and I have to say I HATE it :D Not the SVX but the fact it's automatic. You know... I test drove a brand new '03 WRX one time and I loved it. It was a 5-speed. Do you know how the SVX compares to the WRX when running on stick? Have you actually ridden in a 5-speed SVX? I can't wait for the NW Seafood meet so I can maybe hitch a ride in a 5-speed and see how it rides :)

Nick

Yeah, Phil, a guy here in madison has a dark green SVX with a 5spd in it. ITS SO MUCH FASTER, and looks like its a lot more fun to drive. The only thing I wouldn't do is that he got STI mounts for his tranny and what not.... it has a lot more NVH than my car, and I kinda like how 'quiet' and 'gentle' my car 'can' be....

- Rob

I'd say that about the quiet ride too... you gotta love it! My wheelbearing destroys the experience a bit but in city driving it seems arlight. Hmm.. maybe I should get a 5spd then. It depends. Maybe I keep this car for a while and put the "fun" tranny it ;) That should put some hair on my SVX's Chest ;) How did Phil install his 5speed? Did he drop it off by a shop or did he do it himself? Thanks!

Nick

That's funny. I have the STi tranny mount and I barely notice any difference.

I couldn't comment here :D I don't know what this mount even does! I know that Small Car Performance recommends it with their 5-speed conversion but they mention the noise and vibration thing... But how and why would a transmission mount affect the ride quality?? I'm not a mechanic...

hey Alex,

PLEASE SHARE YOUR 5-SPEED EPXERIENCE ;) How do YOU compare it to the EAT4? I'm I going to smile after installing my 5-speed one of those days or am I spoiled having driven a WRX ? Did you do it yourself or did a shop do it for you? If not a secret, how much did it cost you total? THANKS!

Nick

MAn... elninoalex,


your car DOES LOOK VERY AWESOME :) I just remembered reading some threads about you selling it. So, are you coming to the NW meet? If yes, can i ride in your car :D I'd like to see if the 5 speed makes such a huge difference...

Nick

It does. I kinda wnat to do a 6spd transmission swap like AlexUmn did. :) SIX SPEEDS RULES!

Anyway, the transmission mount doesnt affect RIDE quality, but the interior vibrates more and whatnot.

Phil dropped his off at his mechanic friends place.

- Rob

I did my 5 speed swap and then installed an STI mount a week later. You can feel a little engine vibration that you can't feel with the stock mount but it goes a lot better. The stock mount has to much of a elastic effect when taking off or shifting hard. The STI mount is very livable but I also made some rear end front carrier locks out of spare Ford radius arm bushing, and altho they got rid of some of the rear end slamming, they also make a noticable rear-end vibration at exactly 50mph. I try to avoid 50mph.