When I first bought this thing, I said that I would leave it mostly stock and not delete much on it. I guess that was a very vague statement. This car will forever be a daily driver so it’s not like I will be deleting the heater or anything. And for once, I think I might actually keep the power steering so it will remain a very practical daily driver; even though I absolutely hate power steering.
Words By AJ Hunsinger // Images By AJ Hunsinger
Yesterday, I started out the day by riding up to Harbor Freight with my Dad and my brother to score on their sale they had. When we returned to my dad’s garage, I put some new tools to good use. I wanted to change the gear oil in the transmission as I have no idea when the previous owner replaced it. So, I picked up a cheap ass gear oil pump. It did its job, so I have no complaints on that and it made my job easier.
Once I was finished with the gear oil, I removed the battery. I continued as I removed the battery tray and the battery mount. Once these were about, I had access to the charcoal canister- I removed that as well, along with all the vacuum lines that run to the throttle body and intake pipe. When deleting the charcoal canister, it requires removing the EGR solenoid and the purge control solenoid, so, those came out as well. Lastly, I put caps on all the open ports from removing the old vacuum lines.
Instead of putting my battery tray and mount back in, I left it out and dropped my new battery down onto the sub frame with a brand new set of terminals. It cleaned up the bay and made it a little easier to work on things.
Today, I went out and put some new plug wires on. I also cleaned up the engine bay with purple power and removed the AC fan. Soon, I do plan on removing the rest of the AC system. I have never used AC in a DSM and I don’t plan to start now. Besides, it’s a convertible.
I also cleaned up my headlights using a headlight restore kit I bought at Harbor Freight for cheap. It uses 500 grit sand paper, then 800 grit, then 3000 grit wet sand, then a buffer pad with polish. It worked pretty well for the price we paid for it.
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Do you have any advice where to relocate the battery in a 420a? There’s no space under the tray because of the gear box. I saw already some pics of 420as with “vanished” battery and I thought it’s moved already into the trunk as no many other place can be used for. THX
I don’t have much input on the 420A battery relocation, but I would imagine most people just relocate it to the hatch.