Yes the water lines are glued and press fit from factory. The mod is to clean all the glue off these inserts then weld or pin them into place so they don't pop out under duress. I think Dan has an insert kit he sells- check with him on this and see if they do pinning or welding of these guys. Several of us have lost ALL of our fluid very quickly and its very dangerous. A car behind me spun off track too close to the wall at ThunderHill, but it can happen on the street as well like John (Speedtech) has experienced.

 

Thanks for that info. Just got off the phone with Dan and we're going to look at welding the 8 connections and replacing the 3 rubber coolant hoses too.

Car should be on its way to Vivid next week! I'm going to start a new build thread and Dan will update it as he goes.

 

Consider replacing your oil-sending unit if you have access to it. Preventive maintenance on a cheap part that seems to go bad with time.

 

I'm going to turn this into a Build Thread now instead since I've gotten all of my questions answered. Thanks a lot to everybody for their help!

Build Thread

 

Might as well do rear main seal while trans is out. $25 part.

 

Why mess with the RMS (or IMS) if they're not leaking?

I know some cars are prone to leakage, but I'm at 50k miles and they're fine, which usually means I don't really have to worry about them.