modz 148 Report post Posted October 19, 2019 Pedals After having no luck finding a manual pedal box here for under $300 (yep, seriously) I bought some from the UK for $30 plus shipping. A little tidy up and replacement seal on the back to do against the fire wall and it's mint. I also have left over clutch fluid hose from the E46 conversion so will use that. Just need to locate a clutch fluid reserviour and bracket. <Pics to come> Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted October 19, 2019 5 Stud conversion Using E36 318ti rear (complete arms, hubs, brakes) and E36 328i front hubs with E30 arms plus SRS / GreshM offset solid bushes. I have most of these parts, but I'm sure you've all seen what hubs look like. More on this post once I have started the actual work... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted October 19, 2019 Style 66's Wheel choice seemed to be defaulted to Style 32's, so in the name of doing something different, I bought a set of Style 66's. Just quietly excited to see what these really look like under the car. I'll be going from a mighty 14x6" bottlecap to 17x8 and 17x9. By comparison, these things are massive. Note Style 66s are the same size and offset as style 32's. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted October 19, 2019 Vanos Another item that seemed silly not to do off the car, was the Vanos unit rebuild. Ordered the Besian Systems set (which feels ridiculously expensive for a set of o-rings they list as $5 on the parcel...) Pretty straight forward, again 50s Kid video comes to the rescue : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eUVF6OLFFg First thing I did was clean the hideous mess that was the vanos unit. Bit of brake cleaner, a rag etc and it was sorted. Cut out the old seals with a scalpel, then repeat on the thicker seals underneath - these were a PITA but got there in the end. Total job took under 1 hour 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted November 3, 2019 Lifter cleaning Another item on the 'while I'm in here' list, was to check and clean out the lifters. Having not known how well the engine was previously treated, and how long the lifters had sat, I am glad I did. Ordinarily, you'd know which lifter corresponds with which valve. However in my case the previous engine owner had taken the head well apart and not labelled anything. I checked all the lifters and the lifter tray for heavy scoring. Used a little emery paper on a couple of rough edges but overall very happy. Enough waffle. Here's how I did it: Soak the lifters in a bucket of Thinners overnight Lift each one out Bang the lifter housing HOLLOW side down (keep it square) on a piece of wood. The inner lifter mechanism pops out Rinse both (keeping them as a set) in fresh Thinners. Use a thin pick or similar to really clean out the ball bearing inside Reassemble by placing the lifter back inside the lifter housing Check for spring pressure - lifter should move in the housing with finger pressure As the pics show, even though they may look clean after the first rinse, they rarely are. I had to do a couple twice to ensure equal springiness across the set. More detail again courtesy of 50's Kid on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpSuwEI0Q8M 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted November 3, 2019 Brake Booster Good news! Finally scored a Renault Clio Mk2 brake booster, which is making its way over from the UK. Cheap at $25 GBP for the unit. The old booster was perfectly fine except for not fitting with the new engine manifold. Once the Clio one is fitted I'll update this post with more pics, and sell the old one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted November 3, 2019 Engine + Box After the earlier TIme Sert post, I decided I was close enough to getting it all back in the engine bay. Half a day later getting the block off the stand, flywheel on, gearbox aligned and on meant it was ready. I made the call to finish the head assembly in the car (cams, lifters etc) simply due to time. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted November 3, 2019 Hey Look - a Flying Engine! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted November 3, 2019 Exhaust Headers Again those with a keen eye will have noticed the switch to M52 headers. These bolt straight up, and had 2 significant advantages: I had a pair I didn't have a pair of M54 ones... But in all seriousness, they are a much nicer fitment in terms of design and clearance. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zero 1162 Report post Posted November 3, 2019 Great work. I love a clean looking engine! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted November 3, 2019 9 hours ago, zero said: Great work. I love a clean looking engine! Cheers mate, yeah I do too. Drives me nuts working on grubby stuff Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cammsport 390 Report post Posted November 3, 2019 (edited) On 10/19/2019 at 9:58 PM, modz said: 5 Stud conversion Using E36 318ti rear (complete arms, hubs, brakes) and E36 328i front hubs with E30 arms plus SRS / GreshM offset solid bushes. I have most of these parts, but I'm sure you've all seen what hubs look like. More on this post once I have started the actual work... Really interested to see how the hub sits. Damn good thread! Edited November 3, 2019 by Cammsport 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
E30 325i Rag-Top 2956 Report post Posted November 3, 2019 +1 The rear arms swap is pretty well doumented (watch out for the +12mm track each side) but that is a front set-up I have not come across before so will be interested to see how it works out geometry wise. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted November 4, 2019 43 minutes ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said: +1 The rear arms swap is pretty well doumented (watch out for the +12mm track each side) but that is a front set-up I have not come across before so will be interested to see how it works out geometry wise. I’ll create a separate thread for battling this one when it’s happening, rather than clogging up this thread 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WYZEUP 283 Report post Posted November 5, 2019 On 10/19/2019 at 9:58 PM, modz said: 5 Stud conversion Using E36 318ti rear (complete arms, hubs, brakes) and E36 328i front hubs with E30 arms plus SRS / GreshM offset solid bushes. I have most of these parts, but I'm sure you've all seen what hubs look like. More on this post once I have started the actual work... Expect to need more caster in the front. As I found when I did this swap with my car using srs brushes. Either need to use m3 hubs or m3 control arms to correct it enough. I first tried with m3 evo arms, e36 hubs and offset bushes and still no luck. Needed the srs bushes to get it to sit centered. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WYZEUP 283 Report post Posted November 5, 2019 This was before using srs bushes 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted November 7, 2019 While I'm prepping the next updates, here are a couple of the other cars I've built. Both of these were from bare (stripped) shells, full respays in and out, new interiors and engine rebuilds down to the last nut and bolt. Each took 2 years. The black Evo 3 ran high 10's at 200kph and scared the crap out of me on a regular basis. Sold back in 2010. Probably should've kept the white one, only 26,000 km and one of 5 RHD sunroof Evo 6's in Australasia. Sold back in 2015. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WYZEUP 283 Report post Posted November 7, 2019 That evo3 ticks all the boxes! Nice....still one car I would own again. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qube 3570 Report post Posted November 8, 2019 was the plate for that evo 3.. "EVO 3" or something? if so I think my friend used to own it for a while.. was an absolute monster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted November 8, 2019 37 minutes ago, qube said: was the plate for that evo 3.. "EVO 3" or something? if so I think my friend used to own it for a while.. was an absolute monster Don't think so. I know where it is now, and it's not in a great way sadly. Definitely no longer show car worthy Rumour has it the white Evo 6 was stolen and never recovered also. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qube 3570 Report post Posted November 8, 2019 hmm when my friend had it it was rough as hell and after that it definitely didnt get any better. i guess its a common fate for evozzz Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted November 19, 2019 Engine in the hole! 45 mins was all it took to go from flying engine to bolted in. Super easy in the end. Popped the inlet manifold on to check how good it looked. Pretty happy. Unfortunately after these pics were taken I had zero time on the car for 8 weeks due to work commitments. It hurt! 2 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
necsis 27 Report post Posted November 19, 2019 Awesome work! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted January 22, 2020 Righto. A big break between updates, but many things ticked off the list (and many more added...) I managed a few dedicated days on the car in early Jan once work and family commitments had eased. The following posts basically bring the build up to speed Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
modz 148 Report post Posted January 22, 2020 Cams and vanos install What a mission. After trying it by hand using all the timing marks etc, I still wasn't confident it was correctly timed. So after a few sleepless nights, I ended up hiring a cam timing tool from AllEuroParts (awesome to deal with again) and discovered I was a very slight amount out - so worthwhile. Tip to install the cam followers without magnets...use tape! then just pull it out the end when done. Only took me 3 goes to work that out. Finally looking like an engine with the rocker covers and manifold dummied in place Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
