LsBeema 417 Report post Posted December 26, 2021 On 12/20/2021 at 7:29 PM, Cement said: Yeeeaaauuuuuurrrp Here are the bank 2 headers finish welded apart from the flanges. Not sure how I am going to rectify the distortion caused by the welding just yet ... a real bummer and something the experienced header builder would expect. Should have build and welded one or two sections as I went. Still, they look good in a picture Looking Toight an Tidy Mate!!! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LsBeema 417 Report post Posted December 26, 2021 10 hours ago, Michael. said: Getting the driveshaft done is oddly satisfying as you now know you can now physically put the power down with the new engine. A very fun part of the build process sorting out such vital parts. Hagree 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted January 7, 2022 Happy to report the headers are now fully welded !!! Check out the pile of twisted pipes Managed to stack some dimes from time to time ... but probably only enough to get a sandwich Next up I'll be making a jig to secure the tubes to the garage floor so i can lean on them and see how much tweaking is possible. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael. 2312 Report post Posted January 7, 2022 So pretty, I like your welding skills, very nice! Internal combustion engine cars are so much fun, endless possibilities and modifications to do such as this. A joy forever! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted January 8, 2022 1 hour ago, Michael. said: So pretty, I like your welding skills, very nice! Mucho thankso Of course the pics I share are the pinnacle of my results, there are plenty of average results to counter hah. Speaking of internal combustion engines, went to check out my mates new Lexus LC500 this morning ... quite the piece of automotive art to look at and the sound is amaze-balls !! One very very cool car. Also as it turns out you can get a lot done when the kids are at Nana's place for 2 nights BEHOLD .... the ahhhhh ... straightenerer ... chassis machine for twisted headers !!! Just have to bolt it to the garage floor then can see whats what. 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael. 2312 Report post Posted January 8, 2022 3 hours ago, Cement said: Speaking of internal combustion engines, went to check out my mates new Lexus LC500 this morning ... quite the piece of automotive art to look at and the sound is amaze-balls !! One very very cool car. What colour did he get? At first I wasn't really a fan of the styling, it's a bit polarizing in some colours but with the right colour they look pretty interesting, nothing else like them on the road. Pretty cool they are still using a big 5 liter NA beast of an engine too, I commend the die hard engineers passionate about such keeping that going for as long as they can, heck they even brought out a new IS500 with the same engine in foreign markets. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted January 11, 2022 On 1/8/2022 at 5:42 PM, Michael. said: What colour did he get? It's a deep blue / purple kinda colour ... looks very good, much better than the images online I've seen IMO. He got it with some options which also help ... TRD side skirts and boot lip spoiler from memory along with some nice forged 21's At the other end of the automobile spectrum I've been engaging my kiwi ingenuity with my header tweaking as pictured. Engaged multiple wince making techniques from the trolley jack lift 'n shift to the classic ratchet tie down on the tow bar yank 'n twist. The wire in the vice is my gauge so I can tell how much to abuse it. The good news is I have 5 out of 6 pipes now fitting whilst the worst offender gets some surgery at Race Lab ... I really have had enough of messing with the headers at this point and the pro's will give it a quick cut and tuck with far less profanity than me doing it. Next up I'll be targeting the transmission mount, which will likely involve more header / exhaust work to get the collectors and secondaries / Y pipe sorted. 3 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael. 2312 Report post Posted January 12, 2022 That's hilarious! From your calculations / measurements how close are the primary pipes to being equal length of each other? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted January 12, 2022 8 hours ago, Michael. said: how close are the primary pipes to being equal length of each other? Based on the plastic printed and glued mock ups they were within about 2mm within each bank ... bank to bank they are different but should be less critical given the secondaries will be relatively long. How they actually came out after fabrication is up for debate due to how much the stainless moves about !! Once i have them all trimmed to length for the collectors i will fill each tube with water and measure the volumes. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael. 2312 Report post Posted January 12, 2022 2 hours ago, Cement said: Based on the plastic printed and glued mock ups they were within about 2mm within each bank ... bank to bank they are different but should be less critical given the secondaries will be relatively long. How they actually came out after fabrication is up for debate due to how much the stainless moves about !! Once i have them all trimmed to length for the collectors i will fill each tube with water and measure the volumes. Love the attention to detail! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted January 15, 2022 (edited) Installed the headers again and trimmed them all to the same length ready for collectors to go on. Performed some volume measurements of all the tubes using water to get a feel for how things compared to the plastic mockups length wise. Bank 1 was a max of 12mm variation and bank 2 was 34mm. Would be very interesting to know the actual centreline length but that's just too hard. Based on length averages across each bank the plastic vs real length was a variation of 12mm again for bank 1 and 5mm for bank 2. The water filling process also identified two pinholes which i will need to address. Also decided to get the brakes sorted so adjusted the handbrake and then made a DIY vacuum bleeder setup. This was a 3D printed lid for a glass jar that i taped on Worked fairly well ... just used the wet/dry vacuum. Pedal is still not feeling right so will need to get more fluid and give it another round the old fashioned way. Have been in touch with my certifier and good news is I only need one loop for the drive shaft so have procured that and will start designing the transmission cross member and mount which will ideally incorporate the loop so I don't need to mount through the floor. Edited January 15, 2022 by Cement 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael. 2312 Report post Posted January 15, 2022 Are we related? You ability to go full nerd is so like me! Really nice to see how close you were able to get the header lengths. Wonder how it will sound as that can make for quite a spicy exhaust note Have you planned out what you'll do and use for the mid and rear section of the exhaust? 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted January 16, 2022 I do like a bit of nerdyness alright, my abilities are nothing compared to my brother however I'm determined to have it sound good ... for me that means NO raspy barky horridness !! Current thinking is 2.25" secondaries and then 3" single exhaust with a good long straight through resonator and might try and see whats around for a rear muffler that is E46 compatible with single 3" inlet. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted January 23, 2022 Would have been real nice if somebody pointed out my dry sump pump was installed upside down before now 🤣 Will make plumbing the scavenge lines easier haha 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted January 24, 2022 So a fun part of the project tonight, got a square wave signal generator off Trademe and plumbed into my development gauge cluster. Now I can dial up and down the speed and have the fuel economy gauge function (it needs about 5km/h minimum to work). All good learnings but it does mean that the economy gauge is only semi useful for displaying something random ... my hope was to use it for crank case vacuum / pressure. The other down side is that to drive this gauge properly from the Arduino / CAN payload your calculations for 'economy' would be relative to the vehicle speed (once moving) which is fairly annoying as you'd then have to plumb the speed signal (from ABS computer in my case) into the Arduino. I'm thinking it would likely be a better result if you took the cluster apart and either replaced the existing gauge motor or maybe jigged it up to be controlled by the Arduino directly. Would then function all the time and you could avoid the speed relative dumpster fire. Fun little sideline anyhow ps: for anybody interested that's 1.3kHz at 50% duty cycle giving about 190km/h 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael. 2312 Report post Posted January 24, 2022 Nice! I actually hastily needed a signal generator for a dash repair I was doing when the one I had stopped working, ended up with the same one you have. It still amazes me for $10 bucks or whatever it was you can get something that does it with such a nice little LCD read out. Very nifty! Would be interesting to put the outputs into an accurate oscilloscope and see how accurate it actually is though, probably isnt bad. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vass 690 Report post Posted January 31, 2022 Just read through the whole thread with great interest. Truly amazing attention to detail. The amount of time and effort that's gone in is mind boggling. One to keep an eye on. Well done sir 👍 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted February 1, 2022 Thanks @Vass it sure has been a bit of a journey ... nice to feel like things are moving forward again finally !! My new PDM and associated wiring bits should be here soon from Waytek Wire and YouShop. I got the dry sump pump re-mounted in an alternate position using the same bracket as previous which should work fairly well. Unfortunately needs a new drive mandrel (and belt) as i chopped the other one. Once I get the new mandrel and belt I'll complete the mounting and maybe a simple tensioning mechanism also. Super excited to be doing some wiring now also and have gone over everything that will need to interface with something external so I can plan out the power / signal distribution. Part of this mission was to condense things a little so decided to remove the massive plug used in the Skyline which linked the VVEL control module to the engine harness, power and main ECU. Translated all the wires across and crimped them ... would have been good if they had used the same colours on both sides !! An interesting fact for those interested (anyone ? ) is that there is a private CAN network between the main ECU and the VVEL control module / ECU. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted February 6, 2022 Uh oh ... spaghetti oh !! Some really good progress today, managing to get the two ECU's slotted into the factory BMW electronics box insert with small modifications to both. Stoked !! Should give a really nice OEM look once all is completed bar some additional cable length. The smaller ECU is dedicated to the VVEL control, the one with three plugs is the main engine ECU. I await my Egis 8033 fuse block so I can get things finished up on the wiring side. As always happens I've completed the power wiring design now and I need another awesome part from Egis which is only available from offshore but it won't hold me up, will just make things more untidy. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted February 8, 2022 While awaiting the electrical bits 'n bobs to arrive I've been chipping away at my trans mount and drive shaft loop ... which I need to get sorted before the tail end of the headers can be done. Just sent my proposal to the certifier to see what his thoughts are. REALLY hoping he is ok with it so I don't have to do the super lame but usual route of mounting through the floor with doubler plates etc. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted February 13, 2022 Got my electrical pieces, so I can now start to lay out the power distribution. Buying from Waytek Wire meant there were some minimum quantities so I've got plenty of 'spares' of some items 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted February 22, 2022 Have started assembly of the power distribution on this delightful yellow printed prototype. The real one is printing as we speak, about another 24 hours to go 🤯 Then I will have to see how the PETG goes with the engine bay heat ... once the thing runs. I have some ASA filament but need to upgrade the hotend on the printer to try and get it printing properly etc. The last of the electrical parts arrived this morning also so once the 3D printing has completed I can forge ahead !! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Braydon 40 Report post Posted February 22, 2022 Man, epic project, loving it! I'm very much on the same wavelength as you when it comes to these wiring projects. PETG Should be good in the engine bay from everything I've read, I've been meaning to test it myself though. I like the design of you Power Distribution mount, designed it yourself I'm guessing from all the other CAD work I've seen! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted February 23, 2022 Cheers @Braydon its coming along slowly ... looking a bit like a spaghetti monster but should be able to tidy it up nicely I hope. Have had to order some additional terminals to complete things. There will be two additional relays and a distribution block (downstream items from ECM relay) to mount to the real printed block when its completed tomorrow. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 782 Report post Posted February 28, 2022 So I have completed the power distribution as far as the new fuse block and relays go ... only waiting on some smaller 18ga terminals for the 12 way distribution block mounted on the underside to finish up everything that hangs off the ECM relay. Not sure if I mentioned previously, but the aim of this setup is to: Separate the BMW / car side almost entirely from the Nissan engine side. There are some interactions left over like gas pedal, fuel pump signal, starter signal and stop light. Ensure the engine harness can simply be unplugged from here and the ECU(s) in order to be removed. In the factory situation there is the 'IPDM' (Intelligent Power Distribution Module). Next up have to mount the attachment block to the car and complete the engine harness side of the wiring connection !! Exciting Spoke to my certifier today also and he gave the green light for my transmission cross member with integrated driveshaft loop so thats a win ... can start back on that. As well as the dry sump pump final mounting design as the new crank mandrel also arrived. ps: Relay bases I got are incompatible with the relays so have wired them direct for now. They may stay this way for ever unless the terminals decide to fall over after some heat cycles ! 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
