e30mclow's latest e30

[Circuits]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

Nice work Gerard!

...I find it hard enough to find the time just to wax my cars...you're doing great!! Keep up the good work! Excited to see the final result!

//End attempted (but sincere) motivational section

[e30mclow]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

I achieved quite a bit on Saturday, before almost throwing in the towel yesterday.

On Friday I installed my super slim and very much solid front control arm bushings.
My Powerflex items had disintegrated from Auto-X. These will also allow for the massive 3" downpipe to fit between the bellhousing and chassis rail.



On Saturday I situated the engine 100%, which allowed me to make up removable upper and lower rad & IC supports.
These whip off quickly, so getting the car into "service position" shouldn't be anything more than a 20min thing.

A bit agricultural-spec as I only have a $99 flux core welder, but everything can be remade once I upgrade down the line.







It allows enough clearance for the upper rad hose to snake around the power steering pulley



I have since removed and painted all the bits, so ignore the burn marks.

I forgot to take a photo of the rad + IC + fan all mounted up, but then began trimming the front panel ever so slightly to get it to sit where it should.
In reality, I'll likely removed everything behind the bumper so that there is more air flow, while retaining the complete front end.






I'm trying my best to retain the fog lights while trimming the brake ducts to surround the IC piping. Other than that, everything now fits 100%.


I'm happy that the IC lines up straight behind the slots in the front valance. I have enough room to place the e30 oil cooler beneath the IC.

Yesterday I moved my attention to the shifter, which turned out to be a fruitless endeavor.
I started out strong by making a plate for the top of the gearbox that'd allow me to mount a shifter directly to the box.

Due to pulley to rad tolerances in the 10mm range, I'll be running solid engine mounts. Wanting there to be a little bit of forgiveness somewhere, I'm going to have a stiff, but not solid gearbox mount. This means that my original plan of using a chassis mount shifter would introduce the risk of the chassis and box moving independently of one another, which could put a little stress on the selector rod out of the box.

With that said, I went ahead and started making a shifter that is mounted directly to the box.

First I removed & replicated the cover plate











At this point I felt like a fabrication wizard and realized that an old steel e30 shifter that I had would fit the Nissan selector perfectly, allowing me to tie in the selector rod nicely.







This was a fatal flaw. I wasn't thinking and threw down the best welds of my life, only to arrive at the conclusion that I'm a total tit. I had forgotten to "crank" the selector rod to translate the Left-Right sweep of the gear lever to a rotational movement at the rear. Unfortunately the welds (the welds that would have saved the Titanic) look like they cannot be undone, so I'll have to scavenge the internet for replacement items.

I had already solved the problem on the dummy car, so I should have known better.

I'm frustrated that I burned up a rare free Sunday on that, but I learned a lot.

I've been a little worried about the big ole Nissan box having enough ground clearance, so I put the wheels back on the car and dropped it to the ground before calling it a day. Using a straight edge, it looks like the bottom of the box sits about 2"below the chassis rails. I've been aiming for a compromise around the 1" mark, so I may need to open this mess up a little more in order to sit things an inch higher.



I'm getting there slowly.




Tonight I may repaint the cam covers, to try and motivate myself to keep going.
I'll start making a "final" list of items to be figured out before I pull the engine and box for the last time. The next time it goes in, it stays in.

Things like:
Power Steering Lines
Fuel Lines
Brake Lines
Alternator & Starter wire length and grounds

[Feens]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

some job Ger... are you going to re-enforce the front and rear subframes?? i tore the mounts right out of my e30 and the rear diff pulled off the rear axel too..

[witchcraftz]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

Incredible progress!

[e30mclow]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

It was a long weekend here in the U.S. of A, so I made huge progress.

Friday afternoon:
- Engine and box out of the white car








Saturday:
- Air Con removals and major cleanup
- Removed sound deadening
- Addressed any surface rust
- Removed Servo
- Made room for the intercooler piping
- Re-wrapped the wiring harness
- Removed front subframe




















Sunday:
- Reinforced, painted and reinstalled front subframe
- Removed brake pedal assembly
- Removed interior









Monday:
- Modified the brake pedal to alter the master cylinder rod location (moving it over and up out of the way of the engine)
- Marked up and cut the trans tunnel
- Jacked out the tunnel for the CD009
- Removed the 1J and box from the test car
- Test fitted the CD009 into the white car (ran out of energy, but it'll eventually sit 3" further back)














I'm making a removable lower rad/IC support, which allows the engine and box to slide forward 5-6", making removing the gearbox easy.



Needs to be slid back another 3", but you get the idea


Head home for a wedding this week, then it'll hopefully be a case of servicing the 1J before dropping it into place.

[witchcraftz]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

I actually quite like the side skirts, go for it!

[e30mclow]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

Some progress in the last week.

Managed to load up the sc300 and weigh it in for scrap. $99.90 in the pocket!
I don't know myself with the room it has created.





Of course loading it on the trailer was a little painful, especially when the drain plug snagged as I was winching it up, thus spewing lovely black oil all over the driveway.

My engine & trans mounts finally arrived, which allowed me to get things closer to the home position.
I'll need to grind a sliver off of one engine mount to accommodate the HKS wastegate, but otherwise it seems to all line up well.



I'm hoping to be able to cheat things back another 2" once I make an adjustment to the trans mount.



One solution to the shifter position is this setup, but the chap that makes them is notorious for taking people's money and keeping them waiting for up to 6MO.



After chatting with a guy in the Auto-X club (the chap with the spaceframed Ford Ranger pictured earlier in the thread), he reckons a very tidy job could be done to make up a center console to suit the alternate shifter position. things may need to go that route.

I'm home next weekend for 3 days, so I've been getting a few bits together to bring back to the US with me. I was on the hunt for some iS sideskirts, but I was so out of touch I had no idea that e30 parts are going for crazy money at home. I found a pair but the exchange rate made them uneconomical. Yesterday I was sitting in the garage wondering how I'm ever going to move ALL of the parts I've amassed, when my forgotten pair of Audi S4 skirts caught my eye. Just like everything else I'm hoarding, I'll NEVER do anything with them, so I decided to see how they lined up on the e30 - just for the craic.

Literally half an hour later I had one trimmed/shaped/painted and mocked up on the car. At the risk of being a chav I'm not planning on using them at this point, it was more so an experiment.

It actually lined up pretty well, especially they way I made it fit beneath the door and rest on the inner sill/door jamb. The underside rests right against the sill of the e30, so they'll clamp right up + the jacking points are spot on.
I may trim some more along the rear quarter and make them sit more flush like I did the fronts wings, but wanted to have a little front to back taper to start with.

The paint was the remnants of an old rattle can I had, so I could see the lines.











Not bad for costing $0. May make some automotive velcro mounts and see how I like them.

I was also doing a little driving this weekend. Of the 5 runs I had 4 passengers wanting to jump in and experience the sideways Irish flavor, which can only add time when you factor in the average weight of an American. On the last run I had to say no and go solo.

Here was my first run with a passenger.

[witchcraftz]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

Maybe you could get something made of metal or fiberglass that fits correctly, then cover it with a thin foam and fabric to match the OEM interior?

[e30mclow]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

The guy that is fabricating my engine/trans mounts is a little slow, but things are getting there.



So as to not delay things any more than they have been, I decided to go ahead and make some moves on getting the 6 speed box to at least fit in the hole.
I bought a little dolly to make moving it around a little easier, which was a back saver.



This is a far as it'll fit up into the standard tunnel.




Interference on both sides




After about 200 slaps of the mallet, it was time to grab a porta power from work and get serious.




I was careful to not overdo it and hamper the important things like room around the throttle pedal and seat rails/seat belt sockets.

With that, it went right up into place


I knew the shifter position was going to end up much further back, which it obviously did.
(this is just a mock up)


I then heated the 350z shifter and bent it, which moved the gearknob about 2" closer to home. Forgot to take a photo.
It is a really comfortable position, just a pity the trim pieces are now redundant.

There is an alternative, which involves opening up and access hatch on top of the CD009 trans, then making up something that allows the shifter to sit in the correct e30 location.
Unfortunately only 1 person makes these shifters and they're seemingly a massive flake, taking $500 from people and having them wait upwards of 5months with zero contact.

The decision is to risk going that route for the sake of making the interior look great, or strip the interior and go racecar.

[e30mclow]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

I never imagined that an e30 rear wheel bearing replacement was this much of a sore arse ordeal. What a job.

I thought my pullers was all I needed, but I had to go MacGyver on it.

No bueno


$25


Mucho success


Horrible effort.

With what energy I had left I decided to try see if the intercooler I had would fit behind the front panel. It isn't apples to apples, as the US pre-facelift panel is very shallow & short, but if it'd fit with that version it'd fit the '90+ panel easily.
Seems like a good fit! The facelift front end doesn't have the 2 x tow loops, so I should be able to tuck the IC further up. With 2 x 90deg couplers it should line up nicely without impacting the ABS and A/C items.

[e30mclow]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

The ole girl was fastest Street Mod + 15th fastest RAW out of a field of 75 this weekend.
Had a blast!

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

That interior is so inviting, you just want to be in there for hours driving around.

[witchcraftz]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

Sweet, no one will ever see any of the blood on the carpet.

[e30mclow]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

Out with the awful carpet and in with the red

[Feens]

Re: e30mclow's latest e30

its a tight space for the Clio brake servo.. pretty sure my 1 was offset for the s50 swap Renault Clio Duel Diaphragm Servo , i used an Audi Quattro 27.5mm master cylinder iirc but it had great pedal feel, some man to find a bargain, i wish i could find anything worth a damn up here in NW Alberta