The Project Pad

DE80q wrote:Didn't they have the lighting booster relay in there for a reason? I've never run without it, so not really sure how much of a difference it will make.

Well I'm sure it's there for a reason, but honestly I started cutting apart my harness and rewired most of it before I realized it was intended for the gauges.

Well I got some more work done. Finally got my engine off the stand. Got my rear main installed, along with my aluminum flywheel and spec stage 3+ clutch. I spent yesterday in the heat (99 degrees) installing the engine in the car. Got all my bellhousing bolts torqued down and my new motor mounts installed. The engine is officially in! There were a few things that I probably should have done before dropping the engine in, like running some vacuum lines, and mounting my coils on the firewall, but oh well. Still plenty to do. After I hooked up the battery(from the 200) in the trunk, which was working when I pulled it a couple months ago, I found it is currently at 2.6 volts and not taking a charge! :frustrated: There's a $170 expense I wasn't expecting. But at least it's in!

Looking good Are you going to locate your PS pump top right under the intake manifold? And using Stock rad location?

Afterthought wrote:Looking good Are you going to locate your PS pump top right under the intake manifold? And using Stock rad location?

Thanks! Yeah I'm using the iroz bracket to mount the ng PS pump on the 3b head. And yes stock radiator location. I'm a little concerned about overheating, but I figure I'll wait and see how the stock radiator performs before buying an aluminum radiator.

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b4 ps pump fits with 7a bracket too

varia wrote:b4 ps pump fits with 7a bracket too

I was not aware of that.

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I ran a b4 PS pump on my 90 CQ with a 4000 rack and booster and seemed to work well.

This is the bracket I'm using. It's alright. Had to redrill one of the bracket mount holes, and it no longer uses the rear bracket of the pump, but at least it lines up nicely with the crank pulley.
Got a few things done today. Fuel lines hooked up. Hopefully correctly. Should have labeled which one was the return lol got my alternator and PS pump installed. And my some of my wiring hooked up. Got some fluids in the engine. Just a matter of time!

Made some good progress recently. Fabbed up my exhaust. Rear section not pictured. I welded it up, but I only have a very terrible harbor freight MIG. Welds aren't beautiful, but they'll have to do.




Got the exhaust welded minus a couple hangers and the tips. Finally got my ignition settings correct on vems. It fires up now and idles smoothly. Good oil pressure, and a 1.0ish lambda. I still have to fab up my intake, and finish up the exhaust, but it's getting awfully close to test drive-able!

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that resonator looks awful nice for fitting in the midsection. What kind is it?

I did the same thing with the fuel lines ha. forgot to label supply/return. should be able to just follow it back I think?

Afterthought wrote:that resonator looks awful nice for fitting in the midsection. What kind is it?

I did the same thing with the fuel lines ha. forgot to label supply/return. should be able to just follow it back I think?

Yeah it does fit nicely. It was just a generic ebay muffler. Paid $85 for it. Yeah I just traced traced the fuel lines. Kind of a pain but not too bad.

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Afterthought wrote:that resonator looks awful nice for fitting in the midsection. What kind is it?

I did the same thing with the fuel lines ha. forgot to label supply/return. should be able to just follow it back I think?

Yeah it does fit nicely. It was just a generic ebay muffler. Paid $85 for it. Yeah I just traced traced the fuel lines. Kind of a pain but not too bad.

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nice exhaust work! I plan on making my own too with a mig. Is that 16ga mild steel? Also what vbands did you use. I've read there are a lot of really cheap vbands that don't seal well so I'm worried on which ones to buy as welding can warp them slightly.

Edit:double post

Been incredibly busy lately with work and school, but I have managed to make some headway. It's officially on the road! Took it for the first test drive tonight. Just about 3 miles or so. Temps were good, oil pressure good. Slight leak at my fuel pump but other than that, zero issues so far. I have some tuning to do, but it ran well.






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Nice!

Put about 150 miles or so on it in the past few days. Zero issues to speak of. Still breaking in the engine, so not really running any boost. (Okay, maybe my foot slipped a little once or twice) But it's running really well. Coolant is right at 94c, oil pressure good. I think I might have a vacuum leak somewhere, my idle is still a little high, but other than that everything has been great. I think I'm going to opt for an rs2 fan shroud to mount up my 500w 200 fan, just to be safe. We have a stash of them at work. Pretty excited to get some boost in it!

Looking good, in for vids

vt10vt wrote:Looking good, in for vids

Thanks guys, no videos yet, unfortunately I'm still mostly taking it easy on her for a gentle break in. Once I get a bit more mileage I'll be sure to post a couple videos!

As for the mean time I just finished up a mini-project I was really excited to accomplish on this car. Something that, to me, puts this project on a whole different level: functional air conditioning. It's all fine and dandy to have a fast car, but I want more than just a stripped out race car. Since this is my daily driver, I want to make sure I'm comfortable driving it long distances in any weather.

The AC presented a challenge for a couple reasons. For one thing, the turbo oil drain goes exactly where the compressor is supposed to go. Secondly, the receiver drier lives right about where the turbo is supposed to go, and lastly the AC line from the evaporator to the drier goes right where the turbo now lives.
So I looked at an S2 clone we have at work.

As you can see the turbo drain goes into the oil pan extension. Not too hard to replicate.


drilled and tapped some holes for studs.

Some red lock tite and I'm in business.

And voila, turbo drain relocated. And a bonus oil drain block off plate.


There was a fair bit of modification needed to mount the compressor, mostly shaving off some material to fit around my oil feed line flange, as well as modifying the lower bracket, which bolts up to where the turbo drain line used to go. I was lucky enough to get a used set of lines from work that we fabricated for a previous S2 clone project.
Here's a pic of those lines.


I relocated the ac drier to the inner fender area and mounted it on a small bracket.



As you can see, the new AC line is routed through the wheel well to avoid the turbo.


I went ahead and added a bit of heat shielding while I was in there for good measure.


Here's a pic of the compressor installed and the lines run. The receiver drier used to go right where the turbo to intercooler hose now lives.


After I evacuated and charged the system, ice cold AC!!
The car has AC, cruise control, a decent radio, and is really quiet when you're driving normally, plus a 20vt. All the things I want in a daily driver.

why the "extra drain on the oil pan extension? and did you just use regular ole studs for the actual drain? about to do this myself....

booested4door wrote:why the "extra drain on the oil pan extension? and did you just use regular ole studs for the actual drain? about to do this myself....

That was something I did a while ago for a catch can. I didn't like the idea of having to manually drain the can so I just put a small return line into the oil pan.

And no, I didn't use studs, there isn't enough material in the pan to support that. I used low profile button head bolts screwed up from the bottom. They are secured with red loctite, and I put an allen key on them from below while I tightened down the flange nuts. It wasn't terribly difficult.

rad! thanks man..... i was thinking the same thing about the pan thickness, i'm on it!

Very nice project! Looks like a great DD. And nice work on keeping all the creature comforts

Well it looks like I've neglected this thread for a while, so here's an update:

The car has been running extremely well for the past 10,000 miles. The only problem I've had with it was a fuel pump went out, and I damaged an AC line when I was removing a transmission. Other than that, it's been pretty damn reliable.

A few months back I decided to swap in a 6 speed 01E I found at the local pick n pull for $99. Score! I made another post about the tranny swap on here somewhere, but here are some pics:



I used the stock 01A shifter by cutting, flipping, and welding the shift lever. I fabbed up the tranny mounts out of some 3/8 plate steel.


The tranny swap was mostly uneventful. I have seen a few early morning grinds between 1st and 2nd gear, but not many, and nothing when it warms up a bit. I suppose a rebuild will come eventually.

I also decided to upgrade my radiator to an aluminum ebay unit out of China. The radiator itself was a bit larger core(56mm), but seems relatively well made for what I paid for it.($330) It's worth noting that none of the mounting holes were drilled, and the tabs to hold the shroud stuck out too far, so if you were to bolt up a stock shroud there would be an air gap all around the perimeter. Other than that, I'm happy with it. I also wired up my 500w fan from my 200. I wired and mounted a little relay harness in my inner fender so I could use heavy gauge wire right from the alternator. The stock 200w fan from the 80q is a 2 speed, the 500w fan from the 200q is a 3 speed. I wired 2nd and 3rd speed to the radiator fan switch, and let AC trigger the first speed. Works well and moves a ton of air. My stock radiator/fan combo was doing a pretty good job, but in heavy stop and go traffic in summer heat, it couldn't move enough heat for the AC.





Before:

After:


I also shoved an airbox in there for emissions reasons. California sucks!
I wanted to make sure I didn't melt the plastic, so I threw on this old axle shield I had laying around. May have been a bit of overkill seeing how I already had a turbo blanket, but oh well.


It does look a lot tidier in there now.



So that's pretty much it for now. Like I said it's been running well over all. I think the next thing I'd like to tackle is brakes. This thing goes like stink but it definitely doesn't have the braking power to inspire confidence. Maybe someday I'll get around to body work, but who knows.