The Project Pad

Posted: **Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:24 am**

Man Derek... what an amazing job.....

On your drive-shaft rebuild did you replace just the support bearing or all the u joints as well? If so do where did you get the u joints and what's the part number? I'm guessing they're stnd. and can be found at any auto parts store.

My center bearing per your recommendation is arriving today thanks to Javad and the boyz...

I'll follow your earlier tip on marking the splines prior to taking it apart.

Keep up the amazing work... Looking at your pace you'll have the motor in the car by Sunday.. That is if the machine shop works as fast as you do.

Posted: **Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:59 am**

Has anybody reminded you lately that you SUCK for having such nice cars?
Just thought I'd bring that back up.

Amazing job, keep up the good work!

Posted: **Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:37 am**

i didn't replace the U-joint. it felt fine so i left it. as for having it together by sunday... i leave the state tomorrow morning early and won't be back for two weeks. so progress will somewhat halt. there's a decent ridge in the block, that and the fact that those front bosses are broken off is making me think about finding another block. i know of a few, so i'm gonna put together the best of what's available to me.

i guess i do suck... sorry :(

Posted: **Fri Feb 23, 2007 2:30 pm**

hmmm....

stupid oil splash shield up under the valve cover....

other than the pickup being over half covered by pieces of broken plastic, broken snubber mount bolt hole bosses, a bit of wear in the block with small ridges both top and bottom of each cylinder, everything looks ok

. sooo... i'm gonna try and re-aquire an MC block i gave to a friend a while back that he's not using

hopefully i can get th head and a box of misc. parts cleaned up today in a friends hot tank before i have to leave town again. guess i'll be working on lining up some more stuff here for the next trip to the shop here and hopefully i can put the engine together and get it installed... and maybe running 8)

Posted: **Fri Feb 23, 2007 2:32 pm**

Why dont you take the parts back to oregon and build the bottom end there. :-D

Posted: **Fri Feb 23, 2007 2:33 pm**

Be sure to clean that head off real good Derek. Make sure none of the paper is left. :wink:

Posted: **Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:02 pm**

Audilard wrote:Be sure to clean that head off real good Derek. Make sure none of the paper is left. :wink:

sure will

gonna be spotless

Wizard-of-OD wrote:Why dont you take the parts back to oregon and build the bottom end there. :Biggrin:

hmm, i'm thinking about it. i don't have an engine stand there though. it won't take long to put together, i just need all the stuff in one place at one time

i have a car to dissassemble when i get home though, along with trying to help a friend finish up his MC swap, so i'll have other things to keep me busy.

Posted: **Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:38 pm**

Hey Derek,

Looking back at your Center Drive Shaft Bearing replacement pic. Did you need to pull off the U joint or were you able to access and loosen the 17m bolt? Once you got the bolt out what was the best way (trick) for pulling it apart?

Posted: **Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:14 pm**

i didn't pull the U-joint. on the page before there's a pic of a punch that i used to push the bolt while still threaded into the half i wanted pushed out.

small update, today i found my new donor block, much better shape MC block. not near as much wear, no broken off bolt mounting holes, and the block isn't crusty at all

also ordered some new exhaust valves, Ti. retainers, adj. cam gear, ARP main studs, coated bearings, and some other bits from 034 8) this engine's gonna be sick for a daily beater 8)

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:14 pm**

more goodness arrived today 8)

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:21 pm**

Those are goodies, thats for sure!!!

:woowoo:

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:22 pm**

That's not even my stuff and it still makes me smile. You ought to teach a class on proper project thread etiquette.

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:07 pm**

i'm really just about to jump out of my skin in anticipation of finishing this car!! gah! :bashtard:

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:41 pm**

derracuda wrote:hmm, i'm thinking about it. i don't have an engine stand there though. it won't take long to put together, i just need all the stuff in one place at one time i have a car to dissassemble when i get home though, along with trying to help a friend finish up his MC swap, so i'll have other things to keep me busy.

geeze, sooner or later every 4kq in Oregon is going to have an MC..... I can't wait!!!

Posted: **Sat Mar 10, 2007 8:56 pm**

well! i got back to the shop thursday night and have gotten back on my project

i started by getting everything for the bottom end together for the rotating assembly and dropped off at rex hutchison machine shop for balancing and the surfacing of the flywheel. after that i got to tearing down the new donor MC1 block for some cleaning so that it's ready for when all the bottom end parts arrive 8)

oven cleaner is working pretty good to really degrease the block, it's just not too good on the really thick stuff

i started the morning off by replacing the plastic distributor gear with the brass one. that pin is kind of a pain

i also had a broken off bolt that holds the water manifold on the head, so being a sucker and wanting to give the ol' easy out a try because it was a good MAC piece... well, that didn't turn out.. so the easy out became a difficult out and required drilling the hole oversized and helicoiling it.

then today i worked on the head a bit. the ports needed a bit of cleaning up, i didn't do much other than clean some of the crappy casting imperfections up. i focused mainly on the exhaust ports and then just blended the bowl/valve seat area for nicer flow.

this is what i started with...

started off by knocking the high spots off...

and smoothed em' out

stuff like this isn't so purty

so i smoothed them out too..

and this is the floor of the exhaust port, just smoothed out..

and these are the tools i used

i also got a nice new BPV

i checked the valve guides and they all seem rather worn... it would be stupid to not replace them now........ so, we're gonna get ahold of the machine shop on monday morning to see about a valve job and guide replacement :roll:

man, the projects adding up quick

oh well, it'll be built bullet proof and ready to go for many more years of abuse 8)

Posted: **Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:21 pm**

Yea, figure it out price wise and add 75% just because and that is excersizing a bunch of self control and trying to do only what has to happen. Ya got to love it! A nice job and project, by the way.

Posted: **Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:37 pm**

hey derek,where did you get your bpv from?

Posted: **Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:43 pm**

Dye-Lohn NJ wrote:[/quote]

hey derek,where did you get your bpv from?[/quote]

J man

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 10:56 pm

by derracuda

i had a little extra time tonight and wanted to find a place for my diff lock switch, so after some consideration to running wires and where would be an actual good place for it, i settled on here....

there's a slight discrepancy between the curvature of the kick panel and the lack thereof in the switch, but that's ok, it's not really noticable and it's a good fit.

it's at just an angle to where i can still see the light when it lights up. i plan to mount the control box just probably in the center console where the vacuum lines exist already to the rear diff, so that makes the most sense

i have a nice 4ks 3 gauge panel to go where the diff lock panel exists now. i'll post pics when it's in place

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:37 pm

by Audilard

Are you just hosing off the oven cleaner after a couple hours or wiping it off?

Also, if you would just go IIc you'd never have to worry about that distributor pin again. :wink:

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:44 pm

by derracuda

i brush it a bit before i hose it off.

as for the pin..... i dunno... $1750 vs. a $40 gear and that silly pin.... i think the i can deal with the pin for the $$ difference

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:45 pm

by olsonjus

Looks really good derik. Are you handy with a tig welder? I need to post this 16v cylinder head I just picked up. It has some beautiful exhaust ports that flow over 200cfm.

Justin

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:19 pm

by derracuda

more progress!

my friend trevor works on helicopters and hooked me up a while back with this awesome stuff called metal prep and you use a scotchbrite pad and just dip it in and start cleaning, then wipe it off. it eats rust, kills it, and helps paint adhesion. so here's what's going on so far...

then i masked it up for paint. i wanted paint everwhere there wasn't a part bolted to it, so i had to do a little creative masking

then some primer

then some paint 8) it's a really close matching zermatt generic paint from the local parts store

i also got the rotating assembly back from the machine shop today

but i have to consult the local machinist about the unworn ridge in my block before i assemble :(
the cranks's been polished too 8)

flywheel was surfaced...

i also needed to replace the old rotted vertical shroud for the radiator, so i snagged the one off my parts 90q at home and fitted it up

and the last thing was i test fit the mercedes oil cooler... [BORAT] VERY NIIIICE [/BORAT]

and i also stuck the front sway bar in

hopefully some more tomorrow

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:34 pm

by Lt. Sarge

I hereby nominate this thread for "boner jam" status.

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:59 pm

by Matt

who's M3?? Oh and nice work, too!

The Project Pad

Derracudas zermatt 20vt,6spd, 351awhp - July 4th drive vid