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[Elysian]

Thats pretty cool, I missed that post

I also found a ZIP100 disk stuck to the bottom of the front seat when I put the race seat in, but I haven't been able to read that, don't own a ZIP drive

It's okay though, main reason I post this thread anymore is to remember what I've done Pretty much talk to myself in this subforum

[logical]

I also found a ZIP100 disk stuck to the bottom of the front seat when I put the race seat in, but I haven't been able to read that, don't own a ZIP drive

It's okay though, main reason I post this thread anymore is to remember what I've done Pretty much talk to myself in this subforum

I actually do follow this thread lol


Im waiting to see what it looks like all finished

[Notbilly]

I actually do follow this thread lol


Im waiting to see what it looks like all finished

Me too, Elysian -- find it fascinating. Thanks for posting the process!

[Elysian]

I actually do follow this thread lol


Im waiting to see what it looks like all finished

It's gonna be a hooptie for a while, I don't plan on painting it anytime soon (and I may DIY that as well, I'm a pretty accomplished guitar finisher, cars are much of the same). The nicest part (from the outside anyways) will be my BBS wheels.

[logical]

It's gonna be a hooptie for a while, I don't plan on painting it anytime soon (and I may DIY that as well, I'm a pretty accomplished guitar finisher, cars are much of the same). The nicest part (from the outside anyways) will be my BBS wheels.

Hooptie with love

[Elysian]

Decided to install the fuel cell this morning. Cut the hole for it and quickly found the fittings were too high on the sump to sit below the trunk floor, so started building a hump to slide everything under. Basically cut two shallow cuts along the bends, bent it by hand, made a cardboard template for the trapezoid shape on the sides, and cut that out of steel then welded everything up.



After that, drilled the mount holes, welded some nuts on the bottom side, and installed the cell.



Still waiting on the fuel pump, and I need to actually paint the bottom side of the trunk floor. Will probably get that painted tomorrow morning, then start building out the rear end.

[Elysian]

Just put the 2nd coat of Rustoleum truckbed liner on the trunk floor. Also have 1 coat on the underside, I think I'll leave the underside at one coat.



Probably going to spend some time assembling the rear tonight.

[Elysian]

Original fuel tank removed:



Rear trailing arms and shocks installed:



And new rear shock mounts installed:



The previous rear shocks and shock mounts are actually still in great shape, so I am going to hang on to them.

[Elysian]

Today I decided to try to tackle the CV axles... i have 4 total axles here, 2 in each E30. I initially tried to rebuild both axles that came in the V8 E30, but one of them had a nasty marred spot inside:




So I grabbed one of the ones from my backyard E30, hence why the two axles aren't identical. It'll work till it breaks. I'll buy the needed parts to rebuild the messed up one in the future.

So here's the finished axles. It's nearly impossible to disassemble the outer side, so I flushed out the grease with a cleaner, then flushed out the cleaner with acetone before repacking the CV with grease.

Hopefully I assembled them correctly I've never done this before. They do seem to move properly, no crunching or anything, so we'll see.

[Elysian]

Minor fab work today. Started building the rear brake dust shields. I got a little over enthusiastic with the grinder and wound up having to fill a big gap, but all things considered I'm happy with how it is. I feel like I handled the thin sheet metal better than I did in past projects. Will grind the welds down smooth later on.






Now I just need to duplicate this for the passenger side. Might tackle that tomorrow, but need to pick up some more grinding and cutting wheels.

[Elysian]

Finished up the passenger side a dust shield, ground down the welds, and primed.




Ran out of argon in the middle of the 2nd one, probably was low when working on the first one last night too. Everything went way smoother when I got a full argon tank.

[Elysian]

Today I built out the drivers side brakes:





These rotors are 294mm x 19mm vented rotors from a Z4, big upgrade over the 258mm x 10mm non-vented stock rears. Also installed the Garagistic steel braided brake lines.

[Elysian]

Passenger side rear is done. I also swapped the brake calipers from left to right to get the bleed nipple on top. I'll need to make a small hard line to make this work, but that won't be an issue.

[acroig]

It's okay though, main reason I post this thread anymore is to remember what I've done Pretty much talk to myself in this subforum

I follow your progress with interest. Wish I had your skills.

[kytprice]

I find your fab skills impressive. I on the other hand can't build a decent bird house.

[acroig]

I find your fab skills impressive.

I'll second that!

[Elysian]

If I could do this for a living I would. Sadly, I have to spend my own time and money on it

[Elysian]

Tackled some big time fabrication today, decided to install the donor core support I had. The original core support had some accident damage on the drivers side frame rail, so I felt the best way to repair the damage and also give me a removable core support was to make some large sheet metal tabs that the new core can bolt to. I used my other E30 shell to get measurements off of, and got the new core in the correct position.









Next step on the core will be to chop it up some more and fit my massive radiator.

[Elysian]

Here's a picture of the bumper mount damage on the drivers side:



You can see it's pretty mangled, which is why I decided to go this route.

[Elysian]

Long day today working on fitting the subframe around the new oil pan. Pulled the motor first thing, beat some spots with my mini sledge that I think were touching the transmission tunnel, then got to work on the mods to the subframe.




I don't have any pics of the final fitment right now, I'll get those next time I work on this. I ended the day rather defeated, as the new oil pan has some bolts that have to be installed through port holes in the pan, which wound up being a humongous pain in the ass. Kept dropped bolts or sockets into the pan and having to pull it back off, put it back on, over and over again. I finally gave up and set the motor on the ground underneath the car. Here's the result of the subframe mods:




I had some leftover 1" x 2" rectangular tube, so I used that to build up the middle section of the subframe, much thicker stuff that the subframe is made from. I still need to figure out the sway bar mounting, but will save that for another day.

By the way, I found out the E30 V8 engine mounts I've been using don't have the rubber mount side holes drilled correctly, the motor was sitting in at an angle and I didn't like that, so I drilled a new hole in one mount, measured off the subframe to make sure the positioning was even. 

[acroig]

I am amazed at your skills. It's like watching an episode of wheeler dealers.

[Elysian]

I am amazed at your skills. It's like watching an episode of wheeler dealers.

The Z3 Ant Anstead did this last season fixed the rear differential mount issue in a different way than I did it, but still pretty stout. I love that show.

[acroig]

The Z3 Ant Anstead did this last season fixed the rear differential mount issue in a different way than I did it, but still pretty stout. I love that show.

Same here man, can't wait to see your finished Bimmer.

[Silent-Runner]

i find it very interesting to see your progress, Elysian. Keep up the good work. Although you'd have a very hard time to get some of your "mods" passing our TÜV (i think it's called mOT in the states). They are very strict with stuff like that over here.

[Elysian]

i find it very interesting to see your progress, Elysian. Keep up the good work. Although you'd have a very hard time to get some of your "mods" passing our TÜV (i think it's called mOT in the states). They are very strict with stuff like that over here.

We don't really have anything like MOT in the US. In Texas, almost anything can be on the road, the requirements are VERY low. My car will only be a street car in so much as I'll keep registration on it. I won't actually street drive it very often.

[Silent-Runner]

i know, just sayin' you wouldn't have a chance to register something like that over here.

[Elysian]

Motor and trans are back in, though they will come out again as there's still some rubbing unfortunately. That's my fault for using a non-standard T5 (from the 3.8l V6 Mustang instead of a V8 Mustang T5), but I'm confident I can get it fitting well.



You can see how the subframe is notched around the oil pan here:



Plenty of clearance too, really happy with this setup. Still need to figure out the sway bar, that won't happen till I get the front suspension in place.

[Elysian]

Project creep is gonna be my doom

Decided I want drive by wire... Which isn't even an option for Fords because the Holley Terminator X Max only supports GM throttlebodies and pedals... so I ordered a GM throttlebody and pedal, canceled my still unfulfilled Terminator X order, and ordered an actually in stock Terminator X Max bundle

I spoke to the guy who runs the metals shop at work, he'd be interested in doing any TIG welding and waterjetting I'd need to retrofit a GM DBW throttlebody to the Ford intake, so I guess that's a thing that will happen soon. I'll be drawing it up in CAD when I get the throttlebody in tomorrow. The DBW pedal is a C5 Corvette pedal. Reason I chose DBW is it opens a ton of tuning options, removes IACV, and gives me a much larger throttlebody than the stock 65mm, the GM TB I ordered is 87mm. It also means I don't need to run a Mustang throttle cable. Should be fun. I expect to have the Terminator X Max kit early next week, though there's potential it arrives this weekend as well.

[acroig]

Project creep is gonna be my doom

From a $ perspective is that gonna be an issue? As in you'll put in more than can ever be sold for someday?

[Elysian]

From a $ perspective is that gonna be an issue? As in you'll put in more than can ever be sold for someday?

I'm already WAY past that The amount of money I've put into this stupid car build probably could have paid for my Colorado in full, it's only manageable because it's been spent over the course of years. I've bought so much for this car, at this point it's a matter of bringing everything together. And I've told my wife I'll never add up what I spend on this

[acroig]

I'm already WAY past that The amount of money I've put into this stupid car build probably could have paid for my Colorado in full, it's only manageable because it's been spent over the course of years. I've bought so much for this car, at this point it's a matter of bringing everything together. And I've told my wife I'll never add up what I spend on this

Labor of love then.

[Notbilly]

I'm already WAY past that The amount of money I've put into this stupid car build probably could have paid for my Colorado in full, it's only manageable because it's been spent over the course of years. I've bought so much for this car, at this point it's a matter of bringing everything together. And I've told my wife I'll never add up what I spend on this

Hey, you're having fun doing it, and you're learning stuff, so you're golden (as long as the wife is ok with it )

[Elysian]

The barrels I need to make my wheels wider arrived today:



Inspiration:

[Elysian]

Euro grills and headlights came in today.

Starting to think about what I'm going to do for the paint, and thinking a wrap might not be a bad idea for the near term. Red, of course.

[Elysian]

Today is a great day.

The Holley Terminator X Max kit has arrived!






I also received the drive by wire throttlebody, the drive by wire pedal (C5 Corvette pedal), and the coil mounting brackets from ICT Billet.





Excited to get this stuff installed!

[Elysian]

Got quite a lot done today. Started off by removing the motor and working on the clearance in the tunnel, finally got it to where there is no rubbing, and the motor is as far back to the firewall as it can be, about 1/2" further back than it was when I first put the motor in.

Then I moved on to the clutch slave cylinder. The stock Mustang T5's are cable clutch, and while there are aftermarket options for hydraulic clutch slaves, they're pretty expensive. This is a tried and true method, basically building a bracket to hold a slave from another car (I believe this was either from a Nissan or Toyota, been a long time since I bought the slave). I still need to build a reinforcement strip for the plate, but I'm glad to have the hardest part of the job done.

Then I started tackling the suspension. I installed the Ground Control camber/caster plates, the coilovers, the E46 control arms with treehouse bushings from Garagistic, and the tie rod ends I need for the E46 arms. I also installed the Sikky linkage for the steering column, which required me to center the steering wheel and the Z3 rack.

It took a ton of trial and error to get the ride height high enough I could get my low profile jack out, but I finally got it. As someone else mentioned, the new oil pan is WAY too low, so I need to raise the floor on it, which will lose some capacity, but it's a nearly 8qt pan, so I'll still have over 6 quarts. I need to bring it up about 1 5/8" so it's at the same level as the subframe.

I have some rubbing issues I'll need to address to run the 17" wheels and tires, but that shouldn't be too difficult. This isn't meant to be final fitment on anything really, I'll be pulling everything back apart at least 1 more time.

Pic dump:

[KAC]

Are you building a terminator?

[Elysian]

Dropped the upper intake manifold off with the guy who runs the fabrication shop at work. He's going to cut a flange out of 1/2" aluminum that he'll then TIG weld to the stock throttlebody flange, allowing me to adapt the GM throttlebody to my 302. It's a very tight fit, and will require some grinding to fit after the flange is welded on, but hopefully works for my goals. Also got a generic intake for the GM throttlebody:



Nothing fancy, but hopefully works out.

[Elysian]

Oil cooler, dual oil filter relocation kit,, Motorcraft oil filters, and Wilwood clutch hydraulic reservoir arrived. Oil pan trap doors should be here tomorrow.

[Elysian]

Trap doors arrived. These will finish out the oil pan mods.