cruizin01

Started and semi-finished some more work on the car the week before last. I got the intercooler mounted and the charge pipes made. I still have to finish weld and paint the intercooler bracket, weld some lips on the charge pipes and paint and clamp them, etc. Ill probably paint the intercooler black even though most of it will be hidden. #stealth I decided to cut holes in the lower support to keep the charge pipes short. This lower area doesnt really hold/support anything anymore anyway. I didnt realize how much trouble I would have welding plates to the areas I cut out. I think the material was around 16 gauge and boy does my welder like to burn holes with the quickness on that stuff. I bought the cheapest solstice intake I could find on the internet and was able to trim it to fit on the bmw. It actually ended up working pretty well. The charge pipes are pretty basic in nature. The cold side just needed map sensor pad and a nipple for a boost line. Little baby belt installed. I managed to guess the right size the first time! Finally got my oil pan from dude in canada. Decided to test fit it and it works just fine as expected. Its got some surface rust inside and out so its gonna need a thorough cleaning. Decided in a solstice fan assy as it fits the radiator perfect. Its 2 speed which the engine harness should run without issue. Im using a late model e30 coolant tank and the solstice hoses which all fit and work ok. I have to adapt just one hose. Got my shifter temporarily installed. I cant row the gears until I get the trans back out and the mechanism fulling installed but I think itll work ok. Next step is to work out the steering linkage and the fuel system in the engine bay. Then the brake master cylinder, etc.

no doubt. I had to unfollow him.

Thanks for the tip.

Sure sure. I just find I deal with Arizona heat better than Florida heat. I can't hardly make a decision on what I want for dinner let alone deciding whether moving cross country would satisfy my and my wife's distaste for Ohio winters. Funny you mention Shawn, I met him through Aaron years ago and he saw we were in Florida from my FB and mentioned they lived down there now.

Id have to find just the right spot I think. And figure out how to deal with the humidity.

While in Floriduhh for some relaxation over the weekend I stopped in for a bottle of bourbon. Saw a lot of stuff Id not seen before but nothing top shelf that I had to have. This Gunnar caught my eye as Im a fan of wheated bourbons and this was $23/. It was surprisingly pretty good. I wish we could get it here in Ohio (Im assuming we can't because Ive never seen it). I looked it up and it appears its out of Kansas. Not where I would have expected.

We just got back from Ft Myers yesterday afternoon. This weather is UGH in terms of driving to work, taking the dogs out, etc, etc etc. If I could work remote I think Id find a trailer park to live in for a few months somewhere warmer.. not really but man 74* and sunny was NICE.

Tulsi was on Rogan last week. She gives some hope but you could tell she was relieved to not be part of the shit show in D.C.

I assume you are looking for a large car when you mentioned BMW 6er. If not, my TT-S would be a decent contender in that price range. Its pretty strictly a 2 seater unless you're a family of midgets. But its 2L turbo, haldex awd and DSG. Runs a 12 flat 1/4 (with wheel spin) and sub 4 second 0-60 (on snow tires and more wheel spin) with software and a downpipe. Sounds like a tractor but its fun'ish. Steering feedback is my biggest complain but its a very comfortable daily with the magride and going down to 19" wheels and tires instead of the factory 20's.

Put some more work in over the past couple of weeks. I was able to finish up all the engine/trans mounts, sans paint. I know they dont look too pretty but man it takes a lot of work to build something from scratch when all you have is flat steel, a grinder and cut off wheels. Oh and a mediocre amount of talent. Anyhow, they are done and installed. The engine is sitting in the engine bay self supported. It'll have to come back out so I can paint the mounts, and install a few other things including the engine pan. It finally passed through customs and should be here in a day or two. Passenger Mount Trans Mount. This mount sucked as the trans was designed for a track bar so it requires 2 long bolts to mount it. This was the best I could come up with using the room I had. Next up I started piddling with the shifter relocation. It was gonna be $500 for the driftmotion unit. I decided I wasn't out anything to hack mine apart and see if I could make the OE setup function. I cut down the shift shaft and the housing. Shortened up the J shaped arm along with the bracket that holds everything. Again not pretty but I think everything is gonna work. I ordered a new seal to press into the end of the housing but other than that I think its done. Took a couple versions but it sits mostly center in the trans tunnel hole. Overall I think I was able to move the shifter forward maybe 2.5 inches. I forget the measurements now. Its about 1/2" rearward from center but with a little grinding of the tunnel hole everything works. I'll forgot to take a picture from in the car but I will at a later date once I get the shifter adapter and knob mounted. I splurged and ordered a RaceSeng shifter knob for the car. I decided to try out a factory Solstice radiator in the car due to the BMW radiator (which I didn't have) having the inlet & outlet backwards. RockAuto had one for $55. It looks dinky but if it worked in the car originally it should work ok in this car. The new rad came with some damage so I was able to get $20 back so I have nothing to lose with a $35 radiator. Im gonna try and use a factory solstice fan as well but I just need to make sure I can control it through the ECU since it PWM. Just have to confirm with the guy that's building my harness. To mount it I just crimped in some rivet nuts in the sheet metal and tacked them in place. You can see the original hoses fit just about right. I did shorten the lower hose. I have a BMW coolant tank coming that should work for the overflow hoses, etc. More updates soon. I got an intake that Im working on fitting up. I have an intercooler and some piping en route, along with some parts for a fuel system. I ordered a master cylinder and hoses, etc from Chase Bays. More to come.

I would gladly give up FB if it wasn't for the Groups. I hate the FB Groups layout but its hard to hate on the amount of info I get from some of these groups. It just sucks for doing any sort of build thread or having anything categorized. It also gets super old seeing the same things posted over and over again.

My wife is the lead at one of the local hospitals Interventional Radiology and her dept is crazy busy right now with what appears to be direct and indirect covid related procedures. She had 3 cases in one day with patients who had covid within the past few weeks, that all had some sort of life threatening Potential "side affect". One had a stroke, one a pulmonary embolism, and another with a venous clot. All pretty healthy middle-aged people. No proof that covid caused it but scarey regardless. Shes also had countless patients that have deferred care WAY past when it was needed. One recently was a woman who came in after weeks of feet pain, only to find out she had an aortic clot which cut off circulation to her leg. When she was examined all her toes were black. Eventually she lost her leg because she was likely too stubborn to come in to the hospital because of covid. Stressful times we're in. Get your vaccine peeps!

Haha, you would. I dont know, depends on how many parts are "related" to the swap. Probably 13.2676 times the original $700.

You can't honestly think that a swap project would only need those 2 things? Its ALL the other things that you dont think about that double the cost of a project like this. Where as if he stays SBF he gets to reuse/replace all that stuff versus buying more expensive specialty swap parts and/or custom made parts. Ask me how much I have in my 5.3 swap that started with a $700 engine.

I dont know what your budget is but paying someone to coyote swap your car is definitely not cheap. What's everyone think, $15K..maybe $20k in parts and labor? What about buying a decent 5L crate engine and putting a Holley Terminator on it? Im not a ford guy so I dont have too much knowledge on these cars. Could you buy a $5k long block and make 430hp plus the $1k holley and have a modern EFI system on it with easy tuning and good driveability? Im just talking out loud here. I like the looks of the car as it is though. I like the idea of widened stock wheels along with suspension upgrades, better tires, etc.

Finally got a little time put in on the E30 this weekend. I ordered the miata ecotec oil pan from a guy in Canada. I was hoping to have it Friday but it seems to be hanging out in NY in Customs. I hope it shows itself soon. I decided to go ahead and test fit the engine by removing the pan and taking my best guess as to how tall it is. The only thing that makes it weird is the engine is designed to be at a tilt of around 11* so you end up with a tighter clearance on the passenger size near the subframe. I suppose I could have stood it straight up but then the trans sits at a weird angle. I pulled the PS pump and the A/C compressor off since I dont plan to run either. The rack was already setup for manual. If I keep this car and drive it a lot I might consider plumbing back in the A/C but all the plumbing in the engine bay is gone. I was able to get the engine shoved in the car with the trans attached by only removing the shifter extension. Pretty straight forward for one person. I did have to detach the lower steering shaft. Thats going to require some tighter components. Probably a universal joint instead of that rubber guibo joint. I pushed the engine as far reward as I could to keep the front nose of the engine down. I was worried about hood clearance, this seems to be a pretty tall engine for what it is. The brake booster doesn't clear so Ill probably be going to a manual setup. Not ideal but shouldn't be too bad for a car this light. One of the heater hose fittings is tight and is gonna need reworked. The shifter doesn't line up. Driftmotion makes a nice one but its $500!!! for what I need. Going to try and cobble/cut down the extension that came on the solstice trans. I was hoping maybe there was a chance I could use the Colorado trans but its too short! Ill post more pictures of all that stuff once I actually do something with it. I started by building the engine mount on the LH side. I didn't get any material ahead of time which was a mistake as all I could get at the box store was some 1/4" flat stock. I made do but its not pretty and took FOREVER to cut, fit, tack, test, finish weld, grind, etc. But its done. Currently about half way done with the RH side. It sucks because the mounts and heights are completely different side to side. Im attempting to use the solstice mounts as they were taller and angled slightly better for what I was attempting to do. Im a little worried now they are too soft but Ill deal with that when the time comes. Today I went ahead and ordered the ECU and Engine harness so I can send it out to be reworked. I also ordered a bunch of other stuff thats gonna be needed. Trying not to get ahead of myself and break the bank all at once but as you can expect there is quite a list of necessary items. Just a glimps of my work space. It was a disaster when I quite last night. Ill wait until I finish the other mount before cleaning up. Thanks for following along.

I was gonna ask if anyone has any experience with a mini split for the garage? You can buy them reasonably priced on Amazon that come "pre-charged" so they dont require having someone set it up.

Oh I did forget to mention, Ive used a propane patio heater in a pinch in the garage. It takes up quite a bit of real estate and drinks the juice but itll heat things up in a jiffy.

I saw Brians post. Very cool. I need to get my junk over there to do some work.

So I use one of these small 240v heaters from Rural king for $69 bucks. (https://www.ruralking.com/catalog/product/view/id/42074) I put it above my air compressor on an outlet so I can switch between the 2. I rarely use the compressor anymore so it works fine for me. I have a attached block wall 2 car and when its above 40* Ill turn that heater on an hour or 2 before I want to work and it does a mediocre job of warming up the garage. When its real cold Ill use the kerosene torpedo heater to get the garage warmed up then Ill just use the electric heater to maintain. This is a cheap bandaid solution. I dont want to invest a lot much money as eventually Id like to build onto my detached garage and have a real shop. I feel stupid for not knowing this was a thing. Thanks!

Awesome. Im jealous.

HA

Oh yes, forgot that one. I sometimes wish on that show (like most of the shows) they would split up the episodes. They do a lot of cool work and so much of it must get edited out so they can fill their "time slot". Or just make the episodes longer..?

coool.

Still worth the pricey of the subscription to me. If it was just RK, RKG and HRG I would be fine with that.