86 eta 5.0 swap...

[DividedBeing]

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.

Nice! Can't wait until I'm ready to get my suspension back on the car. Looks like you sacrificed a tape measure for the oil pan shot, haha.

[Elysian]

Nice! Can't wait until I'm ready to get my suspension back on the car. Looks like you sacrificed a tape measure for the oil pan shot, haha.

I accidentally stepped on it, so was fortuitous

[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.

[DividedBeing]

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.

Love the custom solutions!

[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.

[Elysian]

Another big day working on the BMW... Started the final oil pan mods.



I had to chop the bottom off to remove the extra 1 5/8"/41mm of sheet metal that was hanging below the subframe.



This is the part that was removed. The two holes in the foreground are the througholes to access the oil pan bolts on the drivers side, this pan has no external access to those due to the integrated crank scraper. I also wanted to keep the stock drain plug location. After this picture I spent some time fitting the piece back on the oil pan, grinding and cutting till it fit properly.

I didn't take pics of this part, but I also had to modify the oil pan pickup so it was at the correct height and location inside the oil pan. It's roughly 5/16" from the bottom of the pan, which is right in the middle of the recommended height of 1/4" to 3/8".



I installed the trapdoors as well. If you don't know what these do, they basically act as check valves, so when you're cornering more oil is kept near the pickup. This will help bigly in autocross.



Final fitment. It's still about 1/4" or so below the subframe, but the steering rack is actually lower than that, I call this a win.

This work basically took me all day. I was lucky when I leak tested the pan that I only had 4 spots that needed attention. Got those welded up then sprayed primer on my welds. Not gonna bother grinding anything down, it is what it is and I'm okay with it.

Need to fit the sway bar next. Probably next weekend, as I have a full schedule tomorrow.



I am absolutely stoked that I have a rear sump 302 in an E30. I don't know that this has been done before, though it's hard to know for sure since there aren't too many 302 builds out there.

[Elysian]

Radiator is fitted. Took some cutting, welding, priming, Plastidipping, and trimming but I'm pretty happy with the fitment.

[Elysian]

The guy who runs the metal shop at work finished up putting an LS flange on my 302 manifold:





The difference between the LS TB and the Ford one is pretty hilarious:




Need to grind out the step now, at least smooth it over, but hopefully works out for my build. There are aftermarket throttlebodies for the 302 with the same size as the LS throttlebody, so I think it can work out.

[Elysian]

This is the sort of thing that gets me excited.

The throttlebody flap actually fully articulates with no issue, I was sure it would catch on the original opening.

[Elysian]

Got the transition at the throttlebody opening smoothed out, much happier with it now.



Might work on the wheels this weekend.

[Elysian]

Was really rainy today, but decided to try working on the 3 piece wheel conversion today. started by cutting the front lip off one of the wheels:



But realized I should have removed the tire first, I couldn't pop the rear bead at all and had to put the center back in then take it to a wheel shop to remove the tires. Took the other wheel that still had a tire too. Pic from the tire place, hard to tell it was pouring in this pic though:



I'll get back to it another day, supposed to rain tomorrow too.


edit: Here's the inner barrel now, still have a bunch of cutting and sanding to do on it before it's ready to be assembled as a 3 piece wheel.

[Elysian]

Got more work done on the wheels, removed the centers to drop them off at powdercoating (can't do that till Tuesday unfortunately):



Got the lips cut off of the remaining 3 barrels:



And got one of the barrels all sanded out, only thing it needs now is a thorough cleaning:



I may work on the other 3 barrels later, but have to head to physical therapy for my knee now. My air compressor has fought me the whole way, it's not very good, so sanding these out is taking some time. I'm also sanding them with 100 grit so it doesn't take off too much at a time.

[Elysian]

So with the issues I had with die grinding the one wheel barrel I worked on, I decided to start looking for a new compressor. I really didn't want to troubleshoot the crappy Husky. Found a Porter Cable 24 gallon compressor at Tractor Supply for $219, and converted the Husky to an auxiliary tank. Have nearly 50 gallon capacity and a dedicated spot for both tanks now.



The Husky tank can also be disconnected from the main tank and used as a portable air supply.

[Elysian]

Dropped the wheel centers off at powder coating yesterday, here's the color I picked:

https://www.prismaticpowders.com/sho...573/gold-smith

Will get a gloss clear coat over it as well, so will look pretty sweet. Should have those back in about 2 weeks.