E30 Race Car wreck, time for major surgery

[Lance Racing]

We let the seam sealer dry over night and are back the next night to tape out the car and paint.





Before we spray the primer, all surfaces are wiped down with this stuff:



First a grey primer coat:





Now the white paint goes on:









And a DQ snack!

[Lance Racing]

Parallel to the front end work, we are getting the engine rebuilt. The engine in the car had 6 years on it, and was down horsepower to the other PRO-3 cars. We are not rebuilding the race engine, because the #5 cylinder had previously been sleeved. We are rebuilding a vigrin M20 engine that had never been apart. From a wreck automatic.

Bottom end going back together:



My shelf 'o parts at the engine shop:



Clean head:

[Maluco]

E30 Race Car wreck, time for major surgery

Indeed, a very accurate title to this post...

[PiercedE30]

OOOO, looking like a lot of progress, and like you are having a lot of fun doing it.

[Lance Racing]

Rather than bringing the people to the car, we've been moving the car to the people. So last night we were at Tom's house in Seattle. Tonight we fit the brake lines in. We've pulled the ABS pump (though we were not running the ABS). We are adding a brake proportioning valve to better balance the front and rear brakes.



Tom Olsson Sr. is the Main Man tonight!



A little easier to install stuff on the firewall with no engine:



And a little easier to work under the dash with no seat:



Checking out the Tilton valve installed.





Not sure what Bill and Stephanie are saying, but at least Tom's getting something done! :-)





And about 10:00pm back in the trailer to another location for work tomorrow.

[86espowa]

i wish i could just trailer my vehicle around to work on it! awesome job

[DarkWing6]

Great rebuild and awesome thread...thanks for keeping us posted. Will it be travelling to the concours to be displayed with the other pro3 cars (if you are doing that this year)?

[Lance Racing]

LOL, we might bring it and hang body panels at the show! We're looking for every free hour there is to make progress.

Engine is assembled and ready for pick up:





Loading it took a couple of guys:





Mike was still finishing up on the intake manifold. We're allowed by the rules to port match the head and intake manifold to 1-inch in.



You can sort of see the shiny areas that have been ported.



Here he's showing me how the porting now aligns flush with the gasket:



And a final cleaning of the intake manifold before we take it away.

[Lance Racing]

Today the ancillary parts from the old engine are being moved to the new engine. Here's the old engine:



And the new engine ready to load up with starters, headers, etc.



We're using the old valve cover because it is painted and looks cool.



Old head exposed and looking pretty clean. That's what happens when you use synthetic and flush frequently.



Supporting brackets that are between the block and engine mounts are bent from the impact. So new supports are ready (in foreground).



Bill is leading the engine prep work:

[redhatpat]

Very nice work!

Keep the pics coming.

[Fanzotti]

Love it.

[Lance Racing]

Saturday all of the body panels were loaded up to take to Wes for painting. They will be hung on the car ofter they dry:



The car is over at Bill's getting the subframe replaced, brake system completed, and other do-dads taken care of. I think this is the 5th location the chassis has been at during this project:



Karl Seeger was over to help Bill:

[Lance Racing]

Now we're back at the sponsor's shop Monday AM and are going to mate the car and drivetrain today. Goal is to have a running engine by 2:00pm. Here the fresh engine has most of the ancillary parts swapped over from the old engine.





The car has been delivered back to the shop as well:



The old engine looking pretty picked over. It's still a runner though.



JR laying in some wiring and the starter:



Brake fluid we'll be using:

[Lance Racing]

Here again you can see the tranny mount sheared during the impact. We are staying with OEM mounts here because we'd rather these cracked rather than the fragile aluminum tabs that attach to them.





Solid motor mounts are swapped to new engine supports:



And on the block:

[Lance Racing]

For those of you like me who run high mileage E30 engines on the street, here's the sensor that tells you when you are a quart low on motor oil. Mine comes on about every 1,000 miles. LOL.







In it's place we will rig the oil temp probe that will read in the cabin.



The old engine is wheeled out by JR.



Mating the tranny to the engine. Looking good!