Project KEEP MOVING FORWARD

[JasonWilson48]

Looking good man! its getting me anxious LOL. What steering rack do you using?

Purple Tag E46

[max.rodriguezzz]

Purple Tag E46

How do you like it? compared to like the z3 2.7 turn one?

Im always curious cuz I hear people talk about how much they dislike the 2.7 turn one that the e46 ones are the more practical way to go

ive had the 2.7 turn one for awhile and I really enjoyed it, even for daily driving. I did notice that body roll is a bit more noticeable, probably due to less time for suspension to progressively load up

[JasonWilson48]

I've never driven an E30 with a z3 rack. The purple tag is 3.0 lock-to-lock, and is great for aggressive and leisurely driving. I like it a lot. Don't think I would want anything more or less aggressive.

[Il Duce]

Looking great so far! Keep up the good work. Going to be so rewarding to get it buttoned back up and drivable again.

Here I was thinking I was productive swapping out my blower motor and aligning my hood this weekend... lol

edit: also, love the K1 choice. I've been eying a set of those as well lately. I like my ACTs but they're heavy.

[JasonWilson48]

Update #6

Next Steps:
-Steering rack grinded down and done!
-Brake lines are done!
-Heater core swapped!
-I'm rocking the old fucking brake stuff for now. I have new lines, rotors, and pads ready for when it get's sketchy!

Ok, so i missed a lot of photos of the troubleshooting, but here is where I am at, as of 2 hours ago.


Had clutch kit issues. Got the wrong kit from FCP Euro, and I installed without looking at it. Ughhhh. So I had to return this one and order a new one. Got it in, and installed the transmission.



Then I shoehorned it back into the new chassis. Also dropped it on the wheels with engine for the first time. I'm close to a first test start. I am aiming for a test on next day off on Tuesday.












Also had to get in and row the gears obviously.



And here it is with the engine in, and car on all 4 wheels.

[AWDBOB]

Nice progress! Koseis FTW. Is that a gs6-17bg 6sp from an e9x? I didn't realize there was an easy way to make them work on a 24v swap. Great option considering the extra gear and zf scarcity

[JasonWilson48]

Is that a gs6-17bg 6sp from an e9x? I didn't realize there was an easy way to make them work on a 24v swap. Great option considering the extra gear and zf scarcity

Sure is... and yeah the 6th gear with a 3.73 LSD is a good balance of low speed acceleration, and cruising on the highway. I have the conversions some where of my wheel size, trans ratio, and diff ratio.... came out to like 80 mph in 6th gear being about 3500 rpm or something like that. It isn't bad at all.

The exhaust note on the highway is kind of annoying though. I might weld in a high flow cat in the future to reduce the exhaust smells and/ or new muffler to change the tone a little.

[JasonWilson48]

Update #7

I had my first day off work where I literally had no professional or personal obligations in like 2 months. It was freaking great. I don't even have kids or pets. Not sure how y'all do it with those "obstacles" lol.

Anyway... a few nights ago I got the engine situated. I got all the way to the intake manifold going on, but then realized I forgot to hook up the fuel lines to the FPR. Got annoyed and left it after that. That's where I started today.

I pulled the manifold back off, and attached the fuel lines. Last night I had 30 minutes to replace the gaskets, pintles, and filters on the fuel injectors... so those were ready to go. I just used the kit from Race German. It was pretty simple since I setup a vice in my laundry room.

So I got the fuel rail, injectors, ignition coils, intake manifold back on, and installed the throttle body and intake boot with MAF.



After that, I installed the old battery from my wrecked car, put in the old oil filter, and added some oil and bumped the key to see what would happen. And what do you know... it turned over!!! At this point I ran to the store, and picked up gas, coolant, power steering fluid, and brake fluid.

Came back home, and added the gas. I have the radiator hoses hooked up, but not clamped down at this point. Wanted to test without coolant first.

Then I tried again. The engine was now turning over, but not starting. I realized I didn't really hear the fuel pump prime when I turned the key to ignition. I was looking around the engine bay, fuse box, and at the top of the gas tank, but couldn't see any obvious issues cuasing the the fuel pump to not work.

Then I realized how stupid I am. I never hooked up the ECU. I hook up the ECU. Turn the key, immediately hear the fuel pump prime... and the engine turns over in like two cranks! I scared myself. The exhaust isn't hooked up. I only have the collector fromm the headers hooked up. It's pretty dang loud. doesn't come across in the video, but echoing in my garage is annoying. I also live on a semi-quiet steet. So everyone got to here the first start! Here is the video of the 2nd startup I filmed. Not sure how FLICKR videos come through, so I uploaded it to YouTube as a short lol. You can tell I don't do this often.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/phiEA71wgxA

There was little bit of surging idle. However, I shut it off, adjusted the throttle body cable, clamped down the intake boot, and made sure all the vacuum connections were tight enough... tried it again... and boom it ran smooth! Also, there were zero oil leaks identified during the minute I had it running. That was a nice surprise. I think there might be some once I get it more up to temperature, but I'm calling it a win for today.

I'm freaking pumped!

I then maneuvered some stuff around in my garage, and cleaned up a bit. Took some photos.








Next Steps:

1) Clamp down radiator hoses, add coolant, and bleed system.
2) Bleed brakes and clutch
3) Add power steering fluid, and bleed system.
4) Attach driveshaft
5) Hookup wiring to radiator and fan, to verify it all works at temp
6) TEST DRIVE!!!

Hopefully I'll have more updates in the next few weeks. Unfortunately I am getting very busy as my wedding fast approaches. The race is on to get it driving before then.

[Panici]

It's alive!
Hell yeah.