(Post Crash Chassis Swap) Project Reincarnation / Project Beat Jason

[mmoyer11]

Wow…such inspiration and realization I’ll never be this technically inclined. My stomach started to turn in the AC rebuild section. For a second I got fired up to finally figure out AC in my car and then just slowly lost hope…well done!!

[evrgrn]

Nice work dude! How did you get the ignition tumbler out?

[Panici]

And it's on the road!
Sorry about the flying sunroof panel, reminds me of the first fast & the furious movie and the Supra roof panel.

[JasonWilson48]

- fuel tank back in, JasonWilson48 said awhile ago about how much of a PITA it was to put in with the subframe still in, so I was a little nervous. But tbh, it was a piece of cake for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Hot take opinion but I honestly prefer working on the ground/jackstands/my back when it comes to large underside work because I find it easy and coinvent to use my legs and hips to lift and hold the things into place, and that way my hands are free to do the nuts and bolts.

I could only turn the box wrench like 1/8 of a turn at a time, and kept dropping it. Probably just a skill issue on my end.

[calvino]

Great updates Max!!

[max.rodriguezzz]

Alright here we go, another meaty update from the last few work weeks

The biggest challenge through all of this was that my buddy who has been letting me store and work on the cars at his place (which I am eternally grateful for) told me like, Yo I kinda need my space back. Which is totally understandable and valid. So... the pressure was on, and I kinda slacked getting photos because of this. sowwy >.<

After getting the heater box finished, the interior is ready to go back together. At this point the harness is in, but not fully routed, so I began with:

routing the wiring for the trunk
- tail lights
- trunk/license plate lights
- gas tank lock module
- antenna stuff
- 2 other modules near the antenna (tbh idk/forgot what they are)
- trunk lock module
(and uuh that's all I can remember while writing this)

- rear bumper lights

everything for the rear seat area
- defrosters
- 3rd brake light
- wheel speed sensors
- speedometer
- fuel pump / level sensors (this one is the whole reason why the tank needs to be dropped in order to do the harness)
- and everything else that goes through the grommet into the trunk

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

After this I got the rear end underside finished up, that being:

- fuel tank back in, JasonWilson48 said awhile ago about how much of a PITA it was to put in with the subframe still in, so I was a little nervous. But tbh, it was a piece of cake for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Hot take opinion but I honestly prefer working on the ground/jackstands/my back when it comes to large underside work because I find it easy and coinvent to use my legs and hips to lift and hold the things into place, and that way my hands are free to do the nuts and bolts.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

while I was at it I took the time and effort to clean up the plastic pieces that cover the edged of the tank/fuel filter, as well as replace all fuel hoses and clamps.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

fuel filter off the crashed car was recently replaced so I didn't bother replacing it.
While under there I noticed the filler neck hose was pretty hard and was starting to show some age and dry cracking. So, I ordered a new one. I was already in the reassembly stage, so I decided I'll swap it out whenever I take on refreshing the rear subframe in the near future.
Picture of the new hose-

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Here's the notes I took when removing the tank, so I could use as minimal brain power as possible when hooking the lines back up
Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Only I understand my own madness

After that, I got the driveshaft in. I decided to use the driveshaft, csb, and guibo from the new car, as I didn't want to risk any possibility of using damaged components that coulda been caused from the impact of the crash, then needing to replace them later. The transmission ears had been reinforced, and in the crash both the trans mounts completely sheered in half.

I got the undersheilding and cross members in too

As well as reinstalled the god for saken exhaust. GENUIENLY FUCK INSTALLING THE EXHAUST. I've done it alone so many times (don't ask me how many times I've had to drop the transmission during my ownership) Every time I do so my will to live is slightly diminished. Two, Three, however many floor jacks it will still be hell.

The muffler end from the crashed car had always been rusted out, the muffler from the new car was obviously replaced at some point. SO, what I decided to do was use the downpipe and cat side from the crashed car (because I know that cat is healthy) and pair it with the non rusted out muffler side off the new car. And I will be saving the other exhaust system for future plans of which I will disclose later...

After this I swapped over the trunk lid, because the new cars trunk previously had some unknown wing on it, and the last owner didn't bother to patch or paint up the holes. Meaning, rust. ALSO my original trunk lid has the iS wing on it too sooooooo. Additionally, I swapped over the trunk lock too

I called up a second set of hands to help me swap the doors too, I did this because-

1.) overall better exterior condition
2.) they ACTUALLY have REAL door cards
3.) Door cards are already assembled
4.) Central locking did not work
5.) I get to keep the original locks and key :)

new car had a different key for the ignition and door locks. Also, if you recall from a previous thread post, that different key broke off in the ignition

ignition lock cylinder got swapped too

IMG_8493 by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

ended up replacing the circlips that locked the pins to the hinges, because the original ones were hella ran through and stretched out when attempting to insert again I just bought the variety pack from harbor freight. The new ones are tiiiiigghtttt

also I swapped over the quarter panel pop out windows, because, the ones off the crashed car did not have tint on them. Personally, I hate tinted windows, especially dark tint. Look at this bullshit-
Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Oh yea, funny thing to mention, back when I was on the mission of getting this thing home from NorCal to SoCal, I did most of the 7 hour drive with the windows down. I COULD NOT SEE SHIT out of this dark ass tint, at night, moving through the central valley wine country, downtown Sacramento, and through LA. ALL of my last 3 project cars have had shitty tint. THE LAST thing I want to do anymore is spend hours peeling off shitty tint that separates from the plastic film and leaving the dark adhesive on the window glass, AGAIN.

I picked and chose the best out of all of the window and rubber weather seals, now that I had two.

Now that the underside is buttoned up, and some misc items have been taken care of time to FINALLY continue with the interior.

Spent a surprising amount of time getting the wiring routed, and reviewing my reference photos... sitting on pinch welds HURTS

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

The I got the floor vents cleaned up (hose water, brush, and glass cleaner) and installed them

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

After this, got the good carpet from the crashed car installed. Its crazy how much this alone transformed the interior

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

After this, I played a little game of e30 pedal box... no fun. On my list of favorite things to do, its right next to reinstalling the exhaust

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

a few months ago I took the time and effort to refresh the pedal box. This included: the garagistic brass pedal bushings, Delrin throttle bushings, and aluminum throttle cable bushing. Along with this, I swapped over both the throttle and hood release cable from the crashed car, as those had been recently replaced too.

I took the master cylinder, stainless steel clutch line, and slave cylinder off the crashed car to use on this new one (again because recently replaced). While I was at it, I took the brake fluid reservoir, and line to the master too. BECAUSE whoever manual swapped the car cut the nipple on the fluid reservoir too short, so the line JUST EFFORTLESSLY FALLS OFF. Its So short not even a hose clamp could bite onto anything. Ridiculous IMO. Definetly not safe. Oh also, probably that same genius put the slave cylinder in upside down, most likely so the bleeder is easier to reach, but uuuuh the air...? Yea, good riddance.

While removing the fluid reservoir, some residual brake fluid landed on my PERFECT fuse box cover, and my water didn't neutralize it enough, Another fuse box cover victim to brake fluid </3 I have like three of them now

So, the brakes and clutch got a full flush and bleed, and so did my left eye... yes.

To continue moving forth with the interior- heater box in, dashboard in, wiring plugged in, and brackets for under dash modules in. I found a video on youtube of some dude over seas (Philippines I think) showing how and where all the brackets for the under dash modules go in. Talk about coinvent

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

I used the dashboard from the crashed car, because unlike the one off the new car, it does not look like a dried up pond in the desert. That being said, the VIN needed to be swapped over. I was excited to be able to have another opportunity to use my new awesome rivet gun, but harbor freight does not have plastic rivets small enough. So... uuuh... I used screws... It's funny because months/years ago I'd often make jokes about having the vin held in with Philips heads, and now I'm actually living it

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr
LOL

Next, evaporator and heater core fins straightened, foam refreshed, and reinstalled

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

ok next, turn signals, gauge cluster and ecu in -

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Now at this point, theoretically, the car is put back together enough to start, I give it a few long cranks and it runs!!

I went ahead and bled the cooling system, since it needed to be opened up for the harness and heater box removal. It took a along time for it to fully bleed, probably due to the heater core coming out, but it got done. this task proved that the car can solidly idle though!

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

And I got the front valence, bumper and iS lip back on, and all the wiring plugged in

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Ok so now at this point the car is THEORETICALLY driveable. So I went ahead and installed the seats, and packed up all of my loot and spare parts that have been infuriating my buddy's space.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Way back in the day I thought I got a killer deal on a pair of $400 sport seats, but they are CHOPPED. The vinyl was rock solid and began cracking as soon after installing them. Also I figured it had the typical seat lean due to a blown seat shock, but no, the actual seat frame itself is rusted out and cracked. Resulting in the seat just infinitely fully reclined, like neck behind the B pillar, no matter how 90° the actual adjuster is. So, for the last 2 years or so I've had 2, 2x4 blocks of wood underneath the crack in the frame, and wedge between the adjuster gear, It worked enough for it to not recline, but the thing still wobbled like a mf, and had no adjustment abilities. I think this is probably why I got such bad whiplash in the accident, eek.

So I put one of the storage bins behind the seat to keep it at like 90° (I am kinda short and like sitting close to the pedals... don't judge)

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

some pics of how boof the seats are. Old phots, but duct tape can no longer save these -

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

that was 70lbs in coins btw

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

okok back to the car now,

so at this point it is drive able, all that is necessary for it to drive is hooked up, and the car runs and idles. I was having a weird issue with the turn signals and hazards. They were unresponsive and when activated, the flasher relay is just buzzing, then eventually the fuse blew. Electrical issue to sort out once the main goal is finished - get my buddy his space back. So, the car was now to be relocated to another friends house. I'm so grateful to have such rich friendships with such great people :) I had my friends escort me there - one in front, one in the rear, me in the middle, because no flashers.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

since the sunroof had be disassembled awhile ago to analyze the rust, I did not have the time to put it back together, so the drive was completed with no sunroof

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

The car drives fine, and made it where it was supposed to -

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Ok, the job is not over yet, the crashed car is still in my buddies space and needs to be prepped for (hopefully) sale.

This being, fully stripped of everything I want off of it, and engine/trans pulled.

and well,

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Everything in this side yard has been cleaned up, organized, and most importantly swept. Doing my duties, and leaving the space cleaner than I found it. (Didn't get photos, but know it happened)

As for the original engine, I have plans...

You all will find out what they are sooner or later.

Now its time to focus on sorting out the electrical issues post harness swap, and get the care safe to drive.

what wasn't working:
- turn signals
- hazards
- flasher relay just buzzing
- brake lights always on
- windows not working
- electric mirrors not working
- central locking not working

I began with the flasher relay, figured it probably fail. It was cheap enough, so I ordered up a new one

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Got it plugged in and unfortunately, it was not that simple. Time for real electrical diag.

when the issue is eelctrical by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

I forgot my back probe kit at home, so I had to come up with this solution-

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

I began by testing the flasher circuit in sections, unplug, and test between that section for a short straight to ground.

I was not coming up with any real hard evidence of a short to ground between the sections of the turn signal stalk, turn signal stalk wiring, flasher relay, hazard switch wiring, and fuse box. It was at this point where my mid level electrical diag skills were beginning to dwindle, and ,my brain needed to operate more primitively -

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

this was done in an attempt to rule out the possibility of a short from the direct turn signals themselves, to the bulkhead connector near the steering column area. And well, after a good like 2 hours, I found the issue... the flasher relay itself was plugged in wrong -_-

keep it simple stupid... shoulda started there

ok well now the flashers work so yay.

onto the next item of business, the windows. For this diag, I decided to go straight in for the kill and send 12V directly to the regulator

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

and well the window worked, so its not the regulator. So I began with checking for voltage at the connector itself

e30 door pin out by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

it was there.. so what was wrong? my findings was that the c404 / c405 connector itself was not fully getting plugged in. The cutout in the doorsill for it was pried open by one of the last owner (fucking how?)and had some rust. So what I did awhile ago was bent it back as best as I could, rust reformer, and seam sealant (because metal was splitting). What ended up happening was that the thin layer of sealant was just not quite allowing the connector to fully clip together, After trimming down some of the sealant and getting the connector to clip together, that then fixed the issues with the windows, mirrors, and central locking.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

While the door card was off, I used some of the 3m spray adhesive to get the corner of door card vinyl in place again, from where some stables had fallen out

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Issues with the license plate and trunk lights was due to the female end spade connectors making contact with the trunk lid panel and shorting to ground, because the load was not plugged in, lol

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

As for the brake lights always being on, the switch just wasn't adjusted properly, easy win there.

My collection of blown fuses from the day-

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Well now all of the electrical issues have been solved! and the interior was more put together. that being:

- rear seats
- center console

Now, time to

1.) FINALLY wash the car

and

2.) take it for a real, longer shakedown drive

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

For the actual shakedown drive, It was a long one like 1 hour plus. Everything was going fine and working how it should. I was having some fun with the car and doing some fun pulls. I love my ecu chip. But remember the sun roof? Yeah, well, I had a 2x4 placed securely in the rear of the tray. This was done so in an attempt to hold the sunroof in what would be the "tilt" position. In hopes that aerodynamically, the sunroof does not lift. And also remember how I said the drive was long? Well I kinda got too focused on driving and enjoying the car, I forgot to stay mindful of the sunroof panel. While driving I hit a BIG ASS bump in the road, I hear the tires rub, then wind noise... I then look up, and just see the night sky... So what I can logically conclude happened was that hitting the bump disrupted the sunroof panels resting position, causing it to lift a little, air getting underneath it, then the panel itself becoming airborne, and FLYING off the car. I had to turn around and retrieve it from the middle of the road. When it landed and hit the ground, the corner of the panel got pretty badly bent. It's a bummer because my biggest lust for life is the sunroof, but I can't be too upset, because at least it happened in a really funny way. Unfortunately, the sunroof panel the car came with was entirely rusted out, so this panel that took the damage was the good one off the crashed car. Now, I gotta add "get a new sunroof panel" to the list

https://youtu.be/UNFjKrkksTI

As for what's next for the car:

- finish/FULLY put together interior
- Reinstall sound system
- address sunroof

Then, I think I want to focus on the cosmetics, try and make the car look pretty and less ugly

- paint correction
- body work
- repaint plastic trims
- replace broken impact strips
- fix broken headlights (get depos)
- replace burnt out bulbs

potentially:

- reupholster seats (time consuming, and expensive, so we'll see)

Until the next update, most of my time will be spent here-
Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

enjoy this silly photo
Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

[max.rodriguezzz]

Great updates Max!! I also refreshed my HVAC box, thought i was not brave enough to separate the halves. The recirc flap doors that you glued will crack again. The motors that drive them basically move them until they hit a hard stop and they sense the current spike. What this means in practice is every time the flaps close the plastic is really heavily stressed in that area. I superglued my flaps originally and they recracked. The Z3 HVAC system is very similar to the E30 and many of the parts cross over. You can harvest most parts from a Z3, which is handy because the parts are about 15 years newer. The recirc flaps on a z3 don't use the same ball stud that the e30 uses, so that part isn't cracked. you can easily drill it out and use a 6mm ball stud or ball nut from an RC car, which is what I did. I have also CAD modeled the recirc flaps but never actually tried to 3D print them, if you'd like to be the guinea pig let me know.

z3 recirc flaps - it has extra tabs that the Z3 uses to actuate the flaps. Cut them off with side cutters.



Drill out the hole and use a 6mm ball stud/ball nut for an RC car.

Oh wow that's fascinating. Good to know. Since I have to get in there again to do the blower motor, I'll probably get at it with the Z3 doors. I'd love to reach back out to you when that time comes, being the guinea pig for some 3d printed solutions sounds fun! Thankfully that area is accessible from the engine bay side, rather than removing the entire dash and heater box again!

[calvino]

Great updates Max!! I also refreshed my HVAC box, thought i was not brave enough to separate the halves. The recirc flap doors that you glued will crack again. The motors that drive them basically move them until they hit a hard stop and they sense the current spike. What this means in practice is every time the flaps close the plastic is really heavily stressed in that area. I superglued my flaps originally and they recracked. The Z3 HVAC system is very similar to the E30 and many of the parts cross over. You can harvest most parts from a Z3, which is handy because the parts are about 15 years newer. The recirc flaps on a z3 don't use the same ball stud that the e30 uses, so that part isn't cracked. you can easily drill it out and use a 6mm ball stud or ball nut from an RC car, which is what I did. I have also CAD modeled the recirc flaps but never actually tried to 3D print them, if you'd like to be the guinea pig let me know.

z3 recirc flaps - it has extra tabs that the Z3 uses to actuate the flaps. Cut them off with side cutters.



Drill out the hole and use a 6mm ball stud/ball nut for an RC car.

[2mAn]

...and with those feet you could even start a OnlyFans

[JasonWilson48]

Remind me to never rebuild my HVAC system LOL

Facts. I would rather eat that 30 year old crumbling foam then do this. This is some serious work. Also, I think this one post has more pictures than like my entire chassis swap thread. Serious time went into documenting this and drafting this post.

Good job, Max. Feel like you should follow 2mAn and film yourself doing more of this stuff. Even if it isn't youtube, maybe you go Tik-tok instead. Like that one guy with the 2 supras who is building an Acura Integra (or similar) and making informative videos on Tik-Tok. Than suing whatever money he makes, and putting it back into the build. You could do it for the E30 if you have the desire or time.

[2mAn]

Remind me to never rebuild my HVAC system LOL

[Panici]

Damn, that HVAC rebuild doesn't look like an easy job. But I guess while you're in there, might as well do it right.

do you have a build thread for your Miata? aside from being an e30 nerd, I love those cars. In the future, the next build I want to pour my soul into is a Miata

https://www.miataturbo.net/build-threads-57/%5Bna%5D-rescuing-1990-miata-sparks-joy-105237/

Sadly it's been sitting outside for 2-3(?) years after the motor went. Have a spare 1.6L engine but it's pretty far down the list of things I need to get done. Eventually.

[max.rodriguezzz]

Now that the interior is in the reassembly stage, and its out of the car already, I decided I'm going to do a full refresh of the HVAC unit / heater box. So here's this -

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

I honestly didn't quite know what to expect with this one, in terms of teardown and reassembly. Back in the day I rebuild my entire sunroof system, no instructions, just worked slowly, analyzed how everything was put together, and just stayed mindful. It was a great play and worked well, so I just approached this one with that same kind of game plan and mindset. I know there are several videos of it online, of which I watched before taking on this process, but regardless I knew it was a project that I needed/wanted to do.

I began by taking apart the major components - I removed the evaporator, heater core, blend door slider mechanisms, slider cables, blower motor cover, and blower motor itself.
Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

after this it was time to begin splitting the case. Everything mounted to this case comes off before it can be fully split. That being, the blend door actuators, slider cables themselves, and some other brackets maybe?? honestly I kinda forget, its been a few weeks since and I'm too lazy to utilize my full brain power recall just exactly what. After that the case comes apart in 3 major pieces. The case goes together side by side (left/right) then one major piece on the bottom.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

^ Bottom cover piece

the slider for this section controls airflow to the foot vents I believe, its just one major blend door

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

^ the left/right case pieces

The left/right case pieces slide together, and are held together with a total of 3 riveted plates, and 2 screws.

These rivets need to be drilled out. I did this at my friends place, I nor he had any cutting lube, so I used cv axle grease, and it worked surprisingly well

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr
Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

After this the 2 screws need to be removed. On late model heater boxes these fasteners are Philips head, on early models I believe these fasteners are actually torx head screws. These screws are buried deep in the case, a very long screw driver is required in order to remove them. I got a 12" screwdriver for this.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

here's a photo of it next to my foot for size comparison, I wear a size 8

after this, the case can now be split apart.
At this point the wiring harness can be removed, as it is routed in between a tunnel like thing in the blower motor area where the two sides piece together.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

In between doing all of this, the actual blend doors got removed. To remove them I just carefully pried the openings and finagled them out.

Now it was time to clean the case, and scrape all the foam off of the doors. To clean everything I used soapy water, glass cleaner, razor blades, scrapers, flat heads, and some brushes

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

The glass cleaner was very helpful for scraping away the flakey foam. Also I used the glass cleaner because I am a fan of the smell, hoping it would get rid of the 40 year old heater box mustiness.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Here is a photo of everything cleaned

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Now its time to work on the refreshing. I pealed away the old tape, and rewrapped the wiring harness
with friction tape

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

I then lubricated all the slider cables

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Next I refreshed all of the foam for the blend doors. This step is kinda the whole point of tearing down the heater box. Fresh foam allows the blend doors to properly seal and resist any air from slipping past when closed. I used some neoprene adhesive backed foam from amazon (everyone uses this to refresh these it seems)

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

At first I cut the foam the specific shape to fit

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

this was a pain in the ass so I decided to try an do it this way -

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

I did a few this way, however I thought it looked really dumb and low effort. I got ocd'd out and peeled all away then redid it the first way -

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

I was cutting foam for like 2 hours and it fucking sucked. I was working on the floor and my lower back was screamingggg

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

These 2 doors specifically were a pain to get out and put up hell of a fight. I wasn't comfortable with how difficult they were being, So I left them in the case. I ended up cleaning scraping, and refoaming them with them still in the case, and it sucked.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

now that all the new foam was complete, it's time to reassemble the case / whole unit

At this point in the project it was late and I needed to go home. I wasn't able to leave everything at my friends house, which is where I began working at, so I needed to take everything and finish it in my room. This was the set up, the genuine working AND LIVING conditions for the next few days, lol -

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

ok anyways, back to the reassembly. To connect the cases I used some silicone sealant, granted the "grommet" (its like a strip of rubber basically, noting special) seemed to be not damaged, but I figured it'd probably be worn from the years, so I left it in place and used the silicone sealant. It's only supposed to keep out air, and liquid if somehow ever it makes its way in to there

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

When reassembling the side by side cases, theres a metal rod that is press fit into where the blend door meets the case. I cleaned it up with some steel wool to look pretty, and put a dab of assembly lube to make life easier when sliding them together.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

same type of deal with the silicone sealant for the bottom of the case

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

To me, the reassembly was a bit of a puzzle. It was a lot of reassembly, inspect, make sure everything moves and functions, find a component I forgot / didn't realize its supposed to go on prior to last step, take apart, reassemble, repeat. One of those things was the slider arm for the food vent blend door. It has a little cut out in it, The cut out on the arm is supposed to sit PAST the case, not in the case. That little detail took me a bit to figure out, cuz at that point the case is so incomplete (in terms of reassembly) it was hard for me to catch that detail until things were put back together and the slider cable would only move like a fraction of a turn. Heres a pic -

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Another thing I messed up on skipping over was routing the wiring for the blower motor/resistor. As previously mentioned, there is like a little alley way for the wiring to go through, as well and many plastic pillars, which hold the connector in place in order to properly allows the resistor to effortlessly slide into place when servicing is needed.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

I spent so much fucking time and struggle attempting to pull the cases apart just enough to persuade the wiring and connector in place. All that struggling to avoid splitting the case and compromising the silicone again. I finally got it ! only to later find this piece-

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

but where did it go? I had no fucking idea, so I did some diligent research, aaaannnnnddddddddd

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

soooooo I split the case yet again

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Sliding the side by side parts of the case back together was a bit of a challenge, since there is a handful of things that needs to stay in place and make it into its designated spot on the other side of the case. Took a few attempts.

Now time to reconnect it, used the long ahh screwdriver, and now was ready to re rivet it. As you can see here the riveted plate takes up for that bit of slack that is left over after the screws are fastened.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

but uuuh I realized I don't actually have a rivet gun, so yakwtfgo

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

doesnt cost much to change your life

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Admittingly, I've never used a rivet gun, It was pretty straight forward tho.

I got the top plate in

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

then while doing the bottom plate, I got just a little bit too excited and forgot the actual plate it self

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

so I drilled it out and corrected my wrong doings lol

Ok, now to continue with refreshing everything, I got stuck paying money for some bullshit and was yet again victim to the bmw tax

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr


Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

freshened up the foam for the vents too, as well as cleaned ALL of the vents that go behind the dashboard and carpet

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

I harvested the slider mechanism off of the new cars heater box, because the fiber optic light for one of the sliders on the original unit had cracked off at one point in time, leaving the wire shorter than it was supposed to be, and as a result it would slip out of the holder for it, and leave one of the slider knobs not illuminated.

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

There were a couple non crucial spots of plastic that ended up unfortunately cracking during the rebuild, so I took care of them with the good ole JB

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

I also used my variable power supply to send 12v to the blend door actuators to confirm they are still working, and yes they are. no photos :(

Lastly, I gave the whole thing a quick little "polish" with this stuff

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

and that's basically it

Untitled by Max Max Rodriguez, on Flickr

also I refreshed the foam for & reinstalled the evaporator and the heater core yadda yadda. I didn't replace the units because 1.) they worked fine before 2.) I saved hundreds of dollars not doing so and 3.) they are easy enough to access to replace while the unit is in the car if necessary.

and... while bleeding the cooling system (spoiler alert) the blower motor itself was making a horrible noise. It did not make this noise before the crash, but after the crash and before the chassis teardown began, the blower motor was making that noise. At the time I had assumed it was a byproduct caused by the way the firewall crumpled. But after tearing down and reassembling the unit I saw absolutely no visual signs of physical damage. So my conclusion is that the impact of the collision caused the blower motor internals/bearings to take some damage. I decided I'll get a new blower motor when I have the $230 to spare. For now might harvest it out of the new cars heater box, or more realistically, once I realize that being in a car in the summer heat with no airflow is the same way that dogs die, I might fork it over. But now that I type this, I think the actual realistic outcome is I just get a new one whenever the ac system gets converted and working again.

Till next time

[max.rodriguezzz]

Wow big update!

Are those rust repairs as good as new metal welded in, No.
Will they be functionally fine for the next 10+ years, Yes most likely.

I would recommend learning how to MIG weld, if only to have the skill when you need it.
Super useful for removing stuck/snapped off hardware, fabricating brackets, making exhaust systems, etc.


In my E30 I used HushMat, as it works for blocking heat and sound. Without AC I need all the help I can get!
It actually does make a noticeable difference.

In my miata I used it only on the really hot spots and it changed "uncomfortably hot" pedal box into "mostly normal warm". Rest of the car I used the regular kilmat sound deadening like you did. Which by the way works decently well for the price and effort!

do you have a build thread for your Miata? aside from being an e30 nerd, I love those cars. In the future, the next build I want to pour my soul into is a Miata

[2mAn]

Nice update! Keep going!!