`88 Sedan track car build - here's Siobhan! Made the front page of Jalopnik!

[kingston]

Looks like I goofed a little ordering a few parts. I got down to Bob's tonight to start working on the motah, and discovered that I had received 4cylinder bearings (main & crank), not 6 cylinder sets. There's sort of a weird deal on the part # for the bearing set - you have to actually type '6 cyl' after the part #, or it defaults to a 4 CYL set.

I want to mention that Levent at Guten Parts busted his butt to get the problem rectified right away, and it was really my fault for not understanding that the 6 CYL was technically part of the part #. Service like that is why Guten Parts gets ALL of my business!

The correct set is being sent out 2-day air, so work resumes on Thursday evening!

Ordered a couple other little parts for Siobhan, including a set of 75mm bullet-nose studs & wheel lugs to replace the set that got messed up last year. Be nice to have a rear set that matches the front set!

Hopefully the MASSIVE 300mm Sport Brake set will be here within a few days as well...

[kingston]

The correct parts came in last night, and Bob and I got a bit of work done...

New Main Bearings are in

Note the liberal use of assembly lube

...All ready to drop in the crank...


Crank in!


Rod Bearings are in...


We started getting the pistons installed, but just ran out of time for the night. I'll be back at Bob's tomorrow afternoon to get the last of the pistons installed, and hopefully get the head installed, and if everything goes smoothly, get the cams & VANOS stuff installed & timed.

Wish us luck!!

[kingston]

Had a few bucks in my PayPal account...and found a TRM chip for an S52. Mine now!

[kingston]

Time for a bit of an update!

Got a couple of packages today... here's the first one!

I always love getting packages from Guten Parts!

But what is inside the box?

A new strut tower brace, powder coated gloss red by Renewed Finishes. And Levent sent a bonus in the form of a shirt from the last GFest! Thanks Levent!

The brace installed

Time to clean up my engine, I think!

Then I went down to my buddy Bob's place. I've never built the bottom end of an engine before, and Bob has been massively helpful...couldn't have done it without him!

Pistons are in


Front timing cover is on


Head is on


Cams are in


Here's my friend Bob in action.

Thanks for everything, Bob!!

More soon!

[kingston]

Siobhan's been without a lip for awhile now (I tore the 'I' lip off on my friend Samir's driveway), but the new one showed up today...

Unpainted iS lip from Blunt Tech

Now I have to decide if I want to paint it black, or paint the lip and the mirrors deep red. Hmmm...

More later!!

[kingston]

Painted the lip red tonight. I want to see how the mirrors look painted the same color as the lip. They're pretty faded anyway, so if I don't like the red, I'll just paint `em black.



Whaddaythink, R3V??

[kingston]

Had a little bit of spare time today, so I decided to tackle another project...

MASSIVE Brakes 300mm Sport BBK going on

I didn't realize that you have to cut off the part of the strut housing where the top of the brake rotor backing plate mounts. Once I found that out, installation went quickly. Since I'm running 15" wheels (15x7 TRM C1s), I had to grind of part of the tips of the Wilwood calipers...which felt weird to do!

Fills out the wheel nicely, don't you think?

Can't wait to use `em in anger on the track!

More very soon!!

[e30m3s54turbo]

I like the big brake kit you have.

[Mr. Schwarz]

Schwarz...

[richard.bratton]

Whatever happened to your Spec E30 build? We had a deal; don't sell me out...

[kingston]

I like the big brake kit you have.

Thanks! I can't wait to use them on track!

Holy crap, Rich Bratton...been awhile, man. Are you back in the States?

[kingston]

Not too much to report tonight. Bob & I didn't have a whole lot of time to work on the S52 tonight, but we did get a bit done. Bob rebuilt the VANOS unit using a Biesan Stage 2 kit. I got the motor mount arms on, installed the water inlet pipe, then we installed the VANOS unit & double-checked to make sure the timing was set correctly (it was).

Monday night, everything else should be done on the motor, with the exception of installing the parts that have to come off of the M50 when it gets pulled.

Can't wait!

[kingston]

Had a great Father's Day! Although most of my family is out of town right now, my oldest son, Jake, helped me start getting Siobhan ready to have the M50 removed to make room for her new S52.

Siobhan going up

And I thought the front lip was close to the ground before!

We got a fair bit done. Car is on jack stands, coolant is drained, radiator is out of the car, Intake Manifold is off, valve cover is off (using the OBD1 Valve Cover on the S52), alternator is off (bought the S52 without one, and this alternator is only about 6 months old, so it's going on the S52 as well), fuel rail is off, coils are off, all removed hoses connectors are well-labeled, and lots of notes pics were taken.

I will be cleaning all of the parts I removed from the M50 that are going on to the S52 THOROUGHLY. I cannot stand putting dirty parts back on a car!

Can't wait to do more! Tomorrow night I will be helping my friend Samir with his S52, then Tuesday we'll finish buttoning up the S52's accessories. Wednesday night is back to work on the Showy's M50 delete project!

More soon!

There's my girl!

[IronFreak]

looking good man!

[richard.bratton]

Holy crap, Rich Bratton...been awhile, man. Are you back in the States?

Still in Afghanistan for a few more weeks, but planning to race Road Atlanta on 3-4 August.

Your Spec E30 build?