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

[kingston]

Be safe the last few weeks!!

SE30 is on hold for me for now. Too damn many projects! Need to finish one, and I may just buy a completed SE30 car this fall...

[kingston]

Well, I trucked on down to my friend Bob's place tonight & we knocked out a bit more work on the S52. I discovered that I need 2 new coil boots, a stud from the timing case cover for the water pump & a gasket for the thermostat housing (we somehow lost the one we had!)

The parts are on order (more shtoopid Special Order only parts :( that will take 5 days to ship).

Here's where the motor sits now:

Oil filter housing is on, alternator is on, power steering pump is on, valve cover is on, spark plugs are in, coils are on.

The oil pan is just on with a couple of bolts to protect the crank. Obviously it's not the right one. Once I finish pulling the M50 from Siobhan, I'll be able to swap the last of the parts onto the S52

More soon!! Well, in a week or so, when the next small batch of parts comes in...

[Nick_S]

Read this start to finish. That car has really come a long way! Good luck with the rest of the build!

[kingston]

Read this start to finish. That car has really come a long way! Good luck with the rest of the build!

Wow, thanks Nick!

Just a couple of quick things tonight...

My son Jake and I headed up t the WarHouse to work on getting Siobhan's M50 ready to be removed. We started by dropping the exhaust & the drive shaft, then went to work in the engine bay.

Working a bit more on the wiring harness

ALL connections are labeled thoroughly...

I still need to remove the wiring from the starter and the power distribution terminal. Then the harness will be ready for removal...

Coming along nicely!

We also drained to coolant from the block, of course, before removing all of the hoses.

Hey! You can actually see the engine on the intake side now!

More soon!

[kingston]

I had a few hours to work on the S52 this morning while my wife was asleep. Got a few things done.
* installed the missing stud for the water pump (that sticks out of the front timing case cover)
* installed the water pump
* installed the metal thermostat housing from the M50 with the new gasket
* installed the 2 new Bosch coil boots to replace the damaged ones
* installed the water pump pulley
* installed the serpentine belt
* mounted all the exhaust manifold studs (they were only in finger-tight before)
* tightened down the crank position sensor on the intake side of the engine. (I'm going OBD1 for this engine, so the sensor in this case is basically just a plug for the side of the engine)
* tightened down the bolts for the front vibration damper pulley - again these bolts were only finger tight before
* installed the balance of the new Valve Cover Bolt rubber gromets, washers and bolts
* smiled a lot!

Here's how she sits now:

Monday night I am hoping to get the M50 pulled from the car. Then I can take the oil pan, pickup , dipstick & dipstick tube off of the M50 and put them on the S52. Then she'll be ready to drop in!!

More soon!

[kingston]

A little update...

As planned, my son Jacob & I went to the warehouse Friday night & got work done...

Here's Jake, pulling motors...like a Boss!

Here's the M50 on the hoist, with the oil pan pulled for the S52:

She was a good old lump, no regrets. She was the motor for my DD for 18 months, took my wife & me on a road trip across the country, and allowed me to go quickly at my first HPDE :)

Here's the S52 with the correct oil pan installed

Getting closer!

One more: With the beauty cover installed (just running the M50 one for now on my OBD1 valve cover. If anyone has an OBD1 'M Power' cover available, please let me know!

More tomorrow!

[kingston]

Sunday update:

Well, I didn't get as much done as I wanted to today, as I apparently ordered the wrong flywheel bolts. Still, there was plenty of other stuff to be done, so...

Popped the AKG DSSR on the ZF transmission today

SO shiny!

Then I started putting a few more little parts on the S52...

Rogue Engineering water hoses, the Spider hose, Cam position sensor, Crank position sensor, ground wire on the passenger-side motor mount arm, etc.

Jake and I also spent a fair bit of time cleaning up a bunch of little parts. I'd forgotten just how time consuming that part of the job is.

Parting shot of Siobhan, sans motor again...

More soon!

[kingston]

Well, I'm waiting on 2 little parts, a new transmission pivot pin (because I ordered the wrong one) and the thin metal plate that goes between the transmission and the motor (because I forgot I needed it!).

I went ahead and mounted up the flywheel & the clutch, and test-fit the transmission just to make sure there weren't any clearance issues (and there weren't).

Can't wait to bolt the transmission on for good

I also swapped the diffs today, removing the old 3.73LSD or the new 3.25LSD. That was one big thing to check off on the ol' To Do list!

Thanks very much to my friend Anders Nelson for coming over to help. Couldn't have done it without you. Cheers man!

More soon...

[kingston]

Well, tomorrow should be the big day! My buddy Anders is coming over to help me drop the S52/ZF into Siobhan. If all goes well, she'll be running by tomorrow night. Please God let her be running by tomorrow night!

[kingston]

Well, we got a lot done, but didn't quite finish up. Turns out a need a coupe of little parts (a VANOS harness extension, a different clutch line and a new bushing/mount for the rear of the shifter arm). My buddy MANders and I wrenched for 14 hours, and we're only a few hours away from being done once the new parts roll in.

Got the new transmission pivot pin in and installed the thin plate between the motor & transmission.

Ready to drop in!

Here's my buddy MANders who helped me drop her into Siobhan

Thanks man, couldn't have done it without you!

One of the things we did yesterday was mount up the new MASSIVE brackets for the SPAL fan to the radiator, and MANders crimped new connectors onto the wires.

Looks SO much better than how I had it mounted before...um, and the fan should actually turn on now!

So she's not quite ready to fire up yet, but here's where she sits as of now

What a relief!

Here's a little recap of what we did yesterday:
* installed the new trans pivot pin, the throwout bearing and the metal plate between the motor and the trans, then installed the trans.
* installed the starter
* filled the diff
* attached the driver-side half shaft
* filled the transmission
* installed the new CSB on the driveshaft and the guibo on the trans
* installed the driveshaft
* installed the exhaust system, including the headers
* Dropped the motor & trans onto the mounts (trans & engine mounts)
* started attaching all the connectors for the motor!

More soon!!

[kingston]

Soooo close! I've ordered the coolant temp sender adapter from Turner Motorsports, and an OBD2 temp sensor from Guten Parts. I should be able to fire the car up later this week!

How she sits right now (the intake manifold is not bolted up)

More updates soon!

[kevvve]

inspiring makes me want to blaze through my m50 swap. but like you said cleaning parts is very time consuming.

[kingston]

inspiring makes me want to blaze through my m50 swap. but like you said cleaning parts is very time consuming.

Thanks, man :)

I'm planning on tearing Siobhan down in January for some upgrades, and at the same time I will be doing a serious round of cleaning, rust repair, powder-coating, more cleaning, etc. For that, I want to have a soda blaster, a parts washer, and a compressor. Should make life a LOT easier!!

Good luck on the M50 swap :)

[kevvve]

Yea those luxurious would life a lot easier. For now to some parts cleaner and elbow grease.

Good luck on the rest of your swap.

[kingston]

Just a little update today...

SHE LIVES!!!!!

The S52 fires up, idles well and revs fast! I have to bleed the clutch and brakes, and tend to a couple of minor issues, but she'll be on the road VERY soon!

Pics tomorrow...