The complete repair, rebuild, repaint, and v8 swap of my early model sedan

[Yorl]

Well, if it helps you, I've used Specs on lots of our customer cars, and even our race cars. 0 problems so far

[bradnic]

It'll be even better with the new clutch. Gotta be an absolute blast working on that car now. That radiator support just rocks. Not to mention the car's gorgeous, no rust anymore...

rockin.

[JGood]

Got the new clutch and flywheel friction disc installed. Spec Stage 1 vs Clutchmasters FX100. The Spec clutch disc has a much thicker center portion between the two layers of friction material, and the pressure plate fingers look beefier. Not sure if that matters. Got the trans bolted back up, so the engine is ready to drop back in. I'm going to try to do that tonight. Should hopefully be running and driving be next weekend. I have to do a little home plumbing first, which will likely take about 5 times longer then I'm anticipating.

[JGood]

Got the new clutch in, took the car around the block last night. It's pretty grabby compared to the old one, but that could be because of how worn that one was.

Now to put 500 miles on it without getting on the gas hard or slipping the clutch at all. Ugh....

[JCarp90]

Good luck lol.

[bradnic]

hehehe... too bad you don't have valet mode huh.

curious Justin - have you tracked or auto-crossed the car at all? how's the handling? I picked up an M62TU at a good price and an E39 M5 6speed, but I'm hesitating due to the weight and position..

[bradnic]

so what's the plan with the 6 speed btw? what made you change your mind over the 5?

[JGood]

hehehe... too bad you don't have valet mode huh.

curious Justin - have you tracked or auto-crossed the car at all? how's the handling? I picked up an M62TU at a good price and an E39 M5 6speed, but I'm hesitating due to the weight and position..

Weight is 2680, a few lbs less then it was with the m50. And the weight is further back behind the front axle due to the engine being shorter. It would be great on the track or for autox.

so what's the plan with the 6 speed btw? what made you change your mind over the 5?

Shelved the 6 speed for now. See the last few posts... I opted to try the SPEC m52 clutch kit with the 5 speed. What made me consider the 6 speed was the lack of good options for a streetable m52 clutches that can hold the m60's power and still last long. If this clutch doesn't work out, then I'll revisit the 6 speed swap idea. Or possibly a custom clutch, as SPEC told me they can increase the pressure plate clamping force, if I'd like. Or, I may just go with the TTV Racing m60 flywheel designed for the e36 M3 clutch, which is used for stock 321+bhp engines. The major turnoff for the 6 speed for me is that it's non-repairable, heavy, and requires a custom driveshaft (I don't like custom parts, I like being able to replace everything on the car with off the shelf OEM stuff if it ever breaks/wears out). I do wish I had an extra gear though!

[bradnic]

Sweet... I was having second thoughts on the M6X but you've just nailed it. Gotta stroke out an M20 and so ITBs first. Owned an M42 turbo too so.. Then I'll have the chops to do an M6X.

I hear ya re custom parts but driveshaft mods aren't that bad. I put it right up there with custom clutches ;-) rebuilding the 5 speed is definitely a strong plus there though

Anything else you've got planned? You converted me on the Shadowline trim.. Was definitely one of the guys liking the chrome bits. And your trial by fire with welding convinced me to pick up a MIG welder and take on the body resto of my IX coupe. Keep it up man

[Vtec?lol]

Looks good.

[JGood]

Got about 200 miles on the car so far with the new clutch. I'm taking it easy for the most part, no excessive slipping or quick shifting, or stabbing the throttle.

So far so good, no shuddering or slipping. Hopefully it stays that way.


I can't figure out a clunking I have in the right front over bumps for the past few months. I have brand new control arms, CAB's, the camber plate bearing is tight, the strut gland nut is tight, the swaybar links were good (replaced them anyway, no change), swaybar mounts and bushings are new. I just tore the entire front end of the car apart to pull then engine, and put it back together, so I know nothing is loose. I can't duplicate it with the car on jack stands. Pretty frustrating...

[JGood]

Installed a set of e21 trans mounts with the AKG metal cups. What a huge difference. NVH remained the same, the only thing that changed was the shifter. It used to feel sloppy, even though all of it was brand new. Now it's very precise. I had no idea the trans was moving around so much on the stock rubber mounts.

Also got the oil pressure gauge bugs worked out. Justin Rackley (justrack) offers these gauge kits, they are amazing quality, and he is an absolute pleasure to do business with. The m60 has some rather unique oil pressure qualities, and Justin went way above and beyond what he had to, in order to get the gauge working properly for me.

Here's a link to his thread:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=291812

And here is the gauge in action in my car:

[DIIRTY-30]

That oil pressure gauge is pretty badass

[JGood]

Found an old photo album with a bunch of pics from when I first bought the car, over 12 years ago (September 12th 2001, the day after 9/11). The first pic I have of the odometer shows 118k. I think it had 112k when I actually bought it. It currently has 310k. Coming up on 200k miles that I've put on it myself! But I've been through a few periods of broken odometer gears, so I'm sure I'm over 200k by now. It had 295k when I tore it down for the resto/swap, which means I now have 15k on it since I 'finished' the rebuild in June of 2012.

[Mr. Tasty]

such an awesome build. It really makes me want to v8 swap my e30