'91 318is, 16V swap.

[FunfGan]

To the fellow asking about clearance...

[FunfGan]

Updatessssss :)

First off, before and after pics of the arm rests that got modified. I'll probably end up cutting more, depending on how the cage is done.

Before:



After:




Put the sun visors back in(peep the metal I still need to trim :shifty )




Than cut out the light switch blank, as I'll be running a simplified controller.





Then decided to freshen up the light brackets, since they were worn and rusty.

Before:




After:




Thermostat time. The new thermostat and gasket(Interesting, huh? :rofl )




But before that, I needed to get the deposits out of the water neck, and decided to clean it up and paint it with some high heat satin black spray paint I had lying around.

Before:




After cleaning, then painting.






Time to put the intake mani back on, but first I needed some new bolts, and lunch. Off to Ace and the Pop Shop!





Engine bay coming together :D





Now time to check out the water pump, to see if I needed a new one, or just new gaskets.

Off the car...




Apart from the misc tubes,




Rust -_- Not a good sign, but lets open up the guys of it.




Opened...






After some wire wheel and Dremel action,

[FunfGan]

Next up was mounting the es lip/ valance to the late model front bumper.

Simply held it in position with locking pliers, then drilled through and use lots of tough zip ties.




Then to fix the problem I realized yesterday that I would have, not being about to get the bumper bolts in. simply buster out the shears and Dremel then went to town.





Pretty please with how well lined up on the sides I got it.





And test fit(ignore the weird and ugly angle the whole bumper is at, the side adjusters aren't on, obviously.





Got the lights and trunk back on,




Last little project of the day, my allergies were absolutely killing me at this point. At some point during taking the dash/ pedals out, I broke the pins on the brake switch(that triggers the brake lights). So I soldered them up, shrink wrapped over and put some pinch adapters on the end,

[FunfGan]

Time to tackle the throttle pedal, because of where I needed to mount it, I had to extend the length of the pedal to match the brake and clutch pedals. I also wanted a better pedal that the 1/2" wide mustang one, so out came the grinder!






And after welding and paint:





As I was working on finishing that up, my friends brother's scooter fell on my car, giving it even more dents! You can kind of see them in this pic...




I decided to throw on the new oil filter




Then covered the side facing the headers in insulating tape, because of its proximity to the riverside header.




Another random issue I needed to tackle was the fact that my sway bar linkage was binding from being so low. So to solve this, I simply shortened the links. No pics from after welding, but heres a comparison on the 2 lengths.




Next, decided to put the headlights back together.

Laid out.




And assembled.





I like to keep my passengers on their toes.




Now since I was chopping out the sliders/ brackets for the sunroof that run along the whole of the roof, I needed something to cover it with. So I decided to guy the sunroof, which turned out to be the source of some of the ONLY rust on the car. And here was a lot.





I cleaned it up with a grinder some, but thats all the pics for now.

[FunfGan]

Well, brand new battery on the daily was dead when I went to leave school:/ But came home to this on da poach.




Finally! A company that sends stickers :alright








Brand new clutch pedal, MC and push rod. I took a close up of the MC, but I was stupid and accidentally got my address in the pic.

[kts]

Picked up a fire extinguisher, still deciding where is the most convenient place to put it/ easiest place to reach.

Replace the crappy plastic mount that comes with the extinguisher and replace it with a proper mount like this: http://www.ogracing.com/extinguisher-mount-1-strap or this: http://www.amazon.com/Kidde-420119-E...bxgy_sg_text_b

The plastic one won't hold up to abuse of track/drifting.

Once you figure out your seat, harnesses, and roll bar then look into where to mount it. Strap yourself in tight and see where the extinguisher is still reachable for you in an emergency. In both of the Lemons cars I helped build the easiest spot for us was the passenger side of the transmission tunnel. Out of the way but easy to grab if needed.

[FunfGan]

I was definitely looking into improving the mount, so thanks for those links. I was going to buy a cage mount and put it on the passenger side diagonal bar, but strapped in it may be difficult to get to. Whats your opinion on mounting a second in the trunk? I'm just thinking about a fire that could start inside the car/ engine bay when I'm outside the car, and it may not be convenient/ safe to get the cabin mounted one.

[kts]

If you want to do it the proper way you should look into a fire suppression system. (like this: http://www.ogracing.com/spa-fire-sys...fff-mechanical)

Place the "oh shit!" button that stars the supression system on the dash close to the door, where you would mount a battery kill switch as well. (something that is easily reachable by you inside/outside of the car or a course worker if you are knocked out.)

If the car is on fire you should probably just run and run far away vs trying to save it. A lot of risk vs reward with that, most extinguisher chemicals are very corrosive, and you'll probably need a much bigger bottle than anything you can fit easily in a trunk.

the extinguisher is to help protect yourself and keep you alive, not the car.

[FunfGan]

Wow, thats much more reasonably priced than I thought! I'll definitely be purchasing that. So that basically is a remote mounted extinguish, then has two(inside and rear of car) pull handles, than you run the lines to the areas you deem most important?

[bbb]

This thing is coming along nice!

[kts]

Wow, thats much more reasonably priced than I thought! I'll definitely be purchasing that. So that basically is a remote mounted extinguish, then has two(inside and rear of car) pull handles, than you run the lines to the areas you deem most important?

Correct.

They also make some other sizes with more chemicals and/or nozzles to protect more areas: http://www.ogracing.com/catalogsearc...PA+Fire+System

I don't know a lot about them but a guy on the Lemons team was recommending them and the ~$400 one I linked you too is what he used on his race car. Since we were poor, it was a Lemons car, and we didn't have a ton of care for our lives we went with the extinguisher bolted to the trans tunnel.

It's a judgement call you need to make on if you think it's worth it to have that in the car. You may want to start small with the extinguisher and move up to a suppression system down the road if you get more serious with this car. I'd say most people that go to HDPEs don't have any fire suppression/extinguishers in car, some might bring one and leave it in paddock. Not sure about drifters but I'd bet it's the same. Not until you get more into the serious wheel to wheel action that you see stuff like this in most cars.

[FunfGan]

Yeah, I'm just one to go over bored with safety, given my track record with being crashed into hahah. But thanks a to for the info and such man, really appreciate it.

[CrazyB]

Curious how much work did you need to do to fit the transmission as far as tunnel clearancing and any way to make the engine fit with stock exhaust manifolds?

[FunfGan]

Curious how much work did you need to do to fit the transmission as far as tunnel clearancing and any way to make the engine fit with stock exhaust manifolds?

You just need to hit the beginning of the tunnel/ fire way out some, it really depends on what 5.0 you're running. But not much work to fit it. And I think you can fit manifolds, but only upside down just blowing out is the only way I've seen. e30v8.com says it requires shorty headers, beyond that I can't tell ya.

[Exodus_2pt0]

Looking good man! I should be starting my swap here in the next few weeks. I want to see this thing when it's finished!