Project Lela: a 4wd, Turbo, Porn-star in the making.

[imwhyteyo]

Nice. I've got an 86 iX with the 3.64s so I am really interested in your front diff reinforcement. I picked up a spare 3.64 front incase I ever blew the one in it. Right now the car is under the knife getting some stroker parts and I have 90% of the parts I need for the turbo install. I see you have a recirc valve to atmosphere instead of a bov. I was wondering why.

Also as for the exhaust, you want as little back pressure downstream of the turbine wheel as possible. (with less back pressure after the turbine wheel, it will flow easier out the tail pipe). I'm planning on a 3" SS exhaust for mine.

Do you have any details on making another set of the front diff reinforcing gears? Pictures?

I really like how clean the engine bay is. Where did you drain your turbo line to?

Thats awesome! I guess thats a pretty good find for those diffs!... I have the part numbers and prints for the gears somewhere in my folders.. , they were made as a reproduction by a company who creates many machine gears and such. Ill get them to you as I can. It requires some very precise welding and extreme tolerance positioning should only be done by a machinist (as I did). I wasnt able to get pictures of the rebuild, because I left it in his hands to complete.

As for the recirc valve.. I guess it can be used one way or the other... I intended to recirculate it into an I take design im working on to help prevent surging as its said. It can be used atmospheric as well.. as most people do. I plan to revisit that end of things once ive established my boost/tune settings and use what will be reccomended and neccesary at that point. For now, thats all I had besides a full atmospheric turboXS RFL. It seemed like the more appropriate option.

Okay thats what i thought. I have a full 3" galvanized at the moment but SS seems the way to go. I see that jegs and summit have options for the pipe material thickness. I believe 16ga, down to 13ga.. I was curious which would resonate least racey and tinny, instead id prefer the deep, low and smooth as ive mentioned.

The turbo Is drained in the highest point of the oil pan, furthest from the pump pickup, on the other side of the the plastic baffle/windage tray thingy.. my idea was to keep flow least restricted as possible, as well preventing any bubbling and foaming from the drain being around the pickup tube as not to interfere with oil flow. This is not a proven method.. as its just my theory, only my insight to things.

[litu]

That engine bay looks coool and that exterior very nice :)

[imwhyteyo]

Clock installed. Needs red led.


Removed subframe for massive amounts of work.






Lines to replace


Rust repair


Sandblasted stuff




Welded swaybar reinforcement tabs for 19mm bar upgrade


Holes drilled for upgraded swaybar reinforcement


Rusty ebrake shit is gonezo


Everything lined up rebuild sandblast paint and replace




Old vs new.


Powdercoated and stuff installed




Installed, greased, new lines


Ebrakes adjuated night and tight


Brakes rebuilt 100% new seals, boots, hardware amd bled with ate super blue






Now off to bleed the clutch and thats done and done! Time for glamor shots




Dont mind the tape holding on the lip, all bodywork repaining will be saved after everything's been completed.




Enjoy folks, gonna get to getting this old girl fired up for the first time, will try to link videos once all the odds and ends are sorted. Thanks for watching

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Holy crap amazing car dude.

[Polaris15]

Great build and attention to detail!

[Dbeckman843]

this makes me want to build mine now!!

[Spectre]

Amazing work, sub'd for sure. How did you make the switch to the smaller expansion tank?

[CorvallisBMW]

Amazing work, sub'd for sure. How did you make the switch to the smaller expansion tank?

It's the radiator/expansion tank from an m42 318iS.

Great work dude! Everything looks amazing. BTW make sure you put the fan shroud back on, the mechanical fan is very inefficient without one.

[downforce22]

very nice! I bet you could grab more power with an intake box around your filter

[imwhyteyo]

very nice! I bet you could grab more power with an intake box around your filter

I have piping I am still fabbing up that will bring it lower/further from the turbo. The brake duct will have a tube pulling air directly up into it with some bafffles to block water in case of rainy days but still push/pull air efficiently. Filter is there at the moment for looks only.

[Paradox]

Wow! There's a lot of work in this thread. Good Job!
sub'd for sure

[imwhyteyo]

thanks everyone. i definitely pushed to make sure every inch of the car was looked over and brought back to new or like-new condition. ZERO RUST ANYWHERE AT ALL now. literally. brand new suspension components, brand new engine bits.. i think the only thing left with any miles on it is the turbo, which has something like a total of 9hrs drive time? haha..

...and the original paint :/ cant forget that. it looks great, and if i cut it real well, and buff the crap out of it, im sure i can get it looking like a brand new paint job. im debating painting it. not sure what color id like to do.

[randomtask37]

Great job. There is a lot if very impressive work done here. Are you a mechanic for a living?

[Northern]

I'm interested in these front diff reinforcements as well. You could probably sell a few sets.

[imwhyteyo]

Great job. There is a lot if very impressive work done here. Are you a mechanic for a living?

Not really.. i do it all. Restoration stuff, masonry, mechanics, tattoos, and many more misc hands on type of jobs. as of lately ive been getting more mechanic work due to the season. I got my garage originally just to have a place to work and restore my cars.. ive always been very aggressive in tackling projects on my own and finding ways to get things done so I never forget how fix things.