Stan's Convoluted Project Car Thread...

[stanhayward]

Well I've been seriously slacking in updates and I really don't have any, only the explanation for why there's been no BMW action recently. I may have mentioned, but my brother and I help each other out on all of our cars. He's not a BMW nut, he's really into early VWs. He has a 1984 MK1 GTI and we've been working hard on that car the past little while. Here are some photos.

This are photos from the PO:




Once we bought it:


Coilover Swap:


You can also see the Motorsports Hardware stud conversion in this pic:


Parts Car is another 1984 GTI:


God awful paint and some other issues:


And the car on the coils and 15x8 Enkei 92s with 195/45r15 Toyo T1S tires:






Now for the GTI we have a spare motor with a Shrick 280 cam and springs, 10:1 compression and 0 miles on the rebuild. We will be converting it to dual 40mm Weber DCOE carbs as well when we do the swap. We should start that swap in about 3 weeks because we're going on vacation in between now and then. Next updates should start to have some good content in them!

[E30NJ]

Nice builds keep the photos coming!

[stanhayward]

Hey guys, got back home a week ago and chugged through some work on the GTI. It wasn't running worth shit, and after going through the ignition system with a good tune up, we narrowed it down to the fuel system. MK1 Golfs have an abnormal fuel injection system where there is a fuel distribution block on top of the air box in place of a fuel rail. Here's a photo (don't know why it's upside down):



Once we opened this up and tried to start the car, it was bone-dry. So we went to remove the fuel pump bracket and this is what was left of it



We also noticed that the pump was a cheap chinese eBay pump, so both pump and bracket were ditched for the ones from the parts car. Its bracket looked much better, still rusty but at least in one piece:



It also had an original Bosch fuel pump which was transferred over along with all new fuel hoses at the rear and she ran really well.

However, the transmission that was in the car was beyond buggered. It had no fifth and reverse would pulse and make a really loud click. The rebuilt engine we had came with a Jetta transmission which also has more favourable gearing - the GTI was limited to 110mph by its gearing. So we began the swap. I'll just throw all the photos in and explain where necessary.

Here's the new motor:





And I thought this was cool. This is the "oil cooler" on the new engine; the old had none:



The coolant flows through the oil cooler housing rather than using an external heat exchanger.

The axle boot on the passenger side was completely toast, but we have a good set to put in:



And just general swap photos:











This is the entire engine harness on this car, so much easier than an E30:



Make-shift drain pan, just on old sled:



Here is one of the things I love about these cars. Best tool tray ever:



And then the issue... The dust plate in between the trans and the engine was torn in half Why the fuck whoever rebuilt this engine cut that is a mystery, but we only discovered it the day before we had to come back to the west coast.



What it's supposed to look like:



So we bit the bullet and dropped it off with a really good shop in Edmonton and when we get back the motor should be ready to drop in. E30 updates are also not far away....

[TheTacoMan]

I wanted to warn you now that my ebay gt35r similar to yours recently died at 900 miles, but awesome progress!

[stanhayward]

I wanted to warn you now that my ebay gt35r similar to yours recently died at 900 miles, but awesome progress!

Youch that's pretty shitty... I'll see how it goes but I hope it lasts longer. Was yours CX Racing as well?

[TheTacoMan]

It was, a head of warning. I believe it was the same turbo with a different compressor housing.

[stanhayward]

Finally...

It's been a long time since I've updated this thread holy damn. Some things have changed since then but the general focus is similar. I bought a 1986 325e with a plastic bumper conversion from a mutual friend for $1400 that has fucked shifter linkage (only possible to go into R-1-3-5). This will be where the turbo setup finally ends up. Here are some photos of the car:







It's a good, clean car with very little rust and every option I like: everything manual except the mirrors and no AC. What I've begun doing is the wiring swap to Motronic 1.3. The controversial bit is that I'm not bothering to swap heads, I may do the cam and springs but that's it. For the power this car will be making it's not worth it and it'll be a torquey son of a bitch either way. Here are some photos of the swap and the 42# injectors installed:

1.3 harness


e intake removed


e wiring harness removed


i head with 42# rebuilt and flow matched Ford Racing injectors


Then I switched the brake pads to Hawk HPS


I think that's it for now... I need to run get a couple parts like exhaust studs and valve cover nuts so I may throw out one more update tonight and then I'm hoping to pull the engine this weekend so I can do anything I can of the clutch, drill the oil pan for a return line and to fix the shifter linkage.

[stanhayward]

Forgot to mention... I smashed the oilpan on the Touring :(





Seeing as I'll have to put it away for the winter almost immediately (we've already had snow in Alberta) and am swapping this engine out I'm not focusing on fixing this car and will be trying to finish up the white car. You may have noticed I like naming cars but am not naming the white one for fear I get attached to it which I can't afford :?

[efficient]

Cool

[Jib05]

i like your touring.

[2mAn]

Nice MK1. I was worried you guys were going to do a round headlight swap on it. Im a former mk1 guy, but I was a jetta coupe guy, owned a bunch. fun cars, but not RWD so I wont be going back unless I do the crazy swap Ive always dreamed about.

Keep it up, nice to have a partner to work on the cars with

[stanhayward]

Nice MK1. I was worried you guys were going to do a round headlight swap on it.

Whoops... Sorry to disappoint but he has a full roundie conversion ready for painting I like golfs better with roundies but my MK1 love is the Jetta coupe (my next project hopefully) and I like them better without roundies.

What's the crazy swap you speak of? My dream is a Syncro G60 driveline from a Passat with a Lysholm SC upgrade. Supercharged response, AWD grip and MK1 weight? What's not to like ;)

Keep it up, nice to have a partner to work on the cars with.

Very true having a couple extra hands is always useful.

i like your touring.

Thanks kindly :)


As for updates... We took the b27 out of the white car and I removed the trans and old clutch. I think that's it for words... Now some pics:












As for the future, I am looking to buy an M20b25 locally with ARP head studs, new HG and timing belt job, and all the oil feed and drains sorted. I think that will be the motor going into this car just for efficiency and ease. That means I will be keeping the 2.7 and using that in one of my cars with a turbo on it ;D

As for updates for the next little while, I don't expect to be making much progress for the next little while. It's going to be getting cold here really soon and with no heated garage and no space for a car in said garage I will be completing all the motor prep for a couple of my cars probably and that's it. Come warm weather again I will button up the suspension of the white car, sell it on and sell the used up shell of my parts car. Then it'll be time for my cars and new projects :)

[stanhayward]

Grabbed all this today ;) Not for this project, but one of the cars I'm keeping. $650 for MS, injectors, M50 TPS and IAT sensor:

[G FORCE]

In the spirit of Halloween, you should pic the pumpkin launcher again.

[stanhayward]

Okay so it's been too cold to really do anything since I pulled that motor. Honestly that was the last warm weekend we had.

No updates to that project, just updating with a new car that I bought. I missed driving E30s because everything I have is in the middle of a project and not running. I bought a 1990 325i as a daily for $1750. It's a really nice car, totally loaded with cruise control, heated seats (nice in -30C) and power everything. Unfortunately it's an auto but I'll fix that once some projects are complete. She also has some decent lowering springs, FKs I believe? But yeah she sits proper

So some pictures... Here she is when I first bought her. Those of you with keen eyes will spot the E36 front valance that a PO cut and modified to fit. He did an okay job, not great, but it looks cool:


Then put some 15mm spacers on the rear, changed the oil and filters, just the basic maintenance:


And today I swapped on some weaves with new winter tires which I like a lot more: