A 50 year old Japanesse lady: SRL311 01228

[2mAn]

Looks so good!

Have you checked out www.mcmaster.com yet? It's seriously the best.

Can't wait to see where the future takes this cool little roadster.

haha I havent checked them out. Im sure its better in some way, but I like to support these small businesses. It feels like the proper way to be building up this car...

anyways, I had a little time today and the goal was to finish getting the manifolds on and well... 4/4 for the intake are on (easy), and 3/4 of the lower shared nuts/ yokes (aka the fat washers) are on.I also found the 4th yoke, and it was a round one. I was a little worried about the thickness of the flange, but it looks to be done on purpose as its nearly a perfect match for the intake manifold as well. I also spent a few minutes cleaning up the intake itself. Mostly the part that matters on the flange, but cleaned up what I could. Its better... anyways heres a few pics to entertain you with:

a shot of whats going on down there ( What were the Japanese thinking?!)
Finishing up by 2mAn

I started by adding a small washer and a lock washer, but I didnt like this and took these off...
Finishing up by 2mAn

I tightened it down and with just the yoke, lock washer and nut, but I didnt like how it rotated itself, so back off again...
Finishing up by 2mAn

I like this. stud, no washer, big yoke, then a lock washer and finally the nut. rotated so the fatter part was straight down.
Finishing up by 2mAn

heres the shorter old stud that I couldnt get off. I tightened this as best as I could, we'll see if its good enough!...
Finishing up by 2mAn

getting close!
Finishing up by 2mAn

I stopped here because my light died and I actually had some other work to do, so hopefully tomorrow I can get that final one completed, and starter tightened on. Then it will just be the carbs and getting the exhaust welded up. Its quite a big taper from the header to the piping behind it. I'll probably see what the exhaust shop has available and have them move the transition much further back where it goes from ~2" to whatever is on there now.

[jeenyus]

Looks so good!

Have you checked out www.mcmaster.com yet? It's seriously the best.

Can't wait to see where the future takes this cool little roadster.

[2mAn]

I bought some blue locktite and pretty much every stud went in easy. I had to run errands but then later came home and couldnt resist getting the header in. man... so sexy! its also much larger than the old one. I had to take the starter out to get it in. Also bolted up a few of the easy nuts and looked at the headache ahead of me, but I will go at it just like the removal. One step at a time and working patiently.

Final phase by 2mAn

Also made another run to the hardware store to get the nuts and bolts for the 3bolt flange that will go on soon.

[2mAn]

McMaster.com should be your friend in the future.

I say replace the studs while you have everything out, but that's just my opinion. I like replacing hardware and making it nice and new.

Once I went back to clean up the threads, they were pretty nasty looking so thats what I have decided to do.

Great work Simon!

Thank you Sir :) Theres a VARA event next weekend that I want to drive the car too, so Im scrambling to try and get the header done and the exhaust welded up before next week is over. If I dont hit any major hiccups I should be good

So last night I ended up taking the studs out and I chased the threads so it’s nice and clean for the new studs. Well, all the studs except one. I started on the front end, and that one fought me, so I moved on not wanting to break it. I used some more force on the studs as I moved along and then I decided I would give that one another try. However, it still didnt budge so I left it and used the die on it to clean up the threads. Im ready for new studs and reinstallation can begin

Halfway there by 2mAn

I am about to head out and spend some time getting these new studs in.. :)

[MR E30 325is]

Great work Simon!

[jeenyus]

McMaster.com should be your friend in the future.

I say replace the studs while you have everything out, but that's just my opinion. I like replacing hardware and making it nice and new.

[2mAn]

Well, lets call it about 3 hours of work to go from here:

Headed in the right direction by 2mAn

to this:

Headed in the right direction by 2mAn

and this garbage is out... the header itself didnt look too bad once you got the all of the tin can crap, wires and hose clamps off

Headed in the right direction by 2mAn

part of that time was spent trying to modify a 10mm wrench to remove the stacks. I should probably buy my own and get these back to Will :oops:

Headed in the right direction by 2mAn

the studs dont look too bad, so I might just clean them up, but I wont have time to do anything until Friday.

Thoughts?

[vtechnik]

Was just about to ask the other day for more pics of the engine bay lol. Looks really good, I'm sticking around for track day feedback and the Tanji story updates.

[2mAn]

***BIG UPDATE****

I had hoped to finish up the alternator relocation this past weekend, but I ran into a few unexpected hurdles. The lazy side of me wanted to buy the kit that one of the 311s.org guys makes, but I felt close enough to finishing it myself so I figured I would give it a try.

Picked up the mount from ebay, bought the stainless hardware at Lincoln Hardware. Im racking up a lot of visits to them... haha

Mount it by 2mAn

Looking good so far. I like the contrast of the blue in front of the (Im guessing) Chevy Orange
Mount it by 2mAn

So far so good, but here are some of the issues I ran into.

#1 The flat template for the plate wont work without mods. Either I make a new plate with the bump, or I space out the two timing cover bolts and use a flat plate

the flat template was sent to me from Will, and the one on the right seems to be what I would need to make
Mount it by 2mAn

Mount it by 2mAn

#2 without spacing out the alternator further from the mount, the pulley falls too far behind

Out of line by 2mAn

Out of line by 2mAn

At this point, with some discussion on the 311s forum, I came up with a solution, but I also had to deal with the "single wire" part of the single wire conversion

I ran the single wire and added the 30amp inline fuse. I had a few pieces of leftover trim from the doors that worked nicely
1-wire by 2mAn

1-wire by 2mAn

1-wire by 2mAn

Another trip to Lincoln Hardware and I would have it "done" ... but first I had to finish making the plate. Here it is in the functional phase.

Alternative by 2mAn

a little trimming and grinding later and it looks about right. I will give it some paint soon. I have a bottle of spray paint Ive been dying to use since my wedding day


Alternative by 2mAn

Now that the piece was done, I needed to see how much spacing was needed to get the belt lined up. It was a little more than I was hoping for, but not the end of the world. Heres the belt sitting straight.
Alternative by 2mAn
Here if you look closely you can see the one spacer I had that I used to get an idea of how much spacing I would need. I was hoping this would be enough, but its not.
Alternative by 2mAn

and finally I had this threaded rod just hanging out in the tool box and it fit perfectly on the alternator and the length was good. Drilled out the mount to get it to fit inside. Obviously I still needed more on the right (front) side of it than is pictured here.

Alternative by 2mAn

Another stop at the hardware store was needed... but after spending just as much in hardware pieces as I did on the mount itself, I have a full setup now. I reused a few parts, repurposed others and bought the best hardware possible. Its always easier to buy a pre-made kit, but I feel pretty damn good about what I made. Only one question mark, and we will see if it stands the test of time and my crazy driving...

Finally by 2mAn

Having had done this at least a dozen times this week, it all went together fairly easily. Added the ground wire and the secondary wire to the + side of the battery. I also will clean up the extra long fuel line, but I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to route it. I had a nice area I wanted to tuck it, but Im a little worried it might be close to the belt, so I will wait until thats in. Theres nothing wrong with it other than being ugly and longer than it needs to be.

Finally by 2mAn

Just need to go get a belt tomorrow and Im done with the alternator swap. I will drive the car a little over the weekend if its not pouring rain which is sadly in the forecast all weekend... haha just my luck.... Ultimately, Im thinking about getting back to work on Monday to get the header installed. I already have everything I need to do it... and I will leave it at that. Im not putting any expectations on it, but I am hoping to have that finished before March 24/25 so I can drive the Roadster out to Willow Springs to their "Duel in the Desert" event. I wont be competing, but getting it there and also driving it home will be a blast, I cant wait.

[2mAn]

While waiting for the alternator stuff to arrive, I got my friend to cruise by with his tap & die set. I bought this from beautiful piece from one of the 311s.org members

Screw it by 2mAn

Nothing too special to it, here we are screwing it in after tapping the hole.

Screw it by 2mAn

And final product is a perfectly centered license plate (with a fresh 2019 tag) Im hoping that next year I will be able to swap to black plates, but it wont be the original ones I have from this car unfortunately. They are simply too beat up to use, so I will just keep them nor nostalgia. Fairlady badge is going on soon too, just have to decide the orientation to go with. Im thinking the angled setup, not 100% sure yet

Screw it by 2mAn

I hope to get the remainder of the parts to finish up the alternator this week and wrap it up by the weekend. I will have a little more free time the next few weekends, so I hope to finish this and possibly the exhaust. I really want to wrap up the floors and be "done" with the interior. Those are the main things I want to get done before the annual Roadster show in Solvang.

Wife told me she doesnt want to go, so if someone wants to split a room or something, let me know.

[2mAn]

Its a labor of love, thats for sure. I could've spent about the same as what I have into mine and gotten a complete, sorted car, but I enjoy the process. I ordered the alternator today, my alternator mount should be here tomorrow and I can continue the process of moving the alternator to the pass side.

Im going to spend some time on it tonight, Im hoping to have the pass side floor down to just bare metal so i can begin the process to prep it and paint it with POR15.

[EREKSHUN]

love the build cant believe i never took the time to read through it. Very inspirational cant wait to get my car back on the road.

[2mAn]

The plot thickens...

seriously, I would love if the r3v detectives can get involved and get me more concrete evidence on this guy haha

I am taking a guess, Horn Relay?

correct. I plugged it in. Will disconnected it because the horn was just blaring the entire time, but that didnt happen to me, we'll if that comes back to bite me later

[IceWhite]

Busy day with not much to show for it...

Anyone tell me what this is for?
Uncovering fun stuff by 2mAn

I am taking a guess, Horn Relay?

[varg]

The plot thickens...