Project 84 Days.

[varia]

i was thinking about converting/flashing our cars, but local store sells the febi CHF 11S for $12 if you pay cash.
I dont think its worth the hassle.

[Dave]

Got the head back last night:





29 Days left.

Thanks Nate for picking it up/dropping it off/all that jazz!

[Dave]

Spent a couple hours yesterday putting the head together:




cleaned up the turbo too:

Before:

After:

[Foscora]

Great (and clean) job ! Congratulations ! I like the "countdown effect" here !

Good luck !

[Dave]

trying to wrap up suspension bits so I can finish the engine part of it.

Finished the final knuckle. Had to go grab this from a friends house, I swear everytime I want to get work done, there are several steps i need to take first. To get this knuckle I had to go to Josh's house and take the WHOLE subframe with upright, brake, rotors, and a wheel 'seized' to it all... So i went and grabbed it all and got the wheel free and continued to strip it all the way down to this:



pressed in a new bearing and the new machined URS4 hub:


It is hard not to spend 10-15 minutes on cleaning when this car has been so unloved for such a long time:



while it doesnt look like much in this picture, notice there is a screw upright next to the pile. it is literally 2" high of stuff i scrapped away:


Lots of new brake lines that will also make their way onto the car:


also removed steering arms and tie rods:


tried to match lengths to keep it semi close so i can at least drive it to get an alignment.


Reason i decided to remove them, this wasn't even the worst one;


New arms all prepped:


new cover for the steering rack installed, gotta say this was more of a pain in the ass than i thought it would be:


Had to actually refer back to the 'good book' to make sure i wasn't going to break something. Needed it out anyway for some torque specs and what have you.



25 Days left...

[Dave]

Sadly Sunday wasn't super productive in the car world. Apparently I have parental and marital duties that forced us out of town for most of the day...

I did install my oil cooler, cleaned and installed the injectors and fuel rail. I got word that my Valve cover is ready for pickup!

This is a 7A valve cover that has been machined to accept 2.0t Coil packs:





I also put together a task list assigning priority to everything... When there isn't much time to be outside wrenching, I tend to get over whelmed with 'what i should be working on' so I tried to put together a check list of things i need to do to wrap up this project:

Ranking Task
1 Torque Cam Caps
1 Paint and Install Valve Cover
1 Install head
1 Install timing cover back plate
1 install timing belt
1 Install oil lines to turbo
1 install coolant drain
2 attach ground wires in cabin
2 Install steering column covers
2 Install Steering wheel
2 replace control arms
2 replace ball joints
2 replace top mounts
2 rebuild front axles
2 install front hubs
2 Install front brakes
2 install front brake lines
2 bleed all hydro lines
2 install new brake reservoir
2 replace sway bar links
3 Pass door car/ adjust window regulator.
3 Install intercooler/ charge hoses
3 install radiator
3 install coolant overflow tank
3 connect all engine sensors
3 Install bumper
3 Install headlights
3 fill cooling system, burb and cycle
4 Install interior trim pieces
4 install front speakers
4 Tail light refurb
4 trunk seal
4 fabricate heat shield for intake crossover pipe
4 Fabricate Grill to work with b4 lights/b3 hood
4 mount tires and alignment



I tried to give them a ranking as to how important they are. Since technically speaking I could do a lot of those thing once the car is 'driveable' and i'm trying to iron out other potential problems.

[Dave]

Got some more done:


Prepped the valve cover for some paint:


Primer:


Laying some coats:


Finished:




Installed the head, I was a bit annoyed with my headbolts from FCP Euro:

Spent more time sorting that than i would like to admit.


Head installed:


mock up of timing belt cover, coolant to turbo line:



installed:


little details, injector wire cover:


Received my Euro 3 spoke steering wheel, it smells like 10,000 cigarettes:


New strut mounts(another deferred maintenance item):


Both front axles had split boots and gunk everywhere, rebuilt them:





More updates as they happen, 21 days left!

[Dave]

worked a bit more this weekend, finished most of the front suspension.

New control arms with Derlin bushings, new strut bar links, new bearings, new ball joints, new strut mounts, should be pretty well dialed once it is on again.









Also got the timing belt on, with covers and such, looks like i'm going to need a longer PS pump belt, doesn't play well with the AAN cover.



Nate machined a small block off plate for my inlet tube. this inlet tube has been modified and powder coated, I wasn't a fan of the built in HKS BOV that was added to this pipe, so the easiest solution was to have a block off plate added.




Nate also helped move brake lines so i could fit the new brakes. Feels good to have the suspension dialed in and ready for a proper alignment.



Newly rebuilt calipers, all new seals, all new pads, shims, retailers, ect. Along with all the new suspension bits.

17 days left. I hope to start it wednesday, I'm close, need to wrap up a few things with vac and breather lines. But its close. I'll try to get an alignment and new tires mounted by friday and have 2 weeks or so to put some miles on it and iron out any other potential problems that might exist.

[Dave]

Well I tried to get the car running Wednesday but I couldn't get it going for the life of me. It wasn't cranking well and one of the fuel lines was ruptured and spraying fuel all of the place, not ideal. Fixed the lines Thursday night, but it didn't seem to want to turn over. I replaced the starter thinking it was being finicky with one i had lying around, but same story. Called it a night, went to bed frustrated and annoyed with the car.

This morning I woke up with the intentions of getting it started or giving up on my 84 day goal.

Luckily it went well and got her fired up. Not exactly sure where the problem was, but I replaced the battery, made a new grounding (earth) strap for the engine, cleaned all my other ground points, and this happened:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/C670o2r2c_E[/youtube]


made a couple pipes to tie together the intake track:


all but cooling buttoned up:


extra ground and new battery:


Tried bleeding all the brake lines since i installed new calipers up front, opened the rear caliper and no fluid was flowing out, it also had a seized ebrake lever. Luckily a local friend who lives 3 blocks from me had a parts car i was able to go rob some parts from:



Bled all the lines, and had some lovely fluid in the system...




Also go the downpipe installed!




Looking a bit better:



Anywho, 14 days till i leave for Las Vegas, hopefully I'll be driving this down.

[audifreakjim]

So close!

[chaloux]

You can do it! Nice work. Two weeks is tons of time. I especially like the blue brakes. This is turning into a week sorted out car for under 3 months of work!

[Dave]

You can do it! Nice work. Two weeks is tons of time. I especially like the blue brakes. This is turning into a week sorted out car for under 3 months of work!

thanks! yeah, its been a lot of work, and the truth is, while it is '3 months' it really has been probably 4-5 full days plus a bunch of random nights. I tried to curb the scope creep as much as possible, but the truth is, all the suspension needed to be re done!

[Dave]

Small things

Radiator and plumbing is all in:


This is the condition of the old coolant hose fittings:



Got a 'new' old OEM Muffler, cleaned it a bit:




Old and 'new", can't believe this was on there:


Mounted:


Gunna put this in as well, Magnaflow high flow cat, attached to the v-band that matches the downpipe:



Airbox and coolant filled:


Bumper ONish:


Installed HIDs into the projector housings of the RS2 Headlights, i'm pleased with how it turned out:



lights installed:


New tires mounted on the wheels as well:


Thats all for now.

Still Needs:
Exhaust tied together
Alignment
Coolant fully bled
???? Any random problems that could pop up
then just general cleaning and finishing off small 'wants'

8 Days left...

[Dave]

K, here is the weekend update:

put her back on all 4 again:





It was able to move under its own power, which is good:


Drove it down to the alignment shop:


I was hoping to drop it off at the exhaust shop after the alignment, however I didn't get the car down to them early enough to make it all happen.

Drove moderately well. Loud, but well. Had a big rattle and clunking sound from the passenger front so when i got it back home i took a look, and it was the strut mount, but it was actually a poorly installed strut mount. So i wrestled the top bolt off and had to reseat the castle nut (that is the part i didn't properly seat), then it all fit back together. the clutch was feeling a bit lazy as well so i tried to bleed it, i ended up covering myself in brake fluid, but it felt better today when i drove it so perhaps my messy approach was still functional.

It is very hard for me to see things dirty and not want to clean them, but the truth is, it takes HOURS upon HOURS to clean everything properly, and due to my tight time table, it isn't the top priority with this build, but i still take time to do some work:


After:


the paint on this car cleans up so nice, i wish i had more time/money to dedicate towards a proper detail.

Made a small converter for the reverse light switch, the harness i have is expecting an 01e, i have an 01a, so i made a quick removable conversion in the event that i upgrade to an 01e, there won't be any cutting or splicing needed.


Got lights on and I'm feeling good about the car:



Still working on a grill solution, not sure how I feel about the B3 hood look, i thought it would have come out better, but now i'm a bit on the fence.




I dropped it off at the exhaust shop this morning.
~4 days left...

[Afterthought]

Awesome. Thats a good looking driveway. I love pearl/
thats awesome setting a goal like that and finishing in time.

[Foscora]

Great job !

We're near from the moment of truth ! Can't wait !

You got my fingers crossed

[dana]

thing looks damn good. Love those bbs wheels on it.

I hate to say it, but it needs a b4 hood...damn pearl white sucks for matching as we all know.

Loving the attention to detail, your projects are something that always come to mind when I'm building my car. I blame you for part of the reason my car is taking so long to finish!

[PRY4SNO]

How did things turn out overall? Did you meet your major targets?

[Dave]

Alright I'll update the masses. I sort of took a small hiatus from cars and such after the Battleborn Event. I worked a lot of nights and weekends getting this car ready and neglected my family a bit, so I figured I'd take a couple weeks after the event and try to be a model citizen again.

First off; No, The car did not make it to battle born. However I still feel like I achieved my goal in building the car in the time allotted. The fact of the matter is, while the car was running and driving, with all major components assembled. I had a radiator with leaking end tanks and a clutch master cylinder that wasn't returning like it should. I didn't want to press my luck and drive 6 hours each way through the desert with a radiator i knew was already leaking. Regardless of these unforeseeable problems, I'm still pleased with the outcome.

On to pic update:

Exhaust tied together. used 3" iroz downpipe, to v-band, v-band to 2.5 reducer, into a 2.5" magnaflow high flow cat, into the stock exhaust. It is quiet as a mouse fart (a bit too quiet to be honest).



As it sat at the exhaust shop;




The nail in the coffin:





I also had a problem with my breather, dumb mistake by me, i tried to run it all together in one hose, dont know what i was thinking, i was probably operating on small amounts of sleep:

this is what it looked like:


this was the result:


Pressurizing the crankcase and forcing oil and air out of the oil cap...

fixed it and ended up using my catch can:


and that is where i left it before the battle born event.

I picked up my other seat at Battleborn (thanks Chris!) and so i've got the fully converted black leather interior done now:

(dont mind the stereo, i put it in my other car for the trip to bbq)




A few weeks before the event a b4 model 90 popped up for sale locally for pretty cheap (sub 1k, fwd automatic), it was pearl and i shot the guy a message explaining I was interested in parts of the car and that if he didn't find a buyer, that i would be happy to buy the hood off of him, or pay him more for the car than a junkyard would, i wished him good luck with the sale and he sent a reply thanking me and that if nothing happened with it, he would keep my offer in mind. Sure enough the week after battleborn he sent me a message telling me he had had almost no interest in the car and wanted it gone. I sent him some screenshots from some of the local junkyards that give offers over the web and they were extremely sad. (less than 150 bucks), he called a couple local wreckers and said they weren't even taking FREE cars. He said if i want the car i could have it for $350 bucks. I told him, I'd be his buyer and went and picked it up the next morning, DROVE it home on the freeway about an hour or so drive, kept it at 80mph the whole way with no problems. It has now become my hood donor and will provide parts to many others around the world:

Donor car:







And the hood in its new home:



Now here are some shots of the car to break the monotony of having pictures of it always sitting in my driveway...









The mural was recently finished by a local artist http://www.srilart.com he does some amazing work!

[Dave]

[audifreakjim]

Looks good. OMG is that snow?? Sweet