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There's nothing more daunting than staring at a pile of boxes full of crap to install.

I got my wideband too on Saturday. Wish I had something to put it on :(

There's nothing more daunting than staring at a pile of boxes full of crap to install.
I got my wideband too on Saturday. Wish I had something to put it on :(

Uh... Did I miss something here? @Noobz347 Spammer?
 
This is a surprise, a cross flow straight 6 head! I do not know why more were not that way. There should be some good performance gains there. Pontiac's tech 4 was a fun little motor with the cross flow head and this has two moe pistons. I know most of these were made for truck torque, but port design and heat transfer are so much better on a cross flow head. Too bad about the mods to make it work.
The key to my happiness with regard to choosing to build a turbo'd six banger was supposed to arrive Saturday. For whatever reason, it didn't. I had to go to the post office to pick it up, and after I got home, tore open the box to reveal my most recent aluminum prize.

Behold the Aussie Crossflow:
m1q6.jpg

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I picked up the just recently steam cleaned 250 block this morning, right after getting the head. Despite the fact that for the most part the head looks like it belongs there,....removing that head, and throwing a crossflow head gasket on the US block reveals something a little different:
c8zc.jpg


On the left side of the pic,..the 5 holes have no provision in the block for the water to pass into. (You have to close those holes up in the head by milling and installing freeze plugs.) The Right side requires a 1.25" wide x 1/4 inch thick plate be bolted to the side, and the remaining gap filled w/ a really good epoxy. Once done, the cast iron has to be ground away to accommodate the push rods. This head uses a 351 Cleveland canted rocker setup,..and the intake pushrod evidently hangs way the hell out there, hence the need for the block mangulation.
For me it's no big deal,..I am not the least bit concerned about it. The area that needs all of the grinding only seals the oil splash that would be in that push rod tunnel,..so in the grand scheme of things,..it should be a piece of cake.

I am concerned about having to close off the water passages on the other side though,..that is the exhaust side and I'd just as soon have water moving through the head there too. I've already scoped that out too,..looks like I'll be able to tap into the head from outside in the 5 places,..and create a "water rail" w/ a bunch of AN tees so that the water can move through that side of the head as well.

I also tried to mock up the front tire,...and put a SN 95 spindle,....hub,..and rotor together only I didn't have a spindle nut to hold it all tight. Trying to hold a tire tight against the hub while at the same time checking for potential tire/fender interference issues while moving it through it's turn radius proved frugal. I had to go the parts store to order a set,..they'll be here tomorrow.

Regardless,...it's gonna be really close. I think the tire will be all over the outer inner fender in a bump when in a corner,..the wide body option is still rearing it's head.
 
More of the same,....a whole day spent,..little of nothing done.

I started out w/ the goal of determining whether or not a 255/40/17, mounted on a 17x9 rim will fit on the front of the car.
Initially,...it didn't.......till I tugged on the fender lip:
tpdq.jpg


With the ride height set to where I think I want it, in a bass-ackward kind of method,...It fits

Uhhh.....that is till you turn the wheel:

t1vi.jpg

Crash!
e0wx.jpg


Crash!

edi2.jpg

Crash!

It doesn't matter which way you turn,..the tire makes contact everywhere. It will hit the fender lip, the rim will hit the lower control arm, I just don't see how I can keep a tire/rim this size on the car, and not have to baby it through turns.
It's been suggested that I bail on the 17x9/255 front wheels,..and fall back to a 17 x8/245.... but I cannot return them since I now have bolted the one on,....and even if I could, I'm sure the freight would be a killer.

I shelved the front tire dilemma,...and moved to the rear end.

Again,....I was "advised" by another to set the rear tires at full bump before I measured the space between mounting surfaces to transpose to the rear end. Doing that required I move the tires in another 1/4" each side. The new total rear end length had to be 57.5",....the rear end was 61.125",.... 3-5/8" too long. I needed to cut 1.750" off of each tube.

I stripped the thing of it's brakes and axles,...and started cutting off the quad shock mounts.
fy8k.jpg


yid4.jpg


A sawzall is my weapon of choice,...cutting the quad shock mount into little pieces until I got it down to a grind-able nub. Once there,...I smoothed the tube w/ a flap wheel.
To make the first reference cut,...I got a big-assed hose clamp and put it on the tube, using the axle flange as a measure reference to square the clamp up.

w5ym.jpg


I outlined the clamp w/ a sharpie,....and used a 4.5" cutoff wheel to cut it off.

tqt6.jpg


I originally started using a sawzall to do this,..but it is too hard to keep a precise cut,..so I just used the cutoff wheel to do it....once it was gone,...I moved the clamp over 1.750" traced it,..and cut it off as well.

It was at this juncture, that I have to call in the pro's,...as now that the housing was narrowed,...I didn't have a housing jig to put the thing back together. I loaded the thing up, and went to his shop. The process required that I knock out the bearings out of the housing ends,...and remove the diff. He had several different aluminum "donuts" to support the tube in the housing,...using the bearing caps after the diff was removed.
Doing it this way serves as a testament to what kind of life the rear end saw from it's previous owners,...as the tubes will bend in almost all 8.8's depending on how abused they were. Having that big bar running through the donuts makes it very obvious, real quick as the housing end will not line up w/ the tube.

On one side,..( the driver side) the tube was barely offset,..and after welding, imperceptable. The Passenger side,...the launch side,...the side that digs the hardest when you side step the clutch,...well that's a little different.

My passenger side axle was bent enough to require the housing end be welded a little under an 1/8th offset. Looking at it before welding looks like it's Phucked up as a rats' ass,...but again,..after welding,...not so bad.

The pictures of all of the above?....sorry, forgot my camera when I left for the shop.

I guess all this crap was ordained from the beginning.......as it was fate that I had to open the rear end to remove the diff, and reveal to me that the 3.73 gear I thought I had was off a little.

It wasn't a 3.73,...it was a 2.73 that is in this rear,...another unexpected 500.00.
I left the rear at his shop,..and I gotta order 3.55's,...new bearings,...and send the axle to Moser for shortening, resplining,..and cut for C-clips.:dammit:
 
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Saturday morning,...sitting here in my jammies, doing what I do best on Saturday morning while in my jammies..........drinking coffee, and spending money.

I bailed on the 17 x 9 wheels,....Summit has two 17 x 8's w/the right back spacing @127.00 ea. shipped. I coulda got a refund on the 17 x 9's I have at CJ's pony parts, but I'd have to send both wheels and tires MOUNTED to PA. In order to get that. (Can you say $100.00 in shipping to get your refund?)
I can't.
I'll resell the 17x9's on C/L for a couple hundred instead.

Presently waiting for the 3.55's to arrive so I can button the rear up. I came upon another opportunity that I am currently hashing out:

I can probably get a set of 31 spine axles, w/c-clip elims installed, and a full spool for pretty cheap. Question is:

Do I want to run a full spool on the street?

The right side of my brain tells me that it is hard on the axles, it chunks, and chirps when going around a corner,...and in the rain?............Wooo Hoooo!

The left side reasons that this car is evolving into another sunny day, Saturday night cruiser,... and that there are guys out there driving full spools around on the street daily,....why can't I? (Especially if the stuff is dirt cheap).

Sending the current axles to Moser to have them cut, resplined, and remachined for C-clips will cost 125.00, plus freight there and back. (probably be about 60+ dollars for shipping). Or, Moser sells a set of C-clip eliminators for 160.00, and I can cut the existing axles myself, and have them resplined here locally for about $75.00.

**(It always amazes me that by the time I finish typing something, the "obvious" answer is right there staring me in the face.........Do you see it too?)

So then,..guess I'll order a set of C clip eliminators from Moser on Monday,..and take my stock axles to Carroll machine here in B'ham for resplining.

Additionally,...I bought the rest of the fittings to allow me to completely plumb the fuel system.

So that leaves me with the interior, the gauges, and audio system left to buy.
(We'll see how that goes)
For now, I'll put the thing back on the street with the little weenie 200c.i. six an C-3 auto trans for motorvation. I'll build the 250 turbo engine/4r70W combination outside for a spring time targeted transplant.
 
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Additionally,...I bought the rest of the fittings to allow me to completely plumb the fuel system.

So, does that mean you've already made one order of fittings, and this is for all the stuff you missed, or got backwards? Or, are you claiming that you can "one-and-done" order all the fittings to plumb a complete system? Because if it's the second, and you can actually do it, that's more impressive than your fab skills. I worked mine out about three times, ordered, and then had to send stuff back, cuz I bought girls instead of boys, etc. And then I'd start plumbing, and find out that the heater motor was a smidge too far over, or I couldn't bend 1/2" tubing tight enough, so I'd have to redesign, and order more parts.

I'll build the 250 turbo engine/4r70W combination outside for a spring time targeted transplant.

That is a completely unacceptable timeline for those of us who rely on you to provide our evening entertainment.
 
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So, does that mean you've already made one order of fittings, and this is for all the stuff you missed, or got backwards? Or, are you claiming that you can "one-and-done" order all the fittings to plumb a complete system? Because if it's the second, and you can actually do it, that's more impressive than your fab skills. I worked mine out about three times, ordered, and then had to send stuff back, cuz I bought girls instead of boys, etc. And then I'd start plumbing, and find out that the heater motor was a smidge too far over, or I couldn't bend 1/2" tubing tight enough, so I'd have to redesign, and order more parts.



That is a completely unacceptable timeline for those of us who rely on you to provide our evening entertainment.

i5fq.jpg

Husky, Husky, Husky.........what am I gonna do with you?

#1. Of course I'm a "once and done" type when it comes to plumbing the fuel system. I just had to spread the purchase over two "installments". The first was enough -6 alum line,....tube nuts, and tube sleeves to get it there and back,..Today was the sump for the tank and all the fittings (male, female, and transvestite) required to get it done. Since I'm gonna continue to run the carburetor on my weak assed 3.3l six,..I cannot install the pump and filters,..so I did not buy them today.
#2. I'm sooo sorry that I have to disappoint you when it comes to keeping you entertained. ( You have to know it's my goal here,...so it's a let down for me too.) Take heart though,..there are a bazillion different things going on now w/ the car,..I'm sure that there will be SOMETHING other than the turbo engine build to keep your attention.

Speaking of attention......seems I'm deficit in that department. When there are soo many things that need to get done,..I tend to move around alot. Soooo,..in keeping w/ my goal of entertaining,......a little appropriate music is in order:


After spending all my disposable money this morning,...I went down stairs,..and removed the driver side fender. The purpose to make it easier to clean and paint the inner wheel well prior to adding the new spindle, coil over struts, bump steer kit, Cobra brakes and rotors.
Once one fender was off, I bounced around to removing the dash,..wiring,..and the firewall blanket. My logic there being the conversion to a '90 dash, and console.
k53c.jpg


I'm gonna weld up the holes in the firewall where the heater hose, and A/C lines originally stuck through.
I'm gonna try to use -10 bulkhead fittings ( for the heater) relocated over to the passenger side recess behind the kick panel, and a -6/-10 A/C bulkhead in the same area to allow the lines to run under the passenger fender.

I was looking at how perfect the floors were,..when I noticed what looked like rust on the driver side footwell,.....sure enough,...however it happened,...I got this blemish on an otherwise perfect floor.
tzo6.jpg


It's not bad,..it will have to be cut out and patched,...I just don't see how that area managed to rust through.:dammit:

Not wanting to deal w/ that just yet,..I again bounced over to the dash:
Imagine the dash base w/o the gauge cluster looking the same all the way across. Same recess, same curvature,..just consistent all the way across.

I'm gonna do that.

It does require you butcher up a perfectly good '90 dash to pull it off though,.....but,....I'm that guy.

zspw.jpg


nm3k.jpg


(Junky, stupid camera phone .......supposed to be a 8MP camera,...sometimes the pictures just look like ass):nonono:

What these "pictures" are supposed to show,...is the start of the path of no return. The little retaining areas that allow you to secure the gauge pod?.....gone. The little ridges on top of the passenger side of the dash?.....gone. The A/C vents at each end of the dash?....gone.

I plan to have a piece of 1/8 alumimum brushed as wide as the stock dash pad running all the way across from one A/C vent to the other. The face of the dash behind the dash pad is concave, so I plan to come up w/ some sort of base sub structure that'll be flat to mount that aluminum on top of. The Digital gauge panel only requires a 1" thick depth,..so,..when complete,....the gauge panel will be integrated into the aluminum band that runs across. Right now,..an idea still in my head,...but it will be very close to what I'm trying to describe.

So all in all,...a bunch of piddling around,...all taking me in a backwards direction. I'm gonna pull the engine and trans,..and clean and paint the engine compartment, and clean those two nasties up before I reinstall them for the time being.

That brings me around to having to decide what color to paint the monster,...as the engine compartment on this car will be body color. And I gotta do that when the engine comes out for detailing.

The interior color scheme is set. The dash will be two tone like it is typically painted, Black and Saddle brown. The door panels, and the console will also have a factory type two tone in the same colors. The rear quarter trim, the a pillar, and surrounding headliner support pieces: Saddle brown. The carpet and headliner: Black. The seats: Black.

Maybe a metallic brown for the body color.:shrug:
 
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Oh, wow, we get to vote on color?!

Now that I know what Mike looks like (or was that a pic of the single, buxom, fun-loving blonde who loves fast cars and walks in the moonlight, that answered your C-list connections ad?)- I'm tempted to go with a two-tone pink exterior, to soften the harsh look above the steering wheel area.

But, I suspect it will be yeller.
 
Revision 357/modification to plan 17.1:

Bought the Megasquirt today.......again.:nonono: I bought the same MSII w/ a 3.0 board that I had the last time,..and the "stimulator" to test the circuits as I go along.

That got me thinking ( hence the revision)

I'm gonna move the 250/crossflow head build to standby mode. That engine would be port fuel injected from the get go.
I would use the same MSII to fuel it, and control timing that I bought today,..but here's the rub:

The engine will have either a flat tappet solid, or hydraulic camshaft in it. ( No hydraulic roller cam option available for these crotchedy assed engines) The camshaft for the Ausie headed 250 HAS to come from Austrailia. Old school camshafts require a break-in of between 2000-2500 RPM for like the first 20 minutes after first start up. Having a home built, F.I. ECU as the primary controller, w/o the benefit of a proven fuel/spark map running the engine for the camshaft break-in is just more stress than I want to deal with today.

So the "modification" to my plan is to modify the stock cast iron head like I originally planned to, which involves cutting away the cast on iron intake, and exhaust manifolds, (which I just got through doing) hand fabricating tubular steel pieces for both the intake, and exhaust,..and transplanting the modified head onto the stock, running 3.3L currently in the car. I'll get the fuel curve and spark maps perfect using that engine as my guinea pig. After I get that done, I'll turbocharge that combo, and set the boost down to like 8-9 psi, and drive it till I get the 250 ready to go.
(or until it blows up, whichever comes first)

At least that way,..I'll be able to trust that when I start the 250 I can transplant the stock injectors off the guinea pig, set the RPM where it needs to be, and let it run for the cam break-in period, w/o worrying about wiping it out.

Glad that's off my chest.;)

I also bought my digital gauge panel today as well. 6 digital gauges including a calibrate-able speedo, a tach, oil press, water temp, and voltmeter all w/ senders, with turn signal, and high beam indicators, for the bargain price of 266.00.

Gears came in today, so I'll take them up to my friend and attempt to set them up again while he watches me screw it up.:oops:
 
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Digital gauges remind me of LED tail lights. Cant wait to see them Michael. (See what I did there?)
Why wait? They look exactly like this only red.
2vuu.jpg


I'm sorry that I don't have an extra 800.00 like I did the last time I installed a set of "American" gauges to keep you happy . I can't tell you who makes them,..they're summit branded, I do know that I'll be able to buy my transmission with the difference saved .

Stick that in your eye Nicholas.:stick:

See what I did there?
 
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Another good day.

Started out boxing up my stock axles for cutting at Moser. Got them sent away for 28.30.
Went and dropped off the cast iron head now that I hacked away all of the old cast on manifolds. I went from there to my friends' shop where the rear end was. I cleaned up the old diff, while he removed the pinion from the housing. I pressed off the pinion bearing,...effectively ending my participation in the set up of the new 3.55's
He did the rest.
It went together using the same shims that were used with the 2.73's from the factory. He said I was "lucky".
(I didn't feel lucky)
All in all he welded the housing ends on for me using his jig, and set the gears up. It cost me 100.00.
(Now I felt lucky)
I loaded it up and went home, where the gauges, and fuel tank sump were waiting.
I pulled my tank out of front of the garage and started to flush it out.
7qht.jpg


The instructions for the sump wanted me to drill (5) 2" holes to allow the gas to enter the sump,..I decided that would be more hassle than what it was worth. I left some water in the tank, marked a cut out hole at the lowest part of the tank, and cut it out.

Now, with all the talk about welding a gas tank, and the dangers involved you'd think I have a problem using a cut off wheel to do the job, with all the associated sparks that come with using it.

Naaah.

6r69.jpg


Once I opened it up, it was all too obvious that the thing was full of rust. I decided that I would use some muriatic acid to see how bad it was. Problem was I didn't have any.

I didn't want to go all the way to damn Home depot, so on the off chance that this little weird ass convenience store down the road would have some, I went there instead. This little store looks like your average gas-n-go, ran by your typical middle eastern dude, except there is a buttload of hardware related junk in the basement.

I know this because of an earlier encounter w/ this guy a couple of years ago when he informed me of the hardware store in the basement.

So I ask dude if he has any muriatic acid.

"What ees mooriattic aceed"? "How you use?"

"Muriatic acid is used to clean concrete, all hardware stores have it" I tell him.

"You come down, see eef we have what you need" Ahnwar motioned me down stairs.

I follow this guy down this dark stair case,...faintly in the background I think I hear "It puts the lotion on its' skin"

He turns on a light,.... "You see"?

There it was right in front of us. It had been there so long it was leaking. I had stumbled into my very own little chemical waste dump. I said "there it is. " and pointed to the leaking bottle. He says "Good, I make you deal". "No dude, I can't use that bottle, it's leaking,..I have no way to store that". There was another bottle right next to it that wasn't however. I took that one instead.

He still made me a deal. $6.00 for the gal.

I went back home. and poured that stuff into my rusty ass tank.

One hour later, via a regime of sloshing, sanding, scraping, rinsing, and repeating,...I had the inside clean enough to move forward.

I welded.

gxn7.jpg


This was some of the easiest welding I have done in a long time. It really welded up nicely. I didn't check to see if I had any leaks,..it wont matter if I do,..cause I'll use the same Red Kote gas tank sealer I used in the last car. I went ahead, and cleaned up the outside a little,...it was getting dark, and I didn't spend too much time. I'll finish it up later.
 
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Maybe a metallic brown for the body color.:shrug:
Have you seen the metallic brown colors that Mercedes and BMW have offered on their cars for the past couple of model years? I've seen a few in person; they're really nice colors.

The Mercedes color is called Peridot Brown in Germany (not sure what it's called in the states).
2011_02_10_Mercedes_Benz_CL500_Launch_09.jpg

236806d1338434170-citrine-brown-dakota-brown-opinion-img_1717.jpg


The BMW color is called Marrakesh Brown in Germany (also not sure what it's called in the states).
bmw-x1-Marrakesh-Brown-25.jpg

bmw-x1-marrakesh-brown-271.jpg
 
Its a lot more fun lighting up the old residue inside.
Nice work though Clarice, glad you didnt set yourself on fire like your old sig guy.

Of course it is,.....what else IS there to do in Iowa except see if you can't blow yourself up.

I had absolutely no concern as to setting myself on fire,...I wasn't the one trying to make a Molotov cocktail out of my old tank.;)

More pics please. Man, we sure do ask a lot of Mike and his projects. Mike you keep us entertained so we push and push.

What are you asking me to do? I offer this junk up voluntarily.:nice:

Have you seen the metallic brown colors that Mercedes and BMW have offered on their cars for the past couple of model years? I've seen a few in person; they're really nice colors.

The Mercedes color is called Peridot Brown in Germany (not sure what it's called in the states).
2011_02_10_Mercedes_Benz_CL500_Launch_09.jpg

236806d1338434170-citrine-brown-dakota-brown-opinion-img_1717.jpg


The BMW color is called Marrakesh Brown in Germany (also not sure what it's called in the states).
bmw-x1-Marrakesh-Brown-25.jpg

bmw-x1-marrakesh-brown-271.jpg

I like it,.....I'd be concerned that I'd have to pay a premium because of the BMW/MB usage of the color though.
 
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