The Project Pad

nuugen wrote:

loxxrider wrote:Ok, so your top hat sits on the rubber part? Where is your bearing?

What you described is basically what I had in mind. BUT, I feel like taking the rubber out and using a thrust bearing will not allow proper suspension movement. Thats why a spherical bearing should be used (or at least thats what I was thinking).

Yes SKF makes a spherical thrust bearing, if you look back a page or two I posted links to those. Also, the parts I took pics of are simply for mock-up, I am still running coilovers with the OEM plates and strut bearings in one 200 and the suspension is out of the other one. So I am in the R&D stage right there with you LOL...
I like the drawing you made--since you made the plate slotted you could forego the junky-looking oem top strut bushing/mount plate, make a round plate for the spherical bearing and weld it to your plate, or get one of those that are already in a mount and weld that to your spacer. With the slots you can adjust camber simply by moving the spacer plate..
Page 49 wow watta thread... :bump:

Yes, thats what I was going for. I'd like a bolt-on solution for the bearing though just in case it ever needed replacing. I really like the idea of one in a mount that could be bolted to studs coming out of the spacer. I just need to see what my options are as far as the bearings go and also a really good measurement for how much clearance there is when the hood is modified. Doing all of this should improve the suspension travel drastically. Especially since its eliminating the rubber lower part of the OEM plate. Maybe I'll get time to try something over the christmas break (next week). I just need some bearings.


And yeah, I can't believe its 49 pages. Seems like not a lot has gotten done in 49 pages, but its been a HUGE learning process and there is a LOT of great info in here!

Yes if you could get somemething similar to those that justrack posted, with a spherical installed, then it would provide a nice bolt-in solution that is easily serviceable..

exactly. Its all about finding them though. Looks like those above are regular bearings.

I'm thinking of stripping the wheels down because the paint on some of them is a little funky. I like a regular metal finish (cleared over) like a stock alloy would look on a porsche...OR I could maybe go pearl white on the centers and keep the lips polished. Thats always what I've wanted to do with a nice set of RS's or something similar on this car.

Suggestions are welcomed.

Anyway, I have a few things in mind for the winter break. Its mostly maintenance related though.

First up, roof rack. Pics will be up after x-mas day

second up hitch (hopefully...let me know Stephen) so I can tow my Whaler and or a trailer for hauling stuff

most importantly, I have to do a new timing belt, idler, water pump, crank cog (thats $100 by itself ) and probably a new (adjustable) cam gear because mine seems to wobble a bit and it bothers me...plus, I can make some use out of it later. While I'm in there, I'll throw in a set of cams that are for the NA version of this engine. That will provide for a nice top end boost with the stock and any bigger turbo.

I'll also order a new upper intercooler hose so I dont have to fix boost leaks every other time I drive the car.

Need to get oil lines for the big turbo, and some flanges for it too.

Got my adjustable cam gear from 034, ordered the Autotech unit..
7A cams are fun..

Thats good to know. The autotech unit is just drop in correct?

:woowoo: oil line parts coming tomorrow!

I just got the basic parts so far. Now I need something to adapt from AN female to the oil pan (-10 to 1/2" NPT adapter and then the oil pan flange) and then a -4 to 12x1.5 adapter for the turbo oil inlet and something to adapt to the oil filter housing.

I think these parts should get the job done no? (as discussed by Dana and I a while back)

for turbo oil inlet

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/produc ... RecId=5055

for oil filter housing
http://www.034motorsport.com/product_in ... cts_id=178

for the pan

http://www.034motorsport.com/product_in ... cts_id=574

Just an FYI...I got my oil feed and drain with one day shipping for a total of $80 from Race Part Solutions...its a local company, and they are AWESOME in every way, so I just wanted to throw that out there.

Soooo I got most of my oil line parts in today.

I still have to go measure the feed to see if I guessed right. Kinda think I underestimated :( **edit** nvm 2 feet is like the perfect length!!**

anyway, on the return I was nicely surprised. Its a tight fit to get the flange and the AN fitting on the return side fo the turbo, but on the block side you can use a standard t3 oil drain flange! No need to buy some specialty bs for high prices. $10 and you are done.

YESSS scored a compressor outlet v-band from Goldfarb...they GAVE it to me

Nioooce!

Ordered t-belt kit from blauparts. Great service and kit they offer there! The only thing I don't like is that the WP does not have a metal impeller. I asked about it and they told me its made in italy with some resin material that allows for a thinner blade (a good thing) but that its not plastic...soooo I guess I'm not really holding my breath on the longevity of it, but it sounds like it should do the job for another 60k when I'll do the t-belt again out of fear lol

Also have a hardened crank cog on the way

I have noticed my cam gear bolt wobbling...my buddy told me to just replace the bolt as the gear itself isn't wobbling at all. Any good sources to get that?

Come on, put the Holset on the motor!! :-D

Haha trust me, I think about it 90 million times every day. I just want to make sure everything is locked down and perfect before it goes on. I thought I was going to just try and use stock manifold, but now I'm a little scared and will probably just wait till there are more STR ones out there unless that takes too long. I also want to get the IC setup perfect because I am sick and tired of dealing with boost leaks. UGH they are the devil!

One thing at a time!

get 034's 7A manifold and this...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0293040592

you can probably even use an elbow with a tial and audi WG flange to use the audi piece if you wanted, I forgot if you said you had a Tial WG laying around... thought you did.

but that would be a decent setup for under $400.

Ah, thats pretty sweet. If I wanted to go that route, I'd go internal gate anyway because I'll probably pick up an internal gate 12cm housing with actuator and everything anyway.

I'd even be tempted to run the STR with the ext. gate partition blocked off so I can run internal and hear the turbo clearly when its fully spooled up

I've been debating between the two options lately. STR seems to be winning so far though. Everyone seems to love it. 034 should buck up and listen when their customers ask for things. If they did, I'd consider their product more. I didn't ever hear one thing from anyone when I and a few others inquired about an external gate.

So I made a cardboard mock-up intercooler lol. Its the exact dimensions of what I'd like to run. Its surprisingly small. I expected it to be much bigger.

Oreos for size reference? Kinda hard to tell the size. We'll see what has to be done to fit it!



this is what that cardboard is modeled after

Guess I might as well ask what to look out for when doing the cams...

any really important torque specs, etc.?

Still trying to find a crank and or cam pulley bolt(s).

I plan on running a similar intercooler on my 20v.
one of these:
http://motors.shop.ebay.com/__?_from=R4 ... ntercooler

if you build a low profile snub mount cross member you should be able to fit something fairly substantial there.

Yeah, I wanted to run an ebay one so badly...but they dont have any that offer 3" inlet and outlets (could be taken care of) and also weren't capable of the 1200 CFM I'm looking for :(

The only other option is an AWIC but I'm just not feelin it I guess. I'd rather just make a conventional setup work.

I'm actually not planning on running a snub mount. Two nice side engine mounts should take care of everything. I do want to retain as much bumper support as possible though regardless of what I do.

oh and if anyone has the cam and crank bolts and a timing belt cover, I'll pay you handsomely

So I was taking the front of the car apart today in preparation for the t-belt job, and when I looked at the belt, I noticed that its about ready to take a shit any minute now. The teeth are starting to separate from the belt and there are places where its starting to crack though. I am not going to drive it until the 4th when my buddy gets home and we can use his shop. I might even have it towed to his shop because I'm scared to drive the 40 minutes it takes to get there. This belt didn't look like this a few weeks ago. Its crazy. It went from looking just fine to looking like imminent failure in a few weeks time. Scary stuff!

Got the roof rack all mounted up and test fitted but the $75 price tag definitely reflects. The bars are pretty trashed, but I'm going to refinish them to the best of my ability. I'll have pics up soon. It looks pretty awesome.

Some pics to kick off and celebrate page 50















I have some more stuff to show off...just need to take some pics. I still need to refinish the bars for the rack and get the fitment on point. It was just test-fitted for these pics.

Also, this is the biggest thing I've accomplished so far this break. Old trailer parts were shitty.



Mounted new (used) parts for cheap and they are solid.



Got the boat back on and in the water She is lookin great and runs like a champ after all of the fixin' we did this month. This is how it came off of the trailer and sat for about a week.

Here are some pics of the condition of the t-belt. I might just tow it up the 40 min drive to fix it. It seriously looked fine a few weeks ago. I guess it just decided this last few weeks was its time to let go.






oil line stuff



I also got this for Christmas...my neighbor bruce airbrushed this. The original is STUNNING. The print is awesome too though. This one is an artist proof

Wow, that sucks about the timing belt. Yeah it definitely wasn't that bad we looked at it earlier. I don't blame you at all for wanting to tow it (especially with AAA). Last week when I tried to make that final trip before fixing an almost broken part I ended up with a seized water pump in a random parking lot :frustrated: , but that's no where near as bad as broken timing belt though my coolant system is now littered with metal shavings.

Actually I just finished putting my new timing belt on today, but i still have to flush and fill the coolant system.

The roof rack is looking good. Looks like its fits your board perfectly.
The airbrushed proof looks really good too.

Oh and by the way, we're trying to start my dads new motor for the first time but we keep running into problems. Somehow we ended up with a reverse rotation starter so the whole motor was spinning backwards . Then the mechanical fuel pump had the wrong internals in it and now something else, we think the timing is off.
I just want to hear it run before i have to leave.

justrack wrote::o Wow, that sucks about the timing belt. Yeah it definitely wasn't that bad we looked at it earlier. I don't blame you at all for wanting to tow it (especially with AAA). Last week when I tried to make that final trip before fixing an almost broken part I ended up with a seized water pump in a random parking lot :frustrated: , but that's no where near as bad as broken timing belt though my coolant system is now littered with metal shavings.

Actually I just finished putting my new timing belt on today, but i still have to flush and fill the coolant system.

The roof rack is looking good. Looks like its fits your board perfectly.
The airbrushed proof looks really good too.

Oh and by the way, we're trying to start my dads new motor for the first time but we keep running into problems. Somehow we ended up with a reverse rotation starter so the whole motor was spinning backwards . Then the mechanical fuel pump had the wrong internals in it and now something else, we think the timing is off.
I just want to hear it run before i have to leave.

Haha damn, thats crazy about the starter. Glad you checked the thread. I was going to call or send you a message or something to tell you about it all. You definitely need to update the thread here for your dads car with a few pics and also the one on E30tech so I can see what you've been up to.

I'm actually spraying the rack bars with this rubber stuff to finish them better. Hopefully it will come out alright and allow the towers to clamp on better. I'll have to show you when we get back. I may be up there a day late because Tom doesn't get back to help with my t-belt and cams until the 4th, so we are doing it that day and I'll probably get back up there on the 5th or something.

I haven't played ANY LOZST! I've been super busy fixing boats and such. I have spent like $200 and two days so far fixing my uncles boat (he's paying me to do it ) I'll have to catch up if you've been at it.

loxxrider wrote:Here are some pics of the condition of the t-belt. I might just tow it up the 40 min drive to fix it. It seriously looked fine a few weeks ago. I guess it just decided this last few weeks was its time to let go.

EEK!
I would tow it....