Popular Post Evan Posted April 8, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 8, 2019 Still plodding away, got a pair of Slam Specialties RE5s for the front, would of likes to run the larger RE6s up front but they're a bit marginal for clearance on the diameter front and I'd rather not risk having a bag rubbing on something. Hot glue gunned some mounts together, all designed to be bolt in: Full Squash (onto factory bumpstops), followed by full droop - looking like I'll need limiting straps at full droop to stop all the weight hanging from the bag. Back when this was at the panel beaters I made a day trip with Ned to Mercworx is Tirau in search of a new boot, as mine was full of cheese. took a punt on one that had a dent in it but look solid. Finally got around to getting it blasted and primed at Autoblast and, other than coming back in the wrong primer and having a couple of dents in it, it looks ace - not a spot of rust in it. New one on top of old one: Have started seam sealing the underside, started with the front left wheel arch. Initially tried masking up the lines to give a cleaner finish but have decided that isn't worth the effort; a finger swipe gives the best outcome. (as an aside when Wurth say their seam sealer is 'brushable' they're using that term very optimistially) Hopefully have the underside seam sealed by the weekend touch wood. 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted April 13, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2019 Have now seam sealed the front right inner wheel arch. Also got the car up on axle stands and off the trolley thing it's been on for the last 18 months and seam sealed the under side, no pics of that. Masked up the front left inner wheel arch and top coated it with Wurth 'Gravel throw and underbody protection'. I don't want to use the full fat bitumen based underseal as it's a prick to get off in the future if you ever need to - a lot of the underside of this car is still coated in it as the blaster couldn't remove it and I don't have the patience to lie on my back with a heat gun and scraper to get it off, so it can stay. This stuff seams to be favoured by those in the Porsche circles online so we will see how it goes (means I have Porsche parts on my car now right?) has the added benefit of coming in a rattle can, not sure if that means it won't last but it takes a bit of effort to scratch it once its dry. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted April 25, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 25, 2019 Masked up and sprayed the other side and the underside of the floors as far back as the rear seats (note all the OG underseal the blaster couldn't get off), left the trans tunnel in case it needs some clearancing for the trans I want to run (Mercedes 722.6) I need to drop the rear diff to do the underside of the boot, but before doing that I thought I should really install the bags and some wheels and put it on the ground to see how it looks, so I did. Managed to unlock the next level of sketch city in the process with mystery blocks of wood used in precarious manners to get it down off the axles stands. That's as low as you'll get one of these without taking an angle grinder to the body which I am unkeen to do, I also don't think the rear diff would enjoy any more articulation. sills are about 100mm, front cross member about 70mm and rear diff about 50mm from the ground respectfully. Now have the classic problem of the jack not fitting under it. 30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted June 8, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 8, 2019 Temperature has dropped and work has slowed. Have been deliberating over engine choices for aaaaages, was pretty set on running a M104 (basically a Merc RB/JZ), other alternatives included an M271 (supercharged 4 cylinder thing) or an OG M180. I flip flopped for about 18 months until this popped up on trademe for $1 reserve, it's mine now. So I brought a 54 year old engine that 'ran when parked' 20 years ago sight unseen. It's not an L series Datsun donk but rather a Mercedes M180 which is what these cars originally came with. It doesn't look half bad under the rocker cover but even with the plugs out and a bar on the front pulley it has no enthusiasm to turn over so could be seized, more investigating required.. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted January 5, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 5, 2021 Howdy, been awhile. Life got in the way there for a bit; moved out of Auckland (subsequently moved house a couple of times with the Merc spending a bit of time in storage), had a baby etc. but Xmas holiday period has allowed me to make some progress. I wasn’t happy with the tabs I had welded on the upper rear airbag mounts, so ages ago I drew up some flange things and had them laser cut, finally got around to cutting the old tabs off and welding on the new flanges so thats all much tidier. Drilled some holes in the car so the aforementioned mounts have some way of attaching to the car, front two bolts come through from underneath the rear seat; the rearmost hole had a captive nut welded on the topside as it’s inside an enclosed box section of the car (welding upside down can suck a pineapple) Gave it a prime and a paint to match the rest of the underside The engine I mentioned is in no hurry to rotate, I spent some time trying to free it up with various liquids and heat but nah, Piston 1 isn’t budging. Was scrolling Facebook marketplace one evening looking for a transmission and stumbled across a guy selling another engine for cheap approx 800m from Sentra Daves place in sunny Onehunga so bought that. This motor is an M130 out of a W108, the last variation of the M180 engine family. Displaces 2.8 litres (vs 2.2l), make 160ish hp when new with improvements including larger valves in the head and 7 main bearings vs 4 in the smaller displacement versions. This one runs (although the cam has seen better days). An added bonus was that it came with a power steering pump attached and the power steering box from the W108 it came from - which bolts into a W111 as they’re the same chassis, So I need to source a shorter steering column from a W108 to suit and then I’ll gain power steering. (KY if you see this I still want that V8 so don’t panic) Spent the last couple of months leading up to Xmas buying various supplies to put some paint on things, including a couple of spray guns based on YouTube recommendations. Got a chance to give the boot floor a sand up then smooched some seam sealer around the place and waited for it to stop raining. Got a chance to mask it up, wipe it down and blow over a fresh layer of epoxy primer followed by some 2k satin black For my first foray into spraying paint it came up not bad.jpeg, couple of rookie balls ups mainly consisting of me dropping the air hose on the boot floor whilst trying to reach under the parcel shelf etc which has left a couple marks but it’ll all end up hidden under a rubber mat/carpet so I’m happy as with it. Rear tail light panel will end up body colour (which isn’t black). I’ll probably need to go back and brush on a couple bits that I couldn’t get the gun too. Progress feels good though. 23 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted April 25, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 25, 2021 Recently picked up one of those generic 220l freestanding blasting cabinets, so I could set to work blasting/primering/painting the rear suspension/bag mounts etc in several batches. Such a time consuming task but super satisfying seeing once scummy parts come out looking new. Need to replace the window and do an LED light upgrade to the blasting cabinet before I can do anymore (the front suspension bits). Can't see shit in it anymore. Ended up cutting the wheel bearings off the half shalfs so I could paint the drum brake backing plate. Don't have a press so might try the axle in freezer, bearing in oven trick for fitting the new bearings I have before I go door knocking around the neighbourhood trying to find someone with a press I can borrow. Then I can finally get the diff back together in one piece. The whole diff hangs from a rubber bush that sits in the boot floor, I've got a new one of these bushes on its way from Germany as the original is suitably flogged but it seems the replacement one is on the slow boat so who knows when that will get here, but I need it to refit the diff so bit of a stalemate there. Also picked up a 722.6 trans out of an early 2000s W203 that suffered a timing chain failure (like most of them do). these don't bolt up to the M180/M130 family of engines so I need to make up an adapter plate, which is my next job will also need a controller for it but that can wait. I've gone the complicated route of gaining a lock up torque convertor and a 5th gear, but a man wants what a man wants. Until next time. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted August 1, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 1, 2021 Trans adapter time. As mentioned earlier the 722.6 doesn't bolt up to a M180/M127/M129/M130 engine even through the bolt patterns look very similar (with the inline engine version of a 722.6 bellhousing at least). So I had a conundrum on how to go about this, taking into consideration things like starter location, ring gear location, keeping things concentric, making sure the torque convertor is seated once its all together etc. There's several things that ended up providing the answer for me. Firstly the starter; On the M130 the starter is on the right hand side of the engine, the factory sandwich plate that sits between the engine and gearbox has a provision for the starter. however on the 722.6 trans the starter clearance bulge is on the the left hand side. So which side of the motor do you want your starter? if you scroll up a post of two you'll see the oil filter housing sits on the left hand side of the motor, right where the starter would be, so you can't make use of the 722.6s starter mount. In which case you're now using the engines OG starter, which means you'll want to keep the ring gear in the original location... So I yoinked the manual trans off that engine and too some measurements and drew some circles in Fusion360 Then realized I'd mucked up the overall diameter of the thing, luckily this was prior to sending away files to the laser cutters. Sent some files off and they sent back some lumps of metal Have a 12mm spacer for the end of the crank, and a 3mm thick flexplate, plan is to scavenge one of the ring gears off the manual flywheels I have and weld that to the flexplate. I spent a rainy Sunday attempting to measure the bolt pattern for both the engine and the trans and had a test piece cut out of 3mm plate at the same time (the disc on the left) if my measurements were right I was going to get a thicker one cut and run that but you can see from the ticks and crosses on it only about a 1/3 of the holes lined up. Ended up getting a 12mm thick piece laser cut (the disc on the right) that utilized one of the factory dowel pins on the trans, that was to be my starting point. clamped precariously in place, the OD was large enough to blank off the now unneeded starter bulge on the left hand side Went around and marked out the holes I'd be using that didn't clash with any of the holes I would need on the sandwich plate, tapped one of them using the shitty tap set I had before buying a Volkel tap set based on someone on heres recommendation, holy moley did that improve my outlook on life. Whoever made that recommendation deserves an ice cream. Ended up here: Jealous of my phone? Whilst doing that the torque convertor was sitting on the bench next to the trans, at some point I moved the trans and knocked the converter onto the floor which caused a drama for later on but we won't talk about that. Did some maths at this point. Decided if I wanted to run a 12mm thick adapter plate I'd need to reduce the thickness of the sandwich plate by ~11mm, a buddy came through and was able to do that for me, I have a spare plate if this doesn't work out, comparing the two post surgery: That's the relatively easy side done, next step was to join that to the engine whilst keeping the trans concentric to the crank (well as much as I could anyway). There's a small win here in that the OD of the pilot on the torque convertor is the same as the ID on the end of that crank where the pilot bearing would normally go for the original manual trans (35mm). I carried this measurement over to the ID of the crank spacer so the Torque convertor could locate on it, the spacer picks up the OG dowel pin on the end of the crank so based on that assumption of it being a straight line I bolted the spacer up to the crank and slid the trans up to it, docking the torque convertor pilot in the hole. Took a brave pill and wiggled it so the trans looked straight up and down against the engine, rather than tipped to one side, and marked out the two holes for the starter then drilled and tapped those. Bolted everything back together, so far everything is lining up. took the trans off, leaving the adapter bolted to the sandwich plate on the engine, removed these two as one: Was then able to flip it over, mark out some holes and drill and tap those. Then the moment of truth, putting it all together... Booyah! that shit is attached. Had to do a bit of fettling but was bugger all. I need to change the blade on my vertical bandsaw so I can trim the excess off the OD of the adapter. Current issue is that its too tight between the flexplate and the converter, they rotate as one without being bolted together. We didn't get exactly 11mm off the plate when we machined it down, it ended up being about 11.2mm which I think is part of where the problem is, it's bringing the trans and engine too close together, in hindsight I probably should have aimed for 10mm. I think to get around this I might skim a bit off the end of the converter so it can sit further inside the bellhousing when seated, but I'm not sure how much clearance the input shaft of the trans should have inside the converter before it bottoms out, surely 1mm less isn't the end of the world? Anyone got any insight? 22 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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