Meet "Blue Nose" by DIIRTY-30

9 minute(s) of a 214 minute read

Thanks people! As for the question regarding the driveshaft; Turner sells them I'm sure if you get in touch with them they can work it out. My local shop I found after that purchase told me he would've done it, unfortunately he's since retired and moved.

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The shop who handled my headliner, never perfectly aligned or regreased my cables on the reinstall when they removed it. So I got stuck with a partially opened roof a little ways back. Fun stuff which has made its way onto the list, more so at the end but always more $$$$.

With some wiggling and force, I got it closed and managed to pop the whole assembly out. Took a good deal of time and made me begin contemplating just making it a slick top. Thing was such a PIA, but i'll eventually order new cables and stupid $10 gear once I paint the engine bay and tie up the loose ends. If theres left over paint, give the panel a whole respray while I'm at it to freshen things up.

I went ahead and started making little block off plates for the firewall to avoid moisture, road debris, or exhaust fumes entering the cab. Tacked them in place just incase I was ever re revert the car. The bay itself had been sitting uncoated for a little while & sprinkle of rain so I went at it with a little wire wheel action.

Began working on the motor again; Picking up another tube & rear cross over pipe for the coolant from the junkyard. My previous one was only sufficient with the CCV block off plate, which won't pass inspection lol. I removed one of the outlets, welding cast aluminum is extremely difficult I found. So to ensure no pinholes, I JB welded over that ish to make sure I wouldn't have eventual faults. I do have a spare m62 without temp ports if anyone wants to buy it.

Went ahead and gave the pipes some heat wrapping to help keep temps down.

Moving forward onto the sensor ports; with the new cross over pipe I needed a new location. So I went ahead and tapped the WP and will have to slightly extend the wire (no big deal).
Clearance seems to be pretty good, and the wire can be passed along the inside of the boxes with factory harness for a cleaner approach.

Next I wanted to remove this jankey shit that used to be run on the return line for the oil cooler. Really was never happy with this piece, but it gave me readings, and got the car running so it semi-did its job.

Decided to go straight to the X5 for the absolute direct readings and accuracy this time around. Quick measurement and some time on the drill press and wahlah...

Then went ahead and spent a good part of the morning, sitting trying to figure out how to route the AN lines properly while keeping the timing cover mount appearance.

With that back together, I began reassembling the rest of the engine. I was planning to buy another throw out bearing, to have for the 420g swap on the e31 but found out the parts are NLA for e34s now. Go figure right? Ordered the m62 bearing to see what the difference was, and boy... drastic.

So 86'd that idea, and will eventually be going with a different set up for the e31 I suppose now. Slapped the flywheel/clutch back on, torqued, and reinstalled the transmission which I gotta say doing it alone... SUCKS.

I believe I put up pics of the strut reinforcements i made (similar to the vert ones) I decided to finally weld those in before dropping the motor into place. Very happy with them, I used to have the issue of my drivers door not opening/closing due to flex when on jack stands. Perhaps from the duration, or by PO & age what have you. This completely corrected it so I was beyond happy to see the direct effect so soon.

With the motor in place now I began to look for a different saw, and luckily came across this bandsaw. Guy turned out to be a gearhead as well, after explaining what I was doing, gave it to me for next to nothing. His biggest drawback he had was patience, and never adjusted it to make 100% square cuts. I went and grabbed a new blade, some research, and a scrap piece of tubing managed to get it dialed in pretty easily. Took about a good 45 mins and 4 or 5 cuts but very pleased especially given the price.

So more recently, I've cleaned up the engine wiring, running it through the fender; along with the hood cable. Have begun working the manifolds, hitting little roadblocks since this is the first time I've ever tried routing stuff. Having no guidance or brainiacs on speed dial doesn't help the cause.

I am beyond tempted to try to register it out of state to avoid this headache. Its such an unnecessary thing, but I am determined to get that stupid BAR sticker and have everything legit above board. The more I've cut and planned the routing, the more I appreciate how simple the X5 manifolds make this. My biggest qualm so far is using the e46 shafts, and cylinder 7&8's exit is RIGHT in its path. So I have two choices, restrict it, or use the 2 spare 46 shafts and make a new - even smaller unit.

With the heat cranking up and having the car outside 80% of the day till 5pm shade, I'm working with 3 hrs of daylight if I manage the time. So hoping to knock it out relatively soon and get the cats on order to finally paint & finish this up.