Helmut the e21

[P_Roloff]

I vote either full analog with a tiny digital, or go full bore on digital and make it fit nicely and look as sleek as you can. A hybrid approach I think would kinda clash?

Whoo progress! This thing is gonna rip!

[retoropak]

I decided to go with ADU5 digital display in the middle and will use 80mm analog tach and speed. 

I started making some molds to build CF cluster bezel. I will receive my ADU in two weeks. 

I am trying to make the car drivable and somewhat reliable so I can take it to Vintage. The goal is to have it on the road first week of March and shake it down and fix whatever falls apart.

I finished engine harness and tested all circuits. Bought new wally world AGM battery and amazon special battery tray.

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I got a nice deal on ID 1050x injectors. I was a bit disappointed with fitment and the fact that I will loose beautiful stock m42 injector harness box/cover. But I could not find ev6 sized injector that would flow 1000 or more cc's. 

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I finished all oil lines and coolant lines. I used stainless hardlines for turbo coolant and turbo oil feed.

Radiator hoses are generic amazon silicone 90's joint with stainless tube. 

Cheapo bead roller struggled a bit with stainless tube but it got the job done. 

I finished welding exhaust manifold

Added some vacuum ports to the intake. 

Don't mind the welds I forgot what to do when welding a massive heatsink of aluminum could not get the welder dialed. 

160 amps was to low. 200 amps was destroying the tungsten and it would weld like crap. It is sealed and will be covered and not visible

Need to redo the turbo drain. It will most likely crack when the manifold expands due to heat. I will add flex section closer to the oil pan. 

To do list. 

1. Start the motor and if it doesn't explode immediately bring it to temp and fix leaks if any. 

2. Fab up Turbo to IC pipe. 

3. Fab up downpipe and rest of the exhaust. 

4. Fab up clutch hydraulic lines

5. Mount brake fluid reservoirs

6. Assembly all brakes. Buy braided steel brake lines.

[Jdesign]

Nice progress!

[retoropak]

It’s alive.
 

Priming oil pump was a pain. Had to use sprayer bottle to pump some oil thru the galleries to get the pump going.

Its loud
I need to fab up down pipe and exhaust. Zf 320 was sitting dry for couple years and now have detent issues.
I hope some atf and heat will loosen things up.

Redid the oil drain with the flex

I painted some brackets and added intake manifold brace.  I also finished steering shaft for the e36 PS rack. But in the meantime i got my Z4 manual rack and will have to shorten that shaft a bit, or make a new one. The splined bits are from Woodward and are fairly cheap so might as well make a new shaft. 

I reused the timing guides that came with the motor. I was putting the motor together 3-4 years ago and stupid me instead of changing the guides i said fockit. So one of the guides, the lower horseshoe one is cracked.  So i replaced this guide and I am still fighting timing case covers. They just did not want to seal. Stock metal gasket and RTV didn't do much. I used copper spray this time and a set of new gaskets. 

I cleaned up some interior wiring and tuned idle a bit, I mean recalibrated TPS. It was idling at modest 3700rpm before adjustment
I also reassembled rear hubs and put the calipers and new rear disks.

I tried laminating carbon for the first time. Overall it was not that bad (i guess we will se results tomorrow once it cures. Stretching carbon fabric around corners is a bit tricky and corners came out kinda meh. I will try again tomorrow to see if i can make it better.

I used Epon 828 epoxy resin and epikure 3200 hardener from Westlake. Also used 3m 77 spray adhesive to hold fabric in place. I did 2 layers of "amazon special" carbon fabric (3k twill weave) covered it with peel ply layer and breather and used storage vacuum bag.
Mold was prepped with 5 coats of release wax and 3 coats of PVA.

I mounted brake and clutch reservoirs. It is incredibly tight but it works. Engine an transmission has poly mounts and there is barely any movement so I should be fine

Temporary exhaust

I needed to resurface intake manifold flange. Flange had a high spot by cylinder #2 and was not sealing and vacuum leaked like crazy. A bit of a sand paper, new gasket and my all time favorite copper spray and its fixed. 

I got my ADU display. It integrated with MaxxEcu over can bus very well.

I am waiting on some bolts for brake caliper carriers, some m10 brake line fittings and v-band flanges to fab the downpipe and the rest of the exhaust.

[retoropak]

I had some timing cover leaks that I had to fix. 

Brakes are done. I used stainless hard lines which do not seal as well at the fittings as NiCopp lines. I had couple small leaks. A bit more torque at the fittings fixed the issue. 

Clutch hydraulic lines are done and it looks like clutch works ok.

I put driveshaft, diff and axles in. Tightened whole front suspension minus tie rods. 

I still need to shorten stock e36 tie rods for this setup to work.

I have a z4 manual rack that I will put in I just need to figure out the splines. I hope they are the same as e36 rack so I could reuse my Woodward u-joints.  

Valve cover lost its beautiful blue color for the more modest wrinkle black

The stupid intake manifold flange was warped. And my shitty welds were full of pinholes. No wonders that I could not set the idle below 1.2k rpm. 

 2 hours later and the flange started too look flat again  

I spent whole evening chasing pinholes. I think I got them all.

I welded new downpipe and rest of the exhaust. Its a 3" going into borla XR-1 muffler to Vibrant super quiet resonator and side exits on the driver side. 

I still need to weld a beauty ring for the side exit. I got a 4" stainless  pipe for this.