Jboogsthethug Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 @1969honda Thanks man! I actually do plan on adding that myself! I'll probably use some door hinges and close the holes up on the one end ha. Easy peasy! I just need to extend the oil pickup tube now ha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boben Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 That is a nice pan. Was there any warping of the gasket surface area due to the welds? I need to do something similar on my build, but the BMW OEM pan is aluminum and I'll probably use more than just the gasket plate. I did some minor modification on an aluminum pan in my previous build and the gasket area warped to the extend that I needed to machine it straight. And this happened even though I had the pan firmly bolted on a metal table while welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 @Boben Thanks, it does look spiffy! If I remember correctly it is a little warped but I don't foresee a problem with it after bolting it down as it's pretty slight. I could be wrong but I haven't done a pressure test yet! I would agree that if you're able to use more of the original pan material then you'll probably have less chance of warpage! I can keep you updated after the pressure test for my results though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boben Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 This tip does not help If you have leaks on the gasket seam due to warping, but otherwise, If you have a leak on a welding seam, you can apply Glyptal engine internal red enamel. It is intented to close any porous on the internal walls of an engine block. Also works on the oilpan internal surface since it can endure oil and temperature upto 130 degC. I once sealed my modified steel oil pan with that stuff, when it was leaking from a welding seam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 @Boben That is really good to know. I just looked it up! Do you not have to worry about the paint coming off inside? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boben Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 20 hours ago, Jboogsthethug said: @Boben That is really good to know. I just looked it up! Do you not have to worry about the paint coming off inside? Well, as many times is the case with these kind of classic restomod project cars, they don't see a whole lot of miles. So I cannot say whether it is bullet proof, but it is the right stuff for the particular environment and designed to endure oil on the surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 So as of yet, I still haven't finished polishing up the paint job. Truth be told, I'm not a great painter I found out haha. I think painting in the winter definitely had it's drawbacks.. One of them being my coats didn't dry very evenly and I have plenty of orange peel! Luckily, I have a ton of clear coat too ha. Some panels actually looked pretty good, some not so much. Here are some pictures of me hating sanding. Freaking orange peel.... Anyway, plenty of that left to do. I'll save it for later though. Now for some fun parts! About a year ago I made a website for a fabricator in exchange for a roll cage in the Z. I've been procrastinating buying the supplies needed but finally it all got figured out and planned! The only unfortunate thing is now I needed to remove the windshield to make things easier ha. That was a brand new gasket. I'm sure there are ways to save it btu I've already broken my last windshield so I figured I'd rather buy a new gasket. Out it came! I threw the engine back in as I knew he'd need it to see clearances. No tranny though so I strapped it all over the place to hold it ha. Ready for pickup! And she's off! At this point I am stoked and can't wait! Getting closer! I did want to initially do the cage myself but I figured I'd let it be done by a professional and it wouldn't be any less cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted February 9, 2021 Author Share Posted February 9, 2021 Man I need to update this, I am so much farther along than this shows ha. I'll get on that. For now, hoping someone can help! I'm almost done with swapping the RB25 in and I'm at a loss for a few of the plugs on the harness. My guess is they go to things that I don't have connected but I'm hoping for clarification! Here are the pics: First: this is coming off the alternator, my guess was maybe the fans or something? There's s 3 way split where the MAF and the Exhaust sensor lines split off with this last guy. These two cylinder shaped pieces, not sure. This 6 hole plug close to where the harness comes out of the firewall. This 8 hole plug that comes directly from the firewall split. Any insights? Eventually I plan on taking the harness out and removing things like this that aren't needed but I want to get it running first. I'm guessing one of these go to the transmission as there are a few plugs down there that I'm not sure where they end up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 (edited) It is time to get caught back up for good! I figure I'll start where I left off. So before sending this off we went over all that I wanted done to the car cage wise and gave him (my boi Thomas Meiser with Fabn801) a good idea of my goals. Once he got there I worked even more along with him via pictures and drawing things out ha. Ghetto but it worked pretty well! Here are our "blueprints". From here, things started taking shape. He started with the main hoop as it was the most important part. He bent them perfectly around the interior to really hug the walls, nailed it perfect. But after closer inspection of the rules we realized the bends probably exceeded the amount fo bends we could have. Total of 180 degrees between it all. So he was super cool and tore it out and redid it for me. Things beginning to take shape and working through it together: The final outcome before it was shipped back home. Looking super sick!! Man, Thomas really killed it and I couldn't be more stoked on the outcome. Can highly recommend him as a builder for anyone in the Utah area. I caught him when he was still young in his career and I can only imagine as he grows his company he will be a huge name. After all was said and done, he went above and beyond what was owed. We initially had the deal for him to gusset things out but he was already over what we agreed on hours wise and so I told him to not worry about these adn I'd fix them up later. And here are some of the highlight pics after getting her home safe and sound! There was a snowstorm on the way home and she got a bit wet so I wiped all the raw metal down but the car was still pretty wet overall. More to come! Edited February 10, 2021 by Jboogsthethug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exposed Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 Great update, good amount of pictures. What are you planning on doing with the dash, something custom? Do you have plates on the other side (inside) of the firewall or are the tubes all connected to one another? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted February 11, 2021 Author Share Posted February 11, 2021 24 minutes ago, Exposed said: Great update, good amount of pictures. What are you planning on doing with the dash, something custom? Do you have plates on the other side (inside) of the firewall or are the tubes all connected to one another? Thanks mate! Yeah I'm debating on whether to do just a flat dash or to do a fiberglass/CB dash. Regardless I plan on using a digital gauge rather than gauge pods but for now I'll probably just clamp an iPad to the bar or something ha. And all the tubes connect through except the triangulated dash portion. I wanted that to make the firewall a bit more rigid to help with my dual master cylinder setup. Who knows if it will actually help but I like to think it will ha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhm Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 23 hours ago, Exposed said: Great update, good amount of pictures. I agree....looks like it's coming along really nicely!! Keep those updates coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted February 13, 2021 Author Share Posted February 13, 2021 Thanks @jhm! SO after I got the cage back home, even after wiping it dry the rain had done it's worst and the cage started to rust pretty much instantly (no real shocker ha). So I got to work and gave the entire cage a sanding with some 2000 grit if I remember correctly? Sanded it all real nicely. Wiped it off with paint prep, covered up all the paint (that hadn't been ground off) and taped it all off and gave her a nice white coat to prevent it from rusting again! Just some paint+primer rattle cans from walmart. I actually wish I picked up a different brand after seeing how easily it comes off. Eventually I'm sure I'll sand and paint it again because of that but for now I've got some protection and I'm happy! Also, picked this TDI Audi up for a great deal as my daily about a year ago now ha. Thought I'd share. Great little car! More to come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zetsaz Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 That tdi wagon seems like a great dad-mobile and it makes me want one. If I wasn't such a sucker for marketing and wanting a new Tacoma or the new Frontier after it releases I'd be driving some kind of awd wagon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 On 2/12/2021 at 8:57 PM, Zetsaz said: That tdi wagon seems like a great dad-mobile and it makes me want one. If I wasn't such a sucker for marketing and wanting a new Tacoma or the new Frontier after it releases I'd be driving some kind of awd wagon. It's a great dad mobile for sure ha. I picked it up for 7800 and it had 96K miles on it. I get 40 miles to the gallon, can fit a ton of crap in it and it's pretty quick so overall I'm happy for sure! The new Tacomas are awesome though. We bought my wife a new 4runner in 2016 and I love it! It is not cheap though ha. I know I can trust it to always get her where she needs to go though and it will last forever! I actually really love Toyotas. My next project is probably going to be an 80 series Land Cruiser, those are awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280Z-LS3 Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 Looking great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 (edited) @Zetsaz Here she is with the tint done up next to the 4Runner! Both great cars! Next up, I decided to throw the engine back in and start getting it all buttoned up. Before I did that, I needed to get the oil pan and oil pickup tube finished. I bought a $20 engine stand and went to work! Removed the tranny from the back: New bolts all around! I covered up all the ports and plugged it up then wire brushed the old gasket off and cleaned it all up. I know some people frown on that and a razor would be better but this was faster and I've not had problems yet doing it this way. All cleaned up, nice and pretty! You can see the problem with the stock oil pickup tube angle vs where it needs to be. So cutting was needed.. The straight piece was from some pipe I bought from a local metal store, perfect fit! Tacked in place to make sure it is all good. A LOT of measuring happening here to make sure there is the optimal clearance between the bottom of the pan and the tube opening. More on that here: It all looked great except one problem... My oil pan was slightly too deep for the mounts I already made! This is it sitting on the crossmember, no clearance unfortunately. Too much gap for washers IMO. So with that, I made the decision to just start from scratch. I wasn't completely happy with my tranny mount anyway and I had different ideas for the new one! So, I ripped it all back out again, cut up these mounts and started from scratch. That's where we'll pick up in the next post! Edited February 17, 2021 by Jboogsthethug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted February 17, 2021 Author Share Posted February 17, 2021 When I did the first set of mounts I learned a few things but also did them in ways that I wasn't excited about per se. I later learned more and so I tried to apply my new knowledge with the second set. Firstly, I didn't know how to keep the motor straight. I learned a bit via the internet and found a nifty trick of using a string tied in the direct center front to back. So after a few measurements and marks, here we go! I also did my best to level out the engine beforehand but it ended up being a 1 degree downslope towards the rear. I would've preferred the opposite (1-3 degrees sloping forward) but with my oil pan being bigger it didn't allow my engine to drop forward as much as I'd like. That's ok, I have future plans that will make this oil pan obsolete so I'll get it perfect then! Of course, the engine does still have a slight lean to match factory. Here's a thread I started that might help anyone interested in learning more about that.: Using the rubber mallet to get things dialed in before fabbing. You can see I have a piece of MDF board sitting on my cross member giving me a tiny (1/8" or so) gap from the bottom of my oil pan to the top of the crossmember. I also removed the stock mounts as I decided to go straight solid mount on the motor and tranny mounts. I cut these piece off the first set of mounts as I knew I could easily reuse them. Gearing up for the measurements. First, I made these as the base for the mounts to the crossmember. I then put a bolt through and tightened them down so they wouldn't move. Did the same with the engine side of things too. Then, I made measurements and got it perfect with cardboard! Not the kind with the air pockets in them. The kind that is thin and stiff works best! I just did my best with measurements first then took my time and got the pieces perfect. You can see the passenger side is longer and skinnier than I would've liked but that's also due to the oil pan size. Should be plenty strong still! Transferred to some 1/4" (if I remember correctly) thick metal. Plenty strong I'd think! Cut out! The tabs, rectangle bar and the two squares on the left are for the tranny. Cleaned up the rust ha, looks much better! I put the pieces in place and tacked them up, here they are before the back plates were added. Then fully welded! My welds are getting better. Not perfect but I'm happy with my progress in that realm. In place and bolted down to check for warping. Fits great! Then on to the tranny. The RB25 tranny causes problems with the stock tranny mounts as far as fitment goes. The speed sensor is in the exact spot of the mounts and just hits it. Plus, as you saw from my first mounts you have to add extensions to mount up and it puts undesirable leverage on the stock mounts. So instead, I cut those completely out and used the tabs and the bigger squares I fabricated earlier to weld on new tabs. I welded the squares in the place I'd want the tabs to spread the load a bit across the thinner metal. Then I welded the tabs to those squares. I used the rectangle bar, drilled it out and bolted it up to the tranny. I removed the stock bushing mount from the tranny and bolted to that mount. I drilled big holes on one side and small holes on the other to access the bolts easily. You can see I accidentally drilled those backwards and since I had no more bar left I cut tabs and welded over the big holes then reversed it. You can also see the side holes that allowed my bolts to go straight through the tabs and old it in place. My welds are less good here as I am not great at overhead welding yet ha. Oops! Welded up a bit. They will hold but they are not pretty ha. I'll clean them up later when I get under to paint. All in and solid! I am feeling much better with these mounts. More to come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted February 17, 2021 Author Share Posted February 17, 2021 11 hours ago, 280Z-LS3 said: Looking great! Thanks amigo! Getting close! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jboogsthethug Posted February 17, 2021 Author Share Posted February 17, 2021 Also, I forgot to post this here but I'm also going to be posting videos covering the updates. Here's the first one just introducing it. I will actually stick with it this go around ha. I settled on naming it "The Shogun" because I felt it was fitting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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