So, currently waiting for amazon to deliver my cast couplers to cut up and tig. In the meantime a friend has had success with metal printing via one of those online (china) places. So i have drawn it up in fusion and my neighbour with a normal printer is gonna make a quick and dirty one for me to validate the model. We'll see if the welded one will work or if the metal print will be the best solution in the end.
also got on with ecu mounting and wire routing. Looks like i will be able to fit the engine harness thru the now unused procon hole (once opened up). I made a new tray for the ecu in the stock location and have the ecu "secured" via tight fitting silicon hoses one the studs on the ecu. There's enough slack in the harness such that i don't need to extend the wires on the 2 main connectors to the ecu. I will however need to do so for the connections to the chassis, but that's like 10 wires..... Gonna spend time tonight to organize that a bit more so that i can get the engine out more more time and get the last (?) Of the fabrication done (routing the harnesses, heat sheild mouting,brake lines, coolant lines and ps lines securing, and any remaining firewall welding).
edit: took brave pills and drilled another hole in the firewall (i'll be welding others shut, i promise!) And ecu harness is fit.
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Kept at it last night and while it improved with setting changes, it only improved on my welds, the base cast material interface remains as porous as spongebob squarepants. I have ordered another one off amazon and my friend with a tig machine is gonna try for me this weekend hopefully. That said, my fallback now is to fire up fusion and dust off my mill and make a coupler out of a solid block?Leave a comment:
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Sooo close but so far. Because i am a caveman, tig welding is plain beyond my skill set. I have mig welded aluminum in the past with success. However, no such luck this time. This thing is as porous as the day is long.... need to find someone local who can fix it..... otherwise the cooling system is sorted....
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So, about 3 months of farting around with the cooling system and it all came down to about an hours worth of welding and grinding 3 parts in order to complete the cooling system..... and a super expensive bottle of argon....which i guess i can use to finish the exhaust....
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As you can see, electrical has started getting laid in there. I THINK i will open up the procon10 hole on the passenger side next to the ac lines for the engine harness. But first i need to make a new tray for the ecu then i can properly place the hole. If it works as hoped, i don't cut the main trunk of the ecu harness and extend it.....somewhat a positive i would think lol.
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Got a few mins today and got the heater and expansion tank connections sorted and cut the bits for the upper rad hose connection. I'll get argon tomorrow and hopefully shortly thereafter have the cooling system worked out. No more bleeder at the heater core but i have a vacuum filler anyways.
unfortunately, i think i am gonna have to redo the brake lines off the abs unit, which i will do next time the engine is out.
The electrical harness is coming outta the basement after the cooling system sorted. I think that is gonna be it's own project at this point.... pretty sure i am going to have to cut out the section of firewall with the holes in it and replace it with a new one with new holes. I have stuffed the ps lines down in that corner and blocked at least 1 of them as well as a couple being the wrong size for the grommets. Hell, the v8 stuff doesn't have a grommet at all.... temptation for bulkhead connectors is rising lol.
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Doesn't look like much has changed but i am actually getting closer.... i made a hard line for the expansion tank that goes over the exhaust and snakes over the steering arm. Just one more connection for the heater and then the cooling is sorted save rad connections for which i need argon, not co2 mix for the welder....
Electrical layout starts next.
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The packaging nightmare continues..... i realized i had forgotten to put the steering damper in....so more stuff in an already over stuffed area (yeah i could search, but is there a downside to not having it?). I have determined i need to replace the perfectly fine brake lines as they run too close to the exhaust for comfort. Clutch line needs a complete redesign as it currently contacts the cat. I think though, i have left myself enough room for the wiring. Lots of little bits making their way here at the moment in hopes of not making a mess of this...
amazon sold me a 3" cat for a whopping $60, so no telling how good it actually is, but at least it's cheap enough as a backup should the cats in the bay prove to not work out.Leave a comment:
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Productive 24hrs. Got the ps plumbed up, hoses aren't secured yet but it's tidily out of the way. Started packing all the stuff in and messing with ac lines. I am less sure about the cats right off the manifolds now. Stuff is AWFULLY close. An inch for fuel lines, less than 2 for ac? Yes, i need to put heatshields in but a sheet of aluminum can only do so much right? May replace them with pipes, move them lower for more clearance and a single 3" cat under the car.... tho i worry about ground clearance then....
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So, after some searching, i figure i will be brazing tubes and fittings together for the ac. Not exactly sure what fittings or tubes yet lol. I kinda suspect i am gonna hafta go to a scrapyard and pull a bunch lines from vws to get useable ends and go from there.
And in another chapter in my upcoming book titled "i'm never building a car again", i put friggin $800 down to get AN fittings and lines to get the power steering plumbed.....$65 for a banjo - AN fitting.... sigh.
Edit: warning, blasphemy incoming! I helped a neighbour out a while ago with the ac in his car. A nissan. I recalled his drier being very compact, which is something i need to find. Hop on the interwebs and a drier for that car is $9. Lines for $15. I think that's gonna be the source for bits.....Last edited by ottawa coupe; 29 January 2026, 13:50.Leave a comment:
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Only got a few mins today. Luckily, minimal changes to fuel lines are needed to go fron the v6 to the v8. However, the AC lines.. .. sigh. I guess i am gonna hafta learn how to make'em cuz EVERYTHING is gonna be from scratch.Leave a comment:
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So, slight pause this week due to the missing hardware, as well as home renos resulting in half a bathroom taking space in the shop.
Anyways, rebuilt and shortened propshaft was returned and when i got home from work, the flywheel bolts arrived.
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Goal for the weekend is to mate the engine and box (permenantly?) And get it in the car with linkage and propshaft. Busy with kids so time will be scarce though. I would try to get the front axles on too but i'm still missing my vss trigger wheel.Leave a comment:
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Aaaannnnnnd of course i have the wrong flywheel bolts..... so no final mating of box and engine.
I may be in for some drama for the ecu. Dropped it off yesterday, the outfit that did the flash has evidence of it working and communicating post flash. I have to go to the shop today and work with them to show what is going on. Only thing i can think of at the moment is that the canbus wires need to be connected to the obd connector, even though the wiring diagrams do not reflect this at all....
It's a bit messy in that the shop is local but apparently the tuner is in freakin british columbia.....a solid 5000kms and 3 time zones away....i thought the shop did it on site...
I need to do it today as the guy that deals with this is away tomorrow till march....good thing i don't have to, you know, WORK or anything....
EDIT: Oh ffs. 1s and 0s can suck it. I decided to investigate further and test with my racecar's spare ecu (med 9.1) and my actual racecar. Both produced the same comms error. At this point, it was apparent the issue lay somewhere else. Reinstalled vcds and voila. Took a quick trip out to the shop and tried again on the v8 ecu and yep, no issues. So weird as vcds worked just fine last summer on my racecar.
crisis averted and i can move fwd again....Last edited by ottawa coupe; 20 January 2026, 15:41.Leave a comment:
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Right, $200 later for new bolts (they spec 1 time use and i didn't feel like risking it?) and gaskets for the bloody 1 tooth cam error and we're back to this now.
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About the only thing left to purchase for the engine now is oil and filter. I have a sneaking suspicion though that i am not outta the woods yet when it comes to helicoils. I have had to clean up the big threads that mate to the trans but they admittedly don't look great. The guy who did the manual swap into the donor s8 seems to have been a bit of a gorrila. Gonna get this beast on to my work bench and see what i can see. I am going to the shop that did the ecu on monday as well as get my shortened propshaft. I am cautiously optimistic and i am closing in on the final bits of cuttibg and welding and just making things fit???Leave a comment:
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