Pearl white coupe revival

[ottawa coupe]

While i know i am jinxing it, i'll say it anyways... i think i can put the welder away.... finished up detail work on the front subframe and radiator support. That said i am sure i'll find more later. Big cleanup to do, then a test fit of all the panels. I have a suspicion things have moved due to all the welding. I need to figure out what is warpage and what is 1980s-tastic panel fitment. Once that's sorted and everything cleaned, i'll unwrap the engine and get on with that refresh.

[ottawa coupe]

Something seems a bit off with the passenger headlight? I think the bumper surround is not straight either. Is there a document out there for dimensions i can refer to and see if things have gotten bent?

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[ottawa coupe]

Got a wiggle on last night and got the heads on and torqued. Mainly to close up the cylinders and ensure they remain as undamaged as they are. Took over an hour tonight to get 3 broken water pump bolts out. 2 cracked off with the first welded nut. The last one though..... it was not fun. Unfortunately i have damaged the mating surface at that hole and diminished the sealing area by about half. I am not certain what the best solution will be. I am wondering if i get artsy with jb weld to support the area. As it is, i am thinking i will put a stud in there that goes much deeper than the original bolt. Stupid dissimilar metals in a corrosive environment...... Also plugged the SAI holes which was super easy in the end as the holes were the correct size for m12 plugs right off the bat....finally something easy lol. Pausing here as i realise i haven't cleaned and painted various steel bits. As well as waiting for parts i forgot to order lol

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[ottawa coupe]

Not much progress this weekend unfortuately. Got the cooling pipes all put on but once again, the water pump may have gotten me. I got it on and bolted down but i think one of the screws has juuuust started to go righty loosey. Took me a while to dig thru my stuff last night but i did find my m6 helicoils. I think it's best i sort it now while i wait for a few parts stragglers to arrive from europe. Will deal with that tonight and by wednesday i should have everything needed for timing.

And cross your fingers that i get somewhere with the shop that dealt with my ecu today....

[Car_Lover_123]

(*^%&*&%^&. amazon fails me. kit arrived but bulbs are wrong. i hafta wait a week for correct ones. at least i hope they will be correct

Hi, I read your comment and I totally understand what you mean about not having gone through the fine print yet (been there way too many times myself). Honestly, if the projector doesn’t have a proper ground point or a suitable mounting for the bulb, that can actually be risky. There are some decent xenon replacement options here: https://www.autodoc.co.uk/s/h1-xenon-bulb

Long story short, cheap bulbs from Amazon might work a little bit.

[ottawa coupe]

Well, it took FAR longer with FAR more frustration than 9 waterpump bolts should give, but i got the water pump and t-stat in. A total of 7 helicoils...and one broken tap lol.

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That frustration led to to working on the accessories instead of the trickier timing task. Of course with the theme of things, that is no good either. The 4.2 alternator is locked up and upon inspection, the case is cracked.

20260113_175306.jpg Luckily, i kept the v6 alternator and it is the the same size physically as the 4.2. The only difference is 120a vs 150 and the pulley is smaller on the 4.2. Those 30 missing amps shpuldn't be a problem as it won't be powering all those s8 luxuries. I'm Having a hard time getting the pulley off the 4.2 unit but that should be sorted tonight. Also using the v6 ps pump as i rebuilt is and i dunno if it rus at a different pressure that the coupe/cabby rack doesn't like.

I am going to sort the alternator and then hang all the accessories, clean the snot outta my work bench and then FINALLY deal with timing and button this thing up.

[ottawa coupe]

The engine's gettin bigger. Cams and crank are locked, will tension the belt tomorrow. The parts boxes are getting emptier....

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[ottawa coupe]

Timed up and the greasy bits put together. I've not fully torqued the crank bolt but i don't think 200nm +180⁰ is a great idea for just the locking pin to resist? I think that's something best left to when the car is on the ground, put in 6th and brakes jammed on?

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I want to clean up the intake some more and i am missing one flapper link but at that point, i think it's done.


Edit: %%#@$%&*&^% 1 cam is 1 tooth off. Back apart it comes

[ottawa coupe]

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???

[ottawa coupe]

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....

[ottawa coupe]

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.

[ottawa coupe]

I wonder how long it stays in this time. My guess is till tuesday lol

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[ottawa coupe]

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.

[ottawa coupe]

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.....

[ottawa coupe]

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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