12/29/06 – Test fitting
the engine
Now here are the pictures of things to come...
Don't get your hopes up1, what we've done here is simply set the engine on the x-member and support it with a jack (yay for strong cast oil pan). The front of the motor is at the proper height. The rear of the engine will need to come up about 1/2". The shifter sits about 1.5" back from the center of the stock hole... Close enough for me.
More pictures:
Hood still clears:
Don's seal of approval:
1/2 of the brains of the operation2:
Plenty of room for the GT35R. You can see the chassis mount and the engine mount. This is very similar to how an RB mounts in a 240. Making custom mounts is going to be simple3. Probably going to use solid mounts.4
Jeez, there's even plenty of room over here for another one. :snky: jk.5
Well, I don't have a picture of it, but there is no way in hell that the downpipe is going to clear the steering shaft. Also, that's not the side of the car exhaust is meant to go down. The solution? Custom transmission tunnel/exhaust passage.
The rb26 transmission is definitely taller than the OEM unit, so the tunnel will need to be modified for that alone, well, we are also going to bring it up extra high across the firewall allowing us to route the exhaust over the transmission and down onto the right side of the car. We made a rough mockup of what this will look like with a piece of cardboard. You can imagine the downpipe on a topmount turbo going up and over the valve cover, over the transmission and out the rear of the car. 6
From the inside, the modified tunnel should fit behind the dash where the heating unit used to reside7:
For mounting the IC, I am thinking about getting this body kit from BMPdesigns8:
The next step is going to be to just clean everything up, remove the seats and carpets and power wash it. Then I am going to California9 until the 9th, so work will resume then. After I get back, I hope to have the motor mounts done in a week.
That's all for now. Any questions?
I still remember thinking that this project was flowing smoothly and that I might get it done by my original JUNE 07 target. That was an absurd timeframe. I should have just converted the car to RHD…
(1) Did anyone actually get their hopes up?
(2) Don Barton Esq. Formerly of Hybrid Connection.
(3) The engine mounts wound up taking considerably more thought than I originally anticipated.
(4) I’m hoping this is not a bone-jarring decision.
(5) In hindsight, trying to put a second turbo in here would be VERY VERY difficult…
(6) This baffled so many people. It took a LONG TIME before people realized what I was trying to do. Even after the exhaust was built, it wasn’t until the tunnel was complete that people understood. “You’re going to run the exhaust through the car?” “The passenger is going to burn their leg!” etc. etc. I thought it was a fairly simple concept, but people were flabbergasted. I guess it wasn’t until I equated it to moving the firewall back, that people “accepted” it.
(7) This means no more heater. I have still not test fit the dash over the tunnel, but I think it will fit.
(8) After hearing a number of horror stories about their bodykit, I’m glad I opted to go with OEM stuff… Plus, I’m not really feeling the overall style anymore…
(9) This trip was awesome! I also obtained an RB26 waterpump from Mckinney Motorsports while there. The guy was kind of a dick.
