Chronicles of a 13BT swap......

[CHC (RIP)]

Cliff, it\'s mad the amount of junk that is on these engines to try and make it perform to it\'s optimum ability in every climate situation possible and then there\'s stuff like the gadget that increases revs when you load the engine with AC and PAS to prevent it stalling etc etc. Basically Ramon came and visited and it was bin that, bin that, bin that and that.......and that aswell- and so on. I had no idea, but am enjoying this rather steep learning curve.
 
I\'m beginning to get the gist of this and could well be thinking about some mods on Goldie when I get closer to this stage.
 
I\'ve just got to bung up all these VAC nipples now so if anyones got an idea of the best course of action please chip in. I\'ve posted a thread on the 2nd section but to no avail so far.[/quote]
 
Hows about using nipple caps and/or plastic bar glued into place?

[captainbizzaro]

Yeah little caps is a good shout.

[captainbizzaro]

What do guys think of these-I like them, mainly because of the stupendous lip.

They are 13x7J ET -7

Thoughts?

[Steve-A]

I\'m thinking that could work! To make the most of wide 13s I think you\'d have to be pretty low though?

One thing to remember is that if you\'re going the PCD adapter route, like we discussed, then you\'ll be on an effective et of -27 not -7 so might need arches....

[captainbizzaro]

Yeah I am going to drop a bit like you said to make it suit wide 13\'s. For these wheels I think I am willing to have arches I\'ve kind of taken to them a bit. I just love the size of that lip-and they were on a Nissan Micra!:god

[Steve-A]

It is a very nice amount of lip! Go for it!

[syebba]

 
They look G8,look like revolution wheels.

[captainbizzaro]

Yeah you\'re right Stu they are Revo\'s.

[Steve-A]

I saw this and thought of you.... 13" Revo\'s will work !

[captainbizzaro]

aaah yes, Kentetsu\'s car-forgot he runs Revo\'s. Well sorted car that.

[Steve-A]

Yeh sounds like it. Though interesting reading about the rear suspension problems, I have a small idea that no-one seems to have thought of to get round the issues.May try it out on Rexanne when she\'s on the road!

[captainbizzaro]

Excellent-I\'ve been reading through all the gumph about getting round the misalignment when you lower them so will watch with interest. Then if it\'s successful blatantly copy you! Kentetsu and another chap on there with an equally low 7 have both mailed me they\'re suspension specs so we\'ll have to collaberate information when the time comes. Think respeed are gonna do ok out of us!

As a side note, Kentetsu\'s car does not suffer from snap oversteer on his current setup and the watts link is still in place-he\'s made no major changes just \'off the shelf\' kit.

[Steve-A]

Good stuff! I was gonna message Kentetsu myself about his set-up but hadn\'t got that far.

I was reading about him having no snap oversteer with stock 4 link and watts link, and it made me think. The problem seems to be that as the suspension moves through its travel the difference in upper to lower link length causes the diff to tilt slightly. As the diff tilts the watts link tilts too, the 2 bars joining the watts link to the chassis only articulate one one plane, and as the diff tilts they need to articulate in 2 planes and the stock system binds.

So why not rose joint just those 2 bars? We\'re only talking about a degree or two of movement in the 2nd plane as the diff twists slightly, and then the suspension should be able to move freely?

Tis very much just an idea right now, and I know rose joints do have their problems, but it would be a pretty easy thing to actually swap over and try out.

It may be completely useless but I also had a moment of inspiration about steering last night. It seems one of the main things stopping the use of FC, FD or mx5 racks is the fact that they are designed for front steer not rear steer like the FB. So what about running a left hand drive rack flipped round? The steering wheel mount is then on the right hand side of the car, and the rack moves in the right direction for rear steer. Using a manual mx5 rack there\'d be no PAS gubbins to deal with and 3 turns lock to lock nice acurate rack and pinion steering. I\'m sure there is lots of fab to do, but it\'s just bubbling along in the back of my mind. I might try to pick up a LHD mx5 rack to play with when I\'ve got the front of Rexanne in bits doing all the bushes.

I had planned to make a huge order from re-speed, but I\'ve had a couple of emails back and forth to Atomic Rex about the parts they can offer for FBs in the lat few days. Seems they have their own big brake kit, camber plates, ARBs and GAZ coilovers to offer so I might end up using them. Waiting to hear back on some ball park prices and stuff.

[captainbizzaro]

Y\'know I was thinking of dropping Jon a line to see what he could supply so keep me posted. Like the idea about the steering rack though-got to be worth a try, whats the worst that could happen!

[captainbizzaro]

Took a drive tonight and picked up some goodies which will allow a serious leap forward in progress, I could have gone forward with stock turbo (modified manifold) and stock flywheel/clutch assembly but decided to hold off, save some more pennies and get the best I could reasonably afford. This is all second hand stuff but had only 10000miles of use and is all good quality kit...

Lightened flywheel...



Also got a snazzy clutch to go with it-either the clutch or flywheel is Exedy but can\'t remember which!

I spent a lot of time giving myself a headache regarding turbo options, and was all set for a T3/T4 hybrid but this was offered to me and I couldn\'t turn it down, even though it took me eons of time to actually get up the M3 and pick it up! (Thanks for your patience Pete:cheers)




It\'s a Turbonetics affair with larger than stock hotside.

Also chucked in for free was a gearbox which essentially means I can get on and get it in allowing me to concentrate on fun stuff like intercoolers and the suchlike.

Also this weekend Santa Claus came in the guise of Ramon with some shiny gifts, more specifically a polished S5 (:D) UIM and LIM to match along with a modified TII gearbox mount which should bolt straight in-all of this is in the shed at the minute and it is cold outside so photo\'s of these goodies will follow later in the week.:bandit