New from Sunny South Africa

[DaveCarGuy]

Great progress! She is looking very clean underneath!!! Well done, sir!

[KiKiIchiBan]

A very shiny undercarriage indeed. Lovely stuff.

[Heinrich]

Getting close for its maiden voyage!
Carry on

hop so , i am doing this as i know once the thing starts and moves under its own power, i am going to test drive it.
bled the brakes last night, needs some more bleeding , the pedal still has a little sponge in it but all 4 corners are working, and all the lines seem to stay dry.

i am still waiting for the head to come back( takes a while as it is a favor ),next i will put the block/gearbox back in to measure for the prop shaft.
once the head is back, i need to do the oil lines for the vvl relocation block.

and i still need to find new shocks for the rear

[Heinrich]

some small updates

made a fuel filter and installed a BOSCH 044 pump in the surge tank that goes inside the main fuel tank.
was quite a mission, i did not expect it to be as much of an issue to fit it as it was.but it is in and nothing leaks.





also tested the fuel level sender and i had to give it a ground wire, seems the wiper that grounds it was not making decent contact, measures fine now.


also completely stripped, washed, painted the heater/blower box.
took the heater core out and had it tested and cleaned, luckily it was in good shape.
could not find a working valve for the heater box so i modified a MK1 VW Golf valve in there.should do the trick.



and then........there was a wheel spacer.hehe
did this to figure out how much i need to space out to clear the coilover nuts.
will have spacers made

[Heinrich]

Some more progress.

the assembled engine with VVL head is in the car, the VVL relocation kit has been plumbed and cranked it over and verified oil pressure yesterday.
ended up stripping by block completely to have it faced as the timing chain cover and block was not the same height. Inspected all the bearings etc and all seems to be in good shape.





Stripped the valve cover from what looks like 3 different attempts at painting it, will repaint later. Would really like to do a rising sun.

Mounted a clutch master from a Nissan Almere, it is a lot shorter.

Made a spacer for the throw-out bearing to take up about 14mm
the gearbox with clutch and driveshaft is all installed in the car now.

[Heinrich]

Some more progress.

Fitted a cam home sensor to the exhaust cam


wired the bulkhead connector outside the car.much bigger job than anticipated


Battery terminal out of an E46 BMW

shroud made and fan fitted

wheel spacers and lower control arm drop knuckles thanx to a very kind friend.


all plumbing is done, intake is done, throttle cable is fitted , brakes are bled, clutch is bled and working.

also started mounting a dis assembled GTIR cluster into the 510 dash to have electronic speedo/odo and rev counter
https://vimeo.com/653995432

and then after a lot of back and forth between autronic and me, the car finally started.(they were extremely helpful)
only has a downpipe on for now, waiting on exhaust parts to arrive
https://vimeo.com/653995401

[two_68_510s]

WOW sounds really good Heinrich.

[510rob]

That is a major milestone! Awesome to hear it running.

[Heinrich]

1st drive in 9 years of ownership.
no exhaust, only downpipe.
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/661902417.
still al of of work to be done but this made me happier than I could have imagined.

[Heinrich]

some more progress.

cluster v2, because V1 i built upside down and the needles were "sticky "this time around i used the factory tacho and built a driver circuit for the ecu to be able to drive it.and used a electronic odo unit form a late model D21 pickup.had to open the windows on the odo face for the trip and odo, does not line up perfectly but looks ok for now.
also used the clear plastic cover from the D21 cluster to make new ones for my cluster, curve was just right




then i spent waaaay too much time on the exhaust, took me 2 saturdays worth as well as 2 evenings.this was more difficult that anticipated.
3" all the way(except from the turbo, space only allowed a 2.5" bend's radius.would have loved to add a resonator , but space is an issue.

free image hosting

i am now trying to make the res of the gauges work.

also trying to get a panel beater/spray painter that does not need re financing my house to afford.
started entertaining the idea of re painting it myself, time will tell.

[Heinrich]

SO........

next painting chapter.

car is currently at a new painter, thus far it seems to go a lot better.
het gives me updates as they progress.

back to bare metal, etch 2 part epoxy prime, and then the finishing starts.

[2DoorJim]

I missed your January post where you drove it the first time. Congratulations on getting it in motion, that had to feel great. Sounds like paint might only be days away and assembly can go pretty quick. Will it be driving this summer? Is there an inspection process in SA?

[Heinrich]

I missed your January post where you drove it the first time. Congratulations on getting it in motion, that had to feel great. Sounds like paint might only be days away and assembly can go pretty quick. Will it be driving this summer? Is there an inspection process in SA?

Thank you, and it felt GREAT!!!

I think the paint might still be a month or two, I am not goin to rush him(within reason).
i hope to have it driving before our winter( officially starts in June).

we do have an inspection process. But it is more a case of you have to pay someone for "something"(to my knowledge the car does not have to be Engineered, just basic roadworthy).
The car also has to be "data dotted"(a coded spray that you put on the car in different locations to be able to identify parts should it be stolen).
That, and I need to change the engine number to the SR20's number that is in there now.

[Heinrich]

Paint round #2

finally some progress!
doors still need polishing, boot lid, bonnet and front valence not yet painted, the valence needs some messaging to look nice and symmetric around the intercooler. Should happen soon though.

[Heinrich]

She is Home!!


.

i am satisfied with the paint job, obviously there are things that can be better, but one has to decide , do you want it perfect or do you want to have a finished car at some point.

some small changes to the idle circuit before the engine goes back in, but it shouldn't be too long before it is on its wheels again and able to move under its own steam.