71 4dr pos to awesome tastey goodness

[james399]

yessir, if you know the owner of the 240 car it came out of, the owner of the shop where the car is stored...

[james399]

ok, so a three year update i guess is in order...

so last, i had all the suspension and brakes installed and hand tightened, (it sat this way for way too long)

about a year ago... lol... a friend of mine gave me some grief about not finishing my projects and I put the onus on him... should not have done that... we worked two nights in a row to tighten up everything and drive it to the shop...

the car has a half cage installed ripped out interior... had a fabricator friend make me custom 4 point roll bar with harness bar built in... (bolt in)

while we were doing this we noticed that the entire floor of the car is basically sheet metal, and the frame stops at the fire wall and starts again around where the back seat is.

working on having some sill bars and door bars put in, all custom and bolt in. since we have to do all this work, i'm gonna connect the shock towers for added rigidity and strength... you cage guys know what i am talking about...

the only thing i need in terms of parts right now is a turbo for the sr, down pipe and exhaust, differential and drive shaft... or i should say i am fairly confident that i have all the parts... lol...

so fast foward to 2 months ago... same friend is giving me the same grief if not more... and alas... thinking about the 510 again...

so hopefully, i want to wrap her up
1. engine swap (only installation and fitment)
2. wire the car
3. make sure everything works
4. differential and drive shaft
5. paint and body work
6. interior...

like i said, i just about have everything to finish, so i just need to do the work.. sigh.... and sadly in those 6 steps is a bajillion things to do... lol...

-J

[finn]

no pics..?

[james399]

[james399]

ok, guys, here are some pictures...

280zx strut, tokiko ilumina with a gc coilover and custom gc spring, and stainless lines. cant see the roll center adjuster on the bottomof the strut. should have painted the caliper when i rebuilt it... now my lazy makes it look old and dirty...


all new moog tie rod ends, all swing arms were taken apart, sanded painted, and with new poly bushings... i used rustoleum farmer john colors green and yellow, and aluminum bits came in red...


280 zx upright, with replaced bearings... again i should have painted it all... grr...


camber plate adjustment


more yellow red and green shit... control arms were media blasted and painted yellow.


i should have at least wiped down the sway bar... lol...


my other toys...


ill take more pictures and try and document better....

[james399]

Calling all sr swap experts... ok... i had a duh moment, when I realized that I don't have a cross member for the sr... and i had an embarrising moment when I read my earlier post and it seems I forgot the critical part for a swap... i.e. the cross member

so over the weekend, i pulled the original cross member, and put in a beat up one as a place holder...

now, my question... i am looking to take my cross member to a shop to have it done... who all do you recommend and why....

I have been doing a lot of searching, and I can't seem to make up my mind.

However, I am leaning toward mckinneys as they are local to me.

thanks

-James

[okayfine]

Someone has a DIY guide to flipping the crossmember here on The Realm. DQ has also got a how-to. Really basic to do it yourself, and all the better if you're going to knock off the OE mount towers and built your own to set the SR in right and use the SR hydro mounts.

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=21028&p=188122&hil ... er#p188122

[james399]

What is an sr hydro mount?

[goichi1]

Hydro mounts are the stock engine mounts that come on the SR when it's in it's original car, they have a liquid in them.....or oil or something.....are you sure you are going to do an SR swap?? sounds like you will have a lot of those embarrassing moments.

[Three B's Racing]

When I did my SR I simply left the crossmember in the car ran some nice verticle lines to cut by and with my cut off wheel. Removed the center section placed a steel plate across the bottom, clamped in place reversed the center section on top and clamped it down and welded the thing back together. Then removed it and added some structural plates to the bottom of the crossmember at the welds, sand blasted and repainted. I used the original placement of the crossmember in the car as my jig. To lazy to make a jig for a one time do.

Lou "5 years and perfect"

[okayfine]

I have MIGing upside down, though.

[james399]

so i did quite a bit of research, it seems that most people simply cut out the middle and swap it around... to make it work with the oem sr motor mounts is ideal, but i decided to ef it and move on... getting the cross member done by McKinney...

leaving on a b trip tomorrow, so hopefully it will be in my grubby hands early july so i can at least do a dry installation to work out all the other issues... ill post some picts of it when i get it...

-J

[james399]

are you sure you are going to do an SR swap?? sounds like you will have a lot of those embarrassing moments.

lol... i'm old enough now, that i can admit when i do NOT know something and young enough not to give a damn when someone tells me what to do... lol...

so yup... blindly moving forward with the swap... i've done swaps before, done restorations before etc.... so yeah, gonna make some mistakes, gonna have to pay for some things twice... gonna be expensive... but as with all cars...

you always want: fast, reliable, and cheap

unfortunately you only get to pick two of the three... lol...

[okayfine]

I guess. If you're of the type to eschew research, especially on a known-quantity like SR510s, then yeah. But why make it hard on yourself and reinvent the wheel?

Very few have ever been impressed with McKinney's parts.

[james399]

I guess. If you're of the type to eschew research, especially on a known-quantity like SR510s, then yeah. But why make it hard on yourself and reinvent the wheel?

Very few have ever been impressed with McKinney's parts.

lol....

i've actually done a lot of reading and understand what a lot of people have done... there is no shortage of people who have tried and failed, and tried and succeeded in doing this swap.

i have even read up on the ka swap as it is essentially the same motor minus the turbo, (from a physical dimension perspective)

As in all things like this, it is relatively hard and easy... i am not reinventing the wheel, but the decision for the mckinney part was a compromise of cost, location in relation to me, quality of product etc...

i am hoping i made the right decision, and we will see when i get it back... lol...

i do this shit for me and no one else, and sometimes, i do reinvent the wheel, now if and when I come to a great idea and discover it has already been done by someone else? meh, I still enjoyed the process....

That is why my miata for an example, in my opinion, is one of the most built miatas in the scene, it has more performance mods and optimization mods that it has become a franken miata. when i order parts depending on whether it is suspension, motor, i have to specify a different year miata to get the part i need/want....

the 510 is no different, when i stand by my car, i very proudly say that, "yeah... i built this car from the ground up..." so stay tuned, this car will continue to be worked on, and one day hopefully finished... lol...

my cars are like puzzles where the pieces change... at the end i will get something definitely to my taste and that is all i am looking for...

-J