Steve's 1.5 SE build thread

[Tonester]

all this looks awsome.

just out of curiousity, how long dose this take? and how much dose all this cost?
Thanks Tone.

[PW@Woodsport]

hi tone,ive a FAQ thread here detailing the whole process....

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48103

[Tony jinxy froude]

Won't be long b4 we can say goodbye to my well known smokey na lump guys. Nomore Stinky Pete!!!!!!!!!

Oi You will always be known as Stinky Pete , JInxy

[Mk1 Turbo Powered Steve]

Won't be long b4 we can say goodbye to my well known smokey na lump guys. Nomore Stinky Pete!!!!!!!!!

Oi You will always be known as Stinky Pete , JInxy

You will always be stinky Pete, even with my SC engine

[pkmr2]

Yer i know i thought i would just push my luck

[PW@Woodsport]

more progress from the woodsport workshop... i spent today jet washing and degreasing the engine down and stripped all the crap off it like air con pump,alternator bracket (we will be relocating the alt to the GT4 position) ....



also stripped down the timing belt side ready for its new belt tomorrow...



i also cleaned and painted the cam cover,this is midnight blue 8E4 believe it or not,but the flash has made it look gunmetal grey....



and fitted to the now clean engine....



tomorrow sees the new clutch fitted,timing belt on,engine built up and installed in the freshly painted bay.

[GunZ]

Your going to get so much more work from these outstanding reports paul.. if you cant do my bodywork you can do my engine instead hehe
Graham

[PW@Woodsport]

really dont need the work mate! the build threads are done with every single conversion so the customer can follow along as it happens,every other conversion we have done in the last 2 years are over on TB in the "woodsport projects forum" if you fancy a read through.

I suppose it does generate interest but my main reason for always detailing the builds is to lift the lid on what happens to your car as its being worked on,the motor trade has a shocking reputation for dodgy goings on and people never get to see what goes on (even at delearships)... i believe we are the only garage in the UK to actually do this.

Anyway glad you're enjoying the build

[luthor1]

Must be grateful for the advancement of digital cameras otherwise you'd have to have stocks and shares in Kodak!

[PW@Woodsport]

todays progress.... i fitted the new timing belt....



and shortly after fitted a new clutch kit....



The gearbox got jet washed and given a coat of silver...
this ones LSD equipped so steve scored there.


Then the engine and gearbox were bolted together...



and loaded onto the WS engine dolly,this saves so much time getting the engine under the car... its on castors in case you havent seen it before.



The whole lot then shoved under the car,the two post lift makes this very easy too...



Oh i also refitted the fuel tank and made a heatshield for the front firewall....



Shortly after the car was lowered onto the engine and then hoisted up into place... the beauty of this being we know 100% the engine will fit the mounts despite never being dummy fitted,so the jigs paying off big time.





you can tell how square the engine is sitting,look at the badge on the inlet manifold,absolutely parallel with the boot lid edge....



next i fitted an XS power downpipe.... we do this to get rid of that horrible cat that weighs a ton,plus theres a power gain.



After that i fitted the gt4 alternator bracket,a straight swap for the mr2 engine lifting hook bracket that used to go here....



Finally today i cut 1" off the end of the other engine lifting bracket,this allows a mk1 oil pressure sender to be screwed in beside it...

[OlberJ]

I don't see what's SE about it if it's not a V6?

[PW@Woodsport]

im going to add the other 2 cylinders to make it an SE later on you spaz

[luthor1]

Do you fit the triangular bracing bracket that bolts the lower downpipe flange to the engine block to help prevent stress fractures? it's a bit of bent thick metal in a triangular shape where the 2 lower bolt holes line up with the top 2 bolts on the 3-hole downpipe flange, and the upper bolts to the nut that holds the turbo oil drain pipe to the block?

I found it helped massively in preventing repeated cracking of the DP. GTSChris does them for around £15 or something, or you could easily make a pattern. Obviously the stock DP bolts to the block with some pretty rigid supporting brackets so no cracking or fatigue problems there

[Mk1 Turbo Powered Steve]

If Paul feels the bracing bracket is worthwhile, i'm sure he will sort it

[PW@Woodsport]

the bracket in question comes with the XS power downpipe and i fit them to every downpipe i use....it would be amateur hour to leave it off.

[PW@Woodsport]

Lots of progress today... the projects picking up pace daily.

I spent a few hours making the rear torque mount,its achieved using a combo of mk1 and mk2 bits plus some new steel plates.First of all i plasma cut this plate which is one of my templates...



this was then drilled and bolted to the gearbox...



then i removed the side plate from the old mk2 mount....



and bolted that on too... its cut so it butts up against the other plate so they can be welded together.



A third triangular plate is added at the bottom and all three are solidly welded together....



Next the top is cut off the old mk1 rear torque mount...



And this is bolted to the chassis....



Now the old mk2 mount is turned upside down and tacked in situ to both sides,that is gearbox plates and chassis plates....



this was then removed,seam welded and painted.

Now for the front torque mount the mk2 bracket is bolted to the gearbox,to that we add the mk2 rubber block thats had its bolting face bracket removed.....



the old mk1 front torque mount gets its chassis bracket removed too....



and both mk1 and mk2 parts are bolted to their respective homes...



Bridging plates are then cut out and welded to both sides....



Here is the completed front torque mount...



Finally today was the clutch flexi line.... on the mk2 its too short to reach the mk1 hardline on the chassis,so we need to use the mk1 line... but here we have a problem,both ends of the clutch line are female....



So i needed to make an adapter.... we do this by using mk1 clutch slave cylinder hydraulic pipe ends....



these will screw into both sides of the clutch line.... so they are welded back to back....



And above you can see we chop off the original pipe ends and insert them into each end of the welded union,they are now acting as sealing olives...



thats the completed adapter which is then screwed into the clutch housing and the pipe screwed onto that...

[Tony jinxy froude]

Wow Paul those pics talk a thousand words mate, absolutely first class. I find myself logging in just to read the daily updates , best thing posted in ages, top notch stuff .
Just one thing to ask Paul, i notice the marrying up of many MK1 to MK2 stuff which takes some initial thinking out, out of curiosity what is the difference timwise to building your first conversion & doing a conversion nowadays ?, keep up the great work, all the best, "The Jinx meister"

[PW@Woodsport]

cheers tony... everything as you say is already thought out and previous problems solved years ago on the first builds,they take around 2 weeks (10 working days) to build now compared to about 8 weeks on the very first one i built back in 2002.A lot of valuable lessons learned along the way and of course we have templates of everything that needs fabricating.

[Tony jinxy froude]

Crikey ! you really have shaved the time off , i know what you mean, years ago when you first talked me through taking a mk1 engine out & putting another in took absolutely ages, now we're down to a fraction of that time, its like anything, the more you do it, the quicker & better it gets.... well some things anyway Jinx

[PW@Woodsport]

yup,that pretty much says it all... hopefully one day i will just be able to shout at my spanners and they will go do it for me