TitaniumTT's I hope I make it to DGRR '09 Build
 

Just like the title says, I hope I can get my Most Ungrateful Mistress done in time to make it to DGRR '09

She started life as an '88 SE and for the last 25 months I've been working on a 13B-RE swap with REW sequential twins, Motec M820, AIM dash, dual Mocal Oil Coolers, HMIC w/name brand that I won't name i-cooler, Griffin Rad, Exedy Twin Disc Clutch, Stance c/o's, KVR brakes, R/B sways with MT adjustable links, Corbeau seats, harness's, rollbar, custom 3-point strut tower bar w/engine torque brace, custom lower arm bar, custom rear bar, custom this custom that, etc etc etc...... basically I built more parts for this car than Mazda did at this point.

About 6 weeks ago she came to life for the first time. She lived an amazing 4.5 hours before the motor blew. The motor in question was an import that had been rebuilt before it was imported. Had REW housings and sleeves, but was still stock ported. The motor arrived about 5 years ago when someone bought it. They let it sit in thier basement for a year before selling it. The kid who bought it let it sit in his garage for a year before selling it to me. I let it sit in my garage for a year before I started working on this project, which has taken me over 2 years at this point. Every once in a while I would pour a little oil into the spark plug holes and rotate her over by hand. The seals sounded good and when I tested the compression on the bench I got 105F/107R. I decided to leave the motor alone. BIG mistake. One of the side seals was carbon locked and after enough heat cycles it must have cracked and let loose. When pulling the blown motor apart a good chunk of side seal was missing. The first apex seal in rotation was 90% gone, the second cracked, and the third just barely pinned down. The front face of the front rotor had all the side/corner seals pinned completely down and LOCKED tighter than a virgin.

Regardless, I bought a second motor that wasn't what I thought it was, neither did the original owner. Shop will remain un-named but you know who you are :suspect: So I had to get a set of S5 n/a housings to complete that motor as well. Does it end? We hope so, with DGRR! So, what's left to do..... lets see I need to

Finish painting the front and rear bumpers (hopefully early sunday morning they'll be done, the primer surfacer is kicking as I type..
work and paint FR fender, all molding, engine bay, subframe, motor, trans, various bracings
Powder coat EVERYTHING under the hood including ducting, HMIC "frame" mis brackets, tanks, links, bars etc, waterpump assemblies :rolleyes: alternators, TB brackets, engine mounts, etc etc
Finish the un-named shops porting, port the S5 housings,
rebuild the motor,
build a new 2-stroke tank
install the motor,
mount and align fenders, bumpers, hood
re-work the down-pipe
finish the exhaust tips
Build a belly pan
put the interior back together
break the motor in
cornerbalance the car
refinish the BBS RII's that I'm getting
Dropvent and work/paint the hood.
and the most difficult part is going to be registering said most ungrateful Mistress. The wonderful state of CT took my registration check in 11/07, cashed it, but then denied registration because I hadn't passed emmisions.... The car was running while they were "transitioning" from a state inspection to local shop inspections. The toughest part is going to be getting through that. Anyone know of any friendly shops in CT?

So, what's the countdown? 37 days to go..... yikes. 1 more hour and I can block the surfacer so hopefully tomorrow one thing can get crossed of the list. Some pics in the meantime. Oh ClassicAuto - I'll snap a pick of what I did to the fender to mount the bumper after our convo. Looks pretty sexy, mainly becuase it can't be seen. The front bumper....... ugh, total tally was about 12 hours of working it to make it right. Lemme know what you think when you see the finished product in person ;)

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1236483745

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1236483745

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1236483745

I'm so glad you made it over here! I see you also got the projector headlights! Love to see more shots of your project.

Oh there will be more pics, I promise you that. So, onto yesterdays and this mornings activities.

There were some "issues" with painting last night. Bottom line, I finished at 7:15 am this morning. It looks good. The color seems a little off at certain angles. I didn't have the bumper at the perfect angle to the hood/fender when I painted it so the mettalic may have layed differently. I'm waiting till I cut and buff to make a final decision. Also seeing it in natural sunlight will make a huge difference. Note to the home painter - do NOT play with your dogs during flash times. ESPECIALLY if your dog is a husky who just started blowing his winter coat. Somehow a piece of hair managed to get right smack in the middle of the rear bumper. Took a while to tack, sand and recoat. Lucky for him he's a good dog.

Anywho - shiny new painted bumper

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1236561527

With some careful measuring, in bolt is all you need to keep the bumpercover secure

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1236561527

Joe, here's what I came up with. 14ga stainless with a flange nut welded on the inside welded to the fender. All the bolts/nuts are easy access. Bumper comes off in about 5 minutes.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1236561527

Nothing else done today. Took a 2 hour nap before heading to MSG for a Bruins game..... fender and molding tomorrow hopefully.

Good work, props. Like the paint.

Are those the turbos you're going to use for the sequential?

The brandy new cartridge in the box on the left is going to be the new primary. The one in the center is going to get a thourough cleaning and be reused. The one on the right is going to go on the Wall of Destruction. It was the original primary turbo that was already damaged, and damaged even more severely when the pieces of apex seal passed through it at ~10psi.

I was hoping to have the motor assembled before I started all the body work but parts delays left me with the choice of do nothing, or get everything dusty. Seeing as how everything needed to be hard-core cleaned anyway, I opted to make some dust.

Nice looking brackets!!

I'll be sure to give you an opinion on the bumper. I will also gladly disect the job I did on my own for you! :lol:

Can't wait, getting close! I've still got a bunch to do as well. But it'll come together once I get my front cover back from machining (big hold up at this point)

Keep it up!!

Thanks Joe! Yeah I think the bumper may get a re-shoot time permitting. I realized this morning what happened. My "issue" took about two hours to resolve. It was 5 in the morning and it slipped my mind to stir the cup before going for the final coat of base. I think some of the darker colors rose to the top from sitting for so damn long and that's why it's just a **** hair off in shade. What I'll end up doing though is cutting and buffing it and looking at it in direct sunlight. If it looks good in the sun, it'll stay, otherwise, re-coat.

Yeah it is. How is that front cover coming along? Hell of an idea doing it that way.

Update: Not much done in the last 2 days. Prepped and primed the damaged fender tongiht. Hope to get the molding and the fender worked and painted tomorrow....... err today at this point. Still on sched for the big engine bay shoot Saturday, and engine build next Saturday.

love the color used on the bumper. what is it?

Man that's looking good!! Nice work! I agree, that color rocks!

Thanks guys. Color is Lotus B98 - Storm Titaniumt Mettalic. But if you remember back in '04 the Elise in that color had a brown undertone, I used a different clear than what Lotus called for which took the brown out. Wouldn't you know, like a year or 2 later, Lotus copied me, bastards. I don't know if its the light or the paint being slightly off, but it just doesn't look right in that pic, lemme link another. Tell me if this doesn't work

http://forum.teamfc3s.org/attachment...5&d=1173920962

S5 molding officially sucks balls. Bought used and the guy who took it off didn't care about the clips in the back. Being plastic and hollow they were creased beyod belief. Spent the last 4 hours applying filler and blocking. I'm now officially behind schedule by a day - $*&%^! Now I need to wake up early tomorrow and prime & surface before work, so I can base/clear when I get home so I don't loose another day ...... damnit.

that sucks about the idiot who sold you the moldings.

however, how do you attach them to the S4 car with the clips anyway? I thought most people just cut the clips off, and glued the molding like the factory S4 pieces?

Or did you plan to cut holes in the bodywork to fit the clips?

Looking good man, love the color.

You HAVE to show us how you made that front brace!

Infront of the front wheel and behind the rear wheel the clips are still good. All the other pieces I took the clips out and found some 30 Mil body molding adhesive that I'll be using to affix the molding to the body - circa S4 style

Which front brace? The one that the i-cooler and rad mount to or the one that supports the bumper and the the horns mount to?

If this car makes it to DGRR '09 then my shutter button on the D80 is going to melt off. haha.

Lol - thanks. We'll see. This weekend is kinda do or die. I got alot done last weekend and am cranking as much as I can during the week so we'll see. Over the weekend I started off with the S5 molding wall of shame..... Still pissed that I actually paid $$ for this crap. More than likey when I have the time I'm going to buy new door moldings. THe other moldings aren't hollow so they're a little stronger and easily workable, but the door moldings are so long and flimsy, the putty ends up being stronger than the plastic and when you try to block it down, it doesn't block so well.... oh well,

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1237260747

And this is what I finished with, I can live with it for the time being

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1237260747

The fender got a few dings from being shuffled around for two years. Same fender, same corner of the garage, you'f think I'd learn..... hopefully I have

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1237260747

Interior........ it was complete on Saturday morning, now it's in shambles. A few things to tidy up behind the dash as well as install the ducting. Also has to get the pad off so I could finish up some welding, and most of it had to come away to pain the bay.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1237260747

Ah the bay............ just need a little more prep and she's all set. I welded up all the unneeded holes on the firewall, closed off the AC holes becuase that won't be going back in. Cut alot of stuff off that wasn't really needed tonight with the plasma and welded it all up. With any luck I'll be able to finish the prep tomorrow and get everything taped off and paint first thing Wed before work.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1237260747

Still need to finish the porting on the irons and start and finish the housings..... and then paint the engine and tranny, powdercoat some misc stuff......damn.... lots left to do....

I really need to learn how to weld. This is getting a little ridiculous. You supply me with no shortage of envy at all your many skills.

This build is fantastic. I'm a little jealous that yet ANOTHER RE FC build is underway, lol... but its all good.

Is that the shine front bumper? I was planning to use the same one on my build and I really like what you did for the oil coolers. I'm going conventional FMIC though, so not sure it'd work out so well.... but there's time to change ;)

I'd come to DGRR just to see this car by itself! Great work... and good luck...

Thanks. Welding is an awesome skill to know. Between that and fiberglassing, there really isn't anything that one can't build. It's expensive to start. My MIG has already paid for itself 5 times over with some side jobs that I landed, my TIG on the otherhand..... not so lucky and 3x the price.

Thanks, It's been underway for about 3 years now. This is the last huge push to get her done though. Hopefully I'll have her fired by the end of the weekend. We'll see though.

Yeah it is the shine front bumper. It looks great but I was honestly a little dissapointed with it. There were a ton of waves that needed to be worked out. I spent a HUGE amount of time on it and there are still 2 places that I'm not entirely thrilled with. You can't see it in the pics as you need to catch the light just right to see them, but they're there.

I don't see why the dual oil coolers wouldn't work with a front mount. When i start assembling I'll take some pics and show you what I mean. I think it would work out just fine. It's the support bar that I built that would screw everything up.

UPDATE - got the car into the "Annex" this morning. Will finish the prep & tape tonight and hopefully spray the bay tomorrow morning before work. This week is going too fast, Time will tell.

I was looking at some TIG welders. I'm really liking the price of the econo tig. It's about twice as expensive as a cheap MIG but you get a lot more versatility than the mig

I was told to stay away from the Econo-TIG. While it has some of the needed fuctions, it's just not as nice or compact, exact etc etc. I went for the Sync 200 Roller. Love it. The "balance" for one is something that I didn't think that I would be using all that much but I constantly find myself adjusting it. The Pulser is something else that was nice to have in the beginning. Set it really low and it helped get a rythm going. Make sure you have suffiecent Amps though. My last house only had a 30A wall socket so I couldn't run over ~110 amps without fear of popping the breaker. Now I have a 60A and can use more adequate amps. Subsequently my welds got a lot nicer on 1/8"+

I have the shine fenders and they look pretty good, although they'll need some prep.

I'm concerned on the FMIC because of where the pipes connect to the end tanks. I havent got it welded up yet though so some creativity would come in play.

I'll look forward to your pics when you get the HMIC setup. Very inspiring though...

I've heard it both ways. For my ability I think the Ecnotig is going to be about as expensive as I'll look (1200-1300) and that's about as cheap as TIG's go. I think for just learning on and getting able to weld correctly it will fit my bill perfectly (considering it's extremely similar to brazing). I would like to practice and weld aluminum and get very good at welding that. Steel seems to be a bit more forgiving. We'll see though.

Boo for losing the two tone of the S4 moldings.

Steel yes, stainless no. I've TIG SOOOO much more AL than steel or stainless though that my TIG steel welds look like cripe. My MIG stainless weld look more like TIG welds though. I dunno man, I'd rather buy something that I can grow into rather than out of. I have a good friend with a Lincoln 175 but it doesn't do 1/4" :scratch: I don't get it either, anyway..... there have been times when we needed to use my MillerMatic 175 becuase it will do 1/4" cleanly sooooooo, yeah. I'd rather go bigger and grow into it than buy something that I grow out of. I wrestled with this ALOT when I bought my Plasma cutter. I ended up with the Hypertherm 35 becuase well, it'll cut what I can weld. Haven't run into an instance where it hasn't been sufficient but I'm always worrying that I will. Probably becuase it's the smallest they make. But, I've cut 3/8" with it.

Boooooooo nothing. Wait till you see what I did with the ass of the car.... err what I'll be doing tomorrow. & hey, if I don't like it, I two-tone it one day. The worst part of it, and the main reason I did it was becuase of the vent in the nose. There is no clean way of breaking that line for the mettalic black that the molding was.

Update - Cocked and loaded for spraying the bay tomorrow morning. Should have some pics up tomorrow night if I can get the porting done that I want to.

Not to derail your thread or anything, but I've been looking more and more into it. I really like the stats for the dynasty 200, but when I started doing more digging into tig welders I came acroos the longevity-inc.com welders. They seem to have an All in one TIG that also doubles as a Plasma cutter. Here's a link:
http://www.longevity-inc.com/product_details.php?id=24

I've never heard of them before, but I'd like your opinion on it. It seems like a steal of a price for a TIG & Plasma. But if it's low quality or not something I'd be able to benefit from I may pass over it. I honestly don't see me welding anything bigger than a 1/4" right now. But I'd like to know your opinion.

The phone pwns you.

I would stay away from any multi function machine like that. Especially one as cheap as that. Did you read the warranty? limited 3 yr where you pay all the shipping after 30 days. Doesn't exactly sound like a company that stands behind thier product. Miller has a what? 5 yr warranty?
The dynasty's are expensive and ridiculoulsy flexible, to much for anything that I would do. I still say sync>econtig. Maybe used?

No the shower does, I'll call ya later. When are you back?

Saturday AM. Gone Wednesday PM.

fap. fap. fap. i need to learn how to fiberglass...

the phone pwns you again.

Fiberglassing is fun, between that and welding, there really isn't anything that you can't build..... add a CNC mill as well and sky's the limit.

Normally I'd say, "LOOK AT THE FRICKEIN TIME," but I was actually painting.......... until 6 in the morning.


So it looks like the "Do or Die Weekend," turns out to be a die... two things. I had my oil pump machined and it didn't show up on time. Can't finish the long block until Monday night at the earliest. The bigger dissapointment is DAVE GIBSON'S ENGINE BUILDING ABILITIES. Short story on how I came upon this motor. Someone spent 7 years and $25,000 on an FC project which included a Dave Gibson built, ported, REW ported housings, cryo treated bearings, etc etc etc. The straw in his project was when the motor seized after 25 minutes of idle. S6 thrust plates/bearing in an S4/5/cosmo stat gear = spun the main bearing, toasted the needles/thrust, ate the stat gear and cooked the e-shaft. Everything internally was is great shape, or so I thought. Even if I got a few plates, a rotor and a pair of housings out of it I would be happy. So $500 later and it's mine. Whats wrong with it, or what was wrong with it
I had to finish the intake porting, no polish, looked like he stopped after the stone and the ports themselves leave something to be desired.
RE housing, RE sleeves.. RE SLEEVES for a GT42 turbo
Non-coated bearings
& I guess tolerances don't mean shit for side seals, some were .03mm, others as high as .25mm. After a 6 hour marathon game of musical side seals and pulling some from the other blown Cosmo and from the n/a that I pulled apart, all but two are within .08-.05mm, 1 @ .1 and the last @ .15mm. I can live with that. The bottom line though is that not ONE of the seals that I took out I reused in thier original slot. Some I discarded all together. They either looked like they were clearanced with a bench grinder, had multiple angles on the seals, one was even missing a piece and it was on the housing side, not the spring side. How some people get decent reps is beyond me. I may actually start a seperate thread with pics of these seals, that's how disgusted I am.
So after sourcing a replacement set of housings and porting them, finishing the porting on the intake, re-clearancing all the seals, the motor is finally ready to be stacked, first thing tomorrow.

Some pic since the last update -

Fresh new engine bay - still wet - yummy

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1237701211

Shop cleanup day - the FC gets a little sun

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1237701211

Back inside and reassembly begins.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1237701211

I swear, engines are much more compact when they're assembled. Worst part is, that's not all the pieces either. I had everything ceramic coated in 3600* flat black. I for one can't wait to see it assembled

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1237701211

One more pic.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1237701211

Sucks to hear about your engine. I hope you get 'er put together and running on monday! Do it!

I should have a shortblock today, longblock Monday, maybe in the car Tuesday. I still have alot of little things to powdercoat and paint before the engine actually starts. I have some big things to powdercoat as well. I bought a piece of 2'x8' sheet steel to make an extension on my over to hopefully get the bigger pieces in. We'll see. If shes running by the end of the week, I'll be happy

That sucks man! Another reason why I am rebuilding my own engines from now on. You just cant trust another builder, regardless of reputation.

Hope the rest of the stack goes well! Good luck!

Looking good B. I'm sure you'll have it all back together soon enough.

Funny you mention Dave gibson engines.

I've seen a couple of plates he layed his "rotary air flow engingeering" degree on. Face, meet palm.