This week has been a relatively quiet one in terms of physical progress - but I've been doing a lot of research / reading related to other components for the swap.  To continue the coolant crossover work I need to get my collector manifold made, which I need a lathe to do.  I do not have a lathe, so that will have to wait.  I'm thinking about joining Tech Shop to knock out that and a few other projects, including some of the powdercoating that I want to get done.

I ordered my oil cooler setup and my power steering pump this week.

Oil cooler setup consists of:

• Improved Racing cooler adapter / thermostat.  It maintains a minimum temperature of 180 degrees by diverting 90 percent of the flow until the oil is hot enough to be passed through the cooler.  Makes life on the street and on cooler days possible - no blocking off or uninstalling of the cooler is necessary. 

• -10AN fittings and line.  Went with stainless line over braided nylon for improved abrasion resistance, given that the lines will be run relatively low on the car.
• Setrab Series 9, 25 row cooler.  I settled on this based on glowing reviews from 'vette guys that road race their cars.  While I'll be on the upper end of their 400-475hp capacity for the cooler, I think for my purposes this will be plenty.  If I start tracking the car more and need more cooling capacity, then it will be easy enough to make the switch down the road.

 Power steering pump:

• Turn One F-body pump w/ billet pulley
• MFR-TUR11 -AN6 orifice / inline restrictor (bottom) w/ .093 orifice

LS pumps are notorious for overheating / squeeling / shitting themselves in general with performance driving.  This is due in large part to the fact that they flow all of the fluid required for steering assist by 900 RPM.  Anything above that introduces excessive heat into the system.

The Turn One pump alleviates this problem by reducing the flow volume to only what is necessary for steering assist.  The results are better heat regulation (improved pump life) and better steering feel throughout the engines operating range.

The orifice fitting / inline restrictor was chosen because I'm mating a GM pump to a BMW rack.  I have no idea what will feel the best given that the pump and lines are changing, so my plan is to drill out the orifice incrementally (starting at the smallest available size) until I get just the right amount of steering assist without feeling too light (overpowered). 



I also started tackling the electrical side of things more deeply.  Since tearing apart the engine harness I've identified a good portion of the pinouts and understand in general how everything communicates and gets its power.  The next step will be to understand how the BMW side did the same things, and how I can get the two sides to talk.  I started a powerpoint compiling all the different pinouts, tips, and schematics I've come across on the forums thus far.



Enough research - today I tackled the alternator in the name of getting all the parts ready for powdercoat that I want to powdercoat.  From what I was able to find on the interwebs, I believe this to be a Delco/Delphi CS130-D unit with a 105A output - though it says that nowhere on the case.

It was a relatively straight forward process thanks to some pioneering done by my buddy Fazz, but I ran into a slight hangup getting the stator coils out of the stator housing.  The OD of the laminations were a press fit into the housing, and corrosion had it locked in there pretty good.  Lots of surface area in contact to fight against.

To get it out, I applied a heat gun to the housing and rotated it slowly, spraying some WD-40 along the seam to help break things loose.  After it was thoroughly warmed up, I took a screwdriver/hammer combo (carefully) to the outer edge of the laminations though the vents in the housing and worked my way around the perimeter until it was out.  Really not the best solution I'll admit but it was really all I had to work with.  At first I tried reversing the jaws on my gear puller and hooking onto the inside of the stator laminations, but there really was not enough surface area to grab onto.  Inspecting it afterwards, there was really no damage to speak of.

I'll be borrowing an idea from Fazz and encapsulating the windings in Dolph's EB-41 electrical insulating spray-enamel.  I also found a rebuild kit on Ebay for this so I'll be replacing the bearings, brush holder and brushes, voltage regulator, and transformer/diodes while it's apart.  Should be good as new when I get it back together - hopefully it doesn't catch on fire.   

A little more progress this week.

Coolant Crossover

Some parts and tools came in.  My flaring and bending tools arived....Ridgid 377 for 37 degree -AN flares, as well as bending tools from Eastwood.  The pliers suck, but the rolling bender works pretty nice.  Some of the bends I need to make are smaller than the minimum bend-to-bend distance this tool can do though, so not sure how I'm going to handle that yet.

The flaring tool works nice though, can support up to 3/4" tubing.  I haven't tried stainless yet though.

I then bought 25' of regular steel 1/4" line from the parts store and got to mocking up my lines.  I've redone these several times so far, but this is the best I could come up with for the moment to come up with a rough shape.

The challenge here is that I need to make bends in close proximity to my terminations.  If I bend it first, I won't have enough line to put the flare on.  If I flare it first, I have no way of making the bend (without kinking the line) in the place I need it.  I was hoping the pliers would be able to do this but they make marks on the line wherever they're in contact with it.  More research to do on this.  If it doesn't work out I'll just run braided lines and call it a day.  Need to make my manifold block before I can do much of anything though.

More parts...

Yes, more parts indeed.

Plumbing stuff to make my power steering, fuel, and coolant steam vent hoses when the time comes.

Electrical

Also decided to start digging into the wiring harness.  I completely de-pinned the PCM connectors and tore apart the wiring harness, connector by connector.  It's really not that complicated as most of the "snake" are common hots and common grounds.  The confusing part will be in figuring out which pin to send each sensor signal to, as grounds and low references get the same wire color (smart).

Here's where it started way back when:

 Here's what it is as of tonight.  The multimeter is pictured to make it look like I know what I'm doing.

 Next step will be to label each pin and get designations for each wire.

It will be rerun and tied together on the engine stand to make for the cleanest routing I can muster.

A little progress tonight..

I've been amassing pieces / fittings for a steam vent crossover for the engine.  1/8" NPT to -4AN adapters that thread into adapters that bolt into the block.  I have two tight spots on the front driver's and rear passenger's side that will need addressed.  Not sure how best to handle it yet.  The problem is exacerbated when the intake is torqued down and I don't want to risk developing cracks in the intake (plastic).

This spot on the passenger front of the block has just a straight adapter that will get a manifold block that collects all the lines individually before being sent out to the rad / expansion tank.

I intend to machine that myself, but here's a cross section of what that will look like...3 inlets and one outlet to the rad (upper right).

Also got a few more parts in.  Russell fittings for my fuel filter / pump to adapt to my -AN hardlines, along with a Borgeson DD telescoping steering shaft and one of my Flaming River chromoly u-joints.  I'll be building my own lower profile steering shaft to enhance header clearance and also to withstand the heat better.  The stock shaft has a rubber rag joint that would be nested in the driver's side header.  Waiting on the other u-joint, but will need to measure before I trim it to length.

Throttle Cable Bracket Mockup

Made a little progress tonight on a throttle cable bracket. 

The stock F-body bracket doesn't fit the FAST 102 intake I've got, and neither does the Lokar LS1 bracket.  Both have the cable entrance positioned basically where the intake port for cylinder #2 is.  In addition to this, the cable position is too far inboard to be in line with the cam on the throttle body.  So the whole thing needed to move up and out relative to the intake.

This is the offending subject.  The post is secured with a countersunk screw from the backside, which I removed.  The flat bracket portion is what I'll be replacing.

 I started by taking a piece of copper wire and wrapping it around the post of the bracket, bending it up until I got it positioned where it needed to be.

Then took a tape outline of the mounting surface of the intake and transferred it to cardboard (still roughly shaped at this point).

Checking clearances - tight around whatever the fuck that tube is on the throttle body, as well as the MAP sensor on the intake.

Needs to come out from intake mounting surface by about about .750" to line up with throttle body cam.

Finished-ish shape with hole locations marked.  Plan is to make it out of aluminum and powder coat it to blend in with the intake manifold.  The post will be left bare aluminum (I think).

RIP Blackie - 09/1994 - 1/10/2014

It was a bittersweet kind of day - I got home from work just in time to see my old friend take one last ride.  RIP Blackie.  See you in the next life.

This week has been full of fails.  Allow me to enumerate them:

• Ordered Milliken Race Car Dynamics book so I could learn about suspension theory and the principles that will allow me to set up my car's suspension properly.  Received it the other day and realized it was the supplement with example problems and answers, not the actual book.

• The ferrule for my Lokar throttle cable doesn't work with my FAST 102 throttle body - the passages in the cam are cut such that I can't fit the cable through the back side of the ferrule when inserted in the cam slot.

• Lokar throttle cable bracket does not fit FAST 102 intake manifold.  Not even close.

• Lokar dipstick I bought for LS1 engines 1999-2004 is the wrong length and would give me a "full" reading with less oil than it should.

• Speedway motors -3AN adapter for the hydraulic supply line to my T56 throwout bearing doesn't fit.  The OD's of the part are too large and prevent it from seating fully.

Damn it.  Damn it all

Engine Build

 The Pushrod Length / Lifter Preload Saga

Been a while since my last update, but I've made some progress as of late.

Buying a cheap magnetic base indicator stand from harbor freight solved all of my preload measurement problems.  You have to have this absolutely dead-nuts aligned with the "preload column" and be extremely careful with how you tighten everything down to get repeatable numbers, but I was able to confirm my expected preload numbers to within .0015" or so. 

This allowed me to assume that my improvised way for measuring pushrods was not only accurate, but produced the exact preload on the engine that I was expecting.  To summarize, I cobbled together a way of measuring gauge length directly with a pair of 8" calipers by gluing some small pieces of steel to the jaws that were drilled for a .140" hole.  In theory, the circumference of the holes would bisect the ball-end of the pushrod at the .140" diameter (gauge length), thus negating any effect the size of the oil hole has on overall length.  This is the industry standard for measurement, given that oil hole diameter varies manufacturer to manufacturer.

With that knowledge, I ordered the entire set of my pushrods to the appropriate lengths from Trend performance.  I ended up a dual taper push rod, 3/8" - 5/16" fully machined 210 degree ball ends with a .135" wall.  These rods are stiffer than an 11/32" rod, but lighter than a full 3/8" rod.  A pretty good compromise, given that I can't fit full 3/8" rods through my heads.  I needed the beefier pushrods on my build to help to ensure reliable valve motion by minimizing deflection and the "pole vaulting" effect that leads to lofting.  I am not running the most aggressive lobes on my cam, but they're certainly not he mildest either.

The engineer that designed the lifters I'm using (Johnson LSR's) recommended a target preload on my lifters at .025-.030" (verified by Spintron testing) and brought about the need for verifying all of my measurements to the nth degree - tolerances can get way out of control otherwise and really add up for undesirable effects.  I removed all the error I could from my measurements, and after speaking with Trend, they told me that they were able to hit 001"-.005" on custom length rods due to expansion during machining.  With this knowledge, I ordered all of my pushrods based on an .030" preload.  I made some exceptions when pushrod lengths were similar and ordered common lengths where I could, but all told I ended up with 9 unique lengths across all 16 valves.  This way I'd be able to shim the rockers up slightly to bring my preload down if necessary if they're cut too long.  All I could do was hope they didn't cut them too short.

Here's what I received.  This strategy seemed to work really well, as they were able to hit their targets within a few thou.  Below is a summary of my results.

Low is .023", max is 0.033".  For the low one, I may machine some rocker shims to the precise thickness I need to bump up the preload slightly - there about a .010" window of forgiveness in height either direction before I start negatively affecting my wipe pattern on the valve tip.  I would consider ordering another pushrod but there's no guarantee this would solve the problem, so I'll save my money.  The #8 cylinder will get an additional .003" rocker shim to bring those preloads within spec (.030/.027" respectively).  Some small adjustments to make, and honestly I'm not sure if they're even significant adjustments (will the lifters care?), but it should provide me with as close to an optimized setup as I can achieve. 

Finish Work.

With all the intense measurement critical stuff done on the engine, now I have to do all of the "finish" detail work for the exterior.  Below is the shortlist of things to get done before I can button her all the way up.

• Powder coat valve covers, oil pan, front timing cover, AC bracket, alternator bracket
• Clean up accessories and starter motor, and order belts
• Fuel injector rail clips
• Ignition wires and remote mount of ignition coils (may need to wait until the engine is in the car)
• Coolant steam port vent line build (front and rear) for cylinder heads
• Catch can and PCV system routing
• Oil cooler adapter
• Oil / coolant sensor setup.  I'll be running some VDO gauges so I can keep track of oil pressure, temperature, and water temperature in real time.  
• Throttle cable / cable bracket
• LS1 +04 2-piece thermostat.  I bought both 180 and 160 degree thermostats, not sure which I'll use yet but I'll have the option!
• Layout and clean up wiring harness
• Base tune on PCM

 Bunch of parts are on the way, will post up when they arrive.

Teaser shot of the engine in mockup

Chassis Integration

With all of that pretty much on hold until I gather everything up to go to powder coat, I started figuring out what I wanted to do in terms of chassis integration. 

Lots to figure out...

• Fuel supply
• Power steering adaptation
• Compact steering shaft
• Clutch hydraulic integration
• Electrical and PCM wiring
• Oil cooler setup
• Cooling / heater core system integration
• Braking system
• EVAP / Emissions stuff for OBDII compliance

After a lot of research though I was able to make some pretty decent headway in wrapping my head around all the details - a lot of which isn't explicitly posted.

I'm using this space as a placeholder for my ideas / train of thought at the moment, but in case you care:

• Fuel supply
• Corvette FPR. (Filter / regulator) - regulates pressure to 58 psi.
• Rally Road HFP 300lph Fuel Pump Kit.  Drops right into the stock pump location.
• Stainless hard lines
• Stainless hose from FRP to fuel rail
• -6AN fitting throughout (which means I'll need to get 37 degree flaring tools for the hardline to use AN tube nuts / sleeves).  They make "hardline adapters" but they're not rated for more than 50 psi, and I'd rather not develop a fuel leak.
• Power steering adaptation
• Pretty simple - AN high pressure hose from pump to rack.  Will need to TIG -AN fitting to power steering "cooler" tube.
• Compact steering shaft
• Needed to help with header clearance and help eliminate heat affect on rubber rag joint of the stock piece (no headers on drivers side originally)
• Flaming River chromoly U-joints
• Borgeson telescoping DD shaft
• Clutch hydraulic integration
• Bought some nifty adapters for the T56 TOB to adapt to standard -AN lines 
• Speedbleeder (moves bleeder screw into engine bay instead of under car somewhere)
• Rally Road Tilton 7/8" MC kit.  I like a firm pedal.  The stock M3 master is reported to be too soft with the LS clutches.
• Electrical / Sensors / PCM wiring
•  No idea on wiring pinouts yet
• Bought an SA-1000 standalone relay/fuse block 
• Oil pressure sending unit adapter for stock location.  The idiot "low pressure" light is useless to me, I'd rather read out on a VDO gauge and know what the pressure is at all times.
• Oil temperature - port in oil cooler adapter for that (in the pan).  This will also let me know when the thermostat opens to allow oil to flow through the cooler.  VDO gauge again.
• Water temperature - BMW sensor to drivers side head for gauge in dash.  Another sensor on passenger side head for readout on VDO gauge.
• Oil cooler setup
• Improved racing low-profile oil cooler adapter / thermostat
• Setrab cooler and fittings (need to decide on size).
• Braided stainless lines / -AN fittings
• Cooling / heater core system integration
•  No idea.
• Braking system
• Rally road kits - Corvette Z06 6-piston fronts with DBA-5000 2-pc hats, Porsche brembo rears.  
• ABS will be retained
• All lines will be remade from stainless.
• EVAP / Emissions stuff for OBDII compliance 
• PCV is pretty straight forward.  Need to figure out exact routing and whether or not I need to use the check valve.
• EGR is deleted (tuned out)
• AIR is also deleted (tuned out)
• Cats
• Pre / post O2 sensors
• Evap line from BMW charcoal canister will be connected to LS vapor purge solenoid
• GM fuel tank sensor.  Required to let the GM engine PCM control the BMW charcoal canister. 

For a '99 model year, I am allowed to have two non-functioning emissions systems in a scan for "device readiness".  I intend for EGR and AIR to be those two - though the one caveat is that I don't think there is an AIR system on the M3, so I'm not sure if that will count as an "offender" in this case.  EGR is useless - basically only runs for the first 5 minutes until the O2 sensors get up to temp.

Trying to get all the details ironed out now to make the swap as straight forward as possible once I start.  I'm trying to get this done by the fall, or at least driveable.