rhart

rhart

Old Blue is set up for the transplant...sad to see the old gurl go but with a tweaked chassis and resulting odd ball suspension geometry made it necessary. To put it a simple as possible the car handled terribly and wasnt safe any more...



Rad removed...



Jump forward to chains set up for the pull...



Dropped the Drive shaft...



Harness out of the way and all connections dico'd...here we go!




All out and about to be cleaned up a little...



Yeah...its a generic KA...for now.




Old Blues engine bay...



The "Jane" chassis waiting for the transplant...



Prior to dropping the engine in i needed to pull the Upper and Lower haness from Old Blue. OMG...what a pita!!



Tucking the final bits of the harness into the drives side. :\



A before harness...



The closest after harness install I snapped...



Big jump to the engine installed and a bumper too. Why is this car smiling??



Nose and fenders installed...not much of a step by step...sorry about that.



Thank you a ton John (Torgdor) for the use of you engine hoist. The cars panels are fairly staight but needs some tlc for sure. 4wd status is for the birds but that will change this coming weekend.

Once the engine was installed I had to track down a ECU power issue. My pal Gary and Phil (Empire) help with some trouble shooting tips and lend a hand in tracking down a connector that wasnt totally clicked in. SO many connects its no surprise I missed it. Sure was frustrating. Not pictured in the "fun" i have doing the climate control/ AC and heating duct work. I never want to see antoher hearter core ever!!

Once the power isse to the ECU was fixed and the plug wires positioned properly the car fired up nicely...

Then there was a moment when I wanted to kill who ever it was that attempted the splice in the side marker lights to the signal lights so they would flash as well...causing a stupid short, popping fuses every time the the lights were switched on. Once that cluster of wires was removed everything ran and illuminated as it should...
more to come.


Thanks,

-Royce

rhart

The Blue chassis will be up for sale soon...as a track only (I think it would need a serious front clip makeover to be usable - tweaked after the strut towers) drift missle for the super low if someone wants it. I'm not wasting time waiting for it to sell though. If its not gone in a week after I've swapped the suspension and sub-frame into the Jane chassis i'll just scrap it.

NeedCAforS13

What happened to tweak the blue car so bad? I might be interested...

rhart

The Blue Hatch had a run in with a pole in the wet. The core support was pulled over roughly 2 inches to the passenger side. Couple that with the impact being kind of on the high side it pushed the tower back and up. The car drives "alright" but as soon as you do anything sporting in it the chassis reveals its as age and mileage. The caster is off.

Think of it like those shopping carts where one of the front wheels isnt touching the ground... If it was put on a scale I think it would be even more apparent.

If someone had the means to put a whole front clip on the car from the rails @ the firewall forward I think it would be fine. The panels are relatively straight and the paint is decent. Keep in mind the car will be naked and any items on it will be stock. However it will be priced accordingly.

rhart

Steps are being taken to remove the God aweful brown interior and fill the shell with the interior from the old blue hatch...here are a few pix of the results so far...



to this...



The door panels will get some attention today...and hopefully the dash too.

I thought it was kind of ironic that as the end of my time with old blue draws near the gauge cluster which was swapped to the Jane shell did this on sunday morning....



rolling over to 240,xxx miles...a new begining.

As always, more to come...

Thanks for looking!
-Royce

KendallH

I had just gotten to work the other morning, and was sitting in the parking lot when I heard the typical brake sqeal/smash of a car crash. Look over and see a pole fall over on Roosevelt. Thought to myself "not again Royce..." lol.

Empire

rhart

Kendall thats just darn right hateful. LoL! Where do you work @ man??

And this will bring a smile to your face Empire...




Stock...



Compared to this...From the old blue hatch.



Finished product: Adjustable tension rods, AGX adjustable dampers, Megan coils, R32 rotors and caliplers, Goodridge braded steel lines.

Any questions?

Next I will be addressing the rear suspension. I did install Megan spring to even out the ride height but being that the car was a base to start it has an open diff. The shifts seem soooo long when compared to the blue car. The blue hatch has a 180sx VLSD with 5 bolt axles...along with the aluminum uprights from a z32. I had posted about swapping the whole subframe...which is what I shall be doing sooner than later.

My intensions are to install the rear aluminum calipers (z32 two piston types) at that time along with the correct rotors to complete the brake package. Once I purchase the rotors, subframe spacers and new dampers I will start that process.

I also need to have my header welded...it has cracks at the base of the tubes as they insert into the flange. Any one need a welding project? John (Torgdor) said he may give it a shot. I need to pester him more about when or if he can. LOL.

Thanks for looking and more to follow.


-Royce

rhart

The dash is in...finally. I'm still not happy with how it turned out. All in all its better and relative to the car it "fits". I think i will probably conitue to try to cover up the repair lines with different material until I'm happy with it. Here are the pix:




Plain "Jane"...



Tonight i'm going to start wiring in the radio...maybe play with the climate control a little. The finish transformation pieces of the interior will be when i finally swap out those brown door panels for my black ones, oh, and the seatbelts.

I must say I do like the single cam type carpet thats in the car. I really need to get some floor mats. Any suggestions on where to get some?


Thanks for looking again.

-Royce