LocostUSA.com

lusiphur, I think that may be in order. Look forward to seeing your car as well!

Finally a little indirect progress. Picked up the second donor for this project. It's a 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS with a turbo swap. Doesn't run because of a mild electrical fire, though the previous owner swears the engine is solid. Picked it up for a thousand bucks, and the chassis and interior are MONEY. Not a tear or crack in the entire interior, which is totally stock except for the turbo gauge cluster swap, and the body is straight and completely rust free. I should be able to make back most or all of my money if I am smart about it. Most importantly, the car has the 6 bolt 4G63T motor that I need, bone stock, with less than 100k miles on it!





In other news, I officially lost garage space at my parents, and am moving out of my current house to an apartment in about 3 weeks. On the bright side, a class mate from machining school has offered me a bay in his 30' x 40' shop in exchange for helping clean and update the shop, and help him when he starts his Locost build!



The shop was a disaster when we got there, room for two trucks, and that's about it. There was also a big divider wall between two of the bays that needed to come down. We spent a weekend tearing everything out of the garage, pressure washing everything and acid-scrubbing the concrete. Last week we built an attic for extra storage so we actually have floor space. It was a lot of work but most definitely worth it to have so much room!



This was the worst corner of the shop before we really started cleaning.



This is Kagen scrubbing some nasty grease stains that never totally came up, but hey, they are the cleanest grease stains in the county, now! The Lotus is there now, though it isn't set back up on the build table yet, as we are still organizing. I'll post some pictures once the shop is serviceable. It's good to be back, and not have given up on this project.

_________________
--Eric

"Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding." --Robert Pirsig

Grey 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
Red 1989 BMW 325is

Wow, things have been crazy. Moved to my new apartment and finally getting settled there, a very close friend got married and I was the best man, so I had a lot of planning and organizing over the last couple weeks. On the bright side, the engine is finally out of the Eclipse! My friend Rob helped me immensely with that, we managed to go from the car being in the drive way, to engine on the ground, in almost exactly three hours!

Still trying to part out the car, having a lot of trouble making my money back unfortunately, and it has to be gone in about two and a half weeks.
Also, that is Rob's vinyl wrapped truck in the driveway, kind of makes me want to wrap the Lotus when it is together. Anyone done this?

The shop is also mostly setup, the Lotus is back on it's build table. We still need to run permanent power out to the shop before any real work can be done, but that should hopefully happen soon.


More soon, hopefully!

_________________
--Eric

"Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding." --Robert Pirsig

Grey 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
Red 1989 BMW 325is

Busy as ever...

The shop is almost set up, going out there today to hopefully finish up. At the moment I have a short list of car projects to do before progress on the Lotus. E46 is getting new spark plugs today, and that's all for that car. The E30 needs new subframe bushings, and a new exhaust. Parts are on the way for that stuff. I've decided the next step for the Lotus is to get the front control arms. Can someone please take one last look at my setup on VSusp before I order from Jack?

4G63/Miata/Haynes

Is there anything else I need to look at? I'm really inexperienced with this stuff. Do I need to worry about the caster angle when picking the actual triangles the control arms make?

Thanks everyone!

_________________
--Eric

"Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding." --Robert Pirsig

Grey 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
Red 1989 BMW 325is

If you need any help with the 4G63T side of things, feel free to bug the guys over at hotrodcoffeeshop, we have a bunch of info on the RWD conversions, wiring, and whatnot.

_________________
Walt
06 RX-8 Shinka
04 RX-8 GT
06 325xi
Some people never have anything except ideas. Go do it.
Emissions & fuel economy haven't exactly been areas of strength for past rotary power plants, but absolutely no one with a soul has ever cared.

Walt,

I'll have to check that out for sure once I get there, but I'm a ways off from drivetrain stuff, and I don't want to become too bogged down with that stuff when the car isn't even rolling yet.


Does anyone have any recommendations on BUDGET FRIENDLY resources to learn aspects of suspension design? I really want to order my control arms soon. And again, input on my VSusp link would be great!

Thanks!

_________________
--Eric

"Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding." --Robert Pirsig

Grey 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
Red 1989 BMW 325is

Long time no post.

Decided to make some progress on the Lotus. I have a few things I need to finish up on the E30 before winter, but then it is all Lotus for the rest of the year. Took some time to start stripping down the 4G63, to inspect it, and start the refresh. I think I mentioned before, the car had a small fire in the wiring harness, which is why I was told it didn't run. First step was to remove all the damage that the fire caused:

Felt good to throw all that away since I have replacements already! Next, off came the valve cover, and I was really excited to see that, despite the car sitting for a while, there was no rust or decay or anything. Cams are in very good shape.

Man, I need a better camera.
Anyway, I was having a grand old time until I took the intake manifold off and looked into the intake ports. Cylinders 1 and 4 respectively:


Yup. That's SAND. FREAKING SAND. AND RUST. WHAT IS THAT DOING IN MY <100K ENGINE.

The PO said he had put out the electrical fire with sand since he didn't have any water nearby, but he was sure the engine was sealed when he did that. My only solace in this situation is that allegedly the engine has never turned since the fire, so it is possible the sand is only sitting there, and hasn't done any permanent damage yet. Worst case is the engine is scrap, because I'm not willing to spend the money for it to be totally reconditioned at a machine shop. Had a little bit of a breakdown on the way home, that is the third engine I have been through in this project and the car isn't even ON WHEELS YET.

_________________
--Eric

"Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding." --Robert Pirsig

Grey 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
Red 1989 BMW 325is

Don't feel bad I did too

_________________
Steve

My build : http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtop ... 35&t=17160

MGB/GT V8 5.0L. viewtopic.php?f=36&t=20782

Ouch. At least you found it before turning it over...

The good thing is the 4G63 has such a large following that you can find them most anyplace.

_________________
Walt
06 RX-8 Shinka
04 RX-8 GT
06 325xi
Some people never have anything except ideas. Go do it.
Emissions & fuel economy haven't exactly been areas of strength for past rotary power plants, but absolutely no one with a soul has ever cared.

My first engine was a 4AGE from a Geo Prizm. PO swore that it ran last time they started it. Didn't get around to it for almost a year. When it wouldn't turn over I pulled the head. Number 3 cylinder had a i" hole in the side of the bore. Not a clue how that could have happened. Valves, and rods were all in place as were the plugs. A mystery that found it's way to the crusher.

_________________
Larry in Seattle

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with an engine horror story.

300D50,
There is a huge following in my area, the problem is I need to have a six bolt motor, and they are extremely hard to find in any sort of good condition, for an affordable price. Almost all the ones I see for sale have a bunch of bottom end work done to them.

_________________
--Eric

"Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding." --Robert Pirsig

Grey 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
Red 1989 BMW 325is

Yeah, the 6's are getting to be a thin herd, mostly 7's and their crankwalk shenanigans floating around.

_________________
Walt
06 RX-8 Shinka
04 RX-8 GT
06 325xi
Some people never have anything except ideas. Go do it.
Emissions & fuel economy haven't exactly been areas of strength for past rotary power plants, but absolutely no one with a soul has ever cared.

I'm really hoping this engine is salvageable. If not, I would give it a 90% chance that I ditch the 4G, as cool of a powerplant as it is, and find something else...

_________________
--Eric

"Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding." --Robert Pirsig

Grey 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
Red 1989 BMW 325is

You can't pull the head and give everything a good cleaning? It's not ideal but it doesn't seem like the end of the world.

_________________
-Andrew
Build Log
Youtube

a.moore

That is best case scenario. And worst comes to worst I have spare valves from my other engine. What I'm worried about in the head is the valve guides. What I'm REALLY worried about is the bottom end. I'm not willing to pay for $2000 of machine work to get one of these fixed, which is the quote I got for the previous 4G63.

_________________
--Eric

"Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding." --Robert Pirsig

Grey 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
Red 1989 BMW 325is

Daaaang. That seems a BIT high priced for a rebuild in my opinion...

I'd say pop the top, give her a cleaning, and go from there.
You'll have some extra time/gaskets/sealant wrapped up in it, but it's not much when you factor in timing belt service and the other needed prep to get one back into service.

_________________
Walt
06 RX-8 Shinka
04 RX-8 GT
06 325xi
Some people never have anything except ideas. Go do it.
Emissions & fuel economy haven't exactly been areas of strength for past rotary power plants, but absolutely no one with a soul has ever cared.