Fun Time Fitment Saturday

Solid day today. Finally got to put in some quality time on the mustang. Since Taylor is out for the week road tripping up north, i figured I'd employ my dad. Always great to work on something with him since his automotive knowledge is quite a bit higher than anyone i know, even if it is from 1970's and 80's Fiats. On to pictures!

There she sits. Our filthy five oh. Fits like a glove! Not really. Like the manual states, there is clearance for days on the passenger side, not at all on the driver's.

We essentially have three key points we need to address with the drivers side.

1. Move the ABS module out of the way. There is definitely room to slam it up tight towards the fender and brake master cylinder. We'll also use this opportunity to trim and reroute the brake lines away from the headers and tuck them tight against the ABS module.
2. Clearance the firewall for the header. This is going to take some enthusiastic hammering and cursing. We will avoid cutting and welding as much as possible to get this sucker to fit. Header wrap will become a good friend of ours towards the end of the project.
3. Custom steering shaft. Using flaming river joints and shafts as a starting point, we will have to route a clean 3 joint steering shaft similar to Vorschlag Performance's 3 point for their LS conversion kit. It looks like we will have to shift the steering shaft at the firewall a bit towards the brake booster to clear our set up. We will try to avoid this as well and instead dent the headers a bit to get it to fit. Not an ideal situation but id rather take a slight performance hit than have an odd steering wheel tilt.

Anyway, getting a bit more excited now as well as I have a better feeling of what step to take next.

Motor's Out!

Finally got the 302 out of the mustang. It wasnt difficult, but rather a bit time consuming. The general consensus is about 3-4 hours for a motor removal, but not when you are with a rats nest of wiring and an utter lack of reasonable cleanliness from the last owner. While our pace for this project is rather slow, we are only working on it 8-10 hours a week.

Regardless, we are excited to get past this small hurdle and actually get to the actual swap and resume work on the BMW. In parallel, we will be rebuilding the engine using, most likely, a summit racing rebuild kit with a .010 overbore. We really want to get this thing in solid shape to ensure good reliability and power. Also, since our 3rd gear synchro is out on the T5, we will be getting a rebuild kit from thegearbox.org to guarantee a solid drivetrain.

Anyway, we'll deliver some shots of the mayhem shortly.

Body Work (Bummer)

Believe it or not, we BOUGHT it this way!

         It is I, the afore mentioned T-Dot.  I'm writing this now because I'm at a body-shop getting more info on my recent crash in my other ride.  The tech here wanted pictures of the E36's front fender damage to see what I was talking about and maybe advise Jirs and I on the repair/give us a quote if we're not quite comfortable with the task. 
        Just so you reader(s) know, the front bumper is basically trash, the drivers front corner of the hood is wrecked, the fender well piece is slightly deformed, the actual fender is toast, and the radiator/hood latch bar is slightly deformed.  I don't care to keep the hood, and we wanted a new lightweight hood anyway.  BMW replacement fenders are quite pricey(as are the "more affordable" aftermarket versions in steel) so why not carbon fiber? We want an M3 front end so the bumper is a non-issue as well.  That takes care of that...

        The only parts to repair are the fender well panel and the semi-structural members inside the fender immediately aft of the headlamp assembly.  Should be a breeze, right?  There is disgustingly ample alcohol at the build location should this task prove frustrating.   It's all good, though - Irvine Cars 'N' Coffee tomorrow followed by an Ortega cruise for inspiration, then elbow deep into our voluntary hell.  I'll tip one back for the gods tonight in the hopes for a complete BMW slant6 extraction by sundown, Saturday.

The Beginning

I've started this blog to share the progress of my latest build. Just as the title says, a 5.0 Liter BMW. More specifically a Ford 302 Windsor and an E36 BMW. With the rock solid platform of the E36, dropping in a "reliable" Ford 302 should prove to be a solid perfomer on and off the track. In other words, it should be a riot to drive at the edge of reason. With e36v8.com's guide as the basis for the build, we will need to customize to achieve some of our goals.

"Why didnt you use a Chevy 350?!" Because its a shit engine. Just kidding. Its Cost. We would prefer the Chevy LSX series of engine, but mounts and custom solutions will run us upwards of $5k not factoring the cost of the donor car and engine. Just check out e36v8.com for all the reasons this makes more sense.

Our goals, in order of importance:
1. Don't get divorced.
2. Dont kill Taylor.
3. 400 WHP @ 2500lbs (wet).
4. Pass the California BAR Certification.

I dont know why we are even attempting number 4, but we like to think of it as a challenge.

Anyway, we'll be updating when we can.

-Jirs & T-Dot