kd7iwp

Would love to see the shift knob. Heck, I'd be tempted to send you my 6-speed knob to give me an excuse to get a ZHP one!

FuzzyWuzzy

Just a super simple shift knob that I could use for the time being. Not something I'd use all the time as I only used PLA (low temp crap), but it works: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:902091

Also, figured I'd do a "real time" update as I cleaned up the pano last night and laid down the gelcoat:




I let it dry overnight as it was getting late and cold. Now, before I laid down the gelcoat I got to thinking; would using a non-pano headliner even work for our roofs? Since we're in the States and I don't want to spend over $1k just for buying a slick top roof not even getting it installed, there's no way to actually tell if the mounting points are the same between slick top headliner and pano headliner. I'm also not sure since I'm (currently) trying to utilize the same mounting points for the pano bracket if that'd work with a slick top headliner or not.

In the end, I clearly said **** it and laid down the gelcoat. Trying to find a seller in the UK who'll actually get shipping quotes themselves for a slick top headliner appear to be nearly impossible; why? No idea. I'm also not 100% sure if trying to use the same mounting points will work or if I'd be better off removing the glass panels and laying fiberglass solely on those and then try to figure out that mounting hell (lotta bumps and what not). I have enough white gelcoat that I could use in case I end up trying that at a later date.

I'll be laying down the fiberglass a bit after the gym this morning and will update the post (hopefully) after the mold is done.

Update 1: Some spots were missing gelcoat and had to put on another layer. No more white gelcoat; now I/we know it takes 1qt of gelcoat to get a good cover on the pano. I suggest getting at least a gallon of gelcoat now for the mold and a gallon for the actual fiberglassing.

Update 2: Either my math sucked when figuring out how much I needed to order of everything, or the amount of nooks and crannies I have to fill screwed it all up, but 2qts of resin and 20cc of MEKP later with 1 .5oz mat and 2 1.5oz mats, the mold is curing:




This sucks so much. I now know why no one's done it for the wagon yet because it's not fun. Originally cut out 1 .5oz mat and 3 1.5oz mats expecting to only need 1qt, but after it barely covered the first two layers, I figured I'd just do the third now to finish off the second qt I had to mix up. I'll save the fourth layer I cut up for later.

I now have 2qts left of resin, plenty of MEKP and plenty of .5oz and 1.5oz mats along with 4mm coremat. Knowing coremat takes a lot of resin, I'll see how strong the mold ends up being with this 3 layer and go from there. At worst, I end up having to order more resin and finish the project on another weekend.

alexbaldy

You are a brave man! I was thinking to do the same on my E61 but still contemplating. I know is not much for a 4200lb land boat, but considering that it is an overhead load it WILL improve dynamics and handling.

I asked a local composite (they do carbon fiber panels) company to get me a quote for something like this and they thought I am insane.

Will be looking out for your results.

FuzzyWuzzy

Brave or stupid, I'll let everyone else decide haha. You're right that 63lbs isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, but with me going RWD and manual, I'm hoping this helps to offset the LS and turbo set up. I've also just never cared for it and wish we had the option to not have it in the States.

After just trying to prep it, I can see why they looked at you like that haha. It would not be cheap by any means based on labor alone.

Update 3: Guess who forgot to mix the MEKP with the resin last night and wondered why it didn't harden . That 4th 1.5oz mat and 1.5 pints of resin with 22ml of MEKP later (wanted bare minimum resin, but high % of hardener in order to hopefully fix my mess up) and it feels like it's actually hardened after only about 5 hours. I'll likely try to release the mold from the pano in another 3 hours or so to allow more longer curing and we get to see how bad it is.

Update 4: Took a bit longer to release from the mold as I learned it was pulling the spackle, the bondo, and the tape....






But it worked! Albeit ugly as hell right now, but it worked! Towards the top, that's all pretty much all open on the frame and I had to use a whole lotta tape, spackle, and bondo to fill it in but as you can tell, it worked! Still need to clean up the edges, remove what's not supposed to be there, and re-gelcoat some spots, but the majority of it actually came out decent! The four layers I did certainly aren't strong for the finish product, but good enough for a mold/rough draft.

If I were to do another mold, It'd be solely the glass removed from the frame with even more PVA (release agent). The frame makes everything much harder than what it should be. Once I clean up this mold, I'll do a test fit to see if I should even worry about re-gelcoating it and/or going further with it.

alexbaldy

Keep it up!
Very interested to see the final result.

OjaiM5

That is so cool. Really like the direction of this project.
I bought a metal sunroof from Latvia on my e39 M5 and welded it shut. Saved 60lbs. Ended up taking 500lbs total out of the car and it drove so much better.

FuzzyWuzzy

Omg is this project still going? What's taking so long? Why isn't this done yet?!
Yes and lack of motivation combined with job being all crazy with recent events taking place and not knowing what's gonna happen type stuff. Didn't wanna spend money if I was not gonna have any money

Anyways, the wagon is still on jack stands. Still waiting on motor and trans mounts (they're finishing up being beta tested by a few in the FB group and once those are worked out, we'll get a price and hopefully able to start ordering) and it seems the Holley Term Max X is a bit behind on orders as well. So that's fun. Maybe while I'm waiting I'll finally finish putting the engine together. Maybe. It's cold.

After getting sick and tired of playing with the steering column out of an LCI, I opted to just re-use my pre-LCI column and simply swapped out the shaft. After many days of yanking and pushing and going insane, I finally installed the steering wheel and oh look, it's a whole lot easier to get in to the exact spot. I was really looking forward to the push start feature, but this'll just be less of a headache.

I'm also going to be re-doing the pano fiberglass panel as after trying to test fit the one I made the first time absolutely sucks, figured I'll try again instead of jumping immediately to buying a sheet of metal and my welder. Still trying to find a UK seller who isn't afraid of going to UPS to get me a damn quote. May have to ultimately bite the bullet and order from that Dutch re-seller....

Also, bought a roll of Riviera Blue wrap for shits n giggles. I'll likely try it on a fender or something here soon or my hood if the roll is wide enough just to see if I like it.

I've also been looking in to more 4 piston front caliper options that wouldn't require brackets purely out of boredom and curiosity as well. Keeping a Google Sheets of possible options, but trying to get measurements from eBay sellers is another hurdle and I can't find anywhere that offers dimensions. So far, one seller of 04-08 Acura TL Brembo calipers has messaged back stating the CTC is 5.5" which is about the same for ours maybe 2mm difference. The upside is that the stock bolts are M12 whereas the Acura is M14. The huge difference is in the rotor size; 324x30mm for ours vs 300-310x28mm for the Acura. Would the TL caliper still work on stock rotors? Hell idk maybe. I can be a reman for around $100 so maybe I'll try it at some point. I just know the 5th gen camaro option is sadly out since it's roughly a 10mm difference for CTC. Another option I'm interested in is the C7 Corvette as the front rotor size is nearly perfect (321x30mm) but no one wants to tell me the CTC.

That's pretty much it. Not a whole lot has changed.

FuzzyWuzzy

End of Jan 2022 Bump

Alrighty. Doing what I do best, I was scrolling through one of the E9x LS swap groups and FABbot just so happened to post about their clutch feed line adapter for AR5/T56 swappers. Asked if it fit the E6x, said they weren't sure but if I was doing the AR5 then it should possibly work.

Well, $77 later....



That's the black hose. The stainless is for the remote clutch bleeder that I ordered last year.

So after watching multiple videos, seeing where the E9x guys feed their line through vs E6x (thanks E39Source's M5 SMG to manual video and Evan's thread), I found it. I'll do a grommet or something later. Maybe. Idk:


But plenty of hose. Hopefully. Idk. I guess I'll be around one of the firsts.

Decided to also install the pedal assembly to get that out of the way and hopefully reinstall the damn dashboard. I should've kept reading Evan's thread as he'll mention needing to remove the column as the motor is in the way to do this. So after much cursing, it was at least moved to the side and the pedals installed w/ the feed line installed as well. Just need to find a clip that I'm sure I have one lying around thanks to the many E46 clutch pedal assemblies I've sold:



And that's it for an update for at least this week unless mounts become publicly available. I'll hopefully be re-installing the dashboard to free up more space at the very minimum this week. I figure as long as I keep doing 30-60 minutes a week, I'll get done in about another year or two.

FuzzyWuzzy

End of Feb 2022 Update

While waiting for a ballet class to end, I was bored and hopped on Amazon to see if anything good popped up "Used." Found an OEM GM LS3 throttle body for less than $170 shipped. Obviously I bought it to use instead of the NNBS truck throttle body. It came in and it looks brand new.

Also bought rebuild kit for the 0280155737/811 injectors I have so those are now set. Should be around 36-40lbs going off various listing and forum posts so it'll be plenty in the beginning.

Also after plenty of forum searching and YT video watching, I'll be using the 862 heads off the first engine I bought instead of the 799 heads off the L33 to allow for more compression (around 10.5:1 instead of 9.9:1). Will likely sell those to recoup costs to go in to whatever else on it. But I'm also doing basic hand porting on the 862 heads so maybe I'll keep them for a bit longer just in case my hand slips too much. For the hand porting, just gasket-matching the exhaust on the roof and I'll be sanding down the rest; nothing crazy. I'll honestly be more than happy if I'm around 360-380rwhp at the end of this.

Tried the fiberglass pano again but still didn't come out as nice as I want it to. More videos and more facebook post reading and I'm seeing people use cut up pieces instead of one large mat so for my third try, that's what I'll do when it comes to the sides, top, and bottom instead of trying to push everything down and hope it stays. I need to order more gelcoat but the shipping cost for a gallon is half the price of the gelcoat...need to find somewhere local that sells it, but that's been impossible.

Lastly, I'll likely be ordering the Terminator X Max this week so all that'll remain is the driveshaft and mounting brackets.

Edit: Bought the Term X Max 550-929 last night.

FuzzyWuzzy

End of Mar 2022 Update
Spring doesn't know if it's here or not, so that's been fun. I love the Midwest.

Anyways, minor updates. Bought RWD motor mounts. Still waiting on the swap mounts to be available. Supposedly this month or beginning of next?? From what I gathered, the AWD swaps will require your own trans mount as he isn't doing those. May need to re-read Evan's thread for his trans mount and copy/adapt.

Finally, completely, got the manual pedal assembly in and found the clip I was missing. Also spent an hour last night under the steering column de-pinning and re-pinning the pedal sensor plug. If the parts from your donor car are an LCI and you have a pre-LCI, the wiring appears to be the exact same, but the plug itself is different. Why? Idfk. Why did BMW do a lot of things? Just know the pink slide bits that hold the pins in place will block pins 3 and 6 (I think. Whichever are the last ones) and will be a pain to remove/add.

Got the battery charged and back in so I can remove the seats and remove the trans harness (under pass seat), transfer case module (under pass seat), and finish hiding the LCI light retrofit wires. Key is now stuck in the ignition and the auto shifter (actually!?) sold a few months ago, so that's awesome. Will likely buy Protool and code it to manual if that's possible.

Also ended picking up an electric power steering pump from a Volvo S40 at the junkyard during a 50% off day. Didn't realize just how large/heavy the thing was (still comparable to a belt driven one, minus the belt). Should be able to fit around where the airbox once was, so maybe I'll mess around with that one of these days.

Also got tired of dealing with disgusting heads, so I built a hot tank out of a turkey fryer. Much cleaner and will hopefully not clog my bits and sandpaper as quickly anymore.

I'm really slow when it comes to these things when I'm forced to wait for other stuff. One of these days I'll speed up. Maybe. No guarantees.