Boxster V8 project log

[redpepperracing]

Originally Posted by Marc_986

Many thanks

I have seen the Roxster indeed, entertaining and informing at the same time ;-)

Apologies for the late response! I figured as much, just wanted to make sure.

Originally Posted by Marc_986

The pump bracket you have, where does it mount to the chassis. The front seems to mount to the little folded 'ridge' that belongs to the chassis (which would otherwise hold the CD changer or a cover). I guess it also mounts to the bulkhead side? Would you mind sharing a picture of that. I'll be in the garage tomorrow and amongst other things, intend to look at bracket options.

I'll try and get you a photo, but yes it mounts to an existing bracket for the lower mount, and I had to drill a hole through the bulkhead for the upper mount. I'll try and get you a photo, but it's pretty much as you described.

Originally Posted by Marc_986

Would be interesting to know how the hoses work for you in the wheel well. I have decided on routing them along the battery and down where the brake rod passes. This will take it directly to the area where the steering shaft is and the hydraulic lines were.

At the position where your feedthroughs are (the strut tower), the metal also seems rather thin. Did you reinforce it with some plate or are you happy enough how it is?

It is at least 2 walls, if not 3, of metal, it's quite solid, and the fittings have retaining nuts, it feels very solid. I'm not worried about it, but will obviously be keeping an eye on it.

For the wiring, the pump came mostly pre-wired with a main fused power and ground going direct to the battery, and then two activation wires that need 12 volts each. I found another person who used 2 wires at the ABS connector, one that has ignition switched 12V and one that has alternator switched 12V, so the pump only comes on when the engine is running, which is nice. Here is the pinout diagram that matches my connector, I see you've done some work in that area so yours may vary, I don't recall the wire colours, and it's all buttoned back up but I seem to recall blue/black being one?

[Marc_986]

Thanks, that is most useful. I figured I could take the alternator wire from the ABS, also as the ABS5.7 does not use it anymore. But also useful to take the other wire from it.. Still depends a bit on which pump I end up using.

A picture of the pump mount would be helpful, I intend to work on that next week.

The forum seems to be done a lot, so here is the progress of last few days. Main work was to make the bulkhead holes for the feedthroughs. One 16mm for pressue, and one 18mm for the return. Then cut the hoses to size.



Now looking from the bottom of the car, you can see these drop more or less straight down to the rack. Also they do clear the steering shaft easily. Hoses are short, so while I did intend to mount them to the chassis at some intermediate point, I now don't feel any need



Today I went to the hydraulics shop and got the hoses crimped. Looking good;


I just ordered O-rings. When they come in and seem to fit, I'll also update my separate thread on the sizes I found to be good.

With this done I mounted the (cleaned) subframe back to the car (including new tuning forks and control arms). There was one thread of the diagonal braces damaged on removal. I rethreaded this one before I put the frame back. These braces themselves were quiet severly corroded, so I cleaned them up as best as I could and resprayed them. Should look a lot better now.

Also started stripping some wires I need from the wreck. Turns out that they potted the bulkhead feedthroughs to the interior. Messy and tedious job to remove all that.

[Marc_986]

Engine wise I got an offer on a 60k miles BBK engine. For BBK this is the best offer I have so far at around $ 4k for full engine (including everything, ancillaries, manifolds, wires, ECU, the whole lot). It is from an auto car though, so I would need to get myself a flywheel. Still not cheap for an engine which is unknown to fit haha.

Need to think about it a bit, open for input from you all as well. (as reference, the next best BBK quote I have is double the price for similar mileage and more of a longblock than a full engine). Will spend some spare moments this weekend to check offers on BAT engines. Ebay is no good though, they all go for more than the BBK.

For those unfamiliar with the BBK, it is the engine with chain distribution from the Audi S4. 344 PS at 7000 RPM, 410Nm (302 ftlb) at 3500 RPM. A bit famous for the chain issues, otherwise an engine with some character.

[redpepperracing]

Ah, I like the way you routed the hoses, I wish I had thought of that, no possibility of wheel interference. I may try and retrofit mine, especially if I have any issues.

Here are a couple of pics of the mount, let me know if you need anything else. It came with a plate that goes into the body bracket with two nuts on it for fastening.

edit: this is where I bought the kit from

edit 2: here is another option with a different style of bracket that might give you ideas

[Marc_986]

Thanks for the pictures and links, most helpful. Didn't manage to look at it today, but will certainly get my pump choice made and bracket worked out this week

Today I bought one of those pliers for the steering rack dust boot clamps. Clamped them on so I could install the rack. Easier said than done as it was a lot of prying and wiggling to get the steering shaft onto the rack. Surely at the first attempt it was of by a notch, so had to do it twice. I probably could have lived with a little difference in left / right wheel rotation, but wanted it to be correct (and didn't want to pull the steering wheel off).

Anyway, it is on now and the steering rack bolted down and torqued.

Some big news today as well as I decided to buy that engine. In about a month time I will be the owner of that Audi BBK engine. To be honest, not really the right time with other expenses which should really have priority. Still went for it as I have been looking around for probably the last year and didn't get anywhere near this deal. I probably could search longer and find a damaged S4 to take the engine out and sell the other bits. That likely would end up with a lower price for the engine, but much more searching and selling / dismantling. Also, the mileage on such engine is expected to be higher (by far most available or over 120k miles, many over 200k.).

Let's hope it fits better than the belt distribution engines. So pressure is on now, need to finish the current projects soon such that I have space for the wreck and engine in the garage. The engine comes with a 6month warranty, so ideally I would have it running in six months. That would be in the wreck, not in my car yet.

I'll need to prepare the wreck a bit for this to happen. Final mechanical fit is not critical, but I need to know whether it would work in the end. Then I still have a complete fuel system in the wreck to hook it up to. Cooling will come from my car (as I swapped the lines etc.) and I have a spare radiator assembly I will mount onto it. Wiring loom is still in the car, so I should be able to find power etc. easily. All good so far.

[redpepperracing]

Glad I could help, it's an ambitious project. Good luck!

[Marc_986]

Originally Posted by redpepperracing

Glad I could help, it's an ambitious project. Good luck!

Just another question (to you or anyone else using the Astra / Opel / Vauxhall pump). There was a bit of return line on the pump when I got it and which I wanted to re-use. Funny part was that it had a crimp on it, close to the reservoir. That was a bit odd, also as it didn't seem to be for connecting hoses together.

So I cut the sleeve off and managed to pull something out which seems to be a reducer. I didn't measure, but by sight it looks to be about a 3mm hole through the center. Did your pump come with such a restrictor? I guess you didn't put any restriction in, right?

I can't really understand the use of it yet, it looks like it would be the biggest restriction in the whole system. And why would they run a 10mm return line when they want pressure drop anyway? Bit confused.

On a positive note, I managed to finish the pump bracket last weekend with kind help of my neighbour for the welding. Last layer of paint is on now, should be dry tomorrow. Also I put some new wires on the power connector for the pump and found myself a nearby ground point to use. Getting ever closer....

[redpepperracing]

Sorry, mine came plumbed with AN fittings from the guy who made the kit, so I don't know if it originally had that restrictor on it.

[Marc_986]

Thanks. I searched around a bit and found only one story on this. This stated that the pump on the Astra is physically very close to the rack and this proximity led to pulsing which was noticeable while steering. It was stated that this restriction is the remedy.

So as for me the pump has a good bit of hose before it reaches the pump, I am going to leave that restriction out. If I do notice something, I know what to do

Yesterday I mounted the pump bracket to the car (taking a few tries to cut the carpet in the right places etc.)


Not really visible, but it tilts slightly to one side, but I'll live with that. After the bracket was in place I opened up the carpet around the big hole where the brake booster would mount to on the RHD cars. I had a spare rubber grommet thing which I cut as well to feed the hoses through. You can barely see it in this picture, but pressure hose is connected to the pump, return is loosely in place as I need to position and connect it on the battery side.



Next step: fix that return hose and check final routing of the pressure hose. Torque it all up, add fluid and start the pump on temporary wiring. I need to decide whether I feed the supply wire into the interior and connect it to the main fuse box (one open spot on my car) or whether I find myself a battery mounted fuse/ distribution box to wire it to.

In the latter case, I would prefer a box that mounts to the side of the battery and which has replaceable fuse links...

[obthomas]

I powered my pump directly from the nearby battery with a 60 amp circuit breaker and turned on the pump with a relay powered directly from the windshield wiper power supply. This way my power steering is key on key off.

[redpepperracing]

In my post above I did detail how I used 12V signals from the ABS wiring in the frunk. For power I too have a direct connection to the battery with a 50A fuse. I also just this week installed a 987 150A alternator, just so I have some extra headroom from the stock 120A alternator.

[Marc_986]

Thanks both! I will have a look whether I will power from the main distribution or whether I will wire directly to the battery. I will need to run some wires inside anyway (for ABS upgrade).

Last Thursday I was able to finish the last hose connections and power up the pump. Turned left and right to fill the steering rack and held it at both ends for 5sec to do a limited pressure test. The pump did sound like it was having a hard time, so I'm sure it has build some pressure. So far, no leaks.

O-rings used on the steering rack are 12.1x1.6mm for the pressure side and 13.5x1.5mm for the return. I'm quite sure the original rings are 12.5x1.5mm on the supply side, but the 1.6 I used should give a bit more compression on the adapters I have.
Blue text are the originals taken from the car, green are the alternatives I bought.


This weekend I started building up the car again. Cooland pipes first and brackets on my car didn't look very nice. Looked at the ones on the wreck and they look so much better. So no painting, just take those. See this picture for the difference:


With quite a bit of fiddling the pipes are in:

[Marc_986]

This evening I attempted to put the coolant hoses in place, but it is quite a pain to get the clamps on near the subframe. I was afraid of that, that is why I started this job now (with the suspension out of the way and previously also the subframe). 2 of them are on easily, the other 2 are not willing to cooperate.

It doesn't help that I just have regular pliers to do the job. Good for most clamps, but these are so tight and akward to reach that I'll get myself one of those remote hose clamp pliers. These should also lock in the open clamp position so I can get them in place more easily. Hopefully that gets me further in this. Really like to get the front together by the end of the month, but a busy weekend and a business trip make this unlikely now.

[Marc_986]

So, today was a better day. With the right tools it was easy to slide on the drivers side clamp. Passenger side lower clamp was however still a struggle and it took met at least 30mins with different approaches to get the clamp on. Main issue is that the expanded diameter of the clamp is just enough to slide over the hose. However, the hose slides over the pipe, expanding it a bit. Now it is really hard to get the clamp over, especially in such a tight spot. I loosened the subframe (again) to create a bit more working space. Did manage in the end though.

From that point on I could continue hoses and pipes up to the radiator. Passenger side radiator mounted up again and both side have the plastic air channels also back in place. At least some progress today.

Just for fun, a picture of the 1997 base cooling pipes in the wheel well:


And the current setup. Sorry about the flash / non flash comparison, but you can especially see the difference at the bottom right where they come from under the car into the wheel well.


Next step is to check whether the front stabilizer needs some paint before it is mounted back, then assemble this and put the subframe and reinforcements back in the right places. Still work to do in both wheel wells before I mount the front suspension.

[Marc_986]

Time for another update. Since last time I mainly worked on getting the front of the car back together. Wheel wells on both sides are done now, except the liner I will keep off for now so I can easily check for leaks (steering, cooling, brakes). So the washer bottle is back in, new ABS sensor wires are in and old ones pulled out. New sensors mounted. Control arm and tuning forks mounted and wheel carrier and strut back in place. Newly painted stabilizer is in with new bushings. Track arms are mounted as well.

Boxster S brake discs and calipers are mounted, new hoses on. Wheels back on the car and camber set to -0.5deg. Toe to be done.

It was fun comparing the tuning forks, old vs new:


Honestly no real idea why they have made the alu so much thicker. But it probably hasn't made it worse...

Pretty much the whole front end is now refreshed (struts and springs with strut bearing etc., drop links were already done a year ago) except the wheel bearings. These aren't to hard to do while the rest is installed, so no rush on this.

Today I started taking the rear end apart a little. First thing to do is to replace the brake line from left to right. Not so easy, but let's see how it goes. The the short brake line on the left should be easy. Finally I'll take the power steering pump out and probably will remount the AC compressor to function as an idler. Any tips for belt length on standard engine, with AC, no power steering?

[Marc_986]

Last few days I spent some time here and there to make a little progress. Brake line from rear left to rear right is done. It wasn't as bad as I feared with everything in place. Just slowly wiggle it out and in (well, I could have ripped it out, but wanted to practice the install process).

With the hard line in place, I put a new brake hose on and mounted the Boxster S caliper. Basically the same thing as I had, but better looking and allowing for a wider disc later on.

Next up, the ABS sensor wiring (along with pad wear sensor). Took the old wires out of the wheel well and put the new ones in. Now I need to swap the few pins in the right locations and tidy it all up again. It is a bit of a mess now:



Small tip for anyone that needs to replace this cable: the metal retaining clip of the connector block in the wheel well can be removed easily and makes it sooooo much easier to get it through the hole in the chassis...

[Marc_986]

Look what I had today, a 12 cylinder hybrid car ;-)



Took one engine out, ready to be put in the wreck. (But first I need to get the 986 on the road again..)

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Marc_986

Look what I had today, a 12 cylinder hybrid car ;-)

Attachment 23893

Took one engine out, ready to be put in the wreck. (But first I need to get the 986 on the road again..)

Wow, where did this engine came out from?
.

[Marc_986]

This engine is out of a early century Audi S4 (B6/B7 model). The engine is complete, but with a few damaged connectors here and there, as one would expect these days. So far it seems nothing is cut which would be needed still.

[redpepperracing]

Width wiser it looks pretty compact, and the height also doesn't look too bad, is it going to fit lengthwise?