Finally a running car! Honda F20/F22 Swapped 1973 BMW

[chargin]

On 2/9/2023 at 12:18 PM, Wallyinc said:

I'd like to make/ fabricate an exhaust for the car next.

2.5" round with 1/2 of the Honda Header 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wallyinc]

That is awesome! Thanks for sharing. I temporarily made this straight pipe using old exhaust pipe (removing the cat and gaining more than an inch of ground clearance too). The car sounds so much better now and doesn’t scrape. Eventually I’ll make a nice s.s. like yours, But this will do for now. Inside temps of car weren’t bad before, but the thermal wrap helped displace the little heat that was making it into the cabin.

 

I’m a h.s. teacher, so first up on the summer vacation list is to make a back seat!!!… oh, and my Ireland engineering rear subframe mounts have deteriorated. So i have to replace those too. Strange, they have less than a couple hundred miles and I’m leaving chunks of them on the road everytime I take the car out 🤦‍♂️

 

 

[Wallyinc]

Oh. And cool flames shoot out from time to time now too!

[chargin]

On 4/14/2023 at 6:14 PM, Wallyinc said:

Inside temps of car weren’t bad before, but the thermal wrap helped displace the little heat that was making it into the cabin.

 

This stuff works great, I even use it on the Bulkhead/Firewall:

Amazon.com

A.CO

 

 

 

On 4/14/2023 at 6:14 PM, Wallyinc said:

oh, and my Ireland engineering rear subframe mounts have deteriorated

 

I added a rear Torque Brace that really helped isolate the movement 

 

Transmission Bushing at the Base of the arm for vibrations 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by chargin

[Wallyinc]

A small update on my interior!

 

I'm in the final stages of finishing up my backseat. Made a cardboard pattern and cut it out with a jigsaw on some extra plywood I had lying around. Purchased some diamond pattern vinyl and foam off of amazon and here are the results. This was my first time doing anything of the sort, and I learned A LOT. Again, not 100% done, but these photos are pretty close to the end result.

 

I also had the front seats (from a 08 volvo) reupholstered by a professional (wasn't going to attempt that one on my own!) and those came out extremely nice too. I'll post up pics of that soon. 

 

But now... finally... my three little ones have a comfortable place to sit on our way to ice cream. I also used/found some handles from a newer Bronco as a "hold-down" placed in the space by each side. I still retained all the storage underneath the oem backseat delete as well

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wallyinc]

 

Here's a big update to what's going on with the '02, it's been a productive summer. 

 

Interior for the most part is finally finished! the newly upholstered front seats make a REALLY big difference, I took them to a local shop that has been in business since WWII, it's family owned and they do amazing work. I took a photo of what I wanted to seats to look like and had them covered in leather. The seats are from a 04(ish) Volvo S80 and the price was right (free!) so I went through process of cutting open the floorboards and rewelding them shut. The end result is absolutely fantastic, they fit great and retained their 8-way power adjustability. 

 

I replaced the rear subframe bushings as well. I have no idea what happend to the ireland engineering bushings, but i didn't even get to put 200miles on them before they started falling apart. Every drive I would go out, pieces of bushings were all over my driveway! Eventually my exhaust and driveshaft started to rub and everything was out of place. I popped in new bushings without having to completely drop the rear subframe. Good to go on that now too.

 

Lastly, it's been a hot summer in South Texas and we've had plenty of days above 110 degrees! Even though the Vintage Air Compact unit was mounted under the dash and the compressor and condenser have been mounted since forever too (I custom made the header for the Sanden unit) I really wasn't too eager to finish it up... that is until the temps started rising! I purchased the tools to crimp the AC hoses and took my time routing the lines carefully and neatly. Again, like the seats, having to do so much fabrication work, I often questioned if it was worth it, but once I vacuumed the system and loaded it up with freon.... and the interior was frigid cold, I realized all the trouble was more than worth it! I couldn't be more happy with the end result. 

 

Here are a few photos, thank you again for following along. 

 

 

Here is the original '02 seat and the donated volvo seat in it's original glory

 

 

 

The seat fit... after cutting open the floorboard. Headrest definitely had to go too.

 

 

 

 

Leather wasn't torn... but after trying so many conditioners, nothing worked.

 

 

 

 

 

New covers being made, in matte leather!

 

 

 

 

 

They were great about adding and removing foam, and also had me sit on the seat multiple times to get the fit "just right"

 

 

 

 

 

One seat almost done

 

 

 

 

 

This  was the photo I originally showed them

 

 

 

 

 

The end result! Couldnt' be happier and the pics really don't do them justice

 

 

 

 

 

Had to redo some work on the interior door panel. The speaker grills were popping off from time to time and I wanted to tone done the polished look on the stainless steel door handle. 

 

 

 

 

 

Leather with a bit of adhesive worked well!

 

 

 

 

 

My seats finally installed, now with the backseat, I now have a complete interior. 

 

 

 

 

 

The door panel redone. 

 

 

 

 

 

I used a (very old and thin) tshirt to cover the speaker grill so the speaker wouldn't be visible from any angle. I also used ss tig wire to keep the speaker grill intact. 

 

 

 

 

 

Those Ireland Engineering subframe bushings.... gone!

 

 

 

 

 

Another view of them. 

 

 

 

 

 

Going with OEM now

 

 

 

 

 

One last view of the the rear bushings

 

 

 

 

Now for the front wheel alignment. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ordered a double bulkhead off of Amazon since I won't be connecting the heater... 

 

 

 

 

Measuring and drilling the firewall, carefully! 

 

 

 

 

My first time crimping AC hoses too

 

 

 

 

 

This tool worked out great!

 

 

 

The Amazon bulkhead didn't work after all, I ended up using the original vintage AC 4 bulkhead and cutting it down to a double. 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to fab up something to hold the dryer (just right) in the engine bay

 

 

 

 

 

More CAD! (cardboad aided design) 

 

 

 

 

 

Mocked up and ready to be tack welded

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty close! Not bad

 

 

 

 

Making a tag for my switches and rattle-canned the dryer mount. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not necessary, but I wrapped the lower ac hose in fiberglass for insulation. 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of room on the low side fitting, but again, the fiberglass is an extra means of safety. 

 

 

 

 

 

Vacuuming the system.

 

 

 

 

 

Now to make something to mount the carburator venturi/throttlebody looking ac vents. 

 

 

 

 

 

CAD helps with the design yet again. 

 

 

 

 

Cutting some steel. 

 

 

 

 

These are what I ended up with. 

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up removing the passenger side vent from this location, I didn't like the look. I felt it pulled away from the look of the component system in the door and the center console. 

 

 

 

 

my center console design worked great for this Y for the ac vents!!! I was very stoked about this. 

 

 

 

 

 

The final spot for my passenger AC vent us under the dash tucked away and almost hidden

 

 

 

 

.... that is unless your actually sitting in the car

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, the dryer had to sit just-right so it didn't touch anything and didn't bring down the look of the engine bay, here's how the bracket sits. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 29 by Wallyinc

[Blue-2002]

Oh my goodness, that is some serious progress! Your workmanship looks fantastic!

[Wallyinc]

Thank you, @Blue-2002! I've learned a lot in the process, and the best part is I keep learning more!

 

And even though this one is almost "done" I look forward to applying all this to my next build 👍

[Tommy]

Amazing work! You're sticking with the style you have chosen, or should I actually say created, very well. So what's the next one gonna be?

[Wallyinc]

Hey @Tommy.  There is a '98 4.3 vortec V6 in an S!0 truck hanging out outback. Very low mileage, around 30k. I'll like to set it up for Weber carbs (I'll have to custom make an intake) and if possible, a sky high redline too! What exactly I'll put it in, I don't know yet, we'll see what comes my way. Since it's a V6, I could fit it into almost anything + the 4.3 shares many parts with the 350 chevy, so it shouldn't be too hard or expensive to source parts. 

 

This '02 was really the last thing I thought I'd ever work on, and it turned out ok, so I have faith the right car will present itself for the next project

Edited July 22, 2023 by Wallyinc

[popovm]

On 7/22/2023 at 8:38 AM, Wallyinc said:

Hey @Tommy.  There is a '98 4.3 vortec V6 in an S!0 truck hanging out outback. Very low mileage, around 30k. I'll like to set it up for Weber carbs (I'll have to custom make an intake) and if possible, a sky high redline too! What exactly I'll put it in, I don't know yet, we'll see what comes my way. Since it's a V6, I could fit it into almost anything + the 4.3 shares many parts with the 350 chevy, so it shouldn't be too hard or expensive to source parts. 

 

This '02 was really the last thing I thought I'd ever work on, and it turned out ok, so I have faith the right car will present itself for the next project

 

Tony Angelo is turbo'ing a 4.3 on his channel to build a DIY Syclone. That motor sounds like nice cheap fun. 

 

 

[Wallyinc]

Thanks @popovm! A bit of motivation 👍

[Wallyinc]

A small update on the s2002. Getting heat out of the engine bay has been essential. Temps have been above 100-102 almost everyday for the past month and although the car isn't running hot... at most 210, I'd like to get it cooler. I have an oversized dual pass crossflow radiator, two electric fans and a low-temp mishimoto thermostat. 

 

I couldn't help but notice that by cracking the hood open temps would lower almost 10 degrees. I decided to put to use the cowl which no longer has a purpose with the aftermarket ac/heater. Here are some photos of the solution

 

 

 

 

I started out with some s.s. exhaust clamps

 

but only used the inside part of the clamp... as a bezel

 

 

i ended up using the angle grinder to cut the holes in the firewall. a messy task!

 

 

 

the ac was running a bit warmer than planned when the engine was above 200 degrees, i used some dei tape to wrap the high side line which you see on the right hand of the photo here. 

 

 

 

 

 

here are some views of the holes in the firewall

 

 

 

i taped over the insulated dei tape to keep the black look under the hood

 

 

 

i worked on the tune to get the afr closer to stoich 

 

 

with all these mods the iat is about 20degrees lower and the coolant temp rarely hits above 200degrees. Ac blows cold also no matter the engine temp. The heat getting pumped out of the engine through the cowl, especially while the car is sitting idle is CRAZY!

 

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Wallyinc

[Wallyinc]

Got some good photos from @Georges and @catuned’s setup and added in hood struts this morning as the taller valve cover was slightly rubbing on the stock setup. 
 

Was really patient with drilling and had to realign the hood a bit, but the end result was more than worth it. The hood struts opening up sound so much better than those creaking springs!

 

also including photos of the parts purchased from Autozone and Amazon. 

 

The hood opens a bit more now (still room in front of kidney grill though) and there’s SO much more room to work on things. Whole setup didn’t cost more than 25$ too!
 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2023 by Wallyinc

[Blue-2002]

Thank you for posting all the parts for this mod! I'm buying all these parts this weekend!!