VX220 Project

[mandarinvx]

22/03/09

Well the new shocks are fitted (mini fitting guide here) They feel great!

Went for a long blast to bed them - they did feel a bit pants at first, but after playing with the rebound adjuster a bit they are now fine. I've got them set surprisingly low at the moment - 7 from full soft on the front and 10 from full soft on the rear, tho this may change as they settle more

A couple of quick pics from my adventure around Oxfordshire

 

[mandarinvx]

28/03/09

Finally got around to hooking up the oil breather

First off I removed the header tank bracket, was in a right state - presumably down to the fact there was just one thin coat of black paint onto unprepped mild steel

So used Hammerite gel to remove a good portion of the rust (worked quite well considering) and painted with Hammerite undercoat

Then sprayed with primer and matt black

Also made a small bracket with 10mm hole and bolted that to the existing bracket

This is the cap covering the gearbox aperture - you may or may not have one. Was quite a stuggle to get it off as access is so limited

Used a stainless Jubilee to connect the fuel hose on - to be honest I'd go for 10.5 - 12mm bore pipe over the 9.3mm bore I used here - was a right PITA getting it on!

And twisted the pipe round the wiring loom to keep it out the way of the gear linkage

And the finished effect

 

[mandarinvx]

05/04/09

Flame suit at the ready

I decided to fit my stereo system back in

Went for a set of Infinity component speakers, and a Vibe wiring kit (8AWG)

And using the sub from my last car and amp

I took some pics this time around

The head unit that came with the car is an Alpine iDA-X001, which has no CD player, only a flying lead for full Ipod connection, so first I had to buy an Ipod - went for a black Nano B)

Removed the head unit and cage, so that I could get the dash off to give me full access to the back of the head unit

There was a fair bit of crap under the dash

 

[Matt]

Of course we don't mind. Love a good project thread.

Plus our site is going no where, so your data is safe

Cool, thanks cheers..

Good to know it's all in a safe place

You'll have to bear with me tho - the thread goes on a bit - does get to some engine fettling later on

No worries.

The data is in several safe places, it's backed up off site each night, and we also have instant replication to a backup server

 

[mandarinvx]

05/04/09

The amp is four channel, so two phono leads needed, and a remote power lead for the amp

Found a few holes that lead into the ali column under the stereo, and passed the phono's through, then cable tied out of the way of passengers feet. Both holes were fairly central to the car, near the bonnet release lever

Same for the remote lead, but this time over the far near side, to seperate power and signal thumbsup

And then fed up to the stereo

Reinstalled the head unit and fitted the dash back together after giving it a good clean

I decided to run the phono cables down the centre of the car, and the power cables along the sill; to help prevent interference

So removed the lower centre console (just two scrivets holding it in place)

And ran them under the main console to the back of the car

 

[mandarinvx]

05/04/09

And then the power cable, the cable in the kit is flat, so much easier to hide behind interior trim

There is a grommet leading to the front compartment, just below where the stereo sits, so I used this for the cable

This is where it comes out at the front

Then connected to the battery with an in line fuse holder

Leaving this

The Vibe wiring kit I bought come with a power connecting block, which could be handy if the car is going to sit for a while, so I can isolate power to the amp completely

The cables were run down the sill

They aren't very noticable when sat in the car though

 

[mandarinvx]

05/04/09

Then removed the old speakers, they were only rated at 40W RMS (the amp is 125W RMS) and had the tweeter mounted in the centre, so directly in line with ears

Taped up the old speaker connections - not as important in this case as the head units amp can be turned off all together on this system B)

And tucked out of harms way

Now to install the sub

I used heavy duty Velcro on both the parcel shelf and the sub

Then installed the speakers - using some adhesive foam around the aperture to stop any rattles. I also made some brackets to screw into the sub - It didn't move previously, but I always thought I probably should have fixed it properly!

edit- I put the tweeters in the little cubby pockets at the front of the car, pointing at the seats, and again ran the cabling underneath the sills

 

[mandarinvx]

05/04/09

The amp was then fully wired in

I used the front seat mounting as the earth point for the amp

And all finished

The cheap cloth from ebay has faded, so may recover the sub at some point

It sounds stunning - really really stunning B) :jump:

 

[mandarinvx]

11/04/09

Made a new 'hat' for the header tank today out of some carbon fibre I had lying around. This extends further toward the rear of the car and fully covers the gearbox breather

 

[mandarinvx]

14/04/09

Had a play with some of the left over fibreglass today

I'm going to make a smaller parcel shelf box to house 2 6"x9" speakers and see how much bass they deliver (which can be tailered on the amp)

Just trying to get some info for sealed enclosure sizing from the speaker manufacturers; they don't seem to want to play ball tho

 

[mandarinvx]

18/04/09

Decided to have a go at porting my spare throttle body today

Thought I'd countersink and tap the holes first, as if that went wrong a few hours polishing would have been wasted

Just used a standard M4, 0.7 pitch tap

Unfortunately, I'd ordered the countersunk screws but gone for M4x6 as per the guide on Z22SE; but the sellers on ebay advertise length as complete length, not just threaded length, so I've had to order the M4x10 version instead


Taking out one of the many ridges; using a Dremel and the fine larger size drum sanding barrels

A little more

And all the Dremel work done, taking care not to take alloy away from where the butterfly rests against the housing to try and prevent a 2000rpm idle

 

[mandarinvx]

18/04/09

Sanded with 240, then 480 grit wet and dry

Then polished using some cheap miniature 'hobbyist' polishing mops from ebay, and a cutting and polishing bar

And all done, bar the screws which I will Loctite in place once they arrive

 

[mandarinvx]

23/04/09

Started to port the cylinder head now

Massive thanks to Vocky for removing the valves for me (standard size spring compressors won't fit ) and for giving me a crash course in porting

I took quite a few initial pics, there's no real need to post them, but I'll put some up just in case they come in handy for someone

First things first - the waterways / penetrations

And some of the head with cams and valvetrain still assembled:

Exhaust ports:

Easy to see that there is plenty of scope for material removal here!

Inlet:

 

[mandarinvx]

23/04/09

The head is in very good condition:

A pic with the valvetrain (inc seats) removed, only the guides left in place:

Exhaust marked up with the aid of a gasket to show how much needs to be removed

Exhaust port, where Vocky kindly gave the demo, you can see the level of material that can be removed to increase flow:

Initial porting:

OEM:

And the disruptive ridge within the port:

 

[mandarinvx]

23/04/09

And the inlet side, bit easier to see here as it's cleaner:

And as with the exhaust side, the ridge to be removed (part done here):

I've done a fair bit since these were taken, I'll get some more pics over the weekend

 

[mandarinvx]

04/05/09

Managed with the Dremel in the end - very tight!

After a few piles like this:

I think I have finally gone as far as I will


Roughing out of the inlet to get rid of the step (ie where the machining stops and the natural casting starts)

Opening out the exhaust port (the exhaust side is easy to get to)

A bit more roughing out

And some more

Moved to a finer sanding drum

 

[mandarinvx]

04/05/09

Starting to get somewhere now...

Then polishing up the exhaust side

Hard to capture the polished effect, and the camera picks up every spec of dust

And finished

I haven't done anything with the top of the combustion chamber, as I don't have the equipment to take very accurate fluid measurements, so just gave them a bit of a clean up

 

[mandarinvx]

04/05/09

This is the inlet side - I could have taken more off the divide, but called it a day before doing any irreversible damage

The crucial part on the inlet is the very restrictive area just beneath the valve, as the port sweeps nearly 90 degrees on itself back toward the manifold. This is where I had to buy the carbide burr for fear of burning the Dremel out

Prob remove about 1/4" on each port here


Thanks again to Vocky for the guidance thumbsup

 

[mandarinvx]

15/05/09

I ordered a couple of square yards of the carbon fibre fabric N1k found on the BMW forum, via JJJ

Really good quality material, and has a bit of stretch to it too

So had a play around with one of the easier, smaller dah plates today

I think it looks great B)

I think I'll try to do the door cards and steering shroud too, maybe even a centre console if I'm feeling brave!

 

[mandarinvx]

16/05/09

A few pics of the GM set I ordered from Allecotec

Intake - new on the right; these are nitrated stainless, with an undercut stem

With single grooves for the keepers

And the exhaust - these are inconel, again with an undercut, new on the left this time

And the GM double valve spring kit

It looks like I will need to fit the valve guides too, as they are slightly smaller than stock