The Project Pad

I picked up a nice little 88 80q from an awesome buyer up in Washington state for a song. $500, actually. Runs and drives well. Flew in and drove it back to California over a beautiful weekend.





I'm extremely excited for this project. The plan is to fix up a couple things, then do full suspension, brakes, wheels and tires, and then rebuild and transplant the 3b from my 91 200 into the car. The 200 recently dyno'd at 394whp. Going for a nice reliable 400+whp daily driver. The 200 is also running and driving, I just plan on refreshing the engine and upgrading the rods.

Here's the engine in the donor car. My 91 200. The body is getting a bit old, and I'm looking forward to a lighter chassis.



Pretty clean for it's age!


Interior is in pretty great condition.
I've done a couple things already. Installed a used stereo I had to replace the stock unit with some nice polk audio speakers in the rear. I also cut a bit out of the mile high shifter and welded it back together and replaced the torn up boot with a nice new leather unit.
Disregard the mess on the floor mats, it was pretty clean when I picked it up.



Engine bay is in pretty good shape too.

Radiator looks brand new!


Up first is suspension. Just picked up this coilover kit yesterday. Can't wait to get started. I'm lucky enough to work at a shop where I do these kinds of projects for a living, so I'll be taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge and resources available.


Lots of pictures to come!

Nice project!

Such a clean car. Looking forward to updates.

Need any B3 parts? Got some stuff left over from mine that needs a good home.

AudiSport4000 wrote:Such a clean car. Looking forward to updates.

Need any B3 parts? Got some stuff left over from mine that needs a good home.

Pm sent!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

wonderful plan.

Any plans to use helper springs? I'm about to jump into the coilover project and am afraid of not using them.

lorge1989 wrote:Any plans to use helper springs? I'm about to jump into the coilover project and am afraid of not using them.

2B kit doesnt need helper spring nor thrust bearing.

varia wrote:2B kit doesnt need helper spring nor thrust bearing.

What is different about the 2B kit that it doesn't require either?

k2exoman wrote:

varia wrote:2B kit doesnt need helper spring nor thrust bearing.

What is different about the 2B kit that it doesn't require either?

it was a joke
this came up on Fb few days ago. I posted: this coil over kit is missing the helper spring and thrust bearing (i have the same kit).
and the owner kept defending the product, and stating this kit is perfect as is, has good springs, etc.
I would quote it, but the post got deleted somehow, after a few knowledgeable guy joined the conversation.

k2exoman wrote:

varia wrote:2B kit doesnt need helper spring nor thrust bearing.

What is different about the 2B kit that it doesn't require either?

Well for starters I didn't design the kit myself, but it uses a delrin thrust bushing in stead of a bearing because they found it suitable. And it doesn't use a helper spring because it isn't necessary. Essentially if your spring is still under compression at full suspension travel it's not needed. Which is why stock suspension systems don't utilize them. They are made to help mitigate suspension set ups that no longer allow full suspension travel without your spring falling off its perch.

I'd agree with you, but most OEMs use progressive front springs for this reason, which essentially is what you make when you use a helper spring. I dont think I will assemble mine with a helper at first, but I will use a legit thrust bearing, as a single homogeneous piece of delrin seems questionable to me.

Kit does look awesome though! Seems like you got a killer deal on that 90.

lorge1989 wrote:I'd agree with you, but most OEMs use progressive front springs for this reason, which essentially is what you make when you use a helper spring. I dont think I will assemble mine with a helper at first, but I will use a legit thrust bearing, as a single homogeneous piece of delrin seems questionable to me.

Kit does look awesome though! Seems like you got a killer deal on that 90.

Well as I've said before, I've never driven identical cars with and without a thrust bearing, so I'm not really sure how much of a difference it makes on the street, although I do see why some use it. I can always add them later if I feel the need.

All of the helper springs I've ever seen are designed to be 100% compressed during normal use. They only uncoil at your last 10% travel or so when your car is practically in the air. So it's probably a matter of semantics whether or not it's progressive, since you do technically have multiple spring rates, but in an oem application, the smaller spring rate is usable when you hit a bump, whereas the helper is 100% flat and not used until you're jumping a hill or something.

Anyway like I said, I didn't design the system and people are making advances all the time. So I might upgrade later if I see fit. That is just one small part of the project.

Finally started rebuilding my 3b for the swap.





This is my ebay log manifold if anyone is curious how they last over a few years of heavy abuse. Not a single crack. Still in great shape.




I was pleasently surprised at how cleaned the head was.





Cylinder were all in pretty good shape. No scoring or gouging to speak of, with plenty of factory crosshatching still visible and virtually no ring ring.




I was also really surprised at the condition of the bearings. They all looked in good shape, both rod and main. No scoring or discoloration from heat.


Honed the cylinders.



Grimey block.


Girlfriend snuck a picture of me cleaning some pistons.



Prepped the block for a little paint.



Primer



Paint. Just rattkle can VHT, but it turned out well.



ARP main studs.




Plastigauged the mains. Spec for new is .001"-.002", wear limit is .006". I'm between .001 and .002.




Went with scat rods from 034. Should do just fine for my power goals of 550-600hp.

I actually decided against going with the gapless rings. I guess we've tried them a couple times in 20vts before my time here with really bad results. Went with stock rings instead.

Made some more progress on the engine. Got my head back from the machine shop. 15 new valve guides, full valve job, decked the face and installed the valve stem seals.


Also picked up a downpipe from work. Can't beat employee pricing!



Not sure if I'm going to run the red valve cover or not... What do people think? Too flashy? What else would look good instead of red?






Not too much left at this point. I decided to swap my intake cam back to a 3b due to the overlap created when running both 7A cams, and that should be here in a day or two. Probably going to powder coat my intake manifold, then it's mostly just bolt ons from there.

I like black crinkle (and red crinkle looks good too). My 7A valve cover with crinkle powdercoat (but you can get crinkle spray paint too):

Made some progress. All buttoned up from oil pan to valve cover. Just a bit more to go before I pull the NG out of the 80! I'm pretty excited!




Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

looking good!

I am switching over to individual coils, so I wanted to do something about my distributor. I wanted to retain the hall effect switch inside for my cam position, but didn't want to have an ugly distributor cap hanging off the side of my engine, so I cut off the rotor, and machined an aluminum cap. Nothing too fancy, just something to clean it up a bit and keep the dust out.

Finally got around to yanking the stock NG out of the 80 in preparation for the 3B. Got a few things accomplished. Ran my battery cable from the trunk up into the engine bay, and got the 3b wiring harness installed into the car using the stock grommet. I wired up all my fuse box connections and tach signal as well as temp gauge signal to the cluster. Obviously I will have to do some further testing later but initial checks show correct power at all the right sensors, so it looks promising. I also did a small side project. Since my b3 is an 80, not a 90, it didn't come with auxiliary gauges. With the new engine, I mainly want to keep an eye on oil pressure. So I snagged a pretty beat up set of gauges from a junk car at work.




Since my car didn't come with any wood trim, I thought it would look a little more appropriate to sand it down smooth and wrap it in black vinyl. I also swapped out my oil temp gauge for my 52mm vdo boost/vacuum gauge, which fit the bevel perfectly. It did require me to modify the bracket a bit thought to bolt it in, as the boost gauge is about 10 mil deeper than the others. I have had this gauge for years, and had no idea it was going to work out so well. It looks completely oem.



Obviously the vinyl isn't 100% perfect. The ashtray was particularly difficult to avoid wrinkles, but when it's all together it actually looks pretty good. I had to modify my center console a bit to get everything to fit. Had to remove the carpeting and cut a large square hole to mount the ashtray in, and drill holes for the mounting brackets. I was able to piece together two broken ashtrays into one complete ashtray which works perfectly. No loose flopping around or anything.



I then created a subharness for the gauges. I wired it correctly, with the gauge power coming from the correct fuse, and the lights wired separately and run on the gauge dimmer circuit, so the lights only come on with the headlights, and when I dim my cluster these gauges dim as well.


Looks alright installed. Made sure the oil pressure gauge is wired to the 3b oil pressure sensor and all is functioning correctly.

That little subharness looks clean. And the VDO gauge fits nicely there.
So on the rod bearings did you re-use the stock bearings with the scat rods?

Afterthought wrote:That little subharness looks clean. And the VDO gauge fits nicely there.
So on the rod bearings did you re-use the stock bearings with the scat rods?

Thanks, I tried to make it tidy.
I'm not positive if you're asking if I used new OEM bearings. Or if I reused the bearings that were already in the engine, but I used all new OEM bearings.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

maverick wrote:

Afterthought wrote:That little subharness looks clean. And the VDO gauge fits nicely there.
So on the rod bearings did you re-use the stock bearings with the scat rods?

Thanks, I tried to make it tidy.
I'm not positive if you're asking if I used new OEM bearings. Or if I reused the bearings that were already in the engine, but I used all new OEM bearings.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Yep sorry wasn't worded very well but that's basically what I was asking. It looked like new stock bearings as opposed to coated or anything just was checking. I am looking to rebuild my AAN soon and looking at what others do!
That's a steal you got on that and I always liked the 80's. you were up in my neck of the woods too!
Looking forward to see more.

Looking good! 2b is lucky to have you

Didn't they have the lighting booster relay in there for a reason? I've never run without it, so not really sure how much of a difference it will make.

ringbearer wrote:Looking good! 2b is lucky to have you

Hey thanks man! That's really kind of you to say!

ringbearer wrote:Looking good! 2b is lucky to have you

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk