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I finally got the rear turbo coolant hose off. I had to use the longest needle nose pliers they sell at harbor freight (24") to reach all the way up around the exhaust to grab the spring clamp to get this off. It took me quite a while. Its just a regular hose though and I could probably replace it with regular heater hose although I'll try to get the genuine part of course.
All of the rubber pieces, vacuum lines and hoses are just super brittle and hard on this car. I think they'll start breaking and failing one by one. I guess it gives a good argument for silicone couplers and hoses but then again, I've never seen a silicone coupler or hose after 25 years of a hot twin turbo engine bay. A single turbo conversion would seriously cut down on this heat soak, especially if it had an inconel manifold.
I got some more welding on the clutch box done. Its pretty tough because the metal is so thin. The firewall seems to be 20 or 22 gauge steel and the steel for the clutch box is 18 or 16 gauge. I'm using solid mild steel .030" wire with pure argon as the shielding gas. I should probably use 75% CO2 25% argon but thats what I have for now.
I tried to fit the transmission on the engine this weekend. I ran into a problem with size. The CD009 bell housing is significantly larger in diameter and the twin plate clutch pressure plate is longer than a regular pressure plate. So the transmission has to slide on from further back. The problem is the transmission tunnel slopes in so it gets more narrow there and the CD009 bell housing is big to begin with. The CD009 shifter is also contacting the top of the transmission tunnel so I had to take that off.
My first idea was to just loosen the subframe bolts and lower the whole engine a few inches while pushing up on the oil pan to tilt the engine back. It looks like this might work but I ran out of time before I could get the transmission on. More on this later.
One thing I discovered is that the subframe isn't bolted directly to the frame. Its got 4 hockey pucks that the frame rides on. I didn't notice any slop in the handling so this is a good design but I'm guessing these should probably be replaced or upgraded to a stiffer material if I intend on pushing the car to its limits.
I finally got the transmission on yesterday. I had to disconnect the steering shaft, drop the subframe a good 4", angle the rear of the engine down and twist the rear of the engine towards the driver's side. Its a VERY tight fit.
There are 4 large bolts that hold the engine cradle on the frame. Each one has a little rubber hockey puck. This is what they look like:
As you can see, there is a tapered cone that feeds into a metal socket on the subframe. Its an excellent design because it should be self-aligning. Hopefully precise enough that I don't have to re-align the front end.
Here is a shot showing how close the catalytic converter is and how far the engine came down:
Yeah this is a very tight fit once again. I was actually able to get the transmission onto the engine. Its stuck about 1/2" off the engine though. So I think both clutch plates are on the input shaft but its hung up on the pilot bushing. I used the alignment tool so I know the pilot bushing is lined up. I also know its the right diameter because I did a test fit before installing it. The only thing I don't know is if the depth its pressed in at is ok. There's an adapter that adapts the 2JZ pilot bushing socket to the Nissan pilot bushing diameter. The brass bushing is then pressed into that.
I might have to either just crawl under the transmission bell housing and wiggle it around until it goes on or lay under the transmission with my feet facing the bell housing and try to wiggle the tail end around until the input shaft goes into the pilot bushing.
So I've kind of hit another wall in this project. The holes on the transmission adapter plate don't line up with the holes on the transmission. I sent an email to Maverick Motorsports who made the kit 6 days ago but I still haven't received a response. They don't have a phone number and I sent emails to all 3 of their email addresses.
As you can see, that bolt threads in but there is a pin in the bell housing that doesn't line up with a hole in the adapter plate. I'm thinking the pin might just have to be moved to another spot. I haven't been able to try that however because I ran out of time in the garage. The garage is being reframed to have the ceiling lifted to accomodate for a lift.
Besides that, none of the bolts on the bottom of the transmission line up:
In total it looks like 6 out of 10 bolt holes on the bell housing would line up.
I haven't made any progress on this. George at Maverick Motorsports isn't responding to me at all. Besides that, construction started on my garage. They raised the ceiling and it looks like this:
I have to do electrical, insulation and drywall to get the garage ready for winter. Then this winter, the garage will be warm and I can keep working on the car.
Thanks. Your the first person to post on this thread! I was beginning to think I'm talking to myself.
I'm looking at getting a Tuxedo iDeal MSC-6K-LP single column pallet jack style lift.
The wiring in the garage was finished last night. We installed a dedicated 110v 20 amp service for the lift. I don't know why they aren't offering 240v because that would be a lot easier.
The single column is going to along the back wall of the garage. It's 8'6" tall and my trusses are 8' so the lift will have to stay in the lift bay unless disassembled. I might need to install a gantry crane or at least a block and tackle to get this column erected because its over 800 lbs. Right now the priority is getting the garage insulated and drywalled however.
George from Maverick Motorsports finally got back to me. He wants me to remove all of the pins from the bell housing and install the transmission without any pins and just the 6 bolts. The only reason I am slightly opposed to that is the dowel pin serves a purpose. It aligns the bell housing with the engine block. Normally if you don't have a dowel pin, you install the bell housing and align it with an alignment tool, then install the transmission to the bell housing. In the case of the CD009, you can't separate the two because its one piece so this isn't possible. That could mean that my transmission isn't in alignment with the engine, clutch or flywheel. George said they've never had a problem doing it that way but I wonder how Collins Adapters does it.
Update, a more technical explanation from George:
It's the big bummer of this swap. Wish there was a way to keep em but it literally runs into the starter. The only way to clear it is to clock the transmission differently but the shifter and everything would sit weird.
I realigned the clutch disks. When I loosened the pressure plate, I noticed there was some play in the alignment tool. If I just let it hang, the clutch disk seemed to sag and moved down about 3mm. I figured that might've been my problem with the input shaft. So I lifted the clutch disks up with the alignment tool in and bolted it down like that. Hopefully its straight. I wish I had a metal alignment tool or spare input shaft.
Now the problem is I'm just having a heck of a time getting the input shaft over the splines on the clutch disks to get the transmission on. I spent all day wrestling with it yesterday.
Hey great to see another 147 in the States, keep up the good work! George at Maverick is a good dude, me and all my boys use his stuff. Im sure he will take care of you.
If you decide to ditch the twins I have a single kit. Air filter to downpipe minus the intercooler.
The car is coming along nicely. You garage looks awesome. I just bought a new house and plan to do a garage build as well. How is your lift working for you?
The car is coming along nicely. You garage looks awesome. I just bought a new house and plan to do a garage build as well. How is your lift working for you?
I haven't bought the lift yet actually. I spent all the money on the modifications to the garage, the plans etc so I don't have money for the lift now. Maybe next year.
09-06-17, 06:55 AM
