(Not*) Mediocre 242

The Full Banana said:

Looks fantastic with the shiny (all) black paint and the LMs. Nice photos!

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Thanks. A single color 240 is so much better than an orange hood.

What a beaut.

t8fanning said:

I've just been driving my car around on my slipping clutch. The remedy to that will be its own update soon.

I spent about 6 hours cutting and buffing my car for a car show. I'd never done any paint correction before, but I'm pretty happy with the results. There are a few really thin spots on the roof and trunk, but it's not bad for 35 year old paint. After the show, my buddy wanted to take some pictures. The Flickr album is here, but I've included a few of my favorites:

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this is beautiful!!!

Yeah, time for a title change. Sweet ride man

it's really gonna look good with skinny bumpers

but tate loves his commandos.

I hate commandos and I hate being able to see the skid plate from the side. That and the overall length of a 240 are my main gripes about how they look. Skinny bumpers and a new air dam should help fix all that.

Just pull the rubber off the commandos and strip the aluminum for that super sweet dirt track push truck look.

Awesome thread. Makes me miss my 242.

The steering wheel has fake buttons.

I was going to wait until I totally finished my clutch project to post, but oh well.

I picked up a Yoshifab billet flywheel kit that someone didn't use. Hopefully it doesn't slip anytime soon. I also decided to convert to a hydraulic clutch because that's what Mike K does and I want to be just like him (and I wanted to lighten my pedal a bit).

So I extended my pedal, put a stop in, and made a new master cylinder arm:







I made a center lengthening piece and two covers. If anyone wants the dxfs to make their own pedal longer, I'd be happy to share them.

However, when I put my new pedal in the box, it didn't line up with the brake pedal because of my launch control switch. I had to machine the stock Volvo bracket and move the switch back a bit. It now lines up fine.



The hydraulic throw out bearing I wanted to use didn't work with the stock M46 bellhousing because there was no place for it to sit flat, so I converted to a Kaplhenke adapter plate and used a buddy's mill to machine my bellhousing. Because Ben designed a good part, the stock hydro fork pivot point is still there.





However, the Kaplhenke adapter and Deeworks adapters put the trans at a little bit different angle, so I needed to make a new crossmember. It's just a plate with slots welded to the stock crossmember. I didn't take pictures because I put the plate on a bit crooked and that bugs me. I'll have to redo it again when I get my hands on another crossmember.

I also took my trans apart and put in brass shift fork pads, a brass shift bushing, a billet counter gear bearing retainer, tailshaft bushing and tailshaft seal. I also re shimmed the input shaft. Hopefully with all that, it doesn't pop out of second gear on hard downshifts.

So with the clutch and trans in, it looks like this:



I just need to wait for my crossmember to get back from powdercoat, figure out the clutch line, bleed it, fill the trans, and put the exhaust back in for it to drive again.

I also got some other parts powdercoated to look more OEM:

Looks good! Where/what does the bolt head of your clutch pedal stop contact?

It hits the back of the pedal box. I didn't make a bracket like Mike did. I've actuated the pedal a bunch and haven't noticed any flexing, and I don't mind the long bolt, so I think it'll be ok.

I spy E36 parts...

What can I say? BMW makes a very convenient power distribution block with a remote jumper terminal.

The hydro swap definitely got a little more involved for you, but it's worthwhile. Hopefully it all works out smoothly, mines been trouble free.

Powder coat is always a nice finishing touch

I got everything installed and tried bleeding it, but had some trouble. I first tried it like the manual instructs, by pushing the pedal. That seemed to get rid of the air, but didn't cause the bearing to move toward the clutch. I then used my power bleeder and setthe pressure to 20 psi. Again it bled fine but the piston didn't move at all. Any hydraulic throw out bearing guys have insight to what my problem could be? Could my bearing be defective?

I just power bled mine. Does the clutch feel fine to you?

I'll tell you this, that wilwood master will not work with a hydro bearing, I had to switch to a 11/16 bore master for it to even attempt to work. Also did you shim the bearing properly?

Nice work.

What are the two lines going to a pressure switch(?) in this pic?