Globex Corp presents: 255

Make me some brackets too, thx.

Quick question: What year v50 did the black cloth seats come out of? Those are PERFECT for what I want in my '89 white 245!!!!

MoCounselor said:

Quick question: What year v50 did the black cloth seats come out of? Those are PERFECT for what I want in my '89 white 245!!!!

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2011 iirc. They had black as an option every year.

wow can't wait to see more of this!

There's been other things that have shown up over the last 6 months (though... honestly not much) but this is AWESOME.



I only had a chance to snap the one picture but it's a complete NOS set of early door panels. The fronts have no window/speaker holes, the rears do have manual window holes but I'll plug them with something. Very excited.

Also a new body shop opened up next to the shop. Might need to see if they'd be interested in some cabinet trade work or something

Was just too dang nice this weekend to be stuck in the shop working on guitars... so I did some car work instead.

Grabbed the motor/subframe I picked up from Dean off the storage rack and took it outside to pressure wash it


After that was done, I stole the scissor lift we normally use for lifting units of materials to saw height and stuck the entire subframe on that

I broke the trans and subframe away from the motor there then brought the motor home.

Now I snagged this for a couple reasons. One, I wanted the accessories and for the price I paid, it was worth it. But I also wanted the bottom end as I wanted a 2.3L early block since that's what my rods and pistons are for. I'll have to add the crankcase windows in but my shop did that on the last 3 motors I built so they know what to do. The mockup motor in the 245 is a 2.4l but I AM using the RN head.

So last night and today I tore it down







There we go. I left the crank in since my machine shop will need all the bolts for the bottom girdle when they bore the block so figured it was just easier to transport it as one unit.

I was a little worried because this motor looked pretty neglected. PCV is badly filled with crude, water looked suspect but in the end, the cylinder walls actually look pretty good. Reasonably good crosshatch and no real ridge. SO hopefully it'll clean up at the right size for these pistons. Nothing ventured nothing gained after all.

A new body shop opened up next door to the shop a couple weeks ago. Nice looking work... now I have to convince them they need to trade for cabinet work or something.

I was talking to one of the main/the main T5 engine builders here in the UK and he is now mainly doing (shimmed) 2.5 litre blocks with ported 2.3 litre heads. Additional 200 cc very useful for low end, older head good for simplicity and still makes good numbers when ported is the theory as I understand it.

Dammit said:

I was talking to one of the main/the main T5 engine builders here in the UK and he is now mainly doing (shimmed) 2.5 litre blocks with ported 2.3 litre heads. Additional 200 cc very useful for low end, older head good for simplicity and still makes good numbers when ported is the theory as I understand it.

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All the numbers I've seen show the RN heads out performing both in stock form and ported form the earlier head.

Plus honestly, I don't really need the extra hassle of the extra 200cc's not to mention needing a different set of rods and pistons than I already have

My old T5R with a more restrictive exhaust manifold and a slightly slower turbo than this motor has had usable power, EVERYWHERE. Better low end grunt than my C30 has actually

Plus the goals just aren't really that big for this motor. I've done 4 bottom ends like this and they are all still running good as can be. Sometimes just stick with what one knows

OH I should mention I finally got to check something I was worried about, if the AC compressor would clear the motor mounts. Good news is, looks like there won't be any issue at all. Huzzah.

Yes, it's not the route I've gone - 2.34LYF as they say. I've too much invested in the "standard" bottom end to swap it for a 2.5 litre.

Anyway, pointless engine waffle over, I'm very much looking forward to seeing this all go together.

Dammit said:

Yes, it's not the route I've gone - 2.34LYF as they say. I've too much invested in the "standard" bottom end to swap it for a 2.5 litre.

Anyway, pointless engine waffle over, I'm very much looking forward to seeing this all go together.

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I'm looking forward to it too. I'll probably enjoy working on it again for my one weekend a year quota again next year

Hank Scorpio said:

2011 iirc. They had black as an option every year.

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Thanks man, I appreciate it!

When are you going to flaunt the new goodies you recently acquired?

vaderfpu said:

When are you going to flaunt the new goodies you recently acquired?

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I need to sneak some pictures of those

Thanks again!

Hey Doug, quick question: Would it be possible to get a set of the brackets that you had made? I've got a line on a pair of front seats identical to yours that I can pick up for under $200 for the pair.

-Ben

Id love me some adapters if i can find some seats!

OMG an update!

Theresa and the family put money towards the gauges I wanted from SpeedHut back at Christmas. I've been putting off ordering them till I could swing all of the gauges but finally decided a month ago just to order the 3 for my cluster for now.

I've been brewing this project in my mind for a while, I wanted to update the look and function of the OEM cluster but I didn't want to go the r-sport style path with the gauges flush to the face of the dash. So what I decided on was this:

First I completely disassembled the cluster with the intentions of making a new facia for it. The plan is to use clear acrylic that I paint the backside then engrave all the warning light labels I want on the back side. If I can play my cards right, when it's assembled the "labels" will only be visible when illuminated.


Then I laid it all out and laser cut a mockup MDF piece. I wanted to cut all the original holes for the warning lights so I know the exact boundaries for the labels on the final product.


This is *roughly* what the final product will be. This piece is just painted MDF again for now, I still have to sit down and figure out exactly what indicators I want (turn signal, parking brake, highbeam, brake fail, amp, cruise on, CEL? ect).


AND since the Speedhuts are shallow, I was able to keep the backer piece to reuse all the OEM lighting (with LED's hopefully) and circuit board.

Also meeting a painter in the next week or two that came highly recommended.

Sweet gauge setup man, that should turn out really nice. I'm interested in how it goes - I've been thinking of something similar for my soon-to-be former diesel wagon as well. Maybe an analog tach on one side, speedo on the other, and a multifunction LCD screen in the middle. Stealing the idea from our TDI daily driver...

Perhaps something like this but in the 240 housing, without the deep bezels:

Totally! I would have loved to do the same but I had two problems:

1: I have no electronic skills to do an Lcd display
2: speedhut only does the tach with a second gauge. If I could have a speedo with fuel and tach with water that's exactly what I would have done.

Apparently it's been a busy year, I haven't done any real work since March it looks like. The bottom end has been done at the machine shop forever, I just haven't had time to go get it.

But a while ago I did pick up a 90 240 for parts. Mostly sheet metal and some odds and ends. I finally got the 83 244ti that belongs to the kid who works for me out of the garage so my to my neighbors joy I pushed it in the garage and started stripping it down.





I've resigned myself to that I neither have the time nor the inclination to do the body work on this car. I could probably spray it but generally speaking, I don't want too. So I've been looking for a body shop for a while now. I actually have 2 neighbors at the shop that are body shops so I've been leaning towards just hanging the doors on it and taking it over. I also have two other leads though, one is a friend of a friend who does heavy restoration work who is interested and another who owns a body shop in Lodi that needs his kitchen cabinets done. That's always a win for me... trading cabinets for cars getting painted has been kind of our go-to trick for years.