Duder's Beige Brick - ARUNDL - 1981 242 DL +B230FT

Forgot to mention I installed a Homer? brand short shifter and new bushings on the M46. The shift feel is amazing compared to before, and this trans was never really terrible. Somehow I got one of the good ones; now it's even better.

Again this is all with the engine not running, so the driving experience remains to be...experienced.

M46 guys: do yourselves a favor and get one of Homer's sticks in your hand. Wait...

Duder said:

Forgot to mention I installed a Homer? brand short shifter and new bushings on the M46. The shift feel is amazing compared to before, and this trans was never really terrible. Somehow I got one of the good ones; now it's even better.

Again this is all with the engine not running, so the driving experience remains to be...experienced.

M46 guys: do yourselves a favor and get one of Homer's sticks in your hand. Wait...

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Brass shifter bushings also make for an incredible rod-pulling experience.

Wait, what?

Duder said:

Forgot to mention I installed a Homer? brand short shifter and new bushings on the M46. The shift feel is amazing compared to before, and this trans was never really terrible. Somehow I got one of the good ones; now it's even better.

Again this is all with the engine not running, so the driving experience remains to be...experienced.

M46 guys: do yourselves a favor and get one of Homer's sticks in your hand. Wait...

Click to expand...

I'm ready with welder in hand to make those sticks hot?

Duder said:

Forgot to mention I installed a Homer? brand short shifter and new bushings on the M46. The shift feel is amazing compared to before, and this trans was never really terrible. Somehow I got one of the good ones; now it's even better.

Click to expand...

Sorry to be the one to tell you, but what you have is an offshore Buchka knock-off of the genuine Homer product.

Alex Buchka said:

Sorry to be the one to tell you, but what you have is an offshore Buchka knock-off of the genuine Homer product.

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Oh man, you've just destroyed my reality.

To be fair though I never said it was a genuine Homer brand part...

Yay! Some progress to report.

I started with these new speed clips that Alex donated to me after he ganked some of the old ones off of my car (with my permission).




Installed on the headlight support panels which have been de-rusted, treated, and painted in the seams where the battery acid had collected and started some corrosion. Front end went back together without any issues.






I had to drill out the spot welds at each end of the lower valence panel to get it all apart originally. Going back together, just enlarged the holes a bit and used some M6 bolts with nylock nuts to hold the panels together, which are obscured under the corner light assemblies.





Original bolts have numbers-matching paint. New ones do not.

Front end is now back in action which helps motivate me to keep going with the car. The hood latch assembly has been fully replated. Take my word for it.



Odyssey PC680 AGM battery and special aluminum bracket went in, courtesy of Karl's former "Buchka 242 Street Car" 16V monster that got parted out.




The real excitement for the day was offering up this next bit for a fit-try. My wife got me an awesome Christmas present this year. Direct from Latvia! Goes great with Stumbro Starka liqueur, but that's from Lithuania. Baltic states anyhow.

Dry fit only so far; I need to decide on the best way to attach it. Looks like some VHB sticky tape will affix it directly to the glass.



Either way, I'm stoked.

Bump. Looking for an update on this beautiful car.

Thanks,

ol girl is looking good!

thanks for posting the label on the sheet metal clips I need some

Looking forward to seeing how you attach the louvers. I just got some of those as well.

Geez I didn't even notice there was activity on this thread from a few days ago. I've been prepping my M5 for sale and working on some mods to our E36 Lemons car over the past few weeks.

On the 242, currently finalizing the LH2.4 wiring conversion; trying to do it nice and tidy with help from a Real Electrical Engineer(TM). I think it's all sorted out now; we just need to make some final connections and a small harness between the 960 ignition module and the Bosch coil pack.





The big gray firewall connectors didn't quite match between the '81 body harness and the LH2.4 240 engine harness, so they were replaced with a 4-pin DTM connector.



I finished up, painted, and installed an LH2.4 firewall panel as well.

For the louvers, I did some research and found attachment kits on Jegs (or Summit, or both, can't remember which). They sell hinged plates that you affix to the glass on one side, and to the top of the louvers on the other, which allows for the lovers to be lifted up to clean the glass. Then there are two more plates at the bottom with studs to secure everything. Seems like a good way to go.

Fired it up last night for the first time. Big thanks to Karl who helped me get the rest of the wiring sorted out with a nice custom harness for the ignition system, and integration of LH2.4 / EZ117K into the chassis harness. I modified some 240 plug wires with distributor-end tips from 940 plug wires to fit the Bosch Motorsport coil, and we chased down a few minor bugs, but once everything was connected properly it fired right up.

Lots to do still before the first test drive, but this is the motivation I needed!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_KNBjRdNass" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Definitely excited to see this thing on the road.

Interesting tidbit: The startup yesterday occurred two years to the day after the B230FT was first installed in the car. Life has a way of interrupting these projects.

As far as I can tell there were quite a few of them. Hoping that this is the car that makes it to Davis.

I'd like to quote myself from two years ago (not quite to the day):

Duder said:

Next was an abbreviated service of the M46 and Laycock overdrive. We gave both a cursory cleaning, pulled the overdrive, and Alex started yanking it apart. I'm not a big fan of blowing trannys, but we had to do it. My tranny was literally blown apart in the garage for a few days. There were pieces of Laycock everywhere.

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I've blown a tranny since then - a crude 39 year old from Detroit - and it wasn't a pretty sight. The scenery around Monterey was nice however. Leaves a bad taste in your mouth...

...the gear oil, that is. What did you think I was talking about?



Edit: tranny in question was a 1978 Super T-10 in the E36 LeMons car.

I've made good progress in the past few days. Engine bay is almost ready for final installation of charge plumbing and cooling system, then it's on to some minor exhaust fab and a test drive.

One of the last remaining pieces of the puzzle for the wasted spark conversion was mounting the Bosch Motorsport 2x2 coil. I wanted to put it close to where the distributor lives on a 240 to allow me to run 240 plug wires and routing. Turns out the posts are different on the 2x2 coil vs. a standard 240 distributor cap, so wire ends need to be modified.

At any rate I came up with a custom bracket using a Ford Escort EDIS coil bracket as a starting point. Bolt pattern and clearance for the coil are the same, but the bracket mounting scheme required some hackage to fit.

Donor Ford part, from a '90s Escort 1.9L if I recall correctly.




Cut all the brackets off...




Test fit in the intended location






MOCK UP






Weldage




A lick of fresh lacquer...




...and it's in.






The new mounting legs attach to preexisting tapped holes in the block. Top one is for the distributor clamp, and the one on the side was intended for the 940 alternator mounting bracket I think.

I'm thinking about offering something like this bracket, but laser cut and nicely finished, as a compliment to the Buchka Wasted Spark conversion board. Perhaps even a complete kit with wiring, connectors, etc.

Yes! Do it

Love the shot of the front end with the E Codes!

Thanks for the feedback.

As of last night the engine bay is mostly assembled. There are a few small jobs left: modifying the downpipe, mounting the airbox and coolant surge tank, and installing the e-fan.

But it idles nicely now, revs eagerly, and nothing leaks. Confirmed that the car moves under its own power inside the shop. Plan to test drive it on Friday.

Huzzah!

Awesome, so we WILL see you in it at Davis right? Get your pre-reg in, join us for the saturday shens.

Yep, will be there for sure. Plan is to drive up on Friday afternoon I think. Not sure yet about Saturday activities but I'd like to join in wherever possible.

Already paid the $25 registration fee before the car was even running - incentivizing goals!

gsellstr said:

Awesome, so we WILL see you in it at Davis right? Get your pre-reg in, join us for the saturday shens.

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