The Buchka 242 Daily Driver

Oh man those wheels!

respect

that ECU panel is...

This thread is generally a little hard on my sense of self-worth, but it's always interesting to follow along. Glad I get to play the simple minded tourist in the world of the talented.

Holy **** just when I think this car has the coolest wheels.

Damn son….well done.

Stiggy Pop said:

This thread is generally a little hard on my sense of self-worth, but it's always interesting to follow along. Glad I get to play the simple minded tourist in the world of the talented.

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+1

Last update got nuked in the late database unpleasantness so I'll try re-create it to the best of my ability.

Had a list of changes I wanted to make before Davis this year. Here's the rundown:
- Replace fuel pump, filter, all hoses, and add an ethanol content sensor
- Install new intercooler, radiator, ac condenser, and electric fan
- Replace the lame cone filter with a better airbox
- Fit the new wheels
- Install the aluminum 1030 rear axle
- Re-paint the black areas around the door, quarter window, and b-pillar

Bought a new reproduction fuel pump hanger and modified it to fit an AEM-1200 in tank pump, a D38999 bulkhead connector, and welded a couple AN6 fittings to the inlet and outlet. Not shown is the new fuel pump wiring run directly from the ECU fuse panel to the tank.



Managed to pop off the level sensor float and spent an agonizing two hours with a mirror and various bent pieces of welding rod fishing it out. Would not recommend.



Used the original pump tray to mount the ethanol sensor and a radium fuel filter. Also replaced all the old lines with AN6 BMRS hose.





Tore down the front end to prep for the new heat exchangers.



Recently started experimenting with hammer forming. It's actually really simple, just make a piece of wood that looks like the thing you want then clamp some sheet metal onto it and go to town with a hammer. Any hammer marks or other sins are easily erased with a random orbital sander and 80-grit. This is the new coolant reservoir and I think it came out pretty nice.




Also hammer formed these inlet and outlet transition pieces for the radiator. Lots of good lessons learned for future projects.



Karl helped out a bunch with all of the work. Here he is milling some windows into the partially finished fan shroud to fit the rubber reed valve-thingies stolen off my old 960 fan shroud.



Fabricated a new slimmer hood latch support to try and reduce airflow restriction. No idea if this thing actually helps but it seemed directionally correct.



Here's the mostly finished radiator with brushless fan and shroud. I didn't actually get any good photos of the intercooler but I can assure you it's on the car and works.



Homer and I worked together on this next thing. An airbox with a paper panel filter has been on our wish lists for a long time. We both hunted junkyards for a while and couldn't really find anything that fit our needs so I 3d scanned part of my engine bay and designed this thing for my car and a slightly modified version for Homer. They're made from nylon with a powder-based process so they come out looking damn close to injection molded which is exactly what we were going for.



This is the current state of the engine bay. Karl helped me re-wire the battery, clean up the e-fan and power steering fuses, and add a battery cut-off switch. Clamshell fittings on the radiator plumbing is definitely extra but I think it looks cool so



New wheels came back from paint and got assembled. Went with pale gold powdercoat, very similar to 80's BBS wheels. The outer rim shells are polished and cleared.



One of the guys in our shared workshop snapped this really cool looking polaroid of the wheels.



Used the cosmetically flawed machining setup center and a few spare outer rim shells to make a 17x4 space saver spare. This was definitely extra as hell but also served somewhat of a purpose. With the new rear axle I could no longer fit the stock spare anywhere on the car and I don't like not having a spare wheel for emergencies.



The aluminum 1030 axle turned into a big source of stress. I had a brain fart and didn't allow for adequate caliper clearance to the springs so I ended up going to a 2.5" spring to claw some space back. Hooking up the parking brake cables to the Audi B5 S4 calipers was death by a thousand cuts but ended up working out. On the first few test drives the "good used" dana powerlok LSD I bought turned out to be a dud, it was plum worn out and the spider gears would just skip over each other making the most awful metal on metal noise. I solved the problem by throwing money at it and installed a truetrac two days before leaving for Davis.



Side benefit of the sellholm full floater kit and aluminum diff housing. Just yank the axles and uninstall the pumpkin with everything else in place, kind of like an IRS diff.



Got a bunch of help from Karl and a couple friends, one of which used to paint cars for a living, to mask, prep, and spray all the faded black areas around the side windows. We shot 6 coats of SEM trim black on everything and it made a big difference to the overall appearance of the car.



This brings us to the Davis show which was great fun as usual. Huge turnout this year, something like 170 cars in attendance.

Hardparked with Homer on the mean streets.



Managed to hornswoggle my way into a best in show trophy which was unexpected and very much appreciated.




Today Karl and I drove up to the Euro meet held at the Petersen auto museum. It was a big show, seemed to be mostly water cooled volkswagens and bmws. Very few volvos and mine was the only 240. Lots of show cars, really nice hardware on display. Somehow I managed to get a top 10 award which was also very unexpected and cool. This trophy stuff is kinda weird to me, I just put it together the way I want it but it is fun that other people like the car too.

This is hands down the best 240 currently on the board IMO

This MF'r right here doe.....

What are the plans for the "old" Gemini rims?

Seeing this thing in person finally was the highlight of Davis for me. Good to finally meet and chat with y'all, incredible work.

That airbox looks amazing. What filter does it use? I have always thought I'd fab one out of aluminum someday for a +T 240 application, using the stock NA filter. 3d printing sounds easier!

MikeJr. said:

This is hands down the best 240 currently on the board IMO

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Thanks Mike!

swedishiron.com said:

What are the plans for the "old" Gemini rims?

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No plans so far, they're just sitting on my shelf. One of them is in need of some fairly invasive repair at this point. Karl and I drove way out of our way to a high end wheel supplier to get the tires swapped over since I was nervous about going to the local grease monkey tire shop with my newly refinished wheels. Long story boring, the guy on the tire machine wasn't paying attention and shattered the threaded center boss on one of them, pretty damn disappointed in the shop, definitely not becoming of their usual good reputation.

propav8r said:

Seeing this thing in person finally was the highlight of Davis for me. Good to finally meet and chat with y'all, incredible work.

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Thanks Jared! Glad you could make it out, was good to finally meet and put a face to the name.

tjanson said:

That airbox looks amazing. What filter does it use? I have always thought I'd fab one out of aluminum someday for a +T 240 application, using the stock NA filter. 3d printing sounds easier!

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Thanks dude! I think the filter is from a Ford Escape, I don't quite recall. I just went to the parts store and rifled through the air filters until I found one that looked reasonable. Printing is "easier" in the sense that it shows up and probably will fit but the up front design time can be pretty significant. I probably spent 30+ hours on it all-up with scanning, cleaning the data, modeling, prototypes, and iterating.

This car is brilliant. So many little details in the engine bay to stare at and admire.

I like how the sight tube maxes out its range by inserting on the top. cool

Photos of Alex's car from before, during, and after Davis...


IMG_7298 by Chris Floren, on Flickr

IMG_7379 by Chris Floren, on Flickr

IMG_7388 by Chris Floren, on Flickr

IMG_7389 by Chris Floren, on Flickr

IMG_7390 by Chris Floren, on Flickr


Dat Perrier lyfe.

IMG_7392 by Chris Floren, on Flickr

IMG_7425 by Chris Floren, on Flickr

IMG_7426 by Chris Floren, on Flickr

IMG_7428 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
This little guy is doing well. I built him using some unobtanium parts and some literal trash^^

IMG_7429 by Chris Floren, on Flickr


Petersen crossover technique.

IMG_7563 by Chris Floren, on Flickr

IMG_7564 by Chris Floren, on Flickr

I am deeply bothered by how excellent this car is.

I thought I already posted this but any details on the new intercooler setup? Didn't really see it in any of the pictures.

Ginger Ninja said:

This car is brilliant. So many little details in the engine bay to stare at and admire.

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Thanks dude!

apachechef said:

I like how the sight tube maxes out its range by inserting on the top. cool

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This wasn't my first choice of layout but I kind of had to do it that way. The hose just would have been too short to fit if I hadn't wrapped it up over the top.

Duder said:

Photos of Alex's car from before, during, and after Davis...
...

This little guy is doing well. I built him using some unobtanium parts and some literal trash^^

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Great photos! The turbo is holding up well, she's a sharp lookin' strong runner.

Harlard said:

I am deeply bothered by how excellent this car is.

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It doesn't feel right to thank you for being deeply bothered. You can rest easy knowing the car has lots of problems that don't come across in photos.

Stiggy Pop said:

I thought I already posted this but any details on the new intercooler setup? Didn't really see it in any of the pictures.

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This is probably the least crappy photo I have of the intercooler. I didn't take many photos because, honestly, i'm not very happy with how it came out. The end tanks are kinda weird and I'll probably make new ones sooner rather than later. I was pressed for time before Davis so I sort of slapped it together to get the car back on the road

It was meant as hot and bothered, but it would have sounded weird. Guess I managed to make it somehow worse? Let’s chuck it up as an ESL moment.

Either way, love the details. Gleaning and filing away the ones I can copy for future use.